I began waltzing with him around the bathroom, Gomez and Morticia style, getting him completely soaked. I expected him to look mad... partially at dampening his clothes, but mostly because I was naked and covered in bubbles. But he just started cracking up and dancing right along. He was humming a familiar tune. Poorly, I might add, but, hey, we can't all be as multi-talented as me. Soon, I picked up on the song.

I began singing, trying to do my best Gene Wilder impersonation, "Come with meee... and you'll beeee... in a world of pure imagination. Take a look... and you'll see... into your imagination."

He was laughing so hard, I swear I saw tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "You're going to slip. What the heck are you doing?"

I dipped him down, holding the small of his back firmly, trying not to drop him. I replied, in my best new age hippie voice, "Trying to maintain a positive attitude, man. See the light through all the darkness." I smiled, and continued singing, "We'll begin... with a spin... into a world of my creation. What we'll see... will defy explanion."

"You're definitely still a goofball. That makes me happy." He said, smiling back. I pulled him back up, and he said, "And Willy Wonka, you remember."

"I figured it still had to be one of your favorites. That could never change." I replied, throwing a towel on. "Plus, you were humming it."

"Was I?" He asked, not realizing. "Well, thanks for getting me all wet."

"No problem. Apparently, it's one of my skills." I replied, with a joking wink to the underlying sexual connotation with that last exchange.

He then went to change as I did the same, and he showed me to my new room. That sounded so weird. My new room in Adam Copeland's house. Probably something that most people would have fantasized of. He opened the door and the bed was huge, looked comfy, but not too worn in. Nice wooden floors that the moonlight reflected off of, which looked beautiful. One whole wall was glass viewing out onto a balcony, where you could see the ocean. An acoustic guitar sat in the corner, its strings looked broken in, the body polished. Someone took care of that one. The walls were a pale blue, much like our friend Jay's eyes, and I somewhat wondered if there was a significance. But then I noticed a bunch of cans of different colored paint sitting on the floor.

"Thanks again for all if this. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but..."

"Yeah, you are. Quit it." He said, "For real, though, you don't have to thank me anymore. I'm just happy to have another guy around the house to talk to. I love Ren, but it's hard only being around a female all day."

I laughed, "Yeah, I get that... Well, you can tell me not to say it all you want, but I'm going to. It's them southern boy good manners."

He smiled, shaking his head slightly, "Yeah, you're going to drive me nuts with that."

"Probably! But you asked for it." I replied with a cheesy grin. "So, what's with the paint? You want me to Hardy-fy it in here too?" I asked and he nodded, looking around the room much like I did a blank canvas. It looked like he wanted a change; I just wasn't sure he knew what he was getting himself into asking me to do it. "But it's your house!"

"So what? Go for it. It's going to be awesome. I already know it... Besides, I could always rent out the room later. You know how many girls would pay me a thousand dollars just to sleep in the same bed 'Jeff freaking Hardy' did for just one night? I'd make a fortune off your gorgeous ass." He joked, sticking his tongue out at me.

Wait, did he just call me 'gorgeous'? Hmm... not a word he's used before. Cute, pretty... maybe hot? Sure. But never gorgeous.

"What's sad is that's true. You probably could make millions." I said, sitting down onto said bed, with a sigh, "And what's even sadder... is, a while ago, I might have actually believed you would do that."

He sat down across from me, "Really? That makes me sad, man. I wouldn't do that shit to you. I'm not that much of a money-hungry prick."

My cheeks instantly blushed, recognizing the wording and where it came from. "Oh shit, I did call you that before, huh?" It was a couple years ago, right after Matt and Adam's feud started over Amy. I caught up with him in the locker room one night...

I was standing backstage, gathering my thing to go back to the hotel. Matt had left awhile ago, pretty exhausted and not wanting to wait for me to get ready. I didn't take that long, I swear! But he had been pretty easily irritable lately after what happened with him and his girlfriend. He was a shell of the Matty I used to know, being his first major love loss. But to lose her to a friend like that?

That's when Adam walked in... How could he have done that to my brother? Him and Amy were going through some things, sure, but that didn't mean swoop up on her like a hyena on some dying animal. And I hated how smug he acted afterwards, flaunting her around like his trophy kill after he'd stuffed and mounted her. But then again, that's kinda what Adam was turning into now. He didn't care who he had to fuck over, or fuck it seemed, to get to the top. Every semblance of the Adam I knew was slipping away. Part of me even wondered if he did all these things just to add ratings to the show in a slump, and I hated that I felt that way.

And I really hated that I couldn't seem to trust him or even be friends with Adam now. Mostly because of who he was changing into, but somewhat also because of the fact that Matt would be so freakin' angry with me if I was. And I couldn't do that to my brother. But it is so unfair that just because Matt and him have a falling out that now I couldn't even talk to the guy. He didn't fuck my girlfriend, after all. Not that I know of, that is.

