A/N: Yes I know. It's been AGES since I updated this lol.
Thanks to Talena Atfield is my GODDESS, xAttitudex, Farra Sti, Inday, rory21 and TorriexJohn for the reviews. Please keep them coming :)

Hope you all enjoy this one. Happy reading.

Chapter 3 – Meeting at the Parking Lot

Arching her back slightly, she did a pose just as the photographer wanted her to be in. Flashes of white light aimed at the dirty blonde seconds later. Then she did another pose, only this time she raised her hand up and formed a 'rock on' sign.

"Okay, that's a rap!" The photographer announced.

"Yeah!" Ashley whooped and made the sign again and laughed.

"Great job out there," he complimented.

"Aw thanks Dean," Ashley beamed. "It was fun working with you."

"And the same goes to you. Take care."

"You too. See ya."

Ashley shook his hand and then went to collect her handbag from the changing room. She made a happy sigh once she had stepped out of the dark studio and into the bright sunshine outside. Usually it would be tiring to be on her feet for hours, taking one picture after the next and then she couldn't leave unless both her and the photographer were satisfied with the outcome of each photo.

But with a smile that was now formed on her face, she knew that the hard work was definitely worth it. She couldn't wait for the pictures to be posted soon.

She took out her cell phone from her pocket. She decided to check on Michelle.

"Hey there," Ashley said. "What are you up to?"

"Just watching the Friends DVD. Are you done with the photoshoot?"

"Yeah like five minutes ago. It was terrific."

"Awesome. So are you coming back here? I was thinking that we should go out to each lunch together."

"That sounds like a plan! Alright I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"Okay later Ash."

Ashley hung up and slipped her cell phone back into her pocket. She got into her vehicle and started the engine, only to make a squeal at a loud pitch when a certain song played on the radio at the perfect timing.

"Simple Plan!" Ashley exclaimed, squealing like a teenager. "And they're playing my favorite song! Sooooo sweet!"

She was grinning madly and then she yelled, "Hey hey!" along with one of her favorite rock bands of all time. Now a drive back to the hotel should be a nice one.

Sometimes I feel like everybody's got a problem

"Sometimes I feel like nobody wants to solve them." Ashley sang along to the first verse, rocking her head from side to side to the beat. "I know that people say we're never going to make it. But I know we're going to get through this!"

Close your eyes and please don't let me go

"Don't, Don't, Don't, Don't let me go now!"

Close your eyes and please don't let me go
Don't, Don't, Don't….

"Take my haaannnnnndddddd tonight! Let's not think about tomorrow. Take my haaannnnnndddddd tonight! We could find some place to go!"

Cause our hearts are locked forever

And our love will never die

"Take my haaannnnnndddddd tonight! One last tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmme!"

Ashley whooped as the song went ahead to the 'Hey hey' part of the song.

"I have got to get their album, seriously! Oh there's the mall I saw on my way to the studio. Maybe I should check it out. Hopefully I can find it there!"

So Ashley made a stop at the mall and went in search of the CD store. Luckily she had found one at the bottom floor so she didn't have to take an escalator. Ashley searched through the black shelves and then it wasn't long until she found what she was looking for.

"Aha!" Ashley said as she saw a collection of CD's under the Rock genre.

"Let's see what we've got there… Augustana, Bryan Adam, Coldplay…" Ashley made a sudden gasp when she discovered a CD that caught her eye.

"Paramore!" She picked up the CD and looked at it. "Aw I'll take it! Oh I gotta have that new album from Three Doors Down, definitely! But I'm still not seeing Simple…wait a minute. Oh my gosh. No way. No way! No way no way no way!!"

She bounced up and down and she had finally found the CD that she was looking for.

"Simple Plan! Ahhhhhhh! This place rocks!"

As she was jumping with excitement, she caught a glance of other customers looking at her oddly. Once she saw the looks on their faces, the dirty blonde stopped dead. Ashley couldn't help but to blush a little in embarrassment after putting herself in the centre of attention. Then she got a bit startled when a voice called to her from behind, making Ashley turn to face a girl.

"Oh hi," Ashley said, quickly making a smile to hide her nervousness.

"Hi," The shop assistant greeted her with a smile. "Would you like some help with anything?"

