Unexplainable [Original Version]

[chapter five: "deep, personal shit"]

As usual, Joli was right. It's fuckin' hot today.

We begin walking downtown and scoping out the area, trying to see what all we can get into. The city is a big place with a lot of different stores and buildings, most of which seem fairly populated. The streets aren't super-packed, but you can tell that a lot of people are in the area.

As we walk into some huge mall, we're met with a swarm of people. Some of them just want to get past us, some of them want to meet us, some of them want to fuck us. We pacify as many of our fans as we can before taking a seat in the food court area and kicking back, watching the people.

"I'm meeting one of those girls in a couple of hours, out by the dollar store down the road. Did you guys see her?" Kid's close voice tears my attention away from my mindless entertainment of observing a couple order their lunch.

"Which one, man? There were about ten chicks that I saw who were throwing themselves at us." Scott asks with a chuckle as he leans back in his chair.

"Man, there were more than ten! I counted at least, like what, twenty? How many did you count, Kev?" I raise an eyebrow at Kid, unable to stop a small grin from forming on my face.

"I wasn't paying the least bit of attention." Kid huffs at my response before laughing about it and placing his hands on the table. He leans in real close and begins to explain his soon-to-be fuck, but I'm not really listening.

I'm just honestly not that interested in these random ass hookups anymore. The thrill was there once, yeah, and I'll probably still do it again at some point. Sex is just better, at least in my opinion, when it's with someone whose body you know and who knows yours.

At least, that's my take on it. I don't know, it's just like, after being back here with Joli, I'm not interested in banging some chick I met on the corner. Huh.

"... so anyway, we've got a couple of hours to go before I have to head out and meet up with her." As Kid finishes his story, he's grinning like a little bitch and looking towards Scott and I for approval.

Scott and I both laugh, muttering some sort of encouragement for Kid's impending sexual adventure. As my eyes scan the mall, I try to come up with something halfway entertaining that we can do to kill time. I doubt Kid will want to go too far from the area, but I don't think any of us are really the biggest fans of walking around malls and shopping and all that shit. We'd probably be just as well off just watching the people and having a few drinks.

Then again, it's also no later than probably noon, so I'm not sure if that's the best course of action.

"Let's get something to eat, guys. We've not even touched any food all fuckin' day. I'm starving." Kid's got a point.

"Food sounds good to me. If the dollar store you've got to meet at is the one we passed on our way over here, then there are a few restaurants nearby it. We can crash there for a while and eat until you have to go get off." Scott jokingly taps Kid's chest before standing up.

"That's the one!" Kid replies, obviously excited, as he practically jumps out of his seat.

"All right, but you're in charge of getting back to the hotel." I thump Kid's head as I stand up, stretching my legs as I do so. "We're not waiting around on your ass all day."

"I wouldn't want you to. I'll probably hang around town after we do it, see what all I can get into." Kid laughs, putting his hands in the pockets of his pants. "Let's get going."

And so we do. We head to the restaurant and sit around for a couple of hours, killing time until Kid has his little 'date.' I miss having Joli with us, but it's nice to just spend some time with my boys. Besides, I know she and Kimberly are probably having a great time, doing whatever the fuck they're doing.

Scott and I sit around, getting refills and talking shit until we're pretty much kicked out of the place. Not the first time that's happened, not the last. When we get back to the hotel, I kick my shoes off and flop down on my bed.

"Hey, Kev?" I look over at Scott as he sits at the edge of his bed, untying his shoes. "You know much about Joli's life before WCW? Like, anything about before she met Dallas?"

Scott's question takes me by surprise. I've known Joli for what, five years now? I've never really put much thought into what her life was like before she got into this business, before we met her.

"No," I admit as I take my hair down, sitting the hair tie back on the nightstand, "she's never talked to me about it and I've never asked. Why?"

I watch as Scott fidgets for a moment, and it looks like he's debating whether or not he should tell me something; I go ahead and ask, "Did something happen when you two went to that reunion?"

"I'm not really sure how much Joli would want me to share, but some shit did go down." I knew I had a bad fuckin' feeling about that thing. "Did you know she used to be married?"

"Nope." Honestly, I don't know if I'm surprised by that. Jolene is a beautiful, intelligent woman; I've just never seen her show any interest in any sort of serious relationship. "I know you've been divorced, but I didn't know the same could be said about her."

"Her ex is a piece of shit. We ran into him near the end of the whole thing and we got the fuck out of there." Scott's obviously still not sure if he should be telling me any of this, and honestly, it feels weird to not be hearing something like this from Joli. "She didn't really tell me much about their relationship, but he fucked her up, Kev. I didn't beat the fucker's face in when I saw him, but looking back, I wish I had."

I sigh and run a hand through my hair as I process what Scott's said. Poor little Joli, I wish she hadn't had to go through any of that. I can't ask her about anything like that, as it's her business and not mine.

"Sounds like Joli's got some deep, personal shit. If she wants to talk to us about it, she will." Scott nods, giving me a faint smile. I return it. "I guess none of us have really ever had the best history of relationships."

"Not by a long shot." Scott laughs. "At least I managed to get one good thing out of my marriage, though." Cody is a good kid, I'll give him that. Scott's marriage may not have lasted, but at least his relationship with his son will.

"You want a drink?" I ask as I lean over, grabbing a couple of beer bottles from underneath the nightstand. Scott mutters a, 'Yes' and I hand one of them to him. We both open our drinks before grinning at one another.

"To failed relationships?" Scott raises his bottle towards me as he speaks.

"To failed relationships." I hold my drink out and bump it towards Scott's in a toast before we both laugh. We've little more than finished a drink when the door of our room opens and Joli scurries in. She's got a couple of bags hanging off her arms and a smile upon her face.

"Welcome back." I greet as I sit up, sending her a grin.

"Have fun?" Scott asks after he takes another drink.

"Yeah, of course! Kim and I went all over town today." Joli sits her bags down before taking a seat in the desk chair. "It's been a while since the two of us went out like that. It was nice." She's so genuinely happy, I can't help but smile.

Happy Jolene is my favorite Jolene. As I listen to her talk about her day with Kimberly, I can't help but wonder, how could anyone try to hurt this beautiful babe?

She deserves so much better than that. She deserves the fuckin' world, nothing less.