Author's notes: We'd like to thank Be-Urself-NoOne-Else-Will, cassymae, OneTreeHillWrestilingFan, RasslinChick, Takersgurl35 and IMissPadfoot for your reviews. We're glad you're all enjoying the story so far and we really appreciate the support.
Chapter Five: Losing My Mind
Marissa woke on Sunday morning with a pounding headache, which was odd, as she had only had two glasses of white wine in the nightclub the previous night. Seeing Kate still sleeping soundly in her bed, the redhead tiptoed around the hotel room to shower and change. Just as the video tech was pulling on a cream sweatshirt, her cell went off. Not wanting it to wake her sleeping friend, she quickly answered it.
"Morning, Doll. I didn't wake you, did I?" came a deep voice at the other end.
The redhead froze realizing it was Cena's voice on the other end of the phone. She was not expecting a call from the wrestler and wondered what he could want, especially at this early hour in the morning.
John, who had been waiting for Marissa to reply, began to worry when the woman said nothing in return. "Hey, Marissa are you there?"
Finally finding her voice and mind, the woman recovered to answer. "Yeah, sorry, it's a little too early for my brain to be functioning properly," she half lied.
"Too early? It's like eleven already," informed the wrestler.
Marissa looked down at her watch and realized the man was telling the truth. "Oh, jeez, I must have slept in. Good thing you called in that case," she replied with a sigh and leaned up against the vanity.
"I have my uses. So, did you have a good time at the club last night? I saw you leave early and Dave mentioned you were unwell. I hope you're okay?" checked Cena.
"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine, thanks. It was just a little too hot in there. Did you have a good time?" asked the redhead, beginning to pick at a stray end of a washcloth beside the sink.
"Yeah, it was a blast. It's just a shame you couldn't have stayed longer. We didn't really get a chance to chat," the wrestler went on.
"Yeah, but we couldn't have really heard each other over the music anyway," reasoned the video tech, doubting that not speaking to her had ruined Cena's night. Actually, he was probably glad when she had left so he could hook up with some stunning blonde-haired woman.
"True but we'll get a chance to talk tonight. You and Kate are still on for ice skating, right?" asked the WWE Champion.
"Yeah, still meeting in the lobby at eight-thirty?" the redhead double-checked.
"Yup. Well, I guess I'll see you then if I don't catch you in the arena before hand. Have yourself a good day," wished the wrestler.
"Yeah, you too. I'll see you later," Marissa replied.
"Bye."
"Bye," replied the redhead, forgetting to hang up. She was startled by the dial tone ringing in her ear and mentally shook herself with the admonition to wake up.
Clipping shut her cell, Marissa stepped out of the bathroom and fell onto the bed with a sigh. Oh my goodness! Not being able to wait any longer to share who had just called with her friend, the redhead bounded over to Kate's bed to wake the sleeping woman.
"Kate? Kate? Are you awake?" she asked. No reply came from the brunette, so the video tech shook her a little. Still nothing. Shaking her friend a little harder, Marissa practically shouted, "Katherine Megan Alistair, are you awake?"
Kate peered out of one scrunched up eye, using her right hand to shield herself from the light and sleepily replied, "For the love of all that is holy, calm down. Where's the fire?"
"Sorry," the redhead apologized, sitting down on the end of the bed as her friend propped herself up on the pillow.
"So, what's the big emergency that you had to shout at me to wake me?" the brunette asked, still adjusting to the light.
"John just called," informed Marissa with a squeal.
"John who?" questioned the sound engineer, still not awake enough to realize the implications of her friend's statement.
"Cena, silly. Why, how many other Johns do you know?" teased the redhead.
Trying to comprehend what on earth Marissa was so excited about, Kate forced her eyes to focus. "So, what did he want?" she asked.
"To check if I was okay after last night and see if we're still going ice skating," informed the video tech. "Isn't he just the sweetest?"
"I guess if you go for that sort of thing," shrugged Kate. "So lemme get this right? You woke me at the butt crack of dawn from a dream I was having about Johnny Depp just to tell me John Cena called?"
"Well, it's important to me. Obviously you're too wrapped up in hitting on every guy that comes within ten feet of you to care about my life," bit Marissa, angry by her friend's lack of interest and still a little annoyed at how the brunette had behaved in the club the night before.
"Christ, Marissa, don't start this again. I told you I'm sorry for dancing with John, okay? If you're that damn bothered by it, you should have danced with him sooner instead of acting like a moron around him," Kate raged back, growing very tired of this fight. She hadn't meant to be so harsh to her friend. However, the last thing the sound engineer needed after a night of dancing and drinking was to be awoken by the redhead only to have her chide actions that were completely innocent. The woman thought this was settled last night.
