Voices in My Head

Randy did lose that night after the scripts had been changed last minute, and Ana was barely able to hide a smirk as Brad and her knocked on the door to Randy’s bus, microwave popcorn and beers in hand.

The door opened and Kevin stood on the top step, grinning.

“I hear we’ll be watching Boondock Saints tonight?”

Both Brad and Ana laughed as they climbed the few steps and greeted him, hearing voices of protest from the back of the bus.

“It was a mere bet K.O., but yes: SPF and Normski! I’ve got booze for two, anything else is on you!”

Brad stopped in the front to microwave the first of the popcorn as the other two marched through to the large common area already filled with AJ, Randy, Jey Uso and another male that Ana had never seen before. She gave a small wave as a general greeting before her eyes stopped on a rather sour looking Randy, who played with a bottle of water.

“What’s his deal?”

She whispered to Kevin as he was passing her to find a seat. Kev followed her eyes and sighed, nudging closer to her so Orton wouldn’t hear them.

“He wasn’t supposed to lose tonight. There is some ongoing thing between him and Mahal, so he is rather pissy about the late change and him losing. Don’t worry, he’ll cheer up once we pop the movie on. Just…don’t rag him on about the match, yeah?”

She nodded her head and held one of the 6-packs up:

“I didn’t expect for more people than usual, but I brought beer?”

Jey shook his head and so did Aaron, but the newcomer, Kevin and Randy put up their hands so she handed out a few beers and placed two more bottle on the table before returning the remaining beers to the fridge.

“There’s a dude in the back that I don’t know, fill me in! Greyish short hair?”

Ana whispered to Brad as he pulled the popcorn from the microwave and shook the bag a few times before opening it. He craned his neck to look towards the common area and his eyes widened.

“Shit, that’s Shane McMahon, he’s pretty much the owner of Smackdown. He’s Stephanie’s brother. Who’s fucking idea was it to have him here!”

She shrugged her shoulders and opened the fridge to put the remaining 6 pack and one bottle into it, moving Randy’s water, energy drinks and protein shakes to the side.

“Riot, get us some waters babe?”

It was Randy’s voice, and the hairs on the back of her neck raised in agitation.

“Call me that one more time and I’ll tip some over your head, Orton!”

She shouted in response, grabbing a couple of bottle none the less. Brad shot her a look and she remembered what he had just told her about Shane McMahon. Best behavior!

Brad handed the DVD over to AJ and he put it into the console. Everyone had found seats but after grabbing her beer Ana came up empty with no spot to sit. Randy signaled her to sit on his lap, and she shrugged her shoulders and moved past the newcomer to scoot in between them on the seat. There was plenty of space for the three of them and she ignored the daggers Randy was shooting her, as she offered her hand to Shane.

“Against popular belief, my name is Ana, nice meeting you Shane.”

She heard him and a few of the others chuckle, and Shane shook her hand as the intro rolled.

“I have heard about you for a while now, good to see you can hold your own with these guys. Good movie choice by the way, it’s one of my all time favorites, too.”

Straight away she turned her head towards Randy and stuck out her tongue in an ‘I told you so’ notion, but she froze as she looked into his blue eyes: they looked hungry. She retracted her tongue and turned around to watch the movie, as AJ turned the volume up.

About half an hour later Shane got up to use the bathroom and Randy moved in quickly to lift her onto his lap and nestle his chin onto her shoulder.

“I admit it: I have been wrong. This is a pretty good movie so far.”

He whispered into her hair, making her ear tickle. She moved her head to rub said ear against her shoulder and slipped off his lap again: he was not being subtle and she usually wouldn’t have cared, but with Shane here, she turned paranoid.

“Listen: ease up on this kinda stuff. Steph is dead set on including me in a romantic story line, the last thing we need is Shane getting the wrong idea and reporting back to her, ok?”

Their eyes were locked just as Shane returned, asking people if they needed anything from the kitchen.

“Don’t worry about Shane, trust me. He is a friend. Now come here.”

He shifted her back onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her mid section without much of a struggle from her. She had to admit that she liked being close to him. Shane’s frame loomed in the entrance to the room, waving a bottle of Jameson towards the room and Ana got excited, squirming on Randy’s lap and putting her hand up to signal for a helping of the drink offered mirrored by Kevin.

“Do.not.fucking.move.”

