"John we need to talk!" The Undertaker called to him from down the hallway of the arena of that night.
"What do you need, Deadman?" John asked; smiling as his friend approached him.
"Don't smile at me you jackass. You left Michelle at the arena the other night without a ride to the hotel."
"I came back for her but you had already taken her to the hotel."
"That doesn't matter. Why do you go out of your way to make her life a living hell? If she had called Vince and told him what you did your ass probably would have been suspended without pay but she was too nice to do that. She didn't want to get you into trouble but if you do it again, I'll tell Vince myself after I beat your ass. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes," John said, a little threatened by the heavily tattooed man that towered over him.
"Good."
"Here's the coffee you wanted." I said, approaching the two.
"Michelle, good to see you again."
"You, too, Mark." I smiled; I had taken an instant liking to the phenom.
"See you two later, John remember what we discussed." John nodded as Mark began walking away and then his face turned sour as he grabbed the coffee out of my hands.
"I don't know how you do it but you get everyone you met to automatically love you."
"I'm just loveable I guess."
"No, you're really not." John said, finishing off the coffee and handing me back the cup. "I got a match. Do whatever you want til I get back, just make sure I have a coffee waiting for me. And be ready to go when I am. I'd hate to get yelled at again cause you weren't ready." He stormed off in the direction of the entrance ramp.
I thought for a moment trying to figure out what he had meant then yelled down the hallway after the Undertaker, "Mark," in a desperate hope to catch him. I ran to catch up and I got the locker room and knocked on the door. I got a plethora of answers. "Um, is Mark in there?"
"Which Mark?" Came a voice.
"Undertaker." I replied, not entirely sure of his last name, though I thought it was Calloway.
"Why don't you just come in?" I hesitated. I knew there were at least a half a dozen people in there just by who answered me when I knocked and I didn't know the current situation as far as how much or little any of them had on.
"How about you just answer my question?" Randy Orton exited the locker room a few seconds after I finished speaking, thankfully fully dressed.
"He's not in there. What did you want with him?"
I looked at Randy unsure of whether or not I could trust him. He was, after all, a friend of John's. "I wanted to talk to him about something he said to John. Do you know where he is?"
"Something he said to Cena?" I nodded. "I don't know where he is but I have heard about the static between you and John. What exactly did Mark say to him?"
"I don't know, that's why I'm looking for him. John left me at the arena the other night and Mark gave me a lift to the hotel and from the attitude I got from John I think he might have said something about it to him and I want to know what. I don't need everyone else making John hate me. I think I've got that pretty well covered."
"He left you at the arena? Well, Mark should have said something to him. He shouldn't have done that but John is pretty stubborn so he probably didn't take to kindly to being reprimanded."
I shook my head. "I wish I knew why he hates me so much. It's not like I've done anything to him and personally I don't have anything against him except, of course, the way he's been acting."
"Yea well, that's not like him, though I'm sure you've heard that." Randy replied.
"Uh huh. Millions of times." He laughed and we continued looking for Mark. When we found him I stayed to talk to him and Randy said he would go wait for John to work damage control after he finished with his match.
"Why did you say anything to him? That just makes it harder on me." I asked, accusingly.
"It shouldn't be hard for you at all. At least not the way that it is." He replied. "You need to stand up to him. John may act like he's big and bad but he's a softie at heart. You just have to let him know that you're not going to put up with his shit. But I have to go. I'm flying home to see Sara and the kids." He turned, leaving me there to think about what he had said.
Though I wasn't the nicest person in the world being mean wasn't my first choice either. I decided to walk around for a bit, chatting with hair designers, backstage people, divas, whoever I could get to spare a moment. Victoria had invited me out to dinner with her and some of the divas and I agreed to go if I could get John to agree after I gave him his needed coffee. Telling her I'd find her then. After a significant amount of time had passed I got the coffee John had ordered before going to the ring and starting walking to the locker room to give it to him.
"Randy the new intern is annoying," I overheard John talking as I walked into his locker room.
"John she is basically you're working slave, leave her be." Randy was defending me to his friend.
"Here's your coffee, master, is there anything you or Major Healy need before I leave." I said motioning toward Randy when I called him Major Healy from "I Dream of Jeanie."
"What?" They asked me simultaneously.
"Major Healy," I motion toward Randy, "Major Nelson," I motion toward John, "Jeanie," I point to myself. "Do you guys watch TV, ever?"
