The next morning, I sat at a long table, which was positioned on one of the hills, trying to apply some sort of makeup to my face. Actually, I was just there because there was nothing better to do, plus my sister wanted to try it out. In my opinion it was a stupid idea, and I was probably the youngest person there. Over to my left, my sister seemed to be enjoying herself, but it figured that she would be. She always liked stupid stuff like this.
Suddenly, Rob Szatowski leaned against the back of my sister's chair, smiling down at the top of her head. I knew she could see him from the mirror in front of her, and I saw the smile creep onto her face. I didn't know how much I liked the guy, but I could tell that the two of them were probably already a couple. "Hey beautiful" he said, his smile widening. I wanted to roll my eyes at the two of them, but something else caught my attention.
It was Jeff. He was whispering a few words in Torrie's ear, and I say her nod slowly in reply. He then turned to all of the women sitting at the table. I wouldn't qualify myself as a woman, but he had my complete attention. "Ladies you're looking very pretty today" he said with a slight smile before he turned back to Torrie. I watched as Jeff said a few more mumbled words, kissed Torrie on her cheek, and walked out without another word.
Secretly, I wondered if he had seen me trying to sneak a few glances in his direction. I highly doubted that he did, he looked way too interested in what he had to tell Torrie to even notice me. But, if he had noticed, I wondered if he even remembered who I was. I doubted that, too, how many women had that guy had in the past week, let alone how many times he had danced with a guest? I didn't want to count all of them, ever.
By now, Rob was long gone, probably off to the main house to earn his living in tips for the day. I shrugged as I put the eye shadow I had been holding down on the table and began to take off the ridiculous makeup off of my face. I knew I looked stupid with it all on, so I didn't even bother with it anymore. I reached over and grabbed a tissue by my sister's hand.
"Mari, do me a favor tonight and tell mommy and daddy that I had a terrible headache and had to go lay down, ok?" Rory questioned, continuing to make her cheeks pink with the blush in her hand. I nodded quickly, hardly even listening to her.
When Rory's words finally sunk in, I turned and looked at her, "where are you going?" I asked. Yes, I was being a bit nosey, but she was my sister and she was asking me to do her a pretty big favor. At least, it was a big favor in my family, my sister and I knew better than to lie to our parents because we knew that, somehow, they would find out.
Rory shrugged, but then figured there wouldn't be any harm in telling me and said, "The pool, Rob says that there won't be anyone else there since most people will be at that big party. No big deal." She smiled slightly and titled her head to one side, observing her fair features in the mirror. She really needed to stop being so concerned about her looks; the girl didn't know when enough was enough.
I didn't reply, but instead I stood up and walked toward Torrie, who was at the head of the table. I stood a few feet away from her, watching as she tried to pack up a black bag with the makeup that wasn't being used, since this event, if you would even call it that, would be ending in a few minutes.
I walked a bit closer to her, rested my hands on the table, and asked, "So, you were really on Broadway?" I didn't know where I heard that piece of information, maybe from Vince, but it was the only thing I could come up with at the moment. She nodded in reply, and I looked down at my hands. "That's really great, I envy you."
Torrie looked up at me, her face was flushed pink slightly, and her eyes burned with some type of passion that I couldn't quite put my finger on. "Yeah, well I was kicked out of my house when I sixteen, besides dancing is the only thing I wanted to do" she stated as she threw another compact mirror into the bag. I nearly jumped back a couple of steps when she snapped like that, but I figured she had a reason to. So, I just nodded and walked away slowly.
As soon as I was out of sight from the table, I sprinted across the huge green lawn, off toward the main building of the hotel. There was that huge party that I had to get ready for, and I wanted to get as far away from possible as the other people staying at the hotel. At the moment, I wasn't much of a people person, and I knew that if I talked to one more person before the party started, I would probably follow it up by ripping their head off.
By seven that night, I was already outside, dancing with the annoying Shane McMahon. I had only been down there for about half an hour, and he was already rubbing me the wrong way. I was wearing a black skirt and a fancy black halter top, which meant my stomach was exposed to the soft summer's breeze, and I guess that was a bad idea. First, I was getting quite the glare from my father, meaning I would be getting punished once our vacation was over, and it seemed that Shane liked it a bit too much.
I pushed that thought aside, since it was making me want to run into the hotel and completely lose my lunch on the floor, and continued to try to focus on the song that was playing. I thought it was the Cha-cha, but I could've been wrong, so I just decided to sway along with the beat. There was no harm in that.
