Chapter 6 - The Countdown To Wrestlemania Begins
"This is ridiculous guys I can't even see the floor anymore!" Heidi laughed as she looked at the mess around her.
Lillian had pulled some strings and some contacts here and there and now Lillian, Heidi, Lita and pretty much the entire Diva population were standing in a sea of dresses that was supposed to be the Orton dressing room. Randy had been shooed off to warm up for his match which still wasn't for another couple of hours and then when Lillian had given the get go from some of the helping stagehands in came the dresses, and in came the dresses, and in came the dresses. Now the carpeted locker room floor was barely visibly.
"Some of these dresses are absolutely gorgeous!" Lita exclaimed as she picked up a blue one in the plastic wrapping sitting on the floor "Is this Vera Wang?"
"I told you I had my contacts Li," Lillian said with a massive smile.
"Did someone say Vera?" Dawn Marie exclaimed from over the otherside of the room.
Heidi couldn't help but laugh out loud as both Dawn and Maria poked their heads out from under a massive pile of dresses.
"What the hell are you two doing?!" Brooke asked as she stared at Dawn and Maria amongst the dresses.
"Playing hide-and-seek by the looks of things," Penny commented with a laugh.
"These dresses are amazing Lil," Torrie Wilson commented from the otherside of the room as she picked up a red one from the floor.
"I don't think red is really Heidi's colour," Dawn commented as she looked at the dress in Torrie's hands.
"I think Heidi should wear yellow," Maria commented as she picked up a strapless yellow floor length dress and held it out to Heidi with a beaming smile on her face "Try it on!"
"Sure," Heidi replied with a smile.
"No!" Dawn exclaimed as she got to her feet and pretty much ran over to Heidi with a different dress, this choice was purple, in her outstretched hands "Try this one on!"
"Are you saying that the yellow dress is ugly?!" Maria exclaimed, horrified that Dawn was putting her dress over Maria's.
"Heidi can wear yellow if she wants to be a duckling," Dawn said, all high and mighty as she patted down the purple dress in Heidi's hands "But I don't think she wants to be a duckling."
"Well she's definitely not wearing that purple thing," Maria commented as she took a step forward and inspected the dress Dawn had chosen "Her boobs are going to be hanging out all over the place!"
"Problem being?" Heidi asked, cheekily with a smile.
"Shall I start on constructing a list?" Lita asked, raising her eyebrows at her daughter.
"Can we skip that part and go onto me trying on these dresses?" Heidi suggested with a smile as she looked all wide-eyed at her mother.
"Get in the bathroom!" Lita said ushering her daughter into the bathroom behind her and rolling her eyes in the process.
"Try on the purple one first!" Dawn called out to Heidi as the door slammed shut.
The youngest Orton disappearing into the bathroom with both Maria's yellow and Dawn's purple choice accompanying her.
"This is so exciting guys!" Penny suddenly exclaimed.
"The dresses?" Brooke asked "Yeah I've never seen so many evening gowns before in my life!"
"No I mean Heidi getting the ring announcing job," Penny corrected her twin sister before she looked over in Lillian's direction "Aren't you so excited that Heidi got your job Lil?"
Lillian suddenly looked up from the powder blue dress she'd just picked up that was definitely going in the rejects pile. Lillian couldn't help but smile as she registered what Penny had said and her mind wandered back to last week before Monday Night RAW.
Lillian could feel her heart beating in her chest and it wasn't even her up there singing. She knew that Heidi was nervous but the young girl was trying so hard to look as confident as possible infront of Vince McMahon. That was no easy feat. I mean, after all, he was Vince McMahon. Her potential boss, given the rest of her interview went well. Lillian knew that Heidi was trying her hardest to make a good impression infront of the chairman. The young Orton stood there, feet firmly planted on the ground, her eyes focussed solely on Vince. No doubt she was trying to keep as much eye contact as possible and let him know that she was really listening to everything that he was saying. Lillian had to admit, also, Maria had done an awesome job dressing up Heidi for her interview. It was the young girl down to a tee and she looked absolutely gorgeous. She was also sure that the rookies sitting next to her would whole heartedly agree with that statement. The ring announcer couldn't help but laugh a little as she thought back to about 10 minutes prior.
FLASHBACK!