"I'm a moron now, am I? Well, how about you go on this date tonight on your own. Then you can have both Dave and John to yourself. You'd like that, wouldn't you? Two men fighting over you," Marissa shouted, getting off the bed, storming into the restroom, and slamming the door. She jerked it back open and yelled, "By the way, it's not the butt crack of dawn, you lazy cow. That was five hours ago! And stop using 'Christ' as a cuss word!" With that, the door slammed again.
Kate rolled her eyes and snuggled down back under the duvet. She knew from past experience that it was best to leave Marissa to calm down before talking things through with her. The woman hadn't been this interested in a guy since Maddie's father and the brunette was starting to get a little worried about her. Still, time was a factor in letting her boil over and then cool off.
Inside the restroom, the redhead turned on the shower under the pretence of having a wash. Really though, it was to drown out the noise of her sobs so Kate would not hear her crying.
The video tech felt guilty about blowing up at her friend and for using things that were not true against her. However, this whole situation with Cena had gotten her really wound up. Marissa still could not figure out why the wrestler had agreed to go out with her in the first place and had become increasingly insecure as their date neared. That, coupled with seeing Cena dancing with Kate last night, had driven the redhead over the edge. In her opinion the WWE Champion - who was incredibly sexy and had a body that could turn any red blooded woman's head - had no reason to be pursuing a dowdy, Roman Catholic, single mother, who knew more about Disney cartoon characters than she did about dating.
Pulling a few sheets of toilet paper from the roll to wipe her eyes, Marissa straightened herself out. It was ridiculous to be fretting this much over a guy and even more so to be arguing with Kate about him. The two had been friends for just over seven years and had been living together in Marissa's parents' house for three of those. In all their years of friendship, the two women had never fought over a man before, even when Marissa had disapproved of Kate's ex-boyfriend Austin.
Walking sheepishly out of the restroom, the redhead found the sound engineer getting dressed. However, the brunette was becoming frustrated when she couldn't fasten the zipper on the back of her pants.
"Here, let me?" offered Marissa as way of an olive branch.
"Thanks," replied Kate, gratefully letting her friend do up the pants.
"I'm sorry for having a go at you. I shouldn't have used what happened last night against you," apologized the redhead. "I know it's no excuse, but this date with Cena is really screwing with my head."
"It's okay. It's not like we haven't all got a little ga-ga over a guy before," replied Kate, genuinely. "I'm sorry too; I shouldn't have called you a moron and teased you about how you act around Cena."
"It doesn't matter. To be honest, I have been acting like a bit of a fool recently," the other woman confessed.
"Well, hopefully after tonight, you'll have no reason to doubt his interest in you," reassured the sound engineer, hoping against all hope that she was indeed telling the truth.
"Fingers crossed. However I've still got seven hours to stress about it and pick out an outfit," complained Marissa.
"I know, what about we order in for lunch then I'll help you pick out something to wear before we have to head to the arena?" offered the brunette and then laughed. "At least we got it down to three outfits before we left home."
"Thanks, I'd like that a lot. You always look so good when you go out. Me, I just look like some dowdy soccer-mom," whined the redhead.
"Don't be silly, all you need is a little more confidence in yourself," insisted Kate. "When I'm finished with you, Cena won't be able to take is eyes off you."
The two women ordered some room service sandwiches for brunch and then began rooting through their suitcases for clothes to wear that night.
Kate's idea of nice turned out to be just plain blue jeans and a sweater for the date. However, Marissa insisted that was far too casual for an evening out with the two most desirable men in wrestling.
"Well, if Dave is too stuck up to accept me as I am, he can get lost," protested the brunette as the video tech tried to coerce her into something a little more fancy looking.
"He is not stuck up. However, you cannot expect to go out dressed for a night at home," insisted Marissa.
"Okay, what about this," suggested Kate jokingly, holding up a very skimpy black dress.
"And it is not appropriate to go on a first date looking like a hooker either," teased Marissa, wondering when the brunette had bought that and what she planned on doing with it.
"Why not? I could be like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman," stated the sound engineer facetiously. "Besides, that's a lingerie slip for one of my skirts, silly." The redhead fell about laughing as Kate threw the garment back into her suitcase. "Okay, is this alright?" inquired the brunette, picking out a pair of chocolate coloured gaucho pants.
"Ohh, those are gorgeous," agreed Marissa. "What would you wear them with though?"
