The Great Escape

AN. Thank you to quteash, ShadyBillionaire, xHalosandwings, Tiffyxox, Grits0205, xTwistedxImperfectionx, HappySmiler, xxchasingdreamsxx, TJ Sparkles & lift-me-up for reviewing the last chapter.

Thanks very muchly :)

Chapter Thirty-Two – You Lost Me

THE MIZ

"Isn't it, like, totally amazing that we live so close to each other? And if you think about it, this is our first official holiday together as a couple! Isn't that amazing?"

Lowering the magazine to confront his girlfriend's wide grin, Mike Mizanin tried not to allow the frustration he felt in that moment to seep through into his tone. He offered a tight smile. "Totally amazing," he answered, knowing full well that this would be all it would take to set her off again.

He was right.

As he watched Layla El—the petite woman with the big mouth—gabble on some more, he couldn't help but to zone out; he'd developed the ability to do this rather quickly, only saving himself when he managed to nod or give a casual "Mhm" at the right moment. She was just so... generic, as far as popular girls went. Where was the unique part of her personality? Granted that whenever he was stroking her hair affectionately, pretending to share a tender moment, she was a pretty sight to look at—but it still wasn't enough. It was never enough.

This point had been pressing in his mind more as of late, bothering him at night when all he really wanted to do was go to sleep and dream about better things. The reality of his own life—so different than what he'd expected this college phase to be—was hard to come to grips with. But where were these sudden feelings coming from—here he was, judging his lifestyle? It wasn't him at all.

He turned to the next page of his magazine with disguised irritation. The sharp turn of his fingers appeared to be lost on Layla, and she advanced towards him with a subtle smirk, clearly no longer in the mood for talking.

"And," A whisper escaped through her lips, causing him to glance at her once more, "We have a little over a week of bliss to enjoy together—any way we want." She raised an eyebrow suggestively. "My parents are out of the house right now... and would you look at this? We're all alone in my bedroom."

It was no longer than ten seconds later that he realized what he was in for and as she pushed his magazine aside, not particularly caring as it fell to the ground, and she crawled across her bed to get him, he also realized another thing: he didn't want this.

If he hadn't been caught up in the moment, he probably would have questioned himself for the very thought. He was The Miz, the ultimate player! Him not wanting sex—especially from such a hot girlfriend, one he'd managed to snag much to the displeasure of his friends—was absolutely absurd. Wasn't it? He was supposed to seize the moment... over and over again.

But as she softly pressed her lips against his, her hands pressed against his chest, the feeling grew. When he closed his eyes to attempt to enjoy the moment, running a hand through her dark, sleek hair, the feeling grew. When she unbuttoned his shirt and then broke away from him to kiss his chest, the feeling grew. It wouldn't stop.

Mike stared up at the ceiling briefly. He knew exactly what was wrong with him.

All too suddenly, thoughts of another girl clouded his thoughts, shadowing anything else he may have been thinking in the moment. Layla—and what she was doing to him—was a distant thought, though his body reacted differently, as his glance turned into a full-on daydream. He would have cursed himself for being so weak towards her if he wasn't so committed to the subject.

How was Eve Torres taking up his time so effortlessly? The brunette simply wouldn't escape his memory. Everything about her... her eyes, her smile, her laugh, her sweet personality... was everything he wasn't willing to forget.

Being his typical self, the first time he'd met Eve, the instant thought to come to his mind was how much fun they would have together in bed—if she didn't have a boyfriend, obviously. He imagined, after just one look of her slender, bronzed legs, that they would have an extremely good time with one another.

But eventually this way of thinking developed into something else—something he couldn't really explain. Because quite frankly, he'd never had a feeling like it before. What was he supposed to make of the fact that... that even without thinking about sex with her, she was still on his mind? That both her smile and laugh were easy to remember, and that he liked to think of those two features with a smile of his own. This girl had completely invaded his thoughts with so little trouble that it was almost disturbing.