"No Vince's assistant didn't say why," Lillian explained as she and Maria started walking towards the guerilla area to head out to the ring.
"She just said that Vince wanted us out there?" Maria asked, still confused as to what was actually going on right now.
"Exactly," Lillian replied with a small nod as she looked back at her friend "Apparently some others from the back are getting rounded up to. Dave text me a couple of minutes ago to say that he, Jericho and Cena were also under orders to head out to the ring."
"What would Vince want all of us out there for?" Maria contemplated as she fiddled with her long line of silver bracelets around her right wrist "What could all of us possible have…."
"Hello there pretty ladies," a voice suddenly called from behind the two divas, causing them to stop in their tracks and immediately turn around.
Lillian rolled her eyes as she noticed the change of expression on Maria's face as the voice belonged to one of the five young WWE rookies heading their way. Maria started tousling and fixed her hair as subtly as she could manage and Lillian couldn't help herself.
"You are ridiculous," Lillian commented as she raised an eyebrow at her friend.
"What?" Maria said, feigning innocence.
"Cougar," Lillian scoffed, just before the five rookies were within earshot causing Maria to glare at her for a second before turning back to smile at the rookies.
"Hi guys," Maria chirped with a smile as the rookies got close enough.
The pack was being lead by the only blonde in the group, the rest of them dark haired. It was obvious from the cocky expression on his face that the blonde kid was the one that had initially called out. Lillian had to admit he was extremely cute though and given the way Maria was staring at him, she obviously thought the same thing.
"Now what are you two lovely ladies doing in guerilla at this time of night?" the blonde guy spoke again, taking his time to look Maria up and down "Heading out to the ring maybe?"
Lillian cocked at eyebrow at him and he immediately stopped before he had even started to look her up and down.
"As a matter of fact we are," Lillian replied, looking away from the cocky blonde and flashing a small smile at some of the darker haired guys in the back of the group.
"What are you guys up to?" Maria spoke again, putting her hands on her hips and smiling like a complete retard.
"Same thing actually," the blonde guy replied, turning his attention back to Maria before he stole a glance in Lillian's direction accompanied by a sleazy wink "Coincidence?"
Lillian simply rolled her eyes and tried to avoid all eye contact with him. Sure he was cute but in the mere one minute she'd spent in his presence, she was sure he was the type of guy that work up every morning and his push ups infront of the mirror before going to get his eyebrows waxed or his nails done. She couldn't stand him already.
"Lil and I were actually just talking and we were wondering why we had to go out to the ring in the first place," Maria started speaking again "Do you guys have any idea?"
"Oh yeah we know," the blonde guy shook off before he extended his hand in Maria's direction with a coy smile on his face "By the way I'm Tyler Hadson."
"Maria," Maria replied with a smile of her own and a couple of bats of her long lashes which made Lillian want to throw up all over her "And this is Lillian Garcia."
"The famous ring announcer," one of the young guys commented from behind Tyler.
Lillian smiled as she glanced around Tyler and smiled at the young guy.
"That's me," Lillian replied with a smile.
"Nice to meet you both," Tyler spoke again, turning to Lillian to catch her attention for a second before turning around to the guys behind him "We're the rookies."
"Obviously," Lillian mumbled under her breath.
"So," Maria quickly spoke in an attempt that the rookies hadn't heard Lillian's sly comment "You guys know why we're headed out to the ring you said?"
"Yeah," Tyler replied nonchalantly with a shrug "Apparently Vinnie wants us to be the audience for some new chick he's interviewing for ring announcer."
"What?" Lillian suddenly exclaimed, growing suddenly interested in something Tyler had to say.
"Yeah apparently he's interviewing some hot new young chick for your job," Tyler continued as he turned to Lillian "And he wanted a little audience for her so of course we volunteered and now…"
"That must be Heids out there then," Lillian suddenly interrupted as she turned to talk to Maria.
"I didn't know that Vince was going to make her sing tonight," Maria commented.
"Yeah well it is a job that requires singing," Lillian explained, refraining from slapping Maria upside the head infront of all these young rookies "I didn't think he was going to make her sing infront of an audience for her first audition."
"Hold up," Tyler suddenly interrupted, waiting until both Maria and Lillian were looking at him before he continued speaking "You girls know the newbie?"
