Chapter 14: 'Out of the blue'
Molly dismissively flicked through the pages of the latest WWE publication, disgusted by the fact she was not mentioned on any of them. No pictures, no editorial, nothing. Meantime, she was bombarded with images of Trish, Lita and Stacy Keibler, who had been involved in some kind of publicity stunt.
"Sluts." she mumbled to herself, flinging the magazine over her shoulder and out of her sight. She folded her arms and slumped back into the couch she was seated on in the Evolution dressing room. She had been alone in there for the past half an hour and had only picked up the magazine out of sheer boredom.
She would have ventured out to see where Dave had gotten to, if not for the fear that she would bump into Trish. The stinging comments from earlier were still ringing in her ears and she didn't fancy a repeat performance. Molly was wise enough to know that Trish's main strength was her mouth; there would be better opportunities to get the upper hand.
She sat around daydreaming and twiddling her thumbs for several more minutes, until Hunter and Ric finally decided to make an appearance. 'About time...' she thought.
"I'm telling you Naitch, last night was gold man... Pure gold."
"You're telling me! Evolution is on fire baby... Woooo! On fire d'you hear me! Woooo!"
"Nice to see everything has come up smelling of roses." Molly piped up. The two men managed to tear themselves away from each other for long enough to see her slouched on the chair in front of them.
"Oh, hey Molly." Hunter said, the ironic comment drifting over his head completely; Ric picked up on it quick as a flash though.
"She's referring to last night Trips." Ric leant over and whispered in his ear.
"Huh?"
"The Hell in a Cell match..."
"I wouldn't bother playing dumb with me guys, I know all about your little plan last night." Molly butted in. Hunter and Ric both looked at each other, trying to play innocent but knowing fully well that they had been rumbled. Hunter stepped forward and held his hands up as a repentant gesture.
"Forget it. Anyway, don't let me be the party pooper, looks like you got yourself an early Christmas present." Molly said, referring to the title belt proudly draped on Hunter's shoulder.
"Listen to the girl man, she's right... The title is back where it belongs! Woooo!" Ric enthused.
Molly cringed at Ric's over the top antics, but it at least allowed her to take her mind off the altercation with Trish and the shocking advances of Bischoff.
"Yeah, I have to say... Feels pretty good being back on top of the world again." Hunter admitted, he never needed an excuse to laud praise on himself. "Hey Molly, any idea where the other guys are?"
Molly motioned with her hands to indicate that she didn't.
"Don't worry about it champ, I'll round 'em up for you." Ric offered, "You stay here and keep our number one girl happy!"
He left the room to find Randy and Dave, leaving Molly alone with Hunter for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. Hunter took Ric's advice and sat down next to Molly, neither really knowing what to expect from the other.
"So you..." Molly started.
"Listen..." Hunter tried to speak at the same time, "After you."
"No, carry on."
"Last night, I think you must have gotten the wrong end of the stick or something. We didn't make that match up to set you up or anything like that. I promise you." Hunter said, trying to be as convincing as he could.
"It's time for her to prove her worth to us." Molly responded, attempting to mimic Hunter's gruff voice, "What am I to you Hunter? A toy that you can play with and put down when it suits you? Do you ever think of anybody but yourself?"
"Well, you had fun out there with the crazy woman didn't you? You got what you wanted?" Hunter riposted, not liking the way he was being spoken to.
"That's not the point and you know it. I did what I had to do, I certainly didn't do it to... impress you." Molly hesitated in delivering the last line, knowing deep down that her wild attack on Victoria was for the benefit of Hunter.
"You expect me to believe that Molls?" he said, using a pet name that nobody else had ever used before. Molly's head was screaming blue murder, whilst her heart swung in the opposite direction. Her head held the ascendancy, but her heart was gaining leverage with every passing second.
"Well, um... It's true!" she spluttered, "Don't for one second think that any of my actions are to impress you and the other guys. I do things for myself, always have done, always will."
