Canary and the Coal Mine

After the second knock, Nikki was grumbling and shoving me out of the bed. Giving my best friend an irritated look, I shuffled across the room and stumbled over her discarded heels.

“Be quiet,” she whined, and I shot a scowl over my shoulder as I yanked the door open. When our visitor didn’t say anything, I turned and found myself looking up at Randy.

His eyes flicked down my body, and returned to mine a moment later as he smirked. A flush immediately spread over my cheeks, and I was suddenly aware of how disheveled I was. He gave a breathy chuckle as I stepped aside and motioned for him to come in.

“I thought we weren’t meeting until seven,” I asked, checking the clock to find it was only half past six. He dropped his gym bag and propped a shoulder against the wall.

“I’ve got a few promos to do and I need to be there at ten. I figured we could get a head start.”

“Oh, yeah, alright,” I said, trying to play down my excitement. Randy and I had gone to the gym every morning together the past week to get me ready for tonight. I’d been informed by Stephanie yesterday morning that I’d officially been picked to replace Kofi Kingston on Team Foley. With his concussion, he wasn’t cleared until next week, and Survivor Series was in two days. Which meant I had a limited amount of time to get ready.

Which, in turn, meant spending every day training with the Viper. It was an opportunity not many got. Randy was secluded and didn’t ‘play well with others’, to use his own words. And yet, here he was, still putting so much effort into making sure I could handle anything thrown at me.
As excited as I was, I knew my overprotective friends wouldn’t have the same view. I’d gotten lucky the last few times, slipping out unnoticed with Nikki snoring like a lawnmower. But today she was awake and clearly beginning to notice we weren’t alone.

“Let me just get dressed,” I told Randy, turning and moving to dig through my suitcase. “Nik, we’ve got company,” I felt the need to warn, sparing a glance in her direction as she sat up. Thank God she actually kept her shirt on overnight this time.

Her eyes swept nervously over Randy as she wrapped the covers tightly around her. After giving her a warning glance to behave herself, I ducked into the bathroom.

When I reappeared a moment later, she was standing at the end of the bed, arms crossed pointedly and a scowl on her face. I came to an uncertain stop to look between her and Randy; thankfully, he looked amused.

“You know she’s my best friend,” Nikki continued as I slipped past her to sit and pull my sneakers on. “And I know that I’m not happy seeing her all bruised and hurt.”

“What can I say? Wrestling does that to you,” he offered; I realized immediately that Nikki was assuming that Randy was who I’d been wrestling with on Monday. Well, technically that was true… As I tossed my pajamas into my duffel, he caught my eye and gave me a smile. “Ready?”

“I think we still have a few things –“ Nikki started; I rolled my eyes and bumped into her playfully as I came up next to her.

“Hey, George Foreman, quit grilling my friend.”

Nikki narrowed her eyes dangerously at me and I wrapped an arm around her to force a hug. She reluctantly hugged me back, no doubt shooting Randy a glare over my head. I swatted her arm as I pulled away, following Randy out of the room.

“Behave yourself,” I warned, getting a snort of disregard as the door shut. The moment we were safely on the elevator, I turned to him. “I’m so sorry. She can be a handful.”

“I’ve dealt with worse,” he chuckled, crossing his arms as he leaned on the wall beside me. “I take it your friends didn’t like seeing your battle wounds?”

“All of them are protective,” I sighed, shaking my head. “Nikki found the other bruises and told everyone. John and Bryan were making empty threats about hunting down my ‘attacker’ and making him pay, and Brie went into mom mode… It’s been a weird week.”

“Still like the gig?” he asked, nudging my arm, and I couldn’t help the grin that spread over my face. In the few days since Raw, Renegade was all over the place. People couldn’t get enough of Randy Orton’s mysterious tag-team partner.

“I love it,” I promised him as the elevator doors opened. He slung an arm around my shoulders to tow me towards the gym, and I couldn’t help the rush of affection I felt for my newest partner-in-crime. After all, without him, where would I be?

---

It looked like luck was giving me a break today; when I got back to the room just before ten, Nikki was already gone. Her stuff was even gone, so she wouldn’t be coming back to the room either. I checked my phone and saw a few texts waiting. One was from Nikki, telling me her whereabouts.
The next was from Bryan, asking if I knew anything about some Icy-Hot being put on things it shouldn’t have been; I deleted that one.