But maybe if I could talk to him... Maybe I could get him to see...

"What's up, Jeff?" He asked me.

"Leave me alone, Copeland." I replied, coldly.

"Well, what the hell did I do to you?" He asked, with a smirk. I looked at his face harder then. No, no remorse. It didn't seem like he even cared I was mad at him. He just seemed amused by it, which only feuled the fire.

"You didn't have to do anything to me, Adam! You had Matt's heart broken, and I got stuck to pick up the fucking pieces. Now I've got to try and put that son of a bitch back together and get it working again! You didn't just ruin his life, man. You ruined all of ours! The four of us... you, Jay, Matt and me... we could have took on anything. We all had a good thing going. And you ruined it to get your dick wet." I said, slinging my bag over my shoulder. I was heading for the door, when I turned and added, "You're not my friend anymore. You're barely you anymore. All you give a fuck about is the gold. Well, guess what, Edge... it isn't real. So, I don't want to be around you if this is how you're going to be. You're just turning into a money hungry prick... Goodbye, Adam."

The look on his eyes was sadness, betrayal, anger, embarassment... Seemed ironic, didn't it? Considering that's what he was making everyone else feel around him. Especially me. I was so sad that this is what it came down to. That everything familiar was stripped away. Betrayed by all the promises we'd be best friends forever. That we would have insanely long careers, and all live in some wrestler retirement community when we grew old. Angry that my brother had been the one hurt in all of this mess. That anyone would ever voluntarily choose to hurt my brother.

But most of all, embarassed that, deep down, I wish he'd fucked me instead of Amy.

Why'd you have to do this, you fucking asshole? Don't you even understand how much this hurts... how much I'll miss you?

"I'm so fucking sorry for that, man. I was just so angry and I have a tendency to say what I think will hurt the most in those situatons. I didn't mean it, I..."

"No. You don't have to apologize. You were right." He said, looking down at his hands, almost ashamed, "I was becoming money hungry, not caring who I had to step on along the way. And I was starting to hate myself for what I was turning into. I got to the point I couldn't look at my reflection because I was disgusted with who I saw staring back at me. That's why I saw my retirement almost as a blessing, after awhile. I didn't have to be that guy anymore. I could finally find out who Adam was again, not just Edge."

"Yeah, I guess I'm lucky there. I'm always just me, no matter what. I didn't have to make a separate persona to constantly fight with."

"Yeah, and I always really envied you for that, you know? I wish I had the balls you do, to not give a fuck about what people think or what the consequenses will be. I wish I had the passion you have, never fearing where you'll land, you just jump. And most of those times, you get the best out of it just because you actually tried and everyone else chickened out. You just went for it. God, I wish I could be half the person you are sometimes." He said, putting his hand on my forearm, "That's why I know you're going to get through all this, man. You're so fucking strong."

"I don't feel strong right now." I said, looking up into his eyes with tears in mine. I wish I could see myself the way he did. What he said was so beautiful, I couldn't help but let it get me emotional. If only it was true.

He wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pulling me into a hug. I was crying again. Geting his shirt all wet again. Yet, I didn't care. Right now, I was just so physically and emotionally exhausted that I needed this. The closeness, the warmth of someone to hold onto. He began rubbing my back as my breath became hard to catch through sobs. He did this, just held me, rubbing my back until my breathing slowed, finally calming back to normal. The tears began to cease. I think I was even too tired to cry now too.

I expected him to pull back, to release me when he felt me ease back to normal, but he didn't. We sat there for what felt like hours but, in reality, was probably just a few minutes, listening to eachother breathe. His hand had trailed into my wifebeater somehow and was running up and down my ribcage, his fingers dipping between the grooves and tracing the shape of them under my skin lightly. I was clutching his shoulder at first, but slowly ran my hand up and began playing with the small hairs at the nape of his neck, loving the content sigh and small tremble that came when I did.

I didn't know what was happening. All I knew was that I hadn't been held like this in months, and it hadn't felt like this in years. I came here to rekindle a friendship, but it seemed we woke up something a lot deeper than that. Was it always there or was this something new? I wasn't sure, I just knew it was there, creating this burning electricity between us that couldn't be denied. Was he feeling it too? Is that why he wasn't pulling back? Did it feel as right to him as it did to me?

He then moved slightly, resting his forehead against mine. Our eyes met and I knew then he was feeling exactly what I was. Desire, a yearning to test whatever this was... this newfound connection we both discovered. We were moving closer, so close I could feel his breath heavy on my face, as it mixed with mine. I darted my tongue out to wet my lips, and grazed his in the process, causing a shiver to run up my spine.

"Adam..." I whispered, desparately. He didn't answer, just pressed his lips to mine.