So I went from putting a chapter up on time to being like..4.. okay 5 weeks behind lol. My apologies.. I've been caught up with some family stuff that has kept me away from my trusted computer.. I've been re-writing this chapter over the span of like 2 weeks during my lunch periods (wasup with dat?). But this chapter is the second to last anyways.. (so had I updated on time it'd be done by now!) Just giving you guys a heads up on that.. I mean what better way to end this than to have Randy and Chris as GMs during my last two chapters right? ... Right? ... lol. :P
Thank you all for the reviews. Those always make my day. :)
This is from last week's.. obviously. :P
If there was one thing Randy Orton hated more than making a mistake, it was being constantly reminded of it.
"You know kid, you still manage to surprise me sometimes."
"Should I be complimented?" The younger man asked sarcastically, wishing the Canadian would just let it be.
"No, you shouldn't." Chris said, rolling his eyes as he entered the arena. "You still to this day surprise me with your level of stupidity."
"It wasn't my fault, okay? How was I supposed to know –"
"Excuses, Rundo, excuses. It's all you give me."
"Oh, because you should talk." Randy mumbled as he followed Chris, glad that the older man couldn't see how embarrassed he was.
"I have never had that happen to me, kid, check again."
"I told you, that's how they gave me the car!"
"Okay, let me get this straight." Chris stopped and rubbed his chin dramatically as if in deep thought. "They gave you your rental, and then you went to the hotel to get some sleep.. then you left to come to the arena.. and during all of that, you never once stopped to wonder if you had enough gas in your car."
"I did notice that I was running low." Randy shot back defensively, getting a knowing look from Chris. He knew he should've called Maven to go pick him up. "I did! Just there were no gas stations in sight.."
"It's okay, Rundo." Chris said in a mock comforting voice as he patted the young man's shoulder. "You're GM tonight, I know, and plus, it's not your fault that you were dropped on your head when you were a baby."
Randy sneered at the older man as he shoved his hand off him, making Chris laugh as he turned and kept walking down the halls. The younger man frowned and followed him.
"So where's Stephanie?"
"Probably with Al." Chris replied in a bored tone. "They're catching up, since he was on vacation and all."
"Best four weeks of your life, huh?" Randy smirked, pleased to have gotten off the topic of his earlier misfortunes.
"Are you kidding me?" The Canadian snorted. "The plan had to be put on hold until he came back. It's been the longest four weeks of my life."
"So tonight, I'll be running the show, and you and Stephanie will be back here up to no good." He sighed dramatically as Chris rolled his eyes. "But at least Al will get his."
"Oh, he will.. watch and learn kid, you'll see."
Meanwhile, Stephanie and Al were sitting on the leather sofa in their dressing room, hanging out and spending quality time together as girlfriend and boyfriend and making up for time missed.
In other words, Stephanie was bored out of her mind.
She tried not to let a look of disgust cover her beautiful features when Al casually draped an arm over her shoulder, hugging her closer. She looked at him, and imagined herself pulling his hair out until he squealed, and then making Chris lock him in the Walls for about.. oh, about an hour or so. Then again, that might be too long. Chris could get tired, after all.
Maybe she could just feed him to Snitsky. That would be nice. Snitsky could throw him off the stage, or maybe even put him through a table..
"Steph, babe, are you listening?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie." She said, giving him her most loving smile, while picturing shipping him off to Smackdown as a sacrifice offering to the Undertaker. Honestly, why couldn't the man have just stayed gone?
Then again.. that would've meant no satisfaction of payback for her and Chris.
And that was just unacceptable.
"What were you saying?"
"I was asking what you wanted to do tonight after the show. It's been four weeks since we've been together, we have to do something." He said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.
"Baby, I'll go wherever you want to go." She said with her charm that only she could muster up. He smiled at her and leaned towards her, giving her a light kiss on the lips. She resisted the urge to gag, lest she raise any suspicions.
After the pain and agony (also known as Al's kiss) was over, she stood up, making him raise his eyebrows.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm kinda thirsty." She said, heading over to the door. She really just needed distance between the two, before their "quality time" started to make her lose IQ points.
"You know what," He said, standing as well. "I think I'll join you."
"You don't have to."
He smirked, knowing full well that if he left her alone, she'd run off to her so-called "friend", Chris Jericho. She was trying to outsmart him and he knew it; he was not about to let her pull the wool over his eyes, oh no.. he was going to be the one to come out on top of this little situation going on with Chris Jericho.
He gave her a smile, though she thought she caught a glimmer in his eye. She gave him a suspicious look, wondering what he was up to as he opened the door for her.
"Oh Stephanie, I insist."
Randy sighed as he rolled his eyes. He had heard this story so many times, he knew it by heart.. and being Gereral Manager for a week did not excuse him from hearing it again.
"I'm telling you kid, no one has –"
"Ever done something like that before." Randy said, finishing off his sentence as he straightened out his shirt. Chris frowned, slightly annoyed, but decided to ignore him and keep going.
"I beat The Rock and Austin –"
"On the same night, one after the other."
"It was the best night of my life, and to this very day, I'm still –"
"The man who united both belts for the first time."
