Title: Glow
Rating: PG-13
Summary: After leaving Paul Levesque at the alter, Stephanie McMahon is determined to stay single. However, Chris Irvine is set on finding her perfect match.
Chapter 3
"It's been six fucking months!" Chris whined as he threw his fist into the bare couch cushion next to him.
Stephanie looked at her friend curiously. "Six months since what?" she asked, looking up from the stack of papers on her desk.
"Since your little speech about needing time and some other girl shit you were going through," Chris explained, obviously frustrated at Stephanie's lack of interest in his mission.
"Oh. That. I think I still need more time," Stephanie muttered, looking back down at her paper work.
"Bullshit!" Chris accused her.
Rolling her eyes, Stephanie stopped her scribbling and pushed herself about a foot away from her desk and leaned back in her chair. "You can't rush something like this, Chris."
"Who's rushing? If you took any longer to get over Paul, you'd be going backwards! Besides, why's it taking you so long to 'heal' when you broke up with him?" Chris demanded to know.
"Human emotions are a complicated thing," Stephanie told Chris, who had stood up and begun pacing the room.
"No they're not," Chris contested. "People make emotions complicated. Just say what you feel and lose the mind games and everything becomes so much simpler!"
Stephanie sighed. "Not everyone can be as candid as you."
"You're telling me. If everyone thought the way I do, then the world would be having an orgy twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year!" he grinned.
"You mean you would be having an orgy with every attractive woman on the planet while the rest of the guys hid underground or something," Stephanie corrected Chris.
After a moment, Chris nodded. "You're probably right. But that's beside the point…"
"What's the point then?" Stephanie questioned exasperatedly.
"The point is that you have had a full six months to recuperate from your break-up with Paul, which you instigated might I add, and you haven't gone out on one date ever since," Chris narrated animatedly.
Stephanie shrugged. "So?"
Chris moved to the other side of Stephanie's desk so that he was directly in front of her. Kneeling down, he took her hands in his. "Tell me you're really happy without having someone there to love you."
"I have people who love me," Stephanie argued.
"You know what I mean."
"Do I?" Stephanie retorted, arching a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.
Chris narrowed his gaze. "Yes, you do know."
Stephanie looked away from her friend for a moment. "It's okay."
"Just admit that you miss having a person who is so passionately in love with you that he would go to the end of the world for you naked in the snow with lice and no medicated shampoo."
Stephanie could not help but allow a giggle to escape.
"I'm trying to be serious, Steph," Chris whined.
"I know, I'm sorry," she apologized with a smile.
"So will you answer my question?" Chris requested, dropping Stephanie's hands and standing back up.
"Actually, you never asked me a question. You wanted me to tell you that I'm happy," Stephanie smirked.
"Fine, I'll rephrase it into a question. Are you happier now that you're single?"
After a moment, Stephanie replied, "No. There's your answer. No."
Chris smiled triumphantly.
"I'm glad you find my discontent so amusing," Stephanie remarked sarcastically.
"I'm not happy that you're not happy. I'm happy that you admitted that you're not happy."
"Yeah, that's so much better."
Chris shook his head. "You're missing the good side of this."
"There's a good side to my unhappiness?"
Pushing himself onto the desk, Chris explained, "Not a good side to your unhappiness. A good side to your admittance that you're unhappy. Must I go through this again?"
"No. I can see where this is heading."
"Good. now I don't have to persuade you to go on a blind date. You are agreeing to this, right?"
"I suppose," Stephanie sighed.
Grinning almost maniacally, Chris jumped off the desk and headed toward the door. "Good. Your first date's tonight!"
"You mean you already have a date set up for me?"
"Well… not yet, but you'll have one. I promise!" With that, Chris left the door and closed the door behind him.
Stephanie dropped her head onto the back of the head rest. "What the hell did I just get myself into?"
"So tell me something about this guy," Stephanie requested, brushing her caramel locks.
"Well," Jason Reso began, making himself comfortable on the couch, "his name is Travis McKay. I went to high school with him. He moved to New York after we graduated for college. He found a job as a sports journalist, and he's in town to cover an away game."
