Tumors And Hearts

Xx-nikki-xX

A few hours later, I was headed to the airport with Manda and Lauren [Angelina Love]. They both kept questioning me about what happened with Shannon last night.

What happened? Who kissed who? Did he try anything else? Did you make it official? Blah, blah, blah…

I wasn’t going to be able to stand a whole flight to Orlando of this.

As they continued to gush about how happy they were for me and that Shannon and I looked really cute together I pulled out my iPod. I popped in my ear buds and turned up the volume so that King of the World by Porcelain and the Tramps was the only thing I heard.

We got to the airport and took care of everything. I looked around for Shannon every chance I had – I hadn’t seen him since we said good night/morning.

I gave up when our flight was finally called to board and went through the terminal with my girls.

Manda and I left Lauren at the front of the first class section and headed to the back to sit with Alex and Chris.

I still had my iPod blasting in my ears and failed to notice two people trying to get my attention until Shannon grabbed my arm.

“We gotta work on your hearing.” he said when I pulled out my ear buds.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

Cue silence.

“Well… we better go.” Manda said. “We gotta get to our seats.”

“I was actually hoping I could steal Nikki from you guys.” Shannon said. “There’s an empty seat here with Jeff and me and I wanna sit with my girlfriend.”

“Well maybe I wanna sit with my best friend.” she said.

“Psht. I’ll fight you for her.”

“Oh, you’re going down, Moore! Here, Nikki, hold my bag!”

She tossed her carryon bag at me as Shannon stood up. I laughed as they started play fighting, Jeff was edging them on.

“Excuse me,” one of the flight attendants suddenly appeared at my shoulder. “Would you please take your seats? We’ll be taking off soon.”

“Sorry.” I said. “We’re on our way right now.”

I turned back to Shannon and Manda as the flight attendant walked away.

“Fine! She can sit with you!” Manda shouted from the headlock Shannon had her in. “But don’t think this is over!”

Shannon released her and she took her bag back before heading down the aisle to the back of the first class section to sit with the Guns.

I stuffed my own carryon bag above my seat before sitting down next to my boyfriend.

Wow... my boyfriend, Shannon Moore... I guess I gotta get used to saying that now... I thought with a smile.

I leaned back in my seat as the plane took off and popped my ear buds back in. I kept the volume low this time as Pretty Handsome Awkward by The Used started playing.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. It was probably a text from Manda.

we see u! it read from Alex.

I leaned out in the aisle and turned around. In the very last row of seats I could see Manda, Chris, and Alex waving at me very overenthusiastically. I rolled my eyes and turned back around.

My phone vibrated again. This time it was from Manda.

so wen are u gonna tell shannon about mr. tumor?

prolly never

le sigh. but hes ur boyfriend. u really should tell him.

nope

he has a right to kno...

A frustrated sigh escaped my lips. I couldn’t tell Shannon! What if he stopped liking me and decided to just wait out the rest of the four months so he didn’t have to break up with me? I didn’t want to tell Manda because I knew she would try and convince me otherwise. There’s always a chance it could happen...

I felt Shannon lace his fingers through mine and looked up to meet his gorgeous green eyes.

“You okay?”

“Yeah...” I said trying to think of what to say. Not the truth. “Just...”

I didn’t even have to come up with a lie. Shannon leaned over and kissed me lightly.

“No kissing on the plane!” Jeff yelled, causing people to look at us.

We broke apart; Shannon was grinning, I could feel myself blushing. I wasn’t really one for PDA.

My phone vibrated again. Without even opening the text from Manda, I turned it off and put it back in my pocket. I spent the rest of the flight talking and joking with Shannon and Jeff.

When our plane landed in Florida, I ended up riding to the Impact Zone with Shannon, Jeff, and Jesse. Nothing against Manda – she was just trying to help – but I don’t think anyone really has a choice when their boyfriend slings them over their shoulder and carries them out of the airport.

I refused to let Shannon walk me to the Knockouts’ locker room and made him go with Jeff and Jesse. I wasn’t going to let him be the kind of boyfriend that ditched his friends for his girlfriend – I knew what it felt like.

