Story Fourteen: Debra's Birthday
Surprises Are Fun
Debra stomped through the halls of the arena angrily. She was furious! "I can't believe that man!" she growled to herself. "Who does he think he is?" She turned the corner sharply. In the process, she ran into someone who landed heavily on the floor.
"Damn Debra... pissed off much?" the voice asked from the ground.
She stopped her ranting and looked down in front of her. "I'm so sorry Victoria..." Debra held out her hand, in which Victoria took a hold of and helped her up.
Victoria stood and brushed the dirt off of her clothes. "What's wrong with you?" she asked her.
The look of aggravation and irritation returned to her face. "I just don't understand how he could forget."
A look of confusion graced Victoria's face. She had no idea what Debra was talking about. "Okay..."
"I would think he would remember... but no..." she continued. Debra set her hands on her waist and tapped her foot. "Everyone here forgot... but I was okay with that because everyone tends to forget things time to time because we live busy lives and everything..."
"Uh-huh..." Victoria replied as she tried to figure out why Debra was so mad.
"But he's not allowed to forget... that's like one of those unwritten marriage rules or something," Debra said unrelenting.
Victoria looked around the small corridor. Finding no one, she stood there listening to Debra trying to figure out what she was talking about. "Right..."
"He just makes me mad... I mean how could he forget my birthday?" Debra asked Victoria.
Understanding finally adorned Victoria's face. She looked at Debra hesitantly at her question. Victoria wasn't sure if her question was rhetorical or not. "Um..."
Debra stopped her ranting and looked at Victoria. "I'm so sorry Victoria. I didn't mean to go on and on about my selfish husband. He is an ass, I swear..."
"That's okay Debra," Victoria said with a smile. "I do know how you feel. Men are idiotic at times."
As she flipped her blonde hair, Debra rolled her eyes. "At times? Please, I swear Steve is just so... so... so..." She couldn't find the word for it.
"Dense?" Victoria asked for her.
Debra was silent for a moment as she thought about Victoria's answer. "Dense? Yes, sometimes he can be quite dense. Occasionally I wonder why I'm still with him. I mean we have been married for seven years and he does things like this all the time and I get mad all the time. You would think I would expect it coming from him..."
"But you hope every year that that changes," Victoria said. She leaned against the hard concrete wall and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Yeah," Debra concluded quietly. "It's my birthday and everyone forgot..."
"I'm sorry Debra," she said. Victoria knew it wouldn't make her feel better totally, but at least she said something. "Happy Birthday! I don't have anything for you..."
Debra smiled at Victoria. "That's okay. I really appreciate you saying that and just standing here and listen to me go on and on about how much of an ass Steve is."
Victoria scrunched her eyebrows together in thought. "Debra," she said, "have you ever thought of telling your husband how you feel? Men are pretty much dumb when it comes to women— even the ones that they are married too— and need to be told directly what the general problem is."
She nodded her head. Victoria was right; Steve needed to be told what was going on. "Let's go," she said as she took her hand and dragged her with her. They walked the way Debra was coming from when she ran into Victoria.
Victoria cast Debra a perplexed look. "Debra, where are we going? I thought your husband's locker room was the other way? I passed it right before I ran into you."
"We are going to the ladies locker room, I have to get something first before I confront Steve."
When they finally made it to the locker room, Victoria stopped Debra before she opened the door. "I don't think I should be there when you and Austin start to fight. That should be between you two only... not you two and me."
Debra opened the door and walked into the dark room. "I want you to be witness to my husband's stupidity."
"Okay," Victoria said as she walked in after her and flipped the light switch, "but Debra, shouldn't you—"
"SURPRISE!!!!!" a chorus of voices ranged out loudly. The crew, wrestlers, divas and last but not least Steve Austin, stood in the multicolor decorated room with party hats on their heads and birthday balloons in their hands.
Debra clamped her hand over her mouth. She was very surprised and startled. "Oh my..."
Victoria smiled at the scene. She stepped away from Debra and joined the crowd.
Steve walked away from the crowd. He went to Debra. Gathering her up in his arms, he kissed her and said 'happy birthday.'
"You remembered?" Debra said to Steve. She had tears forming in her eyes.
"Yes," he said with a nod, "I wanted to surprise you... and you always said surprises are fun."
Debra smiled tearfully. "I lied... they aren't fun and you're not as dense as I thought." She pushed herself away from him and went to the crowd to thank everyone for attending and get the party started.
Steve looked at his wife in bewilderment, and then approached Victoria who was standing in the corner of the room by herself. "She really thought I forgot this year?" he asked.
Victoria nodded. "Yep... and if it wasn't for me... you would have."