Ladies and GentleLadies, welcome to the latest chapter of Confusion Behind The Scenes. Thank you soooooo much for the fantastic response to the last chapter. I really hope you enjoy this.
Chapter 15 : Heartbreak, Bob and Admissions.
Wide awake and staring at the opposite wall was how Randy Orton found himself 5 hours into the New Year. Sitting at the top of the bed, he didn't even put the covers over himself, despite the fact that he was cold.
You would think, after the way that he had reacted to the idea of her sleeping with Adam, that he would be furious. But he wasn't, not yet anyway. He knew that it was only a matter of time until that emotion hit him but right now all he was feeling was hurt.
The image of his two best friends kissing wouldn't leave his mind. He had stood, completely frozen and watched the kissing for a few minutes before stumbling into his bedroom. Any hope that it was just a happy New Year kiss was pretty much gone. If he hadn't known that from the way that they smiled at each other when one of them pulled away then the sounds coming from her bedroom were enough to convince him.
Hearing another giggle Randy clamped his eyes shut and bowed his head. He was almost amused at his own stupidity, with all the flirting that John and Jennifer do with each other and their history, it was bound to happen eventually.
So what was he supposed to do? Act like he didn't care?
He snorted at the thought, which was much easier said than done.
Forcing his eyes open when the laughter stopped he resumed his staring at the wall.
"Happy New Year to me," he muttered.
At 10.00 Jenni and John finally made their way out of the bedroom. Randy, who was sitting broodingly nursing a mug of coffee, sighed.
"Hey Randy," Jenni said cheerfully.
You've got a lot to be cheerful about, he thought bitterly, while forcing a smile onto his face.
"Man," John said coming up to the kitchen counter and pouring two cups of coffee. "What happened to you last night? You disappeared."
"Yeah, I didn't even get to wish you Happy New Year."
"It's no big deal," Randy said trying hard to avert his eyes from where John was softly stroking Jenni's lower back.
"Of course it is."
Before he had a chance to reply she hugged him tightly. Out of habit he hugged her back before stiffening. She smelt of John's cologne. He suddenly felt sick.
Pulling back from him she smiled, "So really, what happened last night? Ooh, did you get lucky?" She looked over to his bedroom as if expecting to see a woman walk out in Randy's shirt.
"No, I err; I just didn't feel too well."
Quickly looking away from her sympathetic eyes he cast around for an excuse to leave but John kept him in the conversation.
"So you felt sick? Not surprising with the way you were throwing 'em back. Bad start to '06 for you then?"
"You're not wrong," he replied quietly.
"You don't look well," Jenni stated, "You should probably go back to bed."
He didn't reply, just smiled tightly.
"Well, I'm going to take a shower."
"Mind if I join you, princess?" John asked with a smirk.
"I might need some convincing."
Wrapping his arms around her he said, "How much do you need?"
"I don't know maybe –"
"I'm gonna take your advice Jen and go to bed. See you guys later," Randy said starting to walk away.
"Wait up a second, man."
Reluctantly stopping he heard John tell Jenni to go and wait for him in the shower. "Make sure the waters nice and hot, princess."
He watched her walk into the bathroom before turning around. "I'm guessin' you want some juicy details, right?"
"Can't honestly say I do John," Randy replied stiffly starting to walk away.
"You're kiddin'? You must wanna know something."
John reached out and took a hold of his arm to turn his friend around but Randy pulled away quickly as though he had burned him somehow.
"What's up with you?"
"Nothing."
"Come on man, clearly something's crawled up your ass, what is it?"
Randy didn't trust himself to reply so instead just walked into the bedroom, ignoring John who was frowning in his direction.
"Well okay then," he said before going into the bathroom. "You ready for me, princess?" He asked shaking any thoughts of Randy from his brain.
"Born ready."
By six Randy was more than a little sick of the sight of the four walls that surrounded the bedroom. But as much as he hated being stuck in there, what was on the other side of the door was not something he wanted to witness.
The pair had pretty much left him alone except for Jenni checking on him every hour or so. He hadn't really said much to her when she came in, he was fine with her thinking he was sick.
"Randy?" Jenni said after knocking softly on the door. "Are you ok? Feeling any better?"
