Disclaimer, etc., in part 1.
Part Twenty-Six
"Hey, girlie," Eve said with a smile as she stepped into the hospital room. "Are you ready to make a break for it?"
Kelly gave her the best smile that she could, ruining it by grimacing a bit as she shifted, the motion causing a flare of pain from her busted up ribs. "I'm... I'll be okay. I'm sore, but... I'm more than ready to get out of this place," the younger woman said. "I still can't believe that they made me stay last night."
"For observation. They wanted to make sure you were okay. I'm glad they kept you, if only to keep an eye on you," Eve informed her, and Kelly made a face.
"I'm not. And they're supposed to let me go soon... Once a nurse shows up with the stupid paperwork." The diva glanced down at the clothing she was wearing. "I'm all dressed and ready... I just need the release forms."
"I'm sure someone will be here shortly," Eve said, making her way over to where her friend was sitting on the edge of the hospital bed and boosting herself up so that they were seated beside one another. "I'm sorry for what happened."
"I am, too. But I also know it wasn't my fault, and it wasn't your fault. Maria's just a lunatic with a Jeff Hardy fetish," Kelly declared, anger evident in her features. Turning her head, she looked at the older diva. "I never found out what happened last night. Who won the world heavyweight title match?"
"It was a disqualification, actually... So the title didn't change hands. Jeff won by disqualification. I saw Punk last night - he stopped by my room - and he pretty much admitted that he'd done it on purpose. I mean, he was careful not to kick the ref too hard, but-"
"He kicked a ref?"
"Well... Yeah. Sort of. Jeff poked him in the eye and he played like he couldn't see and, well... Kicked the referee. But as he pointed out... If he hadn't held back, the ref would have been unconscious, so... Clearly he wasn't throwing his kicks full-force. And that happened *after* the match had been restarted." She tucked some hair behind her ears. "Jeff had hit the Swanton on Punk, but Punk got his foot up on the ropes to stop the count. The referee didn't realize it until after he'd counted the three. So, in all actuality, Jeff got his dreams ripped away from him twice last night. Once when the referee realized that Punk was out of bounds and shouldn't have been counted down for the three, and a second time when the match ended in a DQ."
"Not a bad night for people that don't like Jeff Hardy, then," Kelly said cheerfully enough, bouncing slightly as she spoke, then wincing again. "Ouch."
"Oh, Kels. I really am sorry about your ribs."
"I know you are. Just like I know it's not your fault. Maria made the choice to do what she did," the blonde said, then turned to look at her friend. "And I heard enough last night to know that you challenged Maria to a match on SmackDown." She fluttered her eyelashes at the older diva. "You're totally my hero, defending my honor like that."
"Yeah, well, just don't get a crush on me because of it," Eve replied, sending a smirk at the younger woman. Kelly rolled her eyes.
"I'll try my best. But you're just so... Amazing. And beautiful. And... powerful."
"Okay, now you're getting creepy," Eve said, shifting further away from Kelly, causing the younger woman to laugh... Then groan as the motion pulled at her injured ribs. Eve wrinkled up her nose at the sight of her friend in pain. "I'd really like to hurt her for you. Especially since I know that she was really sent after you because of me."
Kelly sighed. "I'd like to hurt her for me, too. But I won't be able to for a little while," the young blonde said, then shrugged. "Things happen, Eve. Messes get made. I'm not the only one that's been hurt in this thing. You have, too. In fact, from what I recall, this thing started with you getting hurt. And you could have been hurt a lot worse than you were. I mean, when I think about what could have happened if CM Punk hadn't driven by and spotted you..." Kelly shook her head, looking down at her hands, and Eve fought the urge to shudder. The truth was, she knew all too well that things could have turned out very, very badly if Punk hadn't happened along, then stopped and picked her up. She tried not to think about it too much because thinking about it was the kind of thing that could lead to nightmares. In fact, on a few occasions that she liked to pretend never happened, those thoughts had ended up with her having a nightmare that scared her awake at night.
"I know," Eve finally stated, heaving out a sigh. She reached up, tucking some long hair back behind her ears. "Trust me, Kelly... I know that things could have turned out really, really badly that day. If someone besides Punk had stopped, it could have... I was in no condition to protect myself. I was out of it. I just..."
"Hey, we don't have to talk about it. I mean, we can if you need to, but... We don't have to," the diva said, looking over at her friend. "And if you don't want to talk about it, we can go on to much more pleasant topics of conversation... Like CM Punk and the fact that he's still the champion."
"We already talked about that."
"True. So... I guess we could talk about how things are going between the two of you," Kelly said, giving Eve a winning smile. When Eve simply looked at her, she rolled her eyes, nudging the older woman with her elbow. "Come on... I'm injured here. Also desperately single at the moment. Let me live vicariously. Describe the kissage. And anything else you care to share." She smirked at Eve. "I mean, you two do try to sneak lots of time with one another. And since you have to make sure those private moments remain... Private... In order to keep anyone from finding out, I'm guessing you have lots of time alone in hotel rooms."
