Disclaimer: I do not own any WWE Superstar in this story. The personas/gimmicks belong to the WWE. The actual persons belong to their respective selves. Any brand/logo/trademarked name found in this story does not belong to me.

Chapter Six: Follow Me Home

After that degrading night on RAW, Riz, along with John and Trish, headed back to the hotel to call it a night. As they rode in the silver Innova driven by the security, Riz sat in the back with her knees to her chest and her cap pulled down above her eyes. She immediately covered herself up after what she did with Randy in a pair of black Nike sweatpants, one of John's white shirts and a pair of black Islander slippers. She felt dirty, to say the least, disgusted with herself.

I am moving through the crowd

Trying to find myself

Feelin' like a guitar that's never played

Will someone strum away?

The following day was nothing short of silent for Riz. For her, she felt like she'd been thrown in a jail cell and was going to be kept there until eternity. Tonight was the night of the WWE Wrestlemania after-party. It was going to be a night of celebration after one successful and amazing pay-per-view. All the superstars were going to meet up in Makati Shangri-La and they were going to have a blast.

Riz stood there in front of her bathroom mirror and looked at herself. John had left a couple of minutes ago to go talk to some of the other superstars so she was alone in their room now. She looked at herself, from her messed up black hair to the bags underneath her dull brown eyes to the paleness of her skin and lips. Was this still her?

Riz, I want you to look at yourself in that bathroom mirror after I leave and just look at yourself… I want you to see if this is the person you wanna be… 'Cause as sure as hell isn't run by angels; this isn't the girl I want you to be… You're strong, Rizzie… You've got a great mind and body…Plus, a great personality! Take yourself out of that little shell you've crawled in and be the girl we all love… 'Cause I know that that's the girl you also want to be… I need you back…

John's words echoed in her ear like an annoying children's song. He was right. This wasn't who she wanted to be. Did she really want to show Randy that she was weak? That he could manipulate her and use her for his own perverted satisfactions? No. This wasn't who she was. This wasn't whom she needed to be. She needed to be herself and forget about everything else in the past. This is the present. No longer the past.

And I ask myself

Who do I wanna be?

Do I wanna throw away the key?

And invent a whole new me

And I tell myself

No One, No One

Don't wanna be

No One

But me...

For the first time in quite some time, Riz smiled at her reflection in the mirror upon hitting a certain mark of realization. Her eyes no longer looked like dark brown but they looked more like bright brown. She smiled at herself and thought that she had to be herself. There was no doubt in that. One man wasn't going to ruin it all for her.

This is who I am… Just 'cause I danced that in front of him, doesn't mean the world stops and I stop living… He isn't in demand of my life… I am who I am… No matter what happens, I promise myself that I am going to stand up and keep going… 'Cause whatever happens, I know someone's watching me… Guarding me all the time… Someone always will be…

She jumped into the shower and took a quick cold bath of ten minutes. After which, she stepped out and collected her clothing from her bag outside. She stepped back into the bathroom and raised a playful eyebrow at her reflection, sensing that tonight was going to be both fun and annoying. But who cares? She was going to have a blast.

She blow-dried her hair and put it up into a neat ponytail with her bangs dangling at her forehead and sides of her face. She applied some foundation on her face and evened it out to give herself that natural look. Afterwards, she put some white glittery eye shadow on, followed by some black eyeliner that was applied thinly. She put on some light pink blush and clear mascara, being followed by baby pink lip-gloss. Once she was satisfied with how she looked, she changed into her clothes.

Covering her body was a plain white U2 baby-tee that slightly hugged her curves and a black asymmetrical Bossini below the knee length chiffon skirt. On her feet were white Celine two-inch wedges that had a white buckle on either shoe. After the clothing department, she moved on to one of her favorite things when she dressed up on those rare moments: Jewelry and accessories.

She wore a plain silver chain around her neck that had 'Riz' as a pendant. Accentuating her wrists were a silver Cartier watch with gold design and a white gold charm bracelet that had small stars dangling from it. There were small white diamond studs on her ears and a couple of white skin-sticker gems on the side of her left eye, where the bruise was being hidden. She looked at herself in the mirror and felt satisfied with how she looked. Long gone was the disgusted feeling and the dirtiness of Randy's skin against hers.

Your life plays out on the shadows of the wall

You turn the light on to erase it all

You wonder what's it's like to not feel worthless

So open all the blinds and draw the curtains

She cleaned up the mess she had created in the bathroom while she was having fun dressing up for once. When all was done, she checked her watch and read the time. 6:30 PM. She had exactly thirty minutes left until the party officially started. With the traffic here in Manila, she needed to hurry up. She grabbed her black N90, the phone John bought for her to replace the one she threw at the wall, and a white handkerchief before running out the door and to the elevator. There were five security guards who immediately huddled around her and kept any fans away.

