Back at the Arena;
Dylan's POV;
I finally managed to get myself collected and presentable. I hadn't been able to control the fit of sobbing that had overtaken me when I got back in to the locker room. Sinking to the floor of the shower cubicle I had left the water running to ensure that I was left alone.
I wasn't the type of girl who let her feelings show, even with the people that I held close to me, I was always the strong one, never letting hardly any emotion show and it was the way I liked it.
But after all that had happened the past two days, it had seemed to pile heavier on my shoulders as I tried to push it down, to bury everything until tonight in the ring with Jeff. I had never felt so close to someone yet so far. There was no way that I could carry on like this. But at the same time I knew that I had to, if I wanted any resemblence of a career here at the WWE.
I just had to find a way to push all that I was feeling so far down that it could be ignored and suck it up, get down to business and ensure that Jeff and I were never alone with one another.
More images of the previous morning in my kitchen in LA seemed intent on torturing me though, everywhere I turned he seemed to be there, the faint trace of his Joop aftershave hung heavy in the air; seeping in to my body and festering until I was sure that I was losing all sense of sanity.
Pulling the locker door open, I stepped out in to the hallway intent on getting to the bar where my friends were, to cut loose and just have a good time.
"Dylan!"
"Adam, hey how's it goin'?" I asked turning to see the man in question striding towards me from the other side of the hallway.
"It's good. Congratulations on your win tonight," He said falling in to step with me.
"Awe thanks," I smiled up at him before going back to looking at my feet as we walked along the long hallway.
"Hey what's wrong?" He asked stopping and touching my arm lightly; his attention focused solely on me.
"Nothing!" I smiled shaking my head free of all the things that I had been thinking of Jeff. I couldn't keep allowing this to happen. "I can imagine Hawkins and Ryder weren't too happy about getting beat up by a girl,"
"You'd be right," He chuckled as we began to move once again. "But why are you here so late...?"
"I was uhm...I was talking to Carmine," I lied avoiding the much taller mans eyes as they bore down on me. "What about you?"
"I just had some stuff to take care of," He replied smiling at me. "Come on Dylan, there is something bothering you...I am a good listener,"
"I have to go...I am meeting my friends at a bar in town, I'm already running late,"
"Oh, ok!" He said running his hands through his long blond hair and looking away from me.
"What's up?"
"I just thought that we could grab a drink and talk...you seem to be struggling with something and sometimes it is easier to talk to a stranger than to the people you are closest too,"
It was true, I did need to talk and as much as I loved my friends and my Family I hadn't told them about what had happened between Jeff and I, not when I didn't even understand how I could have let it happen. I just felt so ashamed about what I had done, I had literally cheated on my fiance.
"You know I think that you might be right, why don't we go back to the hotel and grab a drink in the bar; we can talk there?" I suggested.
Instantly the smile spread across his face as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder.
"You got it, let me just grab my things from the locker room and I will be all yours, yeah?" He asked.
"Sure! I will be outside having a smoke, I should call my friends anyway,"
"Ok I will see you in a few then," He turned and headed in to the mens locker room, leaving me alone in the hallway which was completely deserted now.
There was absolutely no sign of life, it was so quiet that it seemed that Adam and I were the only ones left in the building but by the time I stepped out at the back of the arena, I could see that there were riggers moving around, packing up the equipment for the next night that we had a show in a different part of Germany.
Pulling my phone and cigarettes from my bag, I quickly typed a message to Corey;
'Just going back 2 hotel, tired and need 2 rest. Have a good night and I will c u in the morning. Luv ya, Dylan xoxo.'
Turning my phone off completely because I knew my best friend better than I knew anyone, and he would just try to call to make me change my mind and right in this moment, I needed to talk, I needed someone who wasn't close to the situation to get some prospective on what I was feeling and what was going on with Jeff and I.
"The man is a leech Dylan, I can't believe that he would do that to Matt; they were friends, they hung out together, they talked on the phone and he betrayed all of that just because he wanted to get laid!" My brother's words suddenly rang through my head.
I had been on set on the first TV show that I had been a part of, and my brother had called to tell me about what had happened to Matt and Amy. I had been beyond livid but Adam had been nothing but nice to me, still I suddenly felt cautious on opening up to him.
For now I would remain guarded, like I always was. There was nothing wrong with keeping Adam Copeland at arms length because if Shannon was right the man was the ultimate opportunist but what could he possibly want from me?