"I'm fine Jen."
Apparently that wasn't a good enough answer for her because she opened the door slowly.
"You sure? You haven't eaten since breakfast."
"I didn't eat at breakfast."
"Oh."
She looked uncomfortable and for some reason he took pleasure in seeing her like that. Right before being hit with guilt.
"Do you want me to make you something? Like a sandwich or –"
"No I'm fine."
"Really? You seem a little –"
"I said I'm fine!" He shouted at her.
Jennifer's eyes widened for a moment before hardening and she said scornfully, "Well suit your bloody self then!"
He sighed as she slammed the door and closed his eyes. Sitting here brooding wasn't getting him anywhere.
Pulling on a jacket and sticking his wallet and the keys Jenni gave him into his jeans he walked out of the room.
"Finally joining us man?"
He ignored John and noticed with a pang that Jenni hadn't even turned from the television. Striding towards the door he ignored John calling out to him again and stepped into the hallway.
Walking out of the apartment complex he stepped into the cold New York air. He walked for no more than a minute before coming across a street with two bars. One was lively, music pouring through the windows and was the type of place that any other time he would go to.
Stepping into the other bar he saw right away that this was the right place to be. It was fairly dark, the music was low and the whole bar had an air about it, it promised that if you weren't depressed when you walked in you were depressed when you walked out.
Sitting on a stool near the bar he ordered.
"Large whiskey, neat."
The bar man nodded and Randy wondered how someone could work here, you'd end up suicidal after a while.
The man took Randy's money without a word and put it in the till. After handing him his change he slowly walked to someone else at the other end of the bar.
"This place is a real laugh," Randy muttered to himself. "I wonder who died."
A gruff laugh sounded next to him, "Billy."
"What?"
"Billy died. He was a regular, dropped dead in here two nights ago."
"Oh, sorry." Randy said. Even though he was entirely uninterested he asked, "Was he a nice guy?"
"Not really," the man said, "he tended to bring the mood down."
He looked around at the other patrons before muttering, "Well in that case I guess the old saying rings true, the dead really never do leave us."
The man smiled as though agreeing, "What's your name, kid?"
"Randy," he replied.
The man nodded, "I can see why you're depressed."
"What makes you think I'm depressed?"
The man laughed again and said "I guess I have the eye for it."
"What do you thinks depressing me then?"
"You hate your parents."
"What?" Randy spluttered through a mouthful of whisky.
"You hate your parents," the man repeated.
"I don't hate my parents!"
"Really?" the man asked looking surprised, "I'd hate my parents if they named me Randy."
"What did your parents name you then?" Randy asked feeling quite offended.
"Bob."
"Oh because your names so great," he replied sarcastically before frowning, his dads name was Bob.
Bob laughed, "I'm old kid, I can afford to have a bad name. You're young, a bad name as a kid is awful."
"I'm not a kid."
"How old are you then kid?"
"I'm 25, and stop calling me kid!"
"At 25 you're still a kid, kid. When you hit 40, then you stop being a kid. Or you know, when you start thinning on top."
His eyes flitting over the cap on the mans head he sighed and tossed the rest of his drink down his throat.
"I haven't seen you in here before," the gruff voice of Bob said.
"That's because I haven't been here. I don't live around here."
"Where you from?"
"Do you ask everyone you meet so many questions?"
When Bob didn't reply he sighed, "St Louis."
"Ah, a Missouri man. We don't get the likes of you in here often."
"Surprising," he replied, sarcasm dripping from every word, "What with this place being so welcoming."
Bob laughed, "I like the crowd I get in here."
"You lot are hardly the life and soul."
"Don't want to be. Otherwise where would these boys over here go?" he said gesturing to a table in the corner were three men were playing cards.
"Home."
"Some people don't have 'em."
"This place caters to the homeless?"
"Yes. Take me for example, I have a house, haven't got myself a home though."
"Why not?"
"I had it all. Wife, kids, dog. Not to mention an ugly mother-in-law. But," the man sighed, "bit by bit, everything went away.
"What happened?" In all honesty Randy wasn't expecting the stranger to answer him so was quite surprised when he did.
