"Pride and Prejudice"
An Edge/Ashley fanfic
Thanks to csimiamigirl73, KxH, Bienniel, MissMikkiMouse, JessiiBear and jojocheer28 for reviewing last chapter, you're awesome!
I'm so sorry for the long wait… I've been sick and because of that let's just say that September hasn't been my brightest month. I'm still in the middle of the whole doctors & exams process trying to fix me up… hopefully that means that I'll be back on full updating schedule very soon.
Hope you enjoy the chapter!
R&R
Chapter 42
"A Little Step Back"
"Okay… why are we exactly still here like three idiots?" Adam questioned whilst he sat on an armed wooden chair in his bedroom with his arms folded, both eyebrows raised in Jay's direction.
The man in question, though, just opted for a playfully annoyed eye-roll, leaving someone else to answer to that.
"Mr. Reso said we need to wait." Kenny explained in a matter-of-fact tone.
"I perfectly heard what Mr. Reso said," Adam glared at the younger superstar "that was just a rhetorical question."
"Oh, alright… but still, Mr. Reso said—"
A frustrated groan echoed as the Canadian ran a hand through his blonde locks, "Ugh just forget it."
Jay couldn't help but chuckle at the amusing bickering, pacing the room with light, careless steps.
"Just call me Jay, Kenny, really. Otherwise you're gonna make me feel old."
"Pff, you surely can't be older than Adam. You look younger than him anyway." Kenny innocently shrugged as he pointed a finger back at the champion.
"Thank you very much!" The latter glanced around in disbelief, looking for some kind of support that he surely wasn't going to find there, "Let me know if you have some more nice things to say about me!"
"Umm… no, I don't think I do actually… at least not at the moment." A terribly-unaware-of-the-sarcasm-in-the-question Kenny timidly looked away, fixing his gaze on his shoes.
"It's Mr. Copeland to you, by the way." Was the retort that followed through gritted teeth.
"But I never called you that way…" Kenny trailed off in puzzlement.
"Well it's about time you start now then, isn't it?" He gradually raised his voice, distractedly kicking a spare shoe lying at his feet.
"Don't worry Kenny, he's just jealous." Jay snickered.
"Oooh," the ex Spirit Squad member turned to Adam in sudden realization, "but you know I could never love anyone else as I love you."
"See? All's well what ends well." The TNA superstar grinned at his best friend, spreading his arms in a satisfied gesture.
"I hate you, both of you." Was the only mutter that followed as Edge covered his eyes in a frustrated movement.
"Oh, if you hate us wait till she arrives…" The other Canadian echoed with a knowing smirk, prompting Adam to look up again.
"What do you mean?"
Though no answer came to solve his evident puzzlement, or at least there was no time for that, cause as soon as he finished his question, right on cue the door was slammed open from outside, revealing a very upset-looking Trish Stratus marching inside.
Or better, marching inside right in his direction, blonde caramel locks bouncing fiercely on her shoulders with each determined step she took.
".......?!?!" She bellowed out, marking each word with a sharp blow to whatever part of his body she reached with her tote bag.
"Heya, would you mind?!" Adam cried out of helplessness, trying to protect the top of his head with both hands.
"Told ya she wasn't going to be as easy on you as yours truly." Her husband offered an amused grin as he eventually pulled the former diva away from him.
"What the hell?" The attacked man exclaimed in his defense under Trish's inquisitive gaze, "I didn't do anything!"
She offered a totally unimpressed 'Oh really?' look, setting herself free from Jay's grip and folding her arms. "Care to explain then?" She defiantly said, a matter-of-fact gesture of the hand to match her words as she stared at the accused superstar in between narrowed eyes, the only sound of Kenny gasping at such attitude echoing in the room for a few moments.
x—x—x—x—x
"Yes, I think those ones would definitely fit for the cause." The punk princess announced with a confident nod, an appreciative smile as she paced the room.
Matt rose from the bench where he was sat on with a surprised smile as he walked up to the spot where Ashley had just laid something down.
"These ones, huh?" He questioned with a chuckle, picking up his old military V1 pants from the battered wooden surface.
"Yes, they will match my outfit perfectly, partner." She confirmed with a smile.
"Wow, I haven't worn these in like… forever."
"Uh-huh. To be exact last time was when you defeated Edge in a steel cage back on Raw in 2005." She informed with a somewhat defiant smile, her chin slightly lifted up almost as she wanted to challenge him.
"That's right… Unforgiven 2005." He echoed in amazement as he recalled the exact occasion as well, clearly impressed with her memory.
"Yup. And I was wearing my military bra plus mini skirt combination for my first match with Trish and you—"
"—I told you that was clearly a sign from destiny." He cut her off with a nostalgic smile.
"Talk about cheesy hook up lines Mr. Hardy, huh?" Ashley playfully rolled her eyes, causing him to cheekily grin as he took a seat next to her.
