*Thank-you for all the reviews on the last chapter. I greatly appreciated them. And thank-you to everyone that favorited and alerted the story. = )
The following Monday I was running late to meet up with Dave because John decided to go out to lunch together and then we ended up back at the hotel having an intimate afternoon. An intimate afternoon that took us to 2:00 in the afternoon. I was supposed to be at the arena by 2:00 talking to Dave about changes to his character or coming up with a new persona for him. "Shit!" I said looking at the time as John and me laid in bed.
"What?" he asked as I got up out of bed and ran to grab my clothes.
"I'm late. I have to meet with Dave. I was supposed to meet him by 2 at the arena. I have never been late before," I said putting on my black skirt. "Shit," I said grabbing my white blouse.
I began buttoning it as John said, "So what. I doubt he's even at the arena anyway."
"It doesn't matter, John. I don't like to be late. You know me," I said.
"I know, Tess," he said getting out of bed to put his boxers on. "You have to admit we had a good time."
"We did but I'm still late for my job. I had a really good time but it just went later than expected."
"How long are you going to be working?" he asked as I put on my shoes.
"I don't' know. I'll probably just meet you at the arena."
"Sounds like a plan," he said. "You're not seriously wearing that?" he asked as I stood up in my black skirt that came to the top of my knee, my white blouse and black shoes.
"Um. Yeah. What's wrong with it, John?" I asked grabbing my keys and my Blackberry.
"It's a little risky to wear to work with Dave," he said.
"These are my work clothes and I am going to work. It's not a big deal."
"It is when you're working with the womanizer of the company," he said. "I just don't want him getting any ideas."
"John, he's not going to get ideas. I wear stuff like this to work all the time. It's okay. Don't act like this," I said. Usually I liked John being jealous and protective but lately it was starting to get on my nerves. It was sweet that he cared but to tell me what I could and couldn't wear to work was ridiculous. I wore clothes like that all the time I didn't understand why it was so different for me to wear that outfit when I was going to work with Batista. John acted like Batista was going to rip my clothes off me and have his way with me. John was getting a bit ridiculous over the whole thing. "I think you're being ridiculous."
"All right. Maybe I am," he said, "but I just worry about you. I told you. I don't trust him. I know how he is."
"I know so do I. If he tries anything I'll let you know. I promise."
"Okay," he said. "I'm sorry for being an overprotective jerk," he said as he wrapped his arms around me.
"It's okay. It's what you do as my boyfriend. At least I know you care."
"I do," he said. "I really do care."
"All right. Well, I had better get going. I'm already late. I love you and I will see you when you get to the arena."
"All right. I love you too," he said as he leaned in and softly kissed my lips.
Our kiss was cut short by my Blackberry ringing. "Shit," I said as I broke the kiss and looked at my phone. It was Dave calling me. "It's him," I said before answering the phone. "Hello."
"Where are you?" he asked. "I've been waiting for 10 minutes."
"I'll be right there. Something came up and I'm running a little late. I will be there in about 10 minutes."
"Okay," he said. "I'll be waiting," he said hanging up the phone on me.
"All right, Baby," I said. "I have to go. Love you," I said as I kissed his lips one last time before I grabbed my purse and hurried out the door. I can't say that I was upset that I was running late to meet with Batista because I wasn't. If I had my way I wouldn't be working with him at all. What I was so upset about was that I was late for my job. I wasn't one of those people. That's how John and me were similar. We were hardworking people, never late for work, helping out wherever we could and always being the last ones to leave. It just wasn't in me to be late but for some reason that afternoon I allowed myself to be late because I got too caught up in my personal life. Sad but true I always put my professional life first and my personal life second. My number one priority was my job then John and then my family. I guess this is why I had so many issues about getting married and having kids because then my job would no longer be my number one priority. I never let my personal feelings interfere with my professional feelings. I did a very good job at separating the two.
I arrived at the arena a little later than ten minutes but I got stuck in traffic. I pulled up behind the arena in San Antonio, Texas and saw Dave standing outside waiting for me. I parked the car and hurried out of the car and over to Dave. "You're late," he said.
"I know. It's not like you're never late," I said. I didn't understand how he could throw it in my face that I was at least 20-30 minutes late for a meeting when he has been known to be at least an hour late for a show.
"I was on time today," he said in a condescending tone.
"Okay. Like I said, something came up. And I'm sorry I'm late," I said, "Can we just go inside and talk?"
"You're in charge," he said walking to the door.
He opened the door and walked in before me but didn't stop to hold the door for me. He allowed it to shut so I had to open it myself. For a womanizer he didn't know how to treat women very well. "Thanks for holding the door," I said sarcastically. "It's not like I have full hands or anything." I was carrying my purse and my briefcase so I didn't really have an empty hand but he kept on walking. I knew it was going to be a long day. I took a deep breath as I followed him down the hallway until we reached the catering room.
He took a seat at the table and arrogantly put his feet up on the table with a look of irritation. He looked as if I was taking too long to sit down as I pulled my laptop out. "So," he said interlocking his fingers and placing his hands on his stomach.
"Can you get your feet off the table? People do eat here," I said turning on my laptop.