"Hey junior, you better stop –"
"Interrupting me, or I swear, I'm gonna give you a lesson from the King of the World!"
"If you don't –"
"Shut the hell up, you're gonna get it, Rundo!"
"I'm warning you, kid," Chris angrily growled, much to the younger man's amusement, "If you don't stop –"
"You're gonna really piss me off, and I'm – hey!" Randy cried out, wincing after Chris punched him hard in the shoulder.
"Keep it up, it'll be harder next time." Chris sneered.
"Jackass." The younger man mumbled as he rubbed his shoulder.
"What did you say?" The Canadian asked dangerously.
"Oh, look who's coming." Randy said, catching sight of a very familiar couple. "Behind you."
Chris looked over his shoulder to where Randy was signaling, just in time to catch Stephanie walking down the hallway with Al in tow. He quickly turned away, cursing under his breath.
"What's wrong?" Randy asked, looking at him curiously.
The older man shook his head, snatching a water bottle off the table next to them. He took the top off and started chugging, his back to the approaching couple.
"What is it?" Randy demanded again, getting a sneer in return. At least, he thought it was a sneer – it was kind of hard to tell with the water bottle in his friend's mouth.
Before Chris got the chance to respond, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Randy watched curiously as he turned and gave Stephanie a look of feigned surprise.
"Steph! What a pleasure to see you." Chris said, wiping his lips with his forearm as he put his water bottle down. "Uh.. what's going on?" He choked out, forcing a smile.
"Oh, nothing much." Stephanie replied, matching his fake smile with one of her own, making him shift his weight uncomfortably. She then turned her eyes to Randy and gave him a more friendly greeting, while Chris and Al glared at each other.
"So.." Randy started, feeling some tension in the air and growing more uncomfortable by the second, but more curious at the same time. "Anything interesting going on tonight?"
"Other than your battle royal thing you have going on, I don't really think so." Al said, as he nonchalantly wrapped an arm around Stephanie's waist (much to her chagrin), making the Canadian sneer involuntarily.
"Hey Alice, that thing is for the World Title, something you'd know nothing about." Chris responded snidely, crossing his arms over his chest.
"It's not really fair for Triple H, if you think about it." Al said, rubbing his chin. "You guys are kinda screwing him over."
"Nah, ya think?" Randy retorted sarcastically.
Hmmm. Al thought silently, tapping his chin. Might have to tell the future father-in-law what these scumbags are up to. Maybe get him to change the stipulations a bit.
Chris noticed the wheels turning inside Al's head, and while he didn't figure he posed any real threat with any idea he could come up with, he knew enough to know that Al could sure as hell be an annoyance if he had to be.
"I should probably go meet up with Benoit and discuss some strategy. Maybe we can be the last two, or in the last four at least.." The Canadian stated, purposely looking off to the side as to avoid making eye contact with Stephanie, who was currently staring a hole through him. It was a calm kind of staring though - which made it even scarier for him.
"Oh, speaking of meetings! I totally forgot!" Alice, er, Al groaned, mock smacking his forehead. "I was supposed to meet up with your dad, Stephanie."
"For what?" She said, thoroughly confused as she furrowed her brow.
"He just wanted to iron some things out with me. He's giving me advice on some issues I'm having." He said in a smug tone, ignoring the looks of disgust he was getting from Chris as Randy rolled his eyes.
"Okay then, I guess I'll just see you later." Stephanie said, kissing him on the cheek. Al sent a cocky smirk in Chris' direction, before giving Stephanie a light kiss on the lips. Stephanie wasn't prepared for this downright attack, but resisted the urge to sucker punch Al and smiled sweetly at him instead.
Neither of them noticed Randy grabbing Chris' arm, in an attempt to stop the Canadian from going berserk on the other man. After all, Randy still had a bad taste in his mouth after the whole barber experience.
Al pulled away from Stephanie and gave his goodbyes, which was met with a mumbled "Good riddance" from Chris. He smirked as he walked off, knowing that he had gotten under the Canadian's skin. He headed off in the direction of Vince's office, but as soon as he was around the corner and out of sight, he stopped walking and very stealthily leaned up against the wall. He quietly sneaked back over to the corner, but not so far as they'd be able to see him. Nonchalantly, he picked up a magazine from a nearby table and pretended to be reading.
He was going to catch the bastard in the act - Chris was not going to win this little war, oh no he was not.
Meanwhile, Chris, Randy, and Stephanie were standing still, purposely waiting for Al to be far enough so as not to hear their conversation. After about a minute, Chris hesitantly cleared his throat.
"So.. how about that battle royal huh?" He said, chuckling nervously. Randy gave him a suspicious look, but didn't have any time for questions before Stephanie stalked right up to the older man.
"Stephanie," Chris started, raising his arms as he went into defensive mode. "I can explain -"
"Can you?" She said in a surprisingly calm voice, as she crossed her arms and stuck her chin up at him, her "bitchy" look as bitchy as ever.
"Yes, I can explain -"
"Who's stopping you?" She interrupted, looking around. "I don't see anyone stopping you, so by all means, explain. I have all the time in the world to hear this." She leaned her weight to one side and began rhythmically tapping her foot, making him gulp. That was her warning sign - it was about as dangerous as the arrogant got-a-stick-up-my-ass "Power Walk" that Vince was known for.