As per request, she had asked to drive her own car alone and just have the security as escorts in another car or perhaps motorcycles. They agreed and let her drive her own personal car. It was a black 2006 Chevrolet Monte Carlo with plush black leather interior. She hopped into her car and drove away from Crowne Plaza hotel to Makati Shangri-La with another black car following her.

She got to the said hotel and checked in her car with the valet. She entered the hotel and was immediately welcomed by the kids who were with their families there. She signed a couple of autographs and took a couple of pictures with some kids and teens that were there. She even gave one 15-year old boy a kiss on the cheek since he was celebrating his fifteenth birthday on that day.

She checked her watch once more and saw that it was already 7:31. Damn it. They were all going to be thinking that Orton screwed with her head so much that she couldn't bear to attend this party. She said goodbye to her fans and went to the lobbyist and asked which ballroom the WWE party was being held. The kind lady pointed her to a door after getting her name and identification. Riz hurriedly walked over to the double doors. Two doormen opened the doors for her and she stepped in after giving them a heartfelt thank you.

She looked in front of her and found herself to be on top of a staircase. She brought her head down and laughed a little to herself when her theme music played in the background and everyone down there stopped what they were doing and clapped for her. She didn't know if the applause was for her being there tonight or for them finally see her in a skirt for the very first time. Nonetheless, she felt a spotlight on her as she smiled widely and walked down the staircase.

No One, No One

Don't wanna be

No One

But me...

At the bottom of the staircase, she saw John there with his hand held out to her. She placed her hand in his and he led her all the way to her table with the divas. "Did you plan all this? I mean all with the grand entrance and theme music and all that other schmuck?" she asked him when he had pulled her chair for her.

"It wouldn't be right to treat such a special person just like any other normal somebody…" he said with a genuine smile. "So, I see you did take my advice and looked at yourself in the mirror… Is my Rizzie wizzie back or do I have to go looking for her again? 'Cause judging by the way you look, you're back to who you were…"

She hugged him tightly and said, "I'm sorry, John… I never meant to make you worry… T'was just a bad time, you see… And I didn't mean to push you away… I just felt like I could get through everything on my own… And yeah… So, you're Rizzie wizzie is back, John… You don't have to go looking for her anymore… She's right here in front of you… The happy, strong, independent and proud Riz is back… And she's here to stay…"

"I'm glad, Riz… I'm glad…" he said as he hugged her back and kissed her softly on the temple.

The night progressed with everyone having loads of fun partying, eating and drinking. They were all celebrating a fantastic pay-per-view and Steph McMahon even handed out awards for the corniest things like who got the most wedgies or who had the better hairdo. Everyone was having a blast and having fun. Riz hadn't seen Randy yet and for her, that was a very good thing. She didn't need to deal with him anymore.

We are moving through the crowd...

"Excuse me, pretty lady…" she heard a voice say from behind her. She was all alone sitting on the divas' table while all the others were dancing on the dance floor. She looked around and saw Randy looking dashing as per usual. He was wearing a white half-buttoned polo underneath a black blazer and a pair of black dress pants and shoes. "What do you want, Orton?" she asked bluntly.

"Riz… I didn't walk here for a fight… I just wanted to ask you to dance…" he said. She stood up and glared straight into his baby blue eyes. "To dance? You came here to ask me to dance? Hell, Orton, wasn't last night enough? Didn't you get enough 'dance' last night?" she said rather loudly with her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Some of the superstars were beginning to look. "Riz… I'm not asking you to dance for me… I'm asking you to dance with me… Just one dance, please… Let's set our differences aside for one dance…" Randy asked, his voice unusually not filled with cockiness and arrogance. He held out his hand to her and waited for her to respond. He did make sense, right? It's just one dance. What could happen?

She reluctantly placed her hand in his as he led her to the dance floor. Everybody vacated the floor as they two occupied the middle. They were all watching intently on what the two were going to do. Randy took this chance and slipped an arm around her small waist while holding her right hand in his left one. She placed her left arm on his shoulder as the music began to play.

'Hay, en mi corazón, una inquietud, hoy te veo tan distante. Hay, algo que me aleja de tu amor, de repente tú cambiaste…'

El Beso del Final by Christina Aguilera played throughout the ballroom as Randy began to lead her in a passionate Latin dance. Who knew the Legend Killer was good on his feet? Definitely not Riz. She had taken Latin dance in her younger years. She never knew what its worth was until now that she was dancing with the man she hated.

