Halo Over The Devil's Head

Chapter 11

"Chrissy, what's the matter?" Chris Jericho looked up from his seat on the folding chair up at a very attractive Trish Stratus. He stared at her concerned for several moments before he replied. Had Stephanie been looking at the same smile when she said that Trish was a bitch? Or maybe…was that emotion lurking in the back of Trish's eyes smugness? Chris leaned back in the chair. Why would Trish be smug about this? Obviously he was reading way too much into what Stephanie had said.

"I got in a fight with Stephanie," Chris said quietly.

Trish's face creased into a mask of concern. She knelt at his side, setting her cool fingers on his thigh and looking at him with open eyes. "I'm sorry," she said, letting the sap drip off of her voice like molasses, "but…maybe it was for the better."

Chris felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise, but he kept his temper down. All the same, he felt like bursting into…well…something. He didn't even know what he was feeling—doubt, anger, guilt… "What do you mean?" he questioned. It was better to concentrate on the task at hand instead of Stephanie's words. The truth was—fight or not—he knew Stephanie would always be there for him as a friend if not anything more.

"Well… Chris you have to admit that you two don't get along very well. You're always fighting and arguing… Maybe it's time for you to just…settle down," Trish said, her hand moving up to rub his bare arm. Chris looked at the hand and saw the engagement ring he had given her so long ago, telling her he wasn't ready yet, but soon he would be. And now was soon, right? 'Too soon,' he thought grimly and immediately mentally smacked himself. He had one of the most beautiful women—on the inside and out—on his arm. What was he complaining about? A World Heavyweight Title match was in the works for him, he had Trish…

But…it all felt so…boring.

Chris gritted his teeth and argued with the fact. It wasn't boring—it was nice! He didn't need all of the drama Stephanie brought into his life. He especially didn't need it now—in the middle of his engagement. Even the first day she came back to RAW she had messed up his life enough with all of the stares he'd gotten when he helped her backstage. Of course, he had chosen to do so… 'Even without that she's screwed my perfect life up so much! Trish is suspicious about it—I can tell—I'm still getting stares in the back and if Bischoff has any say now he'll probably revoke my title match. Not to mention that I almost kissed—' 'he cut himself off in the middle of his thoughts. It didn't matter that they'd almost kissed because they hadn't. But the real question that bothered him was one that had been bouncing around in his head since that moment: How could being around Stephanie change him so much? One minute he was happy-go-lucky Chris Jericho with a perfect life and the next he was the sarcastic, cynical man who had forgotten about his perfect life and decided to go after Stephanie.

He didn't need Stephanie. But despite all of the facts—all of the drama and the fighting—he wanted her. Chris dropped his head in his hands and sighed, glancing at Trish out of the corner of his eye. What had happened? He had been perfect with his perfect life and his perfect career status and perfect status…

And then Stephanie McMahon had come along and screwed everything up once again. But this time…he was willing to share the blame.

Stephanie sighed to herself as she blazed a trail to the parking lot through the mess of people. 'You're making a mistake,' a sing-song voice in her conscious chanted in rhythm to her heavy footsteps. She groaned, frustrated with herself. She felt like a jerk, saying those things to Chris, but on the other hand…he'd completely deserved it. How dare he say some of those things! Still…in her heart Stephanie knew that he didn't mean them. Nevertheless, they still hurt. Stephanie stopped and nibbled on her lower lip. Was it smart to just storm off like this? They'd argued about essentially nothing—it was only something when both sides understood each other's arguments, right? Stephanie sighed and turned around, heading back the way she had come.
"Just, well, maybe it's meant to be, Chris," Trish said consolingly to her fiancé. He sat up, eyeing her with a newfound fire in his eyes.

"No," he said, shaking his head, "It's not meant to be like this."

"Chris—" she stared once more, but he cut her off.

"We're best friends, Trish," he told her. "A stupid little fight like this shouldn't throw off our entire friendship."

Trish frowned, recoiling. "So my wants are just a stupid little matter to you?" she asked, hurt.

"Trish… You're my fiancée," he bit the inside of his cheek as he said the following words, no longer positive that they were as true as they'd been before, "and I love you. But Stephanie is my best friend. You two are going to have to learn how to coincide with each other. And right now I need to go apologize to Stephanie," he announced, standing up. Without a second glance back at Trish he headed in the direction Stephanie had stomped off to.

He definitely owed Stephanie an apology…he just hoped she'd forgive him.

Author's Note: I hope I didn't move to fast emotionally on Chris's part… I hope you like this chapter, sorry if it's not great, it's eleven at night and I haven't slept well at all this week. Thanks to AniLuLu, huntersgirl, Y2J Chris Jericho, Stephanie Irvine04, DCFanatic4Life and Latisha C for the reviews! They seriously were the highlights of the month so far. Please keep reviewing!