Chapter 16:
"Hey guys. Guys!" Amy yelled at Matt and Jeff to get their attention. "C'mon, let's go to catering and get something to eat because I'm hungry."
"Jeez, you're always hungry!" Jeff complained. "Did you turn into a bottomless pit or something?"
"No Jeff, it's just that after spending so much time with you that my stomach has trained itself to think that it needs to eat six times a day," Amy said, rolling her eyes.
"I can't help that! I'm a growing boy!" Jeff protested.
"Yeah, you're growing all right," Amy agreed. "Growing from side to side!"
"That was mean," Jeff pouted.
"I know," Amy smiled widely. "Now let's go."
"Okay children," Matt said, wrapping his arm around his girlfriend's shoulder. "Let's go eat."
"Yay!" Amy cheered as they walked off. "Hey!" she said, sticking her tongue out at Jeff when he poked her in the side.
"What?" Jeff said, acting innocent.
Amy rolled her eyes at him. "Grow up Jeffrey!"
"I will when you will!" Jeff said in a singsong voice.
"Well, then why haven't you already? Amy quit growing when she was in like the eighth grade!" Matt teased.
"Hey!" Amy exclaimed, punching him in the side. "I don't need any short jokes!"
"Yeah well, it was the perfect opening," Matt said, rubbing his side with his free hand. "That was harsh by the way."
"You deserved it!"
"I did not! I merely took advantage of the conversational opening that was there!"
"Oh, whatever!"
"Don't whatever me, Miss Whatever!"
"I'll whatever whoever I want to whatever!"
"Do what?!"
"That's what I thought," Amy said and tossed her hair. "I win!"
"Oh you so suck," Matt said.
"Okay, this is information that I DON'T need to know!" Jeff complained. "Whatever you do behind closed doors should stay there!"
"Hush Jeff. Try getting your mind out of the gutter for once, because that conversation was completely innocent!" Amy told him as they reached the catering area. "Now be quiet and let me eat in peace and quiet!"
Jeff just rolled his eyes at her as they walked in and went straight for the buffet line. "Oooh, macaroni and cheese!" Jeff practically drooled at the sight of his favorite food.
"Down boy," Amy said, handing him a napkin. "You might need this."
"Oh shut up," Jeff said, sticking his tongue out at her.
Amy just laughed and filled her plate with food and made her way to the table where Shane Helms was sitting. "Hey Hurridork," she joked.
"What's up sunshine?" Shane said.
"Not a whole lot, how are you?"
"Kinda upset actually. I just lost a match to La Resistance," Shane said sadly.
"Oh," Amy said. She didn't really know who to side with on this one. She loved Shane like a brother and was sad that he'd lost, but then again she was happy for Rene because he'd turned out to be a genuinely nice guy and he deserved to do well in the company.
"Yeah," Shane shrugged. "Oh well, shit happens and life goes on."
"Pretty much," Amy agreed. She smiled up at Matt as he came to sit down next to her.
"What's up Shane?" Matt asked.
"Nothing much dude, you?"
"About the same, although trying to keep your sanity when Amy and Jeff fight all the time is damn near impossible," Matt said, looking at his girlfriend out of the corner of his eye.
"Hey, at least I'm not as bad as Jean," Amy said. "She and Jeff have some pretty spectacular fights!"
"Who's Jean?" Shane asked, completely confused.
"My cousin," Matt explained. "She debuted tonight as the new member of Evolution. She interfered in Jeff and Randy's match...you probably saw her."
"OH!" Shane exclaimed. "Dang, how did she get to be so cute when she's related to you two freaks?" he asked, directing his question to both Matt and Jeff who was getting ready to sit down at the table.
"I don't know either," Amy said, teasing her boyfriend. "I guess all the good genes just skipped over these two and went straight to her."
"Hey!" Matt protested. "I'm cute!"
"I'm cuter!" Jeff claimed.
"No, you're not!" Amy said, supporting her boyfriend.
"Ha! So you do think I'm cute!" Matt crowed gleefully.
"No, I just said that you're cuter than Jeff. I still could think that you were butt-ass ugly though," Amy said, winking at Shane.