"Sports fan… I can work with that. Does he know anything about wrestling?" Stephanie asked, adjusting her crimson v-neck top.
"He watches every now and then, but he's not too big of a fan. He'd rather watch hockey," Jay replied.
"Of course. He's Canadian. Chris, I have to admit that I'm pleasantly surprised at your choice for a first blind date," Stephanie complimented the other blonde in the room.
Chris smirked triumphantly. "Good to hear."
"How do I look?" Stephanie queried, spinning a circle.
Chris and Jay inspected Stephanie's dark red tank top that revealed just enough cleavage and light low-rise blue jeans before giving her the thumbs up.
"Do either of you know where we're going?"
"He just said to tell you to dress casually," Chris replied.
"So, no," Jay reiterated.
Stephanie shrugged. "So what kind of guy is he?"
"Well in high school he was a total jock, but he was still pretty smart. He dated blondes mostly, but then again the majority of the girls at our school were blonde… but anyways, he's a nice guy. Got along with pretty much everyone."
Stephanie nodded.
"Don't worry, Steph," Chris attempted to assure his friend. "I picked him."
Stephanie looked at the blonde dryly. "Yeah… that makes me feel so much better," she remarked satirically.
"Are you mocking me?" Chris accused the brunette.
Stephanie feigned shock and put her hands to her chest. "I would never!"
Chris raised an eyebrow at her.
"Children!" Jay snapped, getting the attention of the other two adults. "Can't you behave yourselves?" he mildly berated them. "Honestly, I can't take you anywhere."
Chris shook his head disapprovingly. "You just think you're so mature."
"I only think that because I am," Jay replied smartly.
Before the argument could continue, there was a knock at the door.
"Stop!" Chris commanded as Stephanie began walking toward the door.
"What?" Stephanie questioned, giving Chris an odd look.
"You can't answer the door. It makes you look desperate," the blonde whispered, pushing his friend away from the door.
Rolling her eyes, Stephanie went to stand by Jason.
Satisfied, Chris opened the door. "Travis! Hey man! You look… different." At the door stood a heavy man with a short ponytail.
Laughing, Travis stepped inside the suite. "You look a lot different too, Jay."
"That's 'cause I'm Chris," the blonde replied.
"Chris?"
"Irvine."
"Oh, right. Hey, man," Travis greeted, shaking his hand.
"McKay!" Jay exclaimed, wide-eyed.
"Reso!" Travis shouted back.
"How've you been, man?" Jay questioned, eyeing Travis' beer-belly.
"I've been good. Been keeping up my girlish figure," he laughed heartily, rubbing his bloated stomach. "That diet of beer and hotdogs does wonders for the body."
"I'll bet," Jay returned the laugh. "So, this is Stephanie McMahon," he introduced, pulling Stephanie by the arm to stand by his side.
"Hi," she said politely.
"Stephanie, this is Travis McKay," Jason said.
Looking Stephanie up and down appreciatively, Travis grinned suggestively at the brunette. "Hey, sweetheart. I looked up some pictures of you on the internet, just to see what I was getting myself into, and I must say, they do not do you justice. And it looks like you've lost some weight!"
The other three gaped at Travis' audacity to mention a woman's weight. Even though it was meant to be complimentary, the wording made it sound crude to Stephanie. "Thank you?" she replied curtly.
"Well, the game starts soon, so let's go," Travis announced.
"Game?" Stephanie asked.
"Yeah. We're going to the Yankee's game tonight. We got amazing seats. And they're playing Oakland so it should be a close game," Travis explained.
"Great. Let me get my jacket," Stephanie replied unenthusiastically.
Travis nodded as Stephanie disappeared into her bedroom. "She is hot!" he whispered to Chris and Jay excitedly. "What a piece of ass!"
"Hey," Chris intervened, "don't get any ideas about her. She's not some slut you can find on a corner, okay? She's better than that and deserves to be treated as such."
Raising his hands in surrender, Travis replied, "Sorry, man. I didn't mean it like that."
"Let's go," Stephanie said, coming out wearing a cream colored pea coat.
Travis ushered her out of the room as Jay closed the door behind the duo.
