Title: The highly educational demonstration of how to drive guys off
Written by Professional Scatterbrain.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Rating: Pg – 13 to R
Summary: See challenge set by Karen U
#3 – Karen U
-Lita/Edge, Lita/Jeff, Lita/Christian, or Lita/Jericho.
-A bet between Lita and the divas in which Lita says that she know sure fire ways to drive guys off (Lita is, of course, down about her love life).
-Instead of being driven off, the guy falls for her, and Lita, of course, falls for him as well.
-Happy endings.
-No roster split.
-Other divas should be chosen from the following (at least three other divas): Stacy, Stephanie, Lillian, Torrie, Dawn Marie, Victoria, Ivory, Trish: I chose Stephanie, Torrie, and Dawn Marie.
Chp8: Bad driver
Jeff was a bad driver.
It wasn't a lack of skill or anything like that.
It was just he was easily distracted.
And Lita, in his eyes was a more than worthy distraction. Parking horridly, he winced as one of the front wheels of his car scrapped against the curb. That wasn't a good sound. Nor was that chunking sound in the engine. He really needed to do something about that . . . and the dinted bumper bar. But, unfortunately for Old Bess, to send her to the mechanics would mean he'd have to go off to work without breakfast. He also had to avoid lunches that weren't of the complimentary variety, and dinners that didn't come straight from Lita's refrigerator.
But that was neither here nor there.
"You really need to put this pile of bolts out to pasture." She stated as she fought to unbuckle her seat belt.
Reaching over to her, Jeff yanked at the buckle, "Pile of bolts? This car is a classic."
"Sunshine, it's old enough to be a vintage collectable."
Having no luck in getting the seat belt to release his girlfriend, Jeff brought out plan B.
The multi purpose screw driver.
"Li, Bella, have you forgotten all the precious memories that were created in this car." Jeff continued, very nearly stabbing her thigh when his hand slipped.
Used to the drama of 'Old Bess' as Jeff insisted on calling it, Lita rolled her eyes. Patting his shoulder encouragingly, she on the whole tried to stay still. It was best not to make many sudden movements when latched down in the death trap. Experience had taught her that. Precious memories indeed. Or rather, one of the various the lessons she'd learnt after too many exits from the vehicle that involved her being rushed off to a doctor to get a tetanus shot.
It was only when Jeff let out a nervous laugh, she became a tad concerned.
"Jeff?"
"It's nothing . . . I'm, I might just have to . . ."
Luckily for Jeff, plan C didn't need to be unveiled because as he finished stuttering, the welcomed sound of the release 'click' of the buckle filled the air. Winking at her, a satisfied smirk spread across his boyish face. It had often been said that the only woman he knew how to handle was his car, and Lita sincerely hoped for his sake that that wasn't true. It was hard enough coming second best to a blonde, she didn't want an ancient pick up truck to totally push her out of the running.
"See, I told you there was nothing to worry about."
Bouncing out of the car, he opened her door for her, and helped her out. To illustrate his previous point, he slapped his hand down on the bonnet. Lita, once again over looking the flecks of paint and the unhealthy shudder of the bonnet, couldn't stop herself from grinning at him instead. Lacing her arms around his neck, she kissed him slowly. Taking her time. He tasted of grape bubblegum and his hands were cool as they slide over her back. Deepening the kiss, she let him press her back against his car. Tangling her hands through his hair she held him closer. His hair was shorter now, but it knotted around her fingers as he intensified the kiss.
She couldn't breath.
But she didn't want too.
Nudging his hips against hers, she let out a whimper. He grinned, nibbling at her bra strap while she tried to remind herself to think straight. But just like him, she got distracted easily. Especially by him. Giving in, she tugged at his hair again, pulling his lips back onto hers. He didn't mind at all. Nipping at his bottom lip, she feverously looked up at him under dark lashes.
"Stay."
He gulped, "I want too, but –"
"Please,"
"I can't, I have to go to Christian's place to discuss tactics for our next match."
