Charlotte, North Carolina 2009
Valerie stared out of her car's windshield keeping her eyes glued to the Corvette that Jeff and Beth were driving in front of her. She and the Hardys had become like a small family since the night they rescued her from the bathroom floor. They spent Christmas' together and most other holidays. For as much as she was Shannon, Matt, and Jeff's baby sister, she had also become theirMatt and Jeff's dad, the Legend Claude G's adopted daughter. Valerie and Beth were infamous for taking shopping excursions and for drinking long into the night. The only thing that Valerie was grateful for concerning what Tyler had done to her was for cementing the relationship that she had created with the Core Group.
The ramifications of that night have haunted her life for the past six years. She took a pregnancy test that had come back negative which took care of one problem, but the next problem was a little harder to fix. Tyler decided to move back up to Michigan. When he came to pick up his stuff, at Valerie's request Jeff, Matt and Shannon were there and kept him quite a distance away from her. He for some reason had a broken nose, black eyes, and a fractured radius, forearm that the boys knew nothing about. He tried to speak to Val, but the boys just told him to get his shit and get out. Not being able to lift anything on his own Shannon and Jeff offered to help, while Matt kept his arm around Valerie, and they got everything out in a very timely manner of ten minutes. It probably went so fast because rather than carry Tyler's belongings to his car they kept throwing everything out of the window. Valerie had thought about stopping them, but she couldn't stop laughing at Tyler screaming at the boys to stop before they threw Tyler's 1st place bowling trophy that he had gotten at nationals last year. She heard the crunch it made as it hit the ground.
A week after he left is when the second, more difficult problem began. Valerie got a very livid phone call from her mother. She was outraged that Val had the nerve to break up with her running mate's son. Valerie couldn't and wouldn't tell her mother about what happened. Not because she didn't want to tell her mom, but because her mother wouldn't believe that Tyler, perfect little Tyler, could possibly ever do something so vile and terrible. All she could do was say that Tyler and herself had parted ways on a mutual basis, and that her mother was just going to have to accept that fact. She never did accept it, and to this day she kept trying to get Valerie to go back to Tyler. Beth told her she should just tell her mother because it couldn't be any worse for her mother to know the truth than for her mother to set her back up with Tyler.
She followed the Corvette into the VIP parking area. Jeff's suicide door was lifted into the air and she saw his blonde and dark brown ponytail sticking up above the door while he bent over to release the hatch on the trunk. Beth got out and walked over to Val as she locked her car up.
"Hey Val, are you coming to dinner with us after the show?" she called.
"Don't know yet. I'll see what time it is when we get out of here. If we have to go to Roanoke tomorrow and leave by at least eight in the morning and you know that I am not good at getting up in the morning. I need to get some sleep."
Beth scoffed at her answer. "Aren't you the one gets up every day at like 5:00 for work?" she then kissed Jeff good bye as he went into his dressing room while we took our VIP badges and made our way to our seats.
"Yeah I do get up for work at five, but when I am getting up for work it isn't the morning after going out drinking all night with you guys," laughed Valerie.
The pair showed their tickets to the usher who showed them to their seats. The crowd was yelling and screaming from all areas of the arena. Adam could hear them from in his dressing room. He finished pulling up his tights and tied the strings. He sat on the couch and pulled on his boots. He looked at himself in the mirror and really looked at himself for the first time in awhile. He saw the small wrinkles starting to form around his eyes. He saw the roughness of his once smooth features. He grabbed at his long lion-like hair and tugged. He was so sick and tired of his long locks that he had been growing for so many years. He couldn't even remember the last time he had short hair, but now at the ripe age of thirty-five he was starting to get sick of it. However, it was his symbol, it made him who he was, and that is why he kept it.
