CHAPTER 9 – Birthday's surprise – part 2
The next morning Mark went down to have breakfast much more serene. He had spent the night thinking about Fresia's indifference in the elevator. What was going on? After a few hours of reflection he still didn't know what to think so he decided it wasn't important, after all he didn't give a shit about that busybody little girl, did he? He filled up his tray with the usual rich choice of food and sat at a table beside Glen, who was already eating.
"Hey"
"Hey yourself" said Glen.
"Are you going to the arena too?"
"Yep, I have a shoot for the evening show, so I need to drop by makeup and then I have to pick up my new costume".
Mark chuckled "And I bet the costume test will take you a lot of time, eh?"
Glen smiled. Actually he had an appointment with Jessie, that afternoon.
"I have to make up for lost time. Tonight we won't see each other, because after the show Jessie will go out with her friends".
"So she already prefers her friends on you? You sure must not have done a great impression" Mark said teasing.
"Stupid. It's a special event; they will celebrate Fresia's birthday".
Mark froze, with his fork in the air. Then, realizing he really looked like a stupid, he put it down on the tray.
"Fresia's birthday? Today? I didn't know".
"Why should she tell you? You don't give the impression to be so concerned about her. Maybe she wants to spend the day with someone who really cares about her".
"You're not in the position to judge me, you left a girl alone in a dark deserted road" Mark growled, cut to the quick by Glen's comment.
"I apologized" he replied, thinking gotcha!
Mark went back to his breakfast, but his brain was like a volcano. Why on earth didn't Fresia tell him about her birthday? She could have tormented him some more, asking for a gift or another dinner together.
Perhaps she will tell me this evening, before the show and probably she will invite me to join her party. Yes, that's it he sentenced with confidence, relaxing.
That night, in the beauty department, the activity was in plain course, as always before a show. The girls brought a change of dresses at work and had already took care of makeup and hairdo so they could go to the party directly from the arena. When Raw began, the girls went to the backstage, to watch the show. Fresia was happy and excited. During the entire afternoon she received the wishes from the wrestlers and the Divas, together with the staff members. The chief of the ring crew gave her a bouquet of perfumed fresias, in honor of her name. She thanked him with a hug a he picked her up, spinning around while she laughed.
Mark hung around her all day long. He passed by her area going to the ring to warm up, then he did the same coming back to his dressing room. Afterward, he walked down her corridor heading in Jessie's room to collect his costume. Finally he dropped by Fresia to braid his hair. She pampered him like she always did, filling him up with smiles and babbles, but she didn't say a word about the birthday. Mark was confused, and at the moment even a little irritated.
He drove his bike in front of the girls, stopped just a few seconds turning toward Fresia, who waved at him with enthusiasm; then he sped up in the direction of the ring. That evening took place another episode of the Undertaker against Kane saga and Jessie and Fresia screamed like crazy to support their heroes. At the end of the match, won by Kane, the men came back to the backstage and Jessie walked Glen to his dressing room. Fresia too approached Mark, who was handing over the bike to a stagehand. As a routine, she told him how good the match had been and how much she appreciated it. Then she excused herself for not being able to accompany him to his room, but the girls was waiting for her and she was late. Still no mention about the birthday.
What the hell – Mark thought in a bad mood, then marched away, grumbling like a faraway storm.
In the dressing room Glen was already showered and preparing to go out.
"Did you already find a replacement for your damsel?" Mark said ironically.
Glen pushed him, irritated "Someone has ever told you that you're an asshole?"
"Many times but it's the truth so why waste my energies getting angry – replayed Mark – I just wanted to ask you if you feel like going out to drink something together".
Glen smiled inwardly. Gotcha again he thought amused.
"You know, Paul, Kevin, Dwayne and I were thinking to go in that pub in the natives reserve…. Do you remember it?"
"Yes perfectly, a decent place, but rather far from the arena. Sure we could find something nearby"
"Sure, but I couldn't see Jessie"
"Jessie? But didn't she go with…." Mark left the phrase halfway, understanding. A sneer on his face, he smacked his friend on the shoulder and went in the bathroom.
The girls reached the pub and the owner escorted them to their table. It was in a corner of the room, close to a big fireplace where the meat was cooking. To the other side stood a stage, where a rock band was getting ready to start their show. Dinner was served a few minutes later and the girls attacked the meal with gusto.
