To Pique an Interest

Chapter 8: Surprise Visitor

Author's Note: The usual disclaimer of sadly not owning any of the hunky WWE Superstars out there…I do not own anyone except all original characters, including the beautiful redhead of Edge's attentions (in this story), Lilly Hazel. In this chapter you shall find out what she has to say to Adam through the phone…

Two weeks had passed since Lilly's continuously failed attempts to call Adam back. She began to grow frustrated, despite being well aware of his busy traveling schedule. She knew from the beginning she wasn't to expect Adam to pick up the phone the first time she called him back, but fourteen days after her first failed try, she was beginning to grow frustrated.

It was the midst of May and as a treat to herself for all the hard work that paid off in achieving her graduate's degree in architecture, Lilly returned back to Toronto by herself to visit family and friends. She hadn't even had time to fly home during the Christmas holidays, for she had been occupied with several reports and designs to work on as a part of her graduate degree studies. During the New Year's break she even had several gigs with Brian, Torrey and Connor, therefore this had been the first time she'd truly had a break.

For the first time in weeks, Lilly actually felt relaxed. The combined stress of RISD and the incident that had happened with Adam had been rather overwhelming, and flying back to Toronto was the biggest break she'd had in a long while. To add to her stress-free weekend, Connor had broken his right femur while motocross racing, canceling the remaining of their gigs until they could find a temporary replacement for him at the drums.

After dropping off her bags at her apartment near Rogers Center, Lilly decided to do a bit of shopping for herself and her family before joining them to watch the Blue Jays game versus the visiting Red Sox from Boston. Though she wasn't a huge baseball fan, it was for the sake of her baseball-obsessed mother, who seemed to have taken a liking towards Jose Bautista, acquired from Pittsburgh the previous year. Lilly rolled her eyes, recalling the last time her mother fawned over Bautista, mostly because she'd dined with him at a restaurant in Toronto.

Walking down the aisle of shops by herself, Lilly's eyes scanned every shop, looking for something that would catch her eye. The Hot Topic store that had once occupied the Forever 21 stores had moved to another tenant, so Lilly was in search of her favorite shop so she could buy herself a new pair of biker boots. Her eyes scanning the shop displays, she groaned silently when she noticed a poster advertising the WWE coming to Toronto for a house show, with a certain Rated R-Superstar gracing the poster.

Lilly sighed, the very thought of Adam Copeland crossing her mind. Toronto had been the perfect opportunity for her to get away from the stress and let her mind relax, but the very sight of that poster sent her thoughts crashing back down to Earth again. She had hoped to relieve her thoughts of the events that had occurred since Backlash, but her encounter with Adam had left an imprint within her memory, never to be erased again.

Spotting a Hot Topic store right next to a Zeller's, a pair of motorcycle boots caught Lilly's eye and she instantly stepped into the store whilst trying to wipe out every trace of her former wrestler crush from her thoughts.

Meanwhile, Adam had just stepped through the automatic doors of the main entrance of the mall, for he too had flown back to Toronto for a break.

Adam had been so caught up with work he'd nearly forgotten about the beautiful Lilly Hazel back in Rhode Island, where he'd showered her with gifts in the form of a thousand dollars' worth of flowers and bouquets, through delivery of course; he was hugely upset when he had to leave Providence for Hartford, and in the process, accidentally dropped his phone in an elevator shaft, much to his frustration. That meant any hope of calling Lilly back or waiting for her call had gone down the drain.

Adam was infuriated at himself, so infuriated he nearly vented out his frustrations on his fellow colleagues. He had been usually quiet and distant since leaving Hartford; the only thing that occupied his mind wherever he went was Lilly. After two weeks of keeping his frustration locked up within his mind, he decided he needed a few days off to clear his mind of the stress and return back to Toronto for what he referred to as 'soul-searching', when asking Vince for a week off from work. Thankfully, his boss of more than a decade had sympathized with his situation and let his mind relieve of the overwhelming stress taking over his life.

After the dreaded incident where his phone had been lost forever, Adam had no other way of contacting Lilly, for he'd stored her number and address in the very same phone he'd tragically lost. Though he still vaguely remembered the apartment she lived at in Providence, he had no phone number or contact to send her any message whatsoever, leaving him no other method to contact her.

Adam was on his way to the supermarket to pick up some groceries when he walked past a Hot Topic store and a head of flaming red hair caught his eye. Could it be? He thought, stopping on his tracks and taking a second look, his breath suddenly caught in his throat when the redhead turned around so that Adam had a side view of her face.

The lovely Lilly was in Toronto.

Adam couldn't believe his luck. He had no method of keeping in touch with Lilly, and it was when he'd decided to retreat back to Toronto for a rest when he finally saw her in person. He'd never thought he'd find her anywhere else but in Rhode Island. Deciding to take the opportunity (hence his onscreen nickname, the Ultimate Opportunist), Adam made a beeline for the Hot Topic store.

