Team Extreme's still together! Whoo hooo!
I just want to thank the people who read this story and reviewed. They make me feel better. But, no this story ain't done yet.
The next day at the hotel, Amy was walking around with nothing to do. Eddie was with his friends somewhere and she wasn't in the mood herself to go out with her other friends. She walked down to the lobby, hoping to find an arcade room, and saw Matt talking with Adam. She watched them until Adam left and seeing as how Stephanie wasn't with him and he was alone, Amy thought that it might be an opportunity to talk.
Matt went into the restaurant and stood at the bar as Amy went over to him. The restaurant was quiet and not too many people were there. Even better. But, she didn't know how it would go.
"Hi," Amy said.
Matt looked at her and replied with a "hi."
"The show last night was great, huh?" Amy said, not knowing what else to say.
"Yah, the crowd was amazing," Matt said getting hyped and cracking a smile, but then falling back into his quiet demeanor.
"Yah," Amy murmured.
She'd hoped that that was the start of something. She'd hoped that he would continue talking about the show or the fans, anything, as long as they were talking. As long as he was talking to her. That one smile, though, gave her some faith that maybe they could become friends again.
And then there was that awkward silence that always seemed to sneak up on them when they tried talking. It was a part of them now. Before, there were never silences like this. They had always had something to say or there would just be comfortable silences. Nothing ever like these silences. Amy hated them. If there was a way to diminish them, she wanted to know. But, there wasn't a way to overcome them, at least not yet. Maybe someday, they'd be replaced.
Amy finally decided to bring up the topic that had been bugging her, although she didn't exactly know why.
"So, I see you're with Stephanie."
Matt stiffened and Amy shifted uncomfortably. Uh oh.
Matt didn't know what to say. He didn't want to say yes because they weren't together, even though she thought they were. He didn't even like her. But, he couldn't say no because he didn't want Amy to tell her that. He didn't like her, but he didn't necessarily want to hurt her. And besides, he didn't want Amy to think that he hadn't gotten over her yet.
"Well…" he began. He didn't know what to say. Amy caught note of his doubt. She wondered if there really was something going on between them. A small glee of joy fluttered inside of her.
Stephanie chose that exact moment to arrive. She walked into the restaurant, spotted Matt, and excitedly walked over to him. She hugged him and then snuggled into him, facing Amy. Matt felt like he was being choked. He kind of wished he were.
"Hi Amy," Steph squealed.
"Hi, Steph," Amy said a bit jealously, trying to hide it. She seemed so close to him.
Steph, of course, smiled and started to talk animatedly. Matt, however, noticed the meager look in her eyes, and all though it was cruel, decided to use it to his advantage. She was with Eddie after all, why would she mind. He had to get close to Steph, though, which was the major drawback and disgusted him to even think about it.
He made sure Amy was looking, while Steph was still jabbering endlessly. He basically just snuggled with Steph back. It was small act, but did some damage. Amy's face fell slightly and Matt saw it. He still felt terrible though. Steph just smiled and moved even closer to him. Matt felt suffocated how much more room was there to move? He wished he had a restraint against her. She couldn't go 50 km near him. Freedom was all he wanted.
Amy wanted to leave this uncomfortable situation. She wanted to go to her room. It felt weird. Here she was standing next to Matt and Stephanie snuggling. Well, they were definitely together, no doubt about that. She forced a smile on her face, as she clued out Steph's story or whatever. She was confused at the way she was feeling. She was with Eddie, right?
Matt got out of Steph's hold and interrupted her. "Hey Amy, are you ok?"
"Huh?"
Matt pointed to a bruise on her arm.
"Oh, that. It's nothing. I'm fine," she said. "My arm just got bumped in the ring. No big deal."
Matt looked skeptical, but she just smiled. She didn't want to talk about it.
"So, how are you and Eddie?" Stephanie asked. Matt burned at the question.
"Oh, uh, fine," Amy said strangely. "Well, I gotta go. Eddie's going to come back soon."
"Ok, bye," Steph said.
Amy walked out, Matt watching her. She was acting strangely, he wondered why.
***
Later that day, someone was crying into the phone to someone else.
"We got into another fight today. There was a lot of yelling as usual and he hurt me. He didn't hit me, but he was about to. I don't know what happened to him and to us. What did I do wrong? Why is he doing this?" said the muffled voice
"You didn't do anything wrong," consoled the other voice. "I don't know why he's acting this way. Why don't you leave him? He's not treating you like he should"
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because I really do love him."
***
Later that night after the Smackdown tapings, Matt was in his locker room packing his stuff. He decided that he'd had enough of pretending to like Stephanie and pretending to be with her. It wasn't fair to her or him. Well, really she was just a health hazard to him. He wanted to be rid of her and her closeness. He was going to tell her tonight.
