EVOLUTIONARY CHOICE
PART THREE:
EVOLUTION'S LOCKER ROOM
"How do you think Hunter's doing with Trish?" Randy questioned, looking up from his stretches to meet Ric's eyes. "Think she's told him to fuck off yet?"
Ric shrugged as he sat down on the couch beside Dave. "I don't know – if he acted like a jerk, she probably socked him one. But if he tried to act even semi-decent, there's a chance that he might've actually gotten through to her. I guess it all depends on Hunter."
"Well, I don't think she's going to give in so easily," Dave spoke up, shaking his head. "Trish isn't the kind of person to want to depend on other people where her career's concerned. She likes to be independent, and it's going to take more than a few minutes of Hunter telling her how amazing it is to be part of Evolution to convince her otherwise. She's not just going to roll over and join us…"
Before Dave could continue, the door to the locker room swung open and Hunter appeared, his face sporting a large grin. "Gentleman," he began, eyeing each man in the room. "I'd like to introduce you to the newest addition to Evolution…"
He moved sideways and gestured to the hallway, where Trish suddenly appeared, looking much less thrilled than Hunter did. She took two small steps and entered the locker room, arms crossed over her chest and lips pursed.
Ric was the first to stand and make his way to Trish, extending his right hand as he did so. "Hello, Trish," he smiled kindly, waiting for her to shake his hand, which she didn't do. "Welcome to Evolution."
Trish met Ric's eyes for a moment, then groaned and extended her hand. She did the same with Randy, who held her hand for a bit too long, but wore a genuinely happy smile, so she didn't say anything. The last to stand was Dave, who smiled down at Trish. He extended his hand, but didn't speak, instead opting to wiggle his eyebrows at the Women's Champion. She giggled and shook his hand.
"So Trish, this is our locker room, as you can tell," Hunter spoke, leading Trish further into the locker room. He gestured to the bathroom, the lockers, and the couches. "It's not that interesting, but it's better looking than most of the other locker rooms. We have a tag match tonight – me and Dave, but Eric doesn't want us to introduce you as our new member until next Monday, so you won't have to wrestle until then."
Ric smiled and rested his hand on Trish's shoulder. "We'll be here until Hunter and Batista are done with their match, and then we usually go out to a club for a few hours."
"We'd love for you to join us," Randy offered, eyeing Trish up and down. She rolled her eyes at his actions, but didn't speak.
"It would be great if you came out with us, Trish," Hunter agreed, sitting on the couch. "We could all get to know you a little better."
"I actually made plans for tonight," Trish lied, avoiding Hunter's eyes. "Maybe another night. But for now, I kind of need to go get my things together if I'm going to be sharing this locker room with you guys."
"Okay, go ahead," Ric nodded, watching as Trish headed to the door. "Oh, but Trish…" he waited until Trish had turned around to speak. "Again, welcome to Evolution."
LATER THAT NIGHT
"I'm really not sure I like this whole 'Trish Stratus in Evolution' thing," Hunter groaned, swallowing the last of his champagne. "It's not going to work."
Randy looked up from the brunette he was talking quietly to. "Just give it a chance, man. It could work out."
"Nice to know you're optimistic, Orton," Hunter shot back. "But I'm not like you. I know she doesn't want to be with us, and I don't really enjoy having her here either."
"Champ, don't worry about her tonight," Ric turned his attention away from two pretty blondes he was speaking with, opting to focus his eyes on Evolution's leader instead. "She's not here, and she's probably not complaining about us right now, so just leave it alone. We'll worry about her the next time we have to see her - Raw."
"I guess…"
Dave coughed loudly to get his teammates' attention. He grinned and pointed behind him at the blonde entering the club. "So much for not seeing her until Monday, eh?"
Hunter groaned and rolled his eyes, taking another swig of his beer. "Perfect."
Randy's eyes lit up as he spotted Trish, heading into the club by herself. She glanced around at the people dancing and sitting by the bar, then her gaze shifted to the table in the far back – occupied by none other than Evolution. She inwardly rolled her eyes, but on the outside she tried to smile. She'd planned to head straight to the bar and order a martini, but now that she'd been spotted by Triple H and his cronies, it seemed she had no other choice but to act polite to her new team members. And the fact that Randy Orton was eyeing her up and down didn't exactly make it easy to fade away.
"Hey Trish," Dave greeted as Trish approached them. He offered her a friendly smile and scooted over, making room for her in the booth he was sitting in.
"Hi," she smiled and took the offered seat, meeting Dave's eyes for a moment before turning to Ric Flair and Hunter. "Hello Ric, Hunter."
Ric smiled at the younger woman. He reached over the table to pat her carefully on the hand. He tried to discreetly elbow Hunter in the side to get his attention, but Trish noticed. She ignored the action, though, and tried to offer Hunter a smile. He nodded at her as politely as possible before raising his beer to his lips and swallowing a mouthful.
