Author's Note: I'm not doing very well at the whole "I'll try to update more often" thing, am I? I didn't think so. Sorry. Blah, blah, blah. Nothing you haven't read before. So let's just skip this whole rambling section and get into the story…

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Chapter 9: Cackling - June 19, 2003

"DETAILS! I need details!" Stephanie shrieked into her cell phone.

"Calm down, Stephanie," Ella instructed the older woman.

"Ok, ok, ok. I'm calm," Stephanie said hurriedly. "Now will you tell me what happened?"

Ella rolled her eyes at the other end of the phone line. "Nothing happened. We had lunch. Then we went home. Well, I went home and he probably went to a hotel 'cause he doesn't live here… but that's not the point. My point is that nothing happened. I know you want to believe that something did, but nothing did." Ella could almost see Stephanie pouting.

"And why didn't anything happen?" Stephanie pried.

"Because a car alarm went off."

"What?" Stephanie asked, confused at the response.

"Something was gonna happen, but a car alarm went off."

"He was gonna kiss you!" Stephanie shouted.

Ella pulled the phone away from her ear due to Stephanie's screams. Once they had subsided, Ella remarked that she shouldn't tell Stephanie anything ever again.

"Even if you shouldn't, you would because you love me so much," Stephanie retorted cheekily.

"As much as I hate to admit it, it's true. You're like a sister to me," Ella admitted.

Stephanie cooed. "Aww! I love you too! We're soul sistahs!"

"No," Ella replied quickly. "Never say that again!" she laughed.

"What? I can be ghetto… yo," Stephanie stuttered a bit.

"No way, Dog," Ella mocked.

"Well," Stephanie huffed. "I've never been so insulted in my life!"

"Are you sure? I've read some of the stuff that Chris Jericho has said to you…"

"That was all scripted. Besides, Chris doesn't really think that of me," Stephanie said defensively.

"Or maybe that's just what he wants you to think."

"If he didn't like me, why would he care if I knew?" Stephanie asked.

"Because then you could tell your dad that he actually meant those things and he could get fired."

"But he should know that my dad wouldn't fire him just because he doesn't like me."

"Well maybe he doesn't know that."

"That's true," Stephanie agreed. "I mean, he is a blonde."

"And so is your fiancé," Ella reminded her friend.

"Oh yeah. Well, he's an exception." Stephanie gasped, "Did you hear about Chris?"

"What?"

"He's getting a divorce," Stephanie confided in her friend.

"I didn't know he was married," Ella replied. "But what happened?"

"He has no idea. He called me this morning, heartbroken. His wife sprung it on him. Apparently they have 'irreconcilable differences.' He thought they were happy together."

"Poor thing," Ella said.

"Yeah. He's one of my best friends too. I feel so bad for him. He really loved Jessica."

"And he has no idea why she wants a divorce?" Ella questioned.

"None whatsoever."

"Aww. Poor guy."

"Yeah. She was so sweet too. They seemed perfect for each other. I don't know what could've gone wrong, unless she met someone else, because Chris is not the kind of guy to cheat on his wife," Stephanie explained.

"Yeah, he doesn't sound like it as crazy as he seems," Ella commented.

"So I'll be in New York with you guys on Monday to see Chris," Stephanie informed her friend.

"And Paul," Ella added knowingly.

"And Paul," Stephanie repeated. "But me and Chris are really close too, ya know? He needs me."

"Yeah, how do you not grow close with someone who calls you a slut, among other unflattering names?" Ella questioned, laughing.

"Well, it does bring two people closer together," Stephanie said sighed.

"What's wrong?" Ella asked hearing something in Stephanie's voice.

"The wedding," Stephanie answered. "It's just stressing me out with all the plans. And then we have to figure out how to get the both of us off TV, but that will get taken care of when it gets closer to the date. I'm so nervous."

"You have four months. You'll be fine. And if you need any help planning, you know you have me," Ella reminded her friend.

"Thanks. So when are you and Rob gonna go out again? And finally kiss?" Stephanie pried, like usual.

"Well, I talked to him earlier and he's gonna come over and we're gonna have dinner here," Ella slowly revealed to her friend.

Ella could hear Stephanie trying to contain her squeals of delight. "That sounds nice," Stephanie let out through clenched teeth.

"Go ahead," Ella sighed.

Stephanie screamed in excitement. "If you keep this up, you two can get engaged by August and get married with me and Paul in October. See? Things are turning out perfectly!"

Ella laughed. "You're crazy. At least you haven't started naming our children for us," Ella joked.

"You're gonna have kids! See? You and Rob are gonna get married. Oh! I know! We can have our kids together. Well not together as in you and me together conceiving a child, but you can have your baby and I can have my baby at the same time! And our kids can get married!" Stephanie babbled.