Knock, knock sounded from the door, then it was opened. The flirtatious young thing that was on the other side of the door popped her head in and said, "five minutes until your match Edge, or can I call you Adam?" her voice had an enticing tone that said that she was interested in more than announcing that he needed to head towards the stage. Now if he was still in his twenties he would have normally jumped at the chance to bed that girl without a second reprehensible thought, but he was at a stage in his life where he wanted the one thing that he had tried twice before to have: a family. First had been Alanah, which lasted four years, but was a complete waste of time. She was more of a 'oh I'm getting notoriety I owe my current girlfriend a wedding ring because she has been with since before I got famous.' Big mistake on his part, this he knew. Then there was Lisa, a fantastic girl that he had really truly in love with, but he let his second brain take control of his body and ended up with Amy "Lita" Dumas. That was a terrible decision. He should have never listened to her that night. He had loved her as well, and she had given him the same dreams that she had given his once good friend Matt Hardy, and then like she had done to Matt, ripped them away at the turn of a hat, or more appropriately the tearing of a pectoral muscle. Once upon a time Adam, the Hardy Boyz, Jason, and others would tear up the town together, then he loused it up because of a woman. In hindsight he should have known her departure was imminent once he was injured because she had left Matt for Adam when Matt was laid up after his knee surgery, and then she turned around and left him for another man when Adam too had an injury. She cost him that family he thought, no he knew, that he was ready to have and care for.
"You can stick with Edge," he finally replied to the girl in the spaghetti tank top and too-short skirt. She got a disgusted face and walked out of the room leaving Adam once again by himself. He turned back to his mirror and whispered, "Maybe I wasn't meant to have a family of my own." Then he walked out the door and towards the stage.
"Well folks, welcome to back to RAW Live from Charlotte, North Carolina and we are a third of the way through our three hour, three for all special presented by Castrol GTX," announced Lillian Garcia from the middle of the square circle. Valerie looked at the two people who sat beside her. On her right sat Beth who was texting and twittering with Kimo and Yuk on her phone. Kimo and Yuk were together somewhere in the Time Warner Cable arena, but with as many people as there were in the arena it was most impossible to find them. On her left sat her Aunt Jennyfer and Jenn's husband Benjamin.
Aunt Jenn was a story all on her own. She was only two years older than Valerie, but she was Val's aunt, sister, mentor, and most importantly: best friend. She was also basically Val's replacement mother; not because of age, but because of experience. She was the one that found a way to sneak Val out to parties and set her up on dates. She was a hot rod that nobody could contain. She was more than a little loose in high school, but then she met Ben at a concert in his home state of Pennsylvania. What made this particular event interesting was the fact that Ben was the one preforming at the concert. They had been together for eleven years, and married for nine of them. They had three fantastic kids, and still acted like newlyweds ninety percent of the time. It was d'awww inspiring to see them together, but at the same time, for Valerie at least, it was a depressing reminder of what she herself would never have because nobody wanted damaged goods, tarnished silver, a broken woman.
Back in the ring Lillian was announcing, "The next bout is set for one fall, and it is a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship!" The second she finished speaking, Jeff's theme song began to echo through the arena. Everyone was screaming and shouting at the top of their lungs including Beth, Valerie, and Jennyfer. Ben sat in anticipation. He never screamed, nor shouted he said that was a girl thing. He was only there for the violence and half-naked chicks, which would get a reaction from Jenn by means of her slapping his head. Everyone knew he had been in love with wrestling since he was a little kid, he just didn't want to be screaming with a bunch of girls.
Beth's better half came running to the entrance ramp and was high-fiveing all of the hands that he could reach as he was given a crowd reaction befitting a rock star. He had his face painted white with black designs on it, his hair soaking wet, and he was wearing his long-sleeved black nylon shirt with signature black pants and lemon yellow, studded belt.
