Thursday: July 14, 2011 9:17 A. M.
I wake up in bed alone. As I get out of the bed, I hear someone throwing up in the bathroom.
"Son of a bitch." I mutter.
I quickly rush downstairs to get a couple bottles of water. The others look at me confused, but I shrug it off and rush back upstairs. As I get back upstairs, Randy is exiting the bathroom. I hand him the bottles of water and move past him into the bathroom to get the medicine for him.
I walk back out and hand him the medicine. "Here."
Randy takes it. "Thanks, but I don't need it."
I make note of his slightly rude tone with me and decide now is not the time to talk about our argument. "I was just trying to help. If you aren't taking it, at least shower so you don't smell like cigarettes and alcohol anymore."
Randy sighs before walking back in the bathroom. "Whatever."
I roll my eyes at him before going into the bedroom to tape my hands up to train.
Michelle's POV
Ryse, Ted, Cody, John, Eve, and I all watch as Rissa rushes downstairs and past us once again. This time her hands are taped up to train.
"Rissa," I say. "You okay?"
"I'm fine." She replies. "Just fine."
"I thought you weren't supposed to have any physicality until Sunday." John says.
"I'm not, and I won't. I won't be in the ring. Randy isn't training with me."
"Oh. Okay."
"See you guys in a while." Rissa walks into the workout room.
We all quietly exchange looks as we hear Rissa aggressively punching her punching bag.
"Did you guys hear Randy and Rissa fighting last night?" Ted asks.
"Yeah." Eve says. "What was that about?"
I sigh. "I think her match on Sunday. She texted me last night that he finally mentioned her match, and she'll tell me more in the morning. And now it's the morning."
"Randy's also definitely hungover." John adds.
"So…" Ryse starts. "We think Randy didn't take too well to Rissa's match at Money in the Bank on Sunday?"
"Yeah." Cody says. "Something definitely went down and that makes the most sense."
We all agree and continue with our breakfasts.
Marissa's POV
I have been just punching the punching bag in the workout room for over half an hour. I'm just so frustrated at Randy at the moment, so I needed to take it out. I feel a presence in the doorway of the workout room. I don't acknowledge it and continue punching.
"The trainers suggested no physicality for the rest of the week." The person in the doorway quietly says.
I continue punching the punching bag after glancing to look at Randy in the doorway. "Physicality would be me training in the ring or having a wrestling match. I'm not doing that. I'm punching a punching bag. That's different."
"If you're going to keep going at the rate you're going, you'll mess up your hands. Look at your hands."
"I'll be fine. This is the best therapy I have right now, so I'm gonna continue."
Randy walks over and grabs my left hand gently, so I'll stop punching. "Therapy for what?"
"Being frustrated. Obviously if I talk to you, that isn't gonna work. And I'm not supposed to wrestle till Sunday. So here I am."
"We can talk."
"It doesn't seem like it."
"I remember some of last night. We should've talked earlier this morning."
"You were hungover and moody. I wasn't dealing with that."
Randy shrugs. "My bad. Can we talk now?"
"Close the door. And we can talk, but if you get moody, I'm walking out of the room."
Randy closes the door. "Okay. Let's talk. Come sit, Rissa."
I sit next to him. "Okay. Let's talk."
"Look, babe. I understand why I made you mad. I know I shouldn't have told you that your match was a horrible idea. I just…I worry about you…ya know? Kharma's huge, Rissa. It's also TLC. Plus, Monday didn't end particularly well. I just don't want to see you get severely hurt, but I didn't bring it up the right way."
"You know this feeling you're getting about Kharma? That's how I feel about some of your matches, but I never stop you from doing those matches because I have enough confidence in you to believe you'll be fine. When you get on me about matches, I feel like you have no confidence in my wrestling. Even though I've had wrestling training with WWE for almost seven years."
Randy's eyes soften as he listens to me. "Of course I have confidence in you. I always have. I'm a pessimist, Rissa, so I think the worst. I have all the confidence in the world in your wrestling though. If you weren't good, you wouldn't be WWE Divas Champion. Plus, I helped train you. I made sure you were a good wrestler. That wasn't hard though. You took to wrestling naturally anyway. But my point is that I have confidence in you, and I'm sorry that my worrying made you think otherwise."
"I guess I can accept that apology. I have so much on my mind right now."
"Me too. Everything is so stressful, and our communication system sucks. By the way, Roselle wants to have dinner next Wednesday."
"Okay. That's fine."
"Anyway, I'm gonna get in the ring and play with some tables, ladders, and chairs to show you some strategies. You are to sit and watch since you're technically not supposed to have physicality. I might get John in here, so I can put someone through a table. Okay?"
I smile as I watch Randy toss tables, ladders, and chairs into the ring. "Okay."
Randy lays next to me as I open the envelope from my mother with the number three on it.
"You opened the second letter?" Randy asks.
"Yeah." I reply. "Yesterday."
"Oh. Did you cry again?"
I sigh as I open the envelope. "Yes."
Date: July 2, 1986
Dear Marissa, Happy fourth birthday. I know this must be hard for your father today as this is your first birthday that I've missed. It might be hard on you too, but you are too young to know the whole situation.
It's hard for me too. Especially since I know this will be the first of many birthdays that I'll miss of my two older children. I do know that your Grandma Laurel will be going to see you today, and she'll tell me how you were doing. That's not the same as being with my children though. I'm so sorry.
Love, Mom
I put the letter down, once again with tears in my eyes. "Randy, I don't know if I can make it through all of the letters. This is too much."
Randy pulls me into his arms. "You'll be okay, honey."