"Pride and Prejudice"
An Edge/Ashley fanfic
Thanks to csimiamigirl73, MissMikkiMouse, Spanish Sunrise, DanaO1230, edge Ashley, bobfrank, I luv hardy and BabyEmza for reviewing last chapter. You guys are way too awesome!!!
Hope you'll enjoy the new one as well!
R&R!
Chapter 43
"It Ends Tonight"
As the night drew on the wrestling card of the weekly show got progressively lightened up of several matches, each one with its winners and losers, while slowly approaching to the long awaited for main event and main attraction of that Friday evening. Amongst those who had already performed for the night and belonging to that second aforementioned category of people, there was a certain dark haired diva who didn't hesitate into making her irritated discontent for having come out on the losing side of the battle known to everyone that crossed her path while she marched inside the canteen with decisive steps, still with her in-ring gear on.
And to think that the tag team match hadn't started that bad for the ECW duo who had lined up Brooke as first competitor against Cherry (mostly cause Layla had considered herself too much of a hot deal to give away the team's best resource right away, and against the shy diva indeed); in spite of her inexperience (let's not forget this was only her first match after all) and of her consequent jittery nerves, Brooke hadn't made a terrible impression, thanks to what seemed a natural gift for powerful clotheslines from side to side of the ring and a few tricks Kenny had successfully taught her that morning. Sure, she wasn't going to compete for the Diva of the year award, but that ring had seen worse through the years for a diva debut.
Anyway, point was that the long haired diva was holding herself up the best she could against Cherry's equally growing confidence and attacks, thus managing to unawarely annoy her team partner who had much counted on being the savior of the day on their side. Reason why, after having watched as Brooke received another bulldog, Layla deliberately decided that her partner had burnt her chance and it was now her time to shine; therefore she outstretched her hand towards the back of Brooke's shoulder and tagged herself in. As predictable (evidently for everyone but her) it all went downhill from there with Michelle (regularly taken over) pinning the confident Extreme Exposé member after less than a minute and securing the win for the blue show over the extreme one.
Hence having blamed her teammate instead than the fact she hadn't had a proper training session since joining Kelly's posse, Layla seemed to be now in a very egocentric and sore mood with the whole world but herself; actually this became soon evident as she nervously tapped her fingers on the metal side of the vending machine while she impatiently waited for her tea –after all she was still a British lady, of course-. Her order finally processed, she hastily seized the plastic cup and turned on her heels to return to the locker room as quickly as possible (probably to yell at Brooke some more) when she was forced to come to a halt all of a sudden, letting out a gasp as she found an unknown guy waiting behind her, a bit too close to her vital space for her own liking.
"Excuse me," she began poshly while taking in the unknown sight of the spiky-haired blonde guy behind a questionable pair of black sunglasses, her hands on her hips in the attitude that nowadays seemed to suit her best "stalker much?!"
Displaying his best boyish grin, Jason Reso took a step backwards and raised both hands to plead innocence. "Sorry love," he spoke with a too marked Canadian accent "didn't mean to scare you— I just happened to catch you earlier in the ring and I have to say… wow."
"And who are you again?" Layla arched an eyebrow, quizzically staring at the –poorly- disguised TNA superstar.
"Oh right, forgive the rudeness. Christian Stratus, from the Jayaholic Modeling INC." He sold his lines with the most convincing professional tone, removing the glasses and outstretching his hand towards the diva "I'm here to play talent scout."
Failing to recognize the famous wrestler (yes, shockingly never believe when every single diva declares "I'm such a huge fan, I grew up watching!") but definitely interested in both presentation and good looks, the Extreme Exposé member immediately shifted attitude, eagerly smiling and shaking his hand. "And you noticed me?!" She added an all too fake humble gasp for good measure.
"That's right, doll." He offered a lazy smirk, "Vince is an old friend and gave me, how to put it, carte blanche to choose one of his girls for a special project; that's why I've been watching all of you. But you, babygirl," he emphasized pointing a finger at her "you're definitely the one I was looking for all along."
"Aw, really?" She flirtatiously waved a hand, "I must admit, not to be vain, that I'm a pretty big deal around here. You must've seen it for sure earlier in my match… not my fault if they insist on pairing me up with such hopeless cases."