"Uh…." Ashley cleared her throat before replying in a calm tone, "I think I'm good, thanks. She held up the CD's. "Where can I find the cashier?"

x-x-x-x-x

"Oh come on it can't be that bad," Kenny assured him, grinning with amusement as he watched Adam pacing up and down the room. He leaned against the wall nearby the window. "I mean it's just her."

Adam stopped pacing and gave him a look. "Exactly."

"I still don't get it." Kenny was confused. "What is there to worry about?"

"Okay Kenny. Let me make this perfectly clear so you can understand. I. Don't. Like. Her."

"Yeah…I gathered that." Kenny laughed. "That's what you were fretting about? The fact that you dislike her?"

"No I'm also fretting about when King Kong is ripping off the hotel roof." Adam said with sarcasm. "Yes that's what I'm fretting about! MVP knew that I don't like her. That's why he picked her…so he can get the easy win! He picked the worst of all the divas!"

Adam never liked Ashley, the day she debuted to Smackdown. There was something about her that he didn't like. There was no need to find a reason. He just didn't like her. That was that.

Kenny made a shrug as Adam went on to pace again. "Hey, look at the bright side. At least it's not Maryse. You can't understand half of what she's saying with that Italian accent."

Adam paused his pacing and gave him a knowing look. "Kenny...she's French."

"Oh yeah…" Kenny nodded in embarrassment. "right. My bad."

Adam let out a frustrated sign, ignoring Kenny's last comment as he went on to complain about the situation he was now stuck in.

"You see how smart MVP is?" Adam questioned, though it was intended to be a rhetorical question. "He picked out one of the divas that I couldn't stand so by this he could take my money easy. See the problem that I'm in now?"

Never did he expect the young superstar to be chuckling as if he had just gotten the best joke ever. The Rated-R superstar looked at him bewilderedly. Kenny was supposed to help him out and now…he was laughing?

"And may I ask what is so funny?" Adam asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He was definitely not in a good mood for any jokes.

Kenny managed to hold it in at last. "Why look at it as a problem? Think of it as an opportunity."

"An opportunity?" Adam repeated.

"Of course. I mean look at you. You got style, the looks…you've got a way of making those girls to follow your lead. So what difference does it make with dating Ashley compared to the women you've dated before?"

He smirked. "You are so right. Girls fall for me. They can't resist me. They're simply the same when they're around me!"

"Exactly. So you go and do your stuff and win your hundred bucks from MVP!"

"Yeah!" Adam exclaimed with a clap. "I can't wait to see that look on his face in the end after I win! Ha!"

"Yep," said Kenny with a smirk and nodded. He turned his head to look out the window. As he did so, something got his attention and decided to take a closer look.

"Okay…so now I should go and find her right?" Adam went on to say. "I wonder which hotel room she stays in…I think it would be wise if I go to the front desk and find out right?"

"I don't think that would be necessary," Kenny spoke.

Adam scoffed. "Oh come on Kenny, you don't seriously think I would waste a whole day just to find her room, do you? This hotel has ten floors if you haven't checked. And let's not forgot about the number of rooms each floor h--"

"I wasn't going to advise you to do that…" Kenny said, looking at him oddly.

"Then what are you trying to imply then?"

Kenny smirked and pulled off the curtain to expose the view of the window. "Come and see for yourself."

Confused by the response, Adam joined Kenny by the window. Kenny's finger gestured toward the parking lot.

"See that silver convertible coming in? That's her car."

"Really? Well speak of the devil…"

"Uh huh." Kenny turned to him. "I guess the game starts now huh?"

Adam looked at Kenny and then back to the parking lot again.

It seemed as though he didn't have to search for that certain diva after all.

X-x-x-x-x

From the time she parked her car, she didn't get out of it yet.

There was one excuse to that.

Music.

She would have gotten out of the car now if Misery Business had not played at the exact moment when she was about to go. Ashley rocked her head sideways to the beat of the song blasting from the stereo; singing her heart out.

Literally.

"Whoa I never meant to brag but I got him where I want him now! Whoa…"

Quickly she gained her composure as if she was finally ready to resist listening to another coming from the song.

"Okay, hyper mood…" Her engine came to a dead silence as she turned the key. "off."

She shoved her new CD's into the glove compartment so she could play them in her car later. She stepped out of her vehicle and locked her doors before departing.

With a smile curving on her lips, anyone could tell that she was having a good day. The photo shoot was fun and she bought a couple albums of her favorite bands. The dirty diva wondered what else could make her day better?