The last was a text from Brie that just said, We need to talk. NOW. Well, never mind about being lucky.

Apparently Nikki was incapable of keeping anything to herself, and now I’d have an angry Mama Brie to deal with. I showered quick and shook out my long hair, deciding to just let it do its own thing today. Tugging on a pair of ripped jeans and an old, faded tee, I packed my bag quickly and tossed it onto my shoulder before hurrying down the hall.

The door pulled open before I was even done knocking, and I was met with an exasperated Bryan. Raising my brows, I slipped my bag onto the floor as he shut us in and turned to frown at me some more.

“Why do you always get yourself into trouble?” he whispered; I scoffed and crossed my arms under my chest.

“I do not get myself into trouble!” I started to whisper back just as Brie popped her head around the corner. I gave her a wide smile, but the displeased look on her face didn’t waiver. She beckoned me after her with a jerk of her head; I gave Bryan a pleading look to back me up. He held his hands up in mock-surrender and backed into the room, flopping onto one of the beds.

“Bryan, can you please finish packing?” Brie called from the bathroom as she went back to doing her hair. After shooting Bryan a smug look, I hopped up onto the counter next to my best friend and waited for her to speak. I knew better than to start talking and dig myself further into my hole.

“So, we had breakfast with Nikki,” she started, glaring at herself in the mirror as she vigorously curled; she was trying to keep a level head and not get accusative at me right off the bat. I busied myself picking at one of the rips on my jeans. “And she said you were a little preoccupied this morning.”

We sat in silence for a moment as I ripped a thread off my pants and glanced up at her.

“I was at the gym –“

“With Randy Orton?” she snapped, dropping the curling iron to turn her glare at me; that hadn’t taken long. “Jamie, what are you even doing with him? You shouldn’t be going to the gym at six in the morning –“

“Six-thirty,” I cut in; from the other room, Bryan called out,

“Self-preservation, kid. Work on it.”

Brie jammed her hands on her hips.

“She said he was the one you were practicing with on Monday.” Again, I didn’t deny it. “So you snuck off and had us worrying all night so you could go wrestle with Randy Orton?”

“What’s wrong with hanging out with a friend?” I started, shrugging my shoulders. “Like I told you guys, I’m not running off to join a cult or sell myself to some underground wrestling chain. I was bored, and he said he could help me brush up on some moves.”

Brie scoffed and now crossed her arms. I hopped off the counter and ducked around her to go drop onto the bed Bryan still hadn’t moved from.

“It’s just, I think Randy’s a little old to be –“ she cut off as she came around the corner, and she threw her hands up. “Bryan! Seriously! I asked you to start packing half an hour ago! We have to be at the arena by noon and you haven’t done anything!”
Ha! Busted! As I offered Bryan a cheeky grin he shoved off the bed, purposely jostling me and shoving me onto my back. With her boyfriend back on track, Brie's heated gaze land on me again. After a moment of studiously observing the ceiling titles, I let out a heavy sigh

“You’re taking this way out of proportion. It’s not like we’re sneaking around having wild sex –“ she made a noise of distress. “I’m just hanging out with a friend. I don’t have many of those,” I added, just a little softer as I propped up onto an elbow. “So please don’t get all wound up over nothing. Okay?”

She pressed her lips together, and I didn’t drop my gaze. Though I could tell she wasn’t happy, she knew I’d made a point. My friends consisted of her, Nikki, Bryan, and John. I didn’t branch out much, and Randy really was the first person I’d been spending time with since my accident at NXT. After another few moments, she sighed, and shook her head.

“Next time, just tell us, okay?” she called from the bathroom. Bryan scoffed, clearly unhappy I’d gotten off so easily; I shifted to stretch out on the bed, and as Bryan turned his back, I kicked the pile of clothes back onto the floor. He groaned and turned to glare at me as Brie continued, “I don’t like hearing gossip about you and Randy Orton from Nikki.”

“I do apologize for that,” I pointed out, moving to kick the clothes again. “I’m sure she blew it completely out of – ahh!”

Bryan snagged my ankle and dragged me down the bed and onto the floor. He mimed leaping off of the top rope, and he dropped dramatically onto me, pretending to drive his elbow into my chest. I rolled back onto my shoulders and flipped him, scooping his leg to go for the pin.