Oh, those puppy dog eyes of his.
Tucking a loose strand of hair behind his ear, Lita traced her fingers along his brow, "I understand. But if you change your mind . . .the offer's still open."
He gulped again as he regretfully backed away. His eyes lingers on her, and he stumbled on the curb as he left her. Getting back into the driver seat he paused to wave at her, and thenhe stalled two times as he left the curb outside her house. Leaving her coughing in the black fumes and the concrete gutters outside her house littered with blue paint chips. With one hand out the window he continued to waved at her, and she waved back. Although as he waved, she wasn't sure if it was to her, or if he was indicated which way he was going to turn; the indicators had been playing uplately. But nevertheless Lita watched the old car until the very last moment when it turned and left her field of sight.
Fastening her hair away from her face Lita grinning happily as she walked up towards her house.
"That was quite a show you put on."
Pushing herself off the veranda steeps, Dawn Maria crossed her arms as she examined her friend. Not knowing why the other woman was there, Lita was momentarily confused. She was also momentarily lost. Lita hadn't known that Dawn was going to be in town so soon. The redhead knew Chris Beniot had invited her as his 'date' to the Hall of Fame induction ceremony for 2006, but that wasn't for a couple of days, and Dawn hadn't been expected until then . . . and Torrie was meant to be the slow one out of the friendship group.
"Dawnie, I wasn't putting on a show."
"Tell that to your neighbors."
"It wasn't like that."
Dawn could sense the embarrassment in her friend, and back off a little. But not for long. She hadn't come this far to ignore the situation. Accounts of Lita's actions had spread like wild fire through the gossip mongers lips, and Dawn Marie had been pained to hear what had been going on during her absences. Wordlessly she allowed Lita to invite her in and lead her into the drawing room. Sadly, Dawn took in the abstract paintings, the oversized t-shirts, and weird collectables that all came from one man only. Evidence of the man's presence was everywhere in Lita's home. Or rather, 'their' home, because as Dawn touched a blinking bracelet that only Jeff would have gotten his girl, Dawn just knew it was 'their' home, and that Lita was more than ever Jeff's 'girl'.
Whether Lita wanted to admit it or not.
"What are you doing here? I didn't think you were coming until later this week."
"You know why I'm here," Dawn stated darkly, taking her seat by the window.
The night was humid, and only the breeze of the fan blew Dawn's brunette tresses around her shoulders. She watched Lita with a face full of worries, a sleep deprived beauty that Lita suddenly felt guilty looking at. They were friends, they had been friends from the start, and now, it seemed, they'd be friends until the end. There had always been something certain about there friendship no matter the hurdles they faced and heated arguments they always had, and now, seeing her made Lita feel like she should have known better.
Dawn was the one friend that had been absent more often than not.
Yet she was the one friend out of the three of them that could fully see the truth.
"Dawnie, nothing's wrong."
Dawn sighed, "Don't lie to me. You know it doesn't work when you're lying about Jeff."
Lita looked down into her hands, "I'm not lying."
Dawn closed her eyes.
"Do you remember when you first came to the WWE?"
Lita's voice, quiet and smoky made Dawn open her eyes. Nodding, Dawn waited for her friend to continue. Although it wasn't what Dawn needed to talk to Lita about, it still sparked her curiosity. It seemed like a life time ago when the daredevil redhead had galloped into the ECW women's change room. Dawn remembered how fierce the other woman was, and how different it all seemed to become after Lita's arrival. Instead of being outnumbered and cornered, it all of a suddenly turned into just the opposite within seconds.Lita had been Dawn's only friend, and in many ways she still was.
"I was so excited." Lita continued, "You hadn't really been in the wrestling scene since ECW fell apart, and I missed having you around. I was so happy because now I wouldn't just have the guys to hang around with."
