I'm finally back with a new update! I had to take a break from writing for a while because life became so hectic. I graduated from college with my Bachelor's degree this past December and I'm still on a job hunt, so life might get more hectic from there. But while I have some spare time on my hands, I wanted to post an update for this story. It took me a LONG time to finish this chapter, but here it is.
With that said, enjoy!
"You seem happier than usual. Did you have a good time with Adam?" Trish smirked teasingly as she and Katie were in the locker room getting ready for their respective matches.
Katie's face reddened, "I don't know what you're talkin' about..."
"Don't play coy with me, Katie," Trish said with a knowing smile, "I saw you leave the party with Adam last night. Did you guys...do the deed?"
"Trish! Not so loud!" Katie exclaimed, reaching out to place a finger over the diva's lips. A few of the divas that were also in the locker room curiously turned to look at the two women, but quickly went back to minding their own businesses after Katie tried to play it cool by giving them an awkward grin, "And for your information, we kissed, but nothin' else happened after that."
"Well, it took him long enough," Trish giggled once Katie removed her hand from her mouth, "Is he a good kisser?"
Katie couldn't help but crack a smile as she recalled the memory, "Good would be an understatement..."
"I'm so happy for you," Trish smiled out of genuine happiness, "Does this mean that you and Adam are official now?"
Somewhat thrown off by Trish's question, Katie had to think about it for a minute. She and Adam never really had much of a chance to talk about it, although she was very much aware that they were now a little more than friends, especially after the previous night.
"Well...I believe that there's definitely somethin' more than friendship if there wasn't already," Katie shrugged, but then decided to change the subject, "But forget about me. Now I wanna hear about you, Trish. What's the deal with you and Jeff?"
Trish let out a nervous laugh, "We're friends, nothing more."
"I don't know about that," Katie crossed her arms to her chest and smirked, "You two were lookin' pretty cozy last night."
Trish was about to retort back, but then threw her hands up in defeat, "Ok, fine. I guess you could say that I kind of like him. But so do majority of the divas in this locker room."
Katie rolled her eyes, knowing that to be a definite fact. For some reason, Jeff seemed to have an effect on most women. So much so that it even made Matt a little jealous, despite the fact that he was a pretty good looking man himself. As they were walking out of the locker room, Katie leaned in closer to Trish, ensuring that the other divas didn't hear what she was about to say.
"Just between you and me, I think your chances are pretty good. You're Trish Stratus for Pete's sake! You could score any man you want."
Trish couldn't help but smile in response to Katie's words, "It's very sweet of you to say that."
Once the two divas made it out of the locker room, they walked down the corridor and ran into Matt, who was doing some pre match warmups and stretches.
"Hey Matt," Katie lit up, approaching him for a hug, but he brushed her off and resumed his warmups.
"Hey gals," he replied, averting his eyes to the floor to avoid making eye contact, "Katie, if you're lookin' for Adam, he should be at the gorilla position with Jay. Our match is next, so if I were you, I'd do a little less chatting and start getting ready."
Before Katie could say anything back, Matt turned and walked away. The two divas exchanged looks.
"What's up with Matt?" Trish asked as she watched his figure disappear down the hall.
"Beats me," Katie shrugged, "Maybe he's in a bad mood today?"
"You should talk to him," Trish suggested, "Amy told me that he's been acting kind of weird lately. Maybe he'll tell you what's going on, since you and him are best friends and all."
After chatting for a little while more, Katie eventually parted ways with Trish so she could start heading over to the gorilla position to meet Adam and Jay. They had a inter-gender six man tag team match against Team Xtreme, and since this was going to be their last match together as a faction, Katie wanted it to be a good one, even if it wasn't a televised event. But she wasn't sure if she would even be able to focus out there, because her mind was too preoccupied with thoughts of Matt and his concerning behavior. She didn't know what could be bothering him, but Katie just hoped that he would be okay.
"Hey, fellas," Katie greeted Adam and Jay once she made it to the gorilla position.
Upon seeing her, the men's faces brightened up and they both rushed over to greet her.
"Ready for our match?" Jay asked Katie as Adam approached her and swung his arm around her shoulders.
Katie nodded and the trio proceeded to discuss the details of the match, what moves they would be pulling off and how the outcome was going to turn out. As they were doing so, Adam couldn't help but notice the dazed look that remained on Katie's face. Although she was doing her best to give the two men her full attention, her mind seemed as if it were elsewhere.
Just as they were about to prepare for their entrance, Adam pulled Jay aside.