"No doubts." Christian commented her scoff with a derisive grin that obviously –and luckily- failed to be perceived as such.
"So what's this project?" Layla asked next, folding her arms in evident interest.
"All in due time, darling, let's not dwell on the boring details right now— we'll discuss the contract and stuff in the space of a couple of days; in meanwhile though…"
"Yes…?"
"I'd like to take a couple of shots of you, to make my assistants see the beauty I've picked, you know. If that's not a problem, of course, I don't want to take too much of your time if you're busy or something."
"But of course— I'll go getting ready right now!" The diva nearly shouted in delight, unable to control her excitement any more.
"Right, about that… you know what would be great for your image?" He squinted his eyes and cocked his head on a side, impersonating some sort of possessed stylist "A bandana to hold your hair back— wait! I've seen the perfect one on the head of a girl that was parading around earlier… blonde, quite tall, poorly dressed…"
"You mean Kelly?" Layla skeptically asked.
"That's her!" Jay snapped his fingers together pretending to recognize the name, "Do you reckon she'll let you borrow it for a few minutes?"
"Sure thing." She shrugged not seeing why her friend would refuse her such small favor.
"Really? Cause I heard her telling some French girl that it's the gift from a special someone… a boyfriend if I'm not mistaken."
"Who?! Please." The diva let out a scoff "She had started to show up with that thing way before the whatever she has going on with said questionable boyfriend, trust me."
"Awesome then," Jay grinned in delight, glad to have received the info he was seeking all along "I'll go get the camera and stuff ready, see you right here in a few love." And with that and a lazy wink he promptly walked in the opposite direction, from where he wasn't obviously coming back… much to the diva's upcoming puzzlement and disappointment.
x—x—x—x—x
Much to her dismay but not so unpredictably, Ashley was soon left to acknowledge that all the sudden boldness she had felt upon seeing the little –misunderstood- scene in between Adam and Kelly had abandoned her, as quickly as it had arrived, as soon as the punk diva turned the corner leaving the infamous duo behind.
She didn't even understand in the first place what had possessed her to spit in Adam's face like that the –false- fact of her being back with Matt again… probably the simple instinct of "I want you to bloody suffer like you have hurt me, you bastard." Even though, after the initial and brief sick satisfaction of seeing his face fell, the made-up bravado had only left her with more hurt and confusion to add to the list of her already enough battered feelings.
Reason why, while she walked down the corridor with her hands hardly closed into fits and nails digging into her skin trying to prevent herself from breaking down in front of everybody, the Dirty Diva suddenly ducked towards the closest door after catching glimpse of two unawarely chatting Paul and Brian and hastily locked herself in. A sigh of momentary relief spilled through her lips as she switched the lights on and found herself at last alone in the janitor's closet, with nothing but cleaning instruments and supplies surrounding her. Taking a step backwards she propped herself up onto a crate, placing her head in her hands when first quietly and then heavily the much restrained sobs started to inevitably overcome her.
Her body shaking, Ashley didn't hold back into letting her mixed up emotions pass through; as much as she hated even solely admitting it to herself, she needed a clear state of mind to be able to come face to face with the two of them once again later on during the evening with a strong, careless façade. She had to make it through it, she owed that to herself. No man was worth enough to reduce a girl in this fragile state, especially not a two faced cheating bastard, and especially not when the girl in question was her. She knew better than this, she should have probably known better from the start of it all, but what was done was done and she couldn't change it, not now; she had trusted him against all her friends' better judgment and that was evidently the price to pay. What she could change though were her own reactions to this, to him. This pitiful, fragile shell of herself wasn't the Ashley Massaro she wanted to be. Come hell or high water she had to find a way to break the hold Adam Copeland still had on her heart — this had to stop and it had to stop right now. Anger, frustration… alright, it was all good when it came down to get upset and beat the shit out of Kelly later on, but him… she had to get over him. Bitterness was all it had to remain when she thought of him— nothing more.
Therefore now the main question was: was she able to do this? To move on from the man she had clearly loved so much only cause she now decided it was high time to do that?
Perhaps it was wishful thinking, perhaps she was only fooling herself trying to protect the pieces of her broken heart, perhaps she was just following the easiest path out of it… yet all the signs seemed to point to the same answer: Matt Hardy.