Randy hissed into her ear as he pulled her against his body again and she didn’t even need to ask why. A blush took over her face as she could feel his prominent erection pressed against her jeans clad behind. Her palms turned sweaty and she placed them on the table in front of her, her eyes focused on the TV screen. Seeing Norman Reedus in his dirty bathrobe didn’t help her to settle and she was about to get up to run to the bathroom but Randy’s arms circled around her tighter and she was forced to stay to hide his raging boner.
Shane came back with a couple of glasses of Jameson on the rocks and she all but drank hers in one go as soon as he handed it to her.

“I’m sorry, but Jameson and I go a long way back and I didn’t have any in a while. Please don’t get the wrong idea Shane.”

She said it quietly, not wanting the others to hear. She felt ashamed enough as it was.

“If this is about Randy possibly having a raging boner and you’re meant to hide it: don’t worry. His stoic expression tells it all.”

Randy’s arms went slack and she jumped up just as Willem Dafoe had another amazing epiphany on screen. She rushed to the bathroom and locked herself in, looking at herself in the mirror: her cheeks were blushed but if she was lucky, no one would have been able to see with the lights dimmed in the main area. She took a few calming breaths before looking at a picture of him and his two kids on the mirror of the small vanity mirror. Randy was such a proud dad. He didn’t talk to her about his past relationships and only mentioned his kids a few times but she knew that he would do anything for them.
Washing her hands to just have the cold water run over her hands, Ana licked her lips and flushed the toilet just to have people think she actually left for a reason. After another deep breath, she opened the door to walk straight into Randy’s chest.

“Sorry.”

She mumbled as she tried to round him, but instead he grabbed her hand.

“I need to talk to you.”

He whispered into her ear as he pushed her back into the small bathroom, locking the door behind him and resting his back against it.

“What’s going on Orton?”

She tried to gauge his mood as she stood a few inches away from him, just as much as the room allowed.

“Shane turned up unannounced earlier. He wanted to have a talk with me, but then people kept turning up so he never got to the ‘talking’ part. Him coming here and wanting to talk has me think that shit is going to go south. Whatever they have planned for you…I don’t think that I’m going to like it.”

He didn’t touch her: he only looked down at her to gauged her expression.

“What are you talking about? I had a meeting with Steph earlier and she knows that I won’t do anything with a guy in a relationship, story line or real life. That doesn’t leave too many guys. Obviously it has to be you, they’ve pitted us from the start.”

She relaxed a little and leaned against his broad chest, waiting for him to hug her. When he did, she closed her eyes and felt safe.

“Shane hasn’t been around for a while, but he’s apparently making a public comeback on the next PPV event. He is single.”

Ana didn’t react to his words; she was just reveling in his warmth and scent. Then he pulled back.

“Do you know what I am implying?”

Ana shook her head, not at all sure what he was trying to say.

“He hasn’t been around for a while. You signing that contract. You saying you didn’t want to be with anyone in a relationship. Him suddenly turning up wanting to talk to me…”

She still looked up at him waiting for more clues. Surely he didn’t think that…

“Whoaaa…you don’t think they’ll couple me up with him? I don’t even know him! They always said that it’d be with ‘one of the guys’, sure he doesn’t count as ‘one of the guys’! And they just got footage of us today when…”

“Exactly. They got footage of us in a comfortable environment, flirting. They’re making this a triangle: you, him and I. The man with the money, the wrestler and you. Story wise it’s a great move! But…fuck!”

He finally moved and rested against the small sink, burying his face in his hands.

“But this is just an inkling, right? He didn’t say anything like this to you? I just came out of a meeting with Steph earlier today, don’t you think she would have mentioned something like this to me?”

Ana pushed her hand into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out her Blistex lipbalm to coat her lips in a nervous habit.

“Did she tell you about the camera crew being around the busses earlier?”

Ana tried to remember but all she could come up with was a ‘tomorrow’.

“No, they said that’d start tomorrow.”

He liked her, a lot. She was way too fucking clueless for this business and he should have been wiser to just let her go along with whatever Stephanie told her. He should have known that something would come up.

Someone tried to open the door only to find it locked.

“Fuck off!”

Ana shouted agitated. She pulled her hands through her hair before looking up at him:

“What am I going to do? I mean, chances are that you’re just paranoid because you’re hopelessly in love with me.”

She waited for a laugh from him but only gained a side-glance.

“Unless you want to run around as the bosses girl and basically be depicted as a bitch…we need to step it up.”

He was about to step closer as Ana raised her phone and dialed Stephanie’s number. She knew it was late, but there was no way that she was asleep already so she took a chance. Putting it on loudspeaker, she motioned for Randy to be quiet.

“What up girl, you ok?”

“I am fine Steph, but I have a question for you: are you trying to set me up with your brother for a story line?”

They heard some background noise before it suddenly turned quiet.

