**22 Hours Later**
"So Sam, how is the DE-LICIOUS pizza I made specially for you?!" Alicia inquired with wide eyes and a bubbly smile, standard personality attire for the foxy diva. It had been a wonderful day for she and her younger brother who was born 7 minutes later. They've spent their afternoon sight-seeing around the beautiful city of St. Louis and engaging in soft conversation while her boyfriend of 2 years Stephen hung out with his friend Randy Orton in his home turf just watching bad horror movies and drinking cheap whisky. She was genuinely thrilled her sibling was joining the WWE as a Personal Assistant Intern. It would be a wonderful opportunity for them to pick up where their increasingly receding relationship left off. Sam by nature was an introvert and not too comfortable with his awkward social skills, however he would try with this new opportunity he has been given to have a more stable connection to his sister.
"Its um… what's the word? Interesting I think? Yes lets go with that, interesting. VERY interesting. This meal is interesting."
Alicia rolled her eyes. "Ugh. Fine. The things I do for you and I get absolutely ZERO RESPECT FOR IT!" Alicia countered with defeat and displeasure laced in her voice. Regardless of what she tried to do, she never seemed to be able to impress her sib. He was just one of those people who really didn't seemed to be moved with anything other than his own feats, much to the dismay of Alicia and others around him. This was proving to be a character flaw that Sam was sure to take to his grave without a second though of its consequences.
Stephen sat there silently watching and listening to their semi-heated exchanges. Stephen being the only child in his family was always fascinated with the thought of having a brother or sister. His curiosity decreased over the years realizing that there were perks to being an only child and the events unfolding before his very eyes solidified that belief. He really wasn't paying much attention to Alicia but rather to her counterpart Sam. He watched Sam's demeanor and attempted to get a good feel for what kind of person he was. Something was off about this man and Stephen was determined to figure out what it was that bothered him so much about Sam. The arrogance of course was one thing, but it was something else that he couldn't for the life of him place his finger on. He sighed and continued to stare a bit rudely at the man before him when he heard his name being called out.
"Stephen?" Alicia asked. He snapped out of his trance when he noticed they both had stopped talking and Sam was staring directly at him with his eyebrows cocked upward with interest.
"Huh? What?" He replied stumbling. He repositioned himself in his seat and cleared his now parched throat.
"Could you pass Sam the season salt for his fries?"
"Uh yeah, sure. Here ya go fella." Stephen grabbed the rather large container of spice and held it far across the table for Sam to make the grab and take custody. Sam took a deep inhale and reached out for it. Stephen flushed when his cold fingers were slightly grazed by Sam's warm and tender ones. He quickly pulled his hand away as if burnt by fire, not wanting a repeat any awkwardness between the two. The texture of his mocha-colored skin was velvety soft. It felt nice and reminded him of Alicia's own touch.
"So Sam, tell us, are you excited for your new internship?" Stephen asked lacking grace. He didn't want to seem like he was being anti-social towards his girlfriend's brother so he decided to join the conversation, if only for a moment to throw off any building suspicion that he wasn't interested in being here at all.
"Well, its an opportunity to say the least, a paid one which Is nice. Its required for my degree program at the university to do 3 months of an internship and all the available ones sucked so I was like whatever until Alicia pulled some strings and got me this one. I was reluctant to say the least. Catering to the will of overly muscular and dim-witted men who can only assert their dominance with brute force in a square 'ring' wearing nothing but flashy underwear and body oil wasn't that appealing but I guess its whatever in a sense. Like, who am I to refuse being assimilated into world of sports entertainment right? Did you know that the WWE has a net worth of—"
Alicia rolled her eyes. "None of what you just said made any fucking sense and now you're rambling, as usual. Learn to keep it short and cute bro."
"Well sure it didn't making sense and yes it was lengthy. I was just trying to appeal to Stephen's intelligence, which is a bit absent to say the least."
Stephen narrowed his eyes at the now insulting man sitting across the table from him. Sam smirked at Stephen's facial expression, cocked his head to the side and continued.
"I mean, he couldn't even tell you and me apart from each other the other day. Talk about blindness. Ghost-like complexion, obviously over-dyed red hair, brighter than normal and now we've learned he blind, like bats. Baseballs. Baseball bats. "
"What are you talking about Sam?" Alicia questioned hesitantly she shifted in her chair waiting for a bomb to drop, judging my Sam's sadistic smirk.
"He kissed me yesterday."
