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When You're Around

Chapter 32

Rachel was standing in front of the bathroom mirror while putting on eyeliner when Chloe stormed into the room. Rachel paused as she heard her friend mumbling to herself. "Chloe….you ok?"

In a flash, Chloe was standing in doorway, her hands resting on either side of the doorjamb. "I messed up."

Rachel set her eye pencil on the vanity counter and turned to face her friend. "What happened?" She asked as she saw the tears glistening in her eyes, refusing to fall down her face.

She walked into the room, stopping to sit on the edge of the bathtub. "I messed up." She said again as she slouched and kept her eyes trained on her feet.

"Chlo," Rachel said gently as she sat down next to her, her hand softly stroking her back. "What happened? You said you messed up? What did you do?"

Chloe glanced up at her friend before looking down again. "Randy…he said he loved me. He said it was ok, that I didn't have to say anything back. And he told me that he knows I love him, I'm just not ready yet and he wishes I could see it."

Rachel sighed. "Oh Chlo, I'm sorry." They were both silent for a couple moments. "Do you love him?"

Chloe looked up and nodded. "I do, so much!"

Rach gave a little smile. "Then what's the problem? Go tell him."

She shook her head vehemently. "I can't. It's too soon! We're moving too fast. I don't want to get hurt."

Rach looked at her friend expectantly. "Kinda like you hurt Randy today? When you didn't say it back?"

Chloe's shoulders slouched further. "I told him not to, I could tell he was going to say it and I told him not to." She shook her head. "I didn't mean to hurt him but…I just am not ready to say it."

"Chloe, I hate to break this to you, but if things don't work out between you two, it's not going to hurt any less just because you didn't tell him how you really feel. Your heart knows the truth, whether you say it out loud or not." She said a bit sternly, trying to get her friend to understand. "Now think about that while you go get changed for work." She said giving her friend a pat on the back before she stood up and walked back over to the mirror to continue putting on her makeup.

"Dude," John said to Randy when they entered their locker room later that night. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Randy asked, though he had a feeling he knew what his friend was talking about.

John lifted an eyebrow at his friend. "That car ride. Not only did Chloe offer to sit in the backseat about twenty times, if she sat any closer to the car door she would have fallen out. Not to mention the fact that Rachel and I were the only ones talking. What's up man? Did you and Chloe have a fight?" He asked, looking at his friend.

Randy pursed his lips, unsure if he should tell John everything. But in the end, he was his best friend and he had to tell someone. "I told Chloe I loved her."

John cringed. "And I take it she didn't take it too well."

Randy rolled his eyes at the understatement. "Not only did she tell me that she wished I didn't say that, when I told her it was ok if she couldn't say it back, she left claiming she had to help Rachel get ready."

John clapped his hand on his friend's shoulder for comfort. "Sorry Rand, that's rough. It's tough being the first one to say it, you never know if they feel the same way."

Randy sat on the bench as he went through his bag. "That's the thing though, I know she does. I know she loves me. I don't know if she knows that she does or if she's just scared but she definitely does." He grabbed his t-shirt and paused. "But that's not even the worst of it. She found out that her school found out about us being together and now they aren't sure if she's going to come back for the school year."

"What?" John asked surprised. "Are you serious?"

Randy rubbed his hand over his face. "I wish I was. And Chlo thinks Sam's the one that tipped the school off."

"I could see her doing that." John added. "But obviously you disagree."

Randy shrugged. "I mean, I know Sam. I don't think she would do that, no matter how much she disagrees with my relationship with Chloe. But Chloe is my girlfriend, I'd like to back her up if that's what she thinks."

"It's a lose lose really. You need to just go to Sam and ask her." John suggested.

Randy nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking about that. I'll probably do that when I get home. I don't want to accuse her of something she didn't do but I'd feel like a dick if I didn't back Chloe up on this."

Rachel stood in a short hallway near the creative office, pacing. She had about ten minutes before they'd asked her to come in and she was psyching herself up. Chloe and her had walked to the room together but Rachel had claimed she needed to go to the bathroom at the last minute, though she really just wanted to shake away her nerves.

Once she felt she was ready to go to work, she turned down the hallway and walked to the room in her skinny jeans, black v-neck boyfriend tee and gray high heeled booties. She opened the door and looked around. She was instantly at ease. She thought that she'd walk in here and there would be paper flying and people running around. But it was actually neat and organized, though there was the intense, aggressive atmosphere she likes working in. She saw Chloe sitting next to a woman, waving her over.

