The Great Escape
AN. Thank you to HappySmiler, xHalosandwings, VolcomStoneBabe, Grits0205, Chain Gang Princess, Cena-Wilson-Crazy, xTwistedxImperfectionx, RKO.I.F, rory21 & TJ Sparkles for reviewing the last chapter.
Thanks very muchly :)
Chapter Twenty-Four – Make Up Your Mind
MICKIE
"Mickie...heads up!"
The girlish shriek emitted through her lips when her brown eyes caught a glimpse of the rugby ball spinning its way through the air towards her seemed to amuse her friends, who sat off to the side and laughed as they watched the chaos ahead. Mickie, caught off-guard and suddenly stressed out, was all too grateful when strong arms appeared in front of her to catch the ball just two inches away from her shocked face.
Recovering quickly, she glanced at Christian and Chris, who both decided to chuckle politely amongst themselves as they sat and stared at the look on her face. "Were you trying to get me killed by any chance?!"
Christian gave the answer, sniggering in the meantime. "Hey, you're the one who offered to go to the cafeteria to get some food for us—how were we to know that by doing this nice deed you'd walk obliviously through the middle of a game? It's practically suicide."
"Yeah." Ted added, tossing the ball he'd just saved in his hands for a moment or two before throwing it back to Cody on the far end of the pitch. He turned to her again, winking. "You've gotta be more careful."
She softened, but only by a small margin. How was she supposed to know that sweet little Cody Rhodes—who, on first glance, she saw warming up for an impromptu game—would decide to make an impressive first throw at the very same moment she crossed the grounds? She'd been paying attention to getting to the pathway and nothing else.
"Fine." She grumbled in defeat. At his knowing smirk, she gave a half-smile of her own, unable to stop the tug of her lips. "Let's just pretend this never happened, okay?"
He opened his mouth to respond, only to be cut off by Chris, who proceeded to yell, "No can do, Micks! We'll forever cherish this moment and remind you every day of the hilarity of it all. Such good times, don't you think?"
They collapsed into fits of laughter not a second too soon afterwards, and high-fived one another as they started to imitate the recent incident. The girl, watching them through narrowed eyes, began to wonder why she was friends with them in the first place; she was clearly placed in their care just for a source of amusement.
"Ah, don't worry about them," said Ted, even though he himself seemed to be toying with the idea of laughing. Distracting her from this, he pressed a light hand over her shoulder, pulling her closer into his almost breathless frame. "If you want it to be forgotten it'll be forgotten. Okay?"
Do not, under any circumstances, blush. Don't even think about it, Mickie.
"Thank you. That's sweet." She managed to answer coyly, and casually shrugged away his touch as she walked on. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Try not to get knocked out on the way there—and back too!" Christian called out when her back was turned.
She stopped for a moment, contemplating whether to turn back and kick him where the sun didn't shine, but then decided not to waste the effort. She was sure there would be many more times in the future when the temptation would arise once more.
Her clear state of mind returned as soon as she was alone, and she scolded herself for feeling a certain way around the DiBiase kid. She almost willed for her obvious crush on him to go away; she had a feeling they were meant to be just friends, and feeling the butterflies racing around in her stomach each time he so much as touched her certainly ruined the illusion. She wanted him to be around for her, and he almost always was when she had a problem, but nothing more could go on between them.
Today, she realized as she disappeared into the throngs of students travelling to and fro between classes, hadn't been so bad. It'd certainly been easier than the last, in which she had spent most of her time in her room accompanied by Ashley, who seemed even more depressed in herself than usual. She'd wasted her time worrying about her best friend as usual, only to be hit with a sharp, "I'm fine!" answer after finally asking if she was okay.
No, today, so far, had been fun. She'd had nothing to worry about because the day was spent without them; it was wonderful to wake up this morning and remember she had no morning classes scheduled, and she could therefore spend the day with friends who were enjoying the same luxury. The mysterious Trish Stratus had finally been introduced by Chris, and a brief conversation between them before the blonde's class had shown her exactly the reason why both guys had fallen for her; she was beautiful and in a league of her own. She had a feeling they would be friends soon enough.
For now, she was having fun hanging out with her current ones. Upon entering Ted's dorm this morning, she was introduced—a second time—to his roommate, Cody. He, by the looks of things, seemed to have other things on his mind as a random chick she vaguely recognized yelled at him from the corner of the room, demanding to know why he hadn't called her back, and was it because he had been with her best friend instead.
"Yes, he's that kind of guy." Ted told her just minutes after he'd had a good laugh and departed, having decided it was best to leave him to it and wait out on the football pitch for him. "Girls fall for his charm, and then wonder why they did a week later."