"'I didn't mean it like that,'" Chris imitated the overweight man. "How many meanings can there be to a fucking phrase like that?"
"Chill," Jay instructed his friend. "Stephanie's a smart woman. She won't let anyone take advantage of her," he assured the other blonde.
Nodding in agreement, Chris sighed. "Yeah. You're right."
"Of course. Now, let's watch a movie then pace nervously as we wait for Steph to return," Jay suggested.
"Sound like a plan."
"I hate you," Stephanie declared, throwing her purse at Jason's head. "I'm never trusting you again to set me up with anyone!"
"Was it that bad?" Jay questioned.
"No," Stephanie answered.
Jay grinned slightly.
"It was worse!" the brunette cried out angrily.
"What happened?" Chris asked, joining the conversation.
"Well the game was fine. I actually enjoyed it. But that wasn't the problem. So we're on our way to the game and the whole time we're in the car all he can talk about is himself and how wonderful he is. So we get to the stadium and park in a garage since it was right across the street from the stadium. I go to get out of the car and he locks the damn door. So I asked him what he was doing. He told me that we were early and that he knew how we could pass the time," she spat out with a shudder. "So he tries to kiss me. But me being me, I slapped him. He apologized and said that he read my signals wrong when I wasn't sending him any signals except for the ones that said he could go to hell. But so he apologized and we walked around for a little until they opened the gates and let people in. So we get to the seats and I can barely see any people! His definition of 'amazing seats' was just a little off from my own. But so we decided to get some food. He ordered, I ordered, and then he tells me he's out of cash, so I pay for the food. He got a beer with his food and ended up spilling it all over me while we were going up the endless stairs to get back to our seats because he had so much food to carry. So there I am, soaked in beer while he's inhaling his food. I couldn't eat my food because it was so disgusting to watch him eat his own. So he ended up eating it."
"What a gentleman," Chris remarked dryly.
"It gets better. He's halfway through my nachos when he asks me if I want some. I declined his generous offer, but he again doesn't understand straight away so he tries to feed me. I didn't want any so I kept pushing his hands away. Then he spills the rest of the nachos on me, mostly on my top. Then being the charming and thoughtful man that he is, he offered to clean me up and starts grabbing at my boobs. So this time I punched him then I went and found a better seat on the third baseline."
"How'd you get a seat like that without a ticket?" Jay questioned, amazed.
"I saw the empty seat and went down. The guy checking for tickets recognized me and let me have the seat," Stephanie smirked.
"I'm sorry he turned out to be such an ass," Jay apologized.
"A fat ass," Chris inputted bitterly. "I knew you shouldn't have gone out with him!"
"Thanks for stopping me, friend," Stephanie retorted sarcastically.
"No need to get so snippy," Chris replied.
"Well, if you guys don't mind, I'm going to shower and then I'm going to bed. After tonight, I think I deserve it," Stephanie informed her two blonde guests.
"Yeah. We'll just leave now," Jay said, heading for the door. "Breakfast tomorrow?" he asked the other two.
"Around nine?" Chris questioned.
"Sounds good," Stephanie agreed.
"Alright. We'll see you tomorrow, Steph," Jay said as he walked out the door, leaving the best friends alone.
"Please tell me all my dates won't be like this," Stephanie pleaded.
"Can't promise you that, but I'll try and make sure that the as clowns like McKay get filtered out," Chris vowed, wrapping his arms around the brunette.
Stephanie let out a choked sob.
"What's the matter?" Chris inquired, pulling back and looking into her shining eyes.
"It's just so hard to do this again," Stephanie confessed. "It makes me wonder if the end result is worth going through all this."
"For you, it will be."
Author's Note: I am so, so, so, so sorry that it has taken me so long to update. I just couldn't motivate myself to write and then when I did sit down to write something, nothing came out. So it was a mix of laziness and writer's block. And then recently my family and I suffered the loss of a loved one, so that sort of explains the lack of updates as of late. But I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I had about two-thirds of it written and just couldn't finish the chapter. Then I just sat down and it all just poured out. It was kind of rushed just because I wanted to update, but I hope you liked it anyways! Please review!