Sitting in the centre of the stage at the venue they were to play that night, Lidia was writing franticaly, determined to finish the song she began the night before. Biting on the lid to her pen, she begin to think; the first, second, and third verse to the song, done. Chrous, done. Bridge, done. So why was the outro so hard to write? Dropping the pen and pad of paper, she brought her knees to her chest, letting her dreads fall free to her shoulders. "Fuck," she mumbled to herself.
Hearing her cell phone ring, Lidia smiled, which seemed like the first time in hours. "Hello?" she answered, more harshly than intended. "Ugh, sorry, it hasn't been a good day."
"We all have bad days, don't worry about it." It was Stacey. "Just called to see how you were doing. Locker room rumor says that you had interaction with a certin doctor of thuganomics at your show two nights ago, and if you're as messed up as he is, then I highly suggest you take a day off and go on a shopping trip with me and the girls."
"Oh God Stace, how bad is he?" Lidia asked, laying down on the stage.
"Well, I just got back from an autograph signing with him, your brother, Charlie and Jackie, and he was hardly talking. Didn't really shake hands with everyone, didn't hit on any of the girls, like, none of them. Your brother on the other case...." Laughing, Lidia rolled her eyes; even when his girlfriend was with him, he just couldn't keep his hands to himself. "He's in bad shape Liddy. Just moping around hallways and keeping himself in his hotel room. He hasn't even worked out, and it was two days ago!" Closing her eyes, Lidia rubbed her temple with her free hand; John Cena hasn't worked out in two days because of her?
"He doesn't have a match tomorrow night, does he?" Lidia questioned worried.
"Yea, against Booker T and Haasie. Those three are tight like brothers from other mothers though, nothing bad will happen to John," Stacey tried to assure Lidia. Sighing, Lidia opened her eyes, "it's not John I'm worried about, its the other two. What if he messes up and ends up hurting one of them? I don't want one of them to get hurt just because John is being stupid," Lidia told Stacey. Hearing a grunt on the other end, Lidia raised her eyebrow and let out a small laugh. "What in the blue hell was that?"
"I hugged my phone, because if I was there with you, I would've given you a hug," Stacey explained to Lidia.
"You've been going out with Randy for far too long!"
"Three and a half years. Well, actually, if you want to get all technical, its three years, ten months and sixteen days," Stacey informed Lidia. Rolling her eyes, Lidia could tell that Stacey was going to go on about how she gets butterflies everytime she thinks of Randy, or whenever shes around him, and how he does random things for her.
She did. Not really paying attention to what she was saying, Lidia zoned off into her own little world, when John would do random things for her, like buy her daisys (her favourite flower) because it was a Wednesday, or make dinner for her because she broke a nail.
Noticing Lidia wasn't saying anything, Stacey stopped to question her, if everything was OK. Assuring it was, they hung up, promising to call back later. Smiling when she hung up, Lidia made a mental note to thank Stacey later for the inspiration; she now has the ending to the song.
If I keep holding my breath, all of this will fade away.
If you keep driving we'll be lying in the wreck.
Changing the shape
Folding like an envelope to keep each other in.
Shattered glass, broken looks, and mascara gets
Washed away by windshield wiper blades
Sitting quietly in the trainers office, Charlie Haas looked at Booker T curiously; while practising for their match for the pay per view (which was less than twenty four hours away), Booker landed on his shoulder while reciving an F-U from John. While Booker was going down, John didn't give him enough height for him to flip over, making him fall on his shoulder.
Fearing the worse (trainer predicted a dislocated shoulder), Booker and Charlie waited for Jackie Gayda to bring the car around so they could get Booker's shoulder x-rayed.
"He just seemed so off today," Booker commented as he tried to button up his shirt with one hand, "I know there's shit going in his life right now with Orton's sister, but really man, You gotta get your head in the game weather the arena is filled or not." Charlie nodded his head in agreement, but watched in amusment as Booker tried to button up his shirt. Standing up, Charlie walked over towards Booker, and helped him button up his shirt.
"It was just too painful to watch," Charlie told him, doing up the buttons. "I'll admit though, when I signed that contract in Vince's office, I didn't think helping a black man do his shirt up was part of the job." Laughing together, their inside joke was interupted once Jackie appeared at the door, a quizzical look on her face.
"Should I ask...Or just leave it?" She asked, walking over to help Booker stand up. "Leave it," the two men answered together, walking out of the trainers room. While walking out, Charlie did a quick check down the halls, looking for John; he was nowhere to be found.
Pacing back and forth in the womens locker room, John waited paciently while Stacey talked on her phone. Seeing Dawn Marie talking to Lita and Jazz, he made his way over, putting his arm around the SmackDown! diva.
"How's my favourite Jersery diva?" he asked while placing a kiss on her cheek.
"Just remembering the old times with some of my girls," Dawn replied, refering to the days when she, Lita and Jazz were all in ECW.
"I see, I see. So when you did get paid, and your cheques didn't bounce, how much sexy lingire did you ladies buy?" Rolling their eyes, the three girls shunned John from their conversation, turning their back to him. Realzing who he was, Lita turned and looked at John, scrunching her eyebrows together.
"Why are you here?" Lita demanded, "if this has anything to do with our Lidia then John, honest to God, I will kick you so hard in the nu..." Wrapping an arm around the red heads stomach, Jass held her back, making sure she wouldn't do anything she'll regret later.
Backing away from the fired up Lita, John sat down on the bench, closest to the shower stalls were Stacey was.
Coming out (what seemed like the longest fifteen minutes of John's life), Stacey grabbed her purse and John by the arm, and brought him out of the room with her. Putting her cell phone in her purse, she began talking, "I was on the phone with Torrie, but then Jackie beeped through, so I started talking to her, and from the sounds of it, you should be at the hospital with her, Haasie and Booker!" Stacey whispered harshly. "John, you really have to start concentrating more..."
"Stace, I just need Lidia's phone number, that's it." Putting her weight on one leg, Stacey placed a hand on her hip, shaking her head.
"You're out of your damn mind if you think you are going to hurt my Lidia, again, John. Now listen, you are to speak to her, speak of her, or even think of her, understand? Promise me John, you don't even talk about anything that happend between you two to anyone, you hurt her enough, and the last thing she needs.."
"You don't understand though, Stace...." Looking at John with wide eyes, Stacey put her purse down on the makeup crate, and took a deep breath. "Don't understand? Who the hell do you think you're talking to? Lidia is my best friend....She is my sister, and you have no idea how many times she was crying on my shoulder because of you. Or, how many times she would sit there and stare off into space while I was talking to her, because she could see something that you left behind after you guys had a fight. Do you have any idea how much pain you put her through when you left her and Madison, just so you could become a wrestler? Do you?" Looking at John, Stacey could see that he didn't know. "Jesus John...I......Oh man, I can't even think straight when I'm looking at you." Throwing her hands up in defeat, Stacey walked away, not even wanting to look at John.
Noticing the left behind bag, John unzipped it, and put Stacey's phone in his back pocket.
Author Note: The song mentioned in this chapter is by Thursday and is called Signals Over The Air. Please read and review if you would like to see further chapters for this story.