Long chapter ahead... Hope you like it! --- bettina isabelle
Chapter 31: Happy Christmas.
All four of them turned to look. The heart monitor had started a flat, and the four were rushed out of the room. Dr. Stevens came in and yelled out a code or some sort, and attendees, interns, and nurses came rushing to Nikki's room. John sat down on a chair and Randy remained standing. He started to cry. Trish came over to comfort him, and he whispered out something.
"What?" Trish asked softly.
"It's over huh?" Randy sniffled.
"No, she's going to live." Trish began to cry too.
"I know, but I mean, her career, it's over." Randy replied.
Trish didn't answer. But deep down Randy knew that she agreed. She can no longer wrestle; she's strong, yes, but she's weak inside. Trish looked around to see where Stacy had been, and she wasn't there.
"Why did you date her? Besides the fact that you used her as a tool to get closer to Nikki?" Trish asked.
Randy sniffled. "I fell in love with her."
"I was telling you before, to stop dating that bitch, because she's nothing but a whore." Trish muttered.
"What makes you say that?" Randy asked.
"She slept with the whole football team in high school, and still crowned herself a virginal goddess the next morning." Trish said.
"And that makes you hate her?" Randy asked. He was disgusted.
"That's wrong yes… but…" Trish trailed on.
"Hmm?" Randy asked.
"I caught her in bed with my ex boyfriend." Trish replied.
"What!" Randy yelled.
"Ssh!" Trish hushed.
"Who as your ex boyfriend?" Randy asked. He sniffled again.
Trish turned around and looked at John. He waved at them.
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"Are you okay now? You scared us to death there a while ago." Trish said.
"Yeahp… totally fine. I just don't think I can stand the fighting for now." Nikki replied.
"Sorry…" Randy apologized quietly.
Nikki looked at Randy. His eyes were red. "The question is, are you ok?"
Randy nodded. "Yeah, you just scared me."
John looked at Nikki. He was hoping by now Nikki had realized how much Randy really cares for her.
"When can I go?" Nikki asked.
"Tomorrow morning." Trish replied.
"Great… we have to spend Christmas Eve here in the hospital." John sighed.
Trish whacked him with a magazine.
"Ow! What the fuck?" John yelled out, startled.
"It's OK, we can have celebrate Christmas when Nikki is ready to go home." Randy smiled at her.
Nikki smiled back. "Thanks."
There was a silent pause among them, and John spoke. "What are you going to do now, now that you are advised to stop wrestling?"
Trish whacked him again. "Please tell me that was a rhetorical question."
John shook his head.
"It's OK." Nikki replied. "I dunno, I was thinking of taking up that offer from Vince."
"The CEO position?" Randy replied with glee.
"Why are you so excited?" Nikki asked.
"I swear I saw a boner there homie." John replied.
"Eww John." Nikki said.
"Because I know this is the kind of job you have always wanted." Randy replied.
"And how do you know this?" Trish asked.
"Did you look through my dream box?" Nikki accused.
"Maybe…" Randy said.
Nikki took a deep breath. "That's ok. Now you know."
John laughed.
"What?" All of them asked.
"Dream box… pffft. Who has a dream box?" John's laugh began to weaken.
"You do don't you?" Trish asked.
John looked at her. "Maybe…"
"Thanks, it's nice to know someone looks out for me." Nikki said.
Trish paused. She eyed Nikki and Randy.
"You're welcome." Randy replied quickly.
Trish mouthed out a, "Is that all you can say!"
Randy shrugged at her.
Nikki leaned on her pillow. She looked at Randy. "Hey Trish, when I get out of here, remind me to buy a hat."
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"Merry Christmas Nikki! Wake up! You're going home today!" Randy said.
Nikki opened her eyes. "You stayed here all this time?"
"Actually, we went home to shower and freshen up last night when you were asleep, then we came back again." John replied. He gave Nikki a friendly, warm hug.
"We—I thought when you get out today you wouldn't want to be in your old clothes, so I took your other ones home, laundered them and brought new clothes for you to wear." Trish placed the clothes, which was in a Banana Republic bag, and placed it on the bed.
