CHAPTER 10 – Summer Slam
Fresia couldn't see Mark for several days. The morning after her party, they woke up early in the morning to go to the airport, but he wasn't there. Glen was missing too. Fresia asked Jessie and she said that the men had already left with another flight, going to Marks's house in Houston. Glen always stood at Mark's when they were in the nearer.
The girls were still in a daze, because of the birthday's party. After Mark had made his stormy departure, little by little the other wrestlers left the restaurant too. Kevin, Glen and Dwayne stopped to their table, before leaving, to say hello and they looked amused, while examining the girls from head to toe. What the hell happened? The friends remained at the pub for a little while, to talk about it, until the closure. They had slept no more than three hours that night and now felt beaten.
"If Kevin will keep looking at me like that, I swear to God I'll bite him" Nora said snorting. "I will make him confess the truth as soon as we'll be alone". She couldn't press him now because the superstars flied in first class and the rest of the staff in economy. But that very night she would have cornered him.
Paul didn't even have the courage to peek at Stephanie; he was completely petrified at the thought of a relationship with the boss's daughter. Even before knowing "the truth" he didn't think that having a story with the Princess, as everybody called her, was a good idea; several of his co-workers spoke ill at his back, persuaded that his interest for Stephanie was fake, due to his ambition. Being with the boss's daughter could catapult a wrestler in wonderland…. They didn't understand that it could have been his death, instead. Vince would have emasculated him, knowing he had touched his pure child. He had to get out of this mess; he had to talk to Steph to explain her he wasn't the right man for her…. God, those excuses seemed dull even to him. He had to tell her the truth, explaining his feelings and his job position; Stephanie was a smart girl, she would have understood. After all there was nothing between them, just a pale friendship.
He didn't know that Stephanie had already planned her life with him for the next months, if not the next years. She was in love with him and couldn't wait to see their friendship transforming into a real affair. Then they could start a relationship and the rest would have come naturally.
They arrived at destination in the late afternoon and before going in their own room, decided to have dinner together, that night. Then they went to unpack and rest a little. The next days would have been long and stressing, the stuff had to arrange everything for the Sunday night show. Summer Slam was one of the most loved PPV, together with the Royal Rumble and, of course, WrestleMania. To organize the show, the WWF crew had to work hardly for at least two entire days, so that everything could be perfect.
Around 7 o'clock in the evening the girls met in the hotel's restaurant to dine.
"So Nora – asked Jessie as soon as they were seated at the table – have you been able to talk do Kevin?"
"Nope – she grunted – he is practically vanished. How a 7 ft., 320 pounds man can disappears like a ghost? I've looked for him everywhere. I think he went home too, after all it's not far from here, just a couple of hours by car and seeing that he has four days off before Summer Slam he probably decided to spend them comfortably. I can't blame him, but when I'll put my hands on him…."
"We know – laughed Fresia – you'll corner him".
The others joined the laugh and they started to eat.
"Glen called me this afternoon – said Jessie – he was… strange"
"Strange? What do you mean?" asked Nora
"I can't explain it, it wasn't the same Glen I know. Every little thing he said alluded to something else… When I asked him what he was meaning, he said he will tell me tomorrow after the show. He said he wanted to ask me something important".
"Have you any idea of what it could be?" asked Fresia.
"Not at all, but I couldn't ask him more, because Mark was calling him noisily. Glen told me he had to go, otherwise Mark would have chewed him out for being late. I laughed, I thought he was joking but Glen insisted that Mark behaves like a grumpy bear. He is irascible, disagreeable; he spends a lot of hours in his private gym and speaks only if questioned".
"Well – Stephanie commented – what's new? Mark is always like this"
The girls laughed, nodding their agreement.
"Paul is weird too. I cannot talk to him since the other night, he avoids me like the plague but I catch him looking at me when he thinks nobody is watching. He acts like he was doing something wrong" said a depressed Stephanie.
The friends tried to comfort her, but she dismissed their fuss shrugging.
"Sometimes I think that everything happens because of my surname: somebody gives me a lot of attention and other people keep away from me, intimidated. It's a pity that the only persons I like belong to the second category!"
"Steph, if Paul doesn't want to be with you just because you're a McMahon, then he isn't man enough to be at your side" said Fresia.
"It's true! Look at your friends here, for us you are just Steph, the rest doesn't count" replied Nora, followed by the unanimous voices of the others.
"You're right, girls – said Stephanie reinvigorated – who doesn't love us, doesn't deserve us"
"Amen to that" Jessie declared, lifting the glass towards her friends. The goblets tinkled, like a perfectly tuned chorus.
