Jamie
Eventually our meals arrived and the two boys eagerly got stuck into their food, naturally they managed to make complete and utter messes of themselves. Alex and I didn't mind the mess; we had decided long ago that if we worried about them being spotless, we'd worry ourselves into an early grave. I was listening to Alex ramble on about one thing or another while picking at my food, despite being hungry I strangely had no interested in eating and kept thinking about the man I'd met the night before. Suddenly Johnny Cash's 'Folsom Prison Blues' began to echo throughout the restaurant. Hurriedly I pulled my phone out of my pocket and took a glance the caller ID, 'absolutely gorgeous', I didn't know who it was, I had a few friends in my phone under things such as 'tall, dark and handsome' but not 'absolutely gorgeous'. I shrugged and answered the phone,
"Hello?"
"Hey Jamie, how are you?"
"I'm alright, yourself?" I asked still not knowing who it was,
"I'm alright, my feet are killing me. I had to trash my shoes after Paul's behaviour last night so I'm stuck wearing my wrestling boots," the voice replied, it couldn't be him, could it? How did he get my number?
"Dave?"
"The one and only!"
"How did you get my number? How did I get your number?"
"When you went to the bathroom at dinner last night you left your cell with Eli. I put my number in and well it wasn't that hard to find your number, I mean you've got it down as 'Jamie Alister'"
"Oh! Hang on a second I need to go outside," I replied standing up and moving away from my son who had realised I was talking to Dave and was now attempting to steal my cell.
"Sorry about that, Eli was attempting phone theft"
"It's alright, so what are you doing?"
"We're at the zoo just having lunch. Why are you ringing?" I asked still completely confused about the situation,
"Well I just finished my meeting and I'm at the airport waiting for my flight to Michigan and I'm bored out of my mind and well quite frankly I can't stop thinking about you and Eli," I blushed at his confession, I was probably looking too deeply into things but I was still flattered by the comment,
"I swear that this has never happened before, I'm not some creepy stalker but I really had a great time with you two last night. Especially with you, yes your son is absolutely gorgeous but I can't remember when I laughed like you and I did last night."
"I'm umm… flattered?" I asked not quite sure how I was to respond to this declaration.
"So you should be. Look I'm currently boarding my flight to Michigan and I know you've got to get back to your son and this call must have been beyond weird to you but can I call you again sometime? And you know, talk properly?" Is my hearing correct? Did Dave Batista just ask to call me sometime? So that we could talk properly? Was he nuts?
"Umm sure, that'd be nice," I stuttered out.
"Great, I'll call you later. Give that rug rat of yours a hug for me"
"Sure, bye" I replied ending the call and looking at my phone, that definitely was one odd phone call.
I returned to the restaurant where my son was now over the fact that I wouldn't let him speak to his new favourite person.
"He rang to ask if he could ring me sometime…" I shrugged at Alex who let out a slight laugh as I put my arm around my son,
"And told me to give you a hug, looks like you have yourself a fan," this caused my son to let out a huge grin before turning to Jimmy to tell him about the man he'd met the night before. Once Alex and I had finished our meals we continued talking, we sat across the table from each other and hit comeback after comeback, it was the way we operated and conversed, it was nearly as though we had a language of our own. Finally our children finished and we headed to see some more animals before leaving for home.
That night long after Eli had gone to sleep and I'd stopped trying to do the same I was sitting in bed talking online to some friends back in Australia when my cell phone rang. I quickly glanced at the caller ID, 'Absolutely gorgeous', and smiled slightly remembering the call I'd received earlier,
"Do you know what time it is?" I asked attempting to sound irritated,
"2am? Did I wake you?" He sounded tired; I was surprised he was still up after all he did have a busy schedule.
"No, you got lucky this time. You sound tired, how come you're still up?"
"Couldn't sleep, took a bad bump and now my back hurts. What about you?"
"Ouch! Insomnia so I'm talking some mates back home"
"Awesome, what are they getting up to?"
"Well my best friend over there is pregnant and keeps complaining about her husband and how its all his fault, she isn't doing the whole being pregnant thing too well," I laughed slightly remembering the conversation that I had just been having with my friend. Across the phone came Dave's deep laugh causing my laugh to strengthen, I couldn't help it; his laugh was just so contagious. Within moments we were both laughing like lunatics,
"Why are we laughing?" I finally asked,
"I don't know" Dave replied gasping for air, this naturally sent us into hysterics once more. I couldn't remember when I had last laughed like this over something so stupid, when I had laughed just for the sake of laughing. Soon my ribs were aching and tears were streaking down my face,
"Ok its official we've lost it" I laughed,
"Oh yea, completely and utterly! I haven't laughed like this in so long"
"Me neither"
"So how was the zoo?" Dave asked once we'd finally calmed down.
"Great, the boys had a ball. Until someone broke the news to my son that Steve Irwin had passed away. After that it was a lost cause, we ended up just bringing the boys home."
"I'm guessing that he didn't take the news too well?"
"You could say that. Steve was his hero, he got to meet him when we were in Australia earlier this year and Steve was great with him. He introduced Eli to his own son and the two of them played for hours, it was really special. Steve even went to the trouble to keep in contact with my son; he thought that Bob and Eli would make good friends. Besides Eli shared the same love of Elephants that Steve had. When I got the news about his death I just couldn't bring myself to tell Eli, I knew I had to but I didn't know how. When he found out today he was shattered, he looked so betrayed and barely spoke to me for the rest of the day. But the look in his eyes spoke volumes, I feel so guilty." I sighed, barely realising that I was spilling my guts to a man I barely knew, instead I spoke to him as though we'd been friends forever and he replied in the same way.