"Thanks. You guys are fabulous. What can I do without you?" Nikki laughed.
"Everything." Randy said.
They all laughed. "No… we know if one of us were stuck in a hospital, or any other place, you would stick by us. No matter what." Trish said.
John and Trish turned to look at Randy.
"Just like what you did for me when I was locked up a while back. You stood around waiting for me, stood by my side, helped me win. Now it's my turn to help you." Randy declared.
Nikki smiled. John swore that he saw tears in her eyes. Dr. Stevens walked in the room.
"Well Miss Nicole Melanie Keibler, you can freshen up and leave now. I can see your friends had already brought you stuff to change into. As your clothes were all covered in barf and blood. Ick." She laughed. "Go ahead and dress up, and you can meet me outside so I can check you out."
Nikki got up from her hospital bed and grabbed the bag. "I'll be right back." She stepped inside the bathroom.
"Nice speech there Romeo. Now where's your serenade?" Trish punched Randy on the arm.
"We'll see." Randy smiled.
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They left the hospital, satisfied, and Nikki went to buy her hat. They arrived at their building and went up. Nikki went in and found the whole penthouse decorated for the holidays and she found a Christmas tree by the large window in the family room.
"Wow! When was this done?" Nikki asked. She knelt down next to the tree.
"Last night." Trish sat down.
"Fabulous!" Nikki squealed. "I'm gonna go freshen up, and we'll open the pressies!"
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"Thanks for the hat Trish. Thanks Randy for the snowboard and the pearl necklace, I love the theme. And thanks John for the… Slinky?" Nikki said.
"What? It reminded me of you when I saw it at the store." John replied.
Nikki laughed and thanked him.
"Hey… We're invited to New York's official Holiday Party tonight. I forgot to tell you all. I got the invitation 2 days ago. It was addressed to all of us." Trish said.
"Shit… why didn't you tell me? Now I don't have anything to wear." Nikki said.
"Sorry… I bought my dress yesterday." Trish said.
"I know! I know exactly what to wear. What time does it start?" Nikki asked.
"9 PM tonight." Trish said.
"Let's clean up and start getting ready for the affair." Nikki grabbed the trash and stuffed them into a bag, which John was holding.
Randy had pitched in to help. He stared at the snowboard he had given her. It wasn't girly, it wasn't tomboyish, it was… Nikki. He had it custom made to fit her personality. Wherever he looked, he couldn't find anything that seemed to fit Nikki. She was truly unique. Next to the snowboard he spotted the hat Nikki had just bought. What's up with all of these hats Nikki buys once in a while? Randy thought.
"Hey Randy, you okay?" Nikki waved her hand in front of his eyes.
"Yeah. I'm good." Randy snapped his head and threw the trash into a bag.
--------- 3 hours later…
"So… are we ready?" Trish asked.
"I guess… I don't know where Nikki is at the moment." Randy said.
"I like your outfit Trish." John said softly.
Trish looked at him and blushed. "Thanks John." She said. "Not looking so bad yourself."
Randy stared at them. "Okay… scary."
At that moment Nikki came down the stairs dressed up in a simple black tube dress made of smooth organza, completed with the pearl necklace Randy had given her. Her hair was pinned up softly, creating a tousled hair, with curls here and there.
"Wow…" Randy whispered.
"Thanks." Nikki heard and smiled.
"Are you wearing any makeup Nikki?" Trish asked.
Nikki shook her head. "Nope… I put the glitter powder I had and put on lip gloss."
"Never knew you kept makeup." John said.
"Hmm… I don't. They were all given to me by friends." She looked at Trish.
Trish gave her a thumbs up.
"Limo's here." John said.
"What?" Trish asked.
John chuckled. "I got us a limo."
Trish was impressed. She hooked on to John. "Smooth… very smooth." They left towards the front door.
Randy looked at Nikki. She was astonishing just being herself, but her being fixed up, she looked dazzling.
"So… since the two lovebirds over there left us, you just want to go?" Nikki asked uncomfortably.
