A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to get this up.. just kinda been bombarded with homework these days....
Ah the nickname Rundo.. lol.. first off I'm really glad you guys like it, because I had doubts that you guys would. Someone asked how I came up with it and well.. it just kinda came to me lol. I wanted a nickname for him and tried thinking of a name that Chris really would give him, and Rundo was the first thing that came to mind.. and I couldn't think of another one so.. I just went with it. :)
But anyways.. I don't own anything.. Vince does!! Hope you guys enjoy.. one of the longer ones but.. that's just how it came out. :P
Randy knew he was in for an interesting day when he agreed to travel with Chris Jericho to Raw, but he wasn't expecting this.
The day started easy enough, and for two egotistical wrestlers (Chris was in denial; Randy, on the other hand, knew he had an ego and quite frankly didn't care), they actually got along very well. He was enjoying having someone to talk to before the show much more than hanging out by himself, and could now safely refer to Chris as his friend (though the older man referred to him as his "lackey"). So when Chris asked if he wanted to accompany him to get a haircut, Randy didn't see a reason to say no.
He obviously still had a lot to learn about his Canadian friend, especially in regards to the importance of his hair.
"Look at what you did to my gorgeous hair!" An irate blonde man screamed, making Randy look up from the Raw magazine he was reading.
The barber looked at his customer, who was red in the face as he glared back at him. "But sir, you asked for a trim -"
"A trim you idiot!! Not chop off my locks!! FIX IT NOW, JUNIOR, BEFORE I SHOVE THOSE SCISSORS --"
"Whoa, whoa," Randy said, smiling uneasily at the barber as he jogged up to them, avoiding the looks Chris' shouts were getting. He gripped his friend's shoulders from behind, in an effort to keep the fuming Canadian from assaulting the barber. "He'll fix it Jericho, relax."
"DON'T TELL ME TO RELAX RUNDO!"
"You know, I can't work with your friend upset like this." The barber said, giving Randy a stern look. "Tell him to stop acting like a baby, he asked for a trim, and I gave him a trim."
Within seconds, Chris was on his feet with an attempt to strangle his barber for ruining his precious hair (and then adding insult to injury); he would have done so too, had Randy not intervened and grabbed him just in time.
"JACKASS! I WANT TO SPEAK TO THE MANAGER! YOU MORON! THE KING OF THE WORLD CANNOT GO OUT WITH A HAIRCUT LIKE THIS!!"
"Thank you for your time!" Randy managed to get out, as he dragged Chris (who was still screaming curses at the barber) out of there. Once they were on the street and Randy deemed it safe (and also deemed his friend certifiably insane), he let him go. As soon as he did, Chris turned to the nearest car and scowled angrily at his reflection.
"That idiot!" He hissed, running a hand through his hair.
"Dude, what's wrong with you?" Randy asked, gazing at Chris. His outburst had caught Randy unaware; he didn't want to know what the Canadian would have done to the barber had he not gone with him. "It doesn't look that bad."
Chris shot him a death glare and walked off towards his car, muttering under his breath as Randy walked behind him.
The truth was that Chris didn't mind the haircut at all. He personally thought he was the hottest man alive, no matter how his hair looked. Instead, he was upset for one simple reason, which to his great shock, Randy just so happened to guess as they both got in the car.
"I know you're probably worried and all that Stephanie's not going to like it, but --"
"Who said I was worried about Stephanie?" Chris snapped as he pulled out of his parking space, though he knew Randy had hit it right on the head.
"Well everyone knows she has a thing for guys with long hair, that's common knowledge." Randy answered, shrugging.
"I don't care what she thinks."
"Yeah, you don't care, you only almost killed that barber for ruining your 'gorgeous head of hair'," Randy said, snickering.
Chris' scowl deepened and he decided that Randy was no longer worth his efforts. After all, he figured, what did a kid know about good hair anyways? They rode in silence for a few minutes, and his thoughts were travelling back to what had happened the week before when Randy cut the silence.
"Apology." He stated, earning a bewildered look from Chris.
"What are you talking about?" The Canadian asked, irritated, before seeing what Randy was holding in his hands. "Where the hell did you get that?"
"It was in the glove compartment.. let's see.." The young man said, his voice trailing as he leafed through the dictionary that someone had left behind in the rental, "Oh, here we go. Apology, a noun. An acknowledgment expressing regret or asking pardon for a fault or offense."
