A/N: Err, sorry I took so long, I had trouble going about the problem of editing this. Hope you're still interested...enjoy!

Chapter 2: Guaranteed Therapeutic Effects

"Ta-daa!"

Purple and pink walls, bright furniture and artwork everywhere, and Chinese takeout on the funky dining room table. A bright blue wall clock reading 8:00 p.m. Brightly-colored spherical lamps illuminating the room. And Ashley in the middle of it all wearing paint-stained overalls and a ponytail. "Good Lord, am I in the right apartment?"

Ashley beamed at me. "So what do you think? You like it?"

"For someone who I expect had a nasty hangover today, you sure know how to spiffy up a place."

"Well, Scott had some really good herbal tea to make me feel better..."

A warning bell started ringing in my head. Even I don't call him Scott. "Call me a prude, hon, but I think the common rule is to have sex after you go out on a date, not three hours into meeting him!"

"I did not!" Ashley looked taken aback. "I was too inebriated," she explained sheepishly.

"Live and learn, my friend," I sighed. "Don't worry, you'll get better at the drinking game. Eventually."

We ate the Chinese takeout on a plush yellow couch while watching reruns of Will and Grace. "You think I have a chance with him, Christy?"

I mulled it over as Jack McFarland hit on some random hot guy at Banana Republic and got rebuffed on our flat-screen TV set. "Well, there are two sides to it. First, all guys think you're hot, and you have never asked me that question before. However, you're not exactly charming under the influence. But not that bad."

"So I'm 50/50?"

"You're 50/50. Unless you said something really embarrassing or puked in his face a la The 40-Year-Old Virgin."

She laughed. "Well, I didn't."

"So what happened?"

"Uh, he offered to drive me home."

"...And then?"

She exhaled sharply. "And then Ipassedoutinhiscar."

Well, that can't be good.

"I faintly remember him carrying me into his house, then I woke up the next day on his bed..."

"God, no!"

"Chill, girl. He slept on the couch. He's really sweet. He made me some tea, and we talked about philosophy and Nietzsche as he drove me here." She smiled at nothing in particular. Hmm.

"You sooo do not know Nietzsche." Hell, I certainly didn't.

"I studied him in high school and found his ideas fascinating. What?"

While she poked and prodded me I still found it impossible to picture Ashley studying some weirdo philosopher in high school. "Sorry, Ash, but I always thought you were the type to smoke in the girls' bathroom or stick it to the teachers. Maybe sleep with the cute male ones."

Ashley hit me with a pillow. "You're so mean!" she laughed.

"Kidding, kidding! I know you've never smoked or stuck it to the teachers."

And with this, our pillow fight commenced.

"Sweetheart!"

Raven looked up from the bench and smiled as I walked into the locker room in my green bandana top, fitted jeans, and black stilettos. We've been working together for three weeks now. He's cool, and I consider him my best guy friend here in TNA. It's sort of a joke between us to call each other mushy pet names, but it's all good.

"Yes, buttercup?"

"That was really good acting today," I chimed patronizingly, as if I was talking to a five-year-old. "You are such a good kisser! Ooh!"

He chuckled, peering at me by lowering his sunglasses a la movie star. "Baby, there is a difference between 'boyfriend' and 'dog,' okay?"

"Aww, did I hurt your feelings, Scotty-poo?"

"And don't call me by my real name, either." He picked up his gym bag, stood up and patted me on the head. "It's been fun, dollface, but I'll be meeting the guys for poker night at Christian's house. Smell ya later!"

I gazed on at his retreating back with a confused expression on my face. How come Ashley got to call him Scott and I didn't?

While contemplating this, I saw, through the corner of my eye, amess of color whirl by...rather, limp by. Do they even have proper cleaning services in here? I slowly turned my head to see what odd creature managed to escape the janitor's hands, hoping to high heaven that it wasn't a giant rat covered in paint.

What I did see was...well, it's tough to discern under all that color. I think it's a guy. Looks like he's in a lot of pain.

"Hey there!" I called out as I rushed towards him. "Need some help?"

"Nah, I'm fine," he breathed with much effort.

"Don't lie, honey, you look like somebody beat you up real bad!"