Eve gave her friend a look, very aware of what Kelly was getting at. And, she supposed, to Kelly it would seem like the natural thing to do. Eve and CM Punk had been spending quite a bit of time together lately - well, when they could - and since Eve knew that Kelly could be a bit less... reserved... when it came to reaching a certain point in a relationship than Eve was, the blonde girl probably just assumed that Eve and Punk had been sleeping together for weeks. Even if it wasn't all that long ago that Eve had confessed that Punk had kissed her for the first time. "Kelly... I'm not having sex with him," the older of the two women finally stated, all too aware that, despite the fact that Kelly was two and a half years younger than her, the blonde woman actually had more experience with guys. Quite a bit more, according to the stories that Kelly had told her.
"But... You spend so much time together. And I know he shows up at your room... a lot. Of course you're-"
"No, we're not. He's only stayed at my room once. And that was the night that I flushed Jeff's drugs down the toilet and Jeff caught me at it and hit me. The night that Edge helped me out. When Punk showed up later to find out what had actually happened... I just didn't want to be alone that night, so he stayed. But we didn't make love. We haven't... It hasn't gotten that far."
Kelly shook her head, looking more than a little confused. "That makes no sense. You're hot for him, he's so obviously hot for you-"
"But I'm not ready. He knows that. I... He told me that he's a grown man and that he can handle waiting," Eve said quietly, looking over at her friend. "The good ones will do that, you know. Make sure that you're ready instead of just expecting you to jump into bed with them."
"Are you saying I haven't dated a good one yet?" the blonde asked, and Eve snorted.
"You've told me about some of your ex-boyfriends. I'd say that some of them are very lacking in the 'good' department. And I'm not saying that I won't end up sleeping with Punk. I'm just saying... not yet. Not until I'm ready. Not until I've got the craziness in my head worked out and I know it's what I want."
"So, like... Nothing? You two are doing... Nothing?"
"We're getting to know each other. We talk, and we watch movies, and... There have been some really terrific make-out sessions. But no sex. Not yet, anyway."
"Well, I'll be the first to know when you decide to go at it with him, right?" Kelly wanted to know, and Eve snorted as she looked over at her friend.
"Did you really just say 'go at it'? Yeah, that's classy. And for the record... You won't be the first to know. He will. And... I think I'm going to want to keep the details private when it comes to that," the brunette said quietly, and Kelly studied her friend for a moment before smirking.
"That's okay. I'm sure I'll figure out whenever you two have sex, if only because you'll both probably have goofy smiles on your faces," she declared, and Eve shook her head slightly at that, opening her mouth to say something, then snapping it shut again when she heard footsteps in the hallway. Both divas sat a little bit straighter, Kelly wincing a little as she did so, the two women waiting to see if whoever was coming was heading for the blonde's room... And Kelly desperately hoping that whoever appeared would be a doctor or nurse with her release papers.
She fought not to look too disappointed when she saw that it wasn't a member of the hospital staff that was entering the room; it was instead Melina Perez.
"That's not a happy to see me," the older woman said, apparently able to read the look on Kelly's face despite the way she tried to hide it, and the blonde wrinkled up her nose a bit.
"Sorry. It's not you... I was just hoping you'd be one of the doctors or nurses or someone with the papers to let me out of this place," the younger diva said, her tone apologetic. "I just... I really hate hospitals, and I really want to get out of here."
Melina nodded. "Definitely understandable," she replied, then arched a brow as she looked at the blonde woman. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I want to beat the crap out of Maria, but I'm not quite up to it yet. But Eve's going to do it for me, so..."
"I know. She's a hero," Melina returned, then looked over at Eve. "You watch yourself, though. In your match against Maria. If she'll attack Kelly... She might attack you. I mean, girl's gone unhinged or something." The older woman shook her head. "Maybe it's that Dolph Ziggler guy. There's something about him I just don't trust," Melina continued, referring to the wrestler that Maria had been seeing in recent weeks. The guy seemed like a total jerk which, in reality, meant he was probably just Maria's type. She had horrible taste in men... As evidenced by her continued crush on a jerk like Jeff Hardy. Eve kind of wondered if Maria was only dating Dolph as a way to try and make Jeff jealous or something. A misguided attempt at that, too, since Jeff seemed more interested in using Maria to do his dirty work than anything else. On top of that, Jeff was too sure of Maria to ever really get jealous about anything she did.
"Yeah, well, whatever the case... I'm wrestling her on Friday. And I plan to beat her."
"And I'm sure you can... As long as she doesn't pull out a steel pipe or something," Melina replied, then arched a brow. "Just know I've got your back, okay?"
Eve nodded. "Okay. And thanks."
"No need to thank me," Melina said. She glanced toward the door. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and drag someone in here to give Kelly her release papers so we can get the hell out of here. And then? We're going to breakfast," she told them, heading into the hallway, and Kelly sent Eve a look.
"And after breakfast, we'll say goodbye to Melina, and then you and I will sit and have a nice, long talk about your relationship with CM Punk," the younger woman said, and Eve let out a rather unladylike snort.
"You wish."