The Great Escape
AN: Thank you to FrequentlyDazzled619, Thee Britty, xSomeKindaRush, , WWEFan1990, Cena-Wilson-Crazy, Melissa Cristina, Ashleymassarophan1, jojocheer28, Christal-R, CrazyWWEFreakJNH, My Unbeautiful Pokerface.x3, Chain Gang Princess, TJ Sparkles, RKO.I.F, Deeelyndz and rory21 for reviewing the last chapter.
You guys are amazing! :D
Chapter Seven – The Plot Thickens
EVE
Maria was clutching onto Eve's arm so hard that she thought it might just break off with the effort.
The two, along with Mickie, had just entered the restaurant they were to eat and were about to hang up their coats. She was excited, she decided, as she peeled the redhead off of her and looked around the dimly-lit place. The restaurant had an intimate feel to it, she noticed. White candles were lit in the row of tables she could see, setting the perfect ambience of the evening. Soft jazz music played overhead to add to the mood.
When they were eventually led to their table, the brunette was made a little more aware of her concerns for the evening. It was as she spotted Mike and a smile lit up her face that she realized she was on dangerous grounds tonight.
There was something about "Miz"—something she just couldn't place—that had her intrigued. To anyone else he probably seemed like the normal guy, but he seemed different to her.
When he met her gaze a moment later, he stood to his feat, nudging the other two to alert them of the new presence. Beforehand they were simply lazing around with bored looks on their faces.
"Hi Randy!" beamed Maria, finally straying from her best friend and walking up to him. "Where's Michelle? Isn't she coming tonight?"
"She wasn't really feeling up to it tonight." He replied with a light sigh, and then smiled. "This'll still be fun though."
Eve was certain the redhead was tempted to bounce on the spot, and she let out a sigh of relief when instead she took her seat.
"Hey." Mike greeted her softly.
Her attention focused on Punk and Mickie then—with the brunette seemingly shy around him—she was surprised to find him addressing her. She shouldn't have been, but she was. It was odd, but her heart raced as she saw him standing opposite her.
Wow, I have to stop freaking out whenever I'm surprised.
If only that was the actual reason her heart was beating faster now.
"Hi." She replied in a shy uncharacteristic way. Brushing a curl away from her face, she allowed herself to relax. "Have you been waiting long?"
"Not really, but with these guys complaining, it seemed like forever."
She laughed as they took their seats opposite one another. "What were they complaining about?"
"When you girls would get here—typically."
Once again, she found herself giggling.
The brunette broke away from his gaze for just a moment, her eyes flickering to the sight on the right of her. It seemed so formal that the girls sat in a row, as did the guys as they all sat opposite each other. Strangely so, in fact. The thought brought a frown to her face...but not for long, as she caught sight of her friend.
Mickie was practically hiding behind her menu to hide her blush, and Phil was smirking in amusement.
Maria and Randy, on the other hand, were engaged in what must have been a fascinating conversation—the redhead was enigmatic with her hand motions and gestures. Still, that was just Maria Kanellis.
Remembering their little conversation, she grinned at Mike. "So you weren't complaining then? Does that mean you're not pleased to see me?"
"I wouldn't say that exactly," grinned the guy back, shrugging his shoulders.
How sweet...
After a few seconds, Eve straightened out, leaning against the back of the chair in a new position as opposed to the old; completely comfortable leaning towards him.
This wasn't good.
She knew she had a flirty side; even if she didn't, her friends would always be there to remind her—especially Ashley, who liked to make sure she knew how bad of a thing that was. But still, sitting here, it felt so natural to talk like this with Mike. She didn't have to fake a giggle, she didn't have to pretend.
It was just...fitting.
And that made her feel even worse on the inside.
Luckily, she was elbowed under the table by Mickie, and turned to escape his curious gaze. "What?"
"I have no idea what I'm doing," hissed the brunette. If Mickie thought she was talking quietly then she was sorely mistaken. Phil had an even wider smirk on his face now as he respectfully looked at his own menu. "I've just realized I only know what I'm doing when I'm in a classroom. I'm freakin' smart!"
Eve couldn't help a giggle. "We know you're smart, Micks. You're freakin' smart, okay?"
"Yes, but now I'm just freaking out. You're a boy expert, Eve; what should I do?"
She didn't know whether to take that as a compliment or not, and answered, "Just be yourself. Any guy would be lucky to have you."
"Being myself does not work for me right now!"
"That...doesn't make any sense."
