Chapter 18

PAUL

As we make our way to Hershey, Pennsylvania for our final live event before Survivor Series this Sunday, I see that Alexandria is feeling better. She still looks like she might be sick at times. But for now, she's good. I was thinking about giving her the night off just so she can relax.

"I'm giving you the night off." I told her finally making my decision.

"Why?" She asked shocked.

"Because I can see that you're still not 100%..."

"You say that like something was wrong with me. I'm wrestling tonight." She replied.

"Then why were you looking like you were sick?"

"Doesn't mean I actually was."

"Alexandria..."

"I don't get why you're giving me the night off."

"You know, most people would be happy to get the night off. Why aren't you happy?" I asked her as we got off the airplane and made our way to get our bags.

"I'm not them. I'm me. Besides, aren't I already advertised for tonight? What are you going to do if I get pulled out of tonight's show?" She asked curiously.

"We'll figure out something. You get the night off and you could spend more time with me." I suggested.

"Is that why I'm being pulled out of tonight's show, when I could be gaining momentum going into Sunday's pay-per-view?"

"Just forget about. You want your match tonight, fine. You're still in."

"What, now you're mad at me because I don't want to be pulled out of the show tonight?"

"I was just doing you a favor, okay? Sorry I even bothered. Let me guess, I should ask you next time?" I asked without thinking. After I said it, I realized that I might have said it sarcastically which is not the way that I meant for it to come out and saw the look on her face after I said it.

"What's your problem today?"

"I was doing you a favor by giving you the night off. Even if you were feeling perfectly fine, we could have spent the night together. But it's obvious you don't want to and I'm not going to get through to you to take the night off. So forget about it, Alex." I replied a little to roughly. I noticed that she didn't say anything after I told her that. She kept quiet. I looked at her and saw a blank look on her face. She's usually good at keeping her feelings hidden. So I don't know if she's upset, sad or feeling anything for that matter. I can't tell.

When we got our bags, we went to get the car. Usually, we're talking or she has her head on my shoulder. If we're coming in at the same time and/or the same flight that is. But now, she's just quiet and not even putting her hand in mine like we do when we're together.

"Hey" I told her quietly, but loud enough for her to hear me when the guy at Enterprise went to get the key to the car. She turned to look at me. "I'm sorry."

"I get it. You were trying to do me a favor. Let's just drop it." She replied annoyed.

"Do you still want to wrestle tonight?" I asked.

"I said let's drop it." she replied. "You were so freaking eager for me to take the night off and now you care about asking me weather I want to wrestle tonight or not?" She snapped.

"Alex..."

"Ma'am, here you go."

"Thank you." she told him sweetly. "Let's go." She told me as she walked past me with the key.

"Can you drop the attitude, Alexandria?"

"I don't have an attitude." She said quietly as she put her bags in the trunk. She looked at me after she finished with her bags. "Are you going to put your bags in here or in the back seat?"

I looked at her and saw a sad look in her eyes. I couldn't stand seeing her sad. I took my bags and put it in the trunk.

"Where do you want to go?" she asked.

"Um...let's go to the hotel to put our things down. Then we can go where ever you want." She nodded and started to drive. Again, she kept quiet the entire drive to the hotel. When we got to the room, she put her bags in the bedroom, and quickly went out to the hallway to make a call. She came in a few minutes later and finished putting some things down. I saw her go into the bathroom left the door open. I saw her sit on the counter, near the sink, and put on some lotion. I walked in and stood in between the v of her legs. She looked at me with soft blue eyes and went back to her hands.

"Hey" I whispered as I took her hands in mine. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" she asked.

"I didn't mean to answer you the way I did at the airport. I wasn't thinking."

"Is that how you'll answer me every time you don't think, because I don't like it."

"I know that now. I'm sorry. Are you still mad at me about that?"

She just looked at me and didn't respond.

"Please don't be mad at me." I told her as she played with my fingers.

"I don't like arguing with you. It's not fun." I heard her say softly.

"It isn't fun for me either, Baby. Can I make it up to you?"

"How are you going to do that?" she asked.

"Since we have a lot of time left before we have to head to the arena, how about we go out to lunch or something?"