It somehow never meant any good.
"Okay.. so I woke up this morning, and I was like 'Wow.. it's a nice day today.' And I decided to get up and get ready so you know.. I could go out for a drive.."
Randy, sensing a storm brewing, suddenly remembered that he was the General Manager and didn't have to stay and listen to this. Hell, he could have Chris fired that night, and no one could do a damn thing... but then again, he'd have a stalking and potentially very dangerous Canadian to deal with for the rest of his life - or until Chris got his job back. So maybe that wasn't a good threat to use.
Even so, he decided that right then would be a very good time for him to retreat. After all, he was the GM. He had more pending things to get to than to sit and listen to this lover's quarrel. Silently, he began to take some steps backwards, hoping the two warriors wouldn't notice.
Meanwhile, Chris was quickly running out of excuses to stall and Stephanie was quickly running out of patience. The Canadian was about to admit his fault when he caught sight of Randy slowly trying to escape.
He quickly decided that if he had to face Steph's wrath, he was not going to do it alone.
Randy didn't have much time to react before he felt a steel grip on his arm yank him back to the little triangle.
"Hey, what gives?" Randy whined, only to be met by a glare from Chris for trying to escape.
"While I'm still young and beautiful, Christopher." Stephanie demanded, making the older man sigh.
"Stephanie, I did not forget to go pick you up today."
"We talked on the phone last night and you promised you would!!" She shrieked, making both men wince. Even Al winced, and he wasn't that close.
"I did not forget, I'm serious! Besides, I have a perfectly good reason as to why I didn't go pick you up."
"Do tell, I'm just dying to hear it." Stephanie responded sarcastically.
"Well, it's really quite simple." Chris said in a calm voice. Silence fell for a few moments as both Stephanie and Randy waited to hear the grand explanation. Hell, if Randy was being forced to stay, he figured he might as well hear everything. Then if they tried killing each other during his show, he could have some grounds to base everything on.
"It's all his fault!" Chris suddenly shouted, pointing at Randy.
"What? Don't drag me into this!" Randy cried out, looking bewildered. "I had nothing to do with you not picking Stephanie up!"
"Oh yes you did Rundo! You got lost in the middle of nowhere without any gas, and I had to go pick you up! That was valuable time wasted!!"
"Well yeah, but you never told me you had to go pick her up!" Randy said indignantly. He looked at Stephanie and shook his head, almost snickering. "I think he just forgot about that little promise."
"Wait a minute, now wait just a minute here." Chris reasoned. "So I didn't exactly go pick you up, Stephanie.."
"There's no exactly, you didn't do it at all!"
"But come on, it's not that big of a deal. I mean, you can take a taxi, can't you?"
Randy winced as a kind of fire ignited in Stephanie's eyes.Chris had to step back to get out of her arm's reach, before she smacked the crap out of him.
So maybe his choice of wording wasn't exactly the best there.
"Come on Stephanie, relax!" He yelped, holding his hands up so she wouldn't connect if she did try to slap him. That thing carried some sting. "God, why are you acting like a big baby?"
"I'm acting like a baby? You have some NERVE, Chris Jericho! You forget to pick me up, and now, you DARE insult me?! Do you know who I am?!?!" She was now screeching, making Randy silently wonder how any man could take that abuse every day. He blushed as he realized that the three were getting looks from different people due to all the shouting.
"Oh, baby, I know exactly who you are. You're that one girl that I used to call a filthy.."
"Don't go there.." Randy warned, noting that Stephanie was seething.
"Fine.. you're Vince's youngest daughter, but you're just another backstage worker to him.. but to the boys, I don't know.. you may be pulling in overtime with them, huh babe?" He added with a smirk. "Hard little worker indeed.."
Meanwhile, Al had been thoroughly enjoying overhearing the argument brewing. It was absolutely perfect - Chris could blow whatever he had with Stephanie right then, and he'd move in for the kill, and claim her forever, thereby cementing himself into a life of success and luxury. The thought made a smirk grow on his face.
"What are you doing here?" A voice suddenly asked, startling him. As soon as he felt like he wasn't going to have a heart attack, he glared at the plastic nose staring back at him.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" He sneered, gesturing over his shoulder towards the arguing trio. Trish took a glance in the direction, and then decided to stand next to him.
"Just be quiet, they don't know I'm here."
"You're such a sneak and a liar."
"No worse than they are."
"Mind if I join you?"
"Not at all."
Several yards away, Stephanie gasped at the insult that came out of Chris' mouth. She curled up her lip defiantly at him, while he just smirked.
"You know it's true."
"Jerk!"
"Big baby!"
"Jackass!"
"Slut!"
"ASSHOLE!"
"WHORE!"
"Whoa, whoa, guys, relax for just a -"
"SHUT UP KID!!" Came the shout from both Stephanie and Chris, making Randy frown. A worker then tugged on Randy's shirt, making him look down at the line-up for the show.
"Everything okay here?" The worker asked, looking at Stephanie and Chris who were glaring at each other. Randy nodded and patted the worker on the back.
"Everything's good, just having a psychiatric meeting over here, don't worry about it."
