The Shortest Distance
Part II

It was 10:30 when he and May were leaving the arena together. Dolph was still wearing his "business casual" outfit, consisting of a suit with a t-shirt under it. May, apparently, had brought other clothes with her, and was wearing a red silk blouse and a pair of tight "skinny" jeans, with a pair of boots over them, that added about three inches to her height. As they headed to his rental car, Dolph lingered behind for just a moment and decided he liked those jeans just fine. They did all the things that guys hoped jeans would do for a woman and then some.

"Is something wrong?" May asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Nothing at all," Dolph said cheerfully. "I was just admiring the view."

"My ass?" May asked, giving him a cheeky grin.

"It's a fine ass," Dolph said, solemnly, as they arrived at his rental car, a fully loaded SUV.

"All those years of gymnastics and martial arts paid off then," May remarked, then looked at the vehicle. "Ooh, nice, welcome to the big time."

"Nothing but the best for you," Dolph remarked as he hit the button to unlock the door, then reached over May to open the passenger door. "Madam, your chariot awaits you." She laughed as she climbed into the vehicle and reached for the seat belt. Dolph shut the door for her, and walked around to the drivers side and got it.

The all night IHOP was typical of the chain, in that they had a main dining room, and another room at the end of that one, designed for private affairs of large parties, or to handle the overflow on busy times. Although the place was quiet right now, Dolph asked the hostess if they could be sat in the overflow room. To give her credit, she only looked around the main dining room, that was barely a third full of customers, before she shrugged, remembered that the customer was always right and sat them in the back. "Normally this area is closed," she said, as she handed them the oversized menus that were glittering off the lighting in their laminated coatings. "But, I'll get you a server." She turned and left them before either of them could comment.

"It's a slow night," May remarked, looking at her menu.

"Yeah, I gathered that," Dolph said, looking through the glass walls that separated the two dining areas.

"They weren't busier earlier either," May elaborated.

"How can you tell that?" Dolph was curious.

"The menus are very clean and slightly damp," May said, waving hers. "Usually wiping menus is something that is supposed to be every night, but on busy nights, it's just a lick and a swipe. They really washed them tonight."

Dolph chuckled. "Did you waitress at one of these places?"

May shook her head. "Not me, but my sister Shelly did."

"The fashion designer?" Dolph asked, his brows raising.

May grinned. "Yeah, that's the one. You remember that?"

Dolph grinned back. "Yeah, I met her the last time we all went to dinner at your parent's place. We talked for a bit. I thought she had done fashion designing since she was a kid, like some child prodigy."

"She designed stuff since she was a kid," May said, looking more than pleased that Dolph remembered one of her sisters. With there being thirteen kids in the Parker family, it was often hard for people to keep track of who was who. Seth used to mix up Shelly and Stacy all the time, at least their names, and he wasn't the first person to do it. "But she went through a stage where no one could tell her anything. She dropped out of school and my parents were going, 'okay, you want to do that? We can't stop you, but if you want to live in the house, you will get a full time job.' She worked at an IHOP for almost a year, then realized that she was stupid. She went to night school because she wanted a real diploma, not a GED, and then went to college and got a job working for Worthington Designs."

"Really?" Dolph had his menu open, but he wasn't looking at it, he was looking at May, his mouth slightly open in surprised. "Wow, when I met her, she seemed so together, like she had always wanted to be a fashion designer and always worked towards that goal."

May laughed. "Yeah, she's good at that, isn't she? Nah, she was a rebel child. Not as bad as Brian, that's the kid that's been arrested for defacing public property." When she saw Dolph's look of disbelief, she laughed again. "Yeah, Brian is the artist of the family. He gets that from our grandmother. But he loves that whole street art thing, graffiti art. So, yes, he's been busted a few times, expressing his artistic creativity. He has a habit of using areas under bridges for his canvas."

"Your whole family is creative," Dolph remarked.

May nodded. "In our own ways, yeah, we are. I mean, my Grandmother illustrates kid's books for my Great Aunt, Grandpa's sister, my mother wanted to be a singer, my father is a photographer, it's like all this creative juice flows through our veins."

