What was going on in the mind of the one and only René Dupree at the current point of time was how to bring up the subject of his tag team partner and Leila's twin sister, and whether to charge in like a bull in a china shop or go about subtly.
"Can I ask you something, René?"
"Sure."
"The black eye. How did you get that?"
He had completely forgotten about his black eye until Leila had mentioned it. He touched it, noting that the swelling didn't appear to be any worse.
"Those damn Dudleys gave me a 3D, luckily not through a table. I just landed funny."
Out of the corner of his eye, René could see Leila was blinking furiously and appeared to be crying. Surely, she wasn't crying on his account?
She was quick to offer an explanation.
"It's hayfever. I look like I'm crying but that's only because my eye is watering really bad and I'm waiting for the pill I took just before to kick in."
"So you're not crying because I have a black eye?"
"Definitely not."
Fifteen minutes later, they had arrived at McDonalds. As there was hardly anyone in the restaurant, Leila walked straight up to the counter and promptly stopped.
"The one time I forget my glasses and it's now. But I don't really need to look at the menu to know what I want. It's all in here." Leila tapped her head and quickly gave her order, which consisted of a Big Mac combo, large fries and a chocolate sundae. "Besides, you're here now. You have to get something, even if it's just a hamburger."
She would make him get something too, René realised. She was armed and dangerous with a pair of crutches and there was also the matter of her hands. Small they might've been but they could pack a punch. So he had been told but he had no desire to experience them for himself. Not in that way, at least.
"They call this a hamburger?" René asked after he unwrapped his burger. It was a sad and pathetic sight almost as bad as the omelette he had been served that morning.
"Well, if you don't want it, I'll eat it once I've finished this," Leila replied, busily removing the beef patties and pickles from her Big Mac and replacing them with the fries. "I'm on the see food diet."
"The see food and eat it diet? I could almost believe that."
Leila was about halfway through her new look Big Mac when René spoke again.
"How long did it take Sophie to tell you where she and Sylvan went to last night?"
"A while. Once she actually realised that I really was worried about where she had been and that our father was a bit worried about her as well. His protective arm stretches out across the Atlantic! What about Sly?"
"Took him a while too. He seems to think there are two sets of rules - one lot for him and one for me. Naturally, his are more lenient than mine. I told him that compared to me, he is the rookie of the two of us. But he did tell me to tell you that he did her no harm. He wouldn't anyway."
"Well, you can tell him that he can tell me that to my face."
Sneaking looks around the restaurant, René could see that some of the patrons were giving him and Leila dirty looks because they were speaking in French. Was it his fault that these Americans couldn't correspond in French?
He was also sneaking looks at Leila. Compared to what she was wearing when he first set his beady little eyes onto her, she looked very scruffy today in her French rugby shirt and dark grey tracksuit pants. Her hair was just about everywhere and it appeared that she didn't care about what people thought about it. Bed hair. Leila pulled that look off very well indeed.
"Indeed I shall tell him that. When we get back to the hotel. How does that sound?"
Leila nodded in agreement and went back to finishing her 'Leila Big Mac' as she called it. When questioned by René about the contents of it, she explained that she had never liked red meat and hated the pickles so they were replaced with the French fries. Fairly simple, when you thought about it.
A couple of teenage girls walked up to René and asked him for his autograph, openly glaring at Leila because she happened to be sitting with him and they weren't. René tried not to laugh in front of the girls because even he could see the girls were in envy of Leila but they didn't have a broken ankle. They didn't have a twin sister who disappeared with his tag team partner for several hours the night before.
They didn't have a hold on his heart.
He waited until the teenage girls had sat with their friends before speaking again.
"They were in awe of you."
"Why? Because I happen to be sitting at a table in McDonalds with René Dupree and treating you like Mr Joe Bloggs?"
"Pretty much. They looked like they wanted to kill you."
"They'll build a bridge and get over it. Besides, they treat you differently. To me, despite the fact that you're a WWE superstar, you're still a regular person. To them, you're a god. You'd walk on water if they asked you to."
Why did he spend his time with Leila? What she said was true. She did treat him like a regular person and he liked that a lot. Almost as much as he liked her.
"I have to thank you for those tickets."
"Don't worry about it. It was the least I could do. Besides, if the American staff didn't get my wrestling attire and your lingerie mixed up, we probably would never have had the chance to get to know each other."
Leila paused, the sundae spoon still in her mouth. She took it out and put it in her now empty sundae container, looking out onto the street, mulling over René's words. She was totally unprepared for him reaching over the tray and grasping her hand.
"And I'm glad we were given that chance and that we've taken it. You really are a lovely young woman, Leila. The man who succeeds in gaining the key to your heart will truly be a lucky man indeed."
The way she reared back from René and took her hand back told him that he had been too forward too soon. She was clenching her left fist, possibly debating whether to give him another black eye to match his first one.
Damn it! Sometimes, he spoke before he thought and this was one of those times. The friendly camaraderie that had existed between them had virtually disappeared. Hell, Leila couldn't even look at him any more.
"I know I shouldn't have said that but it's the truth, Leila."
He knew she had heard enough when she simply got up from her seat, grabbed her crutches and somehow managed to get out of the restaurant.
Covering his face with his hands and muttering a few French expletives, René got up and caught up with Leila. Anything could've happened to her when he wasn't with her.
"Look, Leila, I really am sorry about what I said in there. Sometimes, I say things I don't mean to say at that moment and that was one of them. I put my foot in that one big time."
He noted, with some degree of happiness, that the look of distress on Leila's face slowly disappeared to be replaced by a sheepish look. Did she like the fact that René Dupree had made a complete and utter fool of himself in front of her? When did he ever do anything like that?
"Forgive me?"
"I suppose so. Okay, I do forgive you. Happy now?"
"I think so."
Leila laughed a little, releasing a little of the frustration that had been annoying her ever since René had made his declaration, and felt somewhat better. She noted that he appeared to look a little happier too.
By the time they got back to the hotel, the friendly banter that was there earlier was back, with René telling Leila a few stories about Sylvan and the various things he got up to. As they walked into the lobby, they could hear Sophie's laughter. She and Sylvan were in the hotel's club, probably starting on the bar tab they had won in the karaoke competition.
"I think we might have to help them drink that."
Leila nodded and followed René into the club. Her ankle was hurting a little so she reasoned that a little plonk would help the pain go away…

A/N: Plonk is New Zealand slang for alcohol.