Chapter 4:

I was horrified! I expected the room to be private and I never imagined that in the time it took me to take a shower that a party would form outside the door. I sat down on the toilet and I felt myself hyperventilating.

Eve knocked on the door.

"Go away!" I said meekly. I was angry with her for not warning me and I was sent back in time to the teasing I took from my peers in school. I couldn't count how many times my clothes were stolen in gym class or I was bullied by a group of girls, stuck in the middle of them until they had forced me to step so far back that I was against the locker room door where the then pushed me into the hall way with nothing but a towel to cover my body.

Then my mind went wild and I wondered if Eve had befriended me just for that moment. I suspected she had intended to humiliate me all along.

"Abbi," she let herself in and I scowled at her. "Hey, I'm sorry."

"Sure." I hugged myself.

"I am. Do you think I knew that you didn't take clothes in her with you?" I thought about it. Eve had been on her belly browsing the web. She couldn't' have seen if I had gathered my things.

"I guess not." I took a deep breath and calmed myself. I was always suspicious of anyone who tried to befriend me. I guess it was a force of habit thanks to the experience I'd had with would be friends.

"I had no idea, I promise. The guys just showed up with pizza and beer. They just got here before you came out." She handed me some things to put on. "Diesel is here. I was so shocked to see him. He just barged in as soon as I opened the door."

"I know. He agreed to do a few shows, but Vince really wants him to sign a contract for the next year."

"Girl, why didn't you tell me? He's my mentor. He helped train me and he's so funny. He's like my big brother."

"I'm surprised he didn't tell you."

"Kevin Nash would never pass up an opportunity to surprise a friend." She grinned.

"Well, he sure caught me off guard." I laughed and unfolded the garment she gave me. "Eve, this isn't' mine."

"It's mine." She smiled menacingly. "I saw that long, eighteen hundred thing you normally wear and I thought you might want something – mmm – sexier."

"I can't wear this – out there – in front of – those guys and – Randy," I whispered.

"Ah ha!" she jumped and pointed. "I knew you liked him."

"I already told you I think he's cute," I know I was talking really low, but I was still terrified he could hear. I felt embarrassed as if I knew he had his ear stuck to the door. "I can't. It's short and it's basically underwear."

"Really?" she held up a pair of my panties that thankfully were mine. "A lacy black thong?"

"No one can see those, Eve." I slipped on the black negligee with the spaghetti straps. It fell over my curves nicely but the top was slightly too low cut. "Eve I've never worn anything like this before." I had always wished I could but I had been brought up to believe it was wrong for a woman not to cover themselves as much as possible.

"Let me guess you had strict parents," Eve said as if reading my mind.

"Grandparents."

"Okay, well let me ask you one question. Do you dress how you want to dress or how they want you to dress?" Eve was always very perceptive. Like she knew exactly what I was thinking. "You always look great, but if you should dress how you want. You're a grown woman. It's your choice now."

"What if they stare at me?"

"You want them to stare." She giggled and gave me a slight hug.

"What if they don't" I was fearful, which surprised me. I wouldn't normally worry about something like that. The thought of not being noticed in the flimsy gown should have brought relief.

"Trust me, they will look," she assured me. "Abbi, look at yourself. You are very pretty and you have a killer figure." She picked up comb that was wrapped in plastic on the counter, unwrapped it and ran it through my hair. She pulled the front back, took a clip out of her hair and pinned it back. "There. Now go out and stop thinking you're still a little kid with your grandparents watching and getting on to you for everything you do. Relax and just have some fun." She was out the door.

I gazed at myself in the mirror. It looked like someone else staring back at me. I thought I appeared desirable, but at the same time I felt like I was doing something wrong. I felt like my grandfather would pop out of the walls to chastise me if I dared exit the bathroom dressed like I was. For the first time in my life, I looked like I did in my dreams, but I didn't have the guts to pull it off.

My stomach growled and I could smell the pizza. I was hungry. Someone else knocked on the door and I cracked it.

"Hey." Randy grinned. He slipped inside and I grabbed tight to the sink. He scanned me up and down. "I need to go." He nodded towards the toilet. "I don't mind an audience." I knew he it was his attempt to get me out of the bathroom now, but then, I thought he was serious especially when he went to the object and unzipped his pants.

I was out of the bathroom in a hurry with a red face, but I wish I hadn't been so shy about thing like that. I should have stayed and dared him, at least that what I thought after I sat on the bed and threw a pillow over my lap.

Eve gave me a plate with a couple pieces of pizza and then opened a beer for me. I had never drunk a drop of alcohol before and I was hesitant.

"Be who you want to be," she reminded me silently and I had to read her lips. I smiled. She was right. There were a lot of things I never did just because my grandparents wouldn't approve. The evils of alcohol were drilled into my head all my life, but I did recall many pictures of both of my grandparents holding beers or mixed drinks, laughing and having a good time with their friends and family members. The family photo albums were full of them, especially when they were young.