Dolph was just opening his mouth to say something, when he was interrupted, by a gasping shriek, further punctuated by a woman who looked to be in her late teens, early twenties at the most, wearing the IHOP uniform, rushing over to the table.

"Oh my god!" the woman said, her voice loud enough that it surely must have carried into the main dining room. "You-you're Dolph Ziggler!"

Dolph knew the drill, and while he had hoped this wouldn't happen tonight, he also had known that it very well could happen at any time. He smiled pleasantly at the woman. "Why, yes, I am," he said, in a voice that he hoped was friendly, but not encouraging. But, he soon had the impression he could have looked at her with fire in his eyes, grown devil's horns and put a curse on her, and this woman, who's name tag identified her as "Amie," would have not cared one iota.

"Oh my god!" she said again, her voice only a few decibels lower than it had been the first time she said it, even though she had been further away. "I can't believe it! Carrie told me I had a good looking guy who requested the back, and I was wondering why, but now I can see, because it's you! Dolph Ziggler! At IHOP!"

"Yes," Dolph nodded, that pleasant smile plastered on his face, as if someone had created a perfect Dolph mask and glued it to his face. "It's me. And this is May Devany." He motioned to May, who had a similar smile on her face as she turned to the waitress.

"Hi," May said, offering her hand.

But Amie didn't even look in May's direction, and thus never saw the hand, nor even heard the greeting, because she was too fixed on Dolph. "Oh my god!" she said for a third time in less than a minute. "Dolph Ziggler! Dolphy! At my IHOP!"

Dolph looked over at May, expecting her to be staring daggers at Amie's rudeness, but May had moved back in the booth, looking forward, but away from Dolph, as if she was suddenly unable to meet his eyes. Her hand was up, slightly covering her mouth, and her eyes were wide.

"I wanted to go to the show, so badly tonight!" Amie continued. "I asked everyone to take my shift, but no one would do it! God, I was so pissed! My boyfriend is that the show, but I'd dump him in a hot minute for you!" Without being asked, she plopped herself in the booth next to May, who looked over at her, still wide eyed, still with her hand over her mouth. "I'm so jealous! I would have called out tonight, but no, since I told him I had to work, he gave his brother my ticket, I was so mad, but God was looking out for me, because he brought you to my IHOP! You're here, in a booth! In my IHOP!"

"Yes," Dolph said, still smiling, but the corners had slipped slightly, and he kept looking over at May, convinced that she was hiding fury behind that hand that hid her mouth from view. "And we're hungry," he said, hoping Amie would take the hint. "Both of us, like me and May, over here," he pointed to May, who's eyes went even wider, but she never moved the hand from her mouth.

But Amie was made of stronger stuff than most and she totally ignored his words, instead continued with a stream of consciousness babble. "Oh my God, you are the most handsome wrestler. My sister, she likes Roman Reigns, but I told her Roman ain't got nothing on the Show Off! You are the total package! Roman Reigns has a big old ass, but not you, your ass is perfect, it's so fine, I just wish I could grab onto it and-"

It was nothing Dolph hadn't heard before from enthusiastic fans, but it wasn't what he wanted tonight, with May. If he was honest with himself, he had wanted to ask May out ages ago, wanted to ask her out when she was still dating Seth Rollins, but he had waited patiently, being her friend through the break up, and finally deciding that if Seth could go on, as he had, it was time to try to let May move on. He had picked going to IHOP, figuring it would be casual and easy for both of them, totally forgetting that places like IHOP were often when fans of the WWE worked or congregated. He had thought that requesting the back dining area would be enough. Clearly, he had been wrong. "Can we get-"

"I loved you in that movie!" Amie continued, not seeming to care that Dolph could talk. This was her shinning moment, she was meeting her favorite Superstar, something she had dreamed of many a night, and nothing was going to spoil it, this was all about her. "I know, people said it was terrible, but I loved it! You played that guy, remember! Oh my god, and there was that other guy! And that girl! And you did that stuff!"

"Yes, I remember," Dolph said, trying to interrupt her.