“Seriously, you two!” Brie snapped, looking out at the commotion; we froze in our position and stared up at her with wide, innocent eyes. “Both of you on packing duty, now!”

“Yes, mom,” we both muttered, earning a scowl from her as she ducked back in. Bryan pulled me up from the floor and wrapped an arm around my neck, hugging me briefly before shoving me onto the bed, throwing us into another round of fake wrestling.

---
“Ready?” Randy murmured, glancing down at me. The rest of Team Foley stood gathered loosely around, eyeing me suspiciously. That, of course, meant Bryan was just a few feet from me, scrutinizing every move I made.

Which was even more unnerving, considering I’d disappeared from the Diva’s locker room – where the twins had left me – and just moments before, he was on the hunt for where I’d gotten off to. John had even set up camp in the weight room; no way I could use the same excuse twice.

Between the impending doom of my inevitable future and the icy glares I was receiving from the rest of Team Foley – who had just learned I’d been added to the group – I was an inch away from throwing up and passing out from nerves.

“Not at all,” I breathed, mindful of Bryan inching just a hair closer. Randy caught sight of him and shifted forward, making the smaller wrestler back up towards the others to give me space. He bumped my arm reassuringly and I bumped back in thanks.

“I took the opportunity to have a team meeting, right here on your show,” I heard Foley saying, and I took a shuddering breath. “First, the little hot-head from the NXT, stepping up for our injured intercontinental champion… Renegade.”

And then my music was blasting, and Randy gave me a subtle shove out of gorilla position. I stepped out into the arena, ready for the boos, but I was met with a surprising round of cheers as my music blasted around the ring. I walked purposefully, in time with the beat, eyes locked on the ring. I climbed in just as Team Hell No was introduced, and took my spot next to Foley, barely reaching his shoulder. Maybe Stephanie could get me like, moon-bounce shoes or something. Get me above Bryan’s height at least.

“This is the kid that came in last Monday night on Raw and made a name for himself as Randy Orton’s tag-team partner, getting a pin on Alberto Del Rio to win their match.”

“I’ll tell ya, Michael, I haven’t seen a fresh kid this impressive in a long time. He’s just another little spit-fire like Kalisto. Packs a whole lotta punch in that small frame. It’s gonna be interesting to see him with Team Foley on Sunday, that’s for sure!”

Of course, Bryan was the one that ended up next to me. I could feel his eyes burning into the side of my head as he tried to pick me apart. My gaze stayed straight ahead. Randy’s music lit up the arena, and a chill raced down my spine as I spared a quick glance his direction. I was glad the Apex Predator was on our team; facing him was something I didn’t want to ever think about. He stalked into the ring and I caught him out of the corner of my eye, leaning down to take a good look at us all – Miz especially.

It didn’t take long for the fighting to break out between Bryan and Kane. Though thoroughly relieved that my best friend was finally not staring me down, being beside the fight wasn’t any better. I shifted half a step back as Foley leaned around me to break them up.

As Miz began to dig into Bryan now, Foley finally interrupted.

“As bad as this will seem, it’s becoming apparent that the voice of reason on Team Foley is actually… Randy Orton.”

Randy stalked forward, ready to tear into Foley, as Kane let out a growl and intercepted him.

“Then maybe he can give us some insight as to why you felt the need to drag this NXT toddler into our tag-team,” he began, moving past Bryan to stand over me. At seven feet tall, it had to look pretty comical as I titled my head back to stare up at him. “Like hell I’m trusting him to give us any kind of help this Sunday. We’d be better off handicapped. This thing is the most pathetic excuse of a wrestler I’ve seen come through here.”

Ouch. Words hurt, Kane.
He opened his mouth to say more, but Randy came forward and grabbed his elbow, towing him back and planting himself between us.

“This kid is the only one of Team Foley that actually came to help me out last night. So you know… out of all you, I trust him the most. And if you got a problem, you can bring it up with me.”

Kane let out a bellowing laugh and turned to examine Bryan and I side by side.

“This pipsqueak is even shorter than Goat-Face. You really think he’s gonna be any help to us?”

I didn’t miss the tensing of Randy’s jaw, or the cold challenge in his eyes as he turned to glower up at Kane, daring him to say something else. As the Big Red Machine opened his mouth, Randy took pleasure in cutting him off.

