Many Thanks must go out to Christina89, JessiandCharlie and Kirstein Renee Orton! Sorry for keeping you waiting this long but I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 3: Types of People
A good hour and a half into their journey, the two in the backseat, Drew and Justin, were snoring. Drew's snores were the loudest noises she had ever heard from someone who was sleeping, Justin's were much softer, more like a sigh that he was releasing as he remained in dreamland.
Quinn curled her legs up onto the seat, shoving her feet under her bum as she watched the passing signs along the highway. Her eyes were on high alert for the sign belonging to the turn off. The car had been rather quiet since they had pulled out of the rental car company parking lot, no one had really said much, especially not to Quinn. Drew had merely smirked at her, she was surprised when he didn't try to flirt with her. Justin had fallen asleep almost as soon as he had gotten into the car and Wade was so focused on driving that he barely said anything more than 'Where am I going' to the girl riding in the front seat.
She turned her head and looked at the large man driving, he looked absolutely focused on the road, not letting anything distract him, not even the gorgeous girl in the front of the car with him. She discretely studied his features, his nose, as crooked as a fishhook was the most dominating feature on his hardened face. She was rather curious to find out how it had gotten to be so out of place but had decided that talking about his crooked nose was an inappropriate way to start a conversation with a man she barely knew. Being rude was not part of Quinn's plan and she certainly wasn't going to bring up how weird it was to look at a man whose nose wasn't straight.
"You don't have to stay quiet love." He said softly, his eyes remaining glued to the road. Perhaps he felt her stare; maybe he knew what she was thinking. He certainly would have had to explain the nose to other people in other conversations; maybe he was accustomed to it being a topic of conversation. Maybe he was just bored and lonely, something Quinn could easily relate to.
"Sorry." She blushed, knowing that he couldn't see her cheeks turning pink for his eyes were not moving away from the road ahead.
"That's quite alright, maybe you're simply tired from the festivities of New Year's Eve?"
"Oh yeah, that's totally it." She replied in a sarcastic tone, instantly regretting the way she had said it. He hadn't known she spent the night crying and feeling incredibly lonely. For all she knew, he thought she had gone out and had the night of her life, maybe ending up back in her hotel room with some random guy who had ravished her into the early hours of the morning, maybe he thought she had met more than one guy.
"Not a good New Year's then?" He pressed.
"Let's just say that I've had better." Quinn stated firmly, adding a nod of her head to solidify her statement.
"Well Justin there, he was dancing with some bird last night and she threw up all over his trousers. Needless to say, we called it a night early because he smelt so rotten." Wade added with a hearty laugh.
She felt her heart flutter at the warmth of his tone. The more he spoke to her, the more she felt that maybe someone did care. Perhaps the one and only Wade Barrett was the person who she needed most.
"No lucky midnight kiss for you then?" She chuckled, suddenly praying that he would say no. She barely knew the man driving yet already she was unprepared to hear about him being with another girl.
It wasn't jealously in the normal, romantic sense, not by any means. Quinn had become accustomed to being jealous in the last few months but because other people were happy and having fun. Always being excluded or left out, her anxiety of being constantly abandoned by those who were supposed to be her friends had caused her to become a bitter person towards anyone who was having a better time with their life than she was.
"I'm not exactly that kind of person." He chuckled back.
She turned to look at him, preparing herself to study his features further but at the exact moment she looked over at him, he glanced back at her, for the first time since he turned the car on, he peeled his eyes off the road and looked at her. For a split second, Quinn saw the soft smile playing at his lips, but all too quickly it was gone, he had turned his face back towards the road and Quinn was left to wonder what was going on in his head.
"Alright, well what kind of person are you?" She asked, not wanting the conversation to stop, the silence she had previously experienced had been almost too much for her to handle and she almost feared it would come back.
"What kind of person am I? What kind of person would you say I am?" he asked her right back, a tone of amusement taking over his voice.
"A nice one." Quinn answered confidently.
"A nice one, is that all?"
"Okay, a nice person who seems to have some sort of torrid past. I mean, I can tell you with confidence that you had a rough time when you were younger that resulted in some major trauma to your nose, you seem like the kind of guy who wants to make sure that people get what they deserve, I mean you saw this poor girl this morning-"
"You." He nodded.
"-Yes, me and you didn't leave her behind. At the same time though, if you thought someone deserved to be left behind, I don't think you'd have any problem doing so."
"What makes you say that?"
"It all comes back to your nose." She smiled goofily, crossing her arms over her chest.
"My nose yeah?"