"I have the DVD of that movie, plus I bought it from On Demand," Amie continued, unabated. "So, it's on my TV, but I can take it anywhere. I love that movie! You were so good in it! God, do you remember that? You played that guy-"

"Yes," Dolph said, his voice a little louder. May had turned herself slightly so she was faced away from Amie and from him, and her shoulders were shaking. Is she that angry? He wondered, is she mad or crying? Shit, this is going down the tubes fast, how do I get rid of this chick without making a scene? "I remember it well, after all, I was in it," he gave a false chuckle, "But, anyway, we'd-"

"-and you were so good!" Amie continued to babble as if Dolph had said nothing. "And you're my favorite wrestler ever! You're so much better than anyone else, seriously! I don't know why you aren't the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, you're so much better than anyone else! I mean, my boyfriend loved it when Seth Rollins was the champion, but he was so lame! You would have rocked that whole thing!"

Dolph looked around, occasionally glancing at May, who had turned, but now was looking down at the table, several of the small braids she wore as a hairstyle, falling down into her face, the tiny beads on the ends of them, clinking on the table. While her shoulders were no longer shaking, but they did appear to twitch once in awhile. Dolph realized his mistake in picking the overflow dining room on the one hand, customers weren't as likely to discover them, but on the other hand, none of the staff seemed to be around to reign Amie in. Still, he twisted around occasionally, trying to see if he could spot someone who looked like they might work there, and catch their attention. "Uh, Amie-"

"Oh my god, you know my name!" Amie shrieked, which made May's shoulders do a tremendous jerk, and hurt Dolph's ears. "I can't believe it! How did you-" She paused for less than a second, and then laughed. "Oh, that's right, the name tag!" She tugged on the tag, looking down at it for a brief second as if she needed to confirm that indeed it did have her name on it. "Oh god, for a moment, I thought we were soul mates or something and my name just-just popped into your head. Wouldn't that have been so cool?"

"It would have been something," Dolph said, "Uh, listen-"

"Wait until I tell my sister I met you!" Amie continued. "She is going to piss purple for weeks! Oh my god, I am waiting on Dolph Ziggler! I can't believe it! Dolphy Ziggler!"

"Well, I wouldn't say you were waiting on us," Dolph found himself saying, before he could stop himself. The powers that be were firm on how WWE Superstars were supposed to treat fans, even the truly obnoxious ones, and that was with unfailing politeness. Worse for Dolph, he was a face right now, so he was under double the pressure to always be a nice guy.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Dolph wasn't quite sure which, Amie was beyond listening. She was so caught up in this moment, and obviously, when caught in the moment, Amie loved the sound of her own voice. "Oh my god, listen to me babble!" Amie said, "It's like I'm meeting you and all I can do is talk about me! I should let you talk about you!"

"Yeah, well, we'd-"

"I'm sure you have lots of interesting things you could tell me all about!" Amie continued, as if Dolph hadn't even tried to interrupt. "And I'd love to hear the stories you'd tell! About all the guys in the locker room, what they're like, and I'll bet none of them are as interesting as you! You are like the best wrestler ever to be in the WWE! Do you have any stories about Roman Reigns? My sister loves Roman, but I don't think he's nearly as sexy as you! I mean he has that big old ass of his while yours is so perfect-"

Again, Dolph flashed a look over to May, who was still staring at the table, refusing to look at him. She's pissed, Dolph thought, and found he couldn't blame her. Yes, as WWE Stars, they often had situations with overly enthusiastic fans, and Dolph had even met a few that were worse than Amie, but not by much. And the worst thing about Amie was that she wouldn't shut up. She was at the point where she was repeating herself, and Dolph had this awful feeling that she wouldn't shut up unless someone stopped her or she passed out. Man, I never thought I'd find myself hoping someone had a seizure, but I'm so close. His gaze went back over to May, still seeing only the top of her head. Oddly, even though he was upset, he noticed that in the light from the overhanging lamp, May's hair in its tight tiny braids, was so black it looked almost blue. Her hair is shiny, he thought, Now, that's random.

