Changing Sides
CHANGING SIDES
Part Nineteen
By: Elektra
JERICHO'S HOTEL ROOM - Wednesday Morning
Stephanie
slowly stirred. She was snuggled against something soft, but was too comfortable
to open her eyes and get up. She wrapped herself around the strange, warm
pillow and smiled.
After a few moments, she heard
a quiet pounding. It sound like a heart beating! Why did her pillow sound
like a heart beating? Why did it smell so good? And why was it breathing?
Stephanie slowly opened her
eyes, and realized it wasn't a pillow. It was a PERSON. But who...
Stephanie quickly sat up, "JERICHO!"
Chris snapped awake and looked
around frantically, "WHAT? What is it?"
The two momentarily made eye
contact, then Stephanie turned away, "I guess you decided to act your age
in the middle of the night!" she sneered.
He vaguely remembered something
soft and curvy wrapping itself around him...
"I did NOT cop a feel!" he
replied quickly as he moved away from her.
"Really? Then explain how I
woke up in your arms?!" Stephanie shot back.
He narrowed his eyes, "If I
do recall, YOU were the one wrapped around ME! If I didn't know better,
I'd say you were trying to---"
"Shut up! Just shut up!" she
interrupted, then jumped off the bed, "Let's just get out of here!"
"Oh... so you finally admit
I was right and that calling Trip was a stupid thing to do?" he asked.
"Yeah yeah... you were right.
Now deflate that ego and let's go!" Stephanie replied. "I just have to
get my bags in my room and--"
"Wait," Jericho started as
he made his way to the door and looked through the peep hole, "Uh... you're
not going to your room right now," he said.
Stephanie came up to him, "I
am TOO! I need to get my stuff!"
"Ok... tell that to Kronik.
They're wandering the halls looking for you," Chris moved aside to allow
Stephanie to peer through the peep hole. Sure enough, the latest
Alliance members were standing in the hallway chatting.
"Oh damn..." she gasped.
Jericho put an ear to the door
to listen as Kronik member Brian Clarke spoke into his cell phone, "We
got to her room, but there was no answer. She hasn't checked out yet either..."
a pause, "The guy told us she arrived with her boyfriend... some blonde
guy..." Clarke was no doubt talking to Triple H. "Yeah, he said Stephanie
claimed he was her boyfriend. The clerk said she may be with him in his
room," another pause, "I don't KNOW who the hell he was talking about,
he wouldn't give us the name! You want us to go into every freakin' room
and ask, Helmsley? Forget it!" Clarke quickly moved the phone away
from his ear. Triple H's yelling could be heard through the handset.
"Gimme that," Kronik member
Brian Adams said, and grabbed the phone from Clarke, "Hey, Triple H. We
can't do nothin' here! They ain't gonna give us permission to search each
room! We aren't the cops you know," No doubt Triple H didn't like that
answer. "Fine! We'll knock on each door and see, ok?" Adams hung
up the phone.
"I think the guy's snapped,
Bry," Clarke said.
"Yeah, well we either find
his bitch or get introduced to his sledgehammer!" Adams replied, and the
two headed down the hall.
Jericho let out a sigh of relief,
"Ok. They're gone. We can sneak out and have the hotel courier our belongings
to my parent's place. We don't have time to pack up right now," he turned
to Stephanie. She was sitting on the floor against the wall, hugging her
knees to her chest, "Come on, get up!"
Stephanie shook her head, "I'm
scared," She whispered.
"You don't have TIME to be
scared!" Jericho snapped. "Move it! We're leaving. NOW!" He refused to
treat her with kid gloves. If anything, she needed to be thick-skinned
right now. He reached into his suitcase and tossed a hockey jersey and
baseball cap at her, "Put these on. Make sure your hair is hidden in the
hat," he replied, then grabbed another hat and stuffed his own hair into
it. He went to the bathroom and pulled on a pair of worn jogging pants
and a bulky sweatshirt to hide his physique. The less noticable they were,
the better.
