Chapter 15

'No, that's impossible,' Stacy said to herself in attempt to shake off the negative frightening thoughts from her mind. 'Don't kid yourself. It could be him, and I know it. So, then why in the world didn't I let Randy come with me? I can't take him on all alone if he's there. What the hell am I going to do?' She sighed and prayed silently to herself; it was amazing how many thoughts could run through one's mind in a twenty second elevator ride.

The shiny metal doors slid open, unveiling the large lobby. The reception desk stood about thirty feet from Stacy's left side; the floors were carpeted with a wine red shade, and the same color of sheer curtains enhanced the borders of the beautiful floor-length windows. The sunlight lit up the huge room that was filled with seemingly comfortable sofas and armchairs surrounding elegant, wood coffee tables. There was a small café present on the far right end of the room, with stools surrounding the delicate gray and white marble counter. People were sitting all around, laughing and enjoying themselves over a cup of coffee.

"Wow," whispered Stacy as the elegant simplicity sunk in all at once. For a minute there, she'd almost forgotten everything that'd invaded her mind just seconds earlier. With a reminder of her chilling, unwanted expectations, the blonde's eyes darted around the room in search of something - - actually, more like someone…

"Stacy!" a voice rang out, causing Stacy to jump slightly, but yet she strived to uncover its origin.

He couldn't shake the feeling. Everything was about to go incredibly wrong, but he had to do something to prevent it. Randy was pacing back and forth in front of the bed like a caged lion, and pretty soon he'd end up wearing holes in the floor.

All in all, he didn't know what to do. The fact that Stacy could get hurt scared the living hell out of him, and Randy wasn't afraid to admit it. Seeing her harmed in any way was like tearing out a piece of his heart and letting it shatter to pieces. Unfortunately, he was aware that if he showed up… Things wouldn't go well, to say the least.

"Why did I even let her leave?" Randy yelled as he balled his strong hands into fists, angered with himself for even letting her touch that doorknob.

Who could miss that red, fiery hair? People could probably see it from the moon. Stacy relaxed her tensed muscles as she spotted Lita waving her over to the café area. With a smile now firmly plastered onto her face, the blonde sat onto the stool and hung her purse on the back of it. Nothing could have made her happier at this moment than seeing the shining face of her best friend.

"Business? Since when is coffee considered business?" Stacy laughed.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that, but I had to get you away from Randy somehow!" Lita winked at the woman opposite of her and they both laughed.

"You had me so worried! I expected someone different, since the lady at the desk didn't give me a name."

"I realized that after you jumped when I called your name. I'm sorry, I should have told her to tell you who it was," Lita replied with an apologetic expression.

"I better give Randy a call. I don't want him pacing himself all the way through five floors and falling from the ceiling in here."

Stacy turned and pulled her cell phone from her purse, dialing the room number. Randy picked up, frantically asking if everything was okay, who she was with, where that person took her, and his fast talking soon became incoherent. It amazed her how he could fit all that into fifteen seconds, however, she'd pulled the phone away from her ear within the first three.

"Honey… Randy, calm down, I'm fine," she giggled, "I can't get a word in edgewise, how do you expect me to answer all those questions? Well, that is, not considering the fact that I didn't hear most of them. Anyway, listen to me for a second. I'm here with Lita, so quit pacing; I don't want to have to pay for those floor damages. Sit down and chill out, we're just having some coffee and talking. You know, girl talk. Baby, relax because you'll need your strength for the show. Okay? All right, I'll talk to you later. Bye!"

"A little paranoid?"

"Li, he has a good reason to be. That was pretty funny, though," Stacy added, grinning.

A young woman working behind the counter brought Stacy and Lita their coffee, which turned out to be totally amazing.

"So… Have you told them yet?" Lita questioned cautiously, knowing that this was a sensitive topic with her friend.

"Who?"

"Your parents."

"Wow, this coffee is really good!" Stacy remarked.

"Stacy, I'm serious. They should know that you're not with Scott anymore," the red head commented.

"I know," she sighed, tracing along the edge of her coffee cup with her index finger. "But Li, I haven't talked to them much. You know they don't approve of what I do and they didn't approve of Scott."

"I'm completely aware of that, but they were right. I think you're just afraid to admit that."

"If you want to get technical - -"

"I don't want to get technical, I want you to be realistic here," Lita interrupted.

Stacy focused on the steaming, hot coffee for a moment, and then took a small sip before countering vaguely, "Well, but you know Scott's a good guy. They just couldn't see that… And after a while, I lost sight of it, too because he was constantly drinking. I guess I - - I guess I just wanted to prove them wrong by staying with him. That turned out well, didn't it?" she concluded sarcastically. "Do you know what's kind of funny, though? I thought he was the one. There was this one night that we'd laid out a blanket at his house in the front yard, and it was probably around midnight, I don't know," Stacy smiled as she recalled a happy memory from the broken relationship, "we both cuddled up and gazed at the stars for what felt like hours, and we were talking about getting married. We talked about what our wedding would be like, the honeymoon, and our house and pets, stuff like that," she chuckled faintly.

The blonde looked up at her best friend with tears in her eyes. Lita could see for the first time that Scott wasn't all bad, but, of course, she still despised him. On the other hand, this brought her to understand what Stacy had gone through when the abuse first started; she knew it'd hurt her immensely to feel hate towards someone she'd loved for so long, because he'd left bruises not only on her skin, but on her heart.

"I'm really sorry, Stace," Lita said, reaching over to embrace and hold her. She couldn't fix it, but she'd be there for Stacy, no matter what.

"Anyway," Stacy voiced, "to answer your first question, no, I haven't told my parents about Randy. I don't know if I should until I'm sure that I'm really serious about him. We'll leave it at that."

"Okay, if you insist. But don't think I won't come back to this with you," Lita smiled.

"Oh, honey, trust me, I know you won't let it go until you get what you want," the blonde giggled. "Okay, I've got to get going because Randy and I were going to go to see a movie this afternoon. I'm really glad I got to see you!" Stacy squealed as both of the women jumped up from their seats and hugged.

"I'll try your cell later and we can talk some more. And by the way, at the movies, don't do anything I wouldn't do," Lita laughed and winked again.

"Okay, I'll see you later," replied Stacy as Lita walked out of the building.

The Diva finished her coffee and stood up, fixing up her outfit and hair. But when she reached for her purse, it wasn't there. She spun around and looked on the floor, yet she didn't see it anywhere.

"Ugh, I liked that purse. And that cell phone."

She sauntered down the carpet, returning to her spot outside the elevator, except this time she was facing the doors. Stacy waited patiently for the elevator to arrive, but during her wait, the unasked for happened.

"Looking for this?"

Author's Note: Wow, an update on time! Actually even a little early. This chappy is about 400 words longer than usual, so the next one is actually a bit shorter. Well, I wrote this chapter as soon as I finished 14, which was a great feeling. Aren't you just proud of me? Lol, just kidding. But I'm so happy… out of one idea, I got two cliffhangers. You guys must really love me! D