Chapter 6: A Meeting And Something More
Chris stepped into the huge room where the big Raw meeting was scheduled to take place and looked around. Nearly everyone was already there, standing around in small groups and chatting amiably. When he entered the room, some people stopped talking completely and just stared at him, letting him know that he had been the topic of their conversations. All eyes were on him as he walked to the back of the room and plopped down hard on a steel chair. He wondered for a moment if they were looking at him because they were discussing his break-up with Stephanie or because of his attire. I don't give a fuck, he thought. He pulled his cap lower on his head, casting his blue eyes into a dark shadow as he slouched down in his chair and waited for the meeting to begin...so it could end.
Stephanie stepped into the meeting room carrying Shawn's suit jacket. She walked up to the front of the room and took her designated seat at her father's side, facing the crowd. She peered discreetly around the room through her shades, searching for the love of her life. She knew people would be wondering why she was wearing dark shades inside a building. New trend, she thought, but the real reason was that she had no intention of letting anyone see her red eyes, because then they would know that she had been crying. And she couldn't have that..
Stephanie spotted him sitting-no, slouching-in the back of the room alone. He had a cap on his head, angled low over his eyes. His arms, those beautiful, muscular arms, were folded across his chest. His blonde hair looked like it hadn't been combed or brushed in days, and he obviously hadn't had a good shave in a few days, either. He looked absolutely miserable sitting there by himself. His tangled hair was pulled back and held loosely with a rubber band, and some strands fell loose around his face. Despite the way he looked, she found herself drinking in every single detail about him, his body, his appearance. Four days was really too long to go without seeing Chris...
Shawn stepped into the room and immediately spotted Stephanie sitting up front next to her father, facing everyone. She looked like she was concentrating hard on someone. He looked in the direction she was looking in, although he couldn't be sure because she was wearing some really dark shades. He couldn't possibly imagine why she would be wearing shades inside a building, but he had an idea as he finally spotted who she was most likely staring at in the back of the room. Chris. Of course. He sighed and walked farther into the room, finding a seat in the first row so he could be closer to Stephanie. He knew that she would never look at him the way that she looked at Chris. He had already missed his perfect chance fourteen years ago. But that didn't keep him from wanting to look at her and wanting her to see him the way she had seen him so many years ago.
"I'd like to call this meeting to order," Vince said a couple of minutes later. He was dressed, as usual, in an expensive and impeccably clean new suit, and he was all smiles. He was always all smiles at meetings because he was ruining lives at all hours of the day, and it always made him feel great to know that the next fragile life he would shatter would be the life of someone in that very room.
Chris looked up as Vince started talking. He wanted to go up there and strangle the old bastard with his bare hands until he died from lack of oxygen. He wanted to hurt him physically for all the emotional pain he had forced him to endure, all the emotional pain he was still going through now. He looked next to Vince and saw Stephanie looking in his direction, though he couldn't be sure because she was wearing shades. She must have been crying, he thought sadly as he observed her. He knew her well enough to know that she wasn't trying to make some kind of fashion statement. He knew that she would tell anyone who asked her why she was wearing them that it was a new trend, perhaps from some exotic place. He looked her over. From what he could see from his seated position way in the back, she was wearing a baby tee and some jeans... Was that a Y2J baby tee? Nah, he told himself. I'm so stupid. It's probably an HBK shirt.
"So it's true, then?" a low female voice asked. The owner of that voice sat down next to him in a chair and gave him the once-over, licking her lips slowly. She liked what she saw.
He glanced next to him, and the first things that greeted him were two large breasts which were stretching the fabric of the tight shirt covering them to new limits. He looked up and nearly groaned out loud. It was Trish Stratus, the one person he could honestly say that he hated as much as he hated Vince.
"What now, Trish?" he asked in a tightly-controlled voice.
"Is it true that you've finally kicked Stephanie's ass to the curb?" she asked gleefully.
"We broke up, yeah. What's it to you, bitch?" he asked rudely.
"Now, now, Chris," she admonished. "Do you really think it would be in your best interest to insult me?"
"Don't know, don't fucking care," he said, rolling his eyes. "But it would be in your best interest to get the hell away from me."
"If you say so, sweetie," she said, reaching over to squeeze his thigh. "But I can recall one time when you didn't turn me away. Remember?"
