Chapter V: Figuring It Out
Therese talked Stephanie into leaving the arena early, only after the general manager gave strict instructions to her staff and after McMahon and Hogan had left. Once at the hotel, Therese asked her a thousand times if there was anything she could do to help her. All Stephanie wanted to do was lay down. She didn't want to sleep, just rest. Once settled in the bed with her laptop and remote control, she sent Therese out of the room, tired of her hovering around. "One thing before you go." Therese stopped in the doorway. "Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?"
"Would you prefer I go back to being me?"
"It was a simple question."
"Whether or not you believe it, I am a human being. Every once and a while, I get on this weird streak." Therese shrugged her shoulders. "Take it for what it's worth." She was feeling sorry for Stephanie. She happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and couldn't be held at fault—too much. Therese knew it was not in her nature to be so angry at someone she didn't know. Yet, she felt like she knew Stephanie all too well, enough to know that she couldn't stand being around her.
Stephanie could see gleams of kindness in Therese every once and a while. She admitted that she, herself, was the instigator of some of their "heated" conversation. But if Therese didn't act like she did, Stephanie wouldn't need to be so hateful. With the pain subsiding quite a bit, she snuggled into the pillow, thinking about drifting off to sleep, when her cellphone rang.
"How ya doing, sugar?"
"Shawn?" she asked, struggling to sit up.
"Yeah, it's me. Watched the show and wanted to check on you," Shawn Michaels said on the other end.
"I'm fine, as always. I've got a nice headache and backache that won't be a problem after a good night's sleep."
"Glad to know. Can I ask a favor of you?"
"Yeah, what do you need?" she asked, her heart beating a little faster than normal.
"Can you give me Therese's cellphone number?"
"What?" She sat straight up, causing her head to start pounding.
"Your assistant? Her number?" Shawn asked with a "duh" sound to his voice.
"Do you want to date her too?" Stephanie sarcastically asked.
"Excuse me?"
"Just a moment." Stephanie shifted papers around but couldn't remember where she had put the number. She found the hotel room number for the next night. "Here is the hotel room she's staying in tomorrow night and here's the hotel number." She called it out slowly, giving Shawn time to write it down. "Why do you want it?"
"I'm trying set her up with Kevin."
"Really?"
"Yeah, the two of them would make a great couple." Shawn smiled as he spoke and Stephanie could tell over the phone.
"I'm sure of it," she mumbled.
"I better go and let you get your beauty sleep, like you need it though."
Stephanie giggled before she realized it. "You're just a suck-up. Goodnight, Shawn."
"Goodnight, Steph." She canceled the call at his words and snuggled into the pillow again. You've got my number. Try asking me sometime. She sighed and turned the light out to watch some late night television.
When Stephanie had given Therese's number to Shawn, she had assumed that they would have been in Philadelphia, the next venue for RAW, long before they actually were. Apparently the national threat level had risen again because customs were an absolute pain. The two of them had spent most of the day in either of the airports. Therese had expected to hear Stephanie whine about the situation but she only mentioned once about the lines being unusually long but how it was much better than a year and a half ago. Therese was embarrassed about expecting Stephanie to be an annoying complainer but wasn't. She almost couldn't believe her eyes when Stephanie pulled out Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. She faked curiosity in the book to get her hands on it to see if Stephanie had switched dusk jackets to cover up for some other book. Therese had been quite occupied in just watching people interact.
At the hotel, however, Sports Center and the fourth Harry Potter book occupied Therese. She had to get it read before The Order of the Phoenix came out in June. Evan would want the fifth installment and she wanted to be ready to read it with him to make up for her "abandoning" him however much longer it would be. Therese's heart hit her feet when the phone rang. No one should be calling her on the hotel line, so she immediately thought that someone had figured them out. Taking a big breath, she hesitantly answered the phone.
**********
Kevin Nash looked up from polishing his boots when Shawn Michaels bounded into his living room. "What's got you all in a good mood this time?"
"Nuttin' much," he replied, shrugging his shoulders and handing him his cell phone. "Here, listen."
"What—" Nash began to ask as he put the phone to his ear. "It's ringing!" He shoved the phone back at Shawn. Then he heard a feminine voice answer the phone. Shawn pushed the phone back at him and mouthed "It's Therese Blair." Kevin rolled his eyes and cradled the phone to his head. "Therese? Hi! It's Kevin Nash. How ya doin'?"
Therese was totally surprised to hear Nash's voice. "I'm doing fine. I saw the rest of RAW. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just a little banged up, but nothing out of the ordinary. I saw you on SmackDown! and thought you looked great."
"What? For the actual five seconds you saw me?" she sarcastically asked, annoyed that she was on camera enough for him to notice.
Nash laughed and then asked, "Is Stephanie running you ragged yet?"
"Not too bad. I'm staying busy but Stephanie's being good to me."
The phone ringing had brought Stephanie out of her reverie of Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility. When she heard her name, she climbed out of bed and headed into the other room.