"Duh," Maria replied with a smile "We've known her since she was born. Her parents are legends in the business."
"C'mon Ria we better get out there," Lillian suddenly spoke again, grabbing Maria's arm and leading her friend forcefully towards the stairs leading up to the ring "We don't want to be late."
"OK," Maria replied, letting Lillian lead her as she turned back around to face the rookies "C'mon guys. Let's go."
Lillian couldn't drag Maria fast enough to get both of them away from the five rookies now hot on their heels up the staircase.
"So you ladies said you knew the new girl?" Tyler asked again as he jogged to catch up to Maria and Lillian who were already headed down the ramp to the ring, almost ditching the bunch of rookies at the curtain leading onto the stage.
"Oh yeah we know her," Lillian replied, trying to be as vague and annoying as possible.
The blonde noticed Lita and Randy were sitting in the audience along with Dave, Jericho and Cena and she nudged Maria in the side before the two divas waved in the direction of their friends.
"Well who is she?" Tyler asked again, not happy with the answer Lillian had given him.
"Heidi," Lillian monosyllabically replied.
"Heidi who?" Tyler asked, clearly a little frustrated by Lillian's non revealing single worded answers.
Maria turned to glare at Lillian, who wore a very smug look on her face.
"Heidi Orton," Maria replied with a smile as she turned to acknowledge Tyler.
"Orton?" Tyler asked, not quite sure if he'd heard correctly.
"Yes Orton," Lillian sighed.
"She's Randy and Lita's daughter," Maria replied with a smile as she turned to explain the situation to Tyler nicely, as Lillian definitely wasn't helping her in that department.
"Wow," Tyler replied with a smile as the threesome, and the rookie stragglers reached the ring "If Lita's her mom, she's got to be hot as anything then!"
"Don't let her father hear you say that," Lillian said, raising a finger at the young rookie "Unless you want your career over before it even starts."
"Geeze OK," Tyler said throwing up his hands in defense.
"Don't even think I'm joking Hadson," Lillian continued to shake her finger at the young rookie "Say anything like that infront of Randy Orton about his only daughter and you're asking to be hospitalised."
"He's a little on the protective side," Maria added, trying to lighten the mood with her bright and bubbly voice "But you're right, she's totally hot."
"Maria!" Lillian exclaimed as her jaw dropped and Maria turned to face her with a look of pure innocence etched across her face.
"What?" Maria asked in her own defense "Heidi totally looks gorgeous tonight especially in that killer outfit and that awesome make-up I did for her."
Lillian simply rolled her eyes at her friend before dragged her by the arm to their seats around the otherside of the ring.
"Nice to meet you!" Maria called out to Tyler quickly before she was dragged off.
END FLASHBACK!
Lillian had wanted to punch Tyler Hadson in the face every single moment she had spent with him heading out to the ring and now looking at him and the way he was ogling Heidi made her want to ask Randy if she could help him hospitalise the young rookie. The drool was pretty much running down the dumb blonde's chin and it was obvious that every time Heidi looked over in his general direction he was a heartbeat away from calling out her name just to get her to notice him so he could wink and smile at her. She was really close to asking Randy if she could help. Even one single punch to the groin was going to satisfy her right now.
The blonde shook herself free of her thoughts and turned her attention back to Heidi standing in the middle of the ring.
"So now Miss Orton," Vince said, drawing Heidi's attention back to him "This is your chance to practise infront of an audience, in an arena, into a microphone and completely accapella."
Lillian noticed the way that Heidi hesitated for a split second before she realise what she was doing and immediately reached out and took the microphone from Vince's offering hands. Lillian watched the way Vince simply smiled at the young girl before him before stepping back and giving her the centre of the ring. Heidi's eyes followed Vince as he finally stepped back completely out of the ring. The chairman took his time to descend the ring steps and then her walked his way around the ring and took a seat in the audience next to Randy Orton. Randy simply nodded in Vince's direction before he turned his attention back to his daughter in the centre of the ring. Lillian looked around the small audience beside her and all eyes were on Heidi Orton. Lillian turned back to look at Heidi in the ring.
"Yeah I'm so excited for her," Lillian suddenly spoke, shaking herself out of her thoughts before she turned to Lita who was sitting on a spot of carpet next to the blonde "I'm really proud of her too but obviously no where near as proud as mom over here."