"That hurt Amy, that really did," Matt said, looking down at his plate sadly.
"Aww, sweetie," Amy said, caving at the look on Matt's face. "You know I think you're the hottest man around. I wouldn't be going out with you if I didn't think you were adorable!"
"That's better," Matt said, kissing her on the cheek.
Jeff gagged at the sickeningly sweet display. "Y'all can stop at any time now."
"Yeah please," Shane agreed. "Lily's back in North Carolina for another two weeks, and the last thing I want to see right now is two people being lovey-dovey because it just makes me miss her," he said sadly, thinking about his girlfriend.
"Aww," Amy cooed, looking at Shane. "That's so cute! How long have y'all been together now?"
"We've been official for a little over a year, but we've been seeing each other for a year and a half," Shane told her. "She's back home right now because her younger sister just graduated from college last weekend and is moving in with her."
"That's cool," Amy said. "So is her sister going to work here too?"
"Yeah, Anne got a job on the writing team because she said that she couldn't stand doing wardrobe with Lily because working with her all the time would drive her up the wall," Shane said, smiling at the memory. "Anne said it reminds her too much of what living at home was like when they shared a bedroom, and that it just got worse when they went to high school together."
Jeff looked at Matt then back at Shane. "You have no idea how bad is. Try living with Matt for eighteen years!"
"I wasn't as bad as you were!" Matt complained. "I didn't play my damn guitar at 3 AM every night!"
"I only did that for a week!"
"Well, it was a week longer than I wanted to listen to it!"
"I'd just broken up with Beth! Give me a break here!"
"Dude, you broke up with Beth every other month!"
"So? They were still traumatic!"
"Dude, you don't even know what that word means!"
"SO? It sounded cool at least!"
"Ahh!" Matt rolled his eyes at Jeff. "You're hopeless. Absolutely hopeless!"
"Y'all can stop at any time now. You know that?" Amy said. Her attention was suddenly distracted from the bickering brothers when she saw Randy Orton walk into the catering room. *What in the world?* she wondered to herself as she saw the sad look on his face. "I'll be right back," she said to the guys, who nodded and continued their fight as Shane looked on and laughed. She quickly made her way over to Randy who was sitting at a back table by himself and she sat down across from him.
"Hey," Randy said, looking up as he saw Amy sit down across from him.
"Hey," Amy replied. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Randy denied, looking down again.
"Bullshit. What's going on?"
"Don't worry about it Amy. It's nothing important."
"Don't try that crap with me Randy. I've been dating Matt for two years now, and I can tell when a guy doesn't want to admit something's wrong. So you can either tell me now, or we can do this the hard way."
"What exactly is the hard way?" Randy joked, trying to avoid the subject.
"I tickle you until you tell me the truth."
"Ookay then. I'd rather avoid that."
"Good. Now tell me what's going on."
"I...uh...well, I kinda like someone," he admitted shyly.
Amy got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. *This is so not going to be good.* "And...?"
"Well...I don't think she likes me back."
"Have you asked her?"
"Well, no. But she had a date with a guy tonight, so I don't think she'd be interested in me."
*Uh-oh.* "Well, it wouldn't hurt to ask Randy. You never know unless you ask because a lot of girls don't wear their hearts on their sleeve because it's easier when a guy doesn't know how you feel about them."
"Yeah, I guess."
"So am I allowed to know who this girl is?" Amy asked, even though she had a very distinct feeling that she knew who it was.
Randy just looked at her.
"It's Jean isn't it," she said quietly.
Randy nodded, then looked down at his hands again without a word.
"Oh, crap," Amy said unhappily. "Well, I guess I'm going to have to take back my advice because I know that she's really happy with Rene right now."
Randy nodded sadly. "I know. I saw them when they left for their date. They were both laughing and running down the hallway."
"Oh, Randy, I'm...I'm sorry." Amy really didn't know what to say.
"Don't be," he told her, shaking his head. "You didn't know that I was going to be interested in her the first time that I met her. It's no one's fault. Rene just found her first, and if they're happy together than great! She should be happy because she seems like a great girl."