"Wow, you can read. Do you want a cookie?" Chris mumbled.
Randy continued, ignoring the comment. "An expression of regret at having caused trouble for someone.. does knocking a guy on his ass constitute causing trouble?"
"Are you actually suggesting I apologize to Al? Have you lost your mind?" Chris snarled.
"No, but you should apologize to Stephanie."
"For the haircut?"
"For hitting her boyfriend." Randy corrected.
"It wasn't my fault."
"Yeah well, you might have better luck if you apologize."
"I don't apologize for things that aren't my fault."
"Egotism, a noun. The tendency to speak or write of oneself excessively or boastfully. See Chris Jericho."
"If you don't put that damn dictionary down, I'm throwing it out the window Rundo."
"Hmmm... jackass, a noun. Male donkey, or a man who is a stupid incompetent fool. See Chris Jericho again! Look at that, you're the king of the dictionary."
Chris shot Randy a look. "You are lucky I'm driving kid, because you're treading on thin ice right now." He said warningly, making Randy laugh, though he did close the dictionary.
"What are you going to tell Stephanie?"
"Well maybe if you weren't busy acting like an idiot, you'd help me think of something, assclown."
"Hey, I've always wondered if 'assclown' is in the --"
"ORTON.."
"Alright alright, geez.. well I already told you to apologize."
"Can't you think of anything better?" Chris said in disgust.
"No, not really. She's probably still pissed at you."
"Well aren't you the supportive one." The Canadian muttered as he pulled into the arena.
"Hey, what are friends for?"
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Chris had come to the conclusion that whoever said that phrase had obviously had one too many encounters with Stephanie McMahon.
He frowned again as he knocked on the door to her dressing room. He knew from experience that she liked being early, so he figured she had to be in there. Getting irritated, he knocked again, harder this time. For the first time, he didn't have a plan of what he would say. He was excellent at improvising though, so he wasn't worried; if there was anyone who could speak on the fly, it was definitely him.
Finally, the door opened. Chris immediately forced a smile as the wrong McMahon stood before him, inwardly cursing his luck.
"Vince! What a surprise!" He exclaimed, extending his hand out to the boss.
"Ah, Jericho." Vince greeted, shaking his hand. "If you came to see my daughter, she's not here right now. She stepped out with her boyfriend, who I'm sure you know.. having given him a black eye and all."
"Oh, well," Chris said, trying hard not to stutter. So much for being smooth, he thought disappointedly. "I uh.. well, it wasn't intentional.."
Vince laughed and waved it off. "Don't explain yourself to me, explain it to Stephanie. Good luck with that too, she's still very upset about that one."
"Is she?" That wasn't much of a comfort.
"Yes, she is.. I'm a little disappointed that you aren't getting along well with Al, to be honest, Jericho. He's a fine young man, who will make a good son-in-law."
Chris winced at that one, somehow managing a slight smile in the process. "I'm sure.."
"By the way, that idea you had the other week was excellent, I've been meaning to tell you. You gave me an amazing idea, something I think the fans will really like."
"Oh.. that's nice." Chris said, to be polite, though he really didn't care.
"Don't worry, I'll give you your share of the credit when I make my announcement later on tonight. Be sure you watch."
"I will.. well, I should get going."
"Nice talking to you again Jericho," Vince said, as they shook hands again. "Nice haircut by the way."
Sarcasm noted, thanks.. jackass.
"Thanks Vince, see you around."
An hour later, the Canadian found himself wandering the hallways, a scowl on his face as he grew more pissed with every passing moment. For one, his haircut was getting some looks and some snickers from the other wrestlers, but to do anything about it would initiate a huge fight which he didn't feel like having traced back to him (at least not with Vince at the show).
Also, he wasn't exactly planning on defending his title against Shawn Michaels that night. Sure, he was all for proving that he deserved the "Show Stopper" nickname, but did it have to be on that night? God, couldn't they give him a break?
And he also couldn't find Stephanie, which was probably the most upsetting thing of all.
Then there was Randy, putting the icing on the cake as he followed him around, reading off random words from the dictionary, and getting on the Canadian's last nerves in the process.
Needless to say, Chris was not in the best of moods.
"Stephanie isn't in the dictionary, but stephanite is. Let's see here.. stephanite, a noun. A sulphide of antimony --"
"Are you done?" Chris growled. "How about making yourself useful for once and helping me find her in person and not in a dictionary?"