“He took on Del Rio and Ziggler last night, and won. I’d call that pretty damn impressive –“

I’m here to show the world, I’m here to show the world…

All six of us in the ring turned to stare despairingly at the walkway as Team Ziggler came into view. We lined up along the ropes, with myself ending up between Kane and Randy. Now, all everyone on our team cared about was uniting against our common threat; at least they weren’t tearing into me anymore. Ziggler launched into his speech, and I didn’t miss the looks being shot my way from Del Rio and his handler.

“Hey, Del Rio, what’s your problem?” Ziggler cut in, leaning around to scowl at the men at the end of the lineup.

“You know what my problem is? My problem is that you don’t deserve to be the leader of this team. There’s only one person who deserves it, and it’s not you, Ziggler.”

“Awful tough talk, coming from a man who was bested by some midget NXT biker gang reject.”

Again, ouch. The men were nearly as catty as the divas I worked extra hard to avoid. I was close enough to feel Randy tense beside me at their words; at least my friend had my back.

“And that’s another thing,” Del Rio cut in sharply, turning now to face me. I shifted forward to lean my weight against the ropes. “What gives that joke the right to parade around here, hiding his face, picking fights with the real wrestlers?”

I’d be more ticked off, but I had pinned him and embarrassed him in front of thousands, so I’d let his bitterness slide tonight.

“How about you take off the mask, fight me face-to-face?” Del Rio spat, and I slowly lifted my arms, holding them out and beckoning him forward with my fingers. I could easily take him; I heard Randy let out a stifled sigh as Del Rio surged. Dolph just barely caught him and shoved him back.

“Mend your ego some other time,” Ziggler snapped, pushing him into Rodrigues. And then the night really began. Foley started by pairing up Miz and Randy to take on Del Rio and Ziggler. As he paired Kane off with Barrett, Bryan launched into another flurry of heartfelt ‘NO!’s that were beginning to make my ears bleed.

“It is clear to me, that Team Foley is in complete disarray!” Damien Sandow exclaimed, and I rolled my eyes as he launched into a furious speech.

“You have a goat-faced, one-word wonder, running around with an anger problem!” Bryan scoffed. “His tag-team partner Kane, whose unbridled brutality is the reason my tag team partner, Cody Rhodes, is not with us this evening!” Kane glowered. “And then, you have a six-year-old playing dress up in some second-hand clothes, who isn’t even big enough to reach the cereal box off the top of the fridge!”

Well, true.

“Just hold up there, you pompous ass,” Randy hissed into the microphone, sidling a little closer to me and propping his elbow on my shoulder. I crossed my arms over my chest as dangerously as possible. Next to Randy, it probably looked hilarious. “Seems to me like you need to learn a little lesson in humility. And my new friend just so happens to be the perfect one to shut your mouth.”

“You know what, you two have just made my job a lot easier,” Foley laughed. “Because the first match will be against Sandow and Renegade. And it starts right now.”

---

The moment the bell rang, Damien lunged at me; he locked an arm around my neck and twisted us, immediately slamming me into a back-breaker. Struggling to catch my breath, I rolled away and narrowly avoided an elbow to the neck.

Propping up onto my hands, I swung my body around for a leg sweep and caught him in the knees, bringing him onto his back hard. Wasting no time, I turned and rolled up his body, laying across his shoulders and scooping his leg.

After the one-count, his shoulder was up and I was tossed up off of him. He got to his feet quickly and bounced off the ropes, slamming into me and flipping me onto my back. Stunned, I didn’t react in time as he swept me up and held me at his side. His leg locked around mine and he hit me with a hard Russian leg sweep.

As I laid stunned on my back, Damien fell hard onto me with the Elbow of Disdain. A moment later he was lying over me, and I barely got my elbow up at the end of two.

“I don’t think Sandow was expecting this level of fight from the wrestler he just described as a toddler. But Renegade is sure continuing to make a name for himself! He’s got Sandow in another pin – oh, shoulder up at two!”

“I don’t see what all the fuss is about over this kid. He’s a rookie from NXT! He got lucky with his match. He had Randy Orton helping him! And he’s already being compared to the other greats we have wrestling tonight!”

“He’s good for his size, that’s what the people like, John! He’s half the size of Sandow – and oh! Sandow taken down with a powerful Hurricanrana!”

As Sandow slammed into the mat, I threw my back into the ropes and let myself fly forward, catching him with a knee in the shoulder as he tried to sit up.