"Everything ok?" He appeared at my side, his hand resting on the small of my back as he looked down at me and smiled.
"Yeah, you ready?" I asked smiling up at him.
Nodding his head, we decided to walk back to the hotel now that the fans were gone, the streets were all but deserted and I wanted nothing more than to get some air in to my lungs where it would hopefully clear my head of the troubled thoughts that I had been having for the past few days.
"So what is going on with you?" Adam asked me as I lit another cigarette and inhaled deeply.
"It was just something that Melina said to me," I admitted deciding to go with the words that the diva had uttered to me in the ring; I would be lying if I said that it hadn't bugged the hell out of me.
"And what was that?" He asked as we continued on our journey back to the hotel where we were staying the night before heading off to Dresden late the following morning.
"Something about me being out of my league and that I should go back to Hollywood," I sighed heavily. "I mean do people really think that if I couldn't do this then I would be here?"
"I think you just need to ride it out...as a company we always seem to give newbies a hard time and it seems that people are quick to jump to the fact that you are an actress,"
"You didn't!" I looked up at him as he looked and me and smiled softly.
"Yeah well, I got my own stuff going on...I guess I can see someone who is as frustrated as I am right now,"
"I heard about the whole wedding thing...I wish that I could say that I liked the storyline but I really didn't," I admitted honestly as we rounded the corner and there was the hotel in view, calling to me, like an old comfortable friend who would hide me from view of the world.
"You and I both Dylan. I just got to the point where I was going through the motions with it all you know...? I could see the fans getting more and more pissed off with it as it continued and I knew that we were on the verge of loosing a lot of viewers from it but no one would listen,"
I knew what he meant, I had stopped watching Smackdown for that very reason, the storyline of Edge marrying the General Manager had, at first been an ok story and I had been excited to see where they took it but they had completely ballsed it up and in the end I would get so frustrated at the TV that I just stopped watching all together.
Jeff's POV;
Standing at the bar with Corey as Shannon and H headed out on to the dance floor, their bodies all but coming together as one as they melted together; their hips grinding against one another's until I had to look away.
As happy as I was for them, I had absolutely no desire to watch my kid cousin all but get it on with her boyfriend in front of me and half the bar that we had stumbled in to.
The sound of Corey's phone beeping caught my attention and I watched as he opened it up and read the text message that he had recieved.
"She ain't coming," He said before dialing her number and holding his phone to his ear. "Hey chicka; what's going on? Why ain't you coming to the bar? Call me, or I will come by your room when I get back...drunk Corey and a tired Dylan; not a good mix sweetness, luv ya," He said in to the phone and hung up.
"Answer machine?" I asked.
"Yeah," He turned and looked at me; his eyes sizing me up, his posture defensive. "You want to tell me what is going on?"
"I don't know what you..." I started.
"Don't insult my intelligence Jeff. Dylan is my best friend, she has been in my life a long time and that means I know when something is bugging her...and all the signs are there, so quit with the bullshit and talk to me,"
"I don't..."
"Know where to begin...?" He asked and I nodded my head. So reaching for his beer, he led me to a table out of the way obviously intent on having this talk with me. "At the beginning is usually the best place to start,"
"Is there any point in starting at the beginning...? I mean you obviously know what happened all those years ago and you have more than clearly made up your mind that I am the bad guy here," I said sipping at my Smirnoff Ice still watching him closely refusing to be intimated as I watched him for his reaction and when I saw the calmness I was more than a little surprised.
"I thought I would hate you, I thought that you had played her and felt nothing for her but after knowing you for just five minutes, I could see that you do feel something for her, you are falling for her again?"
"And if I am?"
"You hurt her again; you and I are going to have a major problem," He said his words straight to the point; getting his message across that we could be friends but if that were to happen his loyalties would always lie with his best friend and should I do anything to hurt her; we would indeed have a problem and no longer be friends.
"Corey the thought of hurting her, the thought of causing her anymore pain isn't something that is on my agenda..."
"And what is on your agenda exactly?" He asked handing me a cigarette as his eyes remained in the cold stare; weighing me up, seeing if he could trust me not to hurt his best friend.
"I intend on going home at the end of this week, ending my relationship with Beth and then waiting to see where Dylan wants to go from there,"
"You are breaking up with your girlfriend?" He asked me shocked.
It seemed to me that Corey Taylor was the type of man who wasn't shocked easily but here it was evident on his features as he watched me closer than ever.