"Jay, I need to have a chat with Katie. We'll meet you back here in a minute."
Although he looked hesitant, Jay gave him a nod.
"Just make it brief, man. We need to be in the ring in less than ten minutes."
Adam nodded and grabbed Katie by the hand before she could even protest, pulling her into a secluded part of the backstage area.
"You alright?" the blond man questioned, placing a hand on Katie's arm, "If there's something wrong, you can always talk to me."
"Adam, I'm fine. Let's just get to our match..." The young woman attempted to walk past the tall man, but he kept a firm but gentle grip on her arm.
"I'm serious," Adam persisted, "What's on your mind right now?"
Knowing that she was fighting a losing battle, the blonde woman let out a sigh of defeat, "Has Matt seemed...peculiar to you lately?"
Adam raised an eyebrow in response to this, "Peculiar? How so?"
"Well, when Trish and I ran into him earlier, he wasn't actin' like himself. And from what I heard, Amy has also noticed how different he's been lately, especially around me."
Katie paused for a moment and ran a hand through her blonde locks, "Adam, did I do somethin' wrong? I don't think I'd be able to wrestle a match with him if he's pissed with me."
Adam pulled Katie towards him, wrapping his arms around her reassuringly, "Don't say that. I'm sure Matt is just having a bad day, nothing to fret about."
The tall man pulled away from the embrace a little and placed his hand on Katie's cheek, "Besides, with a gorgeous face like yours, how could anyone be mad at you?"
Katie playfully swatted Adam on the arm, smiling bashfully, "Shut up!"
Adam chuckled a little in response to this, but then began to stare down into Katie's eyes with a more serious expression on his face, "Don't worry about Matt. If he wants to close himself off from people that care about him, then that's his problem, not yours. In the meantime, let's just focus on entertaining our fans tonight and doing what we do best."
Katie smiled as Adam wrapped his arms around her again, pulling her in for another warm embrace. He planted a consoling kiss on the blonde's forehead before reluctantly pulling away from her.
"Shall we start heading out, m'lady?" Adam asked, flashing a grin that made Katie go weak at the knees.
Katie grinned back at Adam before linking arms with him and heading to the gorilla position to meet Jay again. She and Matt may not be on the best of terms right now, but she was grateful for her relationship with Adam, and that he was always there for her when she was in need of cheering up.
You think you know me...
Once their theme song hit, Edge, Christian and Kamron began to make their way over to the ring. Sporting his Intercontinental title belt around his waist, Edge strutted down the ramp and did his famous slide into the ring with Christian and Kamron following close behind. After they each took a turn standing on the turnbuckle to pose to the audience, Christian placed Edge's King of the Ring trophy in the middle of the ring and grabbed a microphone.
"What's up, San Jose?!" Christian exclaimed, pacing around the ring in a very energetic way.
There were a combination of cheers and boos from the audience. After ranting on for a good minute or so about how they were going to destroy Team Xtreme in their six-man tag team match, and even poking a little fun at the faction, Edge had Kamron stand in between him and Christian, and then took the microphone for himself.
"Now for five seconds only, we will gladly pose for those with the benefit of flash photography."
With that, the trio began to do a series of silly poses as members of the audience took out their cameras to snap pictures. But before they knew it, Team Xtreme's music cued, and their opponents came rushing out to the ring. Lita and Kamron immediately began assaulting each other, and the bell rang as a result of this, indicating the beginning of the match. As the men took their places behind the ropes, Lita grabbed Kamron by the arm and Irish whipped her into the turnbuckle. Wincing at the pain shooting down her back, the blonde diva blocked a right hook from Lita and retorted back with an uppercut. Grabbing a hold of Lita's hair, Kamron switched their positions so that the red headed diva was now leaning against the turnbuckle and began to deliver a series of punches until the referee managed to stop her.
Lita then delivered a nasty dropkick to the blonde diva, causing her to stagger over towards her corner and slap Edge's awaiting hand for the tag in. Once Edge made it inside, he readied himself to execute a Spear on Lita, who was still recuperating in the opposite corner of the ring. But once he ran in towards her, the red headed diva leaped out of the way at the last second, causing the blond man to ram right into the turnbuckle. Lita rushed over to Jeff to make a tag, and the high flyer immediately began attacking a somewhat dazed out Edge, until the blond man was able to snap out of it. He grabbed Jeff's arm, Irish whipping him to where Christian stood. After making the tag, the two blond men both began to punch and stomp Jeff repeatedly until the referee had Edge go back to his place behind the ropes.