'Anoche yo sentí, que me besaste diferente y me quedé, sin saber qué hacer. Yo te conozco y sé, que algo no anda bien, ven dime la verdad. No quiero imaginar que fue el beso del final…'

The song played on and on as the two danced together on the wooden dance floor. There was still a slight scowl on Riz's face even when Randy twirled her around. He never took his eyes off hers as it seemed like everyone was watching them like hawks. This was new to all of them, that was for sure. In Randy's mind, he was wondering what made Riz so light on her feet. It was like she was really floating on air since she just floated along with what he was trying to do. She just went with the flow.

'Que fue el beso del final…'

The song ended as Randy twirled Riz around gently and then dipped her. The people applauded their little dance as they separated immediately. Riz's eyes met Randy's as she quickly tore away from his gaze and ran out the ballroom. Randy followed in hot pursuit as he craned his neck to find her in the sea of people.

Riz asked the valet for her car and they immediately brought it around. She jumped in unnoticed by her bodyguards and drove away from the hotel. Randy also asked for his car and followed her without any security, too. He followed her through the unfamiliar streets of Manila as they got tangled in traffic and all.

Riz went directly to a place she called home and where she could feel safe. She went to her family house which was now just hers. Her own house. The one she had renovated a year ago but never got to use it. She drove through the entrance gates of Valle Verde 2, a prominent village in Manila. One out of six of the Valle Verde villages, as a matter of fact. She watched through the rearview mirror as the guard followed her orders and let Randy in even if he didn't have the official village car sticker.

She drove to her house knowing that Randy was still in pursuit of her. She parked beside the gate of her house and shut off the engine as she watched Randy pull up behind her and turn off his engine, too. She stepped out of her car and screamed, "Like as if the undressing wasn't enough, eh, Orton? Now you have to stalk me?"

Randy got out of his car and walked over to her. "I was just worried that you might lose yourself around here… With you being a diva, it's not safe… Someone might take you away from me and if they did, I may not have someone to pick on every single day of my wonderful life… Even though I did lose the title after one day…" he said arrogantly.

"Well, thanks a lot for the concern, Orton… But I don't need your pity… I'm a grown woman and I can handle myself… So, if you don't mind… Leave me alone and let me rest in my own house for once…" she said and stomped away in the opposite direction of her house just in an attempt to get away from him. It was nice to be out since the air was pretty cool and the stars were out and shining. Randy followed her and asked, "You live in that big house?" as he pointed to the two or three-story pale orange house that was now behind them.

"Yeah… But I'm on the road all the time so I never have the chance to go home… What's your point, Orton? Haven't you bothered me enough? There are so many other divas out there that you could bother… Why do you always have to stick to me like glue and annoy me like hell is about to break lose?" she asked, rather irritated. But before he could answer, the rain poured. "Oh great… It's summer in Manila and it rains this hard?" she said.

Randy, acting on unnatural instinct, took off his blazer and draped it over her shoulders since she was wearing a white shirt. We all know that when white gets wet, it gets pretty see-through. They walked briskly back to the house as the rain drenched the both of them. Riz quickly unlocked the steel iron gates before they ran in to get under the roof of the small patio up front. Randy swiped the water off his face while Riz held the blazer closer to her. "Do you think this will let up anytime soon?" he asked.

"Judging by the heaviness, it ain't gonna be letting up in time for us to go back to the hotel…" she said. Then, she turned to him and asked, "Do you have any clothes with you in your car?" he nodded in response. "Go get them… You're staying here tonight… I can't afford to let you drive back and drown in that kind of rain…" she said.

He looked at her skeptically and shrugged his shoulders knowing that she did have a point. He couldn't risk his greatness by driving back to the hotel and withstanding this pouring rain. He ran back out the gate and to his car where he got a duffel bag full of emergency clothes. He ran back in and thankfully the bag didn't get too wet.

Riz opened the front door to her house and invited him in. He was soaked to the skin. His white polo was now translucent and clung to his body. His pants were all soggy and wet. She walked in and to the laundry room where she got a couple of fresh towels and walked back to where he was. She threw him a towel and said, "Here… Dry up… You might get sick in those…"

He did as he was told and took off his polo so that he could dry up. He kicked off his shoes and dried his feet, too. He looked around the house and noticed that it was a rather modern house. The floors were wooden on one side and tiled with white on the other. All the walls were painted a fresh coat of white and so were the ceilings. The furniture was pale light brown and the other woodworks were darkly varnished. There was noticeably an entertainment room which had an air-conditioning system, a 41-inch flat screen plasma TV, a home entertainment system and a white L-shaped couch.

The living room compromised of two pale light brown three-seater couches and a brown coffee table in between them. There were various picture frames everywhere and other stuff here and there. Randy watched as Riz walked around the room barefoot with his blazer covering her until her thighs. She turned on some pale orange lights as she motioned for him to follow her. "Come… I'll show you a place to sleep…" she said.

