PART SEVEN
LATER THAT NIGHT
Randy headed to the backstage area after his match, wiping the sweat off of his forehead tiredly. As he walked through the halls with Ric Flair and Paul Levesque, he kept his eyes open for Michelle. He hadn't seen her all day, not since she'd left his hotel room that morning. Actually, he had seen her once, in the hallway by the women's locker room. He had called her name, but when she looked over and saw him, she turned away and went into the room, almost like she didn't want to see him. He hoped nothing was wrong. Needless to say, his eyes darted around the halls in search of her, while Paul and Ric had a conversation around him.
"…so what do you think Randy?" Paul's voice cut into his thoughts suddenly. Orton shook his head, snapping himself out of his daze as he turned to face his partner.
"I, uh… I'm sorry, what were you saying?" he asked, confused. Ric sent him a questioning look.
"What's been up with you lately man? Your head's been floating on a different planet or something, ever since…"
"Ever since he started hanging around with Michelle," Paul said knowingly, sending Randy a teasing smile. Randy's eyes lit up at the mention of her name.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he challenged, crossing his arms in front of him and stopping in front of the Evolution locker room door. Paul shrugged, silly grin still plastered on his face.
"Oh nothing, except that you've only been spending every waking minute of the past 48 hours with her. I'm starting to think you love her more than me," he said, sniffling playfully. Randy laughed quietly, shaking his head. Sometimes he wondered who was the older of the two of them.
"Oh Paul, you know there's a special place in my heart reserved especially for you," he replied, winking at him.
Paul laughed, shaking his head as Randy opened the door to the locker room and stepped inside. Ric walked past Paul as well, following Randy inside. Just as Levesque was about to go in the room, he heard voices coming from down the hall… women's voices. He turned his head, noticing Trish, Stacy, and Michelle, standing out in the hallway talking. Thinking that his younger friend might be interested in seeing Michelle, he stepped into the locker room and called out to him.
"Randy!" he yelled to the young man, who had already headed to the shower. Randy popped out, still wearing his wrestling trunks. "Your girlfriend's outside if you want to see her."
"She is? Great, thanks Paul," he said, patting his friend on the shoulder as he walked out of the locker room.
"Man, is he whipped or what?" Ric spoke up in disbelief, shaking his head and smiling. Not that it wasn't to see Randy with someone to spend time with. He knew better than anyone after all the years that it could get very lonely on the road.
"Definitely," Paul agreed. "It's worse than I thought too." As he finished his statement, he broke into laughter, standing in the open doorway. Flair raised an eyebrow.
"Why's that?" he asked curiously. Paul, who was still laughing, pointed at Randy, who was walking in the direction of the women. The World Heavyweight Champion sighed, finally answering.
"He's so excited about going to see her that he doesn't even realize he only has one boot on."
* * * * *
Randy slowly approached the women, all of whom had their backs to him. He stepped up behind them, watching with all as they held a conversation… if you could call it that. His eyes followed their mouths as they all spoke at the same time, each woman trying to take control of the conversation. He would never understand how they could even comprehend each other when they spoke like that. Women…
"Um, hey guys," he said suddenly, his deep voice cutting into their discussion and causing them to all stop speaking. The three blonde women turned around to see who had interrupted them.
"Hey Randy," Stacy said cheerily, deciding to be the first to greet him. Randy sent her a warm smile, waving as well.
"What's up ladies?" he asked, his eyes now focusing on Michelle. She looked up at him briefly, but after meeting his blue eyes, hers darted down and locked on the floor.
"Nothing really," Trish replied. Then, she glanced over at her best friend, eyeing her silently. Now would be a good time for her and Randy to talk things over. "Stacy and I were just talking about going to see Drew. I haven't talked to him in awhile." Stacy glanced over at Trish, raising an eyebrow at her.
"We weren't…"
"Yes we were! In fact, we were just leaving!" Trish cut her off, grabbing her tiny wrist and pulling her away, leaving Michelle and Randy to stand outside the women's locker room door alone. Michelle sent Trish a murderous glare.
"Bitch," she mouthed to her, to which Trish grinned and winked playfully. She shook her head, turning to once again face Randy.
"So…" Randy said, placing a hand on his waist and leaning against the wall.
"So…"
Michelle had to force herself to keep her eyes off of him. She knew that if she so much as passed a glance at him, she would melt. He just had this power over her, one that he didn't even realize he obtained. One look at him – especially if it was in the eyes – and she was done… her knees got watery, she couldn't speak, she couldn't think. There was something about the way being around him made her feel… it excited her, it thrilled her…
It also scared the shit out of her.
Michelle couldn't help but think of what Trish had told her earlier, about Randy not being the relationship type. If that was the case, and Randy didn't share any of the feelings she had, then she didn't want to be associated with him. It just wasn't fair to her to be with someone who only liked her to have sex with her. She should have *known* not to just jump in bed with him. She supposed the angst she was feeling right now was her punishment for going against her beliefs.
"So, what are you doing tonight after the show? I was thinking maybe we could go and get something to eat or something," Randy suggested. Michelle frowned, finally daring to look up at him.
"I-I don't think that's a good idea Randy," she said, looking down at the floor again. Randy was confused, but he shrugged it off.
"Okay… maybe some other time soon then?" he asked hopefully, frowning when she shook her head.
"No. Randy, listen, I think it would be best if we just stopped everything now. We can't see each other anymore," she said sadly, kicking the ground softly with her foot. She noticed that he was only wearing one boot, but to refrain from derailing the conversation any further, she said nothing of it.
"What? Why not?" he asked, obviously hurt.
"Because we just can't, that's all," she replied plainly.
Not satisfied with her answer, Randy gently placed his hand under her chin, carefully tilting her face up so that she was looking up at him. His stomach dropped when he noticed that tears had filled her eyes. He had made her cry… but how? All he did was ask her out again… wasn't that what she wanted? All he knew was that he couldn't *stand* to see women crying. It made him want to pull her to him and hug her tightly, to take whatever it was that was hurting her and destroy it. The only problem with that was that it was *him* that upset her so much.
"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked worriedly, wincing as a tear slipped out and slid down her cheek. Shaking her head, Michelle pried his hand off of her, blinking the tears back and taking a deep breath.
"Nothing, I just… I have to go," she said, turning promptly on her heel and speeding away from him.
Once she was gone, Randy sighed, rubbing his temples soothingly. What the hell was that about? He had no intentions of hurting her, but he must have if she started crying out of the blue like that. To add insult to injury, she had rejected him. He had *never* been turned down before. It was just his luck… all of the other women who dated him in a heartbeat were worthless compared to the one that turned him away. He just didn't understand. Why? He sighed again…
"What did I do?"
Hey! Sorry once again for taking so long to update… hope you like it!