"I don't blame you, I would to. We do things that we think are the best for our children that they don't necessarily agree with and we naturally feel guilty about and will beat ourselves up over for the rest of our lives, no matter how old our children are. I remember something similar happening with my kids, their grandmother passed away and their mother and I didn't know how to tell them, so we opted not to, well when they found out it all hell broke loose. I didn't hear from them for nearly a month and whenever I tried to ring they refused to speak to me, it broke my heart and I still feel guilty."
"Looks like we both screwed up"
"No, we did what we thought was right." I could envision Dave sitting on his bed shrugging, I nearly felt as though we were sitting across from each other talking not in two different states.
"How did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Say the right thing, you made me feel so much better after Eli made me feel so worse. You know he said that he hated me today, it was the first time ever"
"Trust me, hearing your child utter those words hurts like hell and no matter how many times you hear them say them it still hurts just as bad"
"Oh great, now you've made me feel worse," I laughed slightly, the conversation certainly was a whirl wind of emotions.
"Sorry. It's getting late; you should be asleep young lady"
"Hey I'm not the one who has to get in a ring later today" I replied noting that it was well after midnight.
"Shhh, don't remind me, it makes my back hurt just thinking about it. What are you getting up to today?"
"Not much, Eli is going to child care so I'll help my mum and maybe go out on the lake and take some photos"
"Awesome, you'll have to show them to me on Tuesday"
"Definitely"
"But now you need to go to bed, or at least back to your conversation with your friends. I really enjoyed talking to you tonight"
"Same" I replied blushing slightly. As much as I tried to deny it I was truly falling for the older man, he was so charming and I couldn't help but smile when he was around.
The next Tuesday Eli and I landed in Houston, Texas and headed to the hotel to check in before I was needed at the arena. Not long after arriving at the hotel I had just managed to convince Eli to take a nap when there was a knock. When I looked through the peephole I was surprised to see Dave fidgeting slightly.
"Hey" I smiled opening the door and letting him in. He had rung every night during the past week and each call had lasted at least an hour, a few times he'd rung early enough to speak to Eli, which had naturally made the young boy love him even more.
"Good, I got the right room," he smiled nervously before wrapping me in a hug. While he had mentioned in passing how he was planning to give me a huge hug the next time he saw me, I definitely wasn't expecting it. I had to force myself not to melt in the large mans arms, they were so strong and I felt so safe. The hug only lasted a few seconds yet I wished that it had lasted an eternity, the second that he pulled away the warmth that I'd been enveloped with disappeared.
"So where's that little rat bag of yours?"
"Sleeping," I replied indicating to the roll away my son was napping on.
"Don't you dare wake him up, I've only just got him to sleep," I poked my finger at him somewhat playfully but kept my voice stern, causing him to throw his hands in the air in defeat.
"Innocent! I wasn't going to do anything. What time do you need to be at the arena?"
"4, you?"
"Same, are you hungry?"
"Yea a bit, but I can't leave Eli"
"No need" Dave smiled before picking up the phone and dialling room service. He automatically ordered two plates of chocolate pancakes with cream and ice cream then shockingly he directed them to put the cost on his own room bill.
"What if I don't like pancakes?" I asked sarcastically,
"Then more for me and you go hungry, do you want to watch a movie?"
"Sure, wait this is my hotel room. Who gave you the right to take it over?" I put on a fake scowl but was soon struggling not to laugh.
"I did and there is nothing you can do about it!"
"Oh really?"
"Yep"
"I'll fight you for control of my room"
"You fight me? HAH! Don't make me laugh," Dave snorted, we both realised how stupid we were being but that didn't stop us, it was something that had become a regular occurrence during our conversations over the past week.
Deciding to 'attempt' to prove that I could fight Dave I waited for him to turn around in mock disgust before jumping on his back. He spun around a few times attempting to get hold of me before he stopped and let out a slight gasp of pain, reminding me that his back was still bothering, guiltily I slid of his back on to the bed,
"Sorry"
"So you should be," he pouted, I felt so guilty I was convinced that I'd just ruined a new friendship. I was certain that the man would now hate me for hurting his already injured back.
"Here lie down and I'll give you a massage," I attempted, yet he kept his attention turned from me, head down sitting on the opposite edge of the bed. After a moment or two of silence I crawled across the bed, determined to make him feel better I began to massage the back I'd just hurt. Suddenly Dave spun around and began to tickle me,
"Stop! I hate being tickled" I laughed attempting to squirm away from the man. I wasn't too worried about our behaviour waking up my son, as long as he wasn't touched he could sleep through nearly anything.
"Hey I did say you couldn't fight me"
"It's unfair you manipulated me!" I laughed falling back, the momentum of my movements caused Dave to fall with me. That's when it became weird, I found myself pinned on the bed with Dave on top of me his face inches away from mine, I could feel his hot breath on my face. Nearly in slow motion he leant forward slightly as my heart skipped a million beats. Just then there was a knock on the door causing Dave to jump back.
"Pancakes," he rushed out, straightening his shirt,
"Pancakes" I sighed.
A/N: Ok this will be my last chapter for a while I'm having surgery on my wrist on Thursday so I wont be able to type very well for a while and I've also got a few assignments coming up. I hope you enjoyed it.
Oh yea I just want to say this chapter is dedicated to my good friend Ashley, also known as Matty1 go check out her awesome stories! Especially Fate Filled Story which a story based on my own life (well its got me as the main character… Well my name at least).
This has only been half edited because I wanted to get it up before my surgery!