The match continued on for a few more minutes. When Matt was finally tagged in by his brother, he and Christian went at it for a while longer, until Christian for some reason, decided to tag Kamron back into the match. Climbing on top of the turnbuckle, the blonde prepared to do a Diving moonsault on Matt but timed it too early and ended up botching the move, slamming her head against the floor and losing consciousness in the process. Shocked and unsure of what else to do, Matt dragged Kamron to the middle of ring while his two teammates went to the opposing side to fend off Edge and Christian and pinned her shoulders down for the three count.
Team Xtreme's music blared, although Matt was in no mood to celebrate the victory as he discreetly called for the medics to tend to Kamron as she laid motionless in the ring. Edge and Christian stayed behind with the medics as Team Xtreme exited the ring. Matt looked over at Jeff and Amy, who looked just as concerned as he was. But because they still had to put on a show for the fans, there wasn't much they could do, at least for now.
Matt raised both his brother and his girlfriend's arms in the air in victory in an attempt to keep the audience entertained. But deep down, he couldn't help but worry about his best friend's condition. He was dreading the worse outcome, but he could only hope for the best.
A few hours later...
When Katie regained consciousness, she found herself on a bed in the medical examiner's room backstage. The medic told her that she was currently suffering from a concussion and was told to remain out of the ring for at least a month just to be on the safe side. Upon noticing that she was awake, Matt immediately went over to her side to check on her.
"Hey, you okay?" he asked, placing a concerned hand on the blonde's shoulder.
Katie held her head as she felt an ongoing headache coming on, "My head's killin' me, but I'll live. Whe...where's Adam?"
"Adam went with everyone else to freshen up. But they'll be back," Matt replied with a slight roll of his eyes, "I couldn't bring myself to go with them, because I was so worried about you. What the hell happened out there?"
Katie sighed, "Matt, I'm not sure. I think I attempted a Moonsault, and landed funny."
Matt crossed his arms to his chest, "You should be more careful next time. Not only could you have been seriously hurt, but you could become a liability to everyone else in the ring. Hell, I could have even been injured."
"Matt, I don't need a lecture," Katie groaned, leaning back against her pillow, "I'm aware of what I did wrong in the ring and I'm sorry."
"Sorry isn't going to make the situation better," Matt retorted back harshly, "Vince won't be happy when he finds out about this, and you're going to be in a world of trouble."
"Whoa, whoa. Calm down, Matt," Adam came into the room now dressed in street clothes alongside Jay, Jeff and Amy, "Katie has been through enough tonight. Just let her rest, will you?"
Matt inhaled deeply and exhaled in an effort to calm himself down, "You're right, Adam. I'm sorry."
He then gathered his things and headed for the exit, motioning for his girlfriend to follow him as Adam walked over to Katie's bedside to check on her, "Have a good night, folks."
With that, he was out of sight and Amy followed suit after giving Adam an apologetic look. Adam, Jeff and Jay gave each other questioning looks.
"Jeez, what crawled up his ass and died?" Jay questioned as he scratched the back of his head.
Jeff placed his hands on his hips, sighing heavily, "Matt's been actin' this way for a while. I tried so many times to get somethin' outta him, but he's too stubborn. Makes me wanna slap him upside the head."
It was now Adam's turn to sigh as he took a hold of Katie's hand, helping her out of the bed, "Guys, just leave him be for now. I'm sure he'll let us know when he's ready to talk."
The two men nodded in agreement as Katie managed to stand on her feet with assistance from Adam. The blond man wrapped an arm around her securely.
"Now, let's get you outta here for some much needed rest," Adam said, guiding her out of the room with Jeff and Jay by his side to help him. There were so many thoughts that were running through Katie's head, but she was too exhausted to even dwell on them. She wished that Matt would just come clean and tell her upfront what was bothering him. If he didn't spill the beans anytime soon, she swore that she would get it out of him herself, even if she had to resort to force. But that would have to wait until she's made a full recovery.
"Amy, I don't want to discuss this right now," Matt grunted, pacing back and forth inside of their hotel room and running a hand through his long, brown locks.
Amy placed a hand on her boyfriend's arm in an attempt to calm him down, "Matt, I just want to understand what is going on. It's like you're fine, until Katie or Adam show up. Then you become a whole different person. Is there anything that you need to get off your chest?"
"No, Amy," Matt spat out with bitterness in his tone, "Why don't you just leave me the hell alone?"
Scoffing in frustration, Amy marched over to their queen-sized bed and began packing a few of her belongings.
