Hi guys! I'm so sorry for the lack of updates but for the next few weeks I have University exams/essays I have to deal with so updates are going to be irregular updates. But to make it up to you there is a surprise appearance in this chapter! The usual disclaimer applies, nothing belongs to me.
warning! Chapter contains strong language.
It was Friday and Steph had the rest of the week off. On Thursday night Steph spent the night with Shane and Marissa, with Steph giving her advice about pregnancy and the dos and don'ts. Steph stayed the night at Shane's, then spent the morning with her daughter in their large garden. Ella was growing rapidly. She was just over a year old and Steph and Marissa had been trying to teach her how to work. The two women could have sat and watched Ella all day, she was so entertaining. Ella was fascinated by Marissa's two dogs and often crawled after them. Steph could sit and talk to Marissa and knew that Ella would always be ineye's view.
"So, what plans do you have for tonight?" Marissa asked her.
Steph paused. Marissa wasn't aware that Shane had planned a romantic night in with her with a few romantic gestures to take Marissa's mind off of pregnancy. Shane had had a quiet word with sister along the lines of 'I'm sorry but you can't stay here tonight.'
"I guess I'll check myself into the hotel for the evening, spend the night reading a…"
"You can't do that!" Marissa interrupted her. "It's a Friday night!"
Steph laughed. Then she remembered something. She went inside the house and brought her bag back into the garden. Marissa watched her as she searched her bag and pulled out the two phone numbers scribbled on two bits of paper.
"What are they?"
"A couple of guys that both want to take me out to dinner!"
Marissa gasped. "Wow, you're so lucky! Who's the lucky guy…I mean guys?"
"Dave Batista and Chris Jericho."
"Oh…the guy from the charity party? Hang on, I thought Chris Jericho was married?"
"He is…at the moment."
Marissa got up to chase Ella who was crawling down to the far end of the garden where there was a pond. Steph just sat there and stared at the pieces of paper, thinking things through. In her first week back with the WWE, after running into Jericho, he had been all she could think about. There had always been a connection between them, but both had always been seeing other people and never had the chance to get together.
'If I have to choose between them…I choose…Chris!' she thought to herself. 'But when Batista kissed me at the party…'
"So, which one are you gonna pick?"
Steph jumped and looked up to see Marissa standing over her with Ella in her arms. Steph looked down at the pieces of paper again, then something dawned on her. Both pieces of paper were about the same size and both were white, the numbers sprawled across them in a hurry and neither of them had a name on them…she couldn't tell which number was which!
"Uhh…so whose number is whose?" Marissa asked, at about the same time Steph realised she couldn't tell them apart.
"I have no idea."
Marissa stared at her, before laughing. Steph smiled at her laughing at the ridiculous situation she was in.
"Well there's one way we'll find out!" Steph said as she took out her mobile phone from her bag.
She looked down at the pieces of paper and randomly picked one up. She dialled the number holding her breathe, hoping that the person would be Chris Jericho.
It rang a couple of times before the male voice answered. "Hello can I help you?"
"Hello, it's Stephanie." She said awkwardly.
"Stephanie? Wow! I can't believe you called me! I'm a little surprised!"
She was listening to his voice carefully but couldn't work out who she was talking to, Dave or Chris.
"Where are you? I can't hear you very well."
"I'm in a limo on my way to Madison Square Garden and there isn't a good reception, I'm sorry."
Steph clenched her fists in frustration. Both of the guys were in Wrestlemania matches: "Rehearsing for Wrestlemania?"
"Yeah."
There was silence. Steph had hoped he would mention his opponent, but he hadn't.
"Uhh…I'm going to be flying out to New York today, I'm at Shane's at the moment. I was wondering if you wanted to meet up tonight at all?"
Jericho was in complete shock. He should be saving his energy for Wrestlemania, or for fighting with his wife, but he couldn't help himself when it came to Stephanie. She had a power over him that he couldn't come to terms with.
"I would really like that Steph. What about Ella?"
"My Mom and Dad are taking her over Wrestlemania weekend and Raw. Means I'll be stuck at the hotel by myself until Sunday."
"Well I'd love to keep you company. What time will you be at the hotel for?"
All the wrestlers were staying in the same hotel over the weekend so that they would be easily found if they were needed and had easy access to MSG. "I'll be there about six o'clock."