The air was electric with anticipation because last night Jeff Hardy had won the World Heavyweight Championship from Edge, but not five minutes after their match had ended CM Punk came in and stole it from him. Tonight was Jeff's chance to reclaim it. He flew into the ring and went to the corner, jumped on to the second turnbuckle, and preformed his gimmick causing another explosion of people screaming their allegiance to the Charismatic Enigma. He leapt down and went to preform it on another turnbuckle, but it was cut short as the words, "You think you know me," escaped from the speakers and the stage entrance began to fume. Myles Kennedy's voice began to sing, "On this day, I see clearly," as the six foot four inches tall Edge began his strut towards the ring.
He stopped just two steps into his approach throwing his two long arms into the air with all but his index and pinkie finger collapsed into a fist forming the universal symbol for 'rock on'. Then he continued to make his way down to the ring. He jumped, or more slid, into the ring on his stomach looking intensely all around him.
Then last and, to every Hardy-loving fan in North Carolina's eyes, least liked competitor, the rat CM Punk tramped his way down to meet the two other competitors. He jumped onto the lowest turnbuckle and flaunted his purloined prize to everyone in the arena, causing a wave of boos to rumble through the building. Jeff's group of four in the second row, too, were just a few of those expressing their distaste to the Straight-edge Superstar. He just took it and accepted it, relishing in the pride that those few who did support him were sending him.
Adam stood behind the curtain, Jeff and Phillip, CM Punk, were standing with him. Phil was shining his belt that he had won last night, and tonight he was starting his transition from babyface to heel. Last night, stealing the title had been just the beginning for him. There was so much more to come between him and Jeff. The fans were going to love and yet hate at the same time. Adam turned to his once very good friend Jeff and tried to tell him good luck, but he was met only with animosity.
"Hey Jeff," he began, but Jeff interuppted.
"Adam, I know you and Matt made up and everything, and that is great you guys are a great pair, but you and me? We will never be friends, so don't even try that Mickey Mouse bullshit and try to be my friend again. We are competitors and co-workers, nothing more. You may have broken Matt's heart taking Amy, but you also broke our trust, and if I can never trust you again, how can we be friends? Now let's go out there, put on the best show we can, and then we will both go home tonight," and Jeff walked through the curtain as his music began to play. Adam thought some of the anger Jeff was feeling was from the fact that even though he had known that his title would be taken away, he was still a little emotionally sore about it, not to mention, that Jeff, like Adam, was physically sore from the ladder match that they had endured last night.
After their individual announcements were made by Lillian, the referee Mike Kyota motioned to the time keeper and the bell was rung. Jeff went running at Punk fury running through him like a rabid dog who smelled blood. He hit Punk, then Edge, and the Punk again. Back and forth until Edge just happened to get a leg up and land his foot in Jeff's face knocking him to the ground, then he was able to land another foot in Punk's face. While performing his gimmick Jeff had gotten up and did one of his high energy, high-risk leaping kicks and landed Edge in the corner. He lay there a second while Jeff and Punk went at it, then Edge got back into the bout. CM was alone at one edge of the square and Edge speared him over the top rope, and while he relished in the excitement that the crowd showed for having done something detrimental to Punk, he quickly found out that a lot of what the crowd was screaming about was that Jeff was coming at him with a clothesline that dropped him to the floor.
Edge and Punk were on the mat and had just stood up when Jeff did a slingshot body slam over the top rope landing on the two other competitors. Jeff stood up first, followed by Edge, and Jeff ran at him sending his body first into the retaining wall. Edge had not properly braced himself enough so he landed wrong shoving the air out of him like a blown tire. Bent over at the waist over the black wall while the referee asked, "can you continue?"and he shook his head yes. He just needed a minute. Taking his sweet time in standing up he looked into the crowd and suddenly the whole world stopped. He was almost face to face with two one-of-a-kind green-blue eyes on the most angelic face he had ever seen. He and the girl were the only two inhabitants of the entire arena. He went to mouth something to her when Jeff threw Punk into him and he collapsed to the ground with Punk on top of him. He had a fight to finish, and he had no choice but to ignore his more evolutionary feelings and do his job. Besides, what were the chances that a girl like that could ever want a guy like him?
