Chapter 18: The Wild Goose Chase

Randy made his way backstage after a hard fought match in the ring, feeling good after continuing his winning streak. He was on the verge of earning another shot at the World Title he coveted so badly, which would be the icing on the cake after his amazing discovery of Molly in his life. 'I wonder where she's got to?' he wondered, as she didn't appear to have stuck around to greet his return.

"Good match Randy!" one of the stage hands commented as he walked past.

"Thanks man." he replied graciously, "Hey... I don't suppose you have seen Molly have you?"

"Miss Holly? I'm not sure to be honest."

"Damn it. Never mind." he said, leaving the stage hand to continue with his work. He was hoping she would be on hand to congratulate him after his win, but it seemed like it wasn't to be. 'No matter' he thought, as he turned his mind to an important bit of business he had to settle. He had racked his brains all night, trying to think of a solution to the dilemma that was posed with the bet that he had made with his friends. The money didn't interest him at all, he just wanted the whole affair to be closed and never spoken about again.

He knew that if Molly ever found out about the bet, she would be mortified and would more than likely split with him immediately. His intention was to get V1, Y2J and Captain Charisma in the same room, so that they could end the debacle before things got out of hand. He was prepared to pay them all off if necessary, to preserve his reputation and standing with Molly. It meant that much to him.

He set off, eagerly seeking to hunt his three buddies down.

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Trish had spent a good twenty minutes searching for Matt, with no luck. She uncomfortably hung around the male locker room, hoping to bump into somebody who knew his whereabouts. That happened, but the two people who found her lurking in the corridor were not prepared to give out that information too easily.

"Well, well... Look what we have here!"

"The creepy Canadian slut, hanging around the men's locker room... Classy lady!"

If it hadn't been bad enough that she'd had to speak with Gail Kim and Victoria earlier, she felt doubly unlucky to encounter Chris Jericho and Christian. The night at the bowling alley had been torture for the most part, and that nightmare looked like it was going continue.

"Have you two seen Matt?" she asked, completely ignoring their wisecracks. Just like the two girls in the canteen, the two guys outside the locker room had no intention of making life easy for her.

"Wait a minute? She wants to know where Matt is?" Jericho said, his voice full of derision, "I do believe Trashy Stratus has a thing for our Matty Boy!"

"Whoever could believe that? We're obviously not good enough for her these days... Such a shame!" Christian added in jest, as the two men laughed at the expense of Trish.

"Forget it!" she said, figuring that she was not going to get any change out of them. Before she went to depart, she couldn't resist firing back a riposte of her own, "Oh, bad luck with the two dumb bitches at the weekend. As if you two would resort to chasing a pair like them anyway..."

Jericho and Christian were lost for words, as Trish strode away with a spring in her step. She enjoyed getting the last word. In the back of her mind, she wondered if she should have quizzed them about their shady chat at the bowling alley, but reasoned that they wouldn't have given anything away. She was going to have to use all of her feminine wiles to get what she was after. 'I might not have a thing for Matt... but if he has a thing for me...'

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Molly held her back, as she continued to feel dull pain from a bump she had taken earlier in the evening. The sensible side of her nature urged her to get it checked out before she left the arena, so that she could be ready for shows later in the week. She was desperate to avoid missing any time in the ring, having made a victorious return to Raw after what seemed like an eternity. Trish and Randy could wait until she got the all clear from the trainers.

The treatment room was already busy as she entered; Matt Hardy just happened to be nursing a similar kind of injury. Molly saw him lay on his front, receiving a massage to help his ailing back. She made her way over to a spare treatment table in the room and after acknowledging the trainer, she greeted Randy's best friend.

"Hi Matt. Is everything OK?"

Matt had not noticed Molly enter the room, which caught him unawares. He turned his head over, as he had been facing in the opposite direction and caught a glimpse of Molly next to him.

"Oh... hey Molly. Didn't see you sneak in then!" he said, in a surprised tone. "I hurt my back in my match tonight, just getting some treatment on it. How about you? What brings you here?"

"Same deal. Believe it or not!" she replied, laying herself down on her table whilst she awaited attention. A few moments of silence passed, as the two encountered an awkward moment. Molly was well aware that Randy was close with Matt, having spoken about him at length over the weekend. Matt was unsure of whether he should talk about the weekend, given Randy's cold reaction earlier. They were both uneasy about the situation, and it didn't help that the trainer was in the middle of it too.

There was almost a battle of wills, as the pair fought against the temptation to talk about the Molly's love life. Molly was convinced that Randy must have told Matt the score and filled him in with all the details, seeing as he had been so eager to tell everybody else earlier. Matt, on the other hand, wondered if the pair were prospering at all and didn't want to talk about a potentially touchy subject if he didn't have to.

"Matt..." Molly started.

"Molly..." Matt said, at exactly the same time.

"Erm..." the trainer spoke up, realising that he was in the middle of a tense moment between the two, "Do you want me to leave you to it?"