And she was doing it again. Delving back into reality unwillingly, he caught Layla's lips again; she'd now successfully removed his shirt and was now back to him. He saw the passion in her eyes as she pulled away briefly to look at him—it was pure passion and lust. And yet... he just felt so differently.

The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. "I have to go." He scrambled to his feet a little too happily, content enough to leave her wondering. "I'll speak to you later, yeah?"

He buttoned his shirt quickly, slipping his feet into his shoes at the same time—all he could really focus on was getting out of there and back to his own house where he'd have time alone. He needed to think. Just to think about what was going on with himself.

So concerned with this, Mike certainly didn't hear the disappointment in Layla's tone as she finally answered, "Or maybe you won't," softly in his direction.

He didn't answer. Instead, Layla was left alone in her room, in her empty house, as her boyfriend raced down the stairs two at a time simply to get away from her.

MATT

Throwing his keys down on the kitchen table, Matt Hardy finally allowed himself to release a sigh of relief. He'd been holding it in for the entire day, simply waiting for his moment to let it out, and now it'd arrived. He even dared to smile as he opened the fridge door and rooted around for a nice, cool drink to celebrate with. Now this Matt—the happy, content Matt—was definitely a guy he could get used to being.

The reason for his mood was simple. After five straight days of working, he was now eligible for his Christmas break. He had just over a couple of weeks off from his tiring shifts at the store, and he planned to use them well... if well could be described as lazing around the house, watching films and sleeping for most of the day, that was. It would be the best two weeks of his life, without any troubles or cares in the world. He knew he needed the rest.

Popping off the lid of the soft drink he'd found in the depths of the fridge, he turned, ready to climb what seemed to be a mountain—but was rather the stairs of his house—to get to his room. All he really wanted to do was collapse on his bed, re-hydrate himself and stare at the ceiling; he'd been the King of that, whatever that could be called, recently enough. It was becoming quite the habit.

"Oh... hi, Matt."

It was her voice that stopped him from doing so. As if facing a nightmare, the dark-haired adult turned slowly—almost too slowly. When his eyes finally met hers, he knew he had to attempt a smile. No matter how difficult the task would be. "Eve," he nodded, "Hey." Then, pushing himself even further, he added, "How are you?"

He knew it was a stupid question to ask. The answer was fairly obvious, if he remembered their last conversation correctly. It was also obvious if he remembered the last time she'd visited his house, arriving to drop off his present but only having the courage to leave it on the porch. Yeah, the answer was obvious.

Except she didn't know that he'd seen her in that moment, and she replied with a faint air of confidence about her. "I'm... good." It had taken her a while to come up with an accurate answer. She still wasn't sure if "good" was one. "I'm hanging out here for a while until Maria's found this CD Jeff promised to find for her. You know what they're like." After rolling her eyes playfully, she added, "But yeah, that's why I'm here... in case you were wondering."

"It's not a problem." He shook his head, offering his own half-hearted smile.

This time, he wasn't entirely sure if he was telling the truth; was it perfectly okay that his ex-girlfriend, the girl he didn't think he'd have any problems with whatsoever, was standing opposite him right now? Things were awkward between them—to say the least—and it was clear their issues weren't going to be sorted out.

Did they even have issues with each other?

As far as Matt was concerned, he didn't think so. He knew it sounded harsh, but their break-up had explained it all to him. He was still suffering, of course he was, but he'd seen the truth in their problems. They wouldn't work. And no matter how much it broke his heart to see them in this state, so unlike their former selves, he was sure it was for the best.

Eve Torres was the kind of girl who wanted to go places. She wanted to travel and see the world—he'd learnt this in the early days of their relationship. She'd been half-asleep in his arms in the backyard, and they were both staring up at the stars. "I want to see everything," she had muttered with a dopey smile. And he'd admired her for it, kissing her forehead tenderly before carrying her up to his room and tucking her into his bed.