Across the wooden floor, I noticed Jeff dancing with an older woman, who had curly auburn hair and blazing brown eyes, along with a figure that could kill. I was absolute dirt compared to her, but I would never have to be compared to her, so I had no idea why the hell I was worrying about it. That's when Shane decided we should go for a walk, I didn't even get a chance to agree or disagree because, before I knew it, I was being dragged toward the golf course.
As Shane babbled on and on about some weird topic, I tried to focus on the area that surrounded me. I knew that sooner or later I'd be off alone in this part of the hotel property, and that I would get completely lost if I didn't look around now. I watched as the bushes to my left rustled, and I nearly jumped behind Shane, ready and willing to throw him forward if a bear popped out of those bushes.
Instead, I noticed my sister walk out, looking utterly angry, and Rob followed her. "That's right Rory, go cry to mommy and daddy" I heard him say, and he seemed pretty pissed off. I could've sworn that Rory had said that they would be at the pool, but I did notice that her hair was wet, and she was holding a towel. So, they must've been at the outdoor pool that was stationed somewhere around here.
"I'm sorry you had to see that" Shane said as he placed a hand on my shoulder. I had the urge to flip him over onto the ground and kick him, but instead just nodded slowly. "You hungry?" I nodded once again, and he began to usher me toward the kitchen that was used when the staff had a break so they wouldn't have to bombard the kitchen that cooked for the guests with orders of their own.
Shane began digging through the huge refrigerator, "you can have anything you want," he said as he stuck his head into the refrigerator. I nodded, turned on my heel, and looked around. The place was pretty big, and it looked like we were the only ones in there since the only light that was on was the one that Shane turned on when we walked in.
But, I could've sworn that I heard some whimpering coming from a corner near me. So, I turned my head and peered around, then I took a few steps closer to the noise and tried to see through the darkness. That's when I noticed Torrie, curled up in a ball, sobbing her eyes out. I gasped and walked over to Shane, "I think I should go check on Rory," I said, trying to make up an excuse to get back to the party.
Shane nodded and we headed back to the makeshift party area, where I bolted over to Matt. I whispered what I had seen in his ear, and quickly followed him toward Jeff. I watched patiently as he pulled his brother away from the curly auburn haired woman, and hurriedly told him what was going on. I watched Jeff's eyes grow wide as he jumped over the side of the gazebo that we were stationed in, and made his way toward the kitchen.
I was instructed by Matt to follow them, which I did. I didn't know if it was a good idea, but I did as I was asked and didn't bother to argue. "Why is she here?" Jeff asked as he made his way to the kitchen, looking at Matt for a moment.
"I asked her to come, just in case Shane decides to come back" Matt replied, pointing behind him toward the party that was still roaring on quite a few yards back. Jeff shook his head as he quickened his pace, causing Matt and I to race to catch up with him.
Suddenly, I became curious, "What's wrong with her?" I asked, my question was directed to Matt, since I knew that Jeff wouldn't even bother to answer me. I was just a guest to him, and all of my questions were pretty much being thrown to the wind if I directed them at him.
Matt turned to me quickly, "she's knocked up, Mari" he said with a bit of hesitation in his voice as he did so.
"Jesus Christ, Matt!" Jeff exclaimed, and I could tell that he was pissed off now. But, with the light that we had, I could see the concern and worry shining in his eyes, he was truly very scared. I felt bad for him, honestly.
I blinked in shock a few times, trying to rid myself of the snapping that Jeff had taken the liberty of dealing his brother only moments before. "What's he going to do about it?" I asked Matt, trying to lower my voice a bit, as to not get Jeff angry with me again.
Jeff turned to me, "oh, what's he going to do about it? So now it's mine, huh? Right away you think it's mine," he said, pushing open the door to the kitchen quickly. I watched as he raced into the building, then I slipped in as well. I watched as he jogged over to Torrie, knelt beside her, gathered her up in his strong and protective arms, and rubbed her back soothingly.
"It's okay now, I'm here," he cooed, trying to calm the sobbing girl, who rested her head on his chest. "I promise I'm never going to let anything happen to you," now I knew for sure that the tough Jeff Hardy did have a heart, and he would make sure that everyone he loved would be taken care of. Now I knew that he was a protective young man, who would do anything to help those he held dear to his heart. But, I also realized that he could easily snap at anytime, which didn't seem very welcoming to me.