"But that worked out, didn't it? That night we—"
"—shared our first kiss." This time it was her turn to finish the sentence for him, a light blush on her cheeks as a significant look passed in between the two.
"You still remember that." An awe-struck Matt said almost in a whisper.
"You too." She echoed biting on her bottom lip, a brief smile soon mirrored on both faces.
"You know, I've always asked myself—"
"Amy." The blonde immediately stopped his musings with that single name.
"What?" Matt shot her a confused look, blinking a few times under the influence of the unexpected interruption.
"Amy." She simply stated once again with a light shrug, "We always had her shadow upon us, in between us. Either you liked it or not."
"Ash, I—" he shook his head as to clear his mind, looking away for a moment and fixing his gaze on his hands while he twisted them. "I want you to know that I never meant that to—"
"I know." She interrupted him and placed a hand on top of his. "I think it was somewhat inevitable that it had to go that way between us; she… she had been too important for you to see me as more than a—"
"No," he silenced her by placing a forefinger on her lips "never even think of that. I never saw you as a substitute or a mere double. Never. You should know that. And the fact that we're still here as nothing happened proves it. Ash, if only I could go back and change that, I hope you believe I would. Even more gladly cause that could have spared you this new pain. No, let me finish please." He sternly said when she parted her lips to speak, "I feel responsible in part. I knew what he was capable of, I should have warned you, stopped you before it was too late."
"But you tried, Matt." She weakly smiled, her thumb running a path on the back of his hand. "You told me, I didn't listen to you. I foolishly believed—"
"No, you weren't foolish— don't blame yourself, that was a natural reaction. You think I would've listened if someone had warned me against what Amy was doing?" He let out a humorless chuckle, "No, I would have done the same thing. You know, if this whole experience has thought me something is that not everything completely bad comes from a situation like that, like this. And I don't regret anything that happened to me then if that brought me close to you back in the day, and now to understand better what you're going through. My feelings for you, Ash, they're still—"
But, whatever those feelings still were or not, he had never a chance to reveal cause the diva suddenly cut him off… only this time not with words; all it took was a quick movement for her hands to cup his cheeks as her lips soon followed, crushing upon his.
The reason that had brought Ashley to do such a thing? Honestly it wasn't even clear to her in the first place; she had simply acted on instinct. Truth was that often, when stuck in a hurting situation, as human beings the most natural reaction is to look back instead than ahead of us. Especially at the end of a love story. And considering the messed up situation the punk diva was in, plus the impending prospect of meeting both Adam and Kelly together in not more than an hour, that simple yet confused act was probably the most natural thing to do for her.
Therefore it wasn't hard to understand the effect Matt's words had had on the diva in such a delicate state of mind, in such a delicate moment. It was like a promise… a promise of the possibility of just going back to when things were somewhat easier and erase all the fresh pain that had followed. And she, right on cue, had fallen into that easy trap without even questioning the nature of the feelings that had led her to kiss the Hardy boy.
Even then, though, the Dirty Diva couldn't hide the confusion building inside of her and so, once they pulled apart, it didn't take long for her to stand up, her gaze definitely anywhere but on Matt.
"Ash, don't—"
"I gotta go— I— need to prepare my outfit as well, you know." She somewhat managed to blurt out with an embarrassed smile addressed at the base of the bench "I need to make sure Paul and Brian didn't hide it as usual… I'll see you later."
And just like that she had run out of his locker room, leaving a much puzzled Matt to walk to the door to watch her figure disappearing. A sigh escaped his lips, whether just to give some sort of payback to Adam or really cause he had realized he still had feelings for the diva in question, his mission was only half accomplished thus far, and that bothered him.
x—x—x—x—x
"So that's it? That's the whole story?" A much perplexed Trish Stratus questioned once Adam was done telling her what had happened, an eyebrow raised in his direction.
"Yes, that's it." The latter confirmed for the second time in a few hours, a weary sigh following. "Don't ask me how, don't ask me why… that's what happened. Believe it or not."
But, instead than asking somewhat more clarity on the confusing and inexplicable situation as he had expected, the former diva simply ignored him and turned to face her husband. "Are we believing him?"
"I guess." Jay gave a helpless shrug, "I mean he must be really stupid to make up such an absurd story to cover up. I trust he would have invented something at least slightly better in his defense."
"Hmm… yeah, you're probably right. He knows better than that."
A shocked Adam followed the exchange almost as it was a tennis match, back and forth in between his two supposed-to-be best friends.
"Excuse me," he eventually exclaimed in visible disbelief "I'm still here, you know. In your presence. Hearing what you're saying."
"Yeah, we saw you sweetie. Thank you for pointing out the obvious." She simply dismissed the protest with a careless wave of her hand, not even turning to look at the offended superstar.
"Unbelievable." He muttered, "As this wasn't my love life they're all talking of!"
"So, what's the plan? What are we going to do?" Trish asked her husband, opting to ignore the other Canadian once again… much to Kenny's silent amusement.