Lita's eyes caught Lillian's and the pair smiled at eachother.
"I'm so incredibly proud of her," Lita nodded.
Just the thought made Lita's face light up.
"Did you always want her to work with the WWE like you and Randy, Li?" Torrie asked as she turned to face Li.
"Not really," Lita admitted as she continued to inspect the green dress she currently had in her hands.
"What do you mean?" Penny asked.
Lita sighed as she put the green dress in her lap and lifted her head to face the many sets of Diva eyes staring at her.
"I mean wrestling is what I love and I wouldn't have done it for as long as I did if I didn't," Lita started "It's something that Randy loves to and that's why he's doing it. It's what both of us love and that's how both of us ended up working for the WWE. I've always wanted Heidi to be happy and doing something that she loves to do. I don't think it was really a question of me wanting her to work for the WWE like me and Randy. I think it was more of a question of me wanting her to do something with her life that she loves."
"And she likes singing right?" Torrie inquired.
"She loves singing," Lita nodded with a smile.
"Well that's because she's so good at it!" Maria added "It's hard not to love something you're amazing at it!"
"What if she wanted to get into wrestling Li?" Brooke asked, suddenly changing the direction of the conversation.
"Well I mean that's definitely an option now isn't it Li seeing as she's already got one foot in the door?" Dawn asked, turning her attention to the red head as she put down the white dress she had been closely inspecting.
"If Heidi wanted to get into wrestling I would absolutely love it," Lita replied honestly "But it's not something that I'm going to push her into if she doesn't want to."
"What don't I want to do?" Heidi suddenly asked as she emerged from the bathroom.
All eyes turned towards Heidi as she emerged from the bathroom in the purple dress that Dawn had insisted she try on first.
"Next dress!" Maria voiced her opinion first causing Dawn to glare over at her.
"There's nothing wrong with that dress!" Dawn exclaimed in her own defense "I like it!"
"I like the colour," Heidi nodded as she twirled around in the dress on the spot.
"Me too," Penny and Brooke commented as they inspected the dress.
"With your collarbones Heids I'd go for a halter dress or a strapless," Torrie said as she titlted her head to the side to view the dress.
"I totally know what you mean Tor," Lillian agreed "Try on that yellow one that Ria gave you before."
"The colour's hideous but then at least we can see if that style is better on you," Dawn added, causing Maria to turn and glare at her.
"I think Heidi's skin tone will look amazing against a pale colour like yellow," Maria added as she folded her arms across her chest and turned away from Dawn Marie.
"If she wants to look like a banana," Dawn added with a fake smile in Maria's direction.
Lita watched her daughter smile as she stood before them in this long purple elegant gown. Heidi was going to miss out on her senior prom because she had graduated early and would be working on the road with the WWE when the day came around. Heidi hadn't been so phased about it because she had been way too excited about the fact that she was going to be replacing Lillian Garcia as the RAW ring announcer and now as Lita thought about it, it was a pretty awesome swap. WWE Ring Announcer for Senior Prom. Lita knew that Wrestlemania wasn't going to be too different to Heidi's senior prom anyway especially when it came to dressing up. Lita was still going to be able to see her daughter chose the perfect dress and get her hair and make-up done up all pretty. The getting ready part was going to be just like the prom except the destination was going to be the centre of the WWE ring instead of a fancy venue and at least Lita wouldn't have to worry about Randy scaring off Heidi's date.