"It's obviously been broken more than once and I can safely say that you probably put up a fight because well, if someone broke my nose, I wouldn't just let them walk away without trying to get back at them. So you're the kind of guy who has absolutely no problem going after people who deserve it."
He remained quiet once she had finished and instantly Quinn felt small. She hadn't intended to strike a nerve and his absolute silence seemed not to sit too well with her. She waited patiently, praying that she hadn't already screwed up a relationship that hadn't even started. He gripped the steering wheel tighter, she spotted his knuckles as they turned white. Slowly he glanced over at her, Quinn mentally prepared herself for his anger at her but instead of laying into her, he simply laughed. A deep, hearty, bubbling up from the belly kind of laugh.
"Spot on love." He nodded, as he continued to laugh. She relaxed in the seat and nodded to herself. Not everyone was like Randy she figured, maybe there were people out there who actually liked talking to her, who wanted to be around her. Maybe Wade Barrett could be one of those people.
"Now it's your turn." She smiled.
"My turn for what?"
"Now you get to tell me what kind of person I am."
Wade nodded his understanding and stole another glance at her. He hadn't by any means had any time to take in her features so she had an advantage by knowing that his nose had been broken before. Wade had nothing to base his opinions on, at least nothing physical. He had thought of her the night before, wondering how he could possibly work in the same company as the woman and yet not know who she was. She wasn't by any means ugly, in fact she was one of the most beautiful Divas he had ever laid eyes on. The other thing that he noticed was that she hadn't thrown herself at him like many of the other female wrestlers.
"Quinn, you are the kind of person who is grateful for even the smallest things."
She just looked at him. Yes, indeed she was that type of person but she was expecting quite a bit more from him. After all, she had given him a good bout of information about him and so far all he had come up with was that she was grateful.
"Well, I think I should be grateful. You guys giving me a ride means that I didn't have to spend the day waiting for a car, which means that I don't have to explain to Vince why I'm late to the venue-"
"You're a people pleaser," He cut her off but smiled at her, "God forbid you make someone angry or frustrated with you, I'm guessing that's why you haven't said hardly anything since you got into the car. Aiming to please is something you're quite familiar with and you'd rather not cause any kind of inconvenience to anyone. You said you slept through your alarm, and by the looks of your choice of outfit, I'd say you rushed to get out of the hotel which means that you're the type of person who gets embarrassed by trivial things like sleeping through an alarm. You'd rather hide your mistakes than face the embarrassment of trying to make excuses."
"I, um-"
"How am I doing so far?" He questioned with a large grin.
Quinn's cheeks turned bright red at the confident oozing off his tone. She turned her head and looked out the side window, resting her forehead against the cool glass as she did so. She had never had anyone say anything even remotely close to what he said, yet he was pretty much hitting the bullseye. She never, ever, pushed Randy to tell her what his plans were if he didn't want her to know, she would never even dream of making him upset with her. She had done so once and it hadn't turned out so well. Recalling the days spent groveling for his forgiveness wasn't something that Quinn did often, she absolutely hated that she had screwed up with him and she did damn near everything she possibly could to get him to no longer be mad at her.
She even recalled the one time that Ted had gotten upset over something Quinn had said. He grew angry at her, telling her that what he did was none of her business, even if he had blown her off more than once with the same excuse. When Quinn had asked about the excuse he had blatantly made up, that was when he grew angry, claiming that he didn't have to tell her every little thing about his life. She had backed off immediately, salvaging her relationship with him by lying to him and telling him that she was worried about him, he had softened at her words right back, even forgiving her for blowing up. She knew she could be frustrating sometimes but Ted was the last person she had ever figured would pass her up for someone else.
"So what happened to your nose anyway?" Quinn asked, not wanting him to dig into her life any more. She no longer cared about upsetting him, he had shown her enough that she figured he was pretty open about that sort of thing.
"I used to box back in England. A few blokes had their shot to bugger it up."
She nodded her understanding, feeling guilty for asking about his life now when she wanted nothing more than for him to never find out another thing about hers. He seemed to judge her fairly easily, picking up on her flaws. She was a people pleaser and that wasn't something she was proud of.
"How many times have you broken it?"
"I lost count after twenty." He laughed again.
Quinn joined him in laughing, feeling the urge to just enjoy the moment. She hadn't laughed in quite a few days now and she seized her opportunity. There was something to be said about feeling miserable more often than not, and after days of being left alone, Quinn now sat in a car with three people she barely knew, one of which was starting to grow on her.
"Well I think it adds character." Quinn stated with a smile.
XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX
She had left the guys at the car as soon as they arrived at the hotel they were supposed to be staying at for the duration of the Smackdown taping for the week. Wade had said his goodbyes, even helping her out by lifting her suitcase out of the trunk. She would never admit it out loud but her ride with the three of them was one of the nicest, most relaxing rides she had been on in a long time.
For the most part, she had been making most of her drives alone, ever since Randy had given her the cold shoulder. She knew he didn't really like having her around as much as he used to, and she wasn't about to get in between him and the guys. So instead of standing up for herself and riding along with Randy, Cody and Ted, she just headed to each new city on her own. It was easier to deal with her emotions if she didn't have to put on a happy face for all of her friends to see.
She lugged her suitcase up to the front desk and set it down gently on the carpeted floor in front of the large oak desk. The young lady stood on the opposite side, a fake smile plastered on her face. Quinn bent down and unzipped the side pocket on her suitcase, pulling out her wallet before standing up straight and forcing a smile back at the girl.
"How can I help you today Miss?" The girl asked, her tone was way too pleasant and cheery. Quinn shook her head; clearly this girl had been playing the happy person for way too long.
"I'm with the World Wrestling Entertainment Company-"
"Alright Miss, can I get a name?"
"Quinn O'Reilly." Quinn answered, brushing off the fact that the girl had cut her off.
Quinn rested her elbow on the edge of the oak desk and tapped the edge of her wallet on the surface. She glanced behind her and watched carefully as Wade, Drew and Justin all took seats on the oversized leather couch residing in the center of the lobby. She turned her attention back to the girl and smiled at the sounds of typing. The process wasn't by any means new to Quinn but the familiar sounds of the keyboard always seemed to make her feel less anxious to be in a new hotel.
Seconds later the girl behind the desk looked up at Quinn and flashed anther overly cheery smile. Quinn popped the dome on her wallet, preparing herself to hand over her identification, something she knew the girl would ask for. Once the girl saw the wallet opening in Quinn's hand, she remained quiet, waiting to see if Quinn would hand over exactly what she wanted.
"Do I have a roommate at all?" Quinn inquired as she dug out her license and handed it over.
"I believe you are the only person in your room tonight Miss O'Reilly." The girl nodded, taking the license and studying it carefully.
Nodding, Quinn waited in silence for her room key now. She turned around and caught sight of the three guys yet again, but there was a fourth person standing in front of the couch talking to them. She nodded again, recognizing who it was. When he turned his attention towards her, he smiled wide, gripped his bag on his shoulder tighter and jogged over to stand next to her.
"How was Georgia, Cody?" She asked, reaching out and taking her license as the girl handed it back.
"It was great until I got stuck at the damn airport on New Year's Eve." He groaned, watching the girl behind the desk now as she handed the credit card-like key over to Quinn before looking at the girl now too. "I have a room too, Cody Rhodes."
"Do you have identification?" The girl asked.
Cody reached into his back pocket and pulled out his beat up old leather wallet before flipping it open. He slipped his license out of one of the pockets and handed it to her before turning his attention back onto Quinn.
"So what'd you do for New Year's?" She asked, hoping that he had just as miserable a night as she did.
"I spent it at the airport. Mom and dad showed up before midnight so I guess I wasn't totally alone. What about you? What'd you end up doing, did you and Randy hang out?"
Quinn simply shook her head, not wanting to get into what had happened between her and Randy. If she was quite honest, she was still rather upset at him walking away from her and not even inviting her to hang around. She knew Cody had probably spoken to Ted, the two of them were the closest in the group, and if he hadn't talked to Ted about the man's plans, he would have asked Quinn if she had hung out with Ted too.
"So what'd you do then?" He asked, taking his license back from the girl, putting it back in his wallet before shoving the wallet back in his pocket. He then grabbed the room key from the girl and turned towards the elevators.
"Oh, not much of anything, my mom called and she just kept talking. I couldn't exactly tell the woman who raised me to be quiet because I had to go out. I ended up in my room for most of the night." Quinn answered reluctantly, bending the truth so that Cody didn't know how she had really spent the night.
"Oh, that's sucky. At least you talked to your mom right?"
"Yeah." Quinn forced a nervous laugh, following Cody as he took off for the elevators.
"I'm room 212, what about you?"
"224."
"Oh cool, that's pretty close! We should definitely hang out."
Quinn just nodded as he reached the elevator, shooting his free hand out to push the button that had the number two on it. She didn't say another word as they boarded the elevator together, instead she looked back at the lobby and stared at the three guys who had been sitting on the couch, only now they were at the front desk. She watched them until the elevator doors shut and she could no longer see them, setting everything in her life back to the way it had been before the New Year even began.
Review?