"The Mrs left me for the post man, the kids went with her. Of course, they didn't want to leave the dog behind so I lost him too."
"What happened to the mother-in-law?" He asked.
"That kid, is a different story for a different day." Bob said with a wink which caused Randy to crack a smile.
Ordering another drink for the two of them Randy said, "Why did you tell me all that?"
The man considered him, "I would have thought that was obvious."
He shook his head.
"You've got some problems kid, but while I told you my trouble you didn't think about them."
Randy's eyebrows shot up in surprise as he realised that Bob was right. During their brief conversation Jenni and John weren't at the front of his mind for the first time since mid-night.
Finding himself somewhat unnerved that the stranger was right he said, "Don't think that just because I told you my name, age and home city that you know me."
"Don't get me wrong kid, I don't know you. But, from the second I looked at you I knew you had troubles."
"Yeah?" He shot back, "And how do you know that?"
"Can see it in your eyes," Bob said simply.
"You're looking at my eyes hard enough to see I've got troubles? You sure your wife didn't leave you because you were gay?"
Bob sipped his drink and laughed, not at all phased by Randy's rudeness.
Sipping his drink as well Randy sighed deflated, "What do you wanna know about me?"
"It's not about what I want to know it's about what you want to tell me."
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Ok kid."
They continued drinking without saying anything. When Bob ordered them another round Randy started speaking, "There's this woman."
"Isn't there always."
"Well, she's a friend of mine. She's my best friend, has been for years."
"And you've found yourself in love with her and don't know what to do about it," Bob said. It was more of a statement than a question.
"How did you know that?"
"It's a classic." When he saw Randy frowning Bob elaborated, "I talk to a lot of people kid, this scenario comes up more often that you'd think."
"Oh ok," he replied, not knowing quite what to say, "Good to know."
"Sorry kid, carry on."
Sipping his drink he continued, "There's this other friend of mine and the two of them have been, you know, 'friendly' in the past."
"It's started up again."
"Ok, how do you know that?"
"Holiday season," Bob said, "It happens, it'll probably fizzle out in a few weeks."
"Yeah it might but meanwhile I'm just…"
"Stuck?"
"I guess…"
Silence overtaking them once again they took sips of their drink before Randy spoke again, so quietly that Bob wondered whether the young man even realised he was speaking.
"I don't want to feel like this. I don't wanna be thinking like this about her, it's messed everything up. I was engaged and suddenly she's invading my head, all day and all night."
Not thinking it wise to speak up yet Bob stayed quiet, not that it really mattered, it was unlikely Randy would have even heard him.
"I hate this. It's like no matter what I do to take my mind off of her she's there, reminding me of why I'm…why I want her in the first place."
Bob signalled for another round and sat quietly while Randy mumbled about the woman. When Randy quieted down he intervened, "Come on now kid, drink up."
"What good is that gonna do me?"
"Well, in my experience, under the haze of alcohol, everything seems –"
"What?" He asked the older man incredulously, "That little bit brighter? Not as bad as you think? No, or maybe it'll numb the stomach-churning pain of knowing that the woman you…" he faltered and swallowed a lump of emotion that suddenly rose in his throat, "that she's out there, with some guy who doesn't even realise what he has."
"It might stop you thinking."
"Doesn't stop the feeling though does it?"
The next morning Jennifer sat her kitchen table worrying about Randy, she had heard him stumble in at 3 in the morning. For someone who was supposed to be sick he certainly wasn't acting it.
She wasn't sure what the matter with him was but resolved to try and talk to him. If he was still being as bratty as he was last night then he was definitely getting a hit in the mouth.
Knowing they had a show to go to she moved to the second bedroom of her flat and knocked on the door.
When she got no response she knocked again.
There was still nothing so she opened the door and found him fully clothed, face down on the bed. He reeked of alcohol and looked dead.
"Randy," she said sharply. "Randy." Not in the mood to mess around she walked back out the room before coming back in with a rolled up newspaper.
"Oi! Lazy drunk!" She said hitting his body with the paper, "get the hell up. We've got a show to do."
Ignoring his groans of protest she continued hitting him until he finally sat up.
"God, what do you want?"
"I want you to get the hell up! We need to leave for the arena in an hour."