"How about with my brown knee high boots, that I brought last week, and the cream peasant blouse you brought me for Christmas?" suggested the sound engineer. She had packed the outfit in case Marissa threw a hissy fit over the jeans and sweater and now she was letting the redhead think that she had kept Kate from disaster. She had told her not to worry, that she'd come up with something nice; she just hadn't wanted to.
"Yeah, that'd look fantastic, especially teamed with that wide suede belt my mother brought you for your last birthday," the other woman added.
"Oh, yeah, you mean this one?" Kate added, pulling the belt out of her suitcase. Actually, she had several things that would go with it in her luggage.
With the sound engineer's outfit now sorted, the two women turned to settling on Marissa's attire for the evening. However, this proved a little more difficult as the redhead didn't bring two of the ones they had picked out at home, deciding they were too revealing for a first date.
The video tech was very reserved in her fashion sense, sticking mainly to her work uniform, business suits or tailored dresses. It was on very rare occasions that Kate had actually seen the redhead dressed in something sexy and feminine. "You know, chick, you really need to cut loose and wear something a little different," insisted Kate. "Cena will be thinking he's dating a nun if you show up in one of your dresses. You should have stuck with what I picked out to begin with."
"What's wrong with my dresses? I like them and besides I don't want him thinking I'm easy or anything. Not that he probably doesn't think that already, what with me having a child out of wed lock," protested Marissa.
"Damn, Cissa, you're starting to sound like your father. I swear that man is brainwashing you.
It does not make you a whore just because you had Maddie when you weren't married. If anything it makes you stronger, because you kept her even after that loser Greg deserted you," reassured the brunette. They had had this conversation way too many times already.
"I know but I'm still not going out dressed like some harlot and giving John the wrong idea," asserted the redhead.
"Do I look like a harlot when I go out?" questioned Kate, to which Marissa shook her head. "Good, then you can borrow something of mine."
The video tech begrudgingly agreed as the other woman held up a pair of grey wide-leg satin pants and a rose coloured camisole top that was fringed in lace. Teamed with her cross necklace, some high-heeled sandals and a cashmere wrap, Marissa tried on the outfit. "I don't know, Kate. Isn't it a bit full on for ice skating?" questioned the redhead.
"Don't forget, were going out for dinner afterwards and besides you look great in those clothes," reassured the brunette.
"Really? You think I look okay?" asked Marissa.
"Really, I do. You're gonna throw Cena for a loop when he sees you," said Kate with a broad grin.
Satisfied that her appearance was alright, the video tech changed out of the outfit and hung it in the closet, along with the chocolate gaucho pants and peasant blouse her friend would be wearing. The two women then straightened up the room before getting ready for the show. The wrestling event in Montreal that afternoon was an early one, meaning that the two crew-members now had just over an hour before they were due to meet Brad and Josh so that they could drive together to the arena.
Kate took a shower as Marissa checked that they had everything they'd need for work. Then, when the brunette returned, they both changed into their required khakis and WWE T-shirts, which they had to wear for all houseshows. With a quick spritz of perfume, they grabbed their purses and headed off.
"How are you feeling about tonight?" asked Kate, as the other women stepped into the elevator.
"Pretty good actually. I've decided to stop acting like some pathetic schoolgirl with a crush and actually speak to Cena tonight. How about you, are you nervous at all?" inquired Marissa.
"Nope, not one iota. It's no big deal really, we're just going ice skating then for dinner," replied the brunette, calmly.
Marissa wondered how her friend could be so blasé about an evening out with Dave Batista and John Cena. The redhead was more worried about their date than she had been about giving birth to her daughter. If she didn't know the bigger wrestler so well already and would do anything to spend some time with the WWE Champion, the video tech would have gone running from the suggestion. Her nerves had put her in the position where she was almost ready to give up on the notion of getting her best friend and Dave together.
However, Kate's answer was a little far from the truth. For some odd reason she couldn't quite fathom, the sound engineer was feeling restless at the thought of spending the evening with Dave Batista. If it hadn't been for the fact that Marissa was so into John, she'd have backed out already. Matters weren't helped by the fact that the woman thought she and the wrestler would have nothing in common. He hadn't exactly sparked her interest at the club the previous night. Never the less, Kate had promised both Marissa and Cena that she would go on this date and she was determined to see it through.
When they arrived at the arena, the two crewmembers headed off in separate directions, Kate to the gorilla position to start queuing wrestlers' entrance tracks for the night and Marissa to check that all her monitors were working as they should be. As the redhead was toying with the lead to one of her screens, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Expecting the worst and for it to be John Cena seeing her covered with dust and her hair a mess, the woman turned around and her fears were confirmed. The WWE Champion was standing just feet behind her with a cheeky grin on his face.