Then Ashley stopped dead all of a sudden. Her eyes widen. Her heart leapt madly with fear.

She caught a sight of a dirty blonde man appearing from the entrance. And he was coming into the parking lot…

Oh god. He's making his way here. What to do?

Desperate to think of a quick solution, she thought of just walking by and hoped that he didn't notice.

Despite the fact that she had a secret desire for him to notice her.

But in her case, now was definitely not the time. She wasn't prepared for this unexpected meeting.

She hung her head low and started to quicken her pace in the hopes of getting into the lobby without him not being noticed. Unfortunately, her journey had been stopped when she knocked into someone by accident.

"Oh I'm sorry," she began quickly. "I should watch where I was…"

As she looked up however, she felt a sensation burning her cheeks as a pair of the black shades looked down at her.

"…Going." She finished.

The man chuckled. He pulled them up to reveal his green eyes hidden underneath the shades. He smiled at her.

"Hey Ashley."

"Umm…h-hi A-adam."

"I see that you just got here."

"Y-yeah. I had a photo shoot today. Not that it sounds exciting or…"

"Sounds fun."

"Oh yeah it definitely was." Ashley was quick to add with a nod.

"Awesome."

"Yeah…so anyway, I'm sorry again for bumping into you. Have a nice day. Bye!"

Before she could make her escape, something got in her way. She felt the heat radiated from his hand to her shoulder. Her body began to shiver at this.

"Wait. I'm happy that I ran into you. I've wanted to talk to you."

Did she hear what she thought he said? He wanted talk to her?

Did he really say that?

No it couldn't be. She had to be imagining that.

Was it because of the loud music that caused her ears to stop functioning properly?

Adam shifted her body to face him and smiled. Ashley simply stared back and said nothing.

"I see that you're probably a bit uncomfortable around me since we barely see eye to eye. How about we go out so we can get to know each other a little better. What do you say?"

Ashley blinked.

Did he just ask me out on a date?

Okay. The loud music just had to be blamed somehow.

"Ashley?"

She snapped out of her thoughts. "Yes?"

"Would you like to go out with me tonight?"

Ashley blinked again. "Ummm…"

He took hold of her hand. "Go out with me and I promise that you'll never regret it."

She glanced from his hand holding hers and then back to him. As she did, his smile appeared.

"Well…okay."

Now his smile brightened. "Great. How about we meet in the lobby, say around eight?"

"Yeah. Sounds good."

"Then eight it is." He winked. "See you tonight."

And with that said, he took a few steps back to take a good look at her. He held a sexy smirk for her before lowering his shades and turned away.

X-x-x-x-x

Did she actually tell him yes?

She couldn't believe it. She was going out with the Rated-R superstar.

Tonight.

As the thought finally sunk into her head, there was something inside her that was waiting to burst with excitement.

And that was what exactly happened the minute she opened the door. Today just might turn out to be the best day of her life.

"Miiiiiicchhhheellllle!"

X-x-x-x-x

As soon as he slipped into his car, he let out a laugh.

"Oh wow. This turned to be easy than I though."

Adam shook his head slightly as he thought of meeting came back to him.

This was too easy.

"Perfect. So now the question…where in the hell should I take her?"

He paused for thought. "Think….think. I can't take her out to pizza. Can't take her to a movie either. That's way too cheap for my taste. I have to take out to somewhere special."

But he couldn't think of one. He needed a restaurant guide or something to give him ideas.

Then a thought came to him. He reached for the glove compartment and pulled out a guidebook. He never intended to use it but Kenny insisted in keeping it away, just in case.

"Ha. And to think that I told him that I didn't need one. Kenny did something wise for once."

Whilst he was flipping through the pages, his cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

I just got the most surprising news.

Adam raised his eyebrow, confused with what MVP just told him. "And that is?"

I rang Kenny just a while ago and he told me everything. Did everything that he said about you was true?

Adam got confused by the question being thrown at him. But then a smirk slowly appeared after. He was sure that he had it already figured out.

"It depends what Kenny told you," he said.

He said that you were meeting Ashley. Or…have you met her already?

So his prediction turned out to be accurate after all.

And luckily for him, he had his answer.

"Yes I did."

A/N: So as you can see, this chapter takes you back to the prologue basically. It's like the beginning of the beginning, if that really makes sense :P

Next chapter: Adam takes Ashley out on a 'date'. Will it go well as planned?