Amy stared at him. Although she knew that Randy was nowhere near as bad as his Evolution persona, she hadn't realized that he was this decent of a guy. "That's really sweet of you Randy."
He shrugged. "Yeah well, I'm not as big of an asshole as everyone seems to think that I am. Just because I play one doesn't make me one."
Amy nodded. "Randy, I never thought you were an asshole off camera."
Randy smiled ruefully. "Yeah well, you're one of the few."
Amy leaned across the table and hugged him. "It's cool Randy. I think you're a great guy. I'll make you a deal though."
"What?"
"I'll try and find you a good girl to date as long as you promise to be careful around Jean in the ring."
"Well, sure, but that's not much of a deal for you because I'd be doing that anyway," Randy said, slightly confused.
"I know, but it makes it sound better to Matt and Jeff if I can say that I have your promise to avoid hurting her at all costs," Amy explained.
"Oh, okay," Randy said. "Well, I guess we've got a deal then."
"Awesome!" Amy said happily. "Well, I'm going to go save Shane from the battling brothers, so I'll talk to you later then."
"Yeah," Randy said, smiling halfheartedly up at her. He appreciated her effort to make him feel better by offering to find him a girl, but he wasn't sure that that would work out the way she had planned. He had such a hard time with girls, even though his persona was this cocky stud who always had girls...but Randy was just the opposite. He was shy around girls that he really liked because he'd learned the hard way that all too often girls were only interested in him because of the way he looked and his profession, and that he was looked upon as something of a trophy date. He hadn't had a serious girlfriend since his first year in the WWE, and that had ended after he'd overheard her boasting to her friends at a party about how she was just using him for all the perks that came with being a wrestler's girlfriend and that she didn't even care about him. He finally got up and made his way back to Evolution's dressing room to get his stuff and head back to the hotel.
"Dude, are you okay?" Dave asked as he saw the look on Randy's face.
"Yeah, I'm fine Batista. Don't worry about it," Randy said, shrugging it off.
"Okay," Dave said doubtfully. "But if you want to talk about it I'm more than willing to listen."
"Thanks," Randy said as he swung his bag over his shoulder and headed for the parking lot. "See you later."
"Hey guys. Guys!" Amy yelled at Matt and Jeff to get their attention. "C'mon, let's go to catering and get something to eat because I'm hungry."
"Jeez, you're always hungry!" Jeff complained. "Did you turn into a bottomless pit or something?"
"No Jeff, it's just that after spending so much time with you that my stomach has trained itself to think that it needs to eat six times a day," Amy said, rolling her eyes.
"I can't help that! I'm a growing boy!" Jeff protested.
"Yeah, you're growing all right," Amy agreed. "Growing from side to side!"
"That was mean," Jeff pouted.
"I know," Amy smiled widely. "Now let's go."
"Okay children," Matt said, wrapping his arm around his girlfriend's shoulder. "Let's go eat."
"Yay!" Amy cheered as they walked off. "Hey!" she said, sticking her tongue out at Jeff when he poked her in the side.
"What?" Jeff said, acting innocent.
Amy rolled her eyes at him. "Grow up Jeffrey!"
"I will when you will!" Jeff said in a singsong voice.
"Well, then why haven't you already? Amy quit growing when she was in like the eighth grade!" Matt teased.
"Hey!" Amy exclaimed, punching him in the side. "I don't need any short jokes!"
"Yeah well, it was the perfect opening," Matt said, rubbing his side with his free hand. "That was harsh by the way."
"You deserved it!"
"I did not! I merely took advantage of the conversational opening that was there!"
"Oh, whatever!"
"Don't whatever me, Miss Whatever!"
"I'll whatever whoever I want to whatever!"
"Do what?!"
"That's what I thought," Amy said and tossed her hair. "I win!"
"Oh you so suck," Matt said.
"Okay, this is information that I DON'T need to know!" Jeff complained. "Whatever you do behind closed doors should stay there!"
"Hush Jeff. Try getting your mind out of the gutter for once, because that conversation was completely innocent!" Amy told him as they reached the catering area. "Now be quiet and let me eat in peace and quiet!"
Jeff just rolled his eyes at her as they walked in and went straight for the buffet line. "Oooh, macaroni and cheese!" Jeff practically drooled at the sight of his favorite food.