"Okay. I uh, called in to say I'm not going to be able to wrestle tonight."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Maybe I could use an extra day off. Maybe I could spend that extra time I have tonight with you. Or Randy." She replied.

"If that's what you want. How about spending that extra time with me?"

She smiled and giggled. She gently grabbed my face with her hands and kissed me.

"Does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?" I asked.

"Just be patient. I'll let you know." she replied.

"Fair enough. Come to lunch with me."

ALEXANDRIA

We went out for lunch at a nearby diner. We ended up order fries, burgers, and a cheesecake for us to share. It's surprising seeing that Paul can be a health freak sometimes.

"They need to hurry up with the food." I heard him say.

"Aren't you a health freak?" I asked amused.

"Not today." He replied. "You look cute today by the way." He added.

I looked down at what I was wearing and tried to hide the blush on my face that appears every time he says I look cute. "Thanks." I told him looking back up. I saw him smiling and heard him let out a chuckle.

"You're mean."

"I'm not mean." He replied. "I just think you're cute."

We had our food bought to us and we began to eat. As we ate, Paul and I actually talked a lot and laughed and had a pretty good time. As we were eating our cheesecake, I saw Stephanie come in. I saw her look in our direction and she started walking towards us.

"What does she want now?" I asked. He looked back and I heard him mumble something under his breathe as he turned back around to face me.

"Paul! Do you know that she called in to pull out of her match tonight?" She asked.

"Yes, I know that. She told me. Is there a problem with that?"

"Yes! I mean, what are we going to do now to replace her and the match we put her in?"

"Then just get someone to replace me in the match." I told her.

"It's not that easy and simple, Alexandria."

Man, how I hated the way she said my name.

"Then what do you suggest that should be done? She already called in pulling out for the night." Said Paul.

"No!" Exclaimed Stephanie.

"Why are you making a big deal out of this?" I asked.

"You pull out, we have to rewrite the entire script around it!" She responded.

"Why don't you just replace me in the match?"

"With who?" She asked.

"Why don't you replace me with Kelly Kelly?" I suggested.

"Seriously? She's not on the card for Sunday. Why would I..."

"It's a live show! It's not going to be televised. What's the problem?"

"Alexandria, I'm trying to be calm with you here, since you haven't been in this business long enough to understand."

"I grew up in this business! I know well enough to know that you're blowing it out of proportion!" I yelled.

"I'm not blowing anything out of proportion. You want to be the smart one and pull out of tonight's event as if you're sick. But I see that you're perfectly fine. So what's the problem, Alexandria?" She asked.

"That's enough!" Boomed Paul's voice. "You two stop it! Now Stephanie, it's not necessary for us to be talking about this here. You could have waited."

"Waited for what? For the show to finally come and we won't know what to do to fill her slot?" She asked.

"It's a live event. It's not going to be televised. Why don't we just get someone to replace her?"

"Because people are expecting to see her. Not someone else in her slot." Replied Stephanie.

"I'm not the only attraction for tonight. You have Randy, Wade, and a whole bunch of other people scheduled for tonight weather it be because of a match or an appearance. Why don't you go worry about them?"

"Because they don't have an undefeated streak since debuting."

"So? Mark has an undefeated streak at Wrestlemania. What about all those times that he's missed out on that event? No one came down on him."

"He was injured. You're perfectly fine. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with you."

"Stephanie come on. Just drop it. We'll see what we can do." I heard Paul tell her.

"No. Forget it. I'll put myself back in. Don't worry about it." I told them.

"Alex, no. We'll figure something out." said Paul.

"No. If it will shut her up, then so be it. I'm not going to be carried out of here for beating the crap out of her."

"You wouldn't." She quickly replied.

"You really don't know me then."

I grabbed my things and left.

"Alexandria." I heard Paul say.

"I'm going to the car." I replied over my shoulder.

PAUL

I saw Alexandria take her things and leave, not even finishing her part of the cheesecake that we got.

"Seriously, Stephanie? You didn't have to do that. We could have found something to solve this situation."

"I wanted her to be the solution. She said she would do it. Let's just be happy that she changed her mind." Replied Stephanie.

"No. She changed her mind because she knew that it would shut you up. What's wrong with her taking the night off? She really needs it."

"And so does the rest of the Superstars and Divas. What makes her so different is that she's the girlfriend of the COO of the WWE. Everyone can't say that."