"Impatience, a noun. Lack of patience, irritation with anything that causes delay."
"Like a rookie who doesn't know how to win and doesn't know how to help find someone! How's that for not being good for anything and causing delays?!"
"What's your problem?"
"What's yours junior?! You have something you want to say to me?" Chris said, stopping in his tracks and glaring at Randy, though he had to look up at him.
They stared at each other for a moment, before Randy snickered. Anger flashed through the Canadian's eyes at this, but the young man didn't notice as he shook his head.
"You need to relax, Chris. You're too uptight, it's not good. I'm only trying to enrich our vocabularies."
"You're talking to an educated man, Rundo, I'm smoother with words than Shakespeare! I need no dictionary to know how to speak!" Chris said, indignantly.
"Besides, why are you killing yourself looking for Stephanie? She's right over there." Randy said, gesturing behind the Canadian. Chris turned and caught sight of a female's back, who he immediately placed as Stephanie. He'd know her anywhere.
"You idiot! Why didn't you tell me she was over there?"
"You didn't ask." Randy said smugly.
"Imbecile! Look that up, assclown." Chris sneered, before walking away towards Stephanie, leaving Randy flipping through the pages of his dictionary.
He found her by the vending machines, pounding her fist angrily against the soda machine. He stood right behind her, crossing his arms as he merely observed. His anger and frustration gone for the most part (due to getting away from Randy for a while and finding Stephanie), the feelings were now replaced with curiousity and a tinge of amusement.
"Allow me, Princess?"
She stopped pounding at the sound of his voice. Sticking up her chin and her trademark "bitchy" look coming to her face, she turned around to give him a piece of her mind. Her words died on her lips as she caught sight of his hair, making her forget about her anger (at least for the moment).
He tried not to show his panic when she simply stared at his hair, choosing instead to scowl.
"You cut it." She said softly. He couldn't tell if this was a good reaction or not, so he just shrugged.
"I asked for a trim, and this was the moron's idea of a trim. Can you believe it?"
"It looks.. nice."
"If you don't like it, you can just say so." He mumbled, hating the way his cheeks felt like they burned. He could only imagine how bad he looked.
"I said it looks nice. I always wondered how you would look if you cut your hair. I like it."
"You don't have to lie," He said, feeling his cheeks burn even more. "I've been getting nothing but bad looks all night long. No one likes it, I knew I shouldn't have gone to that barber, but I.."
"Oh who cares, I think you look fine." She said, catching herself before she said "I think you look good no matter how your hair looks", which was what she was thinking.
"Yeah, well I guess you're right." He said smugly, his ego coming back full swing now that she had repaired it single-handedly. He thought he looked good, so did she, and that was all he needed. "I am a sexy beast after all."
"Whatever." She said, rolling her eyes as she remembered that she was upset with him. "I don't want to speak to you right now."
"Oh, your soda." Ignoring her statement, he stepped up to the vending machine and gave her a playful wink, which she answered with a glare. "Watch the king at work, baby."
She snickered as he reared back and rammed his elbow into the soda machine, so hard in fact that he left a dent. He shook off his arm, and seconds later a soda rolled into the slot. He grabbed it and then handed it to her.
"Do I get a thank you? In the form of a kiss would be fantastic." He said, smiling. She sneered at him and snatched the soda out of his hand.
"You wish."
"Oh come on Stephanie, give me a break." He said, sighing. "It was an accident."
"Mhmm.. sure it was." With that, she started walking away, but he was right on her heels.
"It was! Steph, let's be realistic here. If I wanted to beat up your little boyfriend, trust me, I'd do a lot more than what I did last week."
"I thought I said I didn't want to speak to you right now. Don't you have a match coming up soon anyways?"
"The show hasn't even started yet, Stephanie."
"Are you getting smart with me?"
"So what if I am?"
"Honestly Jericho, I swear, you only think about yourself! Never in my whole entire life have I met anyone as self-centered, obnoxious.."
"You're forgetting good-looking."
"Arrogant! The list goes on and on with you!"
"You didn't deny it though." He said, smirking. She stopped walking and just looked at him, forcing herself to maintain eye contact with him, though she was incredibly inclined to let her eyes wander all over him..
"Deny what?" She demanded. His smirk grew as he leaned in closer to her, until their noses were only centimeters apart.
"That I'm good-looking." He stated in a challenging tone. His eyes dropped to her lips as he licked his own. "I believe we were interrupted last time.."