Randy smiled. "Sure… why ever not?"
Nikki smiled and hooked on to Randy. Trish heard both of them and she turned around. Trish smiled at Randy and gave him a "happy for you, good luck" smile. Randy blushed and went downstairs to the limo.
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Trish, John and especially Randy sat there staring at Nikki. She had been eating lots of food ever since they arrived. She devoured each plate like a hungry mountain man. She looked up and laughed.
"I'm sorry, I'm really hungry. Hospital food isn't good you know." Nikki stuffed another bite of Lobster Thermidore into her mouth. "Mmm…" She savored.
John felt the awkward moment and invited Trish to dance with him. Trish accepted and followed him down to the dance floor.
"Don't you feel the awkwardness between Randy and Nikki now?" Trish asked. She placed her arms on John's shoulder.
John nodded. He put his arms around her.
"It seems as if Nikki…" Trish trailed on.
"I don't think so." John quickly answered.
"Why not?" Trish asked.
"She can't possibly…" John said.
Trish laid her head on his shoulder. "I really think she is."
"Look, I think we should back off and give her--- them--- a chance, without us interfering." John said.
"But Randy messed it up when he started to date that skank ho." Trish disgustedly said.
"Ok, look, it's obvious they're done. And you heard what he said to us, the only reason he dated Stacy was because he thought that she would be the next best thing to Nikki. He thought they're alike because they're sisters. And… he fell in love with Stacy." John reasoned.
"Now that that bitch is out of the picture, can we just focus on Nikki?" Trish asked.
"You brought her up." John sighed largely. "We should really back off. If she really is, then we should let her give her own. Not us helping neither one of them."
Trish sighed.
"Look, can we get through one dance without ever having to talk about problems anymore? I liked you much better before." John said hushly.
"Huh?" Trish asked.
"You changed ever since." John said. "Ever since, I don't know."
"Sorry if I've been too mean to you lately…" Trish apologized.
John stopped and pulled back a part of Trish's hair. "Lately? You mean forever?" John laughed. "You want to go outside?"
Trish laughed and nodded. "This place is starting to give me a rash."
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Nikki finally ended eating. She began to tap on the table and run her finger around the crystal top of her water glass.
Randy continued to stare at her. "You want to do something? I'm kind of getting bored here."
Nikki jumped up. "Yes! Come on, I'll ask if they can play those fast dances. These slow dances are creeping me out. People getting all too close to each other. Eww." She grabbed Randy.
"I mean like…" Randy said.
Nikki stopped. "Umm… What exactly do you mean?"
Randy smiled.
Nikki frowned for a minute. "I need another hat." She let go of Randy and went to the restroom.
Randy sat down again, as a sign of rejection. "I'm falling for you, and I pray you're falling too. I've fallen ever since the moment I've laid eyes on you…" Randy said under his breath. He began to tear up inside.
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Nikki had walked to the bathroom. Luckily she saw a table filled with freebies, and she grabbed a hat. She walked into the ladies' restroom, into a stall and leaned on the wall, and slid down it. She clutched the hat by her chest. She closed her eyes and smiled.
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Nikki came back not long after, and she sat back down again. Not across from him, but this time next to him.
She looked at him with a smile. "Can you smile for me?" Nikki asked him.
"Where are you getting at?" Randy asked.
"Just please smile for me. Smile if you love me." Nikki said.
Randy smiled. Nikki smiled back, she even began to laugh. She grabbed his arm and rested on his shoulder.
"I'm tired, can we go home?" She asked.
Randy nodded. "I'll go find the others."
"Lemme go with you." Nikki got up.
"Are you okay?" He asked as he helped her up.
"Yeah," Nikki looked up at him. "Never been better."
Randy smiled with confidence and they both began to look for Trish and John. They looked for a while and went to ask the Maitre De. The Maitre De handed them a note.
"What's that?" Nikki asked.
Randy unfolded the note. "It says we should go home, we shouldn't wait for them."
"Hmm." Nikki shrugged her shoulders.
"Ok… Let's go home." Randy and Nikki left for home.