Stephen froze. His jaw hung open with nothing coming out but the slight noise of his own breath caught in his windpipe. His eye lids holding a static position on his face as his muscles refused to move. The sounds from the street traffic below their room now becoming a faint ambient whisper.
"Um, what?" Alicia answered with a bit of disbelief in her voice.
"Your boyfriend kissed me on the neck and wrapped his arms around my middle. He though I was you. That tends to happen you know? People thinking I'm you or whatever. Its rather annoying and it happens A LOT but one has to endure such nonsense I guess when you are one half of a twin. But yeah he kissed me." Sam replied, taking a bit of his pizza which he daringly topped with homemade sweet potato fries, not skipping a beat with his unnecessarily long confession. He looked at Stephen who was still in disbelief that Sam had told Alicia about their embarrassing encounter. He wanted to reach over and snap this man's neck right then and there.
"What? Was I not suppose to say anything?" Sam asked innocently with a grin.
Alicia looked over to her boyfriend who had now recomposed himself and turned to face her.
"It-It was an accident I swear. I didn't know he wasn't you. You two look so much alike its ridiculous!"
Alicia looked down and stayed silent for a few seconds before erupting in a high pitch fit of laughter. Stephen became annoyed while Sam tuned them both out savoring the delicious and healthy pizza he was consuming at a rapid speed rivaling that of Stephen's own ravenous appetite.
"OMG! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU KISSED MY BROTHER! OMG THAT IS TOO CUTE!" Alicia laughed. She nearly fell out of her chair giggling at the though of Stephen wrapping himself around Sam and kissing his neck. Stephen on the other hand stayed stone frozen with anger boiling inside of him.
"It's not funny! I was mortified when I realized what I did." Stephen yelled. He tossed a cloth napkin at the snickering woman who starting laughing more at Stephen's irritation.
"OK OK OK. I'm sorry baby its just…wow." A few more minutes of giggles did Alicia finally calm down. She reached over and pecked Stephen's neck with moist lips.
"Was it like that?" She asked busting out laughing yet again. Stephen got up and left to the bathroom to recompose himself. By the time he'd returned, she had simmered down and her and Sam were clearing the table. He sat down on the couch and fiddled with his phone, checking his Twitter updates.
"Sam…I hope you behave yourself tomorrow when you join us for our flight. We are taking the WWE jet to Memphis for a house show. You are to begin your internship then and trust me when I tell you these guys are very hard to please."
"Meh, I'm sure they will love me." Sam replied smiling. He grabbed his black leather messenger bag from the coat hanger next to the door and was about to head out to his own room when Alicia stopped him.
"You know Sam…I know a few guys that would love to take you out for drinks sometime. You up for it?"
Stephen stopped messing with his phone and listened closely. Why would Alicia say that there were guys wanting to take Sam out for drinks? Like a hangout or something? He was confused so he continued to listen in.
"Um no Alicia. Last time you set me up on a blind date, it didn't end well. I got thrown up on remember? That is history that shall not repeat itself as I won't be put in such a position again."
"It won't happen again, I promise. That guy was a total loser. But these guys are wrestlers. I swear you will like them."
Stephen put his phone down and stood up.
"What are you two talking about?" He asked rather rudely. He didn't like where this conversation was going. Blind dates and guys? But Sam was a guy himself. Was Alicia saying that her brother was…gay?"
"What do you mean Stephen?" Alicia asked. She sensed that Stephen was becoming upset again, but in a more serious way so she headed over towards him and wrapped her thin arms around his waist, hoping to calm him down. It usually worked but not this time it seems.
"You said you were going to setup Sam with a guy for a blind date. Was that a joke or something?"
Alicia and Sam were silent for a few moments, Sam being usually outspoken and loud was for once quiet and at a loss for words. Alicia loved Stephen and he didn't want to cause any trouble so he chose his words carefully.
"Um Alicia, you didn't tell him?" Sam whispered. Stephen looked down at his girlfriend who kept her eyes glued to her red high heels.
Stephen cleared his throat. "Alicia? ALICIA!"
She sighed and replied. "Yes Stephen?"
"Is your brother gay?"
"… Yes Stephen, he is."
Sam shifted his stance sensing the now thick tension that had developed in a flash. He was about to head for the door when Stephen decided to steal that moment from him and pushed away from Alicia. He bolted out of their hotel room without a second though to her or her brother. He wanted to put as much distance between him and them as possible. He needed a drink and bad.