Lacey and I met up on our way to the locker room. She congratulated me on dating Shannon as we continued on our way and said she knew we would end up together soon. I guess word traveled fast in TNA.

We reached the girls’ room and changed into our clothes for the tapping. Lacey had a dark match with Taylor Wilde and I had a match against Manda. After everything that happened the week before during our boys’ match, TNA decided to put us in a feud of our own for a while.

Lacey, Taylor, and I were all packed in the bathroom trying to finish getting ready when Manda came in.

“That’s it!” I exclaimed as I was poked in the eye with a curling iron – being short sucked! “I’ll finish getting ready later!”

I grabbed my bag of makeup and headed back out to my locker with Manda in tow. The two of us waited until Taylor and Lacey were done before heading back in.

“Nikki…” Manda said as she plugged in her own curling iron.

“Manda…”

“Shannon has a right to know.”

I uncapped my eyeliner and applied a thick ring around each eye. I put the cap back on and heaved a heavy sigh. “I know.”

“Are you going to tell him?”

“I’m worried about what’ll happen if I do.” I said as took out my black eye shadow.

Manda opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again when Lauren came in.

x-later-x

Tattooed Attitude started playing through the Impact Zone as Shannon, Jesse, and I made our way out to the ring. Jesse and Shannon stepped on the bottom rope, making an opening for me. I climbed through and they jumped over the ropes after me.

They climbed up on the top turnbuckles and faced the audience. I climbed on the second rope between them and pointed up at them in a cocky “oh yeah, we’re awesome” sort of way. I looked out at the people in the audience, some were cheering and others weren’t. I laughed at a sign a teenage girl was holding up. “Marry Me Moore!” it read. I pointed it out to Shannon when he jumped off the turnbuckle. He waved at the girl, causing her to turn to the girl next to her in one of Mr. Anderson’s shirts and majorly freak out.

Our music died down and MMMBop started playing in its place as Generation Me made their way to the ring. Shannon took the Book of Dilligaf from around his neck and placed it around mine. I took Jesse’s Ink Inc shirt and Shannon’s coat-thingy and climbed out of the ring as Max and Jeremy somersaulted over the ropes on the other side.

Generation Me’s music died down and the bell rang three times, starting the match.

Roughly ten minutes later the bell sounded again and I hurriedly climbed into the ring as Tattooed Attitude started playing again. I practically tackled Jesse and then Shannon when he rolled off Max and stood up. I jumped on him and wrapped my legs and arms around his sweaty middle. He wrapped his arms around me as I started to slip.

The ref came over and raised their hands in victory – Shannon didn’t let me go even as we headed out of the ring.

When we got backstage I detached myself from Shannon and ran off to the Knockouts’ locker room to ditch my Ink Inc shirt and grab my arm bands before my own match.

I made it back just as the commercial break ended. Angelina and Velvet had a quick backstage segment to do and then it would be time for my match with Manda.

Shannon was still there – he would be at ringside rooting for me. Manda showed up with Chris a few minutes later – Chris would be at ringside rooting for her. This was going to be fun.

“Ready?” Manda asked.

My nerves kicked in and my bladder felt full to bursting point – I always had to pee when I was really nervous. I took a deep breath and held it in for a few seconds before letting it out. “Maybe…?” I said at last.

“Good luck.” Chris said.

“Thanks… I’m gonna need it.”

Hell Yeah by Rev Theory started playing throughout the Impact Zone and the majority of the crowd cheered as Manda and Chris headed out to the ring.

“Introducing at this time,” I heard Jeremy Borash say. “From Detroit, Michigan, accompanied to the ring by Chris Sabin – Fallon Chase!”

I felt Shannon wrap his arms around my shoulders and looked up into his face.

“Your makeup’s smeared.” I said wiping at the line on his forehead.

He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t mind.”

I looked at the TV monitor nearby and saw that Manda and Chris finally made it to the ring.

“You’ll do fine.” Shannon said kissing the top of my head.

“I hope so.” I said stepping out of his arms.

Manda’s music died down. A few seconds later Unholy Confessions by Avenged Sevenfold started playing in its place and Shannon and I headed out to the ring.

“And now, introducing her opponent, from Chicago, Illinois, accompanied to the ring by Shannon Moore – Nicolette!”