"Don't you dare.." She said warningly, though she didn't make an effort to create distance between them.
"And what if I do?"
"You'll regret it."
"Maybe I will, maybe I won't.." He was leaning in and was fractions of a second away from kissing her the way Al could only dream of kissing, when she backed up, leaving him hanging in the wind. He growled in frustration. That was the second time that happened.
"Al, sweetie." Stephanie said, finally able to breathe now that she wasn't so close to Chris. She hated when he did that to her, because it always felt like he disjointed her body and her mind - her mind was always screaming for distance, but yet, she could never move to get out of the situation.
With that in mind, how could Al not be her savior?
"Stephanie," Al greeted, kissing her on the cheek. He finally turned, acknowledging the Intercontinental Champion. "What do you want?" He said, snidely.
"Nice black eye." Chris said, snickering.
"Nice haircut." Al shot back.
"That's enough, you two." Stephanie stated, as they stared each other down. "Honestly, you're both like little kids."
"We were having a conversation, you know." Chris said, his eyes locked on Al's.. well, Al's good eye anyway.
"Well it must not have been that important, since she would much rather talk to me." Al responded.
"Chris, do you mind?"
"Fine, I'll leave, but this isn't over, Stephanie."
"Don't worry, we'll talk."
Twenty minutes later, three men and a woman were discussing strategy in an empty locker room.
"It's her. It's been her from the beginning."
"It makes sense. He's always been into her, from the moment he first saw her, he's been into her."
"He's trying to take her away from me."
"Well, we're going to have divide and conquer. How does she feel towards him?"
"Hard to tell. Sometimes I feel like she can't stand the sight of him, and there are other instances where she looks at him.. like he's the only thing she sees, even when I'm there! Other times, they go back and forth with each other, but that's just their thing.. they love their banters, it's obvious, and sickening."
"They're both very proud and very stubborn. I know Chris better than anyone in this room, except for maybe you, my dear." Christian said, pinching Trish's cheek. She growled and slapped his hand away, making him snicker.
"And I know Stephanie." Al said, smirking. "I know he's trying to get her, I can see it in his eyes.. he wants her, and he doesn't care that she's with me.. he wants her."
"He's persistent, let me tell you. If he wants her, he's going after her."
Silence filled the room. Tyson finally cleared his throat, and all eyes turned to him.
"Divide and conquer. Al, you're our spy. Trish, you handle Stephanie. Me and Christian will handle Jericho. Everyone wins."
"You guys hear that? The big man has a plan." Christian said, hitting Tyson on the arm. "You rule dude."
"Well then," Trish said, rubbing her hands together, "Let's get to work, boys."
"So did you apologize?" Randy asked, sitting across the locker room from Chris, who was lacing up his boots for his match against Shawn Michaels.
"What did I tell you Rundo? There's nothing to apologize for. Stephanie can't stay mad at me forever though." He said, snickering. "I know she wants me."
"And you claim to have no ego."
"I don't, I'm very modest. I state facts, and Stephanie wanting me, Rundo, is a painfully obvious fact. That doesn't make me arrogant." With that, he stood up and grabbed his championship belt, wrapping it around his waist. Randy eyed the action, unable to sustain the slight pang of jealousy that coursed through him at the sight. He hadn't quite swallowed the fact that he was no longer champion.
"So what are you going to do?" He said, looking back down at the Raw magazine he had been reading.
"Beat Shawn Michaels and prove to the world that I am the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time." Chris said smugly.
"I meant about Stephanie."
"I'm going to make her mine by the end of the night. All I need is one kiss and one date, and I'll have her all over me. I get the kiss, I'll definitely get the date. But I can't think of that right now, otherwise this assclown is going to beat me. See you later kid."
"Later Jericho."
"Come in." Stephanie said, sighing as she looked over all the work she still had left to do. The new "Taboo Tuesday" thing was sure giving her a headache. She looked up, surprised at who strolled into her dressing room.
"Hi Stephanie, long time no talk."
"Trish, I wasn't expecting you. What can I do for you?"
"I was going to throw out an idea for you, to see what you thought and to get another woman's opinion, of course. It's about this whole diva contestant search thing."
"What about it?"
"I wanted to have a little something done for the winner next week, as a sort of.. welcome to the WWE kind of thing. Think you could help me out?"
"Sure, sounds good. Just let me know exactly what it is you want to do."