She didn't have to be alone in this if she didn't want to; she had Matt… she still did. Sweet old Matt who had never acted wrong towards her, who was always there for her and, mostly, who still loved her. If she had once loved him she could then lead her heart in the same direction again— he would mend it and make her forget. Yes, she could protectively wrap herself in his North Carolina world again and make only a scar remain out of this whole mess… just like, with her at his side, he had been able to do with Lita.
And that was why, with her breaths finally coming almost regularly at last, the punk princess gave an absentminded yet meaningful nod as she stood up again and wiped the tears away with the back of her hand, leaving black mascara stains on it.
Yes, now she finally knew what to do. First she had to stop by the make up lady to fix her appearance — not that she particularly cared, but no way in hell she was going to give either of the two the satisfaction of seeing her like this. It was going to end tonight, in that ring. She was done with them and with the hurt they had caused her — she was going to win this fight.
Not before finding Matt though, her precious ally.
And oh, bless her for naively trusting she was making the right choice indeed…
x—x—x—x—x
The proverbial moment of truth for Ashley's resolutions didn't take long to arrive after all, actually not more than 15 minutes later and here she was looking completely refreshed while she walked to her match.
It was a shame that, upon entering the pre-curtain zone reserved to the competitors and finding her three colleagues already there, she didn't pay any attention to their body language cause, if she did, she would have probably understood how, with his arms folded and his frame turned away from the younger diva as much as he could manage in the strict space, Adam didn't give a damn about Kelly at all.
Whom instead the Rated R superstar cared for was painfully obvious as his figure seemed to jerk awake at her arrival, his eyes following her decisive movements and resulting in some sort of permanent scowl when she completely ignored the rival faction and joined Matt on the opposite side.
At this the latter, who had spent the last couple of minutes in between pacing rather nervously for how Ashley had left him after the intimate moment they had shared earlier and in exchanging murderous glances with his enemy of a lifetime, visibly relaxed and let out a sigh of relief.
"Ash," Matt breathed out as in the midst of her rush she stopped a bit too closer than she originally intended, his arms shielding hers without physical contact "are you alright? I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't have—"
But his rushed ramble died there just like that as the Dirty Diva closed the gap in between the two of them with an as sudden and quick as unexpected motion, her hands firmly cupping the older Hardy brother's cheeks and bringing his mouth to crush on hers in an unvoiced yet unmistakable answer.
If, from the other side, Adam had been initially curious about what Matt was whispering to the diva, all interest was lost upon witnessing the following gesture. As the popular saying suggested that actions spoke louder than words, the World Heavyweight champion didn't have any more doubts on what his ex girlfriend had told him not more than half an hour prior; that kiss spoke volumes in the silence of the little room.
And so, lowering his head after crossing her eyes for the split of a second while the two broke apart, Adam had no choice but turning away and marching outside as almost right on cue his theme song started to echo through the arena. Mildly surprised by the action as well, Kelly eventually closed her mouth and followed him, foolishly feeling even more confident in herself now, both about the match and her non-existent chances with the Rated R superstar.
Thus left alone for a few seconds, the renewed couple shared a content smile with Matt's hand enclosing around Ashley's.
"You know I've always loved you, right?"
"Shh," she hushed him with a smile playing on her lips "we've got business to take care of now."
"You'd prefer a 'Let's destroy them' then?" Matt playfully questioned.
"That's what I'm counting on, Hardy boy." Ashley winked and entwined her fingers with his.
After all, as the say, in love and war…
x—x—x—x—x
With these introductions it really wasn't surprising at all that the two guys took on themselves the liberty of starting the match (and with such impetuosity at it), leaving the crowd in attendance –obviously unaware of the recent unscripted developments- to wonder how much time still had to pass for Matt Hardy and Edge to stop hating each other.
Add that to the only recently admitted attack organized by Kelly on Ashley's expense and it wasn't hard to understand why the whole arena was clearly on the good side out of the two teams, reserving a new load of not-so-nice epithets and boos in the ECW diva's direction whilst she paraded on the ring apron in her incredibly small baby blue & pink top plus (almost non-existent) mini skirt and managing to look much like a Barbie doll at it. Probably Skank Barbie instead than the more famous Malibu version, but still.