"Great so wake me in 55 minutes."
"Randy," she started again.
"WHAT!" He suddenly exclaimed looking her full in the face.
"We need to…" she said fairly weakly, reeling from the shock of his sudden anger.
"We need to what, Jenni? I'll tell you what we need to do shall I sweetheart? We don't need to do a fucking thing! Do you know why?" Randy asked as he tried to ignore the pounding in his head and the ache in his heart. "There is no we! There's me and there's you. I really don't wanna be part of any kind of we anymore."
With that he stomped into the bathroom and left an incredibly angry, unquestionably shocked and more than slightly hurt Jennifer standing in the bedroom.
Sitting in catering Randy rubbed his forehead with both hands before moving them to the back of his neck.
"Good work Randy," he said aloud, "Now Jenni's even angrier at you, you've got a hangover you can't shift and to top it all off you picked up the wrong sandwich," he looked down at the cheese sandwich in front of him and chuckled darkly, "It's fucking great to be Randy Orton."
Pushing the offending cheese sandwich aside he sat in silence, observing the few others in the room. He saw Melina come in and make a beeline for him.
"Oh great."
Without invitation she sat in the chair opposite him and looked at him expectantly. When he didn't say anything she sighed, "Well?"
"Well what?"
"Are you ok?"
"Never better," he said sarcastically, "You?"
"I saw you."
"Lucky you."
Melina frowned, "I mean I saw you at New Years."
An icy feeling creeping into his stomach Randy tried not to change his expression or tone, "I know you did Mel. We actually talked to each other a few times."
Sighing exasperatedly and massaging her temples as though he was working her last nerve, "I mean I saw you after mid-night."
"Oh did you?" He said trying to be nonchalant, "It was a good night."
"Yeah if your names John Cena."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Calm down Randy. I'm not here to give you a hard time."
"Oh really?" Randy scoffed.
"No I'm not. I may play a bitch on-screen but I'm not the kind of person who mocks someone for having a broken heart."
Eyes wide he looked at her, "What are you talking about?"
"God Randy are you always this slow?"
"Hey!"
"I saw the look on your face."
"What look?" He asked, continuing to play dumb.
Apparently sick of beating around the bush she said quite bluntly, "I saw you when you were staring at the make-out session between Jenni and John."
Quickly putting his head down he said unconvincingly, "I was just a bit surprised that's all. It's no big deal."
"I'm sorry."
Randy's head snapped up so quickly it hurt his neck, "What?"
"I said, I'm sorry."
"Why?"
She didn't answer but instead regarded him thoughtfully. "For a while," she eventually said, "I thought you were just lusting after her. But then I kept getting this thought in my head that maybe it was more than that."
"What d'ya mean?"
"The other night, I told you about how Jenni worries about you, do you remember?"
He nodded.
"She told me things. Things that you said or did, she didn't see them as being a big deal, but then I started thinking about them and then this thought kept coming to me. Maybe you really liked her."
"Mel, you're talking rubbish," Randy said, silently willing her to stop making him think about Jenni.
"When you two had that argument, the one where you called her a –"
"Yes thank you Mel I'm familiar with the argument you're referring to."
"Well that one, I asked you if it was because you were jealous. You brushed off the question and that, added with the look on you face in the hallway that day, made me think that maybe you more than liked her. Maybe you were; maybe you are, in love with-"
Randy abruptly cut her off by standing up, "ok Mel thanks for that long-winded and completely ridiculous notion of yours. Now if you don't mind I'm gonna go and prep for my match."
"Randy!" she called as he walked away, "This isn't going to go away if you ignore it you know! It's gonna keep coming at you!"
"Penny for your thoughts?"
Jenni looked up at the masculine voice. "Hey Dave. How was New Years in DC?"
"It was ok. My youngest was a bit ill but… I heard that party you threw was great; Johnny and Joey were telling me about it. That and something about avoiding Melina's wrath over abandoning some plan or other…I don't know. Anyway, am I going to stick with small talk or are you going to tell me what's wrong?"
"Nothings wrong exactly, it's just, has Randy said anything to you lately about something being wrong?"
"Randy? No. Do you think there's something wrong?"
