PART 13
"You know, I think what you did was totally justifiable."
Trish's brown gaze traveled up, locking on the hazel eyes of Lita. The previous statement was the redheaded diva's response to the story she had finished telling only a few minutes ago. Trish nodded slowly, and then she took her eyes off Lita and settled them on the other woman who had been sitting with them. For some reason, Trish felt that Stacy Keibler's opinion would be just the opposite of Lita's. Surely enough, it was but a matter of moments before the leggy blonde spoke up, voicing her opinion.
"Justifiable?" she questioned, a look of disbelief crossing her features. "How is sleeping with John Cena and then walking out on him a justifiable thing to do?" Lita glanced over at Stacy, sending the younger woman a look similar to the one she was receiving.
"What do you mean how? That bastard did the same thing to her a few weeks back, not mention all the other crap he's pulled with her. It's about time he was served up a little payback!" she cried defensively.
"But this is different," Stacy insisted softly, refusing to raise her voice to the volume of the redhead's. She wanted to get her point across, but she didn't want an argument to ensue. "I do agree that John has done some shitty things in the past, but I also feel that he didn't deserve this.
Sure, he walked out on Trish, and that *was* a despicable thing to do, but at least he did so before having sex with her."
Lita stared at Stacy pointedly, and she thought about what she said. Being as close to Trish as she was, one would think she'd want to annihilate Cena for screwing around with her, literally and figuratively. Lita supposed she was a bit more fiery in nature than Stacy, but she would expect her to at least be in complete defense of Trish in this situation, especially since Trish was her best friend. Just then, a thought occurred to her, and her eyebrow raised slightly.
"Why are you so defensive of John anyway?" she asked suddenly, tossing a challenging glance at her.
Stacy looked up, her mouth gaping open slightly. For a moment, she remained silent, her gaze moving over to Trish for a second before locking intently on Lita. Her expression changed to one that almost resembled anger.
"Because Lita, he's good guy, and if people didn't spend so much time giving him such a negative attitude, maybe they'd be able to see it," she said in a huff.
She stood, straightening out her skirt and wordlessly making her way out of the locker room. Lita watched Stacy exit the room, sighing as the door slammed shut behind her.
"What's up her ass?" she asked quietly, shaking her head.
Trish, who had said nothing since Lita and Stacy had gone off on their own discussion, glanced over at her redheaded friend, a lost look in her eyes. Lita frowned, her forehead wrinkling in concern. She gently placed a hand on Trish's shoulder, sighing again.
"Don't let it get to you. It happens sometimes," she offered with a shrug. Trish shook her head, her gaze dropping down to the blue carpet below them.
"Not with me it doesn't, Li," Trish replied, her voice becoming slightly choked. "It may happen with some people, but I certainly didn't want to be one of them. And I *certainly* didn't want to walk out on him. I don't know what I was thinking..."
"Trish, you were completely trashed," Lita reasoned. "You know how you get when you're really drunk. You lose self control... that's all that happened here. Be thankful you got yourself out of there before John woke up."
When a few moments passed, and Trish didn't speak, Lita's gaze dropped down, studying her Canadian friend's face curiously. For someone who had seemed happy about what she'd done only minutes ago, her face sure wore a guilt-stricken look. She slid her tongue along the backs of her teeth, careful not to bump the still sore areas of her tongue as she contemplated Trish's expression. She opened her mouth to speak, but Trish beat her to the punch, turning to Lita and taking the redhead's hand in hers.
"Lita, what if I told you I don't regret what happened last night?" she asked suddenly, pulling her left hand away the
rake in through her blonde locks. Lita's eyes widened in shock.
"How can you not regret sleeping with that repulsive letch?" she remarked with a hasty laugh. "Trish, what's wrong with you? I'd say you were more drunk than I thought... maybe still are."
Trish frowned at Lita's harsh words towards John, trying her best not to make the offense she took to the words visible. She inhaled deeply, taking a slow, long breath, noting just how nervous she was in the shaky exhale.
"That's just the thing, Lita. Last night, when John and I had sex... I wasn't drunk."
* * * *
Stacy mumbled to herself as she hurried her way down the hall in search of Chris. After the way Lita put John down a few minutes ago, she needed to talk to someone, and other than Trish, he was the only person who knew of their relationship. In all actuality, she needed to speak with Chris anyway. She hadn't seen him - Test, Scott Steiner, or anyone else for that matter - since the night before. After the mishap during Test's match at Unforgiven, Stacy made herself scarce. She knew Chris would worry, but she also knew she was running a big risk for both of their well beings had she stayed and went to him.
The young woman shook her head as she placed her hand in the pocket of her skirt, feeling the plastic keycard beneath her fingertips. She had rushed back to the hotel and booked her own hotel room, being sure to specifically request that no visitors be given her room number. If she knew Andrew like she thought she did, he would have figured out what she was up to and gone to the front desk asking about her. She was actually surprised he didn't rip each and every door in the hotel off by it's hinges looking for her. She supposed maybe he just didn't care.
Stacy sighed as her mind drifted off of Test and onto another blonde Canadian. She couldn't help but feel she had taken advantage of Chris over the past few months. She knew of Jericho's feelings for her, yet whenever the topic of the two of them came up, or whenever he brought up the idea of her leaving Test, she changed the subject, pushing the matter away. Fact of the matter was, she *did* like Chris, and she could actually see herself with him one day...
'One day' never seemed to want to show up.
It was just so damn impossible to get away from Test. Sure, it was easy to sneak away for a few hours while he was off with his own friends, but leaving him in general just seemed like an unreachable goal. It was pathetic, she was pathetic, and Stacy knew it. No matter how many times she swore to herself she would, she refused to leave him. She just couldn't. He was always going to be there, whether it was in a hotel room, in a relationship...
In an arena hallway.
Stacy gasped as she looked up, meeting the fierce eyes of Test. Quickly pulling her hand out of her pocket, she took a step back and tossed her arm in the air, waving at him in a placating gesture.
"Andrew!" she cried, startled. "I..."
"I've been looking for you, Stacy," he said, his tone so flat and dry that it was frightening. "You pulled some pretty interesting shit last night."
"Andrew, look, I can explain," Stacy insisted, and was prepared to continue, until Test cut her off with a sharp slap to the face.
"Shut up!" he yelled, and Stacy couldn't help but let out a cry of pain, rubbing her cheek. "I don't want an explanation from you. I know what you were trying to do Stacy, and if you think you can get rid of me by whacking me in the head, think again honey. You won't leave me Stacy... I won't allow it. And if you think for a second that Jericho is going to save you..."
"Leave Chris out of this," she cut him off, pleasantly surprised at the steadiness in her voice. "He never did anything to you."
"He wants my girlfriend. That's crime enough for me to see fit to kick the living shit out of him, and I'm going to do just that the next time I see him," he said, taking a step away from her.
Stacy eyed Test silently, knowing that now that he had said his peace, he was most likely going to leave. The Canadian man, took a step in the opposite direction, only to freeze and turn back around, facing Stacy once again.
"But for now," he said, an evil, sadistic gleam in his eye, "I'll just have to deal with you. You don't think I'm going to let you get away with what you did..."
Before Stacy had an opportunity to answer, Test raised his fist, laying into her with all his strength.