On the opposite turnbuckle instead in her military pants and white top with black bra underneath, Ashley wasn't skipping a beat into cheering for Matt with an enthusiasm that she had probably never had before in that position, even too eagerly waiting for her turn to enter the action.
At last said moment came when, after a series of first a missed spear (damn jerk!) and then a reversed and thus neutralized Twist of Fate (aww Matty!), the punk princess decided it was due time for her to fight her own personal battle and take matters into her hands; hence she bent down from above the blue ropes and slapped her hand on Matt's bare shoulder.
Startled by the unexpected gesture, Matt didn't object as the ref signaled the tag had been made and the dirty blonde diva made her entrance in the ring. Equally taken aback and almost transfixed by that as well, Adam remained glued to the spot while Ashley slowly yet firmly advanced towards him, his eyes not looking away from her not even for the split of a second… just like the ones of the rest of the whole arena in a midst of curiosity and confusion.
"What is Ashley doing joining Edge in the ring like that…!" JBL exclaimed in evident surprise, thus expressing what every other single person in that arena was wondering in that exact moment.
"I think she may be looking for retribution— lets' not forget she got a concussion after Edge speared her off the apron… and it was all a consequence of the attack organized by his new girlfriend: Kelly Kelly!" Michael Cole pointed out recalling the latest events of the recent weeks.
"I know that, but indeed let's not forget we're talking about Edge here! The ultimate opportunist… a dangerous man! Ashley should be careful—"
But JBL's wise words remained hanging in the air as, visibly fearless, the girl in question held her head high until she was only a few steps away from the Rated R superstar and then, embraced by an unusual silence while the whole audience quietly gasped in suspense, hardly bitchslapped her ex boyfriend with unexpected strength. It was almost as if the blow echoed around the ring through the arena in that surreal stillness that had been created in anticipation, and then, as the action fully sank in, the crowd erupted into a mad chorus of cheers. If anyone at this point was starting to fear a reaction of some sort from Edge (as it would have happened on any other day and with any other opponent), they were left definitely in confusion as he failed to present any, remaining there with a hand on his bruised cheek and his eyes drowning in Ashley's with such an intensity that could have been understood only by the four competitors.
Speaking of the devil, at least the slap seemed to awaken Kelly at last and remind her that in this kind of match she didn't need to wait for a tag; once the opponent diva entered the match she became by right the legal man (pardon, woman) as well. Therefore the platinum blonde offered a huge and generous display of legs and b-side as she entered the ring from above the second rope, and then (accompanying the action with an as loud as unnecessary shriek that could have been classified like the agonizing cry of a dying sparrow trapped someway under the ring) charged towards Ashley in what was probably originally meant to be a spear.
Having observed the preparation of the move from her peripheral vision, the latter was ready enough to dart on a side at the right moment, thus sending Kelly to crash against the ropes for the crowd's irreverent satisfaction, and then, as the ECW diva ricocheted back, took her down with a swinging neck breaker. Arms spread wide in some sort of helpless gesture and head slightly cocked on a side, Ashley allowed a smirk to play on her lips as she shrugged in Adam's direction.
"I hope her bed skills are much better than her in-ring abilities, otherwise… whoa, sorry for you." She cockily muttered as he, prompted by the referee, silently walked back to his corner with an unreadable expression on his face.
In the following 7 minutes or so the famous "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" literary quote took a whole new meaning as Ashley handled Kelly in all the possible ways — hurricanrana, headscissors, bodyslam, low drop kick, standing elbow drop, Thez Press and so on followed each other in an impressive sequence, leaving the ECW diva little (if not non-existent) time to breath and put up any kind of effective response (which by the way with Kelly's experience and training would have probably come out as not nearly enough all the same). In the end, after dodging another clothesline and taking her opponent down with a back breaker, the Strastruck was delivered and the leg for the pin was hooked.
The ref was about to shout the final 'three' when it was Ashley herself to let go and stood up again, hands high to gesture this wasn't worth it accompanied by a light kick to Kelly's ankle for good measure. Having thus proved her point, the punk high fived Matt with a satisfied sigh, giving him her blessing to get the job done.
