Chapter Three
Mark woke up the next morning at 10AM, to the sound of a loud banging on his hotel-room door. Mark grumbled nonsense and threw a pillow over his head, hoping the noise would stop. When the banging wouldn't stop, he got out of bed, threw on a shirt and walked to the door, opening it.
"WHAT!" Mark bellowed as he opened the door.
"Nice to see you too, pal," the source of the annoyance said. Mark grimaced, suddenly feeling embarrassed.
"Oh, hey Glen"
"Morning, twinkle toes," Glen Jacobs replied. "Can I come in?"
"Oh, yeah, sorry," a still-not-quite-awake Mark answered.
Glen entered the room as Mark opened the door wider. He made his way to the modest living area and sat down on a sofa, whilst a shuffling, sleepy-headed Mark cranked and mumbled his way to the kitchenette, to get himself a dose of coffee.
As Mark sat down in a comfy armchair near the sofa, Glen leaned forward and looked at him, convinced that his old friend looked like a mess. "How was your vacation"
"It was great," Mark answered clearly, almost downing the whole cup.
"How's Rose?" Glen asked. Mark had told him about her in the past.
"She's doing really good." Mark's conversational skills obviously wouldn't be up to much until the rest of him had woken up, Glen decided after hearing this.
"Any practical Jokes you two plahyed on each other"
"Well..." Mark set down the empty cup. "She invited me to a party she and her parents were having, then she soaked me with a watergun."
Glen almost scoffed on his own laughter. "You got back at her, didn't you?" he asked as he struggled to get normal breathing back.
"Yeah," Mark replied, looking vaguely at the fireplace. "I soaked her with a hosepipe." Glen burst out laughing. Mark gave a smirk.
"You know what you are?" Glen asked. Mark looked at his old friend with intrigue. "You're a bully"
Mark laughed. "Hey, she's my little sister...and SHE was the one who started playing the jokes on ME, when she was little, remember?"
Glen sat back in the sofa, chortling. "Oh yeah," he said as he relaxed. "The whoopee cushion was my favourite"
"Mainly because it was your idea." Mark added. Glen gave a sly grin.
"Well, i'd better get going. Gimme a call when you're...sober looking," Glen settled on something with minimal offensiveness. "And we'll head out for a bite and maybe a workout before flying out tomorrow."
"Alright, gimme a half hour," Mark said, absently wondering why Glen had said "sober looking". They said their goodbyes and Mark closed the door.
Mark made his way to the bathroom, undressed and got into the shower. Aferwards he tied his hair back in a ponytail and put a bandana around his head. He shoved on his jeans and boots, before grabbing his gym gear and heading downstairs to meet Glen.
They dined in the hotel's restaurant, being too lazy to go looking for somewhere else and also succumbing to the desire to take advantage of the all-inclusive package. Then they left for the gm.
When mark was weightlifting, about half an hour later, Glen joined him.
"So," Mark grunted. "We know how my life's been, how's yours"
"Things are great," Glen said shrewdly. "But you're not getting out of telling me what's going on in your life."
Mark racked the weights and sat up. "The hell is that supposed to mean?" he asked, looking Glen in the eye.
"Oh, come on Mark," Glen said, downing the last of his water and turning to face his friend. "You've never dated another woman since"
"Don't even mention her name," Mark spat. "She doesn't exist to me anymore. Leave it alone!" he said, suddenly on the defensive. Glen recoiled a little.
"Fine, but I'm just saying I haven't seen you with any woman for over four years"
"So!" Mark exclaimed. Glen turned to face him again, facing the storm.
"So, don't you think it's time for you to get back onto the dating scene"
"I will," Mark said, towelling his sweating face, "when I'm good and damn ready"
Glen left the subject at that.
"They want you do an extra piece of recording for next week's show before we go, by the way," Glen added, changing the subject.
"Oh yeah?" Mark asked, instantly back to normal.
"You're in a handicap match..with the Hardyz. Lita's with them. At the end, you win the match. You're about to chokeslam Jeff when Amy jumps into the ring and tries to stop you, until you grab ahold of her too"
Mark listened with curiosity...he had never heard Glen call Lita by her real name. He decided to remember that little hint for later. "So I'm a heel again," he summarised. Glen nodded.
"Yeah, but when you're about to drop her out of the ring...my music hits." Glen's eyes were fiery with the idea. Mark could see it. But he still didn't say anything. "Basically I come stop you. You drop her and we stand in the ring, throw a few theatrics around, while she looks confused as all hell"
"So...we're ending the show?" Mark said.
"Yup," Glen said, with a cocky twist. Mark grinned.
"So," he decided now as as good a time as any. "How long have you had a thing for Amy Dumas?"
Glen's face looked like he'd just hit a brick wall. "What? What d'you mean?"
"Whenever you talk about her, your face lights up. You're even calling her Amy instead of Lita. Come on, Glen, I know a crush when I see it"
Glen looked defeated. "So? She's a nice person"
"Why are you so nervous about asking her out for?" Mark said. Now it was his turn to stare intensely at his friend. "You think people would laugh cause she looks like she's dating bigfoot or something"
"Bigfoot!" Glen exclaimed. Mark cringed.
"Sorry, it's the hair and the beard." Glen laughed. He knew when Mark wasn't seriously trying to insult him after all these years.
"Come on," Mark added. "We'd better go, I need to sleep before I fly."
"You slept for 9 hours last night!" Glen protested as they got up.
"Yeah," Mark reasoned. "But I usually sleep for 12."