Dawn remembered coming back. She remembered it well. Lita was one of the few familiar faces that the WWE had from ECW, yet when Dawn joined the roster she felt like she hadn't known Lita at all. The redhead was really a daredevil, and she showed it on ever occasion. No longer was she relegated to the sidelines; only brought out when Paul wanted to give the crowd a cheap thrill. She was at the center; running with the bright, talented, and the winners. But it was more than that.
It was her and Jeff.
They were best friends. Kindred spirits. It was obvious to everyone. They just understood each other without any trouble whatsoever. Dawn had been jealous. She wasn't ashamed to admit it now. Many years had passed, and with that, Dawn had been forced to mature. It was just that entering the WWE she had been alone. So many of her friends were gone, and the only one that left wasn't really there either. It had just seemed as though whenever Lita was around she and Jeff were a package deal. However despite her previously held feelings of envy, Dawn couldn't help but remember how happy her friend had been, and how it was Jeff that had made her happy. They made each other happy; they always had and . . . and . . .
It wasn't right; the demonstration had to end.
"Lita, you need to stop all of this. Jeff's over his head upside down in love with you, and you can't keep participating in this bet."
Her words fell on deaf ears.
Lita looked startled by the four letter word. Like a horse spooked, she wanted to take flight. Dawn could see it. If it was Torrie or Stephanie, Dawn knew her friend would have. The other women were inexperienced with handling Lita in situations such as this. But Dawn wasn't.They had known each other far too long for that. Yet that didn't stop Lita from looking away, stubbornly refusing to meet Dawn's eyes; choosing denial over acceptance.
"Jeff's not in love with me. He's not. We've only been dating for a few weeks. It's nothing serious . . . Besides, he'll get over it soon enough."
Dawn laughed humorlessly, "Is that what you really think?"
"It's what I know."
"Then you know nothing."
Silence.
Lita was perfectly still now. Her disposition was icy, and on her own territory she refused to respond in the way Dawn wanted her too. Instead she pursed her lips together, bemused by the situation. Blatantly she glanced over at the grandfather clock, watching the seconds tick by, her eyes following the motions of the brass pendulum. Her tactics were not those of Stephanie's, but those of her mother's. A woman Dawn had meet on one occasion only.
Jeff had not met her at all.
Dawn knew why.
So she spoke again, "Do you want to know the truth about this whole thing? Because here it is; the one tactic that Little Miss Stephanie forgot and that Torrie doesn't even understand; the reason we all drive guys off, the reason we have such bad luck. It isn't because we call them too much, or are too clingy, or even because we ruin guys' night."
The brunette paused, and rubbed a hand against her temple. She was tired, and being woken every few hours by her wailing child hadn't helped the situation. She missed her family, and she wanted to go home. Yet Lita was part of her family too, so Dawn answered the question she had posed bluntly and with honesty not self hatred.
"The truth is, we choose the wrong guys. We go after pretty faces; we fall flat on our arses for pretty icing sugar words and extravagant gestures."
Dawn stood, pacing around the room.
"We stupidly lust after men that are wrong for us; we want the bad boys, ones that weld power, and ones that charm us into momentarily forgetting our fears. Jeff's not like that. You've always known that. God, even Stephanie's always known that even if she would never admit it."
"I know he's not like them," Lita told Dawn stubbornly, her arms crossed, her face closed.
Silence.
The clock ticked, ticked away, filling the vacant space between the two women.
"Yes, you do know that don't you."Dawn paused, a little surprised by the realization, "Maybe that's why you took this bet, to push him away."
"No I didn't. I took it because Jeff needs money, and after all his done for me I have to do something for him." Lita stated, as if she was a broken record.
How many time had she told herself those very words?
How many times had she needed to be convinced to continue the bet?
Dawn bit her lip, "Stop being so trite. You're lying."
"No I'm not, I'm looking out for his best interests."
"That's it isn't it? In some twisted way you think that it's in his best interests to not have you in his life. You really do think that you're a disaster for any guy, that you ruin their lives." Dawn's eyes narrowed as spoke, carefully watching her friend's reactions.