In the end Punk won the match using a heel technique by faking an injury to get the other two to beat the shit out of each other. Punk kept his title while Edge and Jeff were left with bare waists. Val and Beth left the arena so they could get Jeff and Matt and go out for dinner. Val and Beth met Jeff in his dressing room. Jeff was throwing on a white t-shirt. His hair was still soaking wet from the shower he had just taken. He saw the girls walk into the room and he went to Beth to give her a hug and a kiss. Picking up his shoes and went to put them on and he asked, "So how was the fight from your angle?"
Valerie thought about it a second while Beth made sure that Jeff's back was okay from the hard hit he had taken when Punk had slammed him into the steel steps. Val still couldn't shake the feeling that she had gotten when Edge had been thrown into the wall and was face to face with her. She had been completely mesmerized as he looked at her. A feeling had come over her that she had never felt before. He was all she could think about since the whole fight happened. She couldn't even remember anything that Jeff had done after that for the rest of the entire match. The only thing that she had been watching was Edge, then CM Punk's theme song started to play and she was thrust back into reality, and there was Punk pinning Edge for the win. His face and voice was still haunting her because she had heard and knew so much about Edge the character over the years, and had been there to witness the aftermath of the his affair with Amy had caused. That was all she knew of the Rated-R Superstar, and the other terrible things that Matt and Jeff would tell her about him. And yet, for some reason, she still couldn't get him out of her head. It was like a drug being passed through her body. It just kept repeating and repeating over and over again inside of her head.
"Jeff, it wasn't half bad, damn shame that you didn't get your title. You worked so hard for it last night. Speaking of which, how are you feeling today?"
"I'm doing okay, my back is still plenty sore, and that impromptu shove into the steel stairs didn't feel to hot, but eh, I'll live." He had his arm around Beth and his bag on his shoulder. "I think I have earned a massage tonight with the Bio-Freeze," he commented looking at Beth.
"We'll see what time it is when we get home. Now lets go find Matt so that we can leave. Have you decided if you are going to go with us?" Beth asked.
"Probably not. I have to go home and pack yet for tomorrow. Besides, if I don't play the responsible one who will?" Valerie replied.
"What do you mean by that?" Beth frowned.
"Well if I don't get up on time to call you both until you wake-up who will?" she chuckled in response.
Beth gave Val a look that said party pooper. She and Jeff looked at each other and then said, "We'll show you!" with a big smile on her face, sarcasm resonating in her tone. "Tomorrow we are going to wake up before you, and then we'll rub it in your face ALL DAY!"
"Not if you let Jeff have that massage that he wants!" The laughter followed Val as she left the room and made her way to her little, red sports car.
The match had ended nearly an hour ago and Adam's midsection was killing him. He knew it was from when Jeff had pulled him legs first through the rung on the ladder. He had been ready and prepared to do it, but they had neglected to mention that he had to stay like that for an unspecified amount of time. There was no bruise to tell the tale, but the pain was and he was having no other choice than to listen. But now he was on his way to lay in the comfort of his hotel room bed before the long drive to Roanoke, Virginia.
He almost didn't want to leave the facility. He wanted to go through the mob leaving look through the throng of people until he found the blonde Goddess that he had stared eye-to-eye with. Her eyes had were a fascinating Caribbean blue, with perfect blonde hair, and a flawless skin tone. His mind just swirled with thoughts of her, but as much as he wanted her he knew that he would never see her again.
He was four cars away from his rented Cadillac Escalade when the sound of a female loudly muttering, "great" hit his ears as he passed a red Trans Am. He felt like being the knight in shining to the damsel in distress, but when the woman stepped out of the car his breath caught and he once again felt like the nerd in high school that was more afraid of girls than the swirlies from the football team. It was angel eyes from the second row popping the car's hood. Her hair mussed, possibly from attacking her hair in anger brought on by her non-functional automobile. The only thing he could think of was how gracious God could be!