"Give me a chance and let's have dinner tomorrow night. I need encouragement for the last show before the pay-per-view," Nash said, honey dripping from his mouth.
"I can't. Don't get me wrong. I really want to." And I'm not lying! "It's just that I have so much to do." When Stephanie heard Therese's words, an epiphany struck and she quickly sat down on the bed, muttering to her to tell Nash to hold on. "Kevin, um, can you hold on a minute?"
"Sure."
"Is that Nash asking you out again?" Therese nodded in the affirmative. "Is Shawn Michaels around?"
"How am I supposed to know?"
"Just listen." Therese put the receiver back up to her ear to hear Shawn making up lines for Nash to use to get Therese to change her mind.
"Yes, he's there."
"Give me the phone," Stephanie demanded, holding out her hand for the phone.
"What?"
"Give me the phone." Stephanie jerked it from her and began speaking. "Kevin, hi. It's Stephanie."
"Stephanie! I haven't talked to you in awhile." Nash sounded surprised to hear her. Shawn perked up more, if that was possible, at Stephanie's name.
"Yeah, I'm always busy," she sighed wearily.
"I take it from how busy you're keeping your assistant."
"Can I talk to Shawn?"
"Yeah, hold on a minute." Kevin handed him the phone, mouthing that it was Stephanie, as Shawn he didn't already know.
"Hey, babe. What's going on? Think you can let your girl have a night off?"
"I bet I can talk her into going out with Kevin, if I go out with them on a double date. I just don't have a date and three's a crowd," she said, pouting.
Therese couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Stephanie!" She jumped up from her seat at the head of the bed and dove for the receiver. Stephanie barely managed to slide off the bed in time. She put her hand out to hold Therese off, pushing her away each time she reached for the phone. Therese considered using her skills to put her on the floor and take it away until she heard Stephanie accept Shawn's offer to take her on the date. Then she knew it was no use.
On the other end of the line, Shawn turned back around to Kevin, smiling and nodding his head. "Good. We'll pick y'all up tomorrow at…" Nash shrugged his shoulders and then mouthed "seven." Shawn nodded again. "Seven?"
"Great. We'll be ready. See you!" Stephanie lightly dropped the receiver back on the cradle. She flashed a smile at Therese who was livid.
"How dare you? You have absolutely no business doing that!"
"It gets me out of this hotel room without it having to be business and the both of us going was the only way."
"You could have set us up with any—oh…" Therese smiled with a knowing look.
"Oh, what?"
"You've got it bad for Shawn Michaels, don't you?"
"I don't have it bad for him," she said nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders.
"Ha! You've got something for him though. It's so easy to see now. So, how bad is it?"
"I don't know. A little maybe." Therese stared at her without moving. "Okay, okay. It's not an obsession. I think I've always liked Shawn."
"Even when you were with Hunter?"
"Well, yeah, but I loved Hunter," she sighed but then continued, "I just knew that if Hunter never existed, I could easily have fallen for Shawn."
"If Hunter never existed, you would never have hooked up with any of them anyhow," Therese added sarcastically.
"Geez, just go with the idea, okay?" Therese nodded, indicating she should continue. Stephanie fell silent, obvious in thought as she recalled what went through her mind earlier in the week about dating Shawn. "I shouldn't have done that," she said, quietly. "I'm not ready to move on. I'll call Shawn back and cancel."
Stephanie rose to leave but Therese pulled her back down. "Wait. You need to get out. You're overworked and overstressed. This situation is keeping you from social interaction. It'll be good for you." Stephanie shook her head. "Just let everything go and enjoy yourself."
"Alright, I'll go. It's not like I'm agreeing to marry him…Are you trying to make me go so that you can go out with Kevin?"
"What?"
"I've got you figured out," Stephanie said, smiling. "So, tell me. What do you think about him? I know you watch wrestling. That's obvious."
"How do you know?" Therese asked very accusingly.
"You know way too much about the shows."
"When that's all your dad and brother watch and talk about it, you can't miss it," she replied, rolling her eyes.
"You like it. I can see that."
"Alright, I won't lie. I can watch it but I'm not a huge fan. ShopZone only has my credit card number because of what I have bought my brother."
"Hmmm…So, is Kevin a part of what you can watch?" Stephanie prodded.
"Stephanie!"
"Well?"
"Well…yeah…he is very attractive and obviously a passionate man. His temper, however, well, you saw that Monday night," Therese answered, picking at a frayed end of the coverlet.
"You've got him pegged, but there's so much more. Between Shawn and Hunter, I know more than I probably want to know. He's got good qualities and then he's got faults. But who doesn't?"
"True. But that's not why I've been trying to blow him off. I can't date anyone during this stint. Your safety is my responsibility and I can't go off and leave you alone. This isn't just some office job. It could be a matter of life or death." Stephanie closed her eyes and dropped her head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up like that," Therese quickly added.
"No, I haven't been taking this very seriously…Anyhow, we solved that problem this time since we'll both be there."
"Yeah, I guess so…" Oh, the problems that you don't know…
**********
TBC…