Tumors And Hearts

Xx-nikki-xX

I was lying, facedown, on Shannon’s bed, waiting for him to get out of the shower. I rolled over and saw that the clock on the other side of the room said it was 1:13. The wrestlers had to be at the arena in Concord by five and Shannon said it only took about an hour and forty-five minutes to get there.

We have plenty of time...

I rolled back over onto my stomach and glanced at the bathroom door before letting my head drop and hang over the side of the bed. Oz came over and started licking my face. I lazily reached out a hand and started scratching behind his ears. He lay down by the bed and I glanced up at the bathroom door again, wondering just how long of a shower Shannon was planning on taking.

My phone started playing Rise Up by Blessthefall. Using my free hand that wasn’t scratching Oz, I grabbed it off the pillow I had completely ignored when I first laid down and saw that it was Manda.

I pressed the talk button and put it to my ear. “Hey, what’s up?” I said.

“I’ve been trying all day to break up with Matt!” she said. “But every time I do he does something that stops me from actually doing it!”

“Ruh-roh.”

“He served me my favorite breakfast! And there was a white tulip on the plate! He’s been calling me beautiful and gorgeous and a bunch of other amazing things all day! And he just gave me this giant bouquet of snapdragons! I love snapdragons!”

“Awww.”

“Focus Nikki!”

“Right. Sorry.”

She groaned. “What am I going to do?!”

“Maybe you should wait a while; this might be a sign or something.”

“But I don’t want to wait!” she said. I think I could actually hear her pacing. “I mean, a small part of me is still in love with Matt, but there’s an even bigger part of me that’s in love with Chris and wants to be with him!”

“I don’t know what to tell you, hun.”

She signed. “If I called him in here and gave him the phone would there be any chance of you breaking up with him for me?”

“Nope.” I said making the ‘p’ into a popping sound.

The door to the bathroom opened and I looked up as Shannon came out with only a towel wrapped around his waist and still dripping wet. He caught me staring and winked. I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to my phone as Manda started talking again.

“I should go.” she said a little quieter. “I think I hear Matt coming.”

“Yeah, me too.” I said. “Shannon’s finally out of the shower.”

She sighed again. “See you later.”

“Yeah, good luck. Bye.”

I pressed the ‘end call’ button as Shannon plopped down beside me, still wearing just the towel. I rolled over onto my back so that I was looking up at him.

“Finally!” I said. “You took forever!”

“Sorry.” he said raking his fingers through his wet mohawk.

“It’s fine.”

“Who were you talking too?” he asked.

“Manda.”

He sighed.

“What?” I asked looking into his gorgeous green eyes.

“What’s going on with her and Matt?” he asked.

I looked down, trying to think of what to say. I traced the wet trail of a drop of water that was running down his arm in what I hoped looked like absentmindedness.

“I know you know, Nicolette.” he said.

I cringed at the sound of my real name, I hated it when he did that.“It’s not my place to say.” I said still refusing to look at him.

Shannon placed his hand under my chin and gently tilted it up so that I was looking him in the eyes again. “Please tell me.” he whispered.

“I can’t.” I whispered back.

I got up and started to walk away. Shannon grabbed my hand and gently tugged so that I fell back against his still wet chest.

“Shannon…” I said as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

“I’m just worried for Matt.” he said softly. “I’ll drop it for now, but just tell me one thing.”

“What?”

“Manda isn’t cheating on him is she?”

“Of course not.” I said looking him dead in the eyes. “She wouldn’t do something like that.”

And with that I stepped out of his arms and left the room.

x-later-x

Shannon and I pulled into the parking lot of the arena at about ten after four. I got out and headed to the back of the car. Shannon popped open the trunk and I grabbed my bag without saying anything. I turned and started walking away, not bothering to wait for him.

I felt bad. I wanted to tell Shannon what was going on real bad – I hated keeping things from him – but it wasn’t my secret to tell and besides that, Manda wasn’t really doing anything wrong.

“Nikki.”

I stopped walking and waited. Shannon caught up to me a few seconds later and laced his fingers through mine. We started walking again, silent.

We had just reached the doors that led into the arena when Shannon veered off course. He went to the right and, our hands still being connected, I went with him. He stopped a few steps away from the doors and turned around to face me. He wrapped his arms around my middle and kissed me.

“I love you.” he said when we broke apart.

“I love you too.” I mumbled staring at his chest.

For the second time that day, he placed his hand under my chin and gently tilted it up so that I was looking him in the eyes.

“It’s okay that you can’t tell me what’s going on with Manda.” he said.

“Really?”

He nodded. “I know you’re just trying to be a good friend.” he said. “I would do the same thing if it were Jeff or Matt in her position… whatever that position is…”

I smiled and stood up on the tips of my toes to peck him on the lips. “Besides,” he said in a more serious tone. “I have a feeling we’re going to find out exactly what that position is pretty soon…”

You don’t know how right you are… I thought as we headed into the arena.