"What are you doin'?" Matt questioned, grabbing a hold of her suitcase in an attempt to stop her.
"Giving you your space," Amy replied, taking the suitcase back from her boyfriend, "I'll room with Trish tonight. Find me when you're ready to make our relationship a priority again."
Before Matt could retort back, Amy briskly walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Matt took a seat on the bed, running his hands through his hair. Of course, he valued their relationship, but now was a confusing time for him. He still couldn't put his finger on why Adam and Katie's budding romance annoyed him so much. As Katie's best friend and one of Adam's closest guy friends, Matt knew that he should be happy for them, but he just couldn't bring himself to. Keeping his distance from the now happy couple hasn't been going so well either. He had to see them almost every day and they were constantly flaunting their relationship in front of him and their friends. He didn't know how much he could take of it anymore.
Matt fell back onto his bed, contemplating on what to say to Katie the next time they see each other. Amy would be drafted to RAW in a couple of months and Matt planned to request to Vince that he'd be drafted too so he could be with her. He wasn't looking forward to sharing the news with his best friend, but if he really cared for her and wished for both of their current relationships to thrive, he needed to tell her the truth sooner or later. Maybe in the long run, this transition will benefit the both of them.
"I see... Thanks for letting me know, Amy," Adam hung up his cell phone with a heavy sigh after the call ended.
Katie watched the tall man with curiosity as he ran a hand through his blond hair, "Is everything okay?"
"Matt and Amy got into a spat, and now she's spending the night in Trish's room," Adam replied as he took a seat at the foot of Katie's bed, "I don't understand what is going on with this guy. I mean, he and I are pals so if there was something going on, he'd tell me, wouldn't he?"
Katie let out a defeated sigh, readjusting her sitting position so that her head was resting on a pillow that was leaned up against the headboard, "I wish I could give you an answer to that, but I can't even tell what's been going on with him lately. On most days, I can read that man like a book, but as of right now, I'm stumped."
Sighing once again, Adam reluctantly stood up from his spot on the bed and began to gather his belongings, "Well, I'll be on my way now, so you can rest. If you need anything, just call."
Just as Adam was about to turn to leave the room, Katie leaned forward to grab a hold of his hand, causing the tall man to stop in his tracks, "Adam, wait... Can you stay the night? I don't want to be alone."
Adam nodded this time without hesitation, his mouth forming into a gentle smile. Dropping his bag onto the floor and discarding of his jacket, he slowly climbed into the bed next to Katie, scooting closer to allow her to rest her head on top of his chest.
"Better?" he whispered, his lips slightly grazing the top of her head.
Katie hummed in response, wrapping her arm around the tall man's torso to pull him closer. They laid there in silence for what seemed like hours, until Adam spoke up, "So, I don't know if it's the right time to bring this up...but I want to make things...um official...between us..."
Katie turned her head to stare up at Adam with a perplexed expression on her face, "Official as in...?"
Adam let out a slight nervous chuckle, "I think you know what I'm referring to..."
Katie's eyes widened, somewhat caught off guard by this. Considering how long they've been casually talking for, she should have expected this by now. But her mind started spinning with different thoughts. Were they ready to take this next step? What if things didn't work out in the long run? She didn't know what to expect since this would be her first serious relationship. But since love was about taking risks, maybe she shouldn't overthink things too much?
Upon seeing the dazed look on Katie's face, Adam's nervous grin dropped into a frown. He hoped he hadn't dropped a bomb on her too soon.
"Cool Cat? You okay?" the blond man whispered his new nickname for Katie, causing her to snap out of a trance.
"I'm fine," Katie smiled, tilted her head up to lock eyes with Adam, "Does this mean I get to call you my boyfriend?"
Adam couldn't help but grin ear to ear, "I like the sound of that."
Without giving it a second thought, Adam pulled Katie down towards him to give her a light peck on the lips, which she reciprocated. After pulling apart, the new couple continued to lie in bed together until they both succumbed to sleep, dreaming about what their future would look like.
I finally managed to finish this chapter! I've been fighting months of writer's block for all my stories, but I've been struggling with this one in particular. Even now, I'm not certain where I plan to take the story from here, but I will figure something out. I did purchase Edge's autobiography recently, so maybe reading that will help to get my creative juices flowing.
Although I cannot guarantee that it will be right away, I promise that I will update every story that I have posted now and do plan on completing them at some point. But it will just take some time, since I do want to give you all something that is worth reading.
Thank you all for reading, stay safe, and see you all next time!