"Well we thought you could talk to Ash to see if at least there's still a possibility… since, you know, she kinda refuses to listen to him." Jay unsurely said, showing at least a bit of consideration as he not-so-subtly nodded at his best friend.
"Obviously." She scoffed, "She's tough, my girl."
"…Right. And in meanwhile Kenny and I are going to ask a few questions and try to find out something more about this Kelly chick… there's definitely something odd about that whole story."
"Tell me about it. Quite the skank by the way from what I've seen..." Trish absent-mindedly mused, then she sharply stopped to shoot him a confused look. "Wait a moment… and who's this Kenny now?"
"It's me, miss." Kenny promptly stepped forward, a good-hearted smile as he proudly revealed himself.
"Yeah… he's a friend of Adam. You know, ex Spirit Squad member…"
"Ooooh, right! That's where I already saw you! Hi there!" The blonde beauty smiled back at him, "It's nice to know Adam has been hanging out with someone as nice… maybe he should get a bit of your good manners." She pointed out shooting a glare in the latter's direction, prompting him to scoff in disbelief.
"Well, thank you very much mis—"
"Please," she stopped him with a hand, a giggle escaping her lips "don't call me miss. I'm married, see?"
At this Adam couldn't help but stand up from his chair, "Are we done with this nonsense?! I have a match to get prepared for if you don't mind me leaving this cozy little scene to reach the arena, you know?!"
"But of course," Trish rolled her eyes "we need to come along. So… about these… umm… investigations you guys have to do, you'd better stay away from the women's locker room baby." She almost too sweetly smiled at Jay, making him understand there was nothing sweet in the warning.
"That's why we have Kenny here, we'll split the tasks." The TNA superstar opted for a safe reply, patting the younger man's shoulder as the odd new trio started to walk towards the door.
"Yeah, Kenny and a bunch of girls… the best combo, count on that." Adam sarcastically muttered, picking up his bag from the floor.
"Oi, you coming? We have an arena to get to!" Jay matter-of-factly exclaimed.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" He cried out in frustration at the situation he had unwillingly found himself trapped in, "As if I didn't have enough problems on my own." Was the mutter that echoed as he slammed the door closed with a kick.
x—x—x—x—x
A bit more than half an hour later and the infamous foursome eventually reached the arena, or better… three of them did. The last one had asked to be stopped at a store they had just passed before without much of an explanation –not that anyone had cared enough to ask Kenny where he was going and why- and so was missing in action at the moment.
Moment that saw what remained of the group suddenly stopping right outside the door that led from the parking lot to the arena, causing Adam to frown at such unexpected turn of direction.
"What now?" The latter questioned with a frustrated huff at the married couple.
"We can't just enter like that." Trish pointed out matter-of-factly.
"What are you talking about? Of course you can. Just push the door open… don't be ridiculous."
"Sure, technically we can," she countered with an eye-roll "but I don't want the hype that our appearance would create backstage to distract us from the mission."
"Right," Adam scoffed "the hype. How could I forget about that? So what are we going to do, big stars?"
"Well I was thinking—" Jay chimed in, just to be interrupted by a very panting Kenny who caught up with the rest of them at last, carrying a small shopping bag with one hand.
"There." He breathlessly announced as he opened up the bag to display three pairs of sunglasses "These where the only ones I could afford."
"Oooh nice ones!" Trish complimented with a satisfied smile as she put the most girly pair on.
"Told you this kid was a smart one." Jay echoed patting Kenny's back and mirroring his wife's gesture.
"And who's the third pair for then?" Adam inquired with his hands on his hips, raising an eyebrow at the remaining item.
"But for me, of course." Kenny replied with a matter-of-fact shrug.
"What?! Don't be silly, you—"
"I want to help you too!"
"You work here, genius. You don't need to go all incognito to enter the arena." The champion pointed out with an eye-roll, "Not that you would create any hype, anyway."
"Oh c'mon, let the boy have some fun." The TNA superstar protested.
"Fine— whatever. Do whatever you guys want to, I have a match to get ready for. I ain't got time to waste on this nonsense." And with that he slammed the door open, marching in without a second glance back.
"Is he aware that we're trying to help him here?" Trish indignantly asked no one in particular.
"Don't mind his ways, he keeps all the love on the inside." Kenny apologetically explained.
"…Right, if you say so." The unconvinced blonde shrugged.
"Let's go guys," Jay chuckled in amusement "we've got work to do."
This probably sucked for the reasons I've mentioned at the start… sorry! I had like other 6 pages to write but I wanted to give you guys at least something in meanwhile, so that will all come in the next chappie… I promise! Preview: Adam comes face to face with Kelly – with that unfortunately being misunderstood by Ashley; the Dirty Diva has to question the nature of her feelings towards Matt & Adam; the big match finally happens! OH and the investigations of the trio finally begin! ;)
