Chapter 4
"You are not leaving." Steph said standing in front of the door.
"Steph, I was wrong. I'm not ready for this,"
"Yes you are. Listen to me, besides the fact that we are less than an hour from show time; I am not going to let you ruin a chance of a life time. Jess, I know you're scared, but trust me, you need this."
"How can I get you to see, that I am not ready. Forget the whole past situation, I'm not physically ready."
"You are in the best condition of your life, and it's not like I'm gonna throw you to the wolves right away. We'll give you a little time to get your rhythm back. You owe this to yourself."
Jessica looked at her best friend, grateful that she was there. She and Stephanie had been friends since they were kids, and even after she moved to Long Island when her parents divorced they were still able to stay close. Both Stephanie and Shane have helped her out tremendously through everything that she knew she couldn't let them down.
"Fine, I'll do it, but you better stay close. I don't know how long my wills gonna hold up."
"That's better." Stephanie said and hugged her.
"Anyone here need makeup?" Shane asked entering in with another woman. "This is Claire, she here to do your hair and makeup, and get you anything you may need. That is if you're still going on."
"Yes, I'm still going on."
"Good" He said and gave her a hug.
"Did you tell them?"
"As a matter of fact, right after Steph left, Jeff came to the office. Perfect timing, I guess. I told him and I told the others. They're cool with it, and can't wait to see you."
"So tell them they can come here, I mean no one else would see me and it would give us a chance to work out tonight." Jessica said, amazed that they would all be so accepting.
"They can't. The shooting a few promos but they said they'd see you tonight and you can all get together afterwards."
Stephanie looked at her brother knowing that there were no promos scheduled for them to shoot. "Okay so we are going to let you get ready and we'll come and get you when its time. Okay?"
"All right." Stephanie took Shane's arm and pulled him outside.
"What are you up to?" She asked once the door had closed.
"Nothing. Listen I told them like I said, but Jeff was a little thrown off, so Matt said to give him some space. He was sure Jeff would come around. He just needed some time to accept it. I didn't want to tell her that so, I made up a little lie. They'll be fine by the end of the night.
"You better hope so. Cause she's going to go out there and you got her thinking everything is great."
"Everything will be great. You'll see. Now get to work. We've got a show to run and Jay and Adam are up." Stephanie walked off hoping her brother was right but a pit in her stomach told her she wasn't so sure. She decided to go off and find Jeff for herself.
"Hey Stephanie," She turned and saw her assistant Claire, "Your father is looking for you in the booth."
"Okay I'm coming." Jeff Hardy would have to wait. She thought to herself and made a silent prayer that her brother was right.
Shane knew Stephanie doubted him but there wasn't anything she could do about it. The show had started and Stephanie was going to be very busy. By the time she realized he lied, it would be too late. All he has to do is make sure Jessica doesn't realize anything is up. He'll hook up with Adam and Jay after the reveal and come up with something. He was fairly sure they'll be cool with what went down. All that matter was punishing Jeff and make sure Jessica didn't figure it out.