But now he could see how it separated them. She had four years of college to go through and even if he promised he'd wait for her until she was finished, she'd still want to travel the world. The funny thing was he was perfectly happy where he was. He wasn't opposed to travelling; he was just comfortable. Some people just were. And they were certainly different in that life-changing way.

It was difficult to come to terms with, but either way, they both had to move on. He just wasn't sure how yet.

"Well I better go and find her then," smiled the brunette timidly. "I was just coming down here to get my things. I'm hoping that if she sees I'm ready to go she'll be more inclined to leave."

Her smile wavered when all he had to give was a nod. He noticed it, too. It was for the mere fact that he still loved and very much cared about her that he pressed his hand against her arm as she went to pass, stopping her for a brief moment. "I know it's not supposed to be like this between us," he said softly, unsure where his words were coming from, "But in time this'll be nothing more than a memory. It won't hurt nearly as much as it does now."

The Latina glanced up at him, and for the first time in a while he saw the confidence in her eyes. "Is that what you're telling yourself right now?"

"In a way, yes... yes, it is." He shrugged.

They stayed in contact for a second or two longer, until he felt he had to pull away. It was with a huge amount of unease that he headed up the stairs, ignoring the sight of Maria rummaging through the CD collection on the hallway, Jeff beside her with a bored expression on his face, and stepped into his bedroom. He shut the door behind him before he decided to collapse onto his bed.

He simply didn't know what to think anymore.

Shopping came naturally to Eve Torres. It was, as funny as it was to hear for other people, a soothing experience in which she was allowed to release her worries and not care about anything for a few hours. New purchases—and simply knowing she could buy a shiny, new item—were very comforting to think about.

So how had she found herself locked inside a dressing room in one of her favourite shops with a bunch of clothes just sitting on her lap, waiting to be tried on but not getting the chance? Instead of thinking about how pretty she would look in the pink baby-doll dress, or how the sharp, black cardigan would make her eyes pop, she was having a crisis. It was a crisis she hadn't exactly seen coming, but should have expected anyway.

She was well aware that Maria was back out there in the shop and searching for her own fashion pieces, but the redhead faded out of her thought as Matt came to mind. Ever since their encounter just an hour ago, she hadn't been able to concentrate right; her thoughts were all mixed up and she was struggling to make sense of everything.

And what was going on when even shopping couldn't cure the problem?

As natural as shopping was to her, she reached into her bag for her cell phone. She hadn't anticipated the move but seemed to know exactly what she was doing as she dialled a number she'd come to learn off by heart. "Hey," she answered quickly no sooner had he answered, "We're friends, right? You'd consider us friends... right?"

"Torres, there's this thing called taking a breath. Maybe you want to try it." Cody Rhodes sounded like he was smirking. She imagined he would be, listening to this conversation. "And yeah, we're friends... more friends with benefits, but friends all the same."

The brunette ignored his casual statement, forcing herself to do so, and continued. "Then I'm having a problem and I need to speak to you."

"A problem—a problem you have to talk to me about? Eve, don't get me wrong, but aren't you at home with your friends? Aren't you supposed to talk to them about problems?"

"But... that's the thing." She paused for a moment, unaware of how to proceed. "I don't want to talk to you. I don't need to talk to you. I just... I just need for you to talk to me. About anything. About everything. Please?"

"Torres?" He sounded cautious.

Eve knew she sounded crazy. If Cody had suddenly called her and demanded the same thing, she would have called him a nut and hung up—but it was the fact he wasn't doing just this that had her wishful. "Look, I know how it sounds... but I've had a bad day, and I really just need a distraction. You said we were friends and I believe you. And right now, I just need this. Okay?"

Cody wasn't sure what was happening, but answered all the same. "Okay, fine." A moment later, he was laughing. "Oh, let me tell you about Ted and his awful chat-up lines..."

Eve closed her eyes and listened. This—despite not knowing what exactly this happened to be—was all she wanted right now. Constant thoughts of Matt... the occasional fluttering when she thought of Mike... they could all be pushed aside right now. It suited her just fine.

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

Up next is Randy's chapter.