"Mmhmm! For ten years I have tried fooling myself that what Beth and I had was the real deal, I had tried telling myself that what I had felt for Dylan was gone but every time I saw her on the TV, every time I saw her beautiful face on a magazine cover, every time Beth dragged me to the cinema and I would see her face in trailers or on cardboard cut outs in the halls...it was all constant reminders of what I felt, taunting me, playing with my head...I couldn't get away from her, she left, she got out and left me behind but I was stuck here with nothing but one short memory of what it felt like to kiss her, one short memory that seemed to slowly turn to something that I thought hadn't really happened,"
Glancing up as Roy moved over to our table, he slipped in to the seat next to Corey and looked from me to his band mate, sensing we were in the middle of something he remained silent as I took a deep breath.
"Now you can either believe me, or you can chose to believe that I am the bad guy who is going to hurt his best friend but I am telling you right in this moment, that ten years ago I was in love with Dylan, everything about her captivated me, held me in a bubble where I was lost, I didn't know what to do for the best; tell her how I felt and risk loosing everything else in my life, or bury what I felt and let her have a life. Some people might say that I chose the wrong solution but for me it was what I had to do, at twenty I was still young I didn't know what I was giving up but I am here now and I am telling you that there is nothing that can pull me away this time, there is nothing that is going to make me run and if that means Carmine looses his girl then so be it 'cos this time, I am going to take my shot at happiness,"
"What about Shannon?" Roy asked me smiling softly. I had talked to the drummer and ex of the girl I was in love with a lot since we had met and we seemed to have a good friendship but like Corey, I knew that if I hurt Dylan again that friendship would end in a heartbeat.
"What about him?" I asked unsure of what he meant.
"Well he's your best friend right?" Corey asked and I nodded my head in agreement. "Well he is said girl's big brother and from what I can tell he has no idea of what has been going on..."
"Yeah well he has been all lost in H!" I smiled glancing out to the dance floor once again to see them still going at it pretty hot and heavily.
"This is true," Corey chuckled following my gaze as I turned back to the table. "But you need to make sure that he would be ok with you and Dylan. After all that they have been through; I mean I don't know if you are aware but you were the reason that they fell out,"
"What?" I asked feeling the shock hitting me at his words.
"Shannon wanted to hang out with you and Matt, and because of what happened Dylan didn't want a bar of it, so they had a huge bust up and that was when Dylan moved out to LA," Corey informed me turning back to look at me, his eyes telling me that he was being truthful. "They have just gotten their relationship back on track; I would hate to see something come in between them again,"
"I'll talk to him..."
The news of me being the cause of brother and sister not talking all those years seemed to stir an even larger shame storm inside me. I had messed up more than one life and for that I had to find a way to make amends.
"And if he doesn't want you with his sister?" Roy asked looking out to the dance floor for a few seconds then turned and looked at me.
"Then I will walk away," I said without thought. "I am not going to come in between them again,"
"As much as I hate to say this dude, 'cos from what you have just told me you seem to be truly falling in love with Dylan again but if Shannon doesn't want you to be with his sister...you just need to ride it out, you need to keep trying because for what ever it is worth; regardless of what I have said to you tonight, I think...no I truly believe that you are what is best for Dylan,"
"And Carmine?" I asked stubbing my smoked cigarette out in the ashtray on the table between us.
"If he was what was best for her he would be here, he would have been at her debut fight and he would have found a way to be here tonight!" Corey admitted his voice strained and tight telling me exactly what he thought of his best friends fiance in a instant.
"I thought the same thing," I admitted honestly.
"With everything else in her life he supports and gets her but with this he is just...he doesn't get that she is good..."
"She's not good Corey; she is instinctive, she is comfortable and that is what makes a brilliant wrestler!" I admitted honestly.
Both men nodded their heads at me and the table turned silent, all three of us lost in our thoughts. My own taking me back to the previous morning, in the kitchen of Dylan's LA home. The feel of her body relenting to me, the feel of complete submission still seemed to linger in my mind like traces of a cobweb; holding its pray in place to be devoured at a later date.
I had no doubt in my head that things between me and Dylan were going to happen, there had been too much passion, there had been too much desire for it to be buried once again. We were older now, we knew the consequences of what being together could be and I was ready to face them now, I was ready to allow myself to feel but first I had to get home to Beth and end things with her.
Little did I know that fate had other plans for Dylan and I.