Lita smiled as she looked at her daughter. She couldn't believe that Heidi was going to be 18 years old in a matter of months. It seemed like just yesterday that she was a little girl. It seemed like just yesterday that Lita walked Heidi to her first day of school and then her first day of high school and now those days were completely behind them. Heidi now stood before her mother as a young woman. A beautiful young woman ready to take on her first job and ready to take on the world. From the moment Heidi was born Lita knew that she had wanted to give her every opportunity that she could so that when the time came for Heidi to decide what to do with the rest of her life, there would be absolutely no limitations to what she could do with herself. Lita had gotten Heidi involved in gymnastics from the earliest age acceptable at the Apex, 12 months old, and Heidi had formed a love for the sport and had taken it with her the whole way through elementary, middle and high school. Lita had even thrown in a couple of wrestling moves here and there by request of Heidi. Then there had been Spanish. Lita had learnt Spanish pretty much her whole life and insisted that Heidi be brought up knowing at least one other language than English. Heidi's doctor had recommended a language to stimulate Heidi's fast developing brain and of course, as expected, Heidi took on both English and Spanish with ease. Now at 18 she was fluent in both and pretty much almost there with French as well. Then there had been music. Music hadn't been something that either Lita or Randy had been particularly involved with in their lives but it had been Heidi's decision to make music a part of her life. Heidi had chosen the flute randomly one day in elementary school and had insisted that Lita let her take lessons. Singing had developed as a side passion for the young Orton and now here she was about to make a massive step in her singing career. Lita couldn't have been anymore proud of Heidi than she was right now. Heidi had chosen singing out of all the opportunities that Lita had given her and Lita was so proud of her daughter for that. Singing wasn't something that Lita had expected Heidi to want to pursue professionally and the red head didn't think her daughter knew it either. Lita was thinking along the lines of something academic especially with Heidi graduating as valedictorian of her class and being offered a full college scholarship to study at Harvard University in the fall.
Lita was proud that Heidi knew that Harvard wasn't in the cards for her and she was proud that Heidi had the courage to trust her instincts and turn the scholarship down when it came her way a couple of weeks before her audition with Vince McMahon. Lita knew that Heidi had been unsure about her future but loved that her daughter was following her heart and now her heart had lead her to this amazing opportunity to work somewhere she loved doing something she loved. She had never seen Heidi so excited or happy about anything in her life, and as she watched her today standing there in that beautiful evening gown, Lita knew that her daughter had made the right decision. She knew that Heidi was about to embark on a journey that was going to make her very happy. What more could a mother ask for?
FLASHBACK!
Lita couldn't help herself from biting the hell out of the nails on her right hand. She knew that if Randy hadn't been holding her left then those nails would have been presented for the same biting. She couldn't believe how nervous she was for her daughter right now. With all these eyes watching her right now and the fact that she knew that Vince McMahon was judging her every move still, that was enough to make Lita want to scream and it wasn't even her up there.
The red head felt her husband squeeze her hand and she turned to face his smiling face for a moment before she turned back to look at her daughter standing in the middle of the WWE ring. She forced herself to relax. It was almost like deja-vu seeing Heidi standing there in the middle of the ring. Lita could see it clearly when she closed her eyes. The vision of Heidi dragging Randy down the ramp towards the ring. Lita watched from pretty much exactly the same spot as she was sitting now, maybe a couple of seats to her right. She watched as Heidi held Randy's hand tightly as she quickly ascended the ring stairs and hopped into the ring. Randy had almost tripped over the ring ropes on his way in but Heidi didn't even stop for that. The pair of them then stood in the middle of the ring for a moment together before Heidi immediately let go of her father's hand and pushed him backwards into the ropes before she ran into the centre of the ring. Lita remembered the pouty look on Randy's face as the parents realised their daughter wanted the ring all to herself as she started twirling around and laughing to herself. Now here she was 12 years later and she had the entire WWE ring to herself. Only this time she was standing in the middle of the ring with a microphone, with a lot more sets of eyes focussed on her.
"You can start whenever you're ready Miss Orton," Vince suddenly spoke from his place in the audience, breaking Heidi out of her chain of thoughts as her eyes darted up from the canvas to the audience infront of her.
The young Orton simply nodded her head before she placed the microphone to her lips. Lita watched her daughter take a deep breath and close her eyes before she opened her mouth.
"Oh, say! can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming;"
Lita closed her eyes as she listened to her daughter's voice fill the arena. It was weird to listen to Heidi like this. It was almost like hearing her for the first time and when Lita closed her eyes she could barely recognise, let alone register, that that beautiful voice and that beautiful sound belonged to her daughter.
"Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?"
Lita opened her eyes and couldn't help but smile as she watched Heidi. Her daughter seemed to be loosening up and Lita could tell that she was started to lose herself in the song. It was the same look that Heidi got whether she was singing along to her ipod along as she always did around the house.