Stephanie, of course, came in at that moment as if on cue. He would tell her now.
"Hi, Matty," Steph said happily.
Boy, this will sure inflate her happiness. He knew she would be crushed. Oh well, time to get it over with.
He sat down on the couch. "Um, Steph, we got to talk," Matt said slowly unsure of how he would say it and especially of how bad she would take it.
"Sure, sugar, what about," Steph replied, the smile still on her face. She obviously had no clue. She sat down on Matt's lap and put her arms around him.
Matt shrugged her arms off and put Steph on the couch, then stood up and walked to the other side of the room. Now, she was confused.
"Look, Steph, this is serious. None of that right now, please." Matt paused. This was actually really hard. Steph didn't know what to say.
"Ok, this is really hard and I don't know how to say this without hurting you and I don't want to do that, so I'll just say it," Matt continued and took a breath. "I don't like you, at least not in the way that you thought I did and not in the way that you want me to."
Steph's face fell; her smile was long gone.
"I realize that you like me, but I can't return those feelings. I'd just be lying to the whole world and myself and I've already been doing that. There isn't anything between us and there never was. I don't want to be with you." He knew it sounded harsh, but it was the truth. "That night, it was a one time thing. I never wanted that to happen, much less make you think that there was something between us. I'm sorry."
Steph didn't say a word, just sat there. Matt didn't know what she was thinking, but inside she was fuming. She shot up from the couch and stood right in front of Matt.
"I hate you," she hissed in between tears. "I hate you Matt Hardy." The words stung him as they came out.
"I liked you and finally I thought someone liked me for me. I thought you liked me. But, you were just pulling me on a string." She laughed harshly and looked away, then looked back straight into his eyes with a vicious glare. "You just used me, didn't you? All I was to you was an easy lay. Someone you could just pick up, sleep with, and then throw away the next day. That's what I was to you, wasn't I?"
Matt began to protest, but stopped. It was true. She was right. Even though he didn't know who she was at the time, he still used her to make him feel better and to get back at Amy. He felt terrible. She didn't deserve that. Matt looked down, guilty.
Steph nodded her head. "Right. Of course. I'm just Stephanie McMahon, the slut. I'm such a fool. I thought you were different, but, no, you're like the rest of them. I'm sorry I ever had feelings for you, and for making your life hell."
She wiped the tears off her face and walked out the room, the door slamming behind her.
Matt felt like utter crap.
***
Matt needed to get out and take a walk after that whole… nightmare of a break up. He felt awful. He hadn't meant to hurt her so badly. He'd come to realize that she actually had feelings and wasn't someone who slept around. If only, that night hadn't occurred, if only he hadn't gotten drunk or went to the club, if only Amy had never met Eddie, then none of this would've happened. If only, that's all it is. History could never change. He just hoped Steph wouldn't tell her dad.
He was walking down the hall, angry and depressed at the same time. He passed one locker room, which seemed to have a heated argument going on inside of it. He decided to ignore it because it was probably two of the guys fighting over something stupid and it would end soon. He walked by it, but stopped. He knew that voice…
The anger inside of him flared up and dominated every other feeling he had. He threw the door open and saw Amy huddled against the wall, crying, trying to calm down Eddie, who was standing over her, yelling, with his arm raised.
Between his fury, Matt immediately walked over and shoved Eddie away from Amy. He grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the wall. He was breathing deeply, anger taking over him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Matt demanded.
Eddie tried to struggle away, but Matt kept a strong grasp on him.
"Hey, Essa, this ain't your business," Eddie said.
"No? When you hit a women, especially her, it becomes my business," Matt said. "Don't you EVER think of doing anything like that again, and if I hear that you hurt her or anyone else, I will kick your ass so badly, there'll be nothing left of you. You got that?"
"Chill out man," Eddie said as Matt released his hold a bit and Eddie fixed his shirt.
Matt was about to leave, but then Eddie sneered, "It's not like she didn't deserve it. That bitch."
Everything stopped. Matt's mind became a whirl of anger and hatred.
Matt punched Eddie in the face.
All the frustration of being with Stephanie and of earlier, and all the anger built inside of him for the last few months from Eddie taking Amy away from him, went into that punch. All the hatred he felt went into it. Matt felt great, alive. He had wanted to do that for a very long time. Victory was his. That would sure teach him.
Eddie crumpled to the floor, holding his face, and cried out in pain.
"What the hell is your problem?" Eddie cried.
"You are."
Matt picked up Eddie and threw him out of the room. He looked at Amy.
"Are you ok?" he asked.
Amy was still crying and was so shocked that she couldn't say a thing, so she just nodded.
Matt nodded, looked at her one last time, and left the room.
Amy could only sit there, watching him leave.
He just saved her from Eddie.
To be continued……
Hhh.. finally great to get that chap out. Until next time….