"Down boy," Amy said, handing him a napkin. "You might need this."
"Oh shut up," Jeff said, sticking his tongue out at her.
Amy just laughed and filled her plate with food and made her way to the table where Shane Helms was sitting. "Hey Hurridork," she joked.
"What's up sunshine?" Shane said.
"Not a whole lot, how are you?"
"Kinda upset actually. I just lost a match to La Resistance," Shane said sadly.
"Oh," Amy said. She didn't really know who to side with on this one. She loved Shane like a brother and was sad that he'd lost, but then again she was happy for Rene because he'd turned out to be a genuinely nice guy and he deserved to do well in the company.
"Yeah," Shane shrugged. "Oh well, shit happens and life goes on."
"Pretty much," Amy agreed. She smiled up at Matt as he came to sit down next to her.
"What's up Shane?" Matt asked.
"Nothing much dude, you?"
"About the same, although trying to keep your sanity when Amy and Jeff fight all the time is damn near impossible," Matt said, looking at his girlfriend out of the corner of his eye.
"Hey, at least I'm not as bad as Jean," Amy said. "She and Jeff have some pretty spectacular fights!"
"Who's Jean?" Shane asked, completely confused.
"My cousin," Matt explained. "She debuted tonight as the new member of Evolution. She interfered in Jeff and Randy's match...you probably saw her."
"OH!" Shane exclaimed. "Dang, how did she get to be so cute when she's related to you two freaks?" he asked, directing his question to both Matt and Jeff who was getting ready to sit down at the table.
"I don't know either," Amy said, teasing her boyfriend. "I guess all the good genes just skipped over these two and went straight to her."
"Hey!" Matt protested. "I'm cute!"
"I'm cuter!" Jeff claimed.
"No, you're not!" Amy said, supporting her boyfriend.
"Ha! So you do think I'm cute!" Matt crowed gleefully.
"No, I just said that you're cuter than Jeff. I still could think that you were butt-ass ugly though," Amy said, winking at Shane.
"That hurt Amy, that really did," Matt said, looking down at his plate sadly.
"Aww, sweetie," Amy said, caving at the look on Matt's face. "You know I think you're the hottest man around. I wouldn't be going out with you if I didn't think you were adorable!"
"That's better," Matt said, kissing her on the cheek.
Jeff gagged at the sickeningly sweet display. "Y'all can stop at any time now."
"Yeah please," Shane agreed. "Lily's back in North Carolina for another two weeks, and the last thing I want to see right now is two people being lovey-dovey because it just makes me miss her," he said sadly, thinking about his girlfriend.
"Aww," Amy cooed, looking at Shane. "That's so cute! How long have y'all been together now?"
"We've been official for a little over a year, but we've been seeing each other for a year and a half," Shane told her. "She's back home right now because her younger sister just graduated from college last weekend and is moving in with her."
"That's cool," Amy said. "So is her sister going to work here too?"
"Yeah, Anne got a job on the writing team because she said that she couldn't stand doing wardrobe with Lily because working with her all the time would drive her up the wall," Shane said, smiling at the memory. "Anne said it reminds her too much of what living at home was like when they shared a bedroom, and that it just got worse when they went to high school together."
Jeff looked at Matt then back at Shane. "You have no idea how bad is. Try living with Matt for eighteen years!"
"I wasn't as bad as you were!" Matt complained. "I didn't play my damn guitar at 3 AM every night!"
"I only did that for a week!"
"Well, it was a week longer than I wanted to listen to it!"
"I'd just broken up with Beth! Give me a break here!"
"Dude, you broke up with Beth every other month!"
"So? They were still traumatic!"
"Dude, you don't even know what that word means!"
"SO? It sounded cool at least!"
"Ahh!" Matt rolled his eyes at Jeff. "You're hopeless. Absolutely hopeless!"
"Y'all can stop at any time now. You know that?" Amy said. Her attention was suddenly distracted from the bickering brothers when she saw Randy Orton walk into the catering room. *What in the world?* she wondered to herself as she saw the sad look on his face. "I'll be right back," she said to the guys, who nodded and continued their fight as Shane looked on and laughed. She quickly made her way over to Randy who was sitting at a back table by himself and she sat down across from him.