If May hadn't been with him, or if he and May had been dating for awhile, and he had felt she knew him a little better, he might have been able to handle Amie another way, by flirting, just a bit. Nothing too forward, it was never good to flirt heavily with fans, but enough so that he could have caught the woman off guard to at least have gotten her off to get them some coffee, then once she was gone, get the manager and ask for another waitress. He had done that type of thing before. But Amie was so gone and he still wasn't sure where he stood with May, he didn't dare risk it. Obviously, by the way May kept avoiding looking at him, and the way her shoulders occasionally jerked, she was already angry at Amie's forward attitude, and he didn't blame her at all, although he did wonder if she was unfairly angry at him. I didn't ask Amie to slobber all over me!

"-and that was when I knew that you were my boo, the superstar that if I could have any superstar, it would be you!" Amie finished off, after a long speech, of which he had not paid any attention he'd been lost in his own thoughts. She paused briefly, but Dolph took his chance.

"Amie, I'd love to chat with you all night, but my friend and I are really hungry and thirsty, would you mind getting us some coffee at least?"

"Oh!" Amie shrieked as if someone had jabbed a fork in her rear end and jumped to her feet. "Look at me! Babbling non stop, when I'm supposed to be waiting on you! What would you like to drink? I mean, the least I can do is get you a drink, right? I mean, you were performing tonight, I'll bet, and you're probably really thirsty, I'll bet you'd love a beer, but we don't serve beer-"

"Coffee!" Dolph said, a little too loudly and forcefully than he intended, but the situation wasn't just spiraling out of control, it had already spiraled itself right into a straight line of out-of-control. "We want coffee!" He looked over at May, who now had her arms resting on the table, her head buried in them, shoulders shaking and Dolph weirdly thought she might actually be crying. "May? Is coffee okay?"

May still refused to look up, but she did gasp out, "D-d-diet S-s-soda!"

"Coffee and a diet soda," Dolph said quickly. "And Amie, as I said, we are really thirsty, so if you could just go and get our drinks."

"Oh, you bet I will!" Amie trilled happily. "I'll be right back, Dolphy. I swear, you'll barely know I was gone, I'll be back so fast!"

"No, please, take your time!" Dolph insisted.

"Aw, Dolphy, you are just too sweet!" Amie gushed. "Just wait until I tell my sister! I'll bet Roman isn't as nice as you are! You are not only sexy, gorgeous, and the best wrestler in the WWE, but you're kind too!"

"I-I try," Dolph said, barely managing to plaster his public smile on his face again. "But if you don't mind?"

It still took Amie almost another two minutes of babbling before she finally left to get the drinks. By this point, Dolph was certain that May was upset and angry at him, and he had no clue what to do about it, because it really wasn't his fault that Amie was almost a cliche of the nightmare fangirl. He certainly didn't want this to happen. "May, look at me, will you? I'm so sorry."

May's head lifted from her arms and he could see her eyes were wet with tears and shinning and her nostrils were flared. For a moment, he thought she was in some strange state between being furious and hysterically upset, then a strangled sound escaped from her throat and he realized she was-

"Laughing?" he asked, bewildered.

The word seemed to shake something lose in May and she started laughing out loud, not a snorting laugh, but a gasping one, the laughter of someone who has been trying to keep it muffled for too long and now that she's able to, can't get it out fast enough. "D-D-D," she stuttered, "Dolphy!" she finally managed to say, then buried her head in her arms, little gasps and snorts escaping from her, and she stomped her foot on the floor. "Oh! My! God, she called you Dolphy!"

He sat there, dumbstruck for a good twenty seconds, as he realized that the hiding her face, the shoulder shaking, they weren't signs of rage, but her trying not to let Amie and him know she was trying not to laugh, and that if she'd caught his eyes, they both probably would have burst out laughing together. And Dolph realize that even though she found Amie ridiculous and as over-the-top as he did, she wouldn't laugh in the woman's face. He wasn't sure how he should react to this, then another snort of laughter came from her and unable to stop himself, he chuckled, then burst into laughter himself. The two of them laughed for almost a minute, stopped, looked at each other, then started laughing again.