She'd called for Eve and Maria to join her for a friendly hang out, but the former had used her recent break-up as an excuse not to, and the redhead seemed too intent on staying inside her room to even think about being seen in public. She hadn't known quite what to make of that.
And Ashley...well, was there really any point in asking her?
A knot formed in Mickie's stomach as she entered the cafeteria. She knew she needed to talk to the blonde about the way she was dealing with Candice's affair—of sorts—with Adam; though trying her best not to seem so, the usually headstrong student was deeply affected by the sight her eyes rested on not so long ago. She was burying herself in coursework, as usual, but something definitely had to be done.
This was a responsibility she was ready to commit herself to; when had she ever given up on her before?
"Oh man," said someone's voice from behind her as she trailed the queue, searching specifically, lost in her own thoughts, for Christian's request. "You sure you don't want to come to the party on Saturday? I hear it's gonna be rad!"
"First of all, no-one says rad anymore, Ryder." A familiar chuckle filled her ears and she stood still for a moment, trying to slow the sudden race of her heart. "And second...you're kidding me, right? Why would I want to hang around with a bunch of losers who think getting drunk is the greatest thing known to man?"
"Dude, I'm going to be one of those 'losers'."
"My point exactly."
"Whatever." The guy huffed, clearly eager to put his point across as he continued. "Thing is," he said, as Mickie tried desperately to focus on the fruit selection in front of her, "It's not just the beer you have to look forward to, my friend. What about the girls?"
He'd said it as though they were the holy grail. The former guy laughed again. "No thanks. I'm gonna have to pass. If there's one thing I don't want, it's to be dragged into taking some dumb drunk girl back to her dorm..."
The brunette couldn't bear to listen to anymore of the conversation. Just his voice had her anxious for an escape, and had her emotions playing up more than ever. She ran a hand through her long curls as she dropped everything she'd picked up and made a swift exit to the right.
She looked back once before leaving, right into Phil's stare. He must have seen her while she was leaving. Her heart beating like crazy, she swallowed lightly, and then quickly slipped away to break the eye contact.
The following two days were rough on Mickie.
Phil—or Punk, as she liked to call him—remained in her thoughts for a good while after that first sight of him, and it was hard to concentrate on anything or anyone other than her ex-boyfriend. Coursework was handled sloppily and brief chats were just that; brief, because she couldn't talk freely for more than a minute without being haunted by his image.
It didn't help for them to be in the same class. When they were together, she loved that they had so many classes together. It was always a great relief to walk inside the lab room and see Punk sitting there, his hood up and earphones plugged in as he blocked out the rest of the world; now, when she did see him, he was always vulnerable for conversation, with nothing to protect him—or more importantly, her—from the awkward silences.
More than ever, she wished she could do something about the seating arrangement, but everyone was so familiar with their places that she felt it was unnecessary to ask to swap with someone. It had been hard to sit so close to him and not be able to touch him, though. She wanted to—more than ever actually, she wanted to lean across and whisper something in his ear.
She'd been burying her feelings for him by spending time with Ted and the guys, but this class proved there was only so much hiding she could do. And when she wasn't hiding, it hurt her to know he found it so easy to ignore her. It was as if he'd already moved on.
She thought this particularly as she exited the room that afternoon, fresh yet weary from a two hour long lecture. She had been so unfocused in there that she lost both arguments in the debates she was given to present that day; highly competitive, it didn't even seem to bother her that her resolve was weakening.
"Hey you," smiled Eve as soon as she was out of the door, and linked her arm through Mickie's. "You look worn out."
"Unfortunately, I am." She answered, resting her head briefly on her friend's shoulder. She'd almost forgotten they had plans to study together in the library. "It sucks to remember there's more work to do."
"Well it is almost six." The Latina answered, her voice sympathetic. "I did say we could do this at the weekend—if you like, we still can. You look tired."
"I'm not tired really, just...frustrated. With myself. With everything."
"Oh God, it's one of those days is it? Well tell me all about it. I need a distraction from work...and Matt, anyway."
She offered a half smile. It was kind to be offered a shoulder to cry on, especially when the owner of said shoulder had much worse problems of her own. She took up the offer as soon as they were able to find a free table in the library. "It's Phil. It's Ted. It's...these feelings I can't seem to be able to distinguish."
"Look at you," said Eve jokingly, "Caught in a love triangle. Aren't you the lucky one?"
"If only I knew what lucky felt like. Maybe I did before, somehow." A small sigh passed through her slightly open lips. "It's like...what do you do when you really miss what you had with someone, but you can feel something happening with someone else? I can't make sense of it."
"The golden question, huh?" The brunette gave a hollow laugh. Scratching the back of her neck—always a sign of her discomfort—she shrugged and looked away, to the stacks of books to her right. "Mickie, I don't know. I wish I could tell you."
"Yeah, just as I thought."