"And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there: "
Lita's eyes travelled to Randy sitting next to her. She squeezed his hand and she saw him smile though he never even took his eyes off his daughter. Lita knew Heidi meant the world to Randy and she knew that he was just as proud of her as Lita was. The red head's eyes scanned the silent audience once over before her eyes landed back on her daughter. Every single note was flawless and exactly on pitch. It was the national anthem after all and just the slightest slip up in pitch or lyric was going to be noticed by absolutely everybody. Lita had obviously nothing to worry about for her daughter though because Heidi was up there doing beyond a perfect job. She was performing perfectly and the audience knew it, Lita knew it and by the look on Vince McMahon's face, he knew it too. He looked beyond impressed. He obviously didn't think the little Orton was going to be that good.
"Oh, say! does that star-spangled banner yet wave "
Lita held her breath as Heidi held the climax of the song. She hit that high note exactly on time and it was beautiful. It was like the whole room was stuck in time. Everything stopped moving. Everyone had stopped breathing. Everyone had stopped to listen to that amazing note that Heidi had just hit. Lita wanted to stand up right then and there and cheer for her little girl. She wanted to jump up and down and scream and cheer and all that, but she decided against it. Probably not the place and time. Mom disease. Lita had it bad.
"O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."
The standing ovation from the audience was all that Lita thought her daughter needed. Everyone sitting there in the audience immediately got to their feet on applause and Heidi couldn't help but absolutely beam as she smiled at them. Vince McMahon didn't even need to say anything. The fact that he got to his feet and was simply nodding and smiling as he applauded Heidi was all that Lita needed to see. Heidi had obviously seen it to. There was no doubt that Heidi had made a good impression.
END FLASHBACK!
"Ok! Ok!" Heidi suddenly interrupted "Before we have an all out brawl here over evening gowns can someone tell me what you guys were talking about that pertained to me before I came out?"
The sound of her daughter's voice completely snapped Lita out of her thoughts and her daydream.
"What were we talking about?" Maria asked, suddenly completely confused as to where in the conversation the divas had left off.
"Heidi getting into wrestling genius," Brooke said jokingly as she rolled her eyes at Maria before she threw her a kiss.
"Oh yeah," Maria continued, knowing that Brooke was only messing with her "We were just asking your mom about how she'd feel if you decided you wanted to get into wrestling now you're already officially in the business."
"Mom we've talked about that heaps before," Heidi confessed as she turned to her mother.
"Really?" Lillian asked, turning to face Lita, a little surprised at Heidi's confession.
"Well not really Heids," Lita explained "I mean I've trained you a little at the gym and we've talked about you wrestling but nothing serious like the WWE."
"True," Heidi admitting, seeing her mother's point.
"Why not?" Dawn asked curiously.
"I don't know," Lita shrugged "I guess it's not something that I'd ever thought Heidi wanted to seriously pursue as a career or anything. I mean otherwise we would have talked about it."
Heidi nodded.
"So how much training how you done Heidi?" Torrie asked as she picked up the white dress that Dawn had just finished looking at.
"A little bit here and there," Heidi answered turning to her mother "I mean mom and I used to muck around with wrestling stuff in the gym all the time."
"You should definitely come train with us then!" Penny suddenly exclaimed excitedly "Your mom promised that over the summer she was going to teach us some more technical stuff."
"And since you're going to be on the road with us 24/7 anyway we should all train together!" Brooke joined in, just as excited as her twin sister by the topic.
"OK! OK!" Dawn suddenly exclaimed throwing her hands in the air "Before double trouble over here wet their pants in excitement Heidi will you get your butt back into that bathroom and try on the next dress!"
"Alright alright I'm going Dawn!" Heidi laughed "I'm trying on the yellow one now."
"Yay!" Maria exclaimed as she clapped her hands together and smiled.
Heidi blew a kiss in Maria's direction before she disappeared into the bathroom once more.
"I bet the yellow dress is going to look GORGEOUS on your daughter Li!" Maria exclaimed, throwing Dawn a glare in the process.
"I can't believe that Heidi's going to be 18 soon!" Brooke suddenly exclaimed, completely changing the course of conversation.
"PARTY!" Penny exclaimed in reply as she high fived her twin sister.
"Oh my god, what have you got planned?" Maria asked excitedly as she turned to look at Lita.
"Are you and Randy planning a surprise party or something?" Torrie joined in.
Lita rolled her eyes at her friends and pressed her index finger firmly to her lips.