"Get away from me, bitch," he said angrily. He couldn't believe she was bringing this up in public, and even after he'd broken up with Stephanie. She wasn't keeping her end of the deal. What the hell? Hadn't she and Vince both gotten what they had wanted from him already? She didn't move her hand, which was still gently squeezing his thigh and slowly moving up higher. "Get away from me," he repeated, pushing her hand away. "I am not obligated to even sit near you now that the shit has hit the fan."
"Mmmm, Sexy, it's not over yet," she purred. She licked her lips slowly. "I think, with Vince's approval, of course, that I'll be seeing you later this week sometime. After all, it's been way too long since we got together."
"Fuck you," he said shortly.
"You will," she countered, then got up and went to sit next to someone else.
He sighed and looked back down at his hands. Trish Stratus was the bitch that Vince McMahon had used to get his dirt on him. Those two were the people responsible for making him miserable, and for him making Stephanie miserable. But after last night with Shawn, maybe Stephy's not so miserable anymore, he thought bitterly, and then he looked at Vince again. He was going to make that bastard and his right-hand bitch Trish pay.
And payback was going to be a bitch.
Stephanie clenched her jaw tightly as she looked at Trish Stratus, who was now sitting next to Kane. Why had she just been sitting next to Chris, flirting with him? Chris had gotten angry and pushed her away, it seemed. That part made Stephanie feel a little better. She was proud of the fact that he had resisted Trish's charms. Not many men could. But it ticked her off that he had to resist Trish's advances in the first place. How dare she try to come on to him when he was obviously not really single? She looked over at Trish again, who was currently twirling strands of her blonde hair around her finger and smiling seductively at Kane. What a bitch, she thought. I hate her.
The meeting lasted for a little over an hour, and besides the whole "Trish" factor, Stephanie was happy about it. She didn't want it to end because, well, this was the only time she was able to really see Chris. This was the only time she could watch him and observe him and just take in every little detail about him. She didn't like to see him looking so sad and miserable, but compared to not seeing him at all... Well, there was really no comparison there. She would take what she could get.
"If there are no further questions...this meeting is adjourned," Vince declared.
Everyone got up to leave. Stephanie got up, holding Shawn's jacket, and walked over to him. "Hey, Shawn," she said, giving him a half smile.
"Hey there, beautiful," Shawn replied, smiling at her. He smiled because she smiled, and her smile made her even more gorgeous than she normally was. "What's up?"
Chris stood up, intent on working up enough courage to go talk to Stephanie. He wanted just to hear her voice, that beautiful yet sometimes screechy voice that haunted his thoughts and plagued his dreams. He put his hands in his pockets and headed slowly over to where Stephanie was standing with Shawn. He got there just in time to hear her say something that he really didn't want to hear, because it confirmed his worst fears about the previous night.
"You left your jacket on my bed last night," Stephanie said, handing Shawn his jacket.
"I realized that when I got to my room, but I didn't want to come back and possibly wake you up," Shawn said, taking the jacket from her. "Thanks."
Neither one of them noticed Chris standing just a foot away. They just kept talking, oblivious to the fact that they had a visitor.
"No problem," Stephanie said, in response to Shawn's comment. "Just don't do it again, because next time I won't give it to you."
"You know you liked it," Shawn teased.
"Wow, Stephy, you're over me that fast? Unbelievable," Chris said in a voice he barely recognized. He sounded weak and wounded...because his heart was wounded. What would he do if Stephanie had slept with Shawn the night before? It looked like he was about to find out...
"Over you? Chris..." Stephanie couldn't believe he was there, barely a foot away, actually talking to her. He didn't exactly sound like himself, though. He sounded like he was hurting. Could it be possible that he was hurting because of her? Because she was talking with Shawn? "Chris, what are you talking about?"
"Ah, just forget it," Chris said, scowling. Then he walked right out of the room without a backward glance.
"What the hell was that all about?" Stephanie asked Shawn, staring after him.
"I'd say he was jealous," Shawn observed. He didn't want to tell her this, but he decided to do it anyway. He wanted her to be happy, and it was plain to see that she wouldn't settle for anyone less than Chris. She compared every man to Chris, and none of them measured up to him, none at all. None of them could even attempt to take his place... "You should go after him," he said finally.
"Really? You think?" she asked, biting her lips nervously.