"Randy." Stephanie suddenly cut in, raising her head in a proud manner as she sneered at Chris. Randy was reminded of a queen looking at a peasant in disdain, and resisted the urge to laugh. "Let's go. I don't want to talk to this man anymore."
"Whoa whoa whoa, wait a second now." Chris said, matching Stephanie's tone with his arrogant one. He grabbed Randy by the arm and pulled him closer to him. "Rundo is my friend, so Rundo stays with me."
Randy sighed.
I knew I should've left when I had the chance.
"Now both of you have to hold on just a second here." Randy said in an authoritative voice. "I am the General Manager tonight, and I am not some kind of yo-yo -"
He was cut off by Stephanie yanking his other arm and pulling him closer to her.
"Listen to him." She said, still glaring at her sometimes-I-want-you-sometimes-I-hate-you-kinda-sorta-yeah-but-not-really boyfriend. "He sounds like you already! You're a bad influence on Randy, don't you see he's still young and impressionable?!"
"Oh give me a break." Chris said, pulling Randy back in his direction. "I told you, he stays with me."
"And I'm telling you, that he stays with me!" She shot back.
"Stop it! Both of you!!" Randy shouted, pulling his poor arms free of the abuse. "I am the General Manager tonight, and since both of you can't seem to get along tonight, I am ordering both of you to stay the hell away from each other for this whole entire night!"
"You know what kid, that's not such a bad idea." Chris snorted. "I don't want to be associated with trash anyways. You're worse than Trish, but I guess you set the standard, huh Stephanie?"
"That's okay Chris, I'll just go back to Al." She responded in her fake sweet voice. "After all, he's much more of a man than you are."
She wished she had a camera on her right then, because the look on his face after that remark was priceless.
Meanwhile, Trish nudged Al.
"You need to go, she's gonna go looking for you."
"Did you hear that? They can't even stay together as a unit. This is going to be a hell of a lot easier than I thought." He said, an evil smirk creeping over his features, making Trish laugh.
"Well then.. go get 'em."
Half an hour later, as the battle royal was completely under way, Al watched as Stephanie furiously pounded on a helpless remote control, in what she called "channel surfing."
He thought "venting" was more appropriate.
"Steph?" He asked cautiously. He knew she had a temper, and the last thing he wanted was to catch the heat for a certain Canadian's mistake.
"What?" She snapped. He winced a little at the tone.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing." She snapped again. "Drop it."
"Well, it's kinda hard to drop it when you're just gonna stay mad and I can't help you solve whatever problem you're having.."
"I just.. can't.. STAND him sometimes!" She cried out, throwing her remote at the floor in anger and startling him. "He thinks the world revolves around him!"
"What are you talking about?" He asked, silently wondering if Vince would make him pay for that remote.
"Jericho!! Who else?" She crossed her arms and pouted unconsciously. "Thinks he has all the answers, why I oughta show him.." She mumbled bitterly as she watched the battle royal, praying that someone, anyone, would throw him out.
"Well Steph.. if it's payback you want, I think I can help you out with that." Al said with a cunning smirk. She gave him a curious look, before he leaned towards her and whispered his impromptu plan in her ear. Her eyes lit up as she really smiled for the first time that day.
"I never knew you had such devious ideas." She said in a coy tone as he pulled away.
"Oh baby, you have no idea." He smirked, as she leaned forward and thought quietly to himself.
"I'll show him alright." She said under her voice as she saw him be eliminated. "I like your plan Al, and I must say, I never thought you could come up with these kind of things."
"So you like?"
"Oh yeah." She grinned. "Just a few little tweaks here and there, and he won't know what hit him."
Chris smirked to himself after he walked away from Trish. Now that was what he called having fun. He was busy trying to picture exactly how he was gonna run his show the following week, and who he was gonna get, when he caught sight of a familiar person.
He sighed and decided he might as well go and say something. Yes, it would be awkward, but it'd be even more awkward to ignore what had been said, wouldn't it?
He quickly decided he was just gonna have to wing it and go with the flow.
"Hey." He said, clearing his throat as he rocked on his heels. Lita looked up at him and gave him a look of surprise.
"Chris, what are you doing here?" She asked, looking around as if someone might walk up on them.
"Nothing, I just wanted to tell you in case you haven't heard, I'm giving you a title shot next week.."
"Against Trish?"
"No.. against Shelton Benjamin." She stared at him blankly before he snickered, shaking his head. "Geez, I'm just kidding - of course you're facing Trish, why would I put you in a match against Shelton?"
"Somehow I wouldn't put it past you to do something like that as some kind of prank." She said, smirking back at him before looking back down at her magazine.
"So that's it?" He asked, confusion crossing his features. "Don't even say thank you? And here I thought we were friends.. I guess I'm just gonna have to go find someone new to hang out with."
"Of course we're friends.. I helped you out with the plan, didn't I?"
"Well we'll see about that one."
"Here's hoping." She stood up from where she had been sitting, still looking down at her magazine, obviously intending to leave. He frowned and reached out, not thinking twice about what he was doing.
His touch nothing short of startled her, primarily because she wasn't paying enough attention to have seen it coming. She looked at where his hand had grabbed her by the arm, then back up to meet his eyes, which surprisingly were filled with curiosity and a hint of concern.
