"Me? I thought you had it all down! Here I was thinking you were going to come up with some big elaborate scheme to get Stephanie, and instead, you're mad because I didn't come up with a plan?"
He scowled as he plopped down on a bench. Needless to say, he had caught her completely off guard when he had barged into her locker room, demanding to know what the "status of the situation was".
"I did come up with a plan." He stated in a low voice. "And it's a good one too." He added, looking up at her.
She sat down next to him. "So what's the problem? Are you scared?"
He scoffed. Him, scared? Never. "Hardly. It's just, I came up with it as a sort of back up plan. I really didn't want to unleash this on her first."
She raised an eyebrow, slightly amused. She didn't know if he really did have a plan, or if he was just saying he did. You could never tell with him.
"Well Chris, how's this for starters?" She tapped her chin, appearing to be deep in thought. "How about.. you go out there, find Stephanie, and ask her out for dinner tonight."
"Tonight?" He sounded surprised. "But.."
"But what?"
"But tonight's the show. I have a match with Edge and Batista for the IC title."
"Then ask her to go out on another night."
He thought about it and frowned. It seemed too easy. Way easier compared to the plan that he had come with, that was for sure.
"Well, I guess this way will save me time." He mumbled, more to himself than to Lita. She rubbed his back, bringing him out of his thoughts. He looked at her, his eyes full of doubt.
"Ask her just.. like that?"
"Just like that."
"Steeeephaaaniiieeee.."
The youngest McMahon scowled and looked behing her, only to find Chris Jericho smirking back at her. He must have strolled up behind her without her noticing. He had a knack at showing up when she was the busiest, and it was starting to get under her skin.
"I'm really not in the mood right now, Jericho." She said in an even tone, already feeling annoyed.
"Aw Steph, I just wanted to talk to you. Geez, getting all worked up over nothing.."
"Well, I don't have time to talk." She said, already starting to walk away from him.
Oh no, not that easily.
She growled in frustration when she realized he was walking behind her. Spinning around, she gave him a glare that would have melted steel.
"What do you want? Stop following me!" She hit him on the shoulder with her clipboard, which only made him laugh.
"Fine, wanna know what I want?" He said, teasingly.
"What?" She demanded, bracing herself for the insult she knew was coming, not prepared for what he said next.
"Dinner with a gorgeous lady such as yourself."
"Well?" Lita asked, leaning forward in her seat. "What'd she say?"
"Oh, what I expected." He shrugged. "That hell would freeze over before she ever even considered going out to dinner with me, even if I was the last guy on the planet.. that I was the most arrogant person she had ever come across to believe she would drop everything to go out with me.. and that she hoped I would get my ass kicked tonight. You know, the works."
She winced. "That's kind of harsh.."
"Nah, not really. She's just playing hard to get." He tapped his chin in thought. "Your direct approach didn't work, so we gotta come up with different alternatives."
"We?"
"Yup.. you're a woman, you know what a woman wants. You're like my secret weapon." He smiled at her, the first time that whole day. She concluded that she liked his smile more than his scowl. "Tomorrow at Raw, we're gonna start with different approaches.. and I'm telling you, a few weeks from now, she'll be begging me for a chance to go out with me."
Lita laughed as she pictured that image. Now that would be priceless.
"Well Chris, I don't know about all that, but we'll try. If these plans don't work though.."
"We'll go to my back-up plan. Don't worry, I'm going to make her mine if it's the last thing I do."
The Next Day..
"Be nice? That's the best that you could come up with?" He asked in disbelief.
"Well, you know, it wouldn't hurt!" She stated, raising her voice in frustration. "Honestly Chris, is it even possible for you to hold a conversation with her without insulting her once?"
He took another long sip of his water as he let his gaze fall on the crowd in front of him. Damn autograph signings, he thought as he sneered. He could have been back at his hotel sleeping and getting ready for the show that night, or better yet, coming up with better ideas for getting Stephanie than being nice.
