Disclamer: I don't own any of the wrestlers or storylines that are currently in play in the WWE. I am simply perverting them for my own pleasure. Don't sue my all you'll get is thirty bucks and a couple of boxes of art supplies. Oh, and my people are mine. Don't steal, I bite. Ciao.
Wow. I'm going out to dinner with Matt Hardy. In my home town. PIMP! Now if only I could get him to loosen up, the poor guys wound tighter than a guitar string.
"So, where's your hotel? We'll take our cars back there and see what's in walking distance." I'm pretty sure he just surprised himself by talking.
"Um, Matt. I'm from St. Louis. I'm staying at my Dad's house until we move on." Oh great now I've embarrassed the poor kid. This is not what i intended to do at all. "Look Matt. We'll just take my dad's truck, okay? Then I'll swing you by the arena and you can pick up what I'm assuming is your rental. Deal?"
He takes a deep breath before speaking, "Yeah that's great Ren. Know any good places to eat?"
"Boy, I'm from the Lou. I know everything! And don't worry we're not going anywhere fancy, neither of us is dressed for it." I said waving at the blue basketball shorts and wife-beater he had on. "Come on. Lets go." He simply nods and follows me as I try to find my way out of the arena. We are SO hitting Max & Erma's.
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Fort-five minutes later, even though it should have been fifteen, we finally arrive at the restaurant. Then I realize something. "Hey Matty?"
"Yeah..."
"Uh, you got a hat or something. Your kinda noticeable, what with the huge muscles and the ponytail, oh and then there's the fact that your Matt Hardy" Did he just laugh? Wow he actually laughed. Maybe this won't be so bad after all.
"Sorry Ren, I almost forgot about that. But no I didn't bring a hat. Is there one in your truck?"
"My Daddy's truck, so I got no clue. But your welcome to dig around for one." I laugh as he looks at the warzone that is Jim's truck. "There's no good method. Just dive on in."
"What about you?" He asks from somewhere in the car.
"Hardy Boy, the only people who know me in St. Louis are my friends and family, and none of them will be on the lookout for me. Noone but my Dad and the people in the house know I'm here." I snort and pat the scarf on my head so my pink hair doesn't stand out, "and I'm sure my real family wouldn't recognize me by this point."
He just looks confused as he climbs out of the back of the truck in an old Amaco hat. Must be Dad's from when he worked there. "So by the way," asks a now incognito Hardy Boy, "what's with the scarf?"
"Um, I have pink hair." I say trying to hedge, I really don't feel like playing show and tell.
"Come on, I gotta see it sooner or later. Hair and make-up aren't gonna let you go down in that, so show it." And with that he grabs the corner of the scarf and tugs and the whole damn thing unrolls.
"Damnit Matt." I mutter while he kinda stares at me.
"Damn, girl. You would drive my brother nuts if he saw you. I mean, when I said you were a mini-Jeff, I didn't think I was right." Is that awe in his voice? He starts to hold a hand toward my hair and I must have moved away, because he looks apologetic and asks, "May I?" He looks the happiest I've seen him all night so I nod yes. He puts his hand into my hair and runs his fingers through as much as he can reach, being as I'm 5'5'' and he's 6'-ish, he can't reach past my waist without bending down, and in all honesty, not that I'm intending to move in on him or anything, but I've had a crush on Hardy since his WWF/E debut. And I think I might kiss him. Thing is, I don't even think he realizes that running his hand through a woman's hair is, FLIRTING!
"Turn around"
"Wha!" That sure as hell pulled me out of my stupor.
He just laughs at me, "Turn around so I can see how long it is, Please?"
Oh, great now I have to, he said please, so I slowly turn around as he takes his hand away.
"Gimme the scarf Ren"
"Why?"
"So I can put your hair back up since I pulled it down." He says as if he's talking to a three year old. I'm suddenly struck by how surreal this whole thing is. So I just hand him the scarf. Even the people I've dated or well, just slept with, never bothered to do anything with my hair, or even just stoke it usually. Now some guy I just met is doing it. I think my brained just popped. "All done" he says as he puts his hands on my shoulders from behind me and I realize that he's closer than I thought. I think I squeaked. "Deep thinking, huh Ren?" Does he know what he's doing! I take a deep breath and turn towards and move away at the same time so it isn't obvious that his proximity is unsettling.
"Thanks Hardy Boy, lets go get something to eat" And with that a loop my arm though his and starts walking. Which is an effort when your dragging someone who's 8 inches taller and 60 pounds heavier.
As we walk in he looks around a bit surprised. Ya see, Max and Erma's is located on the ground floor of a hotel, a rather fancy hotel at that. But its totally not what you'd expect, it decked out in the local teams memorabilia and all that, with other local crap hanging around.
"Um, Ren?"
"Yeah Hardy?" I am sooo hungry. I haven't eaten since breakfast and I haven't been to M&E's in years upon years.
"Is that bathtub full of ice cream?"
"Yes sir, its the dessert bar, now lets find a seat." I say as I let go of his arm say two to the waitress then point to the table she motioned towards.
"Tell JaCorey to see me." The girl just nods as, once again, Matt looks confused.
"Who's JaCorey?"
"Oh, he used to own the place, but telling her that means I'm a regular. We'll get a discount and some free chocolate chip cookies that are to DIE for. I mean seriously these are the best cookies ever. They bring them out to the table still on the tray from the oven. Its amazing"
"I'll take your word for it."