There was more cheering than I thought there would be. But then, I did beat Velvet Sky last week and I was a member of Ink Inc now.

We climbed into the ring and my music died down. I eyed Manda from across the ring and tried not to laugh, I was horrible at this whole hating each other thing.

Shannon and Chris were standing in the middle of the ring, trying to stare the other one down. Chris said something and Shannon looked like he was gonna punch him. Manda and I decided to intervene before Fallon Chase vs Nicolette turned into Chris Sabin vs Shannon Moore.

We pushed ourselves between our boys and dragged them out of the ring.

Once it was just Fallon and I in the ring, the ref signaled to start the match. We locked up as soon as the bell rang. Fallon got the upper hand and threw me down on the ground. She jumped on top of me and started beating me up.

The ref pulled her off me and tried to send her back to her corner. I started to stand up but she managed to get around him and kick me in the stomach when I was on my hands and knees. I fell to the ground again as the ref sent her to her corner.

Once I was standing, she came at me again. She went to punch me and I ducked down and pulled a quick leg sweep on her. She fell to the ground and I pinned her. She kicked out at two.

I stood up again and yanked her up by the hair. She punched me in the stomach and then again in the face, causing me to let go and stagger back a few steps.

She didn’t give me any time to react. She quickly came at me again and knocked me out of the ring. I was out of breath and not entirely sure I could get up. I lay there facedown outside the ring, trying to get my strength back together, as the ref started to count me out.

“NICOLETTE!” I heard Shannon yell.

I heard hurried footsteps and knew he was coming to see if I was okay.

The ref stopped counting and told Shannon to stay away from me or I would be disqualified for outside help.

I rolled over onto my back and slowly sat up as the ref started counting again, picking up from where he left off at seven. As quickly as I could, I stood up and climbed back into the ring. I made it just as the ref was about to say ten.

Fallon looked pissed – obviously hoping I would get counted out. She ran at me again, but this time I was ready for her.

She went to punch me, but I ducked down and knocked her legs out from under her with another quick leg sweep. I jumped on top of her and started punching every bit of her I could reach. The ref had to pull me off her.

I stood up and staggered over to the nearest turnbuckle, vaguely aware of the commentators talking about my sudden burst of energy and Shannon cheering for me, and climbed to the top buckle.

By then Fallon was up and heading towards me. I pulled a diving hurricanrana and quickly pinned her. The ref started counting. He was at two when I was suddenly kicked in the back.

I rolled off Fallon and looked up at Chris Sabin. He started kicking me in the stomach repeatedly as the ref tried to pull him off me. I rolled onto my side and curled up into a ball, trying to make it seem like the pain was a lot worse.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Shannon jump in the ring and then Chris was suddenly gone.

I sat up and looked around. Fallon was sitting up too, staring at Shannon and Chris. I turned to watch them too. They were fighting as the ref yelled at them to get out of the ring.

He finally managed to pull them apart. He yelled at them to get out of the ring and that if they pulled something like that again both of them would have to leave for the rest of the match.

Once Shannon and Chris were out of the ring again the match resumed. I pulled an Irish Whip on Fallon. She hit the ropes and used them to fling herself back at me. She pulled a clothesline on me with her extra momentum and then her finisher. I fell to the floor of the ring and she quickly pinned me for the full three-count.

Fallon rolled off me as Hell Yeah started playing through the cheering Impact Zone again. Chris jumped in the ring and started celebrating with her.

I lied on the floor of the ring with my eyes closed, trying to catch my breath. I felt a hand on my arm and opened my eyes to see Shannon kneeling next to me.

He gently took my arm and helped me up into a sitting position.

“Your nose is bleeding.” he said.

I wondered if anyone noticed he had his fingers laced through mine.

“I know.” I said trying to wipe some of the blood away with my free hand.

I looked over to see the ref raise Fallon’s hand in victory. Chris grabbed her other hand and threw it up too.

“Come on,” Shannon said. “Let’s get you backstage and cleaned up.”

I let him help me to my feet as Fallon and Chris continued to celebrate. Shannon put a hand on the small of my back and steered me out of the ring, lifting the ropes up for me to climb through.