They both watched as the fans erupted in cheers as none other than Chris Benoit arrived. As for Lita and Chris, well, they were both content to stay back. They had both made their appearances and signed shirts and posters until their fingers screamed for a break, and neither saw a reason to go back. She wasn't up for answering any more questions regarding Kane, and Chris wasn't up for dealing with any more fans, period.
"I really don't know what you're talking about." He finally replied, his eyes scanning the crowd for a familiar face. "I'm always nice."
"Oh really? Well, you could've had me fooled. Don't look at me like that," She laughed as she saw the annoyed look on his face, "After all, weren't you the one that told that one fan to do himself a favor and jump off a bridge because he was wasting your oxygen?"
"Oh come on!" He exclaimed. "The moron was a Triple H fan!"
"Alright then.. what's your excuse for being mean to Stephanie?"
"I don't know where you're getting this from." He said matter of factly, causing her to sigh. "I am the nicest guy you will ever meet."
"Well then Mr. Nice Guy, why don't you show Stephanie that?"
"Oh, I will. I'll impress her by showing her how nice I can be, and then, she'll be dying to be mine." He said smugly.
"Speak of the devil," She nudged him, "There she goes, 2 o'clock."
"Hold this for me." He handed Lita his water bottle and set off towards the brunette of his desires, determination in his stride and an arrogant smirk on his features. She was already his, he concluded.
She just didn't know it yet.
"Hey Steph!" He called out, causing her to look up from a list she was reading. He jogged over to where she was standing, away from the crowd, and extended his arms, ready to give her a hug.
She looked back down at her list, not seeing what he was trying to do. "What do you want now?" She said, not catching his brief look of disappointment. When she looked back up, his regular scowl was on his face.
"Oh, just to see what you were doing." He shrugged. "You know, about last night - "
"I don't have time to go out with you, if that's what you came for." She looked down at her list again, thinking that would be enough to deter him; however, she was finding out just how persistent he could be.
"You know, I was thinking about what you said to me.. and I think you're absolutely right." He said, causing her to look back up at him. Her look went from shock to curiosity and then to distrust, and so he elaborated: "I am very arrogant and I just wanted you to know, that I can be a nice guy."
"Is that right?" She stated more than asked.
"Oh yeah, I'm the nicest guy you'll ever meet." He said smugly.
"Well Jericho, we'll have to see about that." She snickered, making him frown. Why didn't anyone think he could be nice? "Tell you what. Since my night tonight is going to be extremely boring, how about you help me spice it up a little?"
His eyes flashed as he raised his eyebrow suggestively, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. She looked at him blankly for a few seconds, before busting out laughing.
"Not the way you're thinking, Chris Jericho." His face fell a little, making her laugh more. "Tell you what though. How about you put some money where your mouth is?"
"What are you proposing?" He asked curiously.
"Let's make a bet that you can't get through this day without being rude or mean to someone." She smirked as she tossed her hair behind her shoulders. She knew he wouldn't resist.
She knew him well.
A-ha, a challenge! he thought to himself, as he matched her smirk. This was going to be too easy.
"How much?"
"I don't know. How much are you willing to lose?" She sneered. He snickered and took a step closer to her. She held her ground as he leaned in until his mouth was right next to her ear.
"When I win, I get your cell number.. and a date." He whispered, the arrogance still strong in his tone. She felt a chill at his words, and decided that she needed distance between them.
She pushed him back firmly, making him grin. "And if I win?"
"What do you want?"
She thought about it, and then with a smirk that looked nothing short of evil to Chris, responded, "Next week on Raw, you do anything and everything that I ask of you for the entire day."
He blinked as he thought about it. It was a dangerous risk all right, but one he was willing to take.
"Fine, if you win, I'll do whatever you want me to do for the whole day." He smirked. "Deal?"
"Deal." They shook hands.
"I'll be watching you. Better be nice, Jericho. You wouldn't want me to win, now would you?"
"Trust me babe, you won't."
Later That Night..
"I told you to be nice, not to make a bet about being nice!" She said, unable to hide the amusement from her voice.