"Trish, hello," Trish shifted and looked over to Randy. He had a grin plastered on his lips, and his eyes met hers for a moment before they started travelling downward. Though she had become accompanied to men eyeing her, it never stopped feeling weird. She nodded at Randy and offered a smile, afterwards opting to cross her arms over her chest to try and prevent Randy's gawking.
Noticing her uneasiness, Dave leaned towards her. "Don't mind him," he whispered in her ear. "He's a little…. well, a lot drunk. But he's really not that bad when you get to know him."
"I'll remember that," Trish replied, nodding her head. She met Randy's eyes for a moment and smiled again, realizing for the first time how blue they truly were. She shook her thoughts away as she realized why she hadn't wanted to join Evolution in the first place. She hadn't wanted to get close to anyone, because when she did, she let her guard down. And when her guard was down she became weak, and she was more open to being hurt. She thought of Dave's words, and spoke to herself. She didn't want to get to know Randy Orton, or any of Evolution's members. Getting close would only cause trouble. Trouble she'd dealt with before, and didn't need to deal with again.
"So Trish," Ric spoke, smiling sincerely. "Would you like something to drink?"
She started to say no. Alcohol mixed with her conflicted feelings about her new business situation would just equal bad news. But for some reason, when she looked into Ric's honest eyes all she could say was yes. And that was when she knew she was screwed.
A FEW HOURS LATER
"You know, I really should stop drinking these," Trish placed her palm to her forehead as she giggled a little too loudly. She'd just finished her sixth beer, which was three times her normal amount. Things were starting to look a little fuzzy. She turned to the man she was sitting with and scooted a bit closer to him. "Randy, my friend, I really thought you were a big jerk before tonight."
Randy grinned and shook his head. "I'm not that bad, Trishie. Once you get to know me, I'm a good guy, y'know? I'm just mis… misun…"
"Misunderstood?"
"That's it!" He exclaimed, slapping his hand on the table. "I'm misunderstood, Trish. But I'm a really, really nice guy, I swear it."
"Boy, are they ever wasted," Ric sighed, shaking his head as he pointed to Randy and Trish, leaning into each other and laughing, both with beers sitting in front of them. "Of all the people in Evolution, I did not see Trish and Orton getting close."
"They're just drunk," Dave replied, rolling his eyes. "Once they sober up, Trish will go back to hating Randy, and he'll go back to wanting to get into her pants. Nothing will change."
"If you say so, man… but they're getting awfully close."
"Who is?" Hunter questioned, coming up behind Dave and Ric.
"Stratus and Orton are getting kind of cozy," Ric explained, gesturing to the pair.
"Well, that's just fucking great," Hunter growled, fixating his eyes on the couple. "I knew I didn't want her to join us. I told Bischoff I didn't want a woman distracting my men from their work. Everything will go to hell if those two hook up. It can't happen."
"Champ, calm down," Ric stood in front of Hunter, blocking Randy and Trish from his view. "They're both drunk… but once they sober up, they'll more than likely forget everything that's happened tonight, and things will go back to normal. Trish didn't seem very interested in Orton when she first saw him earlier, and I'm sure she'll go back to feeling that way tomorrow."
Hunter shrugged, but didn't argue. When Ric moved, however, he groaned loudly. "Great, and now they've disappeared," he nodded towards the booth, which was now empty. The three men searched the dance floor until they found Trish and Randy, dancing up close. Without saying a word, Hunter started pushing through the crowd to get to the pair. Without stopping to speak, he pulled Randy's arm to separate the two. "What the fuck is going on?" He growled, stepping in between Randy and Trish, both of whom seemed a bit confused.
"Hunter," Ric warned as he caught up with the group. He motioned to Dave, who walked over to Trish and wrapped a protective arm around her. She wobbled slightly and leaned into him for support.
"Orton, we're leaving. Now."
Randy groaned slightly, but didn't fight when Hunter started leading him out of the club, Ric in tow. Dave stayed behind for a moment and waited until his teammate were out of the building before he started walking with Trish. She wobbled some more and he tightened his grip on her arm. "You okay?"
She nodded, then placed her hand to her head and sighed deeply. "Uh, ah… I'm okay," she said quietly, leaning closer to Dave.
"Sure you are," he replied, shaking his head as he led Trish to his car. He nodded as Hunter and Ric drove by him, Randy in the backseat already sleeping. After helping Trish into the passenger seat, he headed over to the driver's side and climbed inside, turning on the car. "So Trish…" he turned his head towards the blonde woman, smirking when he found her to already be asleep as well. He carefully buckled her in and started to drive away. "Man," he spoke to himself as he shook his head. "Just can't wait for Monday night."
Third chapter done. I'm really not fond of this one, but if you guys like it, that's all that matters. Keep up the reviewing, because I love to know what you all think. :)