Valerie dug her car keys out of the pocket of her pants. She hit the unlock button on the remote for her car, but nothing happened. She tried it again and still nothing. Thinking it was the battery to the remote she manually unlocked the car. She climbed into her car and stuck the key in the ignition. Still nothing. Then the thought hit her. The door to the car was open, but the light wasn't on, the key was turned in the ignition, but the car wouldn't start. Thus, the battery was dead. "Great!" she mumbled louder than she meant to. She stepped out of the car and popped the hood.
"Anything that I can do to help?" The voice took Val by surprise because she had not seen anybody walking by her, and never would she have guessed that the man who was walking by would be Edge. Shocked, but not startled she collected herself enough to say, "Dead battery."
"I have a car if you have cables," he replied setting his bag on the ground. He stood next to her, his cologne wafting into her nostrils, causing her to feel a strange emotion. One part of her wanted to be near him, to interact with him, and the other part was timid and scared of him. That part of her was familiar to her. That was the feeling that she had been experiencing ever since Tyler had done what he had to her. The other emotion was more foreign to her, and yet she vaguely felt that it was familiar. Something that she hadn't felt in years.
"Yeah I have cables in the trunk. Thank you, Edge, right?" she nervously laughed.
"If you don't know me personally. Those that do tend to call me Adam," his big smile was geeky and adorable. Her knees suddenly had the urge to buckle, but she braced herself with her car. "I'll be right back," he said grabbing his bag and walking towards his vehicle. Valerie watched him walk away in his khaki shorts and white AC/DC t-shirt. A pair of gunmetal aviator sunglasses perched atop his golden hair that was pulled into a ponytail. The outfit was make-shift, but on him it seemed perfect.
Adam beeped open the vehicle, threw his bag in the back seat, and he hopped into the driver's seat. His pulse was racing because somehow he had become the luckiest man in the world to somehow find his mystery girl in the parking garage. He had talked with her for only two minutes and already he was hooked. It was like a line in a song, 'I loved her and I don't even know her name,' to remedy that when he pulled up in front of her car, jumpers in her hands, he asked, "Want to hand me the cables?"
Adam beeped open the vehicle, threw his bag in the back seat, and he hopped into the driver's seat. His pulse was racing because somehow he had become the luckiest man in the world to somehow find his mystery girl in the parking garage. He had talked with her for only two minutes and already he was hooked. It was like a line in a song, 'I loved her and I don't even know her name.' to remedy that when he pulled up in front of her car, jumpers in her hands he asked, "Want to hand me the cables, umm …"
"Valerie, or Val. Your choice really," she giggled. He found her little accent so adorable. There were certain words that let you know she was British, but then other times she would say something and you would swear she was Southern. He found it quite cute. Another thing he loved about her, besides her eyes, she had a body that any woman would kill for. She had on a burgundy tank top that accentuated all of the right curves. She had on mid-thigh denim shorts that showed off her fantastic legs. And at the some time, not to sound too cliché, but there was something different about her. When it came to most women his first thought lead straight to putting his penis to good use, but not with this girl. All he could think about was getting lost in her eyes, watching a movie on his couch just holding her in his arms, and seeing her sitting in the same second row seat that he had seen her tonight cheering his name. A strange emotion for the crude, lewd, and tattooed Rated-R Superstar to be thinking about. In his head he felt that this was more of a courtship than casual sex; emotional gratification over physical gratification.
"Well Val, if you'll hand me those cables I'll start charging your battery." As he bent over her car to hook up the cables to her battery she couldn't help but take a guilty look at his khaki clad behind. (Author's Note: Who could blame her? It's a work of art!! ;-)) Again those mixed emotions came into her stomach. They perplexed her, but before she could think about it anymore he asked, "So how did you get into the VIP lot, not that I am complaining."
"Oh I came with Matt and Jeff. They're my 'big brothers,'" she replied putting emphasis on big brother.
"You're the Hardy's sister? I thought it was just the two boys?" gasped Adam. "but you have a British accent?"