"Yeah," he said. He didn't want her to go, but he didn't really have any choice in the matter. She wanted Chris, and that was painfully obvious. He gave her a light shove towards the door. "Go."
"Thanks, Shawn," she said, smiling at him. Then she hurried out of the room after Chris.
"You're welcome, Princess," Shawn said softly, watching her go, but she wasn't listening anymore.
"Chris, wait!" Stephanie called as she stepped out of the room and spotted him. She saw him pause for a minute at the sound of her voice, then start walking even faster. He was practically running, trying to run from her, but she wasn't going to let him get away that easily... So she followed him as he hurried down the hall and turned a corner.
She hurried around the corner and collided with a warm, solid body: Chris, standing there, waiting for her with his arms folded across his chest. He didn't look very happy, not at all.
"Chris," she whispered, steadying herself as she stood in front of him. She felt totally weak in the knees as she stared up into his beautiful blue eyes, those eyes that used to hold so much love for her. Looking into his eyes, she thought she could still see the love for her in them, but maybe she was just imagining it...
"Isn't your lover boy waiting back there for you?" Chris asked.
"Who's my lover boy?" she asked, immediately confused.
"Shawn Michaels," he said bitterly.
"Shawn? You're kidding me," she said with a little laugh. "Shawn is so not my type, and he's definitely not my lover boy."
"Right, I get it. He's just your lover, no boy attached, huh?" he spat. She opened her mouth to speak but he kept talking. "I saw it last night. I saw it when you came back from your date with your precious Shawn. You let him into your hotel room, Stephy! What were you thinking?"
"He came in last night to use my bathroom. It doesn't mean anything," she said softly, finally understanding why Chris had been so mad.
"Your bathroom?" he asked, surprised.
"Yeah, he couldn't hold it," she told him. Then she raised her eyebrow as another thought came to her. "And how do you know about that anyway?"
"I was there," he commented quietly. "Your dad told me you that you had a date with someone, and it wasn't me. I was hurt, I was depressed."
"Why?" she asked. "Why should you be hurt? You're the one who said you didn't want me anymore."
He sighed. "That's true. I said it, and I meant it," he lied. He felt better that she and Shawn weren't together and hadn't slept together, but now he felt bad that he had to lie about the way he felt... Or did he have to lie? Could he tell her?
"Wow, that's a really nice thing to say," she said sarcastically. "Really nice."
"Yeah, I know," he replied. "I'm just naturally a really nice kind of guy, right?"
"You know, I don't think I ever really knew you," she said, sudden tears springing to her eyes. "Because if I had known the real you when we were together, I doubt we would've lasted so long." She looked away from him, embarrassed, as the tears starting making their way down her face.
"Stephy...don't cry," he said softly, putting his hand up to her face even though he knew he shouldn't. "You did know the real me. But I'm someone else now."
"Don't touch me," she said angrily, slapping his hand away. She craved his touch more than anything, but this wasn't the Chris she knew... "As a matter of fact, just don't even talk to me anymore. You...made it clear that you don't want me anymore so what's the point?"
"Can't we be friends?" he asked pitifully.
"Friends? Ha!" she scoffed. "You break my heart and then you want to be friends?" He nodded. "I don't think so." She turned her back on him and started walking away. It was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do, walk away from the love of her life. But she had to, because it seemed like there was really no chance of them reconciling, no chance at all.
He watched her walking away before he made his decision. Screw Vince McMahon. I'll tell her myself, he thought. He walked behind her and grabbed her arm, whirling her around to face him.
"What are you doing?" she asked, frowning at him. She was pleasantly surprised when he put his arms around her and pulled her close to him.
"Stephy, I miss you. It's only been, like, four days and I just can't live without you," he whispered, right before he kissed her. He kissed her with everything he had in him. He had missed this so much, having her in his arms. Sure, it had only been a few days, but it had felt like a lifetime to him.
"God, Chris, I missed you, too," she whispered when he pulled away. "But I don't understand. What... Why did you break up with me in the first place?"
He looked into her inquiring eyes and bit his lips. He needed to tell her everything...
It was now or never. "It was your dad..."
A/N: I'm sorry, guys! I know this chapter kind of jumps around a bit. I didn't plan for this to happen, but I just couldn't keep Chris and Stephanie apart! It was killing me! Now I don't know where this story's going, but maybe I'll figure it out soon...