Matt strained to look across to Molly, who nodded in agreement. The trainer took heed of their request and made himself scarce, leaving the two of them alone.

"Is there something you want to talk about Molls?" Matt asked, trying to be helpful. He sensed that something was wrong.

"I suppose so." Molly replied hesitantly. Trish hadn't exactly been all ears earlier in the night, and she desperately wanted to talk to somebody about Randy. She was very happy to be with him, but she still felt a nagging problem in the back of her mind. She wasn't convinced Matt would be able to help her much with that, and it wasn't the sort of thing she wanted to gossip about – with anyone.

"What is it then?"

"Randy. Do you... do you think..."

"Have you two fallen out?" Matt said abruptly. He didn't mean to say what he said, but couldn't help himself.

"Well..."

"I knew it. He can be an idiot sometimes!"

"No... wait!" Molly cut in, before Matt went off on a rant. "We haven't exactly fallen out... but..."

"What then?"

Molly became stuck for something to say. She wanted to talk about the burning issue in her mind, but continued to hold that subject back. Instead, she tried to think of a way out of it.

"Erm... I'm rooming with Trish tonight... do you two fancy joining us? It would be nice to spend some time together... I know I have been hogging Randy recently and he has been hogging me!"

Matt was taken aback by her offer, which came as a bolt out of the blue. He could not think of any reason why they shouldn't accept Molly's offer. Well, all except one.

"Would Trish be OK with that? Don't really want to intrude like."

"Erm... yeah!" Molly replied frantically; she suspected that Trish had issues with Randy and wouldn't be terribly receptive of her idea, but she wanted them to bury whatever problem they had between each other, so things could get back to normal. It was worth a try in her mind, anyway.

"Right... I'm up for it. It'll be good for us all to get to know each other a bit better... if you and Randy are going to be making a go of it."

"Oh... so he's told you all about us officially being a couple now then?"

Matt's eyes widened, as Molly reeled off her question. It was the first he had heard of it, and was surprised that Randy had not mentioned anything about it earlier. His downbeat mood left Matt wondering if his friend was comfortable with the idea or not. Then it dawned on him – the bet. The wager with the other guys still stood, as far as he was aware, and that had to be a complication on the landscape.

"Well... you know how excitable he gets!" he said, choosing to keep the truth to himself. He didn't want to alarm Molly unnecessarily. He was sure that all would be revealed later, when they all convened.

"Yes, I certainly do!"

The conversation stopped dead right there, until Matt gingerly crawled off the treatment table and looked like he wanted to slip away. "My back isn't feeling so bad now, I think I might go and pack my stuff up and get ready for tonight."

"Cool." Molly replied sweetly, "If you see Randy before I do, tell him about tonight. We are in room 424... meet us there as soon as you can."

"Deal. Catch you later then."

"See you. Oh... and can you send the trainer back in, if you see him?"

"No problem."

Molly breathed a sigh of relief as Matt left the treatment room; she felt like she had dodged a bullet in not disclosing too much information about her relationship with Randy. She felt that Matt was one of the more trustworthy guys in the locker room, but she had been wrong about people before. Whilst she sat deep in thought, she could faintly hear footsteps entering the room behind her. As she had been facing away from the door, she assumed it was the trainer returning.

"Do you mind giving my back a rub down... it's aching real bad!" she said. She didn't realise that it wasn't the trainer entering the room.

"I don't see why not."

The voice was female. Molly recognised it instantly; it was her best friend. She slowly turned over to face Trish, to tell her off for surprising her.

"Trish! Fancy sneaking up on me like that!"

"Sorry. I was..." Trish said, stopping short of disclosing the fact that she had been on the lookout for Matt.

"Looking for me?"

"Yeah. Looking for you."

"I'm glad you were." Molly said. She worried about what she was about to ask Trish, so she gave her best puppy dog look and opted to adopt an apologetic tone of voice. "I know we are supposed to be rooming tonight... but I was kind of hoping..."

Trish rolled her eyes. 'Here we go again...'

"Do you mind if Randy joins us?"

"Oh great! So I can sit in the corner like a gooseberry, whilst you two smooch on your bed? Thanks... you're such a good friend these days." Trish replied, in a very sarcastic tone.

"No, no... I've invited Matt too. I want us all to get to know each other better."

The scowl that had manifested itself on Trish's face relented and gave way to a look of curious satisfaction. She had been frustrated in her attempts to locate Matt, but Molly had seemingly solved that problem for her. Plus, she had the added bonus of being able to keep an eye on Randy and what she perceived to be his scheming ways.

"So... what do you think?"

"Yeah... fine by me." Trish responded coolly.

"Really?" Molly replied, surprised by Trish's sudden change of heart.

"Positive."

'Great!' Molly thought to herself, as Trish began to knead her back to help relieve some of the aches and pains. She was looking forward to the foursome spending a bit of time together. She was convinced that they could all get along, once they got to know each other.

Trish meantime was preparing some questions to level at Matt. She even thought of a few to grill Randy with. If he was doing anything untoward, she was going to enjoy making him sweat.