Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than the other OC characters in this story. I cannot claim that I own any WWE Superstars, events, locations, or the WWE itself. I'm entirely too poor and unlucky for that to be the case – believe me, ask my student loan payments.

I'm writing for my own enjoyment, as well as that of my readers. Please review this piece, and let me know if there are suggestions, ideas, or just your thoughts. I appreciate the feedback.

CHAPTER 3

The ride home was filled with small talk about random memories of certain locations they passed on the way to Tessa's family house. There were the random parking lots where people would congregate – well, the cool crowd anyways. Tessa mentioned the small city park where she would play catch when she was younger. Finally, they reached their destination. Tessa parked the car in the drive, led John to a back porch full of wicker furniture, and lit several citronella candles that were strewn around the porch. John settled into one side of a small bench seat, and leaned back, curling an arm over the back of the bench. Tessa had disappeared into the house, and re-emerged with two beers. She took a seat on the other end of the bench from John, and handed his beer to him.

"Sorry, Mom must have cleared out the last of my bottle of wine. Hope a beer is okay." Tessa smiled softly at John.

"Beer is just fine with me," he said as he started to look around. John had forgotten the look of this house, at least what he ever saw of it. Tessa lived a few blocks from some of his closest friends in school, and he would often pass the place, wondering what she was up to inside. The house was on the smaller side, but it was evident that a family – one that truly loved one another – had to have spent time here. Swings were dropping out of low limbs of trees, there was a garden that had been tenderly cared for, and a yard that would make a gaggle of young kids think of kickball games.

"You guys have a pretty nice place; very peaceful." John nodded his head toward the massive back yard. "Let me guess, you wore that bald spot in the yard throwing against the shed, didn't you?"

Tessa smiled. "Yup. Dad stripped me out a spot and put a rubber down in the ground so I could throw against a backstop. Once I started getting too big for him to spot, he saved up a bit and bought me a pitching net with a strike zone woven into the netting. I used to spend hours every night out here." She took a quick sip from her bottle and placed in on the small table in front of the bench.

"I bet it was hard when you had to leave for school, huh?" John watched Tessa's face drop slightly from her happiness revealed before.

"Yeah, it sucked. But, I came back as much as I could; I still love to come home and just hang out. There are just so many good memories here. If it wasn't for my family and their dedication to me, I would have never made it as far as I did. How many people can say they went from being a high school nothing to a national champion?" Tessa smirked as she took a slow drink from her bottle.

"I'm sure you have that market cornered, but I would totally disagree with you about the high school nothing. Everyone loved you in school."

Tessa snickered. "Oh yeah, I was totally the queen of that place. No one talked to me hardly, unless then needed an extra explanation of what the algebra assignment was, or what the book was about in English. Know anyone like that?" Tessa poked a finger into John's side as he smiled brightly back. "And we know that your girl hated my guts then, and she still does now." Tessa stared at her beer bottle before taking a long pull, and putting it back onto the table. John sensed her tension with the last statement and exhaled loudly.

"She wasn't always such a horrible person, Tessa. Honestly, she was more jealous than anything."

"And just what, pray tell, was she jealous of? My work ethic? 'Cause I have trouble thinking that someone who supposedly had everything was jealous of me. I had nothing compared to her, and there wasn't anything that I got that she wanted."

"You were smart, and she wasn't. You made things look effortless, and she was always busting her ass. Tessa, you just don't know; you might have had something and just not known it." John took a drink, and looked straight ahead. Tessa watched his silhouette in the flicker of the candle light. He looked a little scared, and his breathing became more shallow.

"What's wrong? You okay?" Tessa ran her hand along his arm that was still on top of the back of the bench. She felt him twitch under her touch, and when he turned to face her, he saw very urgent eyes looking back at him. He had brilliant and vivid memories of those eyes; how they could have convinced him to try and pull the moon to Earth when he was seventeen. She never had an idea about what happened in his own mind, but he was still under the spell of those deep, sparkling eyes. "John? What were you talking about?"

"You remember that party I invited you to after your last home game?" Tessa shook her head yes, and John continued. "I really wish you would have said yes. I had been making plans for that party for weeks."

"You're that upset because I didn't come to a party? John, I think you may be a little off on that one." Tessa grinned as she leaned back, letting out a light sigh. How could he remember this out of everything he had to have seen so far in his life.

"Didn't let me finish, Tessa," John shook his head, "I hadn't been making plans for the party, it's a party, they just happen. I just had been entertaining other…thoughts. There were a lot of things that could have, and should have, been different." John's smile drooped to half-cocked. The flush on his face was so plain that Tessa could see it even in the lowest light.

Tessa felt blood rush to her cheeks, but she pressed her luck. What the hell, she thought, I'm heading back to Miami soon, he is never here either, no chance of us running into each other again, and this sounds like something I might want to hear. "What could have been different, John? I'm just not following. You're really losing me here, which I'll admit, isn't something that happens often. You should feel good about yourself." Tessa smirked in his direction.

John's eyes were sparkling bright as his lips began to twitch faster. "You're gonna make me do it, aren't you?"

"I do not know what you're talking about Mr. Cena. I can neither confirm nor deny whatever accusation that was. I told you I was confused, and needed some direction."

"Did it ever occur to you that some guys find brains attractive?" Tessa recessed herself deep in thought for a moment before answering.

"Well, there were a couple of guys on the yearbook committee, but most guys tend to match attractiveness with breast size, I think."