"Rachel, this is Diana, she's in charge of the interns. Diana this is my best friend and WWE's newest employee, Rachel Macguire." She made the introductions with a smile though Rach knew that it was all for show. While the girls had been getting ready, Chloe had told her about the situation with her job and it was clearly effecting her, along with all this stuff going on with Randy.

"Nice to meet you," Rachel said, shaking Diana's hand.

Diana girnned back. "You too! I read some of your stuff and I am very excited to work with you."

Rachel lifted a brow in surprise and let out a nervous laugh. "You have no idea how good it is to hear you say that. I was worried no one would like my style."

"Oh no dear, those are just first day jitters. Come on, I'll show you around. Everyone's working pretty hard right now, so I'll make introductions to them later." She said standing up. "Chloe, finish writing up that email." Chloe nodded and turned to the computer to finish whatever she'd been working on before Rach walked in. "Ok so for today, we're going to have you observe and read a bit about what stories we have going on right now. Then tomorrow we'll do a little test run and hopefully by next week you'll actively have your own storyline to work on." Diana said as she showed her where everything was and showed her a bit how to use everything.

An hour and a half later, Chloe and Rachel walked into catering to get something to eat during their break. Rachel had been introduced to her coworkers after the show had started and they were all very nice and complimentary of her work. She was pretty relaxed now and was ready to get hands dirty and get to work tomorrow. "Oh hey, there's Adam." Chloe said to Rachel after they got their food. Rach rolled her eyes but followed her friend over to the table Adam was sitting out by himself. "Hey Adam, how are you?"

He smiled at the woman. "Chloe, I am doing good thank you, and yourself?" He asked, purposely not looking at Rachel, who he felt glaring at him.

"Good," She lied with a bright smile on her face. "Thank you."

Adam finally turned to Rach, who immediately looked down at her plate when he caught her stare. "And you Rachel, how are you doing today?"

She shrugged without looking at him. "Fine thanks,"

Adam rolled her eyes at her lack of response and resisted making a remark about her still needing a nap. He looked up at the door to see who as walking in and immediately frowned when he saw someone walking this way. "Your boyfriend's heading this way."

Chloe's head immediately snapped up in terror of Randy heading her way but relaxed when she didn't see him in sight. Rachel looked up and saw Adam looking right at her. Her? She didn't have a boyfriend. She turned to see who it was and saw Stephen a few feet away. "Hey Stephen," She said amicably. So Adam thought they were dating? Or did he say that just to get on her nerves?

"Hey," He said, squatting down so she didn't have to look up. "Hey Adam," He said when she saw who he was with.

"Oh," Rachel said and pointed to Chloe. "Stephen this is my best friend Chloe. Chloe, this is Stephen."

Stephen smiled as he reached across the table to shake her hand. "Nice to meet you."

She smiled back politely and couldn't help but notice Adam's deep frown out of the corner of her eye. "You too,"

He turned back to Rachel. "So how's the first day?" Adam cursed the Irish man. He was going to ask about her first day as well.

She let out a sigh with a smile. "It's actually very good. Today I'm an observer but with any luck I'll be writing very soon."

"Good to hear that," Stephen said with a twinkle in his eye. "I've gotta run but I wanted to check in with you." Adam rolled his eyes.

"Aw, that's really sweet, thank you." Rach said.

"See you later Rachel Macguire," He said standing up. "It was nice to meet you Chloe. Adam," He said the man's name with a nod.

Once Stephen was gone, Rachel looked up and saw both Adam and Chloe looking at her expectantly. "What?" She asked. Chloe had a smile on her face, but it was Adam's glare that had her more confused than anything.

Chloe elbowed her friend playfully. "I think he likes you,"

"No," Rachel said with a shake of her head. "No, we're just friends."

Adam rolled his eyes again. "I gotta go," He mumbled before standing up and leaving.

"What's his problem?" Rachel asked once he was gone. Chloe shrugged and they went back to eating their lunch. Chloe was on high alert if Randy came in and Rachel was wondering what was up with Adam.

A/N: I just wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited and alerted this story, I'm so happy people like this story just as much as me!