"Hey," Randy said, looking up as he saw Amy sit down across from him.
"Hey," Amy replied. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Randy denied, looking down again.
"Bullshit. What's going on?"
"Don't worry about it Amy. It's nothing important."
"Don't try that crap with me Randy. I've been dating Matt for two years now, and I can tell when a guy doesn't want to admit something's wrong. So you can either tell me now, or we can do this the hard way."
"What exactly is the hard way?" Randy joked, trying to avoid the subject.
"I tickle you until you tell me the truth."
"Ookay then. I'd rather avoid that."
"Good. Now tell me what's going on."
"I...uh...well, I kinda like someone," he admitted shyly.
Amy got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. *This is so not going to be good.* "And...?"
"Well...I don't think she likes me back."
"Have you asked her?"
"Well, no. But she had a date with a guy tonight, so I don't think she'd be interested in me."
*Uh-oh.* "Well, it wouldn't hurt to ask Randy. You never know unless you ask because a lot of girls don't wear their hearts on their sleeve because it's easier when a guy doesn't know how you feel about them."
"Yeah, I guess."
"So am I allowed to know who this girl is?" Amy asked, even though she had a very distinct feeling that she knew who it was.
Randy just looked at her.
"It's Jean isn't it," she said quietly.
Randy nodded, then looked down at his hands again without a word.
"Oh, crap," Amy said unhappily. "Well, I guess I'm going to have to take back my advice because I know that she's really happy with Rene right now."
Randy nodded sadly. "I know. I saw them when they left for their date. They were both laughing and running down the hallway."
"Oh, Randy, I'm...I'm sorry." Amy really didn't know what to say.
"Don't be," he told her, shaking his head. "You didn't know that I was going to be interested in her the first time that I met her. It's no one's fault. Rene just found her first, and if they're happy together than great! She should be happy because she seems like a great girl."
Amy stared at him. Although she knew that Randy was nowhere near as bad as his Evolution persona, she hadn't realized that he was this decent of a guy. "That's really sweet of you Randy."
He shrugged. "Yeah well, I'm not as big of an asshole as everyone seems to think that I am. Just because I play one doesn't make me one."
Amy nodded. "Randy, I never thought you were an asshole off camera."
Randy smiled ruefully. "Yeah well, you're one of the few."
Amy leaned across the table and hugged him. "It's cool Randy. I think you're a great guy. I'll make you a deal though."
"What?"
"I'll try and find you a good girl to date as long as you promise to be careful around Jean in the ring."
"Well, sure, but that's not much of a deal for you because I'd be doing that anyway," Randy said, slightly confused.
"I know, but it makes it sound better to Matt and Jeff if I can say that I have your promise to avoid hurting her at all costs," Amy explained.
"Oh, okay," Randy said. "Well, I guess we've got a deal then."
"Awesome!" Amy said happily. "Well, I'm going to go save Shane from the battling brothers, so I'll talk to you later then."
"Yeah," Randy said, smiling halfheartedly up at her. He appreciated her effort to make him feel better by offering to find him a girl, but he wasn't sure that that would work out the way she had planned. He had such a hard time with girls, even though his persona was this cocky stud who always had girls...but Randy was just the opposite. He was shy around girls that he really liked because he'd learned the hard way that all too often girls were only interested in him because of the way he looked and his profession, and that he was looked upon as something of a trophy date. He hadn't had a serious girlfriend since his first year in the WWE, and that had ended after he'd overheard her boasting to her friends at a party about how she was just using him for all the perks that came with being a wrestler's girlfriend and that she didn't even care about him. He finally got up and made his way back to Evolution's dressing room to get his stuff and head back to the hotel.
"Dude, are you okay?" Dave asked as he saw the look on Randy's face.
"Yeah, I'm fine Batista. Don't worry about it," Randy said, shrugging it off.
"Okay," Dave said doubtfully. "But if you want to talk about it I'm more than willing to listen."
"Thanks," Randy said as he swung his bag over his shoulder and headed for the parking lot. "See you later."