As he walked towards the nearly pitch-black store, Adam watched every one of Lilly's actions. She appeared to be trying on a pair of motorcycle boots, which he most definitely liked on a pair of shapely legs like Lilly's. He watched her beautiful auburn hair cascading down one side of her shoulders in perfect, natural waves, its flaming red blazing and glowing amongst the sea of blacks and grays of the store. But Adam controlled himself by snapping out of his wandering thoughts, reminding himself the purpose of his mission to Hot Topic, a place he usually never visited.

Satisfied with the comfortable fit of the boots, Lilly stepped out of the pair of black and leather and fumbled for her wallet in her bag, ready to pay up for her purchase, but she noticed the store clerk's attention was fixed on something else. Frowning, she tried calling him, but still no response from him. Curious at what had caught his incredulous attention, Lilly turned in the same direction the store clerk was staring at and she nearly had a fright.

The very last person she'd expected to run into was standing right there at the entrance of Hot Topic, unaccompanied by his usual posse of wrestler friends.

Lilly was undoubtedly stunned. She hadn't expected to run into Adam again, least of all in Toronto at the very same time she was visiting her hometown. The very thought of their night that went sour, his personal, heartfelt apology, and the gift he gave her in the form of a thousand dollars' worth of flowers brought a familiar pang of guilt to her once again. She wanted to hide from him and forget everything that had ever happened between them, believing that he would simply move on anyway. But his presence told her that he wasn't going anywhere.

"Hey," Adam said softly, when Lilly had walked up to him.

"What are you doing here?" asked Lilly curiously, "shouldn't be with the WWE?"

"I'm taking a break for the week, so I flew back to Toronto," explained Adam, "had a lot on my mind and I just had to take a couple days off to clear my mind of things."

"What sorts of things?"

"What happened between us that night." Lilly shuddered, remembering his arms around her waist and his hot breath on her neck. "I want us to talk about it. Please. It's been two weeks and I can't stand ignoring it any longer."

"Why didn't you call?" asked Lilly, restraining herself from getting angry at Adam again. She couldn't take it out on the poor guy again. "I've called and called and you never called or texted back."

"That's my fault," replied Adam, "I dropped my phone in an elevator shaft because I was a clumsy dick."

Lilly was feeling even more burden from the guilt already weighing down on her back. "That explains it," she said softly, "I assume you were pissed."

"Hell I was fucking pissed," laughed Adam. Then he fell silent, noticing Lilly's subtle expression. There was a long silence between them, even when Lilly purchased her boots and agreed to join Adam for lunch.

"Adam…" Lilly broke the silence after they'd finished ordering their food, "Do you think I'm a bitch?"

Adam was extremely taken aback at that very question. In fact, he was livid at the fact that Lilly had insulted herself that way. He thought she was far from a bitch.

"Why put yourself down like that, Lilly?"

Lilly began to ramble, "Because of how I acted when you personally came over to my house to make a formal apology. Instead of feeling sorry for you and all that, I was bitchy and I kicked you out of my apartment! I mean, how could I even do that to you? And then you send me those flowers that I don't even deserve in the first place and I feel worse about myself than I've ever been…"

"Lilly…"

"And we almost landed up in bed together because I put myself out for show in that skanky dress, which goes to show that I'm a bitch and a slut! Adam, if you think you're going to waste your time and money on some whore like me, then you've obviously lost your…"

"Lilly! Stop!" Adam hushed her, literally shutting her up by clamping his hand over her lips. "I don't think of you as those things at all."

"B-b-but why?" stuttered Lilly, when he removed his palm from her mouth, "I'm just some fan to you, aren't I?"

"No," insisted Adam, "I think you're special, Lilly, and that's why I gave you those flowers. I don't give fans flowers, just so you know."

"Adam…honestly…I don't think I can ever thank you enough for sending me all those flowers," murmured Lilly, not knowing what else to say.

"I think you deserve them, Lilly, don't deny it any further," assured Adam, taking her hand in his. He felt her shiver slightly under his warm touch and he smiled softly, liking this soft, vulnerable side of the fiery redhead. "I wanted to make it up to you for everything that happened between us that night." He watched her slowly meet his gaze, loving the way her cheeks flushed a brilliant pink and her eyes of jade wide and glowing. Her pink, pouty lips formed a small smile, yet it made his heart melt.

"Adam, I think everything you did—personally coming down to my apartment and apologizing and even sending me a thousand dollars' worth of flowers—was the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me," said Lilly, squeezing Adam's hand, "I think I've made you suffer enough," she giggled, indicating all was forgiven and things were cool between them.

"The suffering was worth it," chuckled Adam, "so are we cool now?"

"Of course," agreed Lilly, smiling sweetly at him, something extraordinarily rare for the pessimistic Lilly.

"Lilly, I think after everything we've gone through, it's not worth throwing it all away and going our separate ways," said Adam, "I think we should get to know each other better and stay in touch, if that's alright with you."

The crazy Edge fangirl that Lilly shoved aside temporarily had returned. The auburn-haired, green-eyed girl wanted to squeal in delight. She had actually found a new friend in none other than the man she'd fan-worshipped for more than a decade and still counting.

"It's perfectly fine."