"What is it?" She asked, slowly pulling her arm out of his grip. He frowned as she did, but other than that, didn't move or say anything. There was something about his gaze that was a tad bit unsettling to her - what it was, she couldn't quite tell..
"Chris?"
His frown turned to a look of discomfort as he released his grip on her arm. He hadn't always been the greatest at consoling people, but he figured he had to at least ask..
"Are you okay?"
The bewildered redhead just stared back at him. Now that was out of the blue - they were supposed to be focused on their big plan, and he was coming out with this?
"I'm fine, Chris."
"Are you really?" He repeated, his gaze never shifting or changing. She nodded slowly, tilting her head as she looked at him.
"Are you?"
"I'm good. I don't know, I just wanted to make sure.." He said, running a hand through his loose hair.
"Don't worry Chris, I'm fine, really." She said, noting the Canadian's growing discomfort with the topic. She patted him on the arm. "And I do appreciate the match. Hopefully I can get that thing off Trish, and you can go for the World Title."
"That would be cool." He said, smiling a little.
God how she loved that smile.
Meanwhile, Al and Stephanie were peeking out of their dressing room door. The coast was clear.
"Okay, do you remember what you're doing?" Stephanie whispered, seeing Al nod from the corner of her eye. "Good. You have to move fast, I can only distract him for so long."
"I know, move fast, I got it."
"Do you remember which dressing room was his?"
"Yeah.. down two halls.. make a right. His door will have his name on it."
"Bingo.." She said, an evil smirk creeping on her face. "I'll show him what happens when you treat Stephanie McMahon like crap.. okay.. let's do it."
"How are you going to distract him?"
"I have my ways.. let me just put it to you this way. He loves to play games."
"I know that much." Al mumbled under his breath. Now there was something he hadn't missed in his short-lived vacation.
"Well babe, two can play his game."
"Did you see the look on her face when I called her a walking STD? That was priceless." Chris said, smirking as Lita laughed. The tension was gone for the most part, for which they were both thankful.
"She is a walking STD.. who knows how many guys she's been with here in the back."
"It's kind of weird though, this animosity that she has with you. I mean, what's the point? You don't see me going around picking fights for the hell of it." He scoffed, then caught the look she was giving him. "Well.. anymore anyways."
"Yeah, that sounds about right." She laughed.
"Well, I should go see what Rundo's up to.. go see how bad he's ruining the show right now." He teased, poking her on the side. She scowled at him, making his smirk grow even wider.
"You're annoying. I don't know how Stephanie puts up with you."
"You're.. more annoying than I am, so you can't talk!" He said, catching himself before he uttered "You're just jealous," which had been on the tip of his tongue. "But anyways, I should get going."
"Yeah, me too. I've already wasted plenty of time here talking to you." She teased, making him roll his eyes.
"Whatever.." He said, pulling her close to him in a friendly hug. She was taken by surprise (for the second time by him), but she sighed contentedly and hugged him back.
It was this scene that Randy walked in on, coming back from his bout with Benoit and Edge. Quite frankly, he didn't care anymore who was champion and who wasn't - so long as it wasn't Triple H, he was more than satisfied.
And after seeing Chris in a tight hug with Lita, he definitely didn't care about the championship.
Associating his sudden and irrational annoyance / anger at the blonde Canadian with the fact that he was taken by Stephanie (in some kind of weird way), he walked up behind Chris and tapped him on the shoulder.
The older man turned and his face lit up at the sight of his young companion, who crossed his arms over his chest. Lita let go of Chris and smiled at him, easing Randy's temper for the most part.
"Rundo, I was just gonna go looking for you!" Chris said, pleased that the younger man had saved him a trip.
"Hey Randy, I was just about to get going."
"So soon? Seemed like the party was just getting underway." Randy said sarcastically, earning a strange look from both Lita and Chris.
"Well I have an early flight to catch tomorrow, so I should go and get into bed." She reasoned, grabbing her magazine from where she had mindlessly tossed it onto the table.
"Okay Li, take care."
"Bye Lita."
"Bye guys.. good luck."
Chris watched her walk off before turning back with a demanding air to Randy, who groaned loudly, knowing that the nagging was soon to start.
"What is it now?"
The Canadian was going to respond, on the verge of having a fantastic light bulb moment in his keen observations that only he could make, when something moved and caught the corner of his eye. Randy must've felt it as well, because they both turned to look at the same time.
Stephanie had to resist the urge to laugh as she walked towards them. Oh, she was good alright (she had always been that damn good, long before Triple H ever coined the phrase) -and she knew exactly how to dress to command attention, when she wanted it. And judging from the awe-struck and hungry looks on the faces of Randy and Chris, respectively, she had the attention.
It looked like she still had the touch.
"She is fucking hot." Randy said, but wasn't able to fully take in her new and improved sexy look before being elbowed hard in the ribs by Chris.
"Don't stare at her you perv!" The older man hissed, even though the sight of her dressed up was making him picture very inappropriate images of the things he wanted to do to her..