"I will." Trish said, smiling politely. She then caught sight of the TV in Stephanie's room. "Oh, can I see what's going on with the show? I don't want to miss them announcing the winner of the search."
"Go ahead." Stephanie said, already back to her work. Trish walked over and turned on the TV, where she caught sight of Chris Jericho battling it out with Shawn Michaels.
"Oh look, Chris is fighting."
Stephanie looked up, looking at Trish curiously. She knew full well about the colorful history the blonde had with Chris, and she also knew for a fact that, although he still denied it to the current day, she had hurt him with her betrayal at Wrestlemania.
Trish caught sight of the look Stephanie was giving her and laughed. "We talk, don't worry."
"Oh, I see." Stephanie said, inwardly wondering why Chris had never mentioned that. "You guys talk huh?"
"Yes.. just last week he was hitting on me, the silly boy." Hey, it wasn't a complete lie. He had made suggestive comments.. who cared if he didn't mean any of them, what Stephanie didn't know, wouldn't hurt the plan.
The flare of jealousy that Stephanie felt at the words of the Women Champion was a relatively new sensation. She angrily suppressed the feeling, telling herself that she wasn't even interested in Chris - hell, he was nothing to her except another wrestler she had to deal with. Okay, she considered him a friend. But there was nothing in their relationship that gave her the right to be jealous!
Trish smirked when she saw Stephanie scowl as she fell into thought. Hit the spot with that one, she thought gleefully.
"He's a good looking guy, isn't he?" She continued. "Those eyes, that body.. those moves.. and he has moves, I should know."
Stephanie "hmphed" and looked back down at her work.
"Don't you find him attractive, Stephanie?"
"He's alright, I guess." The brunette answered nonchalantly. Of course she found the man to be attractive! She just didn't feel the need for the blonde to know that. "I have a boyfriend though."
"Oh, that's really good to hear, congratulations." They both looked back at the TV in time to see Chris land his lionsault on Shawn.
"I feel bad for him." Trish said, her eyes on the match.
"Oh, and why's that?"
"Well, he's having such a hard time nowadays. He was hitting on me last week, and the week before that he was hitting on Stacy. He also has this thing for Lita, it's really weird. He's becoming rather obsessive.. I heard that he's just winding down his options. I wonder who he's going to go after next.. I feel for whoever the girl is."
"That doesn't really sound like his style." Stephanie said knowingly, not wanting to believe that what she was saying was true. She was beginning to grow a little fond of the Canadian, as arrogant as the man was.
"Oh Steph," Trish said, sighing as she looked back at her. "Chris is looking for a fix, if you know what I mean. He knows he's good looking and he uses it to his advantage. A girl would have to be stupid to actually believe he has good intentions, let me tell you."
Stephanie forced a laugh. "Yeah, you're right."
"Oh Steph, I know I am."
"Beating, a noun. An act of repeated hitting or striking. See ass-kicking from Tomko and Christian."
"Funny stuff kid, look at me, I'm dying with laughter."
"Sarcasm, a noun. A form of wit marked by the use of sarcastic language, intended to make its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule.. wait, is that what it says?" Randy leaned in to take a closer look, noting how the ink was smearing. He therefore didn't have time to react before Chris slammed the dictionary shut, making a sandwich out of his nose in the process.
"OW!" Randy cried, more embarassed than hurt as he rubbed his nose.
"Told you to leave that dictionary in the car, Rundo." Chris said, walking off towards his locker room. Randy resisted the urge to throw the dictionary at the back of his head (that would show him), choosing to follow him instead, mumbling something about Canadians and egos.
Neither of the two was expecting to find Al pacing around in Chris' locker room. As soon as the Canadian opened the door, Al turned and glared at him.
"You lost or something, junior?" Chris asked casually as he entered, Randy right behind him with a slightly reddenned nose.
"I just came to make one thing perfectly clear with you, Jericho." Al said, stalking right up to the wrestlers, black eye and all. Chris raised an eyebrow.
"Speak Alice, I don't have all day."
"The name," Al said, poking Chris on the chest. It was Randy's turn to raise an eyebrow. "..is Al." Another poke. "And Stephanie.. is.." Poke. "..my.." Poke. "..girl." He went to poke him again, but Chris grabbed his hand before he could.
"If you ever touch me again, I'll make that black eye look like kid's play, got it?" Chris said in a low and threatening voice, before letting him go. "And I know she's your girl. I'm not stupid, assclown."
