I just want to take a moment to apologize to everyone and explain myself for not updating sooner. I've been sharing a laptop with my roommates and they're both on it ALL day so the only time I could get on it to type everything out and then post it was late at night. As it turned out one of my roommates who usually went to bed early went through a long bout where he was staying up until 2 am playing online and that didn't give me any time to post. (It's his wifes computer so really I couldn't complain seeing as how it isn't mine.) Well, he has recently moved out so I don't have that problem anymore and my other roomie, my bestie, works overnights so I have plenty of time now to be posting and will definitely be having chapters up more often now. Also here soon the chapter will be much longer and more detailed. Earlier on I had been rushed because I couldn't get on to type til about midnight and couldn't stay up too terribly late doing it. But now I have all the time in the world at night to get this done the right way. (that sounds like i'm happy that he moved out and really it's kinda sad but at least there's a silver lining). I just typed this one out in an hour and as soon as I post this one I will start working on the next chapter...and I do mean as soon as. It should be up later on Tuesday night. I'm not promising a chapter every single day but I will NOT be going 2 weeks without posting again!

This is kind of a fluff chapter. Mainly just a little fun between friends but I hope you like it. We're going to be hitting a lot of the drama soon so yay! Thank you guys for putting up with the silence and I do plan to make it up to everyone!

And as per usual, all the places and streets I use are real. It's one of the reasons I chose to have Wrestlemania in Arlington, TX in this story. They say to write what you know so I wrote 'where' I know. LOL. Plus, I live here so I'd really love for them to have Wrestlemania here in the brand new stadium soon. I mean, the largest flatscreen tv in any arena anywhere? How could you get any better than that?

Chapter 7

Jeff was bored out of his mind, and anyone who knew him could tell you that a bored Jeff could be either very dangerous or very hilarious, depending on his mood. Well, not that he was actually physically dangerous but watching him pull his pranks was much more entertaining than being the person he pranked on. He had been walking around downtown Fort Worth for an hour now in an area, according to the small pamphlet he'd picked up earlier, called Sundance Square. For some reason he'd thought to arrive way too early for his lunch date and had been taking in a few of the sights and admiring the interesting architecture of most of the buildings. Jeff was always building new things and structures in his backyard in North Carolina so the architecture always intrigued him. Not that he could have pulled off much of the intricate masonry and sharp angles of some of the buildings Ft. Worth provided but it was always fun to get some new ideas.

Glancing at his watch he saw that he still had a few minutes before his friends were going to arrive so he decided to do a little more window shopping at some of the stores. Nothing there was really his style but at least it would pass the time. As he was walking up Commerce Street he saw Mike Mizanin exiting the Barnes and Noble book store with a bag in his hand.

"Hey Miz. Doing some shopping?" Jeff greeted, coming up beside Mike.

Mizanin nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Jeff's voice but quickly wiped the surprised look off of his face and turned to smile at his coworker. "Hey, yeah." He held up the bag that he'd brought out of the store. "Just picking up a few gifts for some family back home. Didn't know anyone else would be in Fort Worth since all of the shows are going on in Arlington."

"Well, got a lunch date with Callie and Phil. She's taking us to some cajun place over across the street." Jeff paused for a minute, wondering about the weird look that came over the shorter man as he had said who he was meeting for lunch. "You still sittin at my table for the autograph signings later tomorrow?"

Mike looked completely caught off guard. "Oh, uh, I guess. I just got here this morning and haven't touched base with relations yet to get my schedules and all. I was actually going to head there after I hit up one more store." Mike couldn't believe it. He had eventually been able to put that dreadful note he'd drunkenly written to Callie out of his mind while he was home. He'd had plenty of distractions hanging with his friends and family. But once he had boarded his plane to Dallas for some promotions and the Axxess event the worry had crept back into his mind. Having Jeff practically creep up on him on the street wasn't helping. There were plenty of bookstores in Arlington. He had purposefully driven the 20 minutes out to Ft Worth not only to take in some culture but to avoid his coworkers and hopefully sort out his thoughts on the matter before having to face everyone and pretend it hadn't happened. Many times he had contemplated just coming out with it and telling her that it was him and that it had been a drunken mistake. He really did have a crush on her but had there not been alcohol involved then he never would have voiced his feelings the way he did. Especially knowing that she was in a relationship with Batista. The big man would pound him flatter than a crepe.

Thankfully, a voice resounded from across the street and caught their attention. Jeff turned towards the sounds and saw Callie and Phil coming up on the restaurant and waving to him. He turned back towards Mike to say bye but all the saw was the other man's back as he speedily made his way farther down the street. It seemed odd that the normally outspoken man was just wandering off without adding another of his own two cents and it struck Jeff as slightly odd. Jeff shrugged it off and crossed the street at the corner to meet up with Cal and Phil.

...

"So what's the name of this place again?" Jeff, Callie and Punk (Phil to everyone else but Callie had always still called him Punk and soon it had become a habit with Jeff as well) had been seated in a booth towards a back corner of the restaurant. It was almost it's own small hallway with booths on either side, each with their own small flatscreen televsision mounted on the wall beside it. Just stepping inside the doors had been sensory overload, even for Jeff. Zydeco music blared from the speakers over the bar, televisions and hundreds of strings of lights cast ever changing light over the walls and ceiling and in almost every bare space on the wall was every manner of license plate, fishing net, crawfish sculptures and other bayou-themed items. Jeff felt like he could have sat there all day and still not had time to examine everything in the place.