"What if they're both boys?"

"So they'll be gay. No big deal," Stephanie shrugged. "And if they're not, we can always have more."

Ella shook her head. "Should I be writing any of this down?"

"Only if you want. If you don't, I'll remember everything. Now… what was I talking about?"

"Shane's wife," Ella answered.

"Oh, right, I don't like her. I don't want her at my wedding but Shane has this thing where he thinks she should go or something like that. I don't know. I didn't bother listening to him. But he's known her since he was in high school. I guess he felt obligated or whatever. He says it's love, but I don't believe him."

"I need to meet her," Ella commented.

"You do. You should totally hit on Shane when you meet her!" Stephanie suggested.

"Jealous type?"

"That's an understatement. She likes to know where he is 24/7. I'm surprised that she doesn't have a tracking device on him or something," Stephanie said.

"Maybe I should," Ella toyed with the idea.

"Please. You have no idea how much I would enjoy that," Stephanie begged.

Ella grinned. "Ok."

Stephanie practically cackled. "So when do you wanna meet her? Pick a date, I'll invite Shane while Marissa's there and I'm positive that once she finds out that a woman that's not family will be at dinner, she'll tag along."

"Why wasn't she there last time I came over?"

"Oh, I didn't tell Shane that you were coming, duh! But anyways, pick a date," Stephanie instructed her friend.

"Right. How's Saturday? Or tomorrow even. But I'd go for Saturday. I need to practice my 'I-want-Shane' looks."

"Eew. But Saturday's fine. Come over around 4."

"Alright," Ella agreed.

"And wear something low-cut and tight," Stephanie consulted her friend.

"We'll see."

Stephanie squealed. "This is gonna be so much fun!"

"I'll see you Saturday."

"Ok. Bye. And kiss Rob!"

"Bye." With that, Ella hung up and started to laugh a bit at Stephanie's antics. She really did love the girl to death, but sometimes she acted like she was still six-years-old. But that only amused Ella even more.

Pushing Stephanie to the back of her mind, she decided to start getting ready. She already had the garlic bread ready to pop into the oven. And she just had to heat the sauce and boil the noodles. The salad was chilling in the fridge.

She walked into her room and began rummaging through her closet.

She found a dark red long-sleeved shirt with a v-neck and a black skirt that stopped at mid-thigh. She found a pair of black heels to go with her outfit. She rolled her hair onto some large steam rollers that had been heating up for the last fifteen minutes. She had about half an hour before Rob showed up, if he showed up on time that is. She rushed back into the adequate kitchen and put the spaghetti noodles into the pot of simmering water. She didn't want the food to be cold so she planned on taking everything out of the pot once he got there. And if he showed up early, she could just turn up the heat on the stove.

She began setting the table until everything was perfect. She then pulled out a few candles to set a romantic mood. She honestly had no idea why she was going through so much trouble for dinner with a guy she had only met that week. But she didn't have time to think about that. She put a jazz CD into her stereo and adjusted the volume so it would play softly in the background. About ten minutes. She scurried back into the kitchen and slid the sheet of garlic bread into the oven. She then ran into her bedroom and took out the curlers. They didn't hold very well, but that was the plan. She just wanted a slight curl at the bottom and that was what she got. About five minutes.

She busied herself by just picking at her nails, a bad habit of hers when she was nervous.

When there was a knock at her door, she was actually startled. Smoothing her already impeccable outfit, she went over to the door and slowly opened the door. As soon as it was open, she opened the door to reveal a grinning Rob with a bouquet of roses in his hands.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," she returned, stepping aside. "Come in."

"Thanks," he replied, entering her apartment. "You look really nice. Not that you usually don't. Oh, these are for you." He handed the flowers over to Ella.

"They're beautiful. Thank you," she said. "I'm just gonna go put these in water. Sit down." With that, she hurried into the kitchen and found a vase. Filling it with water, she arranged the roses then set them on the counter. She pulled out the garlic bread from the oven and turned off the stove.

"It smells really good!" he complimented from the couch. "Do you need any help?"

"No, don't worry about it," she said, piling the plates with food. She took them and placed them on the small table in the dining room. She took a deep breath as she went back into the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of wine and two glasses. "Just relax," she whispered to herself.

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Author's Note: Ok… now I can do the rambling thing. I'm so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry that I haven't updated in forever! I don't know why. Well…actually I do. I couldn't think of anything to write, I didn't have much time, and I started other stories when I did have time. If you would like to read those… *hint hint* you can go to fiction press.com… it's under the same pen name. So yeah. But thank you to all the reviewers and readers (even the ones who don't review, and that would be all of you readers because if you reviewed then you would be a reviewer). But seriously, thanks. I really appreciate you all sticking with me on this story and encouraging me to continue writing. That's all. Love you guys!