She nodded hesitantly before looking around to check that no one could hear. "He's been really different lately. It's like one second he's fine, you know, happy, laughing…Randy basically. But the next he's moody and sullen. Either that or just plain furious."
"Furious?" Dave asked curiously.
"Yeah, take yesterday. He had pretty much been in his room all day. I was going in to check on him because he said he was sick. I went in, asked him if he was ok and he flipped out that he was fine. He stormed out and came in drunk hours later. Then this morning I went in to wake him to get ready for today's show and he flipped out at me again, shouting all sorts before storming into the bathroom.
Her tone was indignant but Dave was sure somewhere in there he could detect some hurt. "Maybe he's just having a bad couple of days."
"No, this has been going on for a while. One second we're talking and he's fine the next he's raging and calling me a slut!"
"When did he call you a slut?" Dave asked turning sharply.
"Oh," Jenni faltered seeing his angry expression, "It was a little while back but it's over and done with now. He apologized, I forgave. He had a lot going on at the time with Sam and everything."
"It doesn't matter if he had a lot going on at the time, there's no excuse. You don't talk to a woman like that."
"Ever the perfect gentleman, huh Dave?"
They sat quietly for a moment before she spoke again, "Maybe it's me."
"What?"
"Maybe I'm doing something to make him –"
"Or maybe he's got some kind of issue to work out and he's taking it out on you."
"Maybe he's pregnant," Jenni said with a smile.
Dave nodded before stopping, "What?" He asked perplexed.
"Pregnant people are notorious for mood swings. Maybe he's pregnant."
Laughing he slapped his hand down on his knee, "Of course he's pregnant. Why didn't we think of that before?"
"He'll probably tell us when he's at the 3 month point, that usually when people let everyone know, right?"
"When Angie was pregnant she used to carry around a tub of that vapo-rub stuff. Constantly sniffing it she was. Maybe he'll start doing that."
Jennifer laughed, "No wonder you kids seem happy all the time, their mother was high during the pregnancy."
"They just never stood a chance did they?"
"No, but you know what Randy's like his requests will be really stupid. Like maybe ice cream and pickle sandwiches."
"Oh now that's just nasty."
Later on while packing her bag near the end of the show Jenni nearly jumped completely out of her skin when her phone started ringing.
"Hello?"
"Hey princess. How are ya? Dying because you haven't seen me since 8 this morning?"
"Hardly."
"Aw princess that hurt."
"Boo hoo. What are you doing calling me anyway? Shouldn't you be taping RAW right about now?"
"I'm good for another half hour yet. I figured the house show had wrapped up by now."
"There's about another 10 minutes left but I'm done."
"Good that gives me and you a bit of time before Mr Mood Swing wants a lift back to your place."
"I'm not giving him a lift. We came separately and we'll leave separately. I left before he did."
"Oh, why? Did something else happen?"
"It's no big deal."
"Come on princess. I'm coming to see you tomorrow before you shoot SmackDown! I'm not coming if you're gonna be in a bad mood."
"I'm not in a bad mood and it's not a big deal but if it means that much to ya –"
"-It does-"
"-Then I'll tell you tomorrow."
"Alright, I'll be there about 10 tomorrow, ok?"
"Ok."
"Bye princess."
"Bye."
She left the arena briefly wondering how see had managed to avoid Randy all day. He must have been avoiding her as well. Twenty minutes later, with a heavy sigh she walked into her home. As she went into the kitchen it didn't look like Randy had had anything to eat before going out. That's when her eyes hit a note folded near the coffee maker.
Gone to stay at hotel.
"Wow," she said to herself, the hurt unmistakeable, "he really is avoiding me."
It was 2 in the afternoon and Randy felt awful. Unlike yesterday he didn't have a hangover. No, today the pain was emotional.
He had signed in for today's taping of SmackDown around and hour ago but was now in a gym just across the road. The place was quite full but that didn't matter. The man at the desk had recognised Randy and was a wrestling fan, this lead to him giving randy the key to one of the private workout rooms. Randy was glad of this because he wasn't in the mood to play nice too much today.