It wasn't Amie who returned with their drinks, it was the manager. Apparently, Amie had made such a fuss in the kitchen about "Dolphy" Ziggler being there, that the manager, a middle aged gentleman who went by the name of Peter, decided that perhaps Amie wasn't the best person to be their server, and seeing that Mr. Ziggler and Ms. Devany were special guests, that Peter himself should personally wait on them. Peter, of course, was not a wrestling fan, but his ten year old daughter was, and very fond of both of them. Looking only a bit nervous, he suggested that maybe, if it wasn't too much trouble, the two of them would consent to an autograph? For his daughter, of course.

May had nodded and grabbed the keys to the rental car, which Dolph had put on the table when they sat. Before he could stop her, she ran to the car, and returned with T-shirts and clothing markers. The WWE always made sure the talent had T-shirts and pictures to give away in certain situation. While it was true, the WWE would much rather sell shirts than give them away, they also knew that sometimes a superstar giving away a shirt, especially a signed one, could spread a lot of good will that would often be returned ten fold, with the purchase of additional items and tickets to shows.

"We'll be happy to each sign a shirt for your daughter," May said, as she sat back at the table. "Under one condition."

"Anything you want," Peter said. "Name it."

"That you give one of Dolph's shirts, signed by him, to Amie, when we leave."

Dolph shot her a look that was somewhere between amusement and exasperation, but he signed the two shirts she had brought in, using the black laundry marker she offered. Since May's t-shirt was primarily black, she had a white laundry marker, which she carefully wrote out a message to Peter's daughter, confirming the spelling, then signed it with her usual flourish.

Once the shirts were signed, and Peter had accepted them, promising he would give Amie the Dolph shirt, they were informed that their entire meal was on the house.

"That was nice of you to think of Amie," Dolph remarked as they were leaving the restaurant. "A lot of girls would have been pretty upset about the way she was acting."

May laughed. "Yeah, she was totally over the top," she admitted. "But you know, she pays our salary, it's fans like her that keep the product going. And I saw her a few times staring in at us while we were eating, and I could tell she was heartbroken about being told not to bother us anymore, so I felt she deserved something."

"You're a nice person," Dolph remarked.

"I can understand where she's coming from," May admitted. "The first time I met 'Taker, I was a kid, my grandfather got us backstage passes and I was so nervous and excited and I was just a kid. I couldn't even talk, all I could do was stare at him and say, 'Phe-nom!' over and over again, like a broken record. But I was so nervous, I was afraid I was going to puke on him."

Dolph laughed. "That would have made an impression."

"Yeah, but I doubt one that would have impressed him." May shrugged.

"Amie wasn't exactly a little kid though," Dolph pointed out. "And you were."

"True, but this might be the first time she's met a celebrity," May countered. "She got carried away, it happens. At least with the shirt, she can prove to her friends that she met us tonight."

"Yeah, that's true."

They were paused on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant and there were speakers fixed on the building, playing the same mid-to-late last century music that was playing inside the restaurant too. A song had just ended, and a single piano line started the next one. "Oh!" May gasped.

"What?" He looked at her, concerned.

"This song!" May said, her gaze suddenly soft as the song began, her eyes seeing a memory rather than the present.

"Do you know it?" Dolph asked. It was one of those late '70s, early '80s ballad songs, Dolph knew he'd heard it before, probably from one of the soft rock radio stations his mother had listened to while he was growing up, but he wasn't sure of the name.

"Yes," May said, eyes half closed as she listened. "It's Dr. Hook, Years From Now."

"Wow, you have a lot of knowledge of older stuff," he remarked, smiling.

"This song especially," she admitted. "It's my parents song." She grinned. "When my mom came back to New York from Nashville, she joined this lounge band, they used to sing at a hotel bar. Nothing wild, mostly ballads. My father was meeting someone at the hotel and he heard my mother singing this song."

"And the rest is history?"

May laughed. "Thirteen kids later and the rest is history. Often, my dad or mom would play this and the two of them would dance in the living room. We kids would watch them. Yeah, we made fun of them, kids do that, but there was also something so sweet and romantic about it, too." She moved closer to him. "Dance with me."