"Can I help you?" He said in the calmest voice he could muster up after she strolled up to him, as he attempted to maintain eye contact. If he looked down, he'd be at her mercy, and he absolutely refused to give in. (This of course, did not mean he sure as hell didn't want to..) "I thought you said you didn't want to talk to me right now.."
"Oh Chrissy, you always misunderstand everything I say.."
Hidden in the mob of referees and staff workers who were attempting to hold Edge and Benoit apart from each other, Trish seethed with anger at the display. She knew what Stephanie was trying to do - and if anyone could seduce anyone, it was most definitely HER, Trish Stratus, women's champion. NOT Stephanie McMahon.
Of course, the stupid plastic contraption on her face could have the potential of lowering her sex appeal..
Meanwhile, Stephanie was feeling like she was back in high school as she teased Chris, who was falling for her plan, hook, line, and sinker..
Hell, she even had Randy staring like an idiot. She smirked as she trailed a finger down Chris' chest; but by this time, he had had enough time to recover from her initial appearance, and forced himself to regain his composure.
"It's kind of hard to misunderstand someone who makes their point as emphatically as you did." He said, shrugging nonchalantly.
"Well, maybe you're right." Stephanie said, sighing dramatically as she tossed her curled hair over her shoulders, showing off the shirt she was wearing which once again drew the attention of both men.
This was too easy.. she just hoped Al was coming through over on his end.
.. and coming through he was.
It was a good thing too, because he almost didn't find Chris' locker room, much to his ego's chagrin. But once he found it, he had gone to work. He smirked as he took a step back to admire his work, but decided that it just wasn't enough...
Just then, his phone went off. He groaned loudly and pulled out his cell, glancing at the number. He sighed and flipped it open.
"Al speaking.. what do you mean where am I?" He said, picking up his spray can and shaking it. "I'm doing a little errand for Stephanie.. oh don't start Trish, this is actually a good thing. You wouldn't believe what she's making me do to his locker room.. you have a what? A match against Lita? .. So? .. Oh please, you're gonna win.."
Stephanie looked over Chris' shoulder for a quick second, but it was long enough to see Trish walking away. She turned back to Chris and gave him a knowing smirk; he just matched her with a puzzled look.
"Well gang," Randy said smugly, "While you two argue your lives away, I'm going to go back to my dressing room and get all my stuff together so I can get out of here." The young man said, starting to walk off.
"Now just hang on a second there Rundo," Chris said, breaking into stridewith him. "You're not leaving me here alone with this psycho bitch who has more mood swings than a -"
"Who are you calling a psycho bitch?" Stephanie demanded, walking on the other side of Randy."I'm the one that should be leaving you, you can't even appreciate me even when I try to make peace between us!"
Randy rolled his eyes as he headed down the hallway towards his dressing room, with the two still arguing loudly behind him. He still surprised himself with the things he got himself into sometimes..
"Yeah, well listen, I have to go." Al said, pulling out a new spray can from his bag. He sighed loudly and rolled his eyes. "Trish, come on, you're wasting my time. Why are you so worried about the match with Lita? .. You're worried about your nose? .. But I thought it wasn't really broken.. okay okay, geez, it doesn't matter, I get it already." He froze as he heard familiar voices in the background. "Oh shit, I think they're coming.. what do you mean you stopped watching them?!"
He heard the voices growing louder, and hung up on Trish in a panic, even though he knew he was going to catch grief for that one somewhere down the road. He ran over to the door, hoping that they weren't that close where he could still make a quick escape. He was about to try and leave when he heard their voices literally feet away from the door.
There was no time to run now.
He was going to have to turn to his last resort.
"Would you stop shoving me?!"
"Well if you stopped acting like a total ass then maybe I would!"
"Well maybe if you wouldn't have been a bitch to me this whole night, I'd be a bit nicer!"
"HA!" Stephanie snorted loudly. "You couldn't be nice even if your life depended -"
"Would the two of you just shut the hell up?! Good grief, you've been going back and forth forever, just SHUT UP!" Randy shouted, rubbing his temples. Bad enough he had to deal with Edge and Benoit, but he wasn't getting paid enough to deal with this too.
"Hey junior, don't steal my line." Chris chastised.
"He can take your line if he wants to. You haven't said it in a while, and it deserves to have an actual talented wrestler say it, like Randy."
"Why thank you Stephanie." Randy snickered, amused by the glare that Chris was sending Stephanie, who was pretending to ignore him. He pushed the door open to his dressing room, ready to get all his things and go.
"Are you guys.." The question died on Randy's lips ashe took in his dressing room, his jaw dropping in shock.
"What's -- wow." Stephanie said, stepping in beside Randy.
"Holy crap, someone totally trashed your dressing room." The Canadian said, stepping in on the other side of Randy.
Behind the sofa, out of sight and thankfully out of mind, was Al, on his hands and knees so as not to get caught. The words out of Chris' mouth gave him chills, and he closed his eyes as he realized the huge mistake he had made.
He had hit the wrong locker room.
Randy immediately turned around and leaned out into the hallway, shouting for security while Chris and Stephanie both took in the damage done. The sofas were destroyed, and they had been such nice sofas too. Not to mention someone had gone berserk with spraypaint - it was more like a room for kindergarteners from hell than for a General Manager.