Why were answers so hard to find?
She, too, looked out to the various range of books around her; it was funny, wasn't it? Non-fiction books had many answers and facts that couldn't be argued with, but knowledge on feelings of a personal level weren't ever written in permanent ink. Matters of the heart were far too complicated to be explained so easily, word for word, by the turn of a page.
Mickie only wished there were a simpler description for what she was going through.
"I think," Eve surprised her with the softness of her tone, "In the end...you just have to decide by how real it feels in your heart. Is it natural? Is it stronger than anything you ever felt? When you close your eyes, who do you picture? Who's staring back at you with the smile that makes you melt inside?"
"And how are you supposed to choose when you see both guys?"
"You're not seeing both Ted and Phil—your mind wants you too. You're allowing your thoughts to be controlled by logic when, in reality, your heart doesn't decide by logic. It...just wants what it wants, you know?"
She took this into account and looked away again. She caught a glimpse of The Miz and Layla, who walked by hand-in-hand. They looked perfectly happy together, like they didn't have a care in the world. Why couldn't she just give in and feel the same way?
"So Mickie, who's got your heart?"
It was a question she couldn't answer—one her mind couldn't wrap its logic around. She waited and waited, thinking about it for a long time. Who was better for her? Who did she really like? Why was the answer so hard to find?
Eve cut in a moment later, a sad smile on her lips. "Remember, don't consult your thoughts on this. Just do."
And surprisingly enough, the answer came to her no longer than ten seconds later. The faintest of smiles crossed her features as she realized the answer she'd been neglecting for so long; it was far too obvious to have been ignored, yet she'd been set on doing so.
"Would you excuse me?"
"Going to find your guy?" Eve's smile grew wider.
"Something like that, yeah."
Collecting her things together in a hurry, the student slipped out of the library doors and down the stairway to the main corridor. There she stepped outside, feeling the cool breeze as the sun dipped down to disappear until the morning. She was rushing on adrenaline alone, a fear that any more loss of time would stop her scenario from becoming true.
She remembered the familiar route as she ran, breathless as the cold wind whipped her hair out of her face and stung her cheeks. She almost smiled. It was time for her to make a change and stop worrying about protecting her feelings. This was the only way she could truly be happy.
And then, upon entering the spacious dorm, she saw him. Her breath caught in her throat as she watched him—it seemed to take him forever to find his key, patting his pockets while he tried to, until, finally, he was able to unlock the door and step inside. She heard him laugh at something his roommate was doing before the slam of the door alerted her back into reality.
She swallowed.
Who was she kidding exactly? She couldn't do it. She just couldn't.
So, after getting her breath back, she walked forwards, past the door and to the second one over on the right. Her head was clouded with thoughts of conflict as it was opened and she was presented with the sight of Cody Rhodes.
"Hey," she greeted him softly, rather feeling like she might want to cry for her cowardice move, "Is Ted there?"
"Yeah, sure." He nodded, moving aside to let her in. His brows furrowed in concern as he did so. "You okay, Mickie?"
"Oh yeah, fine." She answered. "Thanks for asking," she added. "I just...realized something that I wanted to do isn't possible, is all."
Cody didn't seem to know what to make of that answer, but nodded politely as he collapsed back onto his bed, dragging his laptop back onto his knees to finish the conversation he was having via email.
She only had to wait a moment before Ted appeared from the bathroom, having just put a decent amount of gel in his hair to tame it down. Pressing his hands against his jeans and wiping away what was left, he looked up, surprised by the company. "Hey..."
"Hi." She attempted a smile. The regret building up inside of her seemed to grip her for the time being. "I was just wondering if...if you wanted to hang out...or..."
She wasn't able to continue. The first tear splashed under her lash, and dripped down onto her cheek. She would have wiped it away furiously as a natural move if she hadn't felt the walls come tumbling down, and her voice give way to a heavy sob. More tears followed, blurring her vision as Ted came over to her.
"Hey, hey," he spoke softly, pressing a hand against her cheek, "What's wrong?"
After a moment, she shrugged, almost whispering, "I don't know."
But she knew perfectly well and allowed her negative thoughts to get the better of her as he stood confused for a moment, and then wiped away her tears with his thumb. They kept pouring through, unable to be stopped.
"I don't know what's wrong," said Ted after another moment as he stared into her brown eyes comfortingly, "but you know I'm here for you. Right? I'm always going to be here for you."
And that seemed to be the problem.
Still, Mickie allowed herself to be pulled in by his arms, and pressed her head against his chest as she let her emotions run wild within her. As he stroked her hair and soothed her, she just knew that this wasn't where she wanted to be.
Ted DiBiase wasn't who she wanted to be with this evening.
So there's the next chapter. Please review :)
Up next is the girls' chapter.