“I knew you’d pick up on it. But yes: there is a reason why he turned up today and obviously he made a move to tell you. I know you never met him before, but it makes sense. He is not a wrestler and as partial owner and you working backstage…the story line would tie in. You said that as long as the person is not in a relationship, you’d be game. Just…let’s try and not tell Randy too soon. I think he actually likes you and as much as him and Shane get along, I believe he would be pissed. What do you say…is this a go?”

Ana looked over at Randy but needed to remember that this was her job, her career. She had signed a contract and was not really open to decide who her partner was going to be.

“Uhm, I guess I cannot say no seen that I signed a contract. But it’s not fair to Randy, I am sure he assumed it would be him in this story line seen that you all told us that we had ‘chemistry’ from day dot. It was the reason you offered me the new contract.”

Randy ate her alive with his eyes, she knew he was waiting for this exact answer. They had been told from the beginning that they were meant to be.

“Actually, don’t even say anything, I know the answer! You have me go with your brother for a while but everyone knows that Randy and I have chemistry after the footage you took today. You’re just waiting for the right moment to let the two of them collide.”

Randy looked at her with a soft smile as someone knocked on the bathroom door.

“Fuck off, not now!”

Randy shouted to whoever was trying to piss, but it was of course heard by Steph.

“Is he with you? Of course he is. Listen, it’s a story line, so this could make for a great jealousy game. Go talk to Shane, he is a good man and I believe you will find it easy to pretend. If Randy is willing to work some jealousy into his usual story, I am sure we could…”

Ana ended the call.

She slid her phone into her back pocket and then looked up to Randy.

“You tell me what to do babe. I am a no one, a newbie. You tell me what to do.”

What she really wanted was him to maul her and make her his girl, but she knew that he would remain professional and go with what he was told.

“Look at me.”

Her head sunk down but he caught it with a curled index finger and pulled it up.

“There is no change between us Ana. This is an on screen thing between you and him. Many people have done it and still do. It doesn’t mean shit.”

She raised her face to look at him and their lips connected. For just a few seconds she thought she was what he wanted, but he opened the door and laughed, bumping fists with Kevin as if he had scored.

“Asshole.”

She whispered as she walked back into the common area. Shane smiled at her from the kitchen, signaling if she wanted another whiskey. She usually didn’t drink much at movie night…but if this was going south either way…she’d have another one.

“Sure, why not!”

She sat down next to Kevin and she could see AJ waving his hands, trying to signal.

“You know what, I am tired, I am going to bed.”

Ana got up, stumbling toward the back of Randy’s bus. She knew his bus as she had had stayed there before. Opening the door to the back, she sat back onto his bed and started pulling off her skinny jeans and fell onto the bed. Crawling under the blanket, she could only feel bad about herself. This time felt different, usually he came to sleep with her.
Just as she was grabbing her phone to message him, the door opened and Randy walked in, resting against the door as he closed it.

“What’s happening Riot?”

He talked to her like she was drunk, but she had only had one beer and she felt somewhat insulted.

“You cannot tell me that you are not disturbed by me being set up with Shane. I know I am fucking upset!”

Behaving like a child, she pulled the blanket over her head and closed her eyes, wishing everything away. She heard fabric and a belt buckle hitting the floor before the blanket was lifted and Randy joined her.

Feeling his naked legs snake around hers immediately, she gave in and moved closer to his torso, the side of her face connecting to his chest.

“There is only one way to avoid this babe, but I don’t think you’d like it.”
“Whatever it is, it can’t possibly be worse than me being connected to some old dude and millions of people thinking I slept with him to get my job.”

Randy pulled her closer against his body, his arms now wrapped behind her back.

“You and I. We’re good friends, we hang out a lot. If we’d go to Steph or her brother and told them that we’re together…she knows you have principles. You could still do your job and I do mine. They can still have their backstage action…but it would be us.”

Trying to kiss her, she moved away, sat to the side of the bed and tried to quickly shimmy into her skinny jeans. Randy looked at her, not knowing what the hell had gone wrong until she turned to him, giving him a sad smile.

“I love you…as a friend. I cannot go down the way of working with you and fucking you at the same time. It never works, trust me. I…I don’t know. I see you tomorrow.”

She grabbed her shoes before he was able to get up after her, the door left open. He saw her run down the hallway and not stopping when AJ tried making conversation. He noticed some of the remaining guys looking back at him so he sat up, shutting the door.

Staring up at the ceiling, he growled loudly: if they made her couple up with Shane, he would be there every step of the way, waiting his turn. His turn to make her his in front of the camera and behind the scenes.