Damien hit the mat, stunned, and tried to jerk out just as the ref called, “Three!”

The bell rang, and my music blasted out. The ref pulled me up off Damien and threw my arm up in victory as the crowd cheered. Maybe they weren’t too upset about having me instead of Kofi. As the ref dropped my arm, I turned to Damien and stuck a hand out for him.

Damien scoffed and slapped it away; the crowd ooh’d as I took a step back. With an exaggerated shrug, I gave Damien a two-fingered salute and vaulted over the top rope, landing easily and heading out of the arena.

To my surprise, I was greeted enthusiastically by the rest of Team Foley. Randy hung back, smiling knowingly as Miz and Bryan came up and patted me on the back.

“That was a great match, kid,” Miz chuckled, eyeing Damien as he limped past us, shooting me a glare. “Nice to see his ego get reigned in.”

“Yeah, you’re packin’ one hell of a fight,” Bryan chuckled, glancing back as we both heard a familiar voice down the hall. Brie; Nikki wouldn’t be far behind. Randy caught my eye and jerked his head towards the locker room. I fell into step beside him just as the twins reached Bryan.

“That really was a great fight,” Randy told me, holding the door as I slipped inside. “Saw you using that move I showed you this morning.”

“It definitely caught Sandow by surprise,” I laughed, relieved to see we were alone. I tugged down my mask and draped out across one of the benches. “This mask is surprisingly hot.”

I didn’t miss the look Randy shot at me, a smirk playing on his lips, but he turned away before I could study his expression. As he tossed me a bottle of water, he settled onto the other side of the bench.

“You changing yet, or you still needed out there to exact justice?”

I snorted as I took a sip of water.

“Stephanie said she wants me dressed until the last match. Just in case.”

“That just gives you more of a chance to get yourself in trouble,” Randy pointed out; I frowned. “Nice move, by the way. Taunting Del Rio.” He frowned back at me. “You really don’t want to be on his bad side while you’ve got something to hide.”

“Think I can’t take him?” I met his eyes in a challenge, and I got a rare, genuine smile. He nudged my boot with his and said honestly,

“I know you can. But Del Rio plays dirty, and I don’t want you to be caught in the middle.”

“Yeah, well, making friends isn’t my specialty,” I sighed. “Our team hates me.”

“I like you,” he said gently, and I snorted in dismissal of his compliment; compliments always made me uneasy. “And Miz seems fond of you, as much as that’s worth. Daniel doesn’t seem too upset after the beat-down you gave Sandow.”

“Yeah, well, Kane still looks like he wants to crush my face through some cinderblocks.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s just his resting face,” Randy pointed out, and I let out another laugh. “Don’t worry about being on friendly terms with those assholes. Just keep your head in the game and give one hell of a fight.”

“Maybe I wanted to be friends with Kane. I could use him on my side,” I argued; Randy rolled his eyes as he stood and tossed his bag into his locker. “Y’know, be his manager or something.” When Randy shot me a look, I got up onto my knees and leaned forward, squeezing my hand viciously. “Kane… CRUSH!”

Randy actually snorted and shook his head, watching me in amusement as I pounded my fist into my hand. As the diva’s fight came to an end, he reached over and gave me a gentle shove to knock me off balance; I slumped into the lockers and he smirked.

“Behave. I’ll see you after my match.”

“Orton…” I began, and he glanced back. I slammed my fist into my hand again. “Crush!”

---

“What the hell was that?!” Foley cried, pulling Randy aside as Bryan and I gathered around; no way I’d be stuck in a locker room after that match. Miz was still seething, eyes flashing dangerously as he glared daggers at the Apex Predator.

“Making a point,” Randy said simply, crossing his arms over his chest. “Miz is gonna take my win like a little bitch, I’m gonna put him in place.”

“Wanna say that to my fuckin’ face?” Miz snarled, lunging at Randy, barely held back by Foley. Randy just laughed and rolled his eyes. I sighed; clearly he was taking his own advice on not making any friends.

“Just because you’re too much of a pussy to get yourself a win –“

Ziggler, Sandow, and Del Rio came sprinting past us without warning, racing out of gorilla position and into the arena. For a moment we stared after them, confused. They’d all already had their matches. What were they – oh shit. Our group shared a look of realization – Kane’s match was still going with Barrett.