An hour later the door opened and the Hardy's walked in, accompanied by Lita and Trish. Then Andrew Martin and Stacy Kiebler entered the place, sitting at a table not far from the girls. Cindy and Laura, who had their back to the couple, started to make funny faces and the entire group laughed hysterically. Those two were the most disagreeable persons in WWF.
The rock music was spreading around the place and the girls began to sing and dance together or with some of the customers.
The door opened again and Glen made his entrance followed by Kevin, Dwayne, Paul and Mark. Jessie and Nora welcomed their men, happy to see them, and then they came back to their table; after all the girls were all there for Fresia. Stephanie and Cindy turned their attention to the new entries waving and delivering wide smiles. Fresia did the same, addressing one of her naughty grins to her dream man.
The wrestlers sat down at a table waiting for their drink, when the light went out, the room illuminated just by the fireplace. The band started to play "Happy birthday" and the girls stood up all together, singing while the owner of the pub brought a huge cake to their table, enlighten by 25 pink candles. Fresia was so caught in the moment that she forgot all about her battle for Mark and her fears of lose this battle. They put the cake in front of her and told her to make a wish, before blowing on the candles.
Well, this sure is an easy choice she thought. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and with a strong and lengthy blow she put out all the candles in a go, her heart full of the memory of Mark's body against hers. The girls and all the presents in the pub applauded and the lights came on again. Fresia thanked everyone bowing to the four side of the room, and then sank the spoon in her slice of cake, puff pastry with whipped cream and chocolate.
After the dessert, Stephanie took out a package from her purse, wrapped in blue paper with a white bow, accompanied by a colored card signed by all her friends. Fresia opened it and found a digital frame with a lot of photos of the Circle in it. The sequences of pictures flowed slowly and Fresia put the frame in the middle of the table, so all of them could see.
Mark was seated with the others, pretending to listen to Kevin, who was blabbing about Vince and his gaffes. In truth he was watching Fresia's every move, who seemed to have a lot of fun surrounded by her friends. She was really pretty, the little black blouse fitted her nicely and the black stilettos gave her a sexy aura. Her hair was partially down, parting in the middle and fixed at the sides of her head with silver clips. When the first notes of "I can't tell you why" by Eagles filled the room, he stood up and approached the girl's table. Before she could say something, he hold out his hand in front of Fresia.
"Wanna dance?" he asked her.
Fresia was astonished. Dance? He could dance? Seeing that she stood there, absent-minded, Jessie gave her a strong push that almost made her fall from the chair. Fresia shot Jessie a killer look, then she put her hand in Mark's and walked with him on the dance floor. It wasn't easy to dance with someone so tall, even in high heels she just reached his armpit, but Mark didn't seem to notice it. He put an arm around her, holding her hand with his and began to move to the rhythm of the music.
"I didn't know you liked to dance" Fresia said to break the silence.
He was looking at her like he wanted to impress every detail of her feature in his mind, and she felt a little nervous because he had never done it before.
"It's my birthday's gift" he replied. Then he tightened his grip on her, as to admonish her
"I couldn't pick an appropriate gift because nobody told me it was your feast".
"Why should I have told you? I didn't believe you would care. If I'm not wrong, you told me you don't want a relationship and surely I didn't want to force you to invite me out".
Mark weighed up her words, looking in her crystal eyes and made a decision.
"I could have changed my mind, Squirrel" he murmured with his deep voice. "You can be really persuasive; after all I could listen to you"
She was dumbfounded, shocked. Good Lord, is he saying he wants to have a relationship with me? Does he want me? Just me? Oh my…. I'm going to faint
He saw her predicament and hold her tight as to reassure her. He realized that having Fresia in his arms appeared right and natural like she was a missing piece of a puzzle and had found its joint. She leaned on him, trying to absorb his warmth and masculine scent. This was the best birthday of her life. The last notes of the song forced them to loosen up the embrace.
"You know, the WWF next stop will be in Texas, not far from my house. If you will be a good girl I'll take you in a restaurant I know. You can call it a delayed birthday's gift".
He escorted Fresia to her table, kissed her hand like a real gentleman while her friends were elbowing one another, giggling. Then he returned to sit with his companions.
The girls squeezed up around Fresia to know what he just said to her. She drank some water, to get over the shock and told her friends that maybe, just maybe, the Dead Man was capitulating, for he had almost invited her out.
