A/N: In celebration of the fact that tonight Finn saw and acknowledged me at NXT, I'm updating early. Enjoy and excuse me while I continue to fangirl. :)
A couple days later I'm walking around cleaning up the house, when my phone buzzed on the counter. I'd just gotten off work from Disney, and after being out in the sun and heat all day I just wasn't much in the mood for anything. I picked up my phone and glanced at the message.
"Are you home? Do you have time to go over some ideas?" Text from Devitt.
I had time, but I didn't really feel like it. Sometimes I was super antisocial.
"I can't tonight. I'm working." Text to Devitt.
He was almost an instant text back. I sigh, looking down at his message.
"You said you were off at 4. It's almost 6." Text from Devitt.
Ugh. Why did he remember that? Why did I tell him that is a better question.
"Fine. Come over. 1313 Bahia Ave. If you're smart you'll bring dinner." Text to Devitt.
"Be there shortly." Text from Devitt.
About an hour later there was a knock on the front door. I pulled it open to reveal Ferg on the other side, dinner in hand. He gave me a big, goofy grin when our eyes met and I couldn't help but chuckle.
"I hope you like Indian, because that's what I got." He chuckles.
"Depends on if you got butter chicken and naan or not." I state, leaning against the door frame. I hadn't even let him in yet.
"I did, and lamb." He nods. He looked really good. Or maybe it was just because I found him so ridiculously attractive that I thought he looked hella good in a pair of black basketball shorts, neon green sneakers and a Devitt DoJo tshirt.
"You may enter." I smirk, stepping aside so he could walk in. "The pig is friendly." I add.
"Hold on, did you just say... The pig is friendly?" He questions. Right about then Hamlet, my little tea cup pig comes trotting around the corner. "Oh my gosh." He chuckles.
"His name is Hamlet." I smile, picking him up. He was making little snorting sounds.
"Dogs are normal, pigs are not something I see every day." He comments, giving Hamlet a little scratch.
"I had a pitbull... He was blind and I rescued him, his name was Stevie Wonder." I chuckle, "He passed a few months ago and I haven't recovered enough to get another." I admit.
"I understand." He nods. "Sorry about your dog." He adds, following me into the kitchen. I only smile, and pull out a couple plates from the cupboard. We end up on the back porch, with dinner and a couple beers.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" I ask him after about a half hour of small talk.
"I forgot I'd come over to talk business." He chuckles. "I quite enjoy your company." He winks, and I try really hard to not blush. "With NXT take over coming up I would like to do something really big and detailed." He tells me and I nod. "I have some digital stuff on my laptop that I've been messing around with." He murmurs, opening the mac book.
"These are really cool." I murmur, zooming in on some of the photos. "I really like the spots across your shoulders." I tell him.
"Thanks." He replies.
"That's the one I like the best," I tell him and he nods agreement. "That will take me a good bit to paint on you. Like 4 hours at least, 5 to be safe." I say to him.
"I don't care how long anything takes, I'm willing to stand for you for whatever amount of time." He assures me. I know it shouldn't have meant anything, because it was business, but the statement came off really sweet to me.
"Ok." I nod. "How do you think up this stuff? You've got a great imagination." i comment, still looking at the computer.
"I'm still a kid at heart." He shrugs simply, taking a sip of his beer. "A lot of ideas I get from fan art, stuff that the fans send me or give me at live shows and signings." He adds.
"That's really cool." I smile. I lean back in my chair, and watch Hamlet busy himself around the backyard. "The ones like you keep my faith sometimes. A lot of superstars don't give two shits about their fans, but I'm finding out that you guys down here in NXT... You appreciate them. It's a nice change of pace from the main roster." I explain. A few minutes of silence pass between us as we quietly sip on our beer.
"I was delighted you signed a contract." He comments. I only smile, because I wasn't sure what to say to that.
"You want another beer?" I offer, taking our plates into the kitchen.
"I'd love one." I hear him call back to me. I needed to pull myself together. I work for this guy. I can't be attracted to him. "Thank you." He murmurs when I hand it to him. "I honestly thought you'd want to meet at the training center, not here." He admits.
"I hate the performance center. Makes me feel like I should work out, the whole place gives me body issues. Shit, this job gives me body issues." I admit with a shrug. "Plus we might as well get to know each other, we're going to spend a lot of time together." I joke with him.
"That's true." He grins. "It's a good thing I'm quite fond of you then." He winks. If I didn't know any better I'd say he was flirting with me, but I didn't want to make that assumption.
"You're not too bad either, I guess." I shrug playfully.
"Oh ok." He laughs. "I'll take it for now." He smirks. We slipped into silence again, which wasn't really silence because Hamlet was making soft little snorting sounds as he nosed his way around the backyard. "He's really funny." He tells me, watching the pig. "How'd ya get him?"
"The lady down the street breeds tea cups pigs." I explain, "When his litter was born he was the runt, and they wouldn't let him in to nurse. She told me I could have him if I bottle fed him, so I did. He misses Stevie." I sigh.