"What?" He shook his head, not quite believing what she was saying. "Dance with you? In the parking lot of IHOP?"

"Yeah." She was so close to him now, that she had to tip her head far back to look into his face. "Unless you're afraid or something."

He knew a challenge when he heard it, so he put his arm around her shoulder. The song had a distinctive waltz rhythm to it, so he raised her opposite hand. He was not the least bit surprised when she moved closer, putting her arm around his shoulder, and the two of them were able to waltz on the sidewalk. This should be the cheesiest moment of my life, he thought, as they danced, but there is something about this woman that says it's not just okay to do this, that it's the only right thing to do.

It was a three minute song, and since they didn't start at the same time the music had, they were dancing only a little bit over a minute when the song faded out and they drew apart. A noise came from inside the restaurant and they looked up to see what appeared to be the entire restaurant staff and the few customers, pressed to the window, watching them, several of them with their cell phones out. "We are going to be all over Twitter and Facebook," Dolph remarked.

"Yep," May said, smiling. She did a flourishing mock curtsey for the folks watching. "Does that bother you?"

For a moment, Dolph pictured the ribbing he would get from the guys in the locker room, and from the Divas too. And his parents, his brother, and hell, anyone and everyone else who knew him. He'd never heard the end of it, laughing about Dolph Ziggler, big time superstar, dancing a waltz in the parking lot of an IHOP. This would be a story designed to embarrass him for the rest of his life and he knew it. He looked down at her. "No," he said softly, "Not at all." Then his grin brightened and he took a page from May's book and gave the people inside a deep bow.

They could hear the clapping and shouting, even through the thick paned glass, as they got into the car.

"Well, I have something to cross off my bucket list," Dolph remarked as the two of them walked to the door of May's hotel room.

"Dancing in the parking lot of IHOP was on your bucket list?" May teased as she reached in her pocket for her room key.

"Well, no," Dolph admitted, "But it should have been, so I'll put it on my bucket list and then check it off."

She laughed, then grew serious as she held up the key. "Thank you. Most guys would have never dreamed of doing that. Too sappy."

By most guys, you mean Seth Rollins, Dolph thought, but wisely did not say. "I'm not most guys."

"And for that I'm grateful," May said, and then she stepped closer, wrapped her arms around him and rose on tiptoes. Dolph leaned over, and easily and naturally, their lips met.

It was a sweet kiss, by modern standards, it could even be called chaste, but there was some heat behind it, and both of them could feel it. Part of me wants to ask you to let me come into your room, Dolph thought. But, I don't think you're ready for that, May. But someday...

When their kiss on the lips ended, he kissed her on her forehead before they drew apart. "I really hope we can do this again," he said.

"Go to IHOP for dinner?" she asked, her cheeks a high pink color, her eyes shinning.

"Well, if that's what you want, sure," he said, shrugging.

"Yeah, I like IHOP," May said. "But, I wouldn't mind if we didn't have Amie for a waitress.

Dolph chuckled. "Okay, we'll make sure not to sit in Amie's section, that is if we ever go to that IHOP again." He took the room key from her hand and slid it into the door. When the light turned green, he reached over her and unlatched the door, pushing it open. "You're safe and sound. Sleep well, May."

"You too," May said, a smile playing around her lips. She turned and walked into the room, shutting the door behind her.

Dolph stood outside the door for a moment, staring at it, as if part of him expected her to open it again, but he knew that was foolish. Tonight was just the first step, but he had a feeling if things continued to go half as well, he wouldn't be on this side of her hotel door much longer. Finally, he turned and headed to his own room.

Two doors down, he passed the room he had seen Seth going into when they all were checking in before the show. On the door handle was the plastic "Do Not Disturb" sign. A smile played across his lips and Dolph walked up to the door and pounded on it, loudly. "Hey Seth!" He called out, his voice carrying down the hall, certain that May could hear him. "I just want to thank you for being a douche bag!"

Then, he flipped the Do Not Disturb sign around so it now said, Please Make Up This Room and whistling, he headed down the hall to his own room.

The End.