The Great Escape

AN. Thank you to Christal-R, xSomeKindaRush, TJ Sparkles, iNdy MiLk, WWEFan1990, AshlynnxHearts, jojocheer28, Melissa Cristina, Ashleymassarophan1, Embrace The Confusion, RKO.I.F, Thee Britty, pinkstar5996, JeffxMaria, Reverse of Fate, Cena-Wilson-Crazy, Miss. Fanfiction, AshMattXoXo and rory21 for reviewing the last chapter.

WHOA. Wowza, seriously, I was expecting maybe a few reviews since I wasn't so sure about the idea; I only knew I loved it. But I guess you guys did too! Thanks :)

Chapter Two – I Miss Him

EVE

College life was different.

Eve Torres already knew it would be. She had to take a giant step to get to this stage in her life, to finally move on from high school and become a "proper" adult. That meant taking on a new responsibility, and looking out for herself for the first time in her life. The world seemed so much more intimidating now she had something else to worry about other than meeting up with friends so they could hang out at Starbucks.

In a way, she was happy with the new arrangement.

It made a refreshing change to not be at home and feel neglected by her parents, who devoted their attention to her amazing older brother. He was the star of the family, put up on his pedestal for his smart choices in life. He was a college graduate, and impressive in his line of work. Phillip was perfect, to sum him up in one word.

That was not to say she wasn't smart, however, as her grades were high too. She was just as smart as her brother, but the small fact was barely recognized. Her habit of going to the mall, shopping and buying ridiculously overpriced coffee was what separated the siblings. She liked to do the normal teenager things and that, in her parents' eyes, was bringing her down.

So yeah, in a way, she was happy to get away from all the scrutiny. Being criticized for who she was wasn't exactly a great way to live. College would provide her with the chance to start afresh, to allow her to feel...okay again.

But this new life was hard too. Even with her presence for one day, the Latina already found herself missing the subtleties back home. She missed her mother's reassuring hugs and her father's crazy anecdotes—hell, she even missed her brother's annoying noogies.

She wasn't like Ashley, who easily blocked things out when she had to. Eve was different; she had to accept something before she could move on.

That was probably the reason she was having such trouble forgetting about her special someone back home. He was everything to her, and she knew she loved him. She told him so on the last night they spent together and he'd said it back straightaway, and with as much feeling.

He was her first love and nothing could change that, but college could change their relationship. She was certain it would.

"You're thinking about him again, aren't ya?" Maria interrupted her thoughts. When she looked over, the redhead greeted her with a soft giggle. "Aww, you've got a bad case of the lovebug."

"Yes." She sighed, but smiled all the same. "I do."

"Don't worry, my sweets; it'll all work out in the end."

Eve merely nodded and watched as her roommate fell onto her bed. A moment later, two ear buds were shoved into her ears and Maria's awful rendition of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun filled the otherwise quiet room.

The brunette smiled. At least some things wouldn't change.

There was a couple of knocks to the door a moment later, distracting her from travelling back to earlier memories. When she answered to the call, she was more than surprised to see who their visitor was, but was unable to say anything.

"Let me in before I get caught."

Though confused, she allowed him an entry, and then shut the door behind him. Finally she asked, "Jeff, how did you get in the girls' dorm?"

The young guy stood before her with a huge grin on his face. "I have my ways."

"Jeff."

"Fine. I sneaked in when some random chick left the door open." He admitted bluntly. A moment later, he spotted the other "chick" in the room and waved. "Hey Maria."

"I wouldn't bother; she's in her own world right now."

That she was. Though her eyes were shut tightly, her mouth was wide open and belting out the next tune on her music player. "See the idiot walk!" She yelled, clearly unaware of their company...or her amount of noise. "See the idiot talk!"

"Well...she said it."

Eve smacked him playfully but couldn't help joining in with his laughter.

If she had to use only one word to describe her friend, it would be: fun. Plain and simple. Jeff Hardy, younger brother of her boyfriend, was everything she could ask for in a friend. He was caring—this proven in their conversations when she was upset—and just great to be around. His multicoloured hair and eccentric style pretty much matched his personality.