"They were friends?" He questions.
"Stevie loved Hamlet. He'd curl up around him when they slept, he was very tolerant for an old man and being blind." I answer, "Stevie was blind when I rescued him." I add. I can remember the day exactly. The lady behind the desk was talking about putting him down because they couldn't find anyone who would foster, let alone adopt a special needs pet.
"You're a good person." He smiles. "So the pig will come on the road with you?" He asks.
"Like I'd leave him behind." I reply. I finish off my beer, and set it on the table in front of us. "Hamlet. What are you lookin' for?" I ask the pig. He glances up at me, nose all covered in dirt before going back to the little hole he'd started in my yard.
"I suppose, I don't want to intrude on you any longer. I should go." He sighs, setting his empty beer next to mine.
"You are not intruding, I can assure you that. If you weren't here I'd be on the porch doing the same thing, but alone." I chuckle.
"You don't have a boyfriend?" He questions. The question actually might have given me whip lash because I pulled back to look at him so quick. "I'm sorry." He says quickly, "Was that inappropriate to ask?" He stumbles over the words.
"No, I was just surprised it came up." I shake my head. "And no, I don't have a boyfriend. I don't have the best track record with guys." I shrug, kicking my feet up on the table.
"Why do you say that?" He asks.
"Well I have an ex that was a crazy stalker for a while, like followed me around city to city when I first got the WWE gig. Then I have the crazy, show up at my job at Disney, jealous ex boyfriend and accuse my boss of making moves on me. And my latest is the woman beating control freak." I sigh. I'm not really sure why I told him all that, he definitely didn't ask for the details. "I still hear from him every once in a while, broke my front window last week with a rock and a note."
"What'd the note say?" He wonders. I glance at him, "You don't have to answer that if you're not comfortable." He adds, noticing my nervous glance.
"It said, 'Don't think I've forgotten' and in big capital letters at the bottom it said 'WHORE'." I sigh, not wanting to admit it. "He's an asshole." I shrug simply. David wasn't a subject I liked to discuss with anyone.
"He called you a whore?" He basically growled. I only nodded, the growling caught me a little off guard. "What would he have forgotten?" He asks after a few seconds.
"That's a story for another time." I smile softly at him, really that was my way of saying I don't know you well enough to admit that part of my shitty life to you.
"Ok." He agrees, not pushing it any further. "It is late though, and I should get going. I'm due at the performance center tomorrow morning at 6." He mutters, glancing at the time on his phone. He'd been here a while now, it was just after 10pm. I smile and nod, walking him out to the door. "Have a good night." He smiles. We stand there awkwardly, he glanced down at the welcome mat before back up to my eyes.
"You too." I finally say. He nods, and hesitantly turns around heading for his car.
***...***...***
"You invited him to your house?" Kelly asks, with raised eyebrows.
"I did." I nod, not offering up any more information. Which didn't go unnoticed.
"So... What happened?" She asks me. She was dying to know, you could see it all over her face.
"Nothing really..." I shrug. "He's really nice, and every time he speaks I get more and more attracted to him. Which isn't good, because I'm about to work for him." I sigh, running my hand down my face.
"Is he interested?" She wonders. For a minute I thought she might have just been wondering to herself, but she looked at me expectantly.
"I don't know... I mean he flirts, but it's super subtle." I tell her. "He did say he enjoyed my company and he was glad I'd agreed to take the job." I add.
"He might be worth a shot." She murmurs hesitantly. I wasn't the easiest to talk about men with, sometimes I flew off the handle at people. It was a tread carefully kind of subject.
"Again, I work for him now. Not happening." I sigh.
Ok, it could possibly happen.
"Listen, you need to get over this weird commitment fear that you've got going on since you were with David." She tells me. David was the woman beating asshole. "Not every guy is going to fuck you over." She states.
"That's true." I agree. "But I won't get involved with someone I work with, it screams bad idea." I say again. She only shakes her head, but chooses not to say anything more.
***...***...***
"I brought Oreo's." Fergal grins, walking into the room I'd be painting him in. He sets down the container on the table I kept my paints on and wags his eyebrows. "You like Oreos right?" He questions.
"What idiot doesn't like Oreos?" I scoff playfully, pointing to where I wanted him to stand.
"That's a good question." He chuckles. He pulls off the Suplx shirt that he had on over his trunks and once again my heart about jumped up into my throat at the sigh of his perfectly sculpted chest.
"Alright. Do you need anything before we start, because you're not moving for a while." I say to him, pulling out my air brusher.
"I'm good." He replies. We make some small talk for an hour while I put on the base coat of paint. "So some of the guys are going to go up to Daytona beach tomorrow to jet ski, do you want to come?" He offers.
"Oh..." I murmur, still trying to focus on the painting. "I don't think so." I shake my head softly. I could hardly believe he'd just invited me out to do anything actually.