"Not biologically. We have mutually adopted each other since I moved here from Michigan. My accent is because I was born and raised in England until I was five."
"Oh," he replied swallowing his tongue. He remembered how the relationship ended the last time he dated his friend's sister. Divorce. His mind began to tell him, just help the girl out, then leave and forget that you ever met her, but a stronger, more controlling part of his body screamed to take the chance. "Well, then I'm fairly positive that if I gave you my number right now you would never call it," he said with the sincerest smile that he had in his arsenal hoping that she might take pity on him.
"You never know," she started, looking coyly up at the roof of the parking garage, "You could give me the number and I could think about it."
In his mind Adam was jumping for joy screaming 'yes, yes, yes!' in his head, but in reality he just grinned his big-toothed cheesy grin and said, "alright."
They exchanged numbers and Val got her car started. Adam disconnected the cables and put them in the trunk of the Trans Am. "So are you going to Roanoke tomorrow?"
"There is a good possibility, why do you ask?"
"Well if you do happen to use that phone number you could meet me for coffee, say sometime after the show tomorrow? Maybe even make a date? It is the last show until Friday.
"We'll see," the Corvette next to them made a beeping noise and the light blinked. The sound caused her to whip her head to the direction of the sound and there walking toward the car was Jeff. Adam immediately knew he was busted.
"Hey Val, Adam, what are you two up to?" he stared malevolently at Adam, then his face softened as he turned to Val.
"My car battery died, I left my lights on I guess. Adam just happened to be walking by and offered to jump my battery."
"As long as he's not jumping anything else. So are you sure you just want to go home? We are going to go to the Waffle House on Ravine Road."
"Yes I'm sure! I am so tired from screaming and yelling! Remember, you were with friends all day. I was babysitting two five-years-olds and an eighteen month old today. I am wiped out."
"Okay Baby Sis, I will call you later," Adam knew that Jeff said that just so that Adam knew that Jeff knew what he was up to. He came and kissed Val on the cheek like any big brother would, popped the trunk of his car and threw his bag in it. Adam took this as his cue to depart.
"Bye," he said turning to his vehicle.
"Bye and thanks again," she started. Then she mouthed, "I'll think about what you said." He hopped into his seat and took off his face beaming with excitment.
Val couldn't believe what had just happened, and she also couldn't decide if she did or didn't want to call Adam. And if she decided that she did want to call him, when was it okay? There was defiantly something that was happening between the two of them, and there was something different about Adam. He did not seem like the playboy deviant that Matt and Jeff had made him out to be. He seemed almost child-like and sweet. She was still thinking about their interaction while she sat in the air-conditioning of her car when Jeff began to tap on her car window.
She rolled it down and asked in a whiny voice, "Wha-a-a-a-t?"
"Was he messing with you? Because if he is I will take care of him for you."
"He was just helping me. He was in the right place at the right time."
"Well trust me on this, don't get involved with Adam Copeland. You can't trust the bastard. Believe me when I say the last person you need in your life is a guy like that."
"Well he didn't do anything vulgar if that is what you are getting at, and besides who are you to stop me from getting involved with someone if I want to."
"I just don't want to you to get hurt like you did before."
"Who's to say I will. In six years I haven't given anyone else a chance to get close enough to hurt me. Maybe it is finally time to let myself be free."
"Well trust me, if you get involved with him, you will get hurt. You know I do this because I worry about you, right," he said with the utmost sincerity.
"Yeah I know." Her heart ached because a part of her didn't want to hurt her big brother and best friend, but the other part was ready to break free and take this chance. And unfortunately for Jeff, she had a rebellious streak in her that can't be told what who she can and can't see. That made the part of her wanting to break free the size of Texas. That rebellious thing had to be coming from being with Aunt Jenn. She pulled out of her parking space and when she got to the stop sign before pulling on to the road, she sent a text to Adam's phone number.
"Why not, place and time?"