“Wait, Daniel –“ Foley stared, but Bryan was already out of earshot, heading in to help his tag-team partner. I immediately moved to go with him and Randy barely snagged my arm, giving me a shake of his head. He wanted me out of trouble.

But I couldn’t let Bryan go out there alone to be teamed up on by those assholes. He was my friend, and whether he knew it was me or not, I had to have his back. When Randy turned his attention to the monitor to watch the fight, I pulled out of his hold and sprinted for the arena.

The crowd let out a burst of excitement as I took off down the ramp. I didn’t even slow as I reached the ring, jumping up and vaulting over the top rope – right into Del Rio. The two of us hit the mat hard, and I rolled over, hooking the legs of Ziggler to pull him off of Bryan and make it a one-on-one between him and Sandow.

My advantage didn’t last long. As Ziggler squared off with me, Del Rio wrapped an arm around my middle and hauled me back and up, slamming me into the mat. Ziggler turned back to Bryan as I saw Barrett dive at me. Though I got in a few good hits to both men’s legs, I had to curl in to protect myself as they threw kicks and punches into my back and stomach.

I hear voices in my head, they talk to me, they understand…

Randy was in the ring a heartbeat later, wrapping Barrett up instantly and whipping him hard into the mat with a powerful scoop slam. Now evenly matched, I could roll to one side and duck Del Rio’s kick and counter with a hard leg sweep that sent him sprawling into the ropes.

Sandow was caught around the middle by Randy as he lunged for me, and a moment later he was whipped into the ropes. I jumped to my feet, and as Del Rio tried to push off the ropes I turned hard and caught him in the chest with a side kick, sending him flipping back out of the ring.

A heartbeat later, Kane, Bryan, Randy, and I stood victoriously in the center of the ring, looking around at our opponents. Sandow was struggling to his feet in the corner. Dolph lay opposite him, holding his head. Del Rio and Barrett were both trying to get to their feet outside the ring.

As we watched on, a pair of hands caught my shoulders.

Randy moved so quick I didn’t have time to react. He pushed me aside into the ropes with one hand and then spun, catching Sandow’s head and dropping into a powerful RKO that left Sandow reeling. Foolishly Dolph ducked around him and dove at me. I caught his lunge and shoved him back at Randy – right into another RKO.

And then Miz had the nerve to walk out and stare us down. Coward hadn’t even tried to come and help us. Bryan, Kane, and I exchanged disbelieving looks as Randy squared up, matching Miz’s cold glare. He was long gone by the time we arrived backstage again, much to Randy’s disdain.

Foley gave a quick speech about resting up before Sunday, congratulated us all on our wins tonight, and sent us off to get dressed. As I hovered by a monitor, Randy tugged on my hoodie. I looked up, and was surprised to see a frown on his face.

“Thought I mentioned something about staying out of trouble,” he hinted, and I shrugged; after making sure the others weren’t nearby, I added,

“Just doing my duties as a member of Team Foley.”

“Right. C’mon. I’m sure your friends are looking for you.”

“There are still two matches –“

“That you don’t need to jump in on,” he argued, leading the way to his locker room. This time I’d thought through my switch, and had left my clothes in his locker. He’d be holding onto my outfit until Sunday, just to be safe.

“But what if Sin Cara wants to give me my own luchador mask and teach me how to hit the trampoline to get over the ropes?” I asked as he shut and locked the door; all I needed was someone walking in to see me reveal my identity.

“Take a shower,” he answered, handing me my bag of clothes; I rolled my eyes but matched his smirk with my own as I slipped into the bathroom. I cleaned up quickly and dressed even faster, shaking out my long, blonde waves as I came out of the bathroom. He took the bag with my outfit and tucked it into his gym bag as I began to comb out my hair. It was still a little too wet, and unlike the guys, I didn’t like soaking wet hair sticking to my shirt.

Randy was done showering even faster than me, tugging his shirt on as he came out. When he didn’t say anything, I looked up and caught Randy studying me; I had just twisted my hair up into a messy bun, which he was examining.

“I’ve never seen you with your hair up,” he noted, and I flushed, suddenly feeling extremely self-conscious. I hated my hair up, it just looked stupid on me. I opened my mouth to make a joke about how ridiculous I looked when he added, “looks really nice like that.”