"You have plans?" He questions, raising an eyebrow at me.
"I don't think I should be hanging out with you outside of work..." I say softly. I should be honest with him, and I didn't want to do anything that could possibly threaten this job.
"You realize I was at your house drinking beers a few days ago, right?" He chuckles. "And why is that? We can't be friends?" He asks me. I chew on my lip, and continued to paint. It took a few minutes but he eventually took my wrist in his hand, forcing me to stop and look at him.
"I don't know." I sigh, standing up straight. "I think you're a really nice guy, I do... But what if something were to happen outside of work to make thing awkward or stressful here? I can't paint on someone who holds disdain towards me. I like this job. I don't want to take that risk." I explain.
"I understand." He nods. "You're supposed to leave your personal life at the door you know. I would never compromise your job here because of an argument or whatever may or may not happen between us outside these doors." He assures me.
"You say that now..." I sigh, picking up my sponge again.
"I mean it." He says, standing still again as I start back up with the painting. "If hanging out in a group setting makes you uncomfortable we could do something else." He suggests when I don't answer.
"You should go..." I murmur. I was focused on making the spots across his shoulders. "I don't want to keep you from your friends." I add.
"You're not, I can hang out with them anytime." He replies. Well, he was persistent, I'd give him that much.
"You can hang out with me anytime." I state without really thinking about it.
"In that case I'll pick you up Sunday around 11." He informs me. It took me a moment to realize what I'd said and I glanced up at him. His face was daring me to argue with him some more.
"Fine." I sigh. Another few minutes of silence pass by as I finish the teeth across his chest. "Alright, turn around so I can get this eye done." I tell him, making a twirling motion with my finger. "What are we going to do?" I ask him, trying to keep the conversation going.
"Is there something specific you'd like to do?" He asks back. A muscle in his back flexes and I give him a poke, "Sorry." He murmurs, "The brush tickles." He tells me, the same muscles twitching again.
"I'd like to go to Dave and Busters. I haven't been there." I shrug, coloring in some yellow into the eye.
"We'll go to Dave and Busters for dinner and the evening. We could go to the beach during the day." He suggests.
"I could do a beach day." I agree. "I need you to hold really still for this." I tell him, starting to go in with a fine brush for details. "Ok." I murmured after a couple minutes.
"How's me paint looking?" He questions.
"Really... Really awesome." I admit, admiring my work.
"How much longer?"
"Half hour or so." I answer, continuing my work. "I'm almost done with this eye." I tell him. It only takes a few minutes to outline everything in black, and shade a few things in. "Ok, you all done... Go wash your hands..." I say in my best Japanese voice, making him laugh.
"Wow. This is awesome." He gives it a approving nod in the mirror. "It's exactly how I designed it." He grins, "So badass."
"YOu're welcome." I chuckle, putting away my paints. "YOu know the drill, don't do anything to smear or smudge." I say, screwing some caps on.
"Lets go to catering, get some food." He says, nodding towards the door.
"No, I'm good. YOu go on ahead." I say to him. "I'm not hungry." I add, starting to put away my paints.
"Come on..." He groans, pulling at my arm. I sigh and let him pull me out the door and down the hall, where a good size group of the roster was already there. I felt awkward, I was literally covered in paint myself. "You want me to grab you some stuff?" He offers, pulling out a chair at one of the tables. "Ben (neville), this is Annabelle my painter. Annabelle, Ben." He introduces me to the other man that was sitting there.
"Good to meet you." He smiles, his English accent extremely evident. "You're very talented." He tells me, looking at Fergal who was grabbing food and piling it onto the plate.
"Thank you." I reply.
"Help yourself." Fergal says, sitting in the chair next to me. I glance at everything he'd piled up on the plate. There was some salad, fruit, a couple pizza slices and and glab of ranch. I went right in for the pizza slice, because I wasn't much of a salad girl.
"So Annabelle, how long have you been body painting?" Ben asks me, focusing his attention on me.
"I've been painting since I was little. I started body painting when I was 16." I answer. "I've done full body stuff for like festivals, photo shoots and stuff." I say to him.
"Very cool." He grins. I hadn't really noticed any of the guys who worked here, but Ben was definitely cute. Those ears though... Were so adorable. "Well, Fergal has only said amazing things about you." He tells me. I glance over at Fergal, who had buried himself into his plate, red with what had to have been embarrassment though I'm not sure why.
"I was lucky to have gotten someone as chill and relaxed as him." I say to Ben, "He makes what could be a really stressful job super easy."
"Awesome." Ben says, "Makes work easier." He nods in agreement. We get up a half hour or so later, Fergal tossing the plate into the trash and pushing the door open for both of us.
"Have a good match, be safe." I say to him.
"Thank you." He smiles, stretching his neck out back and forth. I stand with him until his music starts, before excusing myself to grab my stuff and head home.
A/N: Yay. I'm glad I had such awesome feedback from the first chapter, makes me happy that you guys enjoy my story/ies