The following days were so chaotic that the girls couldn't see each others often. They just had breakfast together and then everyone run to their job, busy more than ever. Fresia, Cindy and Laura had to create the hairstyle and makeup for the Divas and the wrestlers. Some of them had to show off black eyes and bruises and that needed a lot of work to look real. Fresia spent several hours to apply extension to three diva's heads. During the match they would have come to blows, ripping locks one another. Obviously the hair would have been fake, but to the fans eyes the falling out locks had to be authentic.
Jessie had costumes to take in or let out, tears to darn, bodices to stuff… In short, a pile of clothes surrounded her and she didn't know where to put the handkerchief anymore!
Nora and Stephanie had to shoot some scenes for their respective matches and all was going to rack and ruin. A violent storm broke in their area, the light went back and forth continuously and it seemed impossible to film an entire scene, even a short one.
Stephanie tried to talk to Paul again and again, but he restricted their conversations to the show and their match. He even didn't want to try the scene of the kiss, just before HHH entrance in the ring, like they always did.
To hell with him – thought Stephanie – the kiss will take place, whit or without his consent.
Finally it was Sunday, the PPV day. The fans started to arrive early in the morning to meet the wrestlers at the autograph sessions. Fresia knew that Mark and Glen would have come to the arena just on time to take part in one of those sessions. Separated, of course, because of the storyline that wanted them enemies. Jessie was excited as much as Fresia and couldn't wait to talk to Glen, the uncertainty was making her crazy! But the girls had to wait till that afternoon, 'cause they went to the arena just after breakfast.
While Fresia was doing Joanie (China) hair, around four in the afternoon she felt pins and needles at the nape of her neck, like someone was at her back. She turned to the door and jumped. Mark was there, in the door's frame, motionless and was watching her. Fresia wanted to run to him, hug and kiss him, ask him a lot of questions, but she knew that he would not have tolerated it, not in front of everyone, so she just gave him one of her luminous smiles.
"Good afternoon Mark, lovely to see you again" she welcomed him.
Mark was in the beauty department to put an end to her interest for him. He wanted to tell her to stop chasing him around, 'cause he didn't intend to continue their "affectionate friendship", as she called it. He was ready to rebut all her objections. He had thought about it a lot, during the lonely nights in his room, at home, and was determined to not back down. Fresia was a delightful person, but she wasn't the woman for him. Better, he wasn't the man for her, he wasn't a virgin's trainer for God's sake!
At the moment, she was surrounded by a lot of people, working on Joanie's mane: Cindy was putting rollers on Amy and Laura was doing the scene makeup of Trish. All the presents were looking at him with evident curiosity, ready to witness another chapter of the story between him and the Squirrel; then they would have popularized it to the entire WWF. He had to postpone his speech until she was alone.
"I will be back later for the braid" he said, his face impenetrable.
"All right" she said, but he was already gone.
"What a problematic man – said Cindy – How come that you like him so much?"
"Just because he is problematic – replayed Joanie – he is more stimulating. Boring men don't last long"
The girls giggled, going back to work.
After a few hours that seemed like days finally the waiting room was empty and Fresia was finishing her last client. She was one of the most beautiful women she has ever seen. He had met her frequently along the corridors of the arenas, before and after the shows, and she was always in the middle of a bunch of men, so taken by her to look pathetic. She had long, naturally red hair and was at least 4 inch. taller than Fresia. Her body seemed sculpted by Michelangelo: the breasts high and firm, perfect hips, her bottom round but small and her legs long and slender. But it was her face that really enchanted who was looking at her: perfect rose skin; cat-like, grey eyes with long eyelashes; high cheekbone, a little delicious nose and full lips. Her name was Priscilla Morley and she was the only woman Fresia had ever envied.
If I were like her, Mark would have not taken so much time to notice me.
But then, thinking about it, she told herself that Mark wasn't like all the other men, he didn't judge you just for your appearance, he looked inside you comprehending your soul.
Fresia had picked Priscilla's beautiful hair up in a low chignon and was now putting big silver pins in it. She looked like a queen.
The door opened suddenly, making almost jump the two women in fright because they were alone in the salon, Cindy and Laura already gone to the backstage to watch the show. Mark entered the room with a purpose, then he blocked seeing that Fresia was not alone, still.
"I'm almost done, Mark. Please have a sit, I will be there in a second" said Fresia, her heart beating wildly.