Her finger tips tapped on the window ceil while she watched. The slight impatience easily detected by Lita's knowing eyes. It was strange, Dawn pondered, that Lita could read her friends, her enemies, everyone so easily, but yet she could be so blind when it came to knowing herself. Somehow, somewhere along the lines she really had started to believe all of it.
She really did think she drove guys off.
But how could she think that? Especially about Jeff? He had never cared about success, people's opinions or power. The only thing he had ever cared about was Lita. HisBella Lita. He had given everything he could to her, and he had loved her more than anyone else had ever loved her. Dawn had seen it in the way he looked at Lita, as if she was the only woman alive.
But Lita didn't see that.
She saw herself as a time bomb waiting to explode, or as the unfortunate second choice.
Or third choice.
Or fifth.
"I am a disaster. Look at the mess Jeff's life is in because of me! He's constantly arguing with his father and brother, and now he hardly ever goes home. Whenever we go out all he does is get into fights defending me!" Lita snapped, suddenly unable to stop herself from saying everything that had been haunting her for months.
Her face was red, and she couldn't breathe properly. Dawn just didn't get it. She just didn't understand. She couldn't. Jeff was good, he was pure, and he was better than everyone else. He didn't deserve all of her troubles being loaded onto his shoulders. He had enough to deal with.
She had to end it with him.
The bet . . . it wasn't decent or anything like that, but it was for his own good in the end. He'd get tired of it all eventually. He couldn't survive all of the tactic that were being thrown at him. Eventually he had to crack and reach his limit. It was for his own good anyway. He'd finish having his fun with her, and then he could move on to greener pastures. He deserved as much after all the years of sacrifices he'd made for her.
She'd been weak once in her past.
She wouldn't let herself make the same mistake twice.
"This is the right thing. Look, it's all for the best, you'll see."
"I don't want to see you hurt him and yourself!" Dawn cried miserably, hating the way things were turning out.
It had never meant to be like this.
"I'm already hurting him! I've been hurting him for years."
It was the flicker of something in Lita's voice the made Dawn quiet her tirade. Stalking closer, she fixed her hawk like eyes on the other woman. Lita was hiding something. Something big. Guessing by the unflinching look in her eyes, Dawn got the feeling Lita's had been hiding whatever it was for a very long time.
"How many more tactics are you going to unleash on him?"
"It's not like that."
"Tell me what it's like then? Because you've been testing him for weeks now and you haven't shown any signs of stopping."
"It's not like I enjoy doing this to him, but it has to be done."
"Why? So he has a lump sum of cash and can go back to Trish once you've convinced him that you're too much trouble?"
"Don't you dare bring Trish into this discussion." Lita deathly warned. "Don't you dare."
Slamming her hand down on the window ceil, Dawn was furious. Lita was too. Trish always set the redhead off. Always. Fifty years from now Lita would still break Trish's nose if she got the opportunity and Trish would still try and injure Lita's knee if she got the opportunity. They despised each other with vermin that Dawn had never seen Lita exhibit towards anyone else. Not that Dawn disapproved; the blonde had abused everyone's trust, especially Jeff. The poor boy had loved the little blonde dearly at one point in time.
"I should have stopped Stephanie from tricking you into doing this."
"Stephanie didn't make me do anything I didn't want to do."
Dawn snorted.
Stephanie's principal talent was getting people to do things they didn't want to do.
It had been for years.
She was after all, a McMahon.
Lita had never wanted to see that. She had never allowed herself to see how truly horrid Vince's youngest child could be. Stephanie was like a kitten that purred sweetly to Lita's face, and then stuck her claws in Lita's back when she turned away. Dawn had no illusions about the other brunette. Leopards couldn't change their spots, and whatever Stephanie did to convince Lita of her change was obviously too underhand for words. Women like Stephanie didn't change. They just got better at making people think they did.
"I helped choose the tactics. I unleashed them on Jeff. This is my demonstration." Lita continued meanwhile.
"Has it been highly education then?" Dawn posed cynically.