Randy stepped back in with security on his heels, angrily spinning around to address them all.
"LOOK AT THIS MESS!" He shouted, stretching out his arms for more emphasis. "My dressing room is DESTROYED, and for what? I want you all to GO OUT THERE, and FIND me the person who -- what was that?" He said, stopping his rant as he looked around suspiciously. He glanced over at Chris and Stephanie, who just shrugged.
Shit! Al thought, his hand covering his mouth. He had tried to suppress a sneeze, but it hadn't quite worked.
"I didn't hear anything." A security guard the size of Batista said, making Randy frown. They all watched the younger man turn around and slowly take in his surroundings, before scowling and heading over to the sofa.
Al was holding his breath and wishing that Randy would send all the guards away, then maybe he could be able to leave. He wanted to venture a peek over the sofa, but knew that wasn't going to be such a bright idea.
He heard a throat clear behind him and gulped, slowly turning to look over his shoulder to look into the eyes of one Randy Orton.
Meanwhile, Chris and Stephanie had stepped just outside of the dressing room and were looking at the back of the door, where it said Chris' name.
After hearing all the shouting begin in the dressing room, Chris smirked.
"I have to tell you Stephanie, it's very nice." He said, running his fingers over the small plaque with his name on it.
"And you doubted my abilities." She smirked, reaching up and removing the plaque, revealing Randy's name underneath. "Shame on you, Christopher."
"Mind if I keep this, Princess?" He asked, and she shrugged.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't."
"I'll take that as a yes."
".. BANISHED I SAID!" Came the angry shout inside of the dressing room. Chris snickered, before Stephanie elbowed him hard in the ribs.
"Hey," He said indignantly, rubbing his side. "What'd you do.. oh hi Vince." He quickly said, not having noticed the boss himself approaching them.
"Jericho, Stephanie." Vince greeted, before turning his eyes towards Randy's dressing room door. "I heard there was something going on in Orton's office?"
"Yes, you should go in and take a look, Daddy." Stephanie said, starting to tear up. Even Chris was caught by surprise at the sight of the tears brewing in her eyes. "Al has embarrassed me!" She choked out, suddenly clinging to Chris.
The Canadian was surprised, but he was still very talented at improvising - and so he hugged her while she sobbed into his shirt.
"You should go see, Vince. It's bad." He said in a serious tone.
Vince, surprised like Chris had been, scowled and walked into the office. Stephanie immediately sobered up and sighed dramatically, wiping away her tears.
"That is some acting from you, my dear." Chris said, highly amused as he held her in his arms. She laughed and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck.
"What can I say, I'm extremely talented. How else could I have pretended to be mad at you this whole evening?"
"I don't know, for a second I thought you were really pissed at me." He said, laughing to himself. "I can't believe you actually got him to trash Randy's locker room.."
"Please.. I have men wrapped around my finger."
"I beg to disagree."
She didn't have the chance to respond before the door to Randy's office was thrown back violently, with Al stepping out and Vince in tow. The two immediately parted and were content to watch.
"See!" Al cried out, pointing at the plaque on the door while he looked back at Vince and everyone else behind him. Randy somehow squeezed himself out of the dressing room and looked at Chris and Stephanie, all three with smirks on their faces. "It says Chris Jericho on the door!"
Vince looked at the door, and then looked back at Al. A promising son-in-law now appeared to be no more than scum. He shook his head in disgust.
"Did you not know how to read in elementary school?" Vince demanded.
"What are you talking about?!" Al shouted, before turning to look. "It says right here -- .." He was literally at a loss for words when the only thing staring back at him was Randy Orton - General Manager. "That.." He stammered, blinking to make sure he wasn't seeing things, ".. that was not there before."
"Daddy, just take him out of my sight!" Stephanie said, covering her eyes in shame as Chris wrapped an arm around her shoulders, offering his comfort. Al's eyes flashed at the display.
"She set me up! Stephanie set me up to destroy Randy's -"
"How DARE you accuse my daughter for your defacement of my property! Who the hell do you think you are?!" Vince snarled in the only way he could, making Al shut up. Meanwhile, Randy handed Stephanie two sheets of paper, keeping one for himself.She gave one to Chris, somehow still managing to look absolutely devastated.
"But look at them! They've been at each other's throats all damn day!" Al cried out desperately.
"Who?"
"Jericho and Stephanie!!"
Vince turned to look at the two, who in turn looked at each other. They gave each other puzzled looks and shrugged, looking back at Vince.
"We haven't argued once this entire day." Chris said in his sincerest tone. If Randy didn't know any better, he might have believed it.
"You liar! You insulted her and forgot to pick her up this morning, and she was using me to get back at you by trashing your locker room!"
Stephanie laughed out loud at that, shaking her head. Randy leaned back a little, impressed with the level of improvisation and acting on the part of his friends.
"Daddy, why would I ever send anyone to trash Chris' locker room? That was probably something I'd do like four years ago, but we're very close friends now. I'd never do that to him."
"And anyways, I didn't have a commitment to pick her up this morning, so your story makes no sense." Chris threw in, scrunching up his nose in confusion.
"Exactly, I never even asked Chris to pick me up."
"He actually had to pick me up." Randy added, deciding to join in on the fun.