"Stay away from her, Jericho, I mean it." Al said. Randy snickered - even he watched his words around Chris, and he could take him on. This guy had a sharp tongue, and not much to back anything up either.
"Are you done? You're wasting my time." Chris said, rolling his eyes as he tossed his Intercontinental championship over one shoulder. "And my time is precious, junior."
"You just remember what I said." Al's gaze then shifted over to Randy. "You're not the only one with friends."
"You can leave now, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out." Chris said, walking over to his gym bag. Al sneered at his back before walking past Randy and leaving.
"What an ass." Randy said, after he was gone.
"Yep.. Stephanie doesn't have the best judgment when it comes to men apparently. Test, Trips, Kirk Angel, now this moron. Boy I tell you. That girl needs me."
"What do you think he was talking about though?"
"Who cares?"
"He might be up to something." Randy said suspiciously. Chris gave him a doubtful look.
"Please Rudolph, the man is more dense than Trish."
"Rudolph?" The young man scowled as Chris snickered.
"I call it like I see it, kid."
At the thought of a potentially red nose ruining his good looks, Randy suddenly remembered what he had been waiting to tell his companion.
"Chris, man, I forgot to tell you."
"What is it now, Rudolph?" Chris asked, digging around his gym bag for a clean pair of socks. "I need to take a shower so you're going to have to hightail it out of here. Get ready for your own match later on tonight."
"It's about Lita."
That was enough. Chris stopped his search and looked back up at Randy, who sighed. He was never very good at telling people these kind of things.
"Goddamn it Randy, say something." Chris said, irritated with the younger man's hesitation. Randy knew he was serious from the usage of his real name, so he forced himself to tell Chris what had been going on with Lita and Kane.
Chris stood still as he heard the news, while Randy tried hard to read him. He had expected his friend to go crazy as soon as he heard (after all, this was the same man who had almost strangled a barber), but he had yet to see any kind of reaction coming from him. After a minute of awkward waiting for a response, Ignoring the nagging need to ask him if he was all right, he instead cleared his throat.
"Chris?"
The Canadian's eyes seemed to focus again as he looked at Randy. "You mind leaving me alone for a while, kid?" It was more of a demand than a question.
"Sure.." Randy said, though he hesitated. Chris snickered slightly at this.
"I'll be alright Rundo, just let me be for a while."
Randy felt relieved at the use of the nickname he was getting used to being called from Chris. He nodded and left him alone, going off to prepare for his own match.
Chris watched him leave, then looked back down at his bag. He stood there for a moment, before sighing as he continued looking for his socks.
It was the first time that whole week that Stephanie wasn't the only person on his mind.
"I'll call you tomorrow, maybe we can go out for lunch."
"Sure, that'd be great."
"Okay then, I'll see you around." He kissed her on the cheek.
"See you around."
Stephanie watched Al walk out through the door that led to the parking lot. He had to leave, but she couldn't go with him because she still had to do a few more things for her dad. Sighing, her thoughts involuntarily went back to her earlier conversation with Trish.
He found her standing there, wondering what was going through her mind. Hoisting himself up on top of a table about a foot behind her, he blew a large bubble with the gum he was chewing. It popped, startling her. She whirled around, not surprised to find him there. He grinned impishly and waved at her.
"How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me?"
"Lost count. How can I resist sneaking up on you, Princess?"
"Hmph." She said, as she started walking back towards her dressing room. He hopped down off the table and grabbed her arm, stopping her.
"Hey, hang on a sec there, Speed Racer."
"What is it?"
"You're not still mad about last week, are you?" He asked, looking at her curiously. She pulled her arm out of his grip.
"No, I'm not."
"You're not acting like you're it. What's wrong?"
"Nothing Jericho, geez, leave me alone already! God, you're always hounding me, every single week!"
"Whoa, what's your problem?" He asked, amusement in his eyes. "You mad because your boy toy's gone?"
She shook her head, suddenly disgusted by him. He seemed so fake to her now, even though she didn't believe what Trish had said, it didn't change the new light she had shed on him. She looked at him, his arrogant expression ever-present, his championship belt on one shoulder, a huge chip on the other.
"Chris," She started, choosing her words carefully. "I talked to Trish earlier.." She noted the way his eyes darkened at the mention of her name, but continued anyways, "And she had some interesting things to say about you."