Hunter fell back deeper into the couch, laughing his head off at her statement. Molly frowned at him not taking her seriously and decided to do something about it. She lifted her hand to throw a slap, only for him to spring back to life to thwart her swing. He grabbed her wrist and reacted quickly to block an attack from Molly's other hand. Her body shook furiously, as she tried to break free from his grasp.
"I love women when they get angry..." Hunter jibed, not able to hide his satisfaction at seeing Molly lose her temper with him.
"Why you... Let go of me right now, before I do something you might reg..." Molly shouted back, before being physically thwarted in mid sentence...
Hunter leant in and placed an oral block on her verbal onslaught, planting his lips squarely on Molly's. Molly squirmed for a few seconds, before coming to terms with what was happening. It wasn't the most passionate of kisses, but it was mouth-to-mouth action all the same, leaving her totally blown away.
The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but for Molly it felt like it would never end. Her heart thumped against her chest frantically and her spine tingled, long after Hunter broke away.
Molly sat motionless in a state of complete shock, her face painting a totally different portrait to her internal emotions; it was a blank canvas. Hunter immediately assumed he had gone too far, as he relinquished his grip on her wrists; they flopped harmlessly to her lap.
He felt the urge to apologise for his impromptu reaction, but saying sorry had never been his strong suit. He was rescued by a timely intrusion of sorts.
"Hey Hunter, Molly... What's up with her?" Randy said, poking his head round the door to the dressing room.
"What? Oh, she's... Wait a minute, how long have you been stood there?" Hunter demanded, feeling uneasy about the possibility of being caught in the act.
"I just walked in this second." Randy answered, "I only came to tell you that your victory party is about to start... Is she okay?"
He studied Molly closely, she looked like she'd seen a ghost. He was on to Hunter; he knew he was up to his old tricks, but knew he couldn't confront the issue without compromising his position within Evolution.
"Yeah, she's just feeling a little faint."
"Right..."
"I'll be down to the ring in a second, go wait for me there."
"Sure thing boss." Randy responded, in as sarcastic a manner as he could get away with, without alerting Hunter's attention to it.
After being satisfied that Randy had left the vicinity, Hunter turned his attention back to Molly, who seemed to be conscious again.
"Molls, I didn't mean to offend you by... you know... kissing you..."
"It's okay Hunter." Molly sprung back to life with a prompt reaction to his faltering statement.
"It is?"
"I think so... Just answer one question." Molly said, pivoting her head to establish eye contact with the man who had stolen her heart, "Why me?"
Hunter's eyes squirmed away from her gaze, as he struggled to find an answer to her question. Molly thought as much, he'd done it just because he could.
"You think I'm easy to take advantage of?"
"It's not like that Molly... I'm not..."
"I'm easy game to somebody like you, right?"
"No, you're not."
"Little Molly Holly... She must be desperate..."
Hunter cracked, he couldn't take any more of her remarks, "Stop it! Stop trying to put words in my mouth for god's sake! It happened... I'm not sure why, but it did okay?"
Molly cowered somewhat as Hunter raised his voice at her, without feeling threatened necessarily. She actually 'liked' it when Hunter got enraged, in much the same way he had enjoyed her tantrum earlier. Maybe because she knew that was the 'real Hunter' and not the phony version being unnaturally pleasant.
"Look, I don't have time to talk about this now, I need to be out in the ring." Hunter told her, "Maybe we can talk about it over dinner later... That is if you trust me?"
"Um, sure." Molly replied, without really thinking about it.
Hunter took one last lingering look into Molly's eyes as he retrieved the holy grail; 'his' World Heavyweight Title. Molly stared right back, wondering if she was viewing her own holy grail...
"Keep this to yourself though, not a word to the other guys. You got me?"
Molly nodded agreeably and watched him leave the room. She turned to a mirror on the wall and gazed at her own reflection for a moment. She ran a hand through her hair, then placed it over her mouth. 'Did he really kiss me just now?'