"But --"
"Alright, enough!" Vince shouted, tired of hearing it all. "Bad enough that you destroyed one of my best offices, but now, you try to accuse my daughter? Randy, what was your decision as General Manager regarding this little issue?"
"Permanent banishment from all the shows, from this point forward." Randy stated, a smirk tugging on his lips.
"Security, you heard your General Manager!" Vince stated, as security seized Al, who glared at the three, wondering how in the hell they had one-upped him.
And then adding insult to injury, they took advantage of the fact that Vince had his back to them, and each showed Al their piece of paper. First Randy showed his, and then Stephanie, and finally, Chris, along with a huge smirk as he used his free arm to wrap around Stephanie's waist, pulling her tightly against him.
The total message read:
GAME
OVER
BITCH
Chris and Stephanie waited long enough for Al to digest the message, and when they saw his face go red with anger, they turned and added the exclamation point as they shared a hot kiss with each other. Randy just rolled his eyes, but amused himself by watching Al thrash against the security guards, in an effort to do something; what it was, Randy didn't know.
After all, it wasn't like he could take on either Randy or Chris.
Hell, he couldn't even take Stephanie.
"Get him out of here, and let me never see his face here ever again!" Vince roared, prompting security to drag Al down towards the exit, even with all his screaming and objections. He then turned back and noticed Stephanie and Chris still engaged in their kiss; he gave them a half-puzzled and half-disgusted look, before looking at Randy, who just shrugged.
"Don't ask, they're both kinda weird."
Hearing this, the two immediately pulled away from each other. Stephanie tossed her hair back over her shoulders and cleared her throat, while Chris blushed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Jericho, you have something you want to tell me?" Vince demanded.
"Uh.." Chris started. "Thanks for settling that issue."
"Besides that?"
"Would you like to help me decide how to handle that whole Edge/Benoit thing next week -"
"Besides that!"
Chris sighed, knowing that it was best to fess up. "I'm kinda seeing your daughter now, Vince."
"Kinda? Playing tonsil hockey is a kinda, huh?"
"Okay.. I'm seeing your daughter now, Vince."
"You know.. I always figured you had a thing for her."
Chris sighed as Randy and Stephanie laughed. "Haha.. am I that transparent?"
"At times." Vince said, patting him on the shoulder. "You better take care of my daughter Jericho, or I'll have you permanently ejected too."
"In other words, break my heart, and YOU'RE FIIIIIRED!!" Stephanie said, pinching Chris' cheek. He rolled his eyes and waved it off with his hand.
"Alright, I'll see you three next week. It's your show next week, Jericho. Make it good."
"You know it."
They watched as the boss walked off, and waited til he was out of sight. Once he was, Randy snickered.
"That was great, everything worked out almost too smoothly."
"Yup.. I can't believe he actually thought he could hide behind the corner and eavesdrop on me, and I wouldn't be able to tell." Stephanie rolled her eyes. "What kind of idiot did he take me to be?"
"Yeah, or Trish spying on us later on when you caught up with us. Man, you guys said they were predictable, but good grief.. I didn't think they'd be that predictable." Chris said thoughtfully.
"Randy, did you really run out of gas this morning?" Stephanie asked, turning towards the young man, who immediately scowled. She started laughing out loud, making Chris smirk.
"It's not funny." Randy said, only adding to their laughter. He frowned at them, once again reminding himself that he should've called Maven to go get him instead. He was never going to live that one down.
"Oh, Steph, I have to tell you something about Rundo." Chris said in a sing-song voice.
"Oooh, tell me tell me, I want all the dirt I can get." Stephanie said, clapping her hands together as she grinned. Randy groaned.
"Don't you guys have anything better to do? Like go back to the hotel or something?" Randy asked.
Chris and Stephanie stared at each other for a few moments.
"You know, that's a damn good idea."
"Sure is. Let's go."
Randy watched as the two headed down the hallway together, with him randomly poking her on the side and her smacking him on the shoulder each time he did.
And he says Al and Trish are predictable.
"You know something Chris?"
"What's that?"
"You call Triple H The Nose don't you?"
"Every now and then."
"I think Trish is trying to steal that nickname."
"Might be.. you know it's not over until we get her back right?"
"Oh, don't I know it. And you planning that match against Lita next week, that was pure genius on your part."
"I know.. I hope Lita wins."
"She better."
"Oh, speaking of Lita.." Chris said, a smirk creeping up on his face. "I think Ladies Man Rundo is a bit smitten by the lovely redhead."
"Is he now?" Stephanie asked, highly amused. "Well then.. you know what that means, don't you?"
"No, but somehow, I don't think it's any good."
"Looks like next week we're going to be pulling double duty." Stephanie said, her eyes sparkling as the elevator stopped on his floor. "Getting Trish with some sweet revenge, and getting Randy his girl."
"Oh man, that might be a stretch." Chris said, the door opening. "You are one devious young lady.."
"You have no idea." Stephanie gave him an innocent smile as she stepped out of the elevator, purposely adding more swing to her step. She didn't have to look behind her to know that Chris was right on her heels, his eyes.. well, who knew where his eyes were. All she knew was that they were on her.
And that was how she wanted things to stay.