"We work," John said his voice half-filled with venom. He never really could get it to optimum venom levels.
"'I dream of Jeanie' is classic and you don't know it. You're both weird." I shook my head in disappointment.
"Oh, sorry, took me a minute to process what you were saying." Randy smiled trying to be polite. John just sat there with his emo face. "John?" Randy shook his friends arm to get him to talk.
"Well, we don't watch that much TV, Randy. We work hard. Something that this spoiled little rich girl doesn't know anything about." The venom in John's voice was rising. "You probably got somebody else to write that damn essay for you. You never worked a day in your life till you came here." That was all I was going to take from him.
"Really, I'm just a little rich girl? Let me tell you something, I'm not. My mom may have divorced my dad for a man 9 years her senior just because he has money but I sure as hell am not seeing any of it. And as far as me never working, you're right I spent most of my time helping my sister raise her son and working in school. When I wasn't doing one of those two things, most likely I was writing." I reached in my bag and grabbed my little book out of it and passed it to John who hesitatingly took it, "I keep it with me so I can write when inspiration hits. I'm sure you'll find my essay in there, and I am going out with some of the divas. I'll be back before my curfew but I'm sure you'll still check anyway, jackass." I shook my head and walked out.
After I left the room Randy started in on John, "Why do you have to get into it with her?" John wasn't listening, he was reading.
"Randy, I think I made a little mistake," John shook his head and closed the book.
I walked into the restaurant arm-in-arm with Candice. The two of us were pretty much inseparable when we were in the same room.
"Sorry about all the problems you've had." ECW vixen Kelly offered.
"I don't want to think about hat right now. How about we just eat and have some fun?" I said, going through the menu, trying to decide on what to get.
"Sounds good to me." Mickie James gave in agreement.
The dinner held little to no entertainment for me. Honestly, I enjoyed the company but I wasn't a diva. When I was younger I was a straight athlete; soccer, basketball, tennis, softball, I did it all but I was never completely girly and didn't have much faith in my figure.
I decided to cut out of the dinner early, going back to the hotel so I could be well rested for the next day. John had an autograph signing and I was supposed to go with him. I dreaded it because that meant for some time me and him would be alone together. I took a shower and got into bed. Something told me the night wouldn't be uneventful and sleep wouldn't be peaceful.
John was in his hotel room watching Batman because it was 2:00 in the morning and he couldn't sleep. He hadn't gone to check to see if I had made it in before my curfew, as much as he didn't want to admit it he did trust me to be in on time. He was turning off the cartoons and flipping to ESPN when he heard something. He put the TV on mute and heard it again. It sounded like someone was crying. John got up trying to figure out which direction the crying was coming from. By now he could tell it was a female and she was scared. After a few seconds he realized it was coming from the room adjacent to his. He knocked on the door and called out, "Michelle, are you alright?"
When he got no answer he tried the door, it was unlocked. He walked out of his room and into mine. He turned on the light on the dresser. Looking over at the bed he could see me tossing and turning. He could hear that my breath was really sharp, almost as if I was running and crying like I was in pain. John walked over to the bed and grabbed my arms and shook me awake. I popped up like Kane does after you knock him down for a second. I was gasping for breath I looked at John surprised and asked him what he was doing in my room.
"I heard you crying." He replied.
"Sorry, I guess I was having a bad dream or something," I told him.
"But you're okay now?" He asked seeming genuinely concerned.
"John, you don't have to pretend like we're friends. It was just a bad dream. I'm a big girl I can take care of myself." I replied very angrily.
"I know you can but…" John lifted my face up so I was looking at him, "you seemed really scared. You want to talk about it."
"No, I don't but I do want you to get the hell out of my room right now." I said looking at John like I didn't even want to be in the same area code as him. John started to get up and the nightmare came back. "John, wait!" I said as he was going through the door. He stopped and turned looking at me with the least amount of that I told you so look he could give me. "Maybe I do want to talk." He turned and came back to the bed. He sat down on the covers next to me. "Say it."
"Say what?" John asked looking at me innocently.
"I told you so." I said practically grinding my teeth.
"That's not my style." He seemed to be being genuine, so I let it go. "What were you dreaming about?" John asked and I didn't want to tell him the truth because it was kind of messed up but before I knew it the truth was coming out of my mouth.