Over Maria's singing session, he asked, "So how are you?"

The bad thing about being such good friends was that she knew him too well, and therefore knew his question had a deeper meaning than the casual enquiry.

She smiled softly. "I miss him...a lot."

"I know." He smiled back. "He misses you too."

She unknowingly fingered the bracelet wrapped around her wrist; a present given to her by Matt, her boyfriend. She finally said, "Well this could be a good thing. Maybe our relationship will grow stronger given the distance."

"Yeah...maybe." Jeff offered. After a beat, he added, "Well I better go and find my girlfriend. I know she's in one of these rooms at least."

"Good luck with that."

After a quick hug from her and a failed attempt at saying goodbye to the singing sensation, Jeff disappeared. The brunette was left to sit back on her bed as she was left alone, but soon found herself staring at Maria.

As if by some strange magic, the redhead looked over at her, pulling her ear buds out. "Hey, you would have thought Jeff would have come around by now huh?"

Eve only laughed. How her best friend could be so oblivious to things around her, she didn't know.

"That guy really doesn't know how to take a hint."

Eve turned her head, following Ashley's gaze to another table outside the cafe. The sunlight beamed down on the table, making it hard for the girls to see, but she could have sworn to have seen the guy looking at her dirty-blonde friend instead of her.

Cocky as it sounded, the attention from a guy was usually for her or Maria.

"And who is he?" Mickie queried towards her best friend after taking of sip of her iced drink.

"Some Adam guy," said the annoyed girl in response, rolling her eyes when she noticed him and his friends make their way over. "Oh great."

"You just can't leave me alone, can you?" Adam teased when he reached.

The three girls tried hard to hold in their laughter as Ashley's mouth opened and closed in disbelief, striking an uncanny resemblance to a mindless goldfish.

"Hey, that's okay," he continued with ease, "I would be speechless if I were to meet me too."

"Huh?" Maria cocked her head to the side.

"You." Ashley scolded darkly. She'd found her voice at last. "First of all, did I not say that I wasn't interested before? That still stands by the way. Second of all, you're the one who came over to me. I was perfectly fine ignoring you." She slumped down in her seat childishly.

"You're cute when you're annoyed."

"I'm not—ugh!"

Eve giggled to herself as she watched the pair, but then found her eyes drifting to the table they came from, where two guys sat. One was blonde, the other dark-haired, but both seemed bored as they leaned back in their seats.

She nudged Maria in the side and waited until she had her full attention before asking, "You wanna go make some new friends?"

As the redhead had been saying they needed friends ever since the start of their road trip yesterday, the offer was basically accepted on the dot. She and her friend rose from their seats and left Ashley to deal with her problem, and for his friends to take their spots.

The redhead was full of energy when they reached the guys. "Hey!"

They seemed to be taken off-guard—not that Eve would blame them; her best friend was a ball of hyperactivity ready to explode at times—but smiled when they noticed the attention.

"Hi." The dark-haired guy replied first, followed by the blonde.

"So I'm Maria," she began, completely content to introduce herself to strangers, "and this is Eve. I think your friend is trying to chat mine up back there, but it's not working."

"That's Adam for you." The guy chuckled, and stuck his hand out towards Maria. "I'm Randy, by the way."

"My name is Mike Mizanin." The blonde added and made the same gesture towards Eve.

Impressed, she shook his hand before smiling. "Wow, that's a mouthful."

"Well the guys all call me The Miz." He said quickly, seemingly embarrassed by his full name. "You can just call me that."

"Okay, Miz." Her smile turned into a grin. "Well it was nice to meet you. You too, Randy."

"Likewise." He offered, but his eyes quickly flickered back to the girl beside her. "So are you ready for the start of classes tomorrow, Maria?"

The bubbly girl's eyes widened and Eve knew it as a sign she would talk for a while, and so she settled herself into the seat next to Mike.