With that in mind, I tried a sip and I made an expression one would make after biting into a lemon.

"First taste of beer?" Randy flopped down on my bed and made himself comfortable. He took a big bite of pizza and talked with his mouth full. "Congrats. You're no longer a virgin." I know he had been kidding, but I felt out of place. "I meant it towards the beer," He said when he saw I was wide eyed. I think he realized there were many more things I had never done before.

"Diesel, this is Abbi." Eve lay on her bed with John nestled as close as he could get to her. Diesel and Kofi occupied the chairs at the small table in the room and they had all agreed on a comedy before I had come out of the bathroom.

"You're the one I talked to on the phone?" I nodded.

"I thought you sounded pretty on the phone, but I was wrong." I looked at my lap. "You're sexy as hell woman." All I could do was blush and focus on my pizza. I wasn't used to compliments.

I was full after my two slices of veggie pizza, but Randy was still eating long after the movie had started. I kept sipping the beer and Eve made sure I had a new one when I had finished it. By the time my third one, I was laughing just like everyone else at the actor in the movie. I felt so relaxed and I didn't care what anyone thought. It felt nice not to worry about my every action.

"They're not hot," Randy and Diesel were joking and daring each other. They were arguing over the bits of crushed red pepper that had come with the pizza. Randy had sprinkled them on each of his slices then Diesel decided to add double the amount and dared Randy to try it. "It won't faze me no matter how much you pour on." Diesel added a bit more. "You'll see."

I wasn't really paying attention to them, until Randy started coughing and leaned over me and snatched my beer off the night stand and downed it.

"What are you eating?" I laughed at how red his face was. He had tears coming from his eyes and he couldn't stop coughing. Everyone in the room was roaring in laughter.

"Here you try it."

"No, way." I laughed and pushed it away.

"Come on." He urged and he held it to my lips intending to feed it to me. They all urged me to try and I was hoping I didn't end up like Randy. I took the tiniest bite I could while he held the slice for me; our eyes were locked the entire time.

"Ugh!" I knew it was going to be hot and I had only taken a little. Randy handed me the beer and I chugged it to wash down the pepper, but thankfully I didn't suffer like Randy had. "That is disgusting."

I drank one more beer and I honestly didn't think it tasted as bad as the first sip had. Eve and John were asleep long before I was, but I don't think I was far behind her. But before I fell asleep I felt warm, like someone was lying very close to me. I thought I felt a hand slip up my hip and I thought something touched my neck, but I'm sure I was already sleeping and it was all a dream.

I awoke beneath the covers, even though I vividly remember being on top of them and strangely, I couldn't move. As I became more aware, I found that Randy had fallen asleep in the bed with me, but he wasn't up against the headboard as he was during the movie. He was under the blanket, beside me with his arms wrapped tightly around me.

I was stunned. I had never spent the night with a man before and here was someone I barely knew with his hand cupped around one of my breasts. I tried to move from the bed, but Randy tightened his hold, trapping me in the bed beside him. He pressed himself against me and it felt like what was hidden away in his pants had grown.

Eve laughed from the twin bed as she watched me try again to get out of the bed.

"Randy! Wake up!" she slipped easily from John's arms, came over and playfully jerked Randy's arm up and let it fall on his hip. Randy woke up and he appeared to have no clue where he was or what was going on.

"Oh, sorry." He said before rolling to his back and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Randy's like a big bear," Eve teased. "Once he gets hold of you he won't let go."

"Um – is there something I should know?" John asked, propping up on his elbow in the bed.

"No. I just got stuck next to him one night after he threw a party in his tour bus and half his guests passed out everywhere. They shouldn't call him the viper, they should call him anaconda." She picked on him.

"Ha ha," Randy didn't seem to find Eve's picking as funny as she and John did. "Kiss my ass."

"Oh, we still love you, Randy. I'm going to take a shower. You want to go, John?" she flirted and of course John took her up on her offer.

"I guess that means their dating now?" Randy sat up and stared after them. "That was fast. Hell, I just found out he had a thing for her." He rolled and faced me. I was already sitting up on the edge of the bed, digging through my bag for that day's attire. "I'm sorry about that."

"It's okay," I shrugged it off, but inside, I was struggling between the good girl I was brought up to be and the wild untamed emotions that urged me to lay back down and pull his arms around me again. If only I was a different person.

"I usually hug up to a pillow," he was up and looking for his shoes. He returned to his own room and I dressed quickly so I would be done before John emerged with Eve. Diesel and Kofi had left sometime during the night and I wondered why they hadn't' taken their friends with them. Randy at least. His comment made me think he had confused me for his pillow. Was I really that soft?