Chapter 21: The Hotel Room, Part Two

"Here... let me massage that sore back of yours." Randy said to Molly, after they had been sat in stony silence for a few minutes.

Molly took heed and rolled over, which allowed him to start soothing her aching body whilst she laid face first on the bed. She was content to watch the news on TV as he went about his work, taking in all that had happened during the day. Most days flew by on the road and she often missed out on all the latest current affairs and gossip.

"Have you seen this?" she commented, as images flashed on the screen of hurricane damage in Florida.

"Huh?" Randy grunted, oblivious to what she was referring to.

"The hurricane..." she started, before she figured that he wasn't paying any attention to the what she was talking about. She had noticed that he had been distant for most of the evening up to that point, save for his usual touchy-feely antics that appeared to be his trademark. Holding a conversation with the man continued to be a much tougher proposition.

She carefully wriggled out of the position she had been in and turned over to face Randy. She gave him a quizzical look, which was met with a puzzled stare of his own.

"What's the matter?" he said, bewildered by her actions, "Was I rubbing too hard?"

"It's nothing to do with the massage Randy."

"So what is it then?"

"You. What is wrong with you tonight?" she asked in a pained voice.

"Nothing! I'm fine!" he said, belying the truth that he was totally distracted by other things. He wanted to focus on Molly, but for the first time since the night they clicked at the bar he couldn't bring himself to.

"Are you sure?" Molly answered, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Yeah." he said decisively. He chanced a glance across the room to Trish, who looked bored out of her mind. She was in the company of his best friend Matt, who was rarely the life and soul of the party. He actually felt kind of sorry for her, deep down in his heart. She had really gotten to him, in a way that made him feel uneasy.

"There you go again!" Molly said, trying to keep her voice down so as not to attract Matt and Trish's attention. "It's as if you are in a world of your own tonight!"

"Excuse me?" Randy replied, as he turned back to his girlfriend. He picked up on her troubled expression and began to feel sorry for her too. He wasn't having the greatest of evenings himself either.

"I thought this would be a good idea tonight. Give us a chance to get to know each other better, in a group. Brilliant, except nobody wants to talk to each other. You're all just looking around with miserable faces. I don't know why I bothered." she said, in a sad tone. She felt fed up with the way things were going and couldn't help but speak her mind.

"Aww... I'm sorry babe."

She feigned a weak smile after hearing his apology, but it didn't make her feel better at all. She also felt detached from him for the first time since the drunken night at the bar, when everything had felt so perfect.

"I'm going to watch TV." she said, turning away from him. She hated being ignorant like that, but she felt like he was being ignorant towards her. Whatever was on his mind, she wanted him to sort it out.

"Don't be like that Molls." he said desperately, trying to work his way back into her good books.

He huddled over to her and gave her a kiss on the back of her neck. She barely flinched though and he realised that his efforts were forlorn. When he got no reaction after a few more seconds of kissing, his blood began to simmer and he became impatient.

"Fine. Be like that." he said, with an exasperated huff.

Molly had secretly been enjoying the soft kisses on her neck and wondered if she had maybe been a bit harsh on her boyfriend. Before she had any chance to check on him, she felt the bed jerk ever so slightly as he clambered off it and stormed away. 'Oh no... I've messed up now.' she thought to herself. She looked across the room to Trish, who looked stunned by what had transpired and gave her the kind of look that asked the question, 'should I go after him?'

Trish was sat all on her lonesome, as Matt had excused himself for a moment to use the bathroom. She shook her head and gave Molly her opinion. "Leave him to it... let him stew for a while. He'll be back."

"You think so?" Molly asked, with hope attached to her question.

Trish nodded and gave her a casual wink. She watched as Molly sighed and rolled back onto her side to watch TV. She shook her head at her lovesick friend, knowing full well that she wanted to go after Randy. 'Just doing what's best for you.' she thought and she let out a sinister chuckle under her breath.

She averted her gaze from Molly and couldn't believe what she saw in front of her, on the floor next to the seat Matt had been sitting on. His cell phone must have fallen out of his pocket and she retrieved it hastily. Her mind went into overdrive as she couldn't help herself; she instantly went into his message box and began searching for some incriminating evidence on Randy. It didn't take her long to find exactly what she was looking for; a tactless message from Chris Jericho, which brought a devious smile to her face.

going to seal the bet this evening! told you that randy boy has no chance with molly, like she is ever going to sleep with his lame ass! 300 bucks coming my way!