Stepping away from one machine Randy moved over to something he had been in need of for days. A punch bag. Putting on the offered hand guards because it was unlikely that Vince was going to be happy about a broken wrist he punched it once or twice fairly weakly.
He needed to shake the restlessness that he had been feeling. So, pushing aside everything else he pictured the kiss that he had witnessed. The fury that he had been feeling flashes of for days was suddenly unleashed.
He pounded on the bag like there was no tomorrow. He re-played the kiss, the giggles from her bedroom, the flirting that he had been witnessing between them for ages. After a while, Randy honestly had no idea how long, he stopped for breath. He was about to start pounding again but stopped when he heard a voice.
"You feel better yet Orton? Got all your anger out?"
He didn't turn around just shouted back, "Get out of here Cena! This really isn't a good time."
"I want to talk."
"Well I don't." Finally turning Randy saw that there was no amusement on John's face and guessed correctly that he had no intention of leaving him alone.
"What do you want?"
"I was talking to Jenni."
"Big shock."
"She told me you went off at her again."
"Did she?" Giving the impression of being entirely uninterested he turned back to the bag and began punching furiously. Just John's presence was angering him.
"She also told me you called her a slut."
Stiffening he said, "That's past."
"Yeah, that's what she said. What's going on Randy?"
He ignored the question but did turn to face him again. "What are you doing here Cena?" Unable to keep the bitterness from his voice he asked, "Shouldn't you be off with your girlfriend?"
"There's something going on with you and I wanna know what it is."
Randy didn't reply he just looked at John as though bored. He knew the Legend Killer persona was showing on his face but that suited him fine. He knew he could hide behind it.
He turned away fully intending to continue with his work out.
"You hurt Jenni. And you don't even seem to care that you did."
"I do care."
"No you don't. You're doing it intentionally, you want to hurt her."
"Why the hell would I wanna hurt her. I lo-"
"You what?"
"Nothing."
"Orton I'm getting a little sick and tired of talking to your back, turn the hell around."
Randy ignored him again and went to punch the bag but John turned him around. In a flash Randy's fist connected with his face with so much force John fell to the ground.
"Ow, shit."
He stood up with one hand covering his jaw. Randy was about to apologise but stopped himself as the picture of their kiss came back to the front of his mind.
"I'm sure your girlfriend will kiss it better for you."
The older mans eyes flashed before he frowned.
"Is that what this is all about?"
"What?"
John looked at him, as though studying him for a second, "You're jealous."
"What?" He scoffed, "I'm not jealous. Oh please."
Unconvinced by Randy's denial John continued, smiling as though amused. "You are. It makes sense. You're jealous because I slept with her."
"No I'm not! As if I'd be jealous, she my –"
"Yeah she's your best friend. How long do you think you'll be able to hide behind that huh? Face it Orton, you're jealous."
"I'm not jealous because she slept with you. You've completely lost it if that's what you think." Randy wasn't even convinced by his own denials but he couldn't just admit to being jealous, he knew that would cause huge problems.
"Oh really?" John said, "So you wouldn't freak out if I told you a little bit about my time with her then. After all, we've always talked about that kind of thing before haven't we? Let me tell you about the way she screamed my name."
"Shut up John!"
"No I think you'll like this, so I was touching her –"
"Shut up!"
"No really Randy you should listen. I'll tell you about all the freaky stuff she likes."
"Shut up! Stop talking about her like that."
"Like what?"
"Like some kind of slut. Stop making her out to be like that."
"Come on Randy, you don't think she's some Virgin Mary do you?"
"No I know she's not but –"
"You like her don't you?"
"No!"
"Alright then man, I believe you. But back to what I was saying, Jenni goes crazy if you run your tongue –"
"Shut the hell up Cena! Stop talking about her like that!"
"Or what?"
Randy lunged forward and grabbed the man antagonizing him by the front of his jersey.
"Just admit that you like her and I'll shut up."
"I don't like her!"
"Yes you do!"
"I don't like her you little fuck! I'm in love with her!"
Ok everyone. I hope you enjoyed it; it's my longest chapter ever. I'm so happy. Do you like it, do ya hate it? Let me know your feelings in a review. Much like the really amazing reviews I got for the last chapter.
Love Ya! DollFace!