"It—"
But the panicked brunette was interrupted by Phil, who politely asked her if she knew what she was ordering yet. It was an honest surprise when she was able to respond in a full sentence, and then get into a proper conversation with him.
"So," Eve let out a breath, turning back to Mike, "how—"
Another distraction was in order.
Her cell phone rang in her bag and, blushing, she quickly reached for it. After checking the caller ID, she frowned, but answered nonetheless. "Jeff?"
"Hey. Am I disturbing you?"
She was about to answer and say she was in the middle of a dinner date with her friends, but she, for some reason, couldn't bring herself to do it. She swallowed down that answer as his brother came to mind.
"Oh...well, not really. I'm doing a bit of this and that." She answered vaguely. "What's up?"
There was a long sigh at the other end of the line. "I can't believe I'm saying this...but did you bring your manicure set thingy with you from home?"
"Jeff!" She laughed out loud, covering her mouth when the rest of the party turned to her with mildly surprised looks. "Why on earth are you asking?"
"Ooh!" Maria interjected, waving an arm wildly to get her friend's attention. "Tell Jeff I said hi, would ya?"
"Maria says hi," said the Latina obediently and held up a finger, signalling for her to have one minute's peace. She stood to her feet and found a much quieter section away from the table. "So why are you asking?"
"It's not for me; it's for Candice. She would ask you herself, but she's got some sort of face mask on so she can't really speak. You know the hardening thing..."
"I know what a face mask is, Jeff. Yeah sure, I do. Tell her to come to the room tomorrow and she can pick it up then."
"Will do." There was a silent moment before he added, "Oh, did Matt tell you? He's arranging a couple of days off work so he can come up and see you sometime. Isn't that great?"
"Perfect."
But if it felt so perfect, why was there an odd sinking feeling in her stomach?
Their conversation lasted a few minutes more before Eve apologized and said she really had to get on with studying. She felt like a terrible liar as she worked her way back to the table, once again leaning back in her seat.
"What did I miss?"
"Not much." Mike answered, and then furrowed his eyebrows. "Are you okay? You seem a little...upset."
"I do?" She questioned.
"Yeah, you do. Do you want to do this another time or something?"
No was on the tip of her tongue; it really was. She liked Mike, and she liked hanging out with his friends too, even if they hadn't done much of it. Since she hadn't seen him at the party, she'd been more than happy to go to dinner with him tonight.
But now...there was something bothering her...
He chuckled. "It's perfectly fine, Eve. We can do this some other time...that's if you want to, of course."
Mike was looking straight at her now, and she felt herself soften. "I'm really sorry about this. It's just...something has come up." A beat later, she added, "I'd love to do this another time though! I' really sorry."
"No problem."
After a quick goodbye to everyone at the table—including Maria and Mickie, who'd not given up on her for a while, claiming they wanted a reason—the brunette left the table.
A gust of wind hit her as she exited the restaurant, and she hid under her white coat automatically to protect herself. It wasn't until the weather cooled a little that she allowed herself to re-emerge, but she found herself unwilling to do so.
In fact, she just wanted to stay hidden.
What is wrong with me?
It wasn't like her to feel so depressed about something she knew little about; the sulky side of things was a feeling she was not accustomed to, she had to be honest. Now she simply felt horrid as she walked alone.
Eve reached the dorm a moment later, and sighed as she reached out to open one of the heavy doors. Inside she could hear laughter coming from a few of the rooms—clearly from gossiping girls—and, if not in this mood, she probably would have smiled at the happy surroundings.
But now she couldn't even bring a smile to her face.
Contemplating whether to have an early night or not, she looked back, only to find herself caught on a particular image a moment later. Her eyes squinted as she made out a figure not too far away on a bench; a girl with dirty-blonde hair and a silver lip ring that shimmered against the dark of the night...
"Ashley?" Confused, she walked over to where she was sitting, and looked down at her. "Ash...?"
"What?" The dirty-blonde scowled eventually.
"What are you doing out here in your pyjamas?" She asked the obvious question, settling down beside her.
"Why would I tell you?"
"Oh great; so you've still got the bad mood going on."
"Only with you, Eve, only with you..." Ashley rolled her eyes. "But if you must know," she spat a second later, "I wanted some time to myself. I couldn't fall asleep."
The brunette sighed lightly as she leaned back. "Reminiscing, huh?"
"No." She answered quickly. "Of course not. I'm thinking about my classes tomorrow. I'm trying to work out if...forget it, never mind."
"That's your answer to everything, isn't it? Forget it; like it's a good thing to do that." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.