Marissa wanted to run and hide, that smile always reduced her to a blubbering pool of jello.
However, she reminded herself of her new promise to be more confident around him and spoke. "Hey, John, what're you up to?" she asked.
"Nothing much, just chilling before my match later," he replied with a heart melting smile. "How about you?"
She wanted to reply by saying she was mentally undressing him in her head, but she knew better and, instead, answered, "Just checking that all the monitors are alright before the show starts."
"Cool. So, did you and Kate have a good afternoon? Did you get up to anything interesting?" the brown-haired man inquired.
The video tech thought it probably wasn't the best idea to tell the object of her desires that she'd actually had a row with her friend over him. "Yeah, we didn't do much though. Just picked out something to wear for tonight," she casually informed.
Cena raised a questioning eyebrow, amazed that women could spend hours fussing over clothes for something as simple as going ice-skating. However, he was more than a little intrigued too. He found Marissa to be very cute and started imagining her all dressed up for their date later. As the wrestler pictured her in something other than her work clothes, his cheeks flushed and, for once in his life, he failed to answer a woman straight away. This worried him a little as he was only going out with the redhead so that he could set her friend Kate up with Dave Batista. "Oh, cool, I can't wait to see what you decided on. So, where do you wanna go for dinner, got any preferences?" he asked.
Back to my room and having you for desert, she thought. "Not really, I'm good with anything. You can decide what you'd like or we could leave it to Dave and Kate?" Marissa suggested with a shrug.
"No, I wouldn't let Dave pick. Knowing him, it'll be some cheesy bistro. I swear that guy is more feminine than is normal. I actually caught him putting face cream on today," joked the WWE Champion.
The video tech burst out laughing and found herself being caught up in the humour of things. "It doesn't surprise me in the least. I think he spends more time in the bathroom getting ready than I do," she teased.
Cena laughed and Marissa found herself growing weak at the knees. "Well, Doll, as much as I'd love to spend the whole night chatting with you, I need to get back to work," said the man.
"Yeah, I should be doing the same too. I'll catch you later though, John," she replied.
"Yup, see you in the lobby at eight-thirty," Cena called as he walked off.
Marissa fell back against the wall, her hear beating rapidly. She'd actually had a coherent conversation with John Cena and it had gone well. No, better than well, it'd gone great and she'd even made him laugh.
The wrestler walked back to his locker-room shaking his head and laughing to himself at the mental image of Batista applying face cream. The little chat with Marissa had made him feel really confident about their date later that night. When she loosened up a little, she was a funny woman. As the evening progressed and Cena prepared for his match, he found his thoughts drifting back to the redhead. For some odd reason, he couldn't quite get her or the thought of what she'd be wearing later out of his head and he even found himself looking out for the video tech on his way down to the gorilla position for the start of his match.
When Marissa had completed her duties for the evening, she rushed to find Kate and tell her friend about her encounter with Cena earlier. As usual, the brunette was at her station, staring at her computer screen with a pair of headphones to her ears. As the sound engineer queued Kane's entrance music, the redhead bounded up to her with a huge grin of her face. After letting the seven-footer know he was good to go, Kate flung her headphones over her shoulder and smiled up at her friend.
"How goes it, chick? Having a good night?" she asked.
Marissa took a deep breath and replied, "A very good night. I spoke to John earlier. We had a great little chat about the date later and I even made him laugh."
The brunette couldn't help but grin at her friend's news; it was so good to hear that Marissa was finally coming out of her shell around the wrestler. "That's excellent. See, I told you if you were a little more confident around him that everything would be alright."
"Yeah, you were right. I cannot believe how well we got along. Oh and by the way, I think you're picking where we eat at," Marissa informed.
"Great," replied the sound engineer. "You okay with Italian? I haven't eaten there in a while."
"Sounds good to me, it just depends what the guys think," replied the video tech.
"Cool. Well, if it's not a problem, we'll see if there are any good bistros in town," suggested Kate.
Marissa giggled, remembering what Cena had said about Batista choosing a bistro to eat at. "Yeah, and it seems you and Dave have more in common than you thought," she agreed.
"What do you mean?" inquired the sound engineer, finding it hard to imagine she and the wrestler would have that many interests that were the same.
"Well, when John asked me where I fancied eating at tonight, I said why not let you and Dave pick. Then he made some joke about Batista picking a bistro," informed the redhead.