"Yeah let's talk about it while Heidi is in the next room douchebags," Lita said with a small laugh as she turned her attention back to the next dress she was inspecting.
The divas erupted into a fit of giggles and Dawn just rolled her eyes.
"So moving on," Dawn said loudly in the direction of the bathroom.
"Those rookies out there watching last week definitely took a liking to Heidi," Maria commented as she reached over Penny for a dress "Oo, check out this blue one!"
"Oo I love it!" Penny exclaimed as she grabbed the dress with Maria and the two divas started to inspect the gown.
"Urg!" Lillian exclaimed "Don't you even get me started on those rookies."
"What do you mean Lil?" Torrie asked, a little confused by Lillian's sudden outburst.
"Lil just doesn't know how to be friendly," Maria added as she frowned at the blonde ring announcer across the room.
"I know perfectly well how to be friendly," Lillian said, shaking her head "It's being too friendly that is the problem with those rookies."
"Oo mom you better watch out," Dawn jokingly nudged Lita in the side "Looks like the young rookies are getting a little friendly with your daughter."
"Well not yet," Lillian pointed out, but before she could continue her story, Heidi burst out of the bathroom.
"Don't you mean gorgeous daughter?" Heidi said as she threw her head back and made a ridiculous pose in the bathroom doorway in the yellow dress.
Lita couldn't help herself rolling her eyes as Heidi continue to strike poses in the doorway, finishing off with a full spin on the spot.
"Don't you roll your eyes over there Li," Lillian commented as she pointed to the melodramatic teenager in the room "She's your daughter."
"I love it!" Maria exclaimed excitedly, getting completely distracted by the dress.
"I actually like the design," Dawn commented with a nod "The cut's really nice and the strapless dress really does make your collarbones look awesome. Kudos to Torrie."
Torrie smiled and nodded as she accepted a high five from Dawn Marie.
"Yes to the strapless design then," Penny commented as she picked up a dress directly infront of her "Now try on this one loser. The colour's better for your complexion."
Heidi almost lost her balance as she caught the flying evening gown Penny had just thrown at her.
"Emerald green," Brooke commented on her sister's choice "Will go nicely with your skin tone, now try it on!"
"Alright alright I'm going!" Heidi replied as she backed back into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
"So explain about these rookies then Lil," Lita urged her friend to continue the story they had started before Heidi had interrupted them.
"There's nothing to tell," Maria said brushing off the comment "Lil just didn't know how to be nice."
"That guy was the biggest sleaze I have ever met!" Lillian exclaimed as she turned to face Maria "But of course you couldn't keep it in your pants long enough to notice."
"Excuse me?!" Maria exclaimed in reply "He was being perfectly nice to me!"
"When he wasn't staring at your boobs or visualising you naked," Lillian commented with a roll of her eyes.
"Hold up," Dawn interrupted "What rookies are we talking about?"
"Some of the really new young ones," Lillian explained "We ran into them backstage before Heid's audition and that Hadson guy was being totally obnoxious."
"I thought he was being nice," Maria commented softly, refusing to argue with Lillian about it anymore.
"Tyler Hadson?" Penny asked.
"Yeah something like that," Lillian nodded as she started inspecting some beaded detail on one of the black dresses.
"He is totally gorgeous!" Brooke exclaimed.
"I have heard that," Lita commented calmly as she turned to face Lillian.
"I never said he wasn't," Lillian replied "But he was just being so cocky and obnoxious I couldn't even stand to look at him."
"What about the other rookies?" Torrie inquired.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Coming!" Maria exclaimed as she pretty much jumped to her feet and headed towards the door before any of the other divas could respond to the knock.
Lillian and Lita turned their heads in the direction of the door to see who had been knocking when Maria opened the door.
"Hi!" Maria said as she greeted the stagehand with a big smile.
"Good evening Miss Kanellis," the male stagehand replied with a shy smile of his own "This is a special delivery for Miss Heidi Orton."
"OO!" Maria exclaimed excitedly as she suddenly realised that the stagehand was offering her a big bouquet of yellow daffodils "Thank you!"
And with that the stagehand disappeared and Maria closed the door behind her turning back to face the divas with a big smile on her face.
"Oh my god they're beautiful!" Penny and Brooke cooed as they jumped up and rushed over to Maria to inspect the flowers.