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Twenty minutes later Hardy is finishing a buffalo chicken salad, and I'm halfway through one of the biggest and least healthy burgers this side of the Mississippi River. Forget that. Either side of the Mississippi. But damn is it good.
"So," Says my dinner partner, "tell me about yourself."
"Wow Matt, that's a pretty broad topic. You want the history in the business first or does it matter." Damn sarcasm, I swear I can't help it.
He just grins at me. "That'll do for now I suppose."
"Right. My history in the business. Oh, and if I slide into hero worship on ya, just smack me. Deal?" He nods "Good. Where to start...Oh. Got it.
Once upon a time, there was a fat little geek called Renee." He looks confused, "Yes i was fat, and I'm still a geek. Trust me."
I clear my throat "Now, in high school I was a little eccentric. I was an artist, so I sort of...adapted my clothes to my style, or lack there of. I dressed like a total hippy. I still do usually. I never dyed my hair, I didn't date, I didn't go out with friends, I honestly didn't have many, I didn't do much of anything except paint and draw and write poetry. Then I met this amazing group of people in my junior year. Mostly guys, they went mudding, and they colored their hair, and they did what they felt was right in any situation. And they welcomed me and I really fit in somewhere." I took a deep breath as I remembered Dustin, and Josh and all the things they did for me.
"These wonderful boys were my protectors from the rest of the school, and I absolutely adored them. Then summer came around...my parents loved the boys, so they let me hang out with them. SO I spent most of my summer going from house to house with my boys. I got introduced to wrestling that summer. I seriously adored it. It was so beautiful to me. the way things were choreographed and the strength." I shrugged and looked down, anywhere but at Matt,
"Then things went bad." I swallowed hard, trying to speak around the lump in my throat. Ten years and this still happens.
"The boys went out one weekend to go hunting and mudding and have their fun. I didn't go because I had some family thing that I don't even remember. I got the call the monday they were supposed to come back to me. They had rolled their truck, and it had gone down a hill. Apparently they had died upon impact. And suddenly it was over."I leaned back in the booth."These wonderful guys that had been so strong for me and had taught me to be strong had died. We weren't invincible. I grew up that day. I made some tough decisions. I decided that I was going to be the girl that I'd been taught to be and I was gonna stand up for myself. I grew my hair out as long as I could, and I started dressing a little better. I made myself look as beautiful as my boys had thought I was, and as beautiful as I now thought I was." I looked back at matt, "Any questions so far?"
"No..." He looked a little sympathetic. Well damnit that wasn't what I wanted.
"Right, well I went though senior year as tough as I could be, I was proud and I was smart and noone could touch me. I lost about fifty lbs, and I lifted weights with the football team, and the volleyball team, and anyone I could get to workout with me. I also watched wrestling religiously, it felt like the only connection I had with my boys. When I graduated in '96 I was strong, and I felt beautiful. I realized there was only one thing I wanted to do with my life, and that was wrestle. So I looked around. I found a wrestling school in Springfield, Illinois. I decided to move up there get a job and learn to wrestle. The school offered to let me stay there if I was the janitor. They'd pay me a little bit, and I could live in the backroom and get lessons. It was perfect, and I was sooo stoked. Then I tried to tell my family." God I hate this part of the story.
"Then I tried to tell my family. They laughed in my face, told me I was to fat and ugly to be on T.V. and that I'd never be able to do it. So I packed all of my clothes and my art things and I left. I went to my best friend Meghan's house. I've known this girl since middle school and her family took me in. That's where I'm staying right now, out Dad's house. I went up to Springfield and I learned all the school could teach me. Then I got into an Indy, then another. I went the Indy circuit for four years. All the while still watching what was going on i the big business. During those four years I developed a personal style a flair that I'm pretty sure only myself and one other person has." I smiled at him "Care to guess who that other person is?"
"Um...I'm scared to death to say Jeff, but I know that's who it is..."
"Very much so. I just want to say, I was dying my hair and wearing fishnets before the hardy boys got themselves on T.V. I am an original if nothing else. But. I don't wrestle like Jeff if that makes you feel any better."
"So who do you wrestle like?"
"Um...well me. Sort of a mix between Jeff, and Rey, and Rob. As short as I am, I'm not one for power moves, but I'm pretty quick and strong enough to fly. And I do a mean 619." I grinned at him. "But back to the story, we were on a tangent. I wrestled Indy's for four years then I got picked up by good ole' J.R. for a developmental in OVW. I think I was originally intended to work with Jeff actually. Then he was released and I got left in OVW to sit for a good three years. Then you happened and here I am. Was that sufficient?"
"More than sufficient, Ren. It would have been crazy to have you work with Jeff, shame it'll never happen now. But, that was a wonderful storytime."
"Never say never Hardy. You got rehired..."
"Good point. I suppose its my turn now huh?"
"Nope, Ice Cream first!"
"We have a rehearsal tomorrow...I don't know if Ice Cream is a good Idea..."
"Don't patronize me Hardy I want Ice Cream and I intend to get it. Now march!"
He is so totally going next. But first...ICE Cream.
Right. Next chapter, Matt gets to talk a bit. This chapter is kinda short i think, and not much plot or anything but I thought I needed to get the background in there.