Lita straightened her shoulders, "He won't last much longer. All of his friends and family hate me, and it's only a matter of time before I over stay my welcome. No guy wants to deal with everything I've been putting him through."
"He does!" Dawn cried, throwing her arms into the air, "He wants to be with you, he wants to defend you, and he-"
"No guy wants that." Lita repeated.
"Jeff does," Dawn stated in a quiet serious voice, "He wants to do all of that, because he wants you. He probably has always wanted you,"
Her voice was square and unflinching. Lita tapped her right foot on the ground and looked over at the dresser. She really needed to get around to cleaning it. Yet there were so many other tasks that demanded her attention. If only she had more time to focus on them. She had to go to LA in a couple of days, and she hadn't even organized what she was going to do with her pet dogs. She really had too much to do. It'd be so much easier if Dawn left it all alone.
But as much as Lita wanted to concentrate on a mental checklist of things to pack for LA she failed.
She couldn't compartmentalize this.
She wasn't like Stephanie; she couldn't bounce back with vengeance.
"It's only a matter of time before he gets bored," Lita mumbled under her breath, daring Dawn to contradict the aim of the bet.
Dawn felt something insider her crumbled at her friends words. In the past Lita had had always seen two steps ahead of everyone else. She might have been blind when it came to some guys, but generally she knew better than anyone how human nature worked. She could anticipate any opponent, and could win any match, but somewhere along the line something shifted.
She really did think Jeff would leave her.
She thought that even though he'd been the only one to stick by her. The only one. No one else could even come close to claiming that title. Not even Dawn. She might run second, but she was no where near a close second. Jeff had never failed her. Maybe he'd always wanted her. Those things could be terrifying, and Dawn understood why Lita wanted to remain in denial.
But that still didn't make the bet anything good or defendable.
"Please Li, this isn't right." she pleaded, "Jeff adores you, and you adore him. Don't lose that because of a dumb bet. Every tactic that was chosen failed, and it failed because he wants you not matter what. We all know you have a weakness for assholes, but Jeff isn't like the rest of the guys you've dated,"
Lita wrinkled her nose in disbelief.
Dawn tried again, anger this time, "Each time you guys chose another tactic to drive him away you feel horrible, yet you still go ahead. You still try to make him leave you even though you don't want him too."
"It's not like that." Lita snapped.
"You've always had a proclivity for self-flagellation." Dawn told her friend in a very quiet and very small voice, "You've always half expected guys to leave you, haven't you? That's why you've never been surprised by when break up with you."
"I'm not naïve alright. Fool me once shame on you, but fool me twice . . ."
"Jeff doesn't plan on leaving you. Not ever. He practically worships you,"
"That won't stop him from leaving."
"No, but it will make him want to stay. Even now, he's practically moved in with you. He's with you whenever he can be with you, and whenever he's not, you miss him. He's in love with you. He's doing everything he's doing because he loves you"
"Love doesn't work like that."
"How would you know? All your experience is based on two men that proclaimed the same sentiment but didn't even come half way close to meaning it in the way Jeff does."
"Please Dawn, just leave it alone, please."
Silence.
"Please, for me."
Dawn wanted to cry.
It was all going wrong.
It wasn't meant to be like this for those two.
Stepping out of the house away from Dawn, Lita sough comfort in the quiet, tranquil mess that was her garden. Angrily she scrunched up her jacket, pulling it tight against her. With a rush she kicked out, sending one of her pet dogs' squeaky toys flying out into the darkness. Bringing her hands up to her face, she tried to breathe.
But she couldn't.
Everything Dawn said wouldn't stop rushing round her mind; upsetting the careful balance Lita had created in order to undertake the bet. She wanted to break something. She felt out of control and terrified. This couldn't happen. She had to keep it together. She had to think. If she fell apart then everything would be lost, and she hadn't worked so long and hard for that to happen.
She had to stay calm.
It was then a voice broke through the silence.
His voice.
"Is it true? Was it all a fucking bet to you?"
R&R pretty please with sugar on top.