"Razoo's," Callie answered back. "One of the only restaurants in any part of the country outside of Louisiana where you can get awesome cajun food."

Jeff wondered at the dreamy look that came over here when she said it. It was like a dog drooling over a bone. "You're from Texas Cal. Shouldn't you be salivating over barbeque and baked beans?"

"Fuuuuuuunny," Callie laughed at the stereotype. She knew he didn't mean it in any demeaning manner. "Actually when I was younger I stayed at a few homes in Louisiana for a couple of years and completely fell in love with it. The culture, the music and especially the food." What Callie hadn't said was that she had found out later on was that her biological mother had actually been born and raised in Louisiana and cajun culture was in her blood.

"So what do they have here?" Jeff picked up the menu and scanned though it but even that seemed to be a little too much for him. Their menus consisted of a single large paper, laminated over and was just as jumbled as the walls with no conceivable rhyme or reason.

"Well," Punk spoke up, having been to the restaurant with Callie quite a few times when they could find one in the area they were having a show in. "The frog legs are pretty good but the fried alligator tail is to die for! The gumbo's awesome too."

At the sound of such strange cuisine, most people would have cringed. Frogs? Alligators? But Jeff, being the daredevil that he was, was nonplussed. He was up for anything. He spent another few minutes trying to make heads or tails of the menu before finally giving up and laying it back down on the table. "How about you order for me? Give me a little taste of what you like."

Callie smiled, knowing full well that the menu itself had probably given him a headache. "Okay well, if we're gonna do it that way, how about an appetizer of crawfish fondue, the biggest platter of alligator tail they have and I'll grab a side of crawfish for us too?"

Punk set down his menu, agreeing with her choices and changed the channel on the small tv in the booth. He stopped on a cable sports channel that apparently had reporters out in Arlington right now and were interviewing some of the wrestlers before the upcoming events. At the moment a tall, leggy blonde was holding up a microphone to Bryan Danielson, better known as Daniel Bryan to his fans and haters, and going through the motions of all of same questions they were always asked. Didn't anyone ever have the imagination to come up with some new ones?

"Geez, man," Callie started. "I know he really is a good person out of the ring and all but he really needs to shave that beard. Trim it down. Something!"

Jeff laughed and nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, like a certain someone else we know, right?"

"Hey!" Punk knew that Jeff was referring to him and his newly grown out beard. "I resent that! It's not like we all have the time to stand over the sink for two hours a day with a precision trimmer," he joked back at the rainbow haired man.

"I do not take two hours! Just one at the most!"

Callie giggled at him. "He's right Rainbow Brite! You give a whole new meaning to the term 'manscaping'! Besides, I'm almost tempted to ask Brie if that big patch of hair ever gets in the way in the bedroom."

That got a weird look from both of the guys. "Gets in the way?" Punk asked.

"Well yeah," Callie looked only slightly embarrassed for blurting it out but, at the same time, she'd always felt like she could talk with both of the guys about anything. Especially the embarrassing stuff. "I mean, think about it. You're getting all hot and heavy with a girl and decide to head 'downtown'. Guys' facial hair usually isn't all soft like your regular hair is. It's all coarse. That's gotta cause some major chaffing!"

After a moment of contemplative silence Punk seemed to have a sudden epiphany. "Remind me to shave when we get back."

Everyone at the table laughed at that one. They continued to chatter about the interviews until their food arrived. Jeff had to agree with Punk and Cal that the alligator tail was awesome and the crafish fondue was heavenly although he knew he'd spend an extra hour in the gym later working off all of the grease he was overloading his system with. Callie spent the better part of an hour laughing at him for trying to learn how to properly open and eat a whole crawfish, or, as she called them, mudbugs. Overall it was a great time out for all three. By the time they paid their bill and headed out the door into the Texas heat, Callie was reminded just how grateful she was to have them as brother figures in her life.

...

To say that he was pissed was an understatement. How long could they possibly stay out and about without having to head back for meetings and to get ready for the week's upcoming events? He had overheard Callie telling that asshole Phil that she wanted to be back home by late afternoon so she could catch up with some designs she'd been working on. He'd been sitting in the parking garage with an eye on their car for two hours now. Where the hell were they? After following them from the convention center he had decided that it would be safer to stay in the parking garage and stake out the car they had arrived in than try to follow them around the crowded downtown streets without being seen. She had been in the car with Phil and he had been sure that they were going to be meeting up with someone else from the company, possibly for some shopping or food, and he would be recognized immediately. With all off the tourists and fans in town for Wrestlemania as well, it wouldn't be worth it to draw a crowd when he was trying to stalk someone.

All searched he'd done to try and find her house had turned up nothing. He knew his plan wouldn't work out any other way. He had to have her address and he had to have it today. If he wanted things to go just his way then he had to put everything into motion and he had to do it soon. He had one week until Wrestlemania and everything had to go off with no problems before then. Wrestlemania was going to be his redemption. Wrestlemania was going to tell the whole world that he was not one to be reckoned with.