"It can keep us amused for a moment, but there is nothing more attractive to a lot of men than a girl who is smart. Someone smart, funny, and dedicated – that would be my ideal." John's eyes started to narrow down , burning a hole in Tessa's.

"Well, I'm sure you've found a few of those; assuming you haven't already tied one down." Tessa couldn't rid her mind of this giddy thought that something good might come of this. This couldn't be a typical conversation – she'd never had a conversation like this with any guy, let alone the one who captivated her for so long. She was in uncharted waters, but thought that she should keep prodding him; see what comes to light.

John snickered lightly to himself, and took the last drink off his beer before setting the empty bottle on the table. "Oh, I have one in mind; had her in mind for some time. Just didn't realize how much in mind she was for a long while." Tessa tried to keep her smile from falling, but was only mildly successful.

"Oh. Well, that's good for you John. I'm glad you've got someone who makes you happy."

"Never said that I had her, just had her in mind. We recently got back in touch, in fact." John's eyes were examining every inch of Tessa's face. He finally sighed, realizing she was not going to make it easy for him; she was either very skilled at playing dumb, or she had no idea about what was going on. He would have to suck it up, and either sit back on the topic or betray his own sense of self-preservation.

"What are you talking about John?" Tessa kept a very blank expression on her face, but her heart was about to beat out of her chest. This couldn't be happening; not after this long. All she would have wished for, for the longest time, was this, and now she couldn't think that it was anything other than a dream. She pleaded with her own mind to not be building herself up for failure.

Before he answered, John took another long look at Tessa's face, and turned his body towards hers. Her eyes were searching his, and his were only trying to will her to understand. "You know, maybe you're not so brilliant." He laughed in spite of himself. Tessa smiled, but her eyes began to well up with tears – she had stressed herself out beyond all reason, and now her emotions were going to betray her. "Oh God – Tessa, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I was just joking. Please don't cry." He grabbed her leg instinctively as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Oh, no, John, that's not it." Tessa smiled as she laughed softly at herself. "It's just really weird to be having this conversation, you know? I think there has been some kind of mix up or something." She got up and walked over to the railing of the porch, leaning both her hands on it and ducking her head. Her laughter absolved her of any further tears, and she could actually feel the pain bubbling up inside her, and it was like another personality had taken refuge in her body.

"You know, John, I would have loved nothing more than to have more than a five minute conversation with you about anything other than what book you should have been reading, or that you needed me to buy you time to finish your homework when we were both here. It's sad, and a little odd, that I would be in this yard, thinking between pitches, and now you make it seem like it was on your mind, too. Or did I miss your point, because that is the feeling I'm getting from this little experience." As she began to process where she found herself, Tessa's anger welled up inside her.

John looked a little surprised by her reaction, and began to smile at her temper coming through. He had barely seen it in her, unless she was down on herself about a game, or if her grade dipped below an A. But this sparked something in him, and he felt drawn to her. John got up and walked over beside Tessa, sitting back on the railing next to her. "I'm not quite sure how to handle it now, and I damn sure didn't know how to handle it then. Tessa, I was scared. I didn't know what anything meant at that time in my life, and I was more afraid of doing something and hurting you, or creating a worse situation. I mean, I could talk to you after having a bad game when I wouldn't talk to anyone else, whether you knew that or not. No one seemed to understand; you did. You were always so kind to me, never made jokes about stupid jocks or about the fact that I never seemed to have things done. Plus, you were always pretty easy on the eyes; you still are, you know." John's cheeks flushed red as he stared at his shoes.

"Great, so you thought I was nice, pretty, and you let me be tortured by that banshee for four years because she hated the fact that you could, and did, talk to me? I'm supposed to buy that?" Tessa was incredulous. John could not be serious about this; it was some kind of a cruel joke. "You knew - you had to, and yet, you did nothing. Plus, here you are waxing philosophical about how things could have been different, and you weren't even going to let me in on anything, except by some brilliantly hatched plot for a random party, right before I left for Arizona. You were finally banking on having a backbone to fess up a few weeks before graduation? You're pretty damn thick, John."

"Tessa, I'm sorry. Obviously it wasn't my best or brightest moments. And I'm sorry that I managed to spring this on you now, in such an unrefined way – I've ruined your quiet night." John leaned up and away from the railing. He began trudging from his spot like he was leaving.

Tessa huffed loudly. "Where are you going? You're leaving?" Tessa's resolve had waned. "You don't have to leave…unless you wanted to."

John stopped and spoke to her over his shoulder, "I don't want to leave, but I kind of feel like I'm Attila the Hun – I showed up, laid waste to everything in my path, so my work here is done." He snorted to himself as Tessa's mind worked overtime. She decided this was going to be a decision that would have to be made more quickly than something she would normally participate in.

"Well, Mister Cena, the cat is out of the bag. What do you have to say for yourself?" Tessa turned, facing John's retreating form full on. Her arms drooped by her sides, and she was suddenly acutely aware of the exhaustion that had accompanied this whole situation.

Tessa wasn't expecting what happened next. John slowly pulled an about-face, opened his mouth to reply, and very quickly shut it again. Before she could move, John walked back over to her purposefully, and pressed his lips to hers. Tessa was too stunned to move, and with the initial touch of John's lips against hers, she felt herself melting in his hands stationed on her shoulders. The kiss seemed to last forever, and neither John nor Tessa made to end it. Finally, Tessa leaned back, and her eyes fluttered open to stare deep into John's eyes.

"Hmm," It was all she could muster. His lips had rendered her speechless.