"Her being my girlfriend has nothing to do with it. She just wants an extra day off Stephanie."

"She can have her days off from tomorrow on. Tonight she's doing the show."

"This is not about what you want. Can't you just listen to what the wrestlers want?" I asked her.

"Sometimes you just have to do what's best for the company. What is going to bring in the money. She's part of why we're sold out tonight. People want to see the undefeated Diva's champion."

"Don't push her to keep doing these things."

"She grew up in this business, Paul. She should have had an idea of what she was getting herself into when she got into this business."

"Just admit it. You don't like her."

"What if I don't?" She asked. "Just because she's your girlfriend, doesn't mean I have to like her."

I asked if I could have a bag for the cake and left Stephanie there. I saw Alex in the car listening to her iPod and staring off into space. I got in the car and handed her the bag.

"What is this?"

"Cheesecake. For you to finish it if you want."

"Thanks." She replied quietly. "Let's go back to the hotel. I need to get my things and start heading to the arena."

"I know Stephanie can be frustrating at times. But I can..."

"Let's just drop this. I'm not having anymore of this conversation pertaining to her or tonight. I'm done with this topic."

Just when she was in a good mood, something had to mess it up again. We got to the hotel and we quickly went upstairs. She got her things as she texted away on her phone. She was quiet the entire time. I left with her, to take her to the arena and to try to get Stephanie to change her mind. When we did, we saw Randy coming our way with his things. He hugged Alexandria and I saw him say something to her before he walked up to me.

"She's coming with me."

"That's okay. I'll take her." I replied.

"No." He said slowly. "She's coming with me. Unless you want her to beat the hell out of Stephanie, I'm who she's going to be with."

"She won't do anything with her if she's with me."

"Same here. But I know how her temper works more than anybody else. You know, I saw her out here in the hallway earlier today. She was on the phone. When she got off, she said that she was going to take the night off because she wanted an extra day off before this Sunday and that she would spend the extra time with me, some of her friends backstage and you. Paul, she's not feeling good. It's obvious to me that she's not. Stephanie...wants to put her in a match. Stephanie doesn't give a shit about her. You know why? Because she knows that another woman has you and that she's making you happy. That's something that she might never get the chance to do again. Tell her to back off my little sister. Alexandria will make sure Stephanie pays for everything she does to her. I can assure you that. Make sure Steph watches her back. If something is wrong with my sister, someone will pay for not paying more attention to her. I'll make sure they do."

He gave me an icy stare and went back to meet up with Alex. They left and I couldn't believe myself. How had I managed to not see that she's not feeling good?

0.0

"Stephanie, take Alexandria out of her match tonight." I told her when I saw her backstage two hours later.

"Why?" She asked curiously. "I thought we already discussed this earlier."

"She's not feeling well."

"She seemed fine when I saw her."

"Because you were to busy trying to get her to wrestle tonight." I replied. "Take her off the card for tonight. I mean it." I added.

"Nothing will happen to her."

"And what if something does?" I asked. "You want to be held responsible for having something bad happen to her because you only care about what you want?"

"Paul, even if I was to take her out, it's to late to make an addition or to replace that slot. She's up right now."

"You got to be kidding me." I mumbled under my breath.

IN THE RING:

"...From St. Louis, Missouri, she is the Diva's Champion, Trinity!"

Booker:There's something different about Trinity tonight. She's not looking like herself.

Matthews: Is she sick or injured?

Cole: Who knows for sure. I just know that she hasn't been looking like herself lately. She's still a crowd favorite. She's still amazing in the ring. But something's not right.

Booker: I'm getting this uneasy feeling right now as I watch her. Something is definitely wrong with her. Who knows for sure what could be going on with her right now. I just hope that she's at 100% for Survivor Series this Sunday.

Alexandria ended up winning the match tonight. I saw her backstage with her bags and she was leaving with Randy.

"Randy, I'm sorry I couldn't get Stephanie to change her mind." I told him as I walked up to him.

"Yeah okay."

"I'm being serious." I told him. "I care about Alex you know."

"I never said you didn't. But I'm not having something bad happen to her because Stephanie wants to be a bitch. Now, we're going home tomorrow. If Stephanie has a problem with that, she can kiss our ass."