"Ok. Well shall I meet you in the lobby at seven thirty and I'll take you to dinner?"
"That would be great."
"I gotta go Steph, I'm nearly at the arena."
"Alright, I'll see you tonight."
"Bye."
Marissa stood there waiting. "So, who's the lucky man?"
Steph chuckled in disbelief. "You're not going to believe this but I have absolutely no idea! The phone reception was quite bad, I could barely hear his voice!"
Marissa shook her head at Steph and walked back indoors with Ella. "For God's sake Steph, why does your life always have to be such a drama!"
Steph sat in the garden thinking hard. She thought through every word that she had heard on the phone and tried to imagine both the guys saying them, seeing if one person was more likely to say them. She sat for about five minutes, before her phone began to ring. She looked down to see an unknown number calling her. The number was with held, but Steph answered, her heart beat increasing.
"Hello, Stephanie speaking." She decided she would introduce herself on the phone from now on after her last phone call.
"Hi Steph it's me."
The voice was a male voice and Steph couldn't quite work out who it was. Maybe it was her phone that was the problem, not Chris'.
"Who is this?"
"Steffie baby, I can't believe you don't recognise my voice anymore!"
Steph paused and felt nauseous. "Paul?"
"Yeah baby it's me. You remember who I am?"
His voice was deep and sarcastic, reminding her of the tone of his voice that would occur before he beat her. "How did you get this number?"
"Well, I am your husband still. Don't you think I should be allowed to have your number?"
Steph took a deep breath to try and calm and compose herself, but inside she just wanted to collapse. She wished that Shane was here to take the phone away from her, but he was at the WWE offices finalising Wrestlemania plans. She took another deep breath to hold back the tears, she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of hearing her cry.
"Are you still there sweetie?" he asked.
"What did you want Paul?"
"Just wanted to check on you, see how things are. I saw you on TV a couple of weeks ago, God you looked sexy."
"Where are you Paul?"
"I mean I've never seen you in hot pants before Steffie, your ass looked amazing. Can see you've lost a bit of weight, maybe if you'd have lost some sooner we'd still be together!"
"Where are you living at the moment?"
"My questions first!" He shouted at her. "Why are you all of a sudden back on TV Steffie? I thought you didn't want anything to do with wrestling anymore?"
"I changed my mind. Where are you?"
"Where the fuck do you think I am Steph! I'm at my new home with my new girl! So where are you Steph? I bet a thousand dollars you're at your brother's house, whining and bitching because I haven't signed your stupid divorce papers yet!"
Steph had wandered back into the house to be near her sister-in-law. Marissa immediately noticed something was wrong and stood next to Steph, able to hear the faint shouting down the phone at Steph. Ella began to cry loudly.
"God Steph, you couldn't look after me and you can't look after Ella! You're an awful bitch of a mother! Whilst you're travelling around with wrestling what the fuck is happening to my daughter…do you take her with you?"
"It's none of your business. Ella is my daughter, not yours. You've never shown any interest in her and I love her."
"What kind of mother doesn't have a stable home for her family? Maybe Ella should come and stay with me instead if you. She deserves better than a bitch like you…"
Steph couldn't take much more, she tried hard not to scream down the phone at him. "I've filed a police report against you, you should be in jail for the things you did to me!"
There was some silence, before Hunter laughed evilly. His laughs would echo in Steph's head for the rest of the weekend.
"Just wanted to wish you good luck in your match at Wrestlemania, I'll be watching you."
He hung up the phone, but Steph couldn't move. She held the phone by her ear, unable to breathe. After holding her breath for a while, she let go of the phone, it fell to the floor and broke into several pieces. Marissa had put down Ella and stroked Steph's hair trying to calm her.
"It was him, wasn't it?" Marissa whispered to her. "Everything's fine Steph, you're safe here with me."
Marissa words calmed Steph and she finally gasped for breathe. Steph's legs gave way and Marissa guided her onto the floor making sure she didn't hurt herself. Finally tears began to roll down Steph's cheeks as she cried uncontrollably. Marissa just held Steph head to her shoulder and stroked her hair. It had been the first time that Steph had heard from Hunter since he had walked out on her, it had all been too much for her. Even though they had split over six months ago, Steph hadn't moved on completely. She longed for the days when she and Hunter were happy, she wanted to be part of a loving relationship once again.
I hope you liked it! Please review it and let me know your thoughts and feelings.