He followed her up the staircase. There were two flights of stairs with a landing between them. On that landing, there was another staircase connecting to another room but they didn't go that way. He followed her up the second flight of stairs and there were three doors. They walked past the door nearest the stairs and they went to the second door. "Here…" she said as she threw open the wooden door. "You can sleep in my old room…" she said.

"Your old room?" he asked quizzically. She nodded and said, "This used to be my room back in my teenage years… The other one over there near the stairs is my sister's… And, of course, you can't sleep in there so I'm letting you sleep in my room…" she said as she pointed into the pale yellow-colored room. "I used to be a girly-girl, y'know…" she said when she saw Randy quirk his eyebrow at the room's color.

She pointed to two doors in the room. "This door over here is strictly forbidden, okay? It's my walk-in closet so it's filled with all my personal junk… Plus, it's locked anyways so you wouldn't get in…" she pointed to a door that had a black sticker with the words 'Keep Out or Die' printed in blood red. "This other door is the bathroom… There are towels and soap and toothpaste and everything else you would need in there… I asked my sis to clean this place up before I got here to Manila…" she explained. "Wait, Riz… I never got to ask… You have a sister?" he asked.

"Yeah… I do… I've got one older sister and a younger brother, the one who went inside the ring during 'mania, but that doesn't matter now… You go take a hot shower and warm yourself up… Make yourself at home… If you need me, I'm in the master's bedroom… The room farthest from the stairs…" she said as she was about to leave the room. "One more thing, Orton…" she said before closing the door. "I'm letting you stay here, not 'cause I like you, but 'cause I'm nice enough not to let you swim back to the hotel…"

Randy watched the door close before he looked around the room he was staying in. There was a queen-sized bed with immaculate white sheets. On top of the bed were pillows with white covers. The bed's headboard was covered with a white sheet of cloth. The floors were made out of varnished wood and the walls, as has been stated, were pale yellow. There was a small couch covered with white in one corner and a hammock in another. He looked around the walls and saw many picture frames. There were collages and solo-pictures of Riz and her friends. He looked at all the pictures ranging from when Riz was still a baby to her college graduation. She was indeed a photogenic one. One picture caught his eye, though. It was unusual.

After tearing himself away from the picture, he walked over to the bathroom and took a warm shower like she had said. He dressed in a pair of black boxers and a plain white Nike sleeveless shirt. He walked out the bathroom and looked outside the window. The rain was really coming down, that's for sure. He grabbed his phone and shut it off, not wanting to be disturbed for the rest of this night. He shut off the lights and climbed onto the bed. Falling asleep with the sound of the rain, Randy drifted to oblivion.

In the middle of the night, as the thunder was booming loudly, Randy heard his bedroom door open and close. He was facing away from the door so he didn't know who it was. Well, there could only be one person, right? Suddenly, he felt a presence in front of him. He felt himself being poked in the shoulder as a sweet, child-like voice said, "Randy…"

He opened his eyes and saw Riz crouching down beside the bed face-to-face with him. Her hair was down and falling at the sides of her face and her eyes were like doe eyes. "I don't mean to wake you up, Randy… But John isn't here and… I'm afraid of thunder… And… I can't stand being alone in the other room… Could I stay here with you? I-I'm just scared…" she pleaded.

He looked at her skeptically for a moment before seeing the tears that were about to fall down her face. She looked so irresistible that very moment. It was so obvious that she was really scared. After all, they hated each other and here she was in front of him. "I know we don't get along… But please, Randy… Thunder really scares me… I just need to be with someone… Please…" she practically begged.

He lifted the blankets that were covering him and motioned for her to join him. She climbed onto the bed and snuggled up to him. Randy noticed that all she was wearing was a pair of shorts and a spaghetti-strap top. She was shaking like mad so he hugged her close to him. Thunder boomed again as Riz buried her face in that little spot between Randy's neck and the pillow. He felt silent tears touch his skin as he simply held her closer to him and let her skin touch his. He noticed how her small figure fit into his arms so perfectly.

For the first time, he felt how it was to have her so close to him. Usually, they would always been ten meters apart since they always fought. Now, he was holding her in his arms and he felt the skin on her legs touch his. Her body was so close to hers that he couldn't feel anything but absolute comfort. It felt different, yes. But it felt good. The question was:

Was this all just a dream?

So, yeah! I know this was a bit weird. Haha. But it's really bound to get more twists and turns as it progresses. For any clarifications, review and I'll answer. Haha. Here's a sneaked update since I'm supposed to be continuing studying Asian History. Lmao. Review, people! Pwease?

-veracruzortongal