My cheeks were inevitably a bright shade of red as he unlocked the door, smirking down with me as he let me leave first. Taking compliments wasn’t something I was good at. As I turned, I nearly collided with someone else, and froze when I recognized the face giving me an incredulous stare.

“Jamie?!”

Oh, this was just fantastic. Brie’s eyes couldn’t be any wider.
Randy thankfully took his leave pretty quickly. All I needed was him there while my best friend tore into me. I didn’t need her to point out how terrible this looked. Me, blushing, walking out of a previously locked room with Randy, smirking victoriously.

“I can explain,” I started, and she let out a disbelieving laugh, turning and stalking down the hall. I had enough common sense to follow her without question.

Not surprisingly, Bryan and Nikki were all gathered outside the Diva’s locker room, both with arms crossed, both with varying degrees of worry on their faces.

“She was with Randy,” Brie said pointedly, and to my surprise Bryan was the one that seemed the most upset about this revelation.

“What were you doing with Orton for three hours?”

“Am I not allowed to have any friends outside the Brady Bunch?” I shot back, admittedly a little defensive as I crossed my arms over my chest. “Do you guys really need to interrogate me about everything?”

“When a nineteen year old girl comes out of Randy Orton’s locked changing room blushing –“ Brie started.

“Why was it locked?” an angry Bryan demanded.

“And why is your hair wet?” Brie pointed out unhepfully.

“Your shirt is inside out,” Nikki added, equally unhelpful; I threw my hands up in exasperation before any of them could keep going.

“Oh my god, you guys. He locked it while I was taking a shower so no one else would walk in!”

“Why were you taking a shower?” Bryan asked as he crossed his arms.

“Just to give you something to complain about,” I snapped as I trudged after them to the parking lot. With Big Show’s match nearly done with, there was no need to hang around, and I was glad to be leaving the arena before the interrogation got any worse.

“Don’t think this is over,” Brie warned as I climbed into Nikki’s car. She and Bryan were going out to dinner, saving me from the rest of the ‘angry mom’ speech. She gave me a pointed look as I shut the door.

The welcomed silence didn’t last long in the car; once we were out of the arena’s parking lot, Nikki was tearing into me.

“ – and as your best friend, if you and Randy have something going on, I think I deserve to be told first –“

“You just missed the on-ramp,” I pointed out as I pulled my legs up to my chest, resting my chin on my knees. “And I’m serious. Nothing’s going on with us. You guys need to chill.”

“Randy Orton isn’t exactly a model citizen,” Nikki warned as she swung the car around, almost taking out a light pole in the process; her distracted driving was even worse when she was caught up talking. “And plus, he’s like twenty years older –“

“He’s like ten, at most,” I scoffed.

“Thirteen,” she said, finally getting onto the highway. I snorted, and she spared a glance at me. “Seriously, Jellybean. Are you and him –“

“No, for God’s sake, Nicole,” I sighed, dropping my head against the headrest. “He’s my friend, and there’s no way I’m his type. It’s not like that. I don’t have a lot of people I can hang out with.”

“You’ve got all of us.”

“Yeah. And I’m not saying that I don’t. I’m saying that my only friends are you guys, and you’re more family, anyway. Mama Brie and Papa John, my big brother Bryan, and my bratty sister Nicole.”

“Ooh, just wait until I tell John about you and Randy,” she squealed, and I groaned; the rest of my conversation had gone completely over her head. As always. “You know, he can’t stand Orton –“

“Then do your best to keep from making it sound like I’m sleeping with him, please,” I sighed, to no avail. Luckily, Nikki was driving, and I took advantage, sending John a quick text.

Before she spins this way out of line, I made a friend and Nikki thinks we’re sleeping together.

A moment later, I got back,

Are you?

No.

Who is it?

Randy Orton.

Damn straight you’re not. And then a moment later, Wait. Why does she think you’re sleeping with him?

I have no doubt you’ll be fully briefed when we get to the hotel.

As Nikki continued to ramble on about her latest encounter with one of the divas, I settled into the seat and turned my gaze out the window. As much as I didn’t like lying to my friends and sneaking behind their backs, I was happy with the life I had going right now.

I had a new friend, a great job, and a bright future. A year ago, all I had was a broken arm and crushed dreams. And now I’d be teaming up with some of the biggest wrestlers to compete in Survivor Series.

What more could I hope for?