"I was at my school running from this guy with a hockey mask, who had a chainsaw, then I was at my house running from the same dude but this time he had a gun. Then I'm like running in a jungle and this time the dude had like a butcher knife."
"And do you have any idea who he was?" John asked imploringly.
"Yeah, before you woke me up, he had just stabbed me with that pretty fierce looking knife and I was close enough to remove the mask. It was me." I said kinda matter-of-factly.
"Okay. That's kind of disturbing even for me and I didn't even have the dream."
"Yea, well your ass should be apologizing for making me suicidal." I hit John in the stomach like I was actually mad at him.
"Hey," John grabbed my arms and I tried to get up but he pinned me down and before I knew what had happened, he was straddling me, "Don't blame me cause you want to off yourself."
"Okay I won't blame you… for that." I answered, laughing slightly. John stayed in place for a few moments before returning to sitting beside me.
"Do you always try to kill yourself in dreams?" He asked; smirking at me.
"Well there are usually psychos but they not usually me. Psychos don't scare me either, my best friends are psycho."
"Really psychos, I guess you guys have a lot in common." John said practically under his breath but loud enough for me to hear.
"Yea I guess we do. We're like sisters and it kills us being apart like we are." I said heartbreakingly.
"It's got to be harder on you though…" John started empathically, "they are back in Franklin together and you're here alone."
"Actually, we are all equally alone." I admitted. "Jenni's alone in Franklin, I'm here and Bianca is in Japan."
"What is she doing in Japan?" John asked his face very perplexed.
"Well, her boyfriend just happens to be Japanese and a rock star. Well, he's her husband in Japan but it's not legal in the States cause she's 17 and he's 31 but you know whatever." I shrugged my shoulders and John had this amazingly shocked look on his face.
"They have a 14 year age difference and they're together. That's messed up."
"What?!" I was unbelievably angry because no one can say anything about Die and Bianca unless they have met them. "Why is it messed up? They are more in love than my parents ever were. You haven't even met them and you already have an opinion formed about their relationship. I mean they are married."
"Yea but you even said that it wasn't legal."
"Here but it is in Japan. I think that you need to see something." I walk over to my bag and pull out the last video mail Bianca and Die had sent. I put it in the VCR and turned on the TV. "Sit." I ordered John and he did so. Bianca's crazy face came on the screen and she tells me what's been happening in Japan again because I had already watched it. Then Die gets into the picture I hear John grunt under his breath. Then he seems to get interested after he sees the way Bianca and Die act around each other. After about 15 minutes the video ends and I turned off the TV.
"So what do you have to say?" I turned to look at John as I place the remote on the dresser.
"Maybe I was a little quick to judge, they seem to genuinely care about each other." He admitted drudgingly.
"Ha! I win, told ya!" I laughed at John.
"Yeah, you were right… about everything." John was apologizing for something.
"What? What are you talking about?" Perplexed by his seemingly guilty face.
"You were so mad this afternoon and I read in that book a little." John left the room and came back with my book. He handed it to me, "I hope you don't mind but I made a few notes."
"How nice, I'll read them later." I took the book and tossed it on my bed.
"I hope you're not still mad." John was really feeling bad, drooping his head.
"I wasn't that mad. I actually kind of forgot about it." I said, yawning through half the sentence.
"I should probably let you get some sleep." John started to walk out of the room.
"Do you sleep?" I asked, not wanting him to leave.
"Yea, just not tired right now." John said turning in the doorway.
"You know, you were kind of right about something." I drudgingly admit.
"What?" John kind of perked up.
I walked over to John, "I am your number one fan." I shut the door and turned to go back to sleep. I heard the door open again.
"So you do have my face plastered all over your wall?" John was going back to the first day we met.
"No, but it is all over my Latin notebook." I was lying back in bed, trying to get comfortable. I flipped on the TV and turned it to Cartoon Network.
"Cartoons?" John looked at me with a questioning look.
"The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy rocks. Two little kids that hang out with the grim reaper, what's not to love?"
"You're crazy," John laughed.
"It's my best quality." I retorted. We watched for a few moments and I got really tired. There was this big flame that singed off Billy's skin and John laughed at the boy's unaffected reaction to the burn.
"Fire bad. Sleep good." I was starting to doze.
"Goodnight." John walked out of the room turning the TV off as he left and set the remote on the dresser.