He leaned against the wall and looked down at me. Wow, dude's mighty tall. "You really shouldn't get all worried about me. I'm like this every day. It's normal to me."

I stared up into his sparkling greenish blue eyes (hands down the most striking color on him). I placed a hand on his upper arm. "Pain shouldn't be normal to anybody!"

"A few pills and I'll be fine," the stranger drawled.

I clicked my tongue. "Addiction shouldn't be normal to anybody, either!"

Uh-oh. Looks like I struck a nerve. "Who are you," he hissed, pulling back, "to judge me? You don't even know me!"

I opened my mouth to protest, then closed it again. "Right, I...I'm sorry, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."

The colorful stranger nodded. "You shouldn't have."

Silence. Painful memories flashed in my head.

And then, an idea struck. "Hey, come with me!" I grabbed him by the wrists and started pulling him to my locker room. He hesitated.

"I'm fine, miss, I just wanna go home..."

Shaking my head at him through the open doorway of my locker, I pulled him in. "Nuh-uh. You're not going home hurting. Lie down right here, sweetie." I unrolled a mat onto the floor. (I do yoga in my spare time.)

He did, lying down belly up while muttering something unintelligible - probably a lot of swear words -under his breath, before finally saying, "If this is the only way I'll get you to leave me alone, then fine."

I held a towel under the running faucet in the comfort room before going back to my locker room. "I'll get you cleaned up first. I don't want body paint ruining my newly-manicured nails."

The man groaned. "This is gonna take long, isn't it?"

I just smiled at him as I started wiping off all the glow-in-the-dark body paint from his torso. Then in slow strokes I cleaned the paint off his face...and God help me, he was just gorgeous. He had a strong jaw line, prominent cheekbones and creamy skin which brought out his eyes (blue, with flecks of green) even more. "Well, there's a really pretty face underneath all this goop," I whispered, and before I even realized it I was tracing his jaw with my finger.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Let's just get this over with."

"Ah, right. Belly down now, hon." He complied, and I straddled him on the cot with a bottle of baby oil in one hand. I used to take massage lessons during the summer in my college days, and it sort of became my day job (if I didn't have any modeling stints) when I was trying to make ends meet in L.A. "Don't you worry about a thing. I know what I'm doing."

"I don't need this, seriously," he protested.

"I wanna make you feel better."

"You care too much. I just want to...oh, wow."

I poured some on my hands and started rubbing his back slowly. "That feel good?"

"Yeah..."

I got on my knees from a sitting position to increase my leverage.

"Wow, you're really good at this... "

Damn, his sexy, distinctly Southern voice is really turning me on...oh, shit. Focus, Christy, focus. I glanced at the wall clock: 8pm. I glanced at the mirror above the dresser and saw that my face was totally flushed. I've got to distract myself. Let's see: peach-colored wall. White door. Bench at the side. Dim lighting. My Nike gym bag in the corner. The door is closed. Do NOT imagine this man sweaty...and naked...on top of me...on an oil-covered waterbed...

What am I supposed to be doing again? Oh, right.

I redirected my focus to gently kneading his tense muscles in the area between his shoulder and his neck, before working my way downward until the small of his back. "Well, you've got a lot of knots here. Stress gotten to you?"

"It's unavoidable," he breathed. "Mmm...yeah, right there..."

I bent down until my breasts grazed his back though my bandana top. "I told you I could make you feel better," I whispered into his ear. He turned his head to face me and we locked eyes. God, I have never had a man's eyes pierce right through me the way his did right then. I found myself drowning in his within seconds.

Snap out of it, girl!

In a heartbeat I scrambled off him...and fell to the floor with a thud. Sooo uncool. I will totally kick my own ass once I get home.

"Are you alright?" He bit his lower lip as he helped me up.

"How sweet of you to hold back your laughter for me," I mused sarcastically with a half-smile.

He grinned sheepishly. "Well. For what it's worth, my back feels a whole lot better. Thanks."

This shirtless, beautiful stranger stretched out his arms...and, well, fuck me. It's moments like these that cause me to act on impulse. Before I could stop myself, I leaned forward and kissed him.

Oh, shit.