"So are you nervous?" He asked her as he leant forward. "The guys won't admit it, but I think they're decking the official start tomorrow."

"I am...but I think that's pretty standard, right? It's like high school but a little more responsible, a little more grown-up." She felt her smile drop but fought to keep it up for his sake. "What courses did you take?"

As he offered his choices, she found herself strangely happy to find they would be in some of the same classes together—well they would be as far as she knew. He seemed like a nice enough guy, and it would help to know at least one person in the college aside from her girl friends and Jeff.

"That's awesome." She grinned after he finished. "So I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

"Yeah." Mike smiled. After a beat, he hesitantly added, "A cousin of mine goes here too, and he's throwing a party at the end of the week. You think you would be interested?"

You think I would be interested?! Hell yeah!

"Sure," she hid her excitement, clearing her throat, "I'd love to."

Her friends had proclaimed her as the ultimate dance-hall queen, and she did live up to her status. It was yet to be discovered at her new college—she'd half-hoped that people wouldn't find out about her partying habits—but the offer was far too tempting to refuse.

"Alright. Well let's swap numbers and I'll get back to you with the details."

"Oh sure."

As she got her cell phone out, she couldn't help but to think, he's not too bad looking. Then she immediately felt guilty as she thought of Matt, and fought hard not to hit herself on the head for her mistake. Whether it was just a thought or not, it wasn't at all respectable—at least in her mind, it wasn't.

After swapping numbers, she nudged Maria for the second time, only to find her still in deep conversation with Randy. "Come on, let's go girly," she advised, eyeing her own table, "Ash looks like she's ready to blow."

"Okay," beamed the redhead, standing to join her. "It was nice meeting you, Randy. Bye."

He simply smiled in response.

After a moment, Eve was forced to roll her eyes. Clearly the guy was a new crush of her best friend's, as now Maria was still looking at him. Forcing her legs to walk, she pulled her away from the table and back to their own.

They caught up with the conversation when Ashley muttered through gritted teeth, "I'm going to tell you three words now."

"Let's hook up?"

"No!" She exclaimed with a look of disgust. "Leave me alone!" Upon seeing Eve and Maria, she grabbed both of their wrists, nodding to Mickie. "We're going. Now."

Not one to argue with a pissed off Ashley Massaro, Eve followed her lead. She only turned back once and that was to sneak a glance at the table they'd approached. When she found Mike—or The Miz—smiling at her, she smiled back, very aware of the blush that caught her cheeks in the process.

Once back in the girls dorm, Ashley let go of their wrists, leaving her relieved as the numb feeling turned into pins and needles. "Jeez, woman, you're gonna kill someone one of these days."

"Better be that guy." The dirty-blonde girl almost growled before she stalked away.

Mickie simply shook her head as she turned to face the two. "That girl...she doesn't know chemistry even when it hits her in the face."

"I didn't think Ash was taking Chemistry."

Both Mickie and Eve shared a look, holding back their laughter, before the brunette uttered, "Okay, I'm gonna go and listen to Ash complain about the guy for hours on end. I'll see you tonight; we've got the orientation thing, right?"

"Sure."

After her friend had disappeared, Eve and Maria headed into their dorm, finding the first half of their day to be interesting to say the least. The Latina could see her life in college being exciting, and she smiled at the thought.

Still clutching onto her phone, she was temporarily surprised when she felt the item vibrate in her palm. Once she was aware of what happened, she read the message.

I miss you, I love you. Matt x

A sad smile curved Eve's lips.

Before she had a chance to reply, another text came in. That boy just can't leave me alone, she thought to herself jokingly.

Looking forward to getting to know you. Miz.

The smile slipped right off her face.

The girl didn't know what to think now. So after setting her phone on her bedside dresser, she headed into the bathroom, picking up a fresh pile of towels on her way. She needed a shower to clear her thoughts; that was the least she could do before the inescapable drama swallowed her whole.

So there's the next chapter. Please review :)

Up next is Maria's chapter.