Chapter Two

Reflections

"Un tel util."

With those three words, Maryse turned her back to her boyfriend, shutting him out for the night.

All night she had been suspicious of Mike and the cheerful mood he was in. He had been affectionate with her, talking about what a wonderful day he had. When he had gone for his evening shower, she had searched through his phone, reading over his text messages with Alex and finding out about Cristina. He had explained his meeting with her, how she had been lost and needed a friend, but she heard none of it, throwing the biggest fit she could throw. Mike denied doing anything wrong, but she wasn't sure if she believed him. Mike thought it was ridiculous that she would be jealous and insecure of anybody. After hurling a throw pillow at him from the couch, Maryse turned on her heels and walked into their bedroom, slamming the door behind her in dramatic fashion. With a sigh of defeat, Mike had sank down to the couch, wondering what it was going to take to make her forgive this situation. Diamonds had always been her best friend.

As the hours wore on and she remained in the bedroom, Mike found himself becoming defensive about his new friendship. He was angry she had gone through his phone; she would never allow him to do such a thing. He wondered who put her up to such an act. He was willing to bet it was Melina. She was always in Maryse's ear, talking her up and giving her an even heavier air of authority in their relationship than she already commanded.

He knew how the argument was going to end; in the morning he would go to the jewelry store and get her a nice necklace or a pair of earrings. It was always expensive to make up with her. He noted that she was angry, but not angry enough to go back to her home. They had been dating eight months, but he wasn't ready to ask for her to move in with him. He wasn't ready to make her Mrs. Mizanin. He felt like she stayed to spy on him, like a human surveillance camera, calling him out when he did anything even remotely fun. The trust issues were beginning to wear thin on him; he had never given her any reason to mistrust him. So what if he told Alex Cristina was hot? She was, and it was just a talk between guys. He wasn't going to do anything to jeopardize his relationship with Maryse. But she refused to see it that way.

He was still thinking about Cristina, which he knew was bad. But he saw so much of himself in her. She made him think about his first time in LA. He wondered where she was staying, what kind of music she was listening to if it took her to places like that bar. In the morning, he thought about sending her a message to find out the name of the magazine she worked for. He perused a lot of underground music mags, so he wanted to know if he had heard of the one she worked for. Maryse had demanded that he delete her number, but he had held firm. He was surprised that she hadn't deleted it when he was in the shower, but he assumed that he had surprised her by coming out and finding her with his phone in her little manicured hands.

Mike knew that Maryse had her own stress at their job; like Melina, Maryse was beginning to worry that Vince was losing interest in her stock as a Diva. Melina had put some ideas in her head when Vince announced Trish Stratus was coming back to tag with Snooki and John Morrison. Mike spent a lot of time trying to convince her that it wasn't the case, that this was just a one-off for the event, but it always triggered another fight, always led to her screaming at him for "not understanding". She felt like she was "on the bubble", that after managing Ted DiBiase, Jr., she was out the door. Their pairing was not catching on the way she had hoped, and she thought it was going to cost her as a top Diva. Mike wasn't sure how to make her feel better, since everything he said seemed to get him into trouble.

He looked at the TV, not really paying attention to the news. Mike wasn't ready to admit it to himself, but he was beginning to resent her. She was happy with every perk being WWE Champion afforded them both, but she wasn't happy with him. He had accomplished everything he wanted in wrestling, but she didn't care. Because talking about him meant that nobody was talking about Maryse.

After her topsy-turvy day, Cristina released a deep breath and sank deeper into the hot bubble bath. Her small bathroom had light blue walls, with white counters with a wooden surface, cluttered with all of her makeup, hygiene and hair products. Small tea-light candles were lit around the corners of the tub closest to the faucet. On the floor within her reach was a large glass of red wine. She had piled her hair high on her head, telling herself she'd wash it in the morning when she had her shower. The small compact stereo on the counter was playing Within Temptation at a soft volume. Reaching over, she grabbed the glass of wine and took a sip, sinking a little deeper into the tub.

After her chance encounter with Mike, the day had somehow salvaged itself. The interview had gone well, the band completely understanding about her getting lost. She had come home and typed up the interview, sending it off to the editor to make it into next week's issue. The band had invited her to stay for their sound-check and rehearsal and they gave her a demo album to sample. She came home to listen to the album and write the interview. After a dinner of leftover beef stew, she watched the first two Underworld movies and then decided to take a bath to release some of the tension she felt from the morning's shaky start.

She thought about Mike, and felt embarrassed that her show of gratitude for his help was so stilted and awkward. Cristina felt a surge of frustration that she hadn't mastered English yet, that she hadn't caught onto slang and that people had to often explain things to her. Thanks to Mike, she had made it through a day that promised to be tougher than others. LA was still a big and scary place for her. It was a place where she felt like everyone wanted to be famous. There was a lot of fakery, and it made her feel out of place.

Cristina lived alone in a small apartment with very little belongings, but she was thankful for everything she had. Her coworkers had set her up with a few small things, but she had a bed and a couch and a TV. Things were starting to look up; she had been an intern for a little while, until one of her colleagues quit for the greener pastures of Rolling Stone magazine. It was the opening Cristina needed, and she seized it. So far, everything was working out for her.

It had been scary leaving her family behind, and coming to America completely alone, but she was determined that she would make it work and make her family proud. Every day presented new challenges, but with each passing day she adapted more and more.

She was thankful to have made a friend who she didn't work with. Outside of work and home, she didn't go anywhere; she didn't know anybody. She recalled Mike's words that he traveled a lot for work, and she thought he looked familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. He felt familiar, which wasn't a feeling she got very often in America. She smiled to herself; a bad day had righted course and now she was back to feeling optimistic, like things were looking up.

When her bath was over, she put on her favorite silk nightgown and crawled into her bed, pulling the covers over her. Tomorrow was supposed to be another beautiful day in the City of Angels. Tomorrow, she would hear about her next assignment and go over her article with her editor, who was always extremely helpful with her English writing skills and her English speaking. She had a good network of people around her, and she was eternally grateful for it after a few bad run-ins during her first few weeks in the country.

Rolling onto her side, she saw the clock on the nightstand. It was ten-fifteen. It was almost an hour after that when sleep finally overtook her. Her mind was racing in a million different directions; the self-doubt that came with only being relatively fluent in English. America was supposed to be the Land of Opportunity, and she hoped she would be one of the many success stories the company boasted of. As she drifted off to sleep, Cristina Maria Lucia had no idea of the ride she was in for.