PART 26
REALLY LATE THAT NIGHT
Britney, still in the clothes she had worn to dinner, sat quietly in an armchair. It was almost 2 A.M. She looked up, meeting two pairs of eyes--- a dark brown one and an ice blue one. Mark and Chris had driven her to the hotel, and the three of them were currently sitting in Britney's room. While Britney was outside with Adam, Stephanie had found the two of them. They found her sitting out in the parking lot, crying. Since then, they had driven her to the hotel, Chris led her up to the room while Mark parked, and then she had explained the whole thing.
"What am I gonna do?" Britney asked, yawning loudly.
Chris yawned as well. "I don't know kid, but maybe we should wait till morning to figure that out. I'll be right back… I'm going to go grab some clothes to sleep in," he said, gesturing to the wrestling tights he was wearing. Since it was clear that Adam probably wasn't coming back that night, it had been established that Chris would stay with Britney. He stood patting the top of Britney's head gently as he made his way out the door.
After the Canadian was out the door, Mark turned to the young woman next to him. "Everything will be okay. Give it a day or two and it'll all blow over," the Deadman offered, not really knowing what to say.
Shaking her head, Britney replied, "I don't know, Mark. He looked so… hurt. I just feel so guilty about this… I-I should have known something was up when Paul brought him to us."
"This is NOT your fault. I don't understand how Adam doesn't believe you. I mean, doesn't he get that with all of this shit going on?" Mark asked.
Britney couldn't help but wonder about what Mark just said. Why didn't Adam believe her? If he actually thought she could have something to do with this, than he obviously didn't trust her. And if he didn't trust her…
"Oh God Mark, what am I going to do? I… I can't lose him over this! I-I… I'll… oh God!" she cried, tears instantly refilling her eyes and sliding down her cheeks.
"You… you wont… aw, stop!" Mark begged as he watched her lean forward, sobbing. He absolutely HATED to see women cry, especially ones he cared about. It made him very uncomfortable… he just didn't know how to handle it. Pulling her over to him, he did as best as he could to comfort her.
"Come on kid, don't cry. It… it'll be okay. Please stop crying Brit. I… I'm so sorry that all of this is happening. Please Brit, don't cry," he soothed, hoping that Chris would get back soon. He knew how to comfort people a lot better than Mark did.
As Britney sobbed against him, Mark thought about how he was going to handle this situation. His first thought was to go straight to Lesnar and Levesque, but he decided against it. Neither Adam nor Britney would benefit from that. Still, something had to be done soon. The shit had been going on for far too long to ignore anymore. I'll give him one more chance to take care of this himself, Mark thought of Adam. Then the Houston native decided that he would see Adam the next day, to… set his mind straight. You get one more chance, Copeland. If not, it's Big Daddy Calloway's turn to take over.
A DOWNTOWN BAR"Come on man, you've had enough."
Adam turned his head to meet the gaze of his best friend. Jay had ran around the parking lot, hopped in his car and followed him to the bar when he saw him take off. Adam drove, seemingly aimlessly, for almost two hours before stopping at this bar. When he arrived, the shorter man sat at a table in the back, watching his friend from a distance. He figured that Adam probably needed a drink or two to numb the ongoing situation, so at first he let him go. But Adam had already downed his fifth beer, and they had only been there for a little under an hour.
"Fuck you," Adam muttered. "Why the hell are you here?"
"Because I knew you would come here and I wanted to be here in case you decided to do anything stupid," Jay said honestly.
"Well isn't that just so nice of you. Just so you know, I don't NEED you to watch me. I c-can handle myself Jay… I'm a little old for a babysitter," Adam replied, slurring his words slightly.
"Please, Adam. At the rate you're going you'll be getting your stomach pumped by 3:30. Come on, lets get back to the hotel," Jay insisted.
Adam shook his head, "Nope. I'm s-staying right where I am. I don't wanna go yet." Jay sighed, brushing a few strands of hair away from his face.
"I'm sure you don't, Adam. But I don't give a damn what you want. You're in no condition to make your own decisions. Lets go," Jay said sternly, pulling Adam up by the arm.
"Alright, alright! You don't gotta be so fucking pushy," Adam snorted, putting his arms up in retreat. As he stood, he toppled backwards, nearly falling over. Jay caught him, pulling him back into an upright position. Putting Adam's arm around his shoulder, he helped him out of the building. Once they were outside, Jay turned to Adam.
"Give me your keys," he demanded, placing his hands out.
"No. I wanna drive myself," Adam said, pushing Jay's hand away.
"Fuck that! Do you have any idea how drunk you are Adam? There is no way in hell I'm going to let you drive. Now, give me your keys!" he repeated.
Adam shoved his hand away again, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the car keys. He tried to turn away, but Jay took advantage of Adam's not-exactly-peak condition, snatching the keys right from his hand.
"Hey! I said I wanted to drive! Gimme my keys back!" Adam cried childishly, yanking the keys from Jay's unsuspecting hand. He immediately clamped his hand shut around them, mocking Jay, "Ha ha, now you can't drive!"
"Adam, grow the fuck up and stop being stupid. Give me the god damn keys!" Jay demanded again, this time angrily.
When Adam didn't comply, Jay grabbed his wrists and began prying at Adam's hands. I'm standing outside in the rain at two o'clock in the morning fighting over car keys with a drunk man. Damn, I am a REALLY good friend. As he thought, he finally managed to yank the keys from Adam's grasp. When he pulled them out of his hand, Adam stumbled, backing into the wall of the building. He slumped down the wall and plopped on the ground, not even caring about the fact that his ass was getting completely soaked from the wet ground.