Stephanie raised an eyebrow
at his appearance, "You look like trailer park trash. The kind that
sits in front of the TV watching sports and drinking beer all day,"
"Good. That's what I'm supposed
to look like!" he replied. He took in the sloppy-hanging jersey that he
had made her put on, "And YOU look like a boy..." he paused, "Well, with
two specific exceptions," he added, then made his way to the door and slowly
opened it. He looked up and down the hallway, but saw no signs of Kronik.
"Ok... GO!" he said, and shoved Stephanie out of the room. The two raced
to the elevator and hit the lobby as quickly as possible.
When they arrived at the lobby,
Stephanie was about to step out of the elevator. Jericho suddenly pulled
her back in, "What?" she asked.
"At the desk. Triple H's buddies,"
he whispered. The elevator doors quickly shut as he hit the button for
the top floor. They'd ride the elevator all day if they had to.
Stephanie looked around at
the enclosed space, "No way... not again!"
"I can insult you and piss
you off if it helps any, " Chris offered, then smirked, "I enjoyed doing
that LAST time,"
"Well, that's because you're
an ass," she muttered.
"Yes. Yes I am. Your point?"
He asked. The doors opened again, and Stephanie held her breath, fearing
the worst.
She let the breath out when
a couple entered the elevator, ignoring the two WWF superstars -- which
Chris found humerous considering the couple were both wearing wrestling-related
t-shirts.
Just in case they recognized
Stephanie and Jericho, though, Chris casually pulled her into a corner
and stood in front of her, his back to the couple. With his trademark long
hair hidden in the baseball cap, they wouldn't be able to recognize him
if they couldn't see his face.
Chris mouthed the word 'fans'
to her, and Stephanie understood. The last thing she needed was for
the couple to go running around the hotel, saying they had seen the WWF's
Chris Jericho and Stephanie McMahon in the elevator.
Jericho leaned in close and
whispered in Stephanie's ear, "Pretend you're my girlfriend and put your
arms around me," he smirked, "But don't get any ideas,"
"Pervert," she hissed quietly
in response, but did as he suggested, burying her face in his shoulder,
and preventing the couple from getting a good look at her.
"Geez.... you're in a hotel.
At least get a room," the male of the couple commented when he looked over
at Stephanie and Jericho.
Both pretended to be so involved
with one another that they had an excuse for not turning around and responding.
The couple stepped out of the
elevator into the lobby... and Clarke and Adams stepped in.
Stephanie froze, grasping Jericho
tighter, "It's them, isn't it?" Jericho whispered, still keeping Stephanie
cornered and his back to the doors.
Stephanie let out a small sound
that Jericho translated as, "uh-huh"... well, either that or "oh shit,
we're gonna die,"
The elevator reached the third
floor, and Kronik stepped out.
Stephanie made the mistake
of watching them as they left... and the two big men noticed.
"Bry!" Clarke grabbed Adams,
pointing to the elevator, "It's THEM!"
Jericho turned to face the
two men, "Hey!" he called out to Clarke, "Weren't you Adam Bomb?"
"Son of a bitch!" Clarke hissed,
and ran back towards him, Adams following close behind.
By the time Kronik got to the
doors, however, the elevator had successfully closed in their faces.
***
When Stephanie and Chris reached
the lobby, Jericho quickly pulled her out and headed to the street, desperately
hailing a cab. Thankfully, one stopped within a few seconds. He shoved
Stephanie into the backseat and climbed in beside her, "Go go go!" Jericho
commanded the cab driver, "Airport!"
The cab pulled away just as
Adams and Clarke ran outside, searching high and low for their target.
Stephanie took a deep breath,
then laughed.
"What?" Jericho asked.
"Weren't you Adam Bomb!" she
repeated Jericho's earlier comment, "I remember that character! No wonder
Clarke is pissed off!"
"I thought Adam Bomb was pretty
cool, actually," Jericho shrugged, "Of course, I think I'd quit wrestling
if I ever got stuck with a lame-ass character like that..."
Stephanie smiled, and rested
her head against the seat. Suddenly her smile faded, her eyes growing wide
as she remembered something, "Oh damn!" Stephanie looked at Jericho, "We
forgot to check out..."