Mark sat down wordlessly, watching Fresia from the huge mirror in front of her workstation. She had some big pins in her hands and seemed to know what she was doing. She was a real pro and women in WWF waited in line to have her as hairdresser. Cindy was good too, but Fresia could always give the personal touch that could make the difference in entertainment world.
Going to her department, Mark knew exactly what he would have told her, but he didn't imagine having to stay there, on the armchair, looking at her placid face, waiting to destroy her spirit. As the minutes went by, he realized that his determination was fading before her smiles, her furtive and shy peeks, the palpable happiness to have him there. The discourse he had prepared seemed suddenly silly and useless and he understood she would have never given in. He panicked, an alien sensation that made him feel a loser.
Then he noticed the redhead client of Fresia winking at him from across the mirror and recognized the familiar rite of seduction that every woman paraded in front of him. He knew the girl, Priscilla…. Sybil... something like that. She was a ring rat, one of those women who had sex with the wrestlers in exchange for money and visibility. They were all very beautiful girls and some of them had started a career as a model or actress, after having been in public with a superstar of wrestling. The redhead had tried several times to pick him up, but prostitutes were not really his type… Wait a minute, a prostitute? Of course! It was just what he needed to convince the little virgin that he wanted only expert women, someone who knew what to do in a bedroom.
He moved forward on the chair, in the direction of the redhead, his eyes traveled along her, from head to toe, scanning her body hungrily. She recognized his body language and replied crossing her long legs, looking him in the eyes.
"Good evening Priscilla – he hoped the name was right – I see you're preparing for an important night"
"Actually I have no plan yet, but you'll never know, I could make an interesting encounter…" she said flirting.
"What if you had already made that encounter?"
"I would say that I'll wait for him after the show, to spend that hypothetical important night together"
"Well, consider yourself taken" he concluded, bossy. Then he lifted his eyes on Fresia and he saw her… he saw her look and knew he had achieved his goal.
Fresia had worked quickly, when he entered the room. She wanted to get rid of the last client to dedicate herself totally to her dream man. Who knows, maybe that night he would have taken her out for a postponed birthday party. After all, he promised it, didn't he? Then he spoke… he spoke to the beautiful woman beside him, asking HER out… and Fresia died in that exact moment, while a blade of pain, sharp and clean like a knife, traversed her heart making it bleed. She looked him in his eyes, finding them empty and cold. She lowered her head slowly, on the by now finished chignon, just a few spray of lacquer.
"That's that – she said in a whisper – have a nice evening".
The redhead looked at herself in the mirror, satisfied and thanked Fresia, giving her some money. Than with a gracious wave to Mark, she walked out of the room like a queen.
Fresia went to Mark, put a towel on his shoulder and started to work on his splendid mane, silently. She didn't know what to say, trying very hard not to cry in front of him. She didn't want to humiliate herself … again. So she gritted her teeth and breathed deeply. Silently.
What a silly! Only now she understood the truth: Mark didn't want to be with her because she wasn't a beauty. A famous star like him probably had a standard and she didn't adhere to Mark's. If he was used to fascinating women like Priscilla, having around a plain girl like her should have embarrassed him. Probably he was ashamed to be seen with her. God what a fool! The need to cry was more and more strong and Fresia bit her lips to refrain. She ended to braid Mark's hair and fixed the braid with a rubber band. Then she removed the towel and folded it, putting it away in the shelves behind her. Silently.
Mark was looking at her trough the mirror, she was like an open book; the hurt was clearly visible all over her face, like she couldn't hide it. Making him uncomfortable. A sudden impulse to hug her attacked him and he stood up
"Squirrel…." He started.
But she halted him with a look, lifting her chin proudly.
"Don't worry Mark, it took me a lot but finally I got the message. I won't bother you anymore".
Then she took the broom and started to clean the floor, to cancel every sign of her numerous clients' passage. Silently.
Mark hesitated a little more, unsure; but he had acted in that way for a reason and he succeeded. It was what he wanted, wasn't it? He turned on his heels and left the room, heading to his locker to wait for his match..
Fresia saw him go away, closed the door and locked it. Then, alone, she let her emotions run free, sat down on a chair and cried, his face between her hands. She stood like that for a little while, then she dried her eyes putting all her stuff in the travelling set.
She wrote a message on her phone for Jessie:
Tonight I won't be there with you. I'm coming back to the hotel.
I will explain tomorrow.
A hug.
Fre
She turned off the lights and closed the door heading tiredly toward the exit of the arena, just when the powerful roar of a bike echoed on the walls, welcomed by the crowd's rumble.