"Jay, what the hell is going on with my life?" he cried, tears welling up in his eyes. "This isn't me! It's my fucking birthday! I shouldn't be here… I should be with Britney, but I'm not! I'm sitting on the ground outside of a dumpy ass bar, getting completely soaked in the pouring rain. Why the fuck can't ONE good day pass without something really bad putting a damper on it?"
Jay crouched down next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I don't know man. But we'll figure everything out, okay? I promise we will… we just have to go back to the hotel and try and get a little sleep first," he said, his tone changing completely from his last sentence.
"How can I do that? What about Britney? I… I hate her," he said, crossing his arms.
"No you don't Adam… that's just the liquor talking. You know you love her," Jay said, shaking his head. As he glanced down at his best friend, Jay couldn't tell if the drops running down Adam's cheeks were raindrops or tears.
"I… I know I don't. I love her… that's why I hate her. I love her too damn much. I love her so much that she's hurting me without even trying. Oh God, Jay, I need her. I'm so pissed, but I need her so bad."
Now Jay knew that it was tears running down Adam's face. He didn't know what else to do, so he helped his friend up and helped him to the car. Almost immediately after Jay got him seated and belted in, Adam passed out. He wasn't passed out, like unconscious, but he was definitely not waking up anytime soon. Good, Jay thought. He probably needed to sleep, because he was certainly gonna have to deal with a lot of shit when he woke up.
THE NEXT DAYAdam lay in bed trying to watch TV. Jay and Stephanie had went out for the day, instructing Adam to stay in bed as long as he needed. They knew he would have some kind of hangover, so they didn't want him to feel he had to rush around to leave right away. He wished that his damn headache would go away. Actually, it wasn't so bad any more. Over the course of the morning, and after throwing up a few times, it had been reduced to a dull twinge. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Adam groaned, remember his personal policy of always answering the door, no matter what time it was or how you felt. He slowly made his way to the door, wondering who was there, and if he was going to regret answering. He opened the door to see a pair of large tattooed arms crossed in front of an equally large chest.
"Oh shit," Adam muttered as Mark let himself in.
"Oh don't sound so happy to see me," he said sarcastically. "I want to know why you haven't talked to Britney yet."
"Well, I see good news travels around here," Adam griped miserably.
"Don't get your panties in a bunch, Copeland. I like you, you know that. But I have a serious problem with you not letting Britney explain to you what really happened last night. If you'd just listen to her, you would see that she was set up," Mark replied.
Adam rolled his eyes, "Well, Callaway, it's so nice of you to stop by and tell me something that I already know." Mark didn't like the sound of his voice. The kid was usually so positive… now, he was downright bitter.
"Don't get cute. I know what happened last night, okay? And I understand how it looks and all, but that's really not the case. I also know that I watched your girlfriend cry for an hour… and, according to Chris, she continued to do so for another hour and a half before she fell asleep…"
"Oh, well I'm SO glad Chris was there. I mean really, what would we do without a great guy like him. I bet he stayed with her last night too, didn't he? And he probably tucked her in, and… ow! What the fuck was that for?!" Adam said, stopping abruptly when Mark balled his hand into a fist and punched him hard.
"That," Mark replied angrily, "was for being a dick. Hopefully, it'll snap you back into reality. I didn't want to have to do it, but it's apparent that your being deliriously stupid. I'm sure you have a hangover and all, so I'll leave the beating at that. I… I'm a guy, I know what guys do when their upset. But don't think I won't do that again if you say something else stupid. YOU made her cry and YOU made her feel guilty for something she didn't even do."
Adam clutched his face, half in pain, half in shock. So much for the headache going away. The American Badass sure knew how to pack a punch. Mark was right though. He seriously needed to analyze what was going on. He knew that Britney hadn't lied to him… but he HAD to get away from that arena. Seeing his father was not something Adam saw as a treat, and it had just upset him. Still, he made her cry, and that wasn't something he wanted to do.
"You… you're right Mark," Adam replied seriously. "I… it just hurt so bad, to see my father and to think that Britney had something to do with him showing up. I wanted nothing more than to go to her for consolation, but… it just looked bad, ya know? I didn't know what to do, so I just found a bar and drank. If… if Jay didn't follow me, I could be off God knows where, maybe even dead. I… I was downing them pretty quick."
"Well I'm glad he followed you then. Seriously though Adam, something has to be done. Brock and Paul are getting away with way too much shit," Mark commented, thankful that the Canadian's best friend followed him, but still focused on what he came for.
"Yeah I know. Quite frankly, I'm getting sick of it. I… I'm going to do something," he said, nodding his head in agreement.
"Well, whatever that something is, I suggest you do it soon. I don't think either you or Brit could handle it if you broke up. I may be a macho guy, but I know what love is, and that's definitely what you two have. I want you guys to be happy, but with Brock, Heyman, and Levesque free to mess with you it's possible that they'll tear you apart," Mark said solemnly.
Adam shook his head, "No. That won't happen. I won't let it. I… I think I'm going to Vince today. I know I've said before that he'd be useless, but I think I have enough to go against him." Mark eyed him curiously.
"And just how do you plan to appeal to him?" he asked.
"With the truth," Adam stated firmly. "He and I don't have much in common, but we do share one thing… we both love Britney very much. If I can just get him to believe that Brock is the one who caused Britney all that grief, and get him to believe what Paul has done to Steph, he'll definitely be on our side."
Mark nodded in agreement. "So how much do you think you'll have to tell him for him to buy it?" he asked.
Adam laughed, almost ruefully. "Everything."
