Don't know how long it's gonna take me to write this chapter, but hopefully it won't take forever!!! Of course, you will never cuz you'll get this all at once, not sentence by sentence. So, anywho, I'll start writing now!
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Candy rolled unto her stomach, picking the phone off the receiver.
"Mmmello?"
"This is your nine AM wake up call."
"That's delightful," Candy replied as she hung up.
She groaned, staring at the ceiling, and then pushed herself out of bed. Her feet tangled in the sheets and she thudded as she hit the floor.
"Ahh," she yelled, her arms flailing in the air.
Jeff shot up in bed.
"What," he asked in a dazed, dreamy voice, looking around.
"Go back to sleep, Jeff," Candy said, as she got to her feet, "You're a boy. You get to get ready five minutes before we go."
Jeff nodded, still half asleep, and lay back down.
Candy stumbled into the bathroom, flicking on the lights. Her hand shooting up to cover her eyes as the harsh fluorescent light hit her face. She pushed the door closed behind her with her foot as she reached into the shower, turning the knob. She stripped off her clothes and hopped in. She braced her arm against the wall of the shower and lowered her head, while the steamy water drilled onto her back. The water poured down around her face and Candy closed her eyes.
She let herself go, listening only to the sounds of her breathing. Her mind spun as she was transported back in time to another bathroom. She was sitting in a corner, her knees drawn up to her chest. The nine-year-old Candy's eyes were squeezed shut, her hands pressed firmly against her ears trying to shut out the yelling. Candy could smell the dirt and mold surrounding her. A cockroach crawled across her foot, but Candy maintained her position. She flinched as she heard the shattering of something being broken. She only peeked her eyes open to make sure the lock was in place on the door. Candy shivered, not from the cool winter air that blew through the holes in her second-hand clothes, but from fear.
Fear of a mother who was hugging her one second and yelling at her the next. Fear from her mother's boyfriend, who had beaten her mother so much that he had caused the brain damage that led to her mother's disease. She shivered from the fear that one day that man would be out of jail and would come to get them. The fear that her mother's money from wrestling would forever be tied up in legal cases. Fear she would starve before her mother found another job. The fears on top of the fears on top of the fears weighed down Candy.
More smashing rang out through the apartment as her mother made her way to Candy's secret hiding spot. The young Candy's ears strained and she literally heard the wind shift as her mother drew back her arm.
Candy jumped as she heard pounding on the door. Her eyes popped opened and she realized the water had grown cold. She shut off the shower and hopped out, wrapping a towel around herself.
"What," she snapped when she opened the door.
The shocked and slightly hurt face of Jeff looked back at her.
"Aww, Jeff," Candy sighed, "I'm sorry. I'm just…I was…I was just thinking about her and it's hard."
"Hey," Jeff said, smiling lightly, "It's completely cool. Now come on, you wasted all your feminine time taking a shower. You gotta man up, you got like 10 minutes."
"Shit," Candy muttered as she looked at the glowing digits on the alarm clock and realized Jeff wasn't joking.
She padded over to her suitcase, before slapping herself on the forehead. Shannon had carried the bags for her yesterday and she hadn't grabbed her stuff before making her dramatic exit last night. She spun around to ask Jeff to go get them, but he was already locked in the bathroom with the shower running.
Candy groaned. She knew it wasn't smart to walk over to their room in a towel, but she seriously didn't want to put any of her dirty clothes on after having just showered. She bit her lip and then decided she really didn't care. It may be indecent to other people, but she made her living rolling around in a ring, half-naked.
She poked her head out the door, checking both ways. She pulled the door open more and slipped out, gripping the towel to her. She made it to Matt and Shannon's room and knocked on the door with a steady fist.
She heard muttering and cursing, before the door opened.
A groggy Shannon stared with half-closed eyes at her. His eyes opened and she could literally see him wake up as he took in the sight of her. A huge grin broke across his face.
"Hey good-looking, what's cooking," Shannon asked as he leaned against the doorway.
Candy gave him a peck on the cheek as she brushed past him into the room. Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness, when Shannon walked up behind her, wrapping his massive tattooed arms around her. The door clicked closed enveloping them in darkness and Candy leaned up against him.
Shannon buried his face in her hair, breathing in the fruity scent of her shampoo. He moaned and held her more tightly.
"I missed you last night," Shannon breathed into her ear.
"Oh yea," Candy asked, rubbing her body against his, "does that mean you learned your lesson?"
"I learned it the second you walked away from me," suddenly Shannon's body stilled and he spun her around grasping her upper arms with his hands. All the flirting left his voice as he stared into her eyes, "promise me you won't do that again, Candy. Promise you won't walk away from me. Promise you won't give up on us, no matter what."
Candy nodded her head. She lifted her arms up, grasping her hands on the side of his head.
"I promise, dear god, I swear it. I will never give up on us. No matter what problems we face, no matter who opposes, I will not give up."
She pulled his head to her, smashing her lips against his. Sealing her promise with a kiss that demonstrated everything she felt for him.
The kiss broke too soon for both of them. The two panted heavily, still holding each other, as Candy looked up at Shannon and laughed.
"Isn't Matt in here somewhere," she asked through her giggles.
"Oh, you know how heavy a sleeper he is," Shannon said as he ran his hand up her thigh, pushing the towel slightly higher, "he'd sleep through anything."
Shannon angled his head kissing her lightly on the lips, their mouths melting together.
"You are sin in its simplest form," Candy said, as she pushed him away.
"I'm sin," Shannon joked, pulling her back to him, "who showed up on whose door step in nothing but a towel?"
"Speaking of that…I came here to get my bags."
Shannon sighed, resting his forehead against hers.
"They're over on the chair."
"Thank you, kindly," she said, giving him a quick kiss before gliding over to the chair. She picked out the bags that had her stuff in them and headed over to the door.
She paused, raising an eyebrow, and sending Shannon a questioning look, "you didn't go through these, did you?"
Shannon shook his head.
"Good," Candy said, a smile popping onto her face, "cuz if you had that woulda ruined all the fun."
She flounced out into the hallway and called over her shoulder.
"You do know we have less than ten minutes and you're the one who has to wake Matt."
Candy heard a distinctive 'fuck' as she slid her key in the lock and bounced into her room.
She threw the bags on her bed and started digging through them. She pulled out a black shirt, and was digging for the black dress pants she had bought; when she came across a black knee length skirt she didn't remember buying. She spun around and held it up to her hips looking at herself in the full length mirror that also served as the closet door.
She was whisked away. This time she was five years older, fourteen, a little less than a year from that fateful night that would change her life forever.
She was standing in the dressing room at some department store, trying on clothes.
"Ohh, Candy," her mom said, coming up behind her, "I was right that skirt looks wonderful on you. You should really wear them more often."
Candy and her mom's life were finally on track. Her mom had gotten her money from wrestling. They had moved out of that apartment in the city to a townhouse out in the suburbs. Her mom had a steady job. Her mother's ex-boyfriend had died in jail during a riot, so he was no longer a threat to them. Candy's mom was now taking medicine for her disorder and it seemed to be working. They were finally happy.
Candy snapped back to attention and smiled at herself.
"Okay, Mom," she whispered, her eyes flickering upwards, "okay."
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Hey, I haven't been on in forever so everything in my e-mail and on fanfiction is jumbled, so bare with me if I forget anyone!
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