Instinctively, she knew she shouldn't have even dared to approach the subject, but she was already far too unlike herself that evening to stop.
"What's your problem?"
"My problem? What's yours?" She countered, frowning. "I mean, I know you hate my guts—you made that pretty evident the other night when you screamed at me." Ashley sneered, but she still continued. "But, come on, you're telling me you don't have your flaws too?"
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"You and I both know that's not true." Eve stood to her feet again. Surprisingly, the blonde held her gaze when she looked down. "You keep telling me that you can't keep saving me; that's fine...but don't be a hypocrite. We can't keep looking after you."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ashley stood then so they were face-to-face.
"Oh, God...how do you not know? You're blocking everything from back home out!" The blonde stiffened, and Eve rolled her eyes. "What, you didn't think we noticed? You think you're so strong and that I'm weak. Weak...and why? Because, in your own words, I don't know how to say no to guys. Well you know what? You're not all that strong, Ash—"
"Hey—"
"No! I'm sick and tired of taking shit from you, Ashley!" She yelled. Finally. "Do you know how many years it's been that I've had to sit back and listen to you bitch about me?"
"You give as good as you get."
"Yeah, sometimes...look, whatever," she scoffed, "all I know is that I'm accepting the change in my life. You're just moving from point to point as if it's what you're meant to do. It is okay to cry, you know..."
"I'm not weak! Okay?" Ashley shot back, outraged. "Who the hell are you to tell me what I should or shouldn't do? I'm handling this in my own way."
"But that's the thing; you're not! You never do deal with things. You don't accept anything. You think crying is a sign of weakness...but it's not. It shows you have feelings...that you care. All you're doing is hiding, and if anything is a sign of weakness, that's it. There's nothing wrong with being upset once in a while." She paused for a moment, breathing heavily. She knew she was being harsh, but for some reason she couldn't stop herself. All she'd wished to say was finally escaping from her lips. "And, God, Ash, you walk around like you're the most confident girl in the world. But you're not. You're just as scared as everybody else...I know you are."
There was a long silence.
And then...
"Fuck you, Eve."
"Classic example." The Latina spat, and turned on her heel.
She was sick. She was tired. She was sick and tired.
Of everything. Of everyone.
When she made it back to her room, she made sure to slam the door extra hard, and then sunk down onto her bed. Of all the scenarios, she hadn't imagined the night would end like this.
She sniffed sadly. "This is too fucked up for words."
It was.
And before she knew it, tears were forming in her eyes. This was to be the first time she cried since she'd arrived at the college; it sucked to know that they weren't tears of joy, but rather of utter disappointment.
She had no idea what she was supposed to do now.
Matt Hardy was the love of her life. She constantly smiled at the thought of all the times they'd spent together prior to her leaving...and now here she was, confused and alone. She never thought she could see him as anyone other than her loving boyfriend; now she could only see him as the guilty secret as she chased after someone else.
And that was not her.
Whatever she had going on with Mike wasn't healthy for someone already in a relationship. She loved Matt; she was in love with him...and yet, for some reason, she couldn't stop herself from committing a sin. She was completely certain that she should be punished for being flirty with the guy...
What would Matt say if he ever found out?
She didn't even want to think about it. The image pouring into her mind of his upset face was more than enough to make her feel worse.
Eve reached for a tissue from her bag, and dabbed at her eyes, even laughing to herself as her mother's wise words came into her mind. Never cry before going to bed, sweetie. You'll wake up looking horrible in the morning, and that'll make you want to cry some more.
She sniffed again. She certainly did miss home and its simplicities.
It was a minute or two later, when she'd dabbed enough to take away at least the lightest of traces of her crying, that an urgent knock came to her door.
If that was Ashley, she didn't know what she would say. She was only just getting reminders of their 'little' argument, and she was wincing at every word she remembered coming out of her mouth.
Almost hesitantly, she reached for the doorknob, and sighed in relief when she saw another friend waiting for her.
The look on Mickie's face, however, shouldn't have comforted her. She placed her hands on her hips. "I came to find out what's up with you," said the brunette, and any sign of a friendly face completely disappeared as she continued sharply, "but do you want to tell me what the hell you did to make my best friend so pissed off first?"
So there's the next chapter. Please review :)
So we're delving into their problems much deeper now...
I would have had the chapter up much quicker, but I was slightly obsessed with other things. Sorry :P
Oh and also, I meant to tell you guys about two chapters ago, but there's a trailer I made for this story available for download on my profile page. If you'd like to do so, the link is there :)
Up next is Maria's chapter.