He shrugged, deeming it wiser to keep his mouth shut, lest he say a rude remark and Stephanie hear him. Looking around, he saw her further down the hallway, standing with a group of technicians and appearing especially bored. As if she could feel his gaze, she looked up and they made eye contact. She gave him a knowing smirk, which he matched.
The pay-off to this bet was going to be sweet.
Lita watched him, amused and yet amazed that he had even made it this far. The show was already well under way, and not one rude comment had escaped the Canadian. They were once again taking their usual spot outside of her locker room.
"Hey Lita, your man's on TV!" She heard someone yell, and couldn't help but wince as she saw Kane on a monitor nearby about to have a match with Edge. She heard Chris give a low and menacing growl when he heard the comment, yet true to his word, he kept his mouth shut.
Before she knew it, he had wrapped an arm comfortingly around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. It was a natural and friendly gesture, but she wasn't expecting it. She waited for him to say something, but he didn't. She let the touch be for a few more moments before she pulled away from him.
He gave her a look, silently asking her where she was going, to which she promptly stated, "I'm going out there." She noted how he didn't look pleased, but he also didn't try to stop her. With that, she left him and went out for the match.
He frowned as he began to think about Kane and the big wedding crap, which neither him nor Lita wanted to bring up, when a tapping on his shoulder interrupted his thoughts. Turning to see a young man next to him wearing a headset, he sneered and went to make a rude remark when he caught Stephanie watching out of the corner of his eye.
She thinks she's outsmarting me by sending this loser to irritate me, he thought smugly as he smirked, pleased with himself that he was able to figure out her plan.
Well, I'll show her.
"Sir, I don't mean to bother you --" The man started, trying hard not to stutter. Chris Jericho didn't have the best reputation, and he outweighed him by more than 100 pounds. Scared as he was, he was trying to keep it in check.
Chris interrupted him then, with an assuring smile. "It's no bother, junior." He said in a friendly tone, catching the young worker completely off guard. "I wasn't doing anything anyways. What do you need?"
"Oh.." The man's train of thought suddenly trailed off. Chris watched him, amused. "I just wanted to remind you that your match with Batista is coming up shortly."
Chris's smile slowly transformed itself into a scowl. The worker took this as a signal to leave, which he did as fast as he could without breaking into an actual run. Resisting the urge to sneer, Chris pushed himself off the wall and stalked over to the one person he knew would keep him entertained until his match was up.
This time though, she felt him coming. "Why are you wasting your time, Jericho? Your match is coming on any minute now."
"Oh Steph, you're never a waste of my time." She looked over her shoulder at him, curiosity in her features, a cheesy grin lacing his. She turned to fully face him, not understanding his new game that he was playing with her. Wasn't it just last week that he had been insulting her, and now he was hitting on her?
"I think you've taken too many hard shots to the head lately." She said, part of her serious. He just laughed.
"Don't worry, you're not gonna win this bet. I know how much you want to go out with me.." He said, teasingly.
Now it was her turn to laugh. "Get out of here, you with your gigantic ego."
"Wish me luck against Batista?"
"Hope you get your ass kicked." She smirked, purposely trying to rile him up so he would lose.
"Love you too." He smiled at her before pulling off his shirt (agonizingly slowly to Stephanie) and tossing it over to her. She rolled her eyes as she caught it.
"I ought to strangle the ego out of you with this."
He just laughed as he walked away, refusing to take her bait. If she wanted to get him to slip up, she was going to have to try much harder than that.
Stephanie watched him for a few moments before looking down at his shirt. She was about to find the nearest trash can to throw it out in, when an idea suddenly came to her.
She was going to make him regret ever agreeing to that bet.
He winced as he limped slowly backstage, leaning on the referee. His thoughts were a jumble as he thought about everything all at once. Needless to say, he was getting one hell of a headache. Not having seen the redhead approach him, he was slightly surprised to find that his arm was now over her shoulders instead of the refs.
"You okay, Chris?" She asked, not bothering to hide the concern in her voice. He nodded.