"As I'm sure she would. What'd she say?"
"That you're a womanizer, basically, and that you're chasing after everything in a skirt on Raw."
Chris snickered at the ridiculous statement, which unfortunately gave her the wrong impression.
"Please.. I only have eyes for you, Steph." He said charmingly as he smiled at her. Now it was her turn to snicker.
"Do you use that line on every girl you go after?" She said, before she could stop herself. He popped another bubble with his gum, his eyes narrowing.
"You didn't believe what she did, did you?" He asked slowly. Ignoring the sudden racing of her heart, she shrugged as nonchalantly as she could.
"Should I have? You tell me."
"Oh my God Stephanie, you have got to be kidding me. I can't believe you're that gullible." He said in disgust, shaking his head. "As if you don't know the history I've had with that slut."
"Well in the end, it doesn't matter if it's true or if it isn't."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that I don't care who you're going after Jericho, because when it comes down to it, I have my boyfriend, and that's all that matters."
"I know you have a boyfriend, Stephanie."
"Well you don't act like you know!" She snapped. "Why don't you just accept the fact that I'm with Al, and stop hitting on me every week, because it's never gonna happen Chris! There will never be anything between us, why can't you get that through your thick skull!"
She regretted the words the instant they were uttered, but she couldn't take them back. That didn't stop her from wishing though, especially when she saw the warm and teasing look in his eyes disappear after hearing her words.
He was hurt; he'd never admit it, not to anyone, not for all the money in the world, but there it was. He was hurt. A simple but rather hard fact for him to accept, he immediately went into defense mode.
"You know Stephanie, you're right.. I never realized just how low my standards were, to resort to chasing after street trash like yourself." He said snidely, popping his gum again. She winced at his change of tone, but the overwhelming need to one-up him had never left either.
"I'm going to tell my boyfriend you said that."
"Oh, you do that, I'll be sure to knock his head off next time. I almost feel bad for him.. having to share you with the rest of the locker room, must be hard to find enough time for him, huh?"
"You ass."
"Keep them customers coming baby, but I'm not going to be one of them."
"I can't believe I was starting to think of you as a friend."
"You can't believe that? I can't believe I was actually considering seeing you in any other way other than the trash-bag ho I've always seen you as."
What in the hell is going on? Stephanie wondered, bewildered as to how they had ended up trading insults again. She angrily fought back the tears that threatened to start blurring her vision. She knew she had struck a nerve with what she said, but damn..
"I hate you." She stated, her voice low.
"Oh look at me, I'm going to go run in a hole now and hide. Whatever, Stephanie.. been nice talking to you."
"Go to hell."
"I'll meet you there."
"Ouch, an interjection. Used to express sudden pain."
"Now is not the time."
"Sorry," Randy said, closing his dictionary as he held an ice pack to the back of his head. "Just trying to lighten the mood. So what happened after that?"
"Nothing.. I ended up walking away."
"So.. what are you going to do now?"
"What do you want me to do, Rundo? She's obviously too blinded by Al to see that she's too good for him, so why should I bother? This whole thing has been a waste of my time."
Randy nodded, before frowning. "Wait a sec, you're not giving up, are you?"
Chris scowled. He had never given up anything in his entire life. But he couldn't see how they could even hold a civil conversation again, so he just shrugged.
"You can't just let that moron win!" Randy suddenly cried out, startling Chris. "You're Chris Jericho! What the hell is wrong with you? Chris Jericho doesn't quit! You shouldn't even know how to quit!"
"Touching, kid." Chris snorted. "Very touching. But there's really no way this can work out. She's not going to go out with me, she made that fact painfully clear tonight." He spat out bitterly, his scowl growing.
I should have never bothered in the first place.
"What happened to one kiss, one date?"
"You can forget about that because it's not happening."
"But you were so close!"
"Close to what, Orton? Huh? Do tell, I see no progress right now, now do I?" Chris snarled. "Just drop it kid.. forget about it."
"But.. what happened to your ultimate plan?" He threw in, not knowing what else to say. Chris blinked, having forgotten about that.
"Hmm.." He rubbed his chin, deep in thought. "I don't know Rundo.. it's such a long shot right now."
"Anything's better than nothing.. besides, it's not like you have much to lose." Randy added.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Fine kid.. I'll try it, but you're going to help me, damn it. And if this doesn't work, then I'm really giving up."
"It better be good then."