And, ironically without even being aware of this, it was indeed the just mentioned diva who decided the match's outcome when, after other several minutes of fierce battling and with Matt secured in the perfect position for the Edgecution to be delivered, Adam instinctively lifted his gaze before completing the manoeuvre and let his eyes rest for what revealed itself as a bit too long second on Ashley who was loudly encouraging his rival; feeling the grip loosening just what was needed to free himself, the Hardy boy didn't take long into surprising Edge with a kick in the guts and then into hitting the Twist of Fate successful for the pin.
As the music hit and the arena erupted in yet another chorus of jubilant celebration, the only consolation Adam had while lying on the mat was that Kelly was luckily still in no shape to crawl back inside and attend to him like the perfect little girlfriend she had tricked everyone into believing she was; now, that would have been indeed too much. As the aforementioned superstar groggily lifted his head while rolling over and was thus greeted by the sight of Matt and Ashley exchanging a not-so-chaste celebrating kiss at the bottom of the ramp, it occurred to him that he had officially lost far more than the match… and, for once, he really didn't deserve to.
x—x—x—x—x
Waiting for the Rated R superstar in his locker room while chatting with Jay and Trish about the new info the two superstars had respectively gathered around in their little mission, Kenny eagerly jumped up as soon as Adam entered the room like some sort of overzealous butler or affectionate puppy.
Let alone the known fact that he had just lost a match (without even considering for a moment all the particular factors implied in the same), the way he carelessly threw his championship on the nearest couch and moved around without either uttering a single word or venturing a single gaze in his friends' direction was definitely enough to understand the self-proclaimed ultimate opportunist wasn't exactly in the peachiest of moods; yet it's still Kenny we're talking about and so, as usually always too eager to please and always falling out short at it, he walked over to offer a somehow friendly pat on the back.
"Don't worry boss," he cheerfully smiled "it's just a match… you'll win the next one, I'm sure. After all you're still the champ."
Slowly lifting his eyes first on his own shoulder (from where at least Kenny had the decency of removing his hand quickly enough) and then on the younger guy, Adam nearly snarled as he brushed his friend on a side and silently marched towards the bathroom's door.
Finally getting the hint but still not understanding the gravity of the situation, Kenny didn't give up yet. Taking a determined step forward, he quickly spoke up again before his idol could close the door and isolate himself.
"Seriously, you need to cheer up… you do have reasons to cheer up…!" He announces somewhat proudly, "We've been doing our researches and we've found out some proves you can present Ashley to make her believe how—"
"Let go, Kenny." Adam spoke almost in a whisper, his eyes cast down as he spread his arms in a somewhat helpless gesture. "There's no reason to hold on that feeble hope anymore, it's all gone. Finito. Over and done with. No need to trouble yourselves anymore guys, she has made her decision." He offered a humorless chuckle.
"But we—"
"NO," the voice considerably rose as Edge lifted his eyes from the floor at last "you don't get it. I've said it's over. I've tried to speak to her, I've tried to explain… if she doesn't even want to listen to me there's nothing I can do. And I won't." He firmly added before Kenny could cut him off, "She's back with Matt now. It doesn't matter anymore, I'm out of this… evidently it wasn't meant to be, it's time to let go. I want to move on, I want to let go… you just do it as well."
And with that last resolution he disappeared inside the adjacent room and closed the door behind his back.
Uncomfortable silence embraced the room as Kenny turned to look at the other two in dismay.
"But we can't let him give up… I mean, now we're aware of the fact Brooke and Layla know this was all made up by Kelly herself and they're not supporting her in this. I could get Brooke to tell Ashley… and Layla used to be her friend… that would surely do, right?" He hopefully shifted his gaze from Jay to Trish and back on the TNA superstar again as he spoke next.
"I don't know, Kenny, I don't know if that would be enough to convince her." Christian let out a wary sigh.
"Then what do we do if he refuses to keep on trying in the first place?"
The pleading question echoed through the air for just a matter of seconds, then it was Trish to take on herself the task of answering as she stood up from the black leather couch in a sharp movement.
"You leave that to me." She firmly spoke, "I think it's due time I have a chat with my best friend."