"Did that guy say that those were for Heidi?" Lillian asked, not sure whether she'd eavesdropped efficiently enough.
"Yeah they are," Maria replied before she raised the volume in her voice "HEIDI! FLOWERS FOR YOU!"
And without even so much as a second of time passing, Heidi Orton burst out of the bathroom halfway into the green dress that Penny had told her to try on moments earlier. Lita laughed at the excited look on her daughter's face that was accompanying her state of half undress. Heidi had managed to pull the dress pretty much all the way on but the zip was half undone and the hanging tags were hanging out all over the place.
"Did someone say flowers?" Heidi asked excitedly as her eyes darted around the room "For me?"
"These are for you!" Maria exclaimed as she rushed up to Heidi and handed her the bouquet of daffodils.
"Awww!" Heidi cooed as she accepted the bouquet from Maria "They're so beautiful! And they're my favourite!"
"Daffodils are your favourite?" Lita inquired with a cocked eyebrow.
"Yeah," Heidi replied with a nod in her mother's direction.
"I didn't know that," Lita replied.
"Yeah you do mom," Heidi replied with a smile "Dad sends me daffodils every year for Valentine's Day."
"Are they from your father then?" Lita asked as she finally forced herself to her feet and headed over to her daughter.
"I don't know," Heidi replied as she searched the bouquet for a note "There's a note though."
"Where?" Penny asked as she and Brooke started searching the bouquet to where Heidi was referring to.
"Got it!" Brooke exclaimed as she grabbed the note and opened it.
"Well who's it from?" Lillian asked from her spot next to Torrie and Dawn still on floor surrounded by the gowns.
"Well no one actually," Brooke replied as her eyes scanned the note in her hands.
"What do you mean no one?" Heidi asked, peering over Brooke's shoulder at the note.
"She's right," Penny added as she too read the note after snatching it away from Brooke "All that's on this note is a stupid star."
"Yeah it's just a star," Heidi replied as she handed the note to her mother.
Lita's look of confusion remained as she looked over the note that accompanied the beautiful daffodils. There was no writing. It was a plain white blank card with a single black star, well actually an asterisk typed in the bottom left hand corner.
"That is so weird," Maria commented as she looked confused at Lita.
"Yeah it is," Lita replied as she handed the note to Dawn's outstretched hand next to her.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
"Cell phone," Dawn commented as she, Lillian and Torrie looked over the strange card "Are we sure the flowers were for Heidi?"
"It's mine," Lita replied as she patted down her jeans pockets to locate her cell phone.
"Yeah the stagehand clearly said the flowers were for Heidi," Maria replied as she flopped back onto the ground with the other divas.
Brooke, Penny and Heidi were still standing as they carefully inspected the daffodils with smiles on their faces.
"And they are Heidi's favourite flowers," Lillian commented.
"Who would send Heidi flowers then?" Maria asked, still a little confused.
"They're probably just from Randy guys," Torrie explained.
"Yeah but don't you think he would have put his name or a message or something on the card rather than a stupid star?" Dawn asked, the whole picture still not coming together for her.
"That's really REALLY weird," Lita suddenly commented.
The divas looked up at the red head to find her checking her phone.
"What?" Penny asked.
"Who was the text from?" Brooke asked.
"I have no idea," Lita replied as she looked up from her text message "Unknown number."
"What does it say then?" Dawn asked.
"Nothing which is weird," Lita replied "What is really weird though is that there's just an asterisk."
"An asterisk?" Heidi asked, suddenly looking up from her flowers as she headed over to her mother.
"Like a star?" Maria asked.
Dawn and Lillian just rolled their eyes but refrained from comment.
"Like the same star that was one Heidi's note?" Torrie asked.
"Yeah," Lita replied, suddenly really confused as to what was going on "Just like Heidi's note."
A/N: Hey there readers! Hope you all liked this chapter! It was pretty much a filler which made it incredibly hard to keep concentrated cause all I could think about was the next chapter and all the twists and turns I want to write about now! lol. So I really hope you guys liked it! Please READ AND REVIEW! From now on I'll try and get regular updates done as soon as possible. Next chapter: Chapter 7 - The Birds & The Bees will be up soon. READ AND REVIEW! God bless, until next time, Mrs Bridget Orton xoxo