Shannon walked me to the locker room the Knockouts were using for the night. He gave me one last hug and kissed me goodbye before leaving to meet up with Jesse.

I headed into the locker room and saw Manda sitting on the bench near the open locker she had already claimed. She was hunched over, her head was in her hands, and her hair – which looked like she had attempted to pull it out – was hanging down in her face.

“You did it, didn’t you?” I asked sitting down next to her.

She brought her head up to look at me and I could see that she was crying.

“I feel like a bitch.” she said.

“Was it that bad?”

“He cried.” she said wiping at her eyes. “He never cries!”

I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and hugged her as she tried to pull herself together. She hurried into the connected bathroom when Lauren and Jamie came in. I thought about going in after her, but decided to give her some time alone instead. I tossed my bag in the locker next to hers and left to go walk around for a bit.

Matt and Nick Massie [Max and Jeremy Buck] were walking by when I came out of the locker room. Nick [Jeremy] picked me up and slung me over his shoulder, claiming that we didn’t hang out enough and need to start doing more. Now.

We ended up going out to the ring that was already set up. The three of us were lying in the middle of the ring talking about random stuff, they actually seemed like some really cool guys – though it kinda seemed like Nick was flirting with me….

feeling any better? I hit the ‘send’ button and a few seconds later my phone told me the message was successfully sent to Manda.

somewhat... she texted back a few minutes later.

look, i kno u feel really bad, manda, but this was for the best. ur in love with chris and not matt. u deserve to be with who ur in love with. and now matt has that chance too.

know wat? ur right!

lol. i usually am. =P

lol. where are u?

hanging with the buck’s. i kno u arnt to fond of them, so ill meet you in the locker room in a bit

kk

Nick suddenly took my phone and held it out of my reach. I tried to grab it and he slid it to the other side of the ring.

“I was done talking to Manda anyway.” I said feeling too lazy to get up and go get it.

I was lying with my head on Nick’s stomach and my feet in Matt’s lap, who was sitting with his back against the turnbuckles in one of the corners of the ring. We were all laughing at something Nick had said when Matt [Max] started waving to the entrance place where the wrestlers would be coming out of later tonight for our matches.

“Hey Sabin, over here!” he called.

I sat up as Chris made his way over to us. He looked a little nervous and his eyes seemed to be glued to me.

“I’ve been looking for you, Nikki!” he said sliding into the ring.

“Well, here I am.” I said. “Whatcha need?”

“Can I talk to you? There’s something that’s been bugging me for a while…”

I nodded and stood up. “I’ll see you guys later.” I called to the Massie’s before climbing out of the ring with Chris.

“Mind if we go outside?” he asked leading the way backstage.

“Sure.”

He led me to a set of doors in the backstage area that went outside. He opened the door for me and followed me out into the back parking lot that was reserved for the wrestlers. I turned to face him as he let the door swing closed behind him.

“So what’s up?” I asked.

He sighed. “I can’t stop thinking about Manda.” he said. “I’m just so in love with her! I wanna be with her so bad!” He groaned and looked down at his feet. “Why does she have to be with Matt?”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Oh, I don’t think you have to worry, Chris.”

He looked up at me in confusion. “Why?”

“Manda broke up with Matt earlier today.”

His look of confusion turned to a look of both shock and happiness. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” I said nodding.

His smile got even bigger. “Sh-should I wait… or…”

“Do it. Soon.” I said smiling too. “She’ll go crazy if you wait.”

He nodded. “Thanks so much Nikki!” he exclaimed scooping me up into his arms and twirling us around. I screamed and he put me back down. “I’ll talk to you later!” he said hurrying back inside.

“She likes white tulips... and snapdragons!” I called after him as the door swung closed again.

Feeling excited, myself, I skipped to the Knockouts’ locker room to get ready for my match against Velvet Sky that was up first in the lineup tonight.

x-later-x

I ran into the Buck’s again on my way to the entrance place and decided to walk with them since we were all headed to the same place.

My match with Velvet went pretty well. Angelina was at ringside rooting for Velvet. Manda was also involved with the match. I ‘accidentally’ knocked out the ref while trying to get out of the submission move Velvet had me in. Then Manda came out and interrupted our match to hit me with a chair and then her finisher move – which caused me head to start hurting really bad. She rolled out of the ring, and out of sight, as the ref came to and Velvet pinned my supposedly unconscious body for the full three count.

After my match, I ran to the locker room and downed some extra-strength pain pills for my splitting headache. I didn’t want my head to be hurting during Ink Inc’s match against Generation Me, though it would probably look good if I kept grabbing my head after what happened during my own match.

The three of us reached the entrance place and saw that Shannon and Jesse were already there. Neither of them looked very happy.

I guess they already know...

I walked over to Shannon and laced my fingers through his. He looked at me and I could tell he was trying to hide his feelings.

“How’s Matt?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Heartbroken, I guess.”

I decided not to say anything else as Tattooed Attitude started playing throughout the arena.