"Almost? What does that mean?" asked Stephanie coming back from the dance floor, where she just had danced the same song with Paul.
"He said he'll take me in a restaurant he knows only if I will be a good girl"
"Oh… and you're going to be very good, aren't you?" asked Jessie winking
"I don't know what he meant but surely I'll be super-duper good" Fresia declared with conviction and all the Circle burst out laughing, with a toast to Fresia.
At the men's table, Mark received a slap on the shoulder by Glen, a punch on his arm by Kevin and a thumb up by Paul. Dwayne accosted him face to face, lifting his famous eyebrow Rocky style. They were teasing him mercilessly enjoying themselves a lot, but this time Mark didn't get upset, his attention still focused on Fresia, her soft curves, her fantastic perfume… Damn, he was hard again. He had to find a therapy for this infatuation, he was thinking about this little girl night and day… he had to have her, before the simple lust developed into an obsession. A couple of nights with the Squirrel and his interest would have died, like it always happened with the women who visited his bed.
Next time Squirrel, we will spend the night together, in my yard – he premeditated, watching her laughing with her friends.
His thoughts were cut by Andrew Martin and his stupid blond girlfriend Stacy Kiebler, sitting down at their table, not invited. The wrestlers sighed, surrendering to the inevitable. The entire WWF detested the couple. They loved to gossip around right about everybody who was within range. The journalists chased the babbling duo because of their big mouths and Vince had threatened to fine them more than once, if he found out some of his precious secrets on the magazines.
Stacy, above all, the blond with long legs and a dumb smile, adored to criticize the women of the WWF, both the Divas and the staff members. In that moment exactly, she was observing Mark, with curiosity in her blue eyes. She had noticed the heating looks darting between the boys and the table of that insignificant girls – except for Stephanie, of course – and she was wondering how many wrestlers were entangled in a relationship with those silly females. The rumors said that Glen and Kevin were the only ones involved.
She decided to attract the men's attention on herself, which was the purpose of her life, throwing a hand grenade in the middle of the group. With nonchalance she poured herself a glass of white wine, waiting for a pause in the conversation, to have complete silence.
"So guys, are you here to celebrate Fresia's birthday, honorary member of the Circle?"
"What Circle?" asked Paul against his will.
"The virgin's Circle, of course" affirmed Stacy, very pleased.
The table went completely silent and all the presents looked at Stacy with disapproval. Surely it was a stupid joke to mock the girls, but it wasn't amusing.
"Don't look at me in that way, it's true. I don't know anything about Cindy and Laura, but I clearly heard the others say they were all virgins, one morning while having breakfast in the arena restaurant. They founded a Circle right there and then" Stacy articulated, observing the reaction of the wrestlers.
The men turned around all together to look at the girls, speechless but with a multitude of feelings in their minds. Glen could finally understand why Jessie was so shy and hesitant. Paul put his hands in his hair. Not only he was hanging around the boss's daughter but she was also a virgin! Vince would have skinned him alive if he dared to touch his princess. Kevin wasn't much surprised. Maybe because Nora was involved in the Virgin Molly storyline and he was used to hear talking about it. He couldn't wait to talk to her face to face, just to see her reaction to the question.
Mark was struck, shocked, incredulous. A virgin? A virgin? But the girl had just turned 25 for Christ sake! She was a little too old to be still inexperienced, wasn't she?
I'll be damned, for letting her come so close to me… He thought, more and more infuriated. His plan to fuck the girl did obviously blow up. He didn't want a virgin in his bed, no way. A girl holds on strongly to her first lover, she doesn't forget him, never and Mark didn't want that kind of attachment. He had to convince her to let him go, he had to get rid of her. Even if he liked Fresia a lot, there was no future for them, he couldn't allow it.
He stood up and grabbed his jacket walking toward the exit wordlessly, his face a mask of anger.
The girls were aware that something wasn't right at the men's table. Sure that stupid blonde was the reason of it, she was a universal blabbermouth and who knows what she invented this time to capture the males attention. Then all the men turned to watch them and the girls was ill at ease, to say the list. Something happened, but what?
Fresia saw Mark going to the door. She watched him opened it, turned towards her and looked at her straight in the eyes. Even if she was to the other side of the pub, Fresia felt a shiver of apprehension overwhelming her. While the door was closing, Fresia had the feeling that soon she would have cursed the day she met Mark Calaway.