"They wipe the tables down," he said.
"I don't care. It's just rude. Get your feet down," I said as I pushed his feet off the table.
"All right. You win," he said as he grabbed a pen and began tapping it on the table. I took a deep breath as I got into my documents that I needed as I listened to him tap the pen on the table which was highly annoying. I put my hand on top of his to make him stop. "Is that bothering you?" he asked.
"Just a little," I said removing my hand from his.
"Sorry wouldn't want to annoy Mrs. Cena," he said.
"Ms. Montgomery," I said correcting him. "And you can call me Tessa."
"Okay, Tessa, so what's going on?"
"I don't' know you tell me," I said. "It's your character. What do you want to do?"
"I don't' know," he said. "You're the creative genius. You're supposed to be helping me."
"All right," I said. "So your current character is being a face.. Not really much going on there. There's not really any excitement."
"I guess," he said, "did you come up with your husband's persona?"
"He's not my husband. He's my boyfriend and yes I had some part in it but John came up with it himself."
"He came up with the kid friendly crap?" he asked.
"Yes," I said. "And it's not crap. It's a good thing."
"It's crap," he said. "You have this big guy being the sweetest guy on the planet when he could be this terror."
"John doesn't do well as a heel. We've tried it. He's better as a face and his kid friendly thing is good. It keeps with WWE's PG product."
"WWE's PG product," he said scoffing. "That's crap."
"I think it's a good move for the company," I said.
"You would," he said.
"Anyway," I said, "Would you like to be a heel?"
"Sure," he said. "It doesn't matter. It's up to you."
"You have to have some input. I want you to like what you do," I said.
"It's not my job to come up with my persona or character. That's your job."
"I could make you an arrogant asshole. Then you wouldn't have to act," I said.
Batista let out a laugh and said, "Thanks."
"You like to be called an arrogant asshole?" I asked.
"I guess," he said shrugging his shoulders. "I want some witty lines like your husband has."
"John comes up with his own lines. We don't write them for him."
"He comes up with them himself?" he asked surprised.
"Yes," I said. "He chooses to write his own stuff. He's very good at it."
"Interesting. I always thought you helped your husband out," he said.
"He's not my husband. He is my boyfriend. We are not married," I said. I don't know why I felt the need to keep correcting him but something inside me kept telling me to correct him. After all John wasn't my husband. He was my boyfriend but I could see how Dave would think we were married. It seemed that way. We were together forever.
He looked at me with a puzzling look and said, "he's not your husband?"
"No," I said. "He's not."
"Let me see your left hand," he said.
"See?" I asked showing him my left hand. My ring finger was bare and it was going to stay like that forever.
"Holy shit. You two aren't married. I always thought you were."
"Well, we're not," I said taking my hand back that he was still holding. "He's just my boyfriend."
"Interesting," he said, "how come you two aren't married yet? He too focused on his career?"
"It doesn't matter," I said, "we're not married. And this isn't about John and me. It's about you. So do you want to make changes to your character or have a whole new different persona?" I asked him.
"I want a new persona. I think it's time," he said.
"So what are you thinking about?" I asked.
"Isn't that your job? Aren't you the creative team?"
"I am but I would like to know what you want to do. It is your character too. You deserve a say."
"I don't know," he said checking his watch.
"Am I keeping you from something? Something more important?"
"No," he said, "just checking the time. I need to be out of here by 3. I have a hot date before the show."
"Of course you do," I said rolling my eyes. "Since you're such a ladies man how about we do a pimp type of character?"
"That's been done. I don't' want to do that," he said.
"All right. How about an All about me type of character? You make everything about you."
"No. I don't like that either," he said.
"Okay," I said. I continued to give him ideas but he shot down every single one I gave him. He wasn't taking it seriously and I honestly thought he didn't care about his career. He continued to keep checking his watch through out our meeting it was pretty annoying and his arrogance annoyed me. He acted like he was above the meeting. He shot down every idea I had but he never once put in his input. He never suggested anything. I didn't know what to say anymore. I watched him check his watch another time and said, "just go. We're not getting anything done here. Just go."
"All right," he said getting up. "We'll meet again. Just keep thinking of ideas."
"And you think of ideas," I said turning off my computer. "Have fun on your date."
"I will. She is so f**king hot. I will have an amazing time," he said with a smile.
"Uh huh," I said cleaning up my stuff. There was that disrespect for women that made me dislike him so much. "Don't be late tonight."
"That would depend on how my date goes," he said with a smirk. "I will see you later, Tessa."
"Bye, Dave," I said as he walked out of the room. I breathed a sigh of relief as he left. Once he was gone and I was cleaning things up I knew we were not a good combination. He was already on my nerves and that was our first meeting. I didn't know what I was thinking when I took this assignment. I don't think any promotion was worth dealing with Dave Batista. He made things so much harder than they needed to be. I decided as I gathered up my stuff that I was going to talk to Vince later about it and ask for another assignment. It wasn't like me to throw in the towel so quickly but Dave Batista was a lost cause. There was no helping him. Giving up was the best thing I could do at this point.
*So what did you think? Please REview and thank-you for taking the time to read. = )