"Yeah, I've had worse. Stupid-ass Edge.." He mumbled under his breath. They hadn't gone more than five steps when Stephanie approached them.
"Jericho, you forgot your shirt." She stated, holding it up as if proving her point.
Both Stephanie and Lita were caught by surprise as Chris dropped on his knees at that instant, one hand clutching his back. He cried out in pain as he leaned forward, resting his forearm on the concrete. Stephanie snuck Lita a look before crouching next to him.
"Come on Chris," She said, tossing the shirt aside. "Don't die on me, I still need your services next Monday." With that, she grabbed him around his side and pulled him up until he was standing. He leaned on her, wincing. "We'll go get you checked out, all right?"
He nodded, biting his bottom lip in pain. As they were walking away, he snuck a look over at Lita and his look of pain disappeared as he smirked and winked at her. He then resumed the look of complete agony as Stephanie led him towards the trainer's room. Lita shook her head in disbelief. Sometimes he still managed to surprise her.
Chris looked around the trainer's room, bored as hell. Stephanie had left him there and gone off in search of the trainer. What kind of trainer left the trainer's room anyways? That moron was lucky Chris wasn't in real pain, or else there would be hell to pay. He grinned and deemed his performance worthy of an oscar.
Maybe I should've been an actor instead.
He looked up as the door opened, expecting the trainer, or better yet, Stephanie, and instead got his arch-rival. He scowled at him.
"What do you want?"
"Wow Chris, Dave really did a number on you, huh?"
"Yeah, what's it to you, Hunter? Shouldn't you be off celebrating with your boy-toy, Randy? I mean, isn't it just eating you up alive with jealousy to see that he could get the job done but you couldn't?" He smirked as Hunter frowned and straightened out his suit. "Now if you don't mind, I'm busy, and you're wasting my time."
"Chris, Chris, always with the razor-sharp tongue. Wasting your time from what? You're not even doing anything. Gosh Chris.. you're so rude sometimes, you know that?"
"I so happen to agree." Stephanie said as she entered next to Triple H. Chris's mouth dropped slightly as he realized she had heard the exchange.
"I uh.." He started, but for the first time in a long time, couldn't think of what to say.
"Well Chris, you seem to be feeling better, no?" She asked, smirking, as Triple H snickered and walked out. Unbeknownst to Chris, she had slipped Hunter a 50 in his pocket before he left. She had known he was faking and making his injury look worse than it was. She knew him way better than he thought, and had hired the only person that could get him to snap from being Mr. Nice Guy. Fifty bucks was more than worth it for winning this little bet.
"Looks like I win." She smiled innocently at him. "Better luck next time, Jericho.. and I expect you to be here four hours early next week."
He finally found his voice. "Four hours?" He cried out in disbelief.
"Better yet, make it five. I get here at that time, and since you're going to be at my every whim and call, then I suggest you get here at that time too. See you around, Chris." She smirked at him and walked out of the room.
He groaned and fell back. He should have never agreed to that bet.
He heard the door open as the trainer stepped inside.
"So Chris, what seems to be the prob -" Chris had gotten up and left the room, slamming the door behind him, leaving the trainer alone and confused. The Canadian angrily stalked back to Lita's locker room, the pain in his back having almost disappeared completely.
She looked up, startled as he barged in and began pacing back and forth in her room, mumbling curses under his breath.
"Chris?"
"I.." He sighed heavily and sat down gingerly on a chair in the room. "I lost." He said miserably.
"I told you you shouldn't have made that bet." She said knowingly.
"Damn it!" He growled. "She wants me here five hours early! Who in the hell is here five hours before the show starts?!"
"She is, apparently."
He cursed again under his breath, before brightening. "Well, something good came out of all this."
"That would be?"
"She called me Chris, and not Jericho." He said smugly. "I bet you she won't be able to resist me being so close to her all day next week. That's why she was hell-bent on me losing, because that's what she wanted. She's playing hard-ball with me." He smirked knowingly. "She may have won the bet, but I'm going to win at her little games."
"Well, next week is going to be pretty interesting."