"What can I say; obviously Batista has good taste after all. And look at you, having a little in-joke with Cena," teased the brunette. The video tech blushed and giggled. However, she soon fell silent when the two men in question approached.
"Evening, ladies," greeted Batista.
"Hey, Dave," said Marissa with a big smile.
"Hi," Kate added, busying herself by getting the wrestler's music ready.
As Cena approached, the redhead grew flushed and she suddenly wished she wasn't there. "Hey, Kate, hey, Marissa," he said with a smile.
"Hey, dork," replied the brunette, looking up and suppressing a giggle when she saw her friend looking at the WWE Champion as if he was covered in chocolate.
"Hi, John," the other woman managed to squeak out.
"So, you ladies had any thoughts on where you want to go for dinner later?" asked the smaller wrestler.
"Yeah, actually. I was thinking we could see if there are any Italian bistros in town," Kate answered to intentionally see the Champion's reaction.
Marissa giggled and Cena burst out laughing. "Did you put her up to saying that Marissa?" he asked.
"No, the funny thing is she suggested it herself," informed the redhead, trying to catch her breath.
Dave looked utterly perplexed and didn't understand what was so amusing about an Italian bistro. He actually thought it was a great idea and was very impressed that Kate had picked it. Maybe tonight won't be too bad after all, he thought to himself. "Sounds good," the larger man said aloud.
"Ok, that settles it," said Kate, ignoring the tittering still coming from Marissa and Cena. "Italian it is then."
A few minutes of silence followed and then the sound engineer spoke again. "Right, you're up," she said jerking her head towards the younger wrestler.
"Thanks, catch you later," he shouted back, before stepping through the curtain.
"Good luck," Marissa called as he walked off. Both Batista and Kate couldn't help but laugh a little as the video tech stood on her tiptoes to wave the WWE Champion off. She looked like a proud housewife saying good-bye to a husband who was off the office for a hard day's work. As Cena made his way down the arena ramp, he couldn't help but smile to himself. It really was very sweet of Marissa to have said 'good luck' and wave him off.
"Well, I best get back to work. Mr. McMahon will have a fit if any of the monitors pack up during the main event," announced the video tech. This was partly the truth as not preventing a technical disaster was more than her job was worth but also Marissa wanted to find an available TV screen and watch the match. "See you later, Kate," she called over her shoulder. "You too, Dave."
As Marissa's redhead bopped off into the distance, Kate received her visual cue to start Dave's music. "You're up," she shouted over the start of his entrance theme.
"Thanks," he mouthed back. "See you later."
The brunette nodded and returned to her computer screen like nothing had happened. In reality, her heart was beating rapidly. The sound engineer put it down to the fact that Batista had been dressed in his wrestling attire. Any woman with half a brain would be feeling a little wobbly after being in such close proximity to a man with those muscular thighs who was wearing nothing but tiny wrestling trunks.
As the larger wrestler headed towards the ring, his head spun a little. Why was it bothering him so much that Kate hadn't waved him off the same way Marissa had done for Cena? They hadn't even been on one date and here he was expecting her to care that he had a match. What was she meant to do, say 'good-luck' to every wrestler she queued the music for?
Finding a secluded monitor, Marissa settled down in a fold out chair to watch Cena and Batista's match. Her heart pounded as she watched the WWE Champion in the ring. Even the sight of him suplexing the other man caused her to have thoughts that would leave her in confession for over a week. As the contest ended, the redhead tried to stand. However, her legs had melted from under her. Wobbling as if she was going to faint, the video tech felt a pair of arms grab her.
"Hey, chick. Don't tell me you're gonna be too unwell to make the date tonight?" asked Kate.
"No, I'm fine. I just went a little light headed for a minute there," replied the redhead.
Turning to the monitor that was showing the arena, the sound engineer suddenly understood why. "You know obsessing over him will only make things worse?" she teased.
"I know, but after seeing him down there in the gorilla position, I just couldn't resist," Marissa confessed with a sheepish grin.
Linking arms with her friend, Kate laughed. "Cissa, you're so bad," she said, shaking her head in amusement.
The two women grabbed their jackets and purses from the crew-members' lounge and then went to locate Brad and Josh in the parking lot. The head of the pyrotechnic crew and Kate's assistant on the sound desk were waiting by the rental car for the two women as they arrived. When everyone was present, they climbed into the rented vehicle and headed back to the hotel.
It was just after seven o'clock, meaning Marissa and Kate had a little over an hour to get ready for their date before they were due to meet John Cena and Dave Batista in the lobby at eight-thirty.
Happy New Year's Everyone! We hope 2008 is great for y'all!
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Disco Inferno