'Well, well, well.' she mused, as she finished reading the message. Her suspicions had been proven correct; the guys were up to no good and Randy's interest in Molly had simply been an effort to win a juvenile bet with his friends. She felt angered for a second, but then had other ideas. She wondered if she could use the information against him, to get something in return. Despite him being a rogue and a fraud, she was powerless to stop herself feeling attracted to him. It was a painful kind of lust, but one she didn't want to push aside.

She was snapped out of her conniving thoughts, as the bathroom door opened and Matt re-emerged. She panicked as she continued to grasp hold of his cell phone, which prompted her to think of a hasty excuse.

"Erm... you dropped your phone Matt." she blurted, waving it about in his direction.

He looked puzzled by her reaction, but gratefully accepted his phone back as she handed it to him. He didn't have time to think about that weirdness, as he looked around and saw that Molly was sat all alone on the bed.

"Where is Randy?"

"He... um... he had to pop out. I think."

"Pop out?" Matt replied. He speculated whether Randy had fallen out with Molly, or had gone to seek Jericho and Christian to resolve the situation with the bet. They were the two most likely scenarios.

"Yeah. He won't be long."

Matt wasn't convinced and wanted to hunt Randy down to make sure he was OK. "I'm going to catch up with him, if you don't mind."

"Well... you don't have to do that. You can wait here with me, until he comes back." Trish offered, even though she figured that he wouldn't go for her proposal.

"No offence, but he's in that sort of mood tonight."

"Oh... I see." Trish said, intrigued to hear about Randy's state of mind. She considered whether he was stressing about the bet and his tiff with Molly was a factor in that.

"Right, better dash."

Trish grabbed his arm before he could leave. "Wait. I'll come with you."

Matt turned to her and was bemused by her sudden interest in Randy. They had practically been tearing each other apart earlier and now she was offering her assistance. Something didn't sit right about that.

"You want to come? Do you mind if I ask why?"

Trish paused, whilst she tried to formulate a reason in her mind. It took a few moments, but a good one sprung to mind. "OK. I admit it. Randy had a bit of a row with Molly."

"I knew it."

"I'd stay here with her, but I think she wants a bit of time to herself. So I might as well make myself useful." Trish said, pleased with her convincing suggestion.

"Well..." Matt started, not so convinced, "I'm not sure."

"Oh... come on..." Trish said, as she inched closer to him, fluttered her eyelashes and caressed his body gently with her hand. "It makes sense for the both of us to go looking for him."

He became perturbed by her presence, but quickly fell under her spell. Her touch mesmerized him and as much as he was confused by her initial lies about Randy's disappearance, he felt that she did have a point about the two of them seeking him out. Molly did look awfully fed up on the bed, as if she wanted to be left alone.

"OK." he said cautiously, which brought a smile to Trish's face. He was glad to see that she had perked up a little, if nothing else.

"Great. I'll just let Molly know that we are going after him." she said, with another trick in mind.

"Right. I'm going to try his cell phone... I'll be in the lobby."

Trish nodded as Matt purposefully made his way out of the room to try and call Randy. 'He really is hard work.' she thought and breathed a sigh of relief as he walked away. She motioned over to the bed, where Molly was laid, her eyes glued to the television set.

"Hey Molls." Trish said, which scarcely attracted any reaction out of Molly. "Me and Matt are going to head out to a bar. Hope you don't mind."

"Huh?" Molly replied, as she only half heard Trish's words. It didn't really matter what she had said, because her mind was totally preoccupied with thoughts of Randy and how badly she'd stuffed things up.

"Me and Matt are heading out to a bar." Trish repeated, unashamedly lying once more.

"Oh. Have fun." Molly replied in a deadbeat fashion.

Trish hung back for a second and felt a tinge of remorse for her suffering friend. Only for a second mind. 'No time for sentiment I'm afraid Molls. I think me and your boyfriend need to have a little chat.' she thought, as she left the bedside to help Matt find the cunning Randy.