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Lisa (no login)
Posted Nov 2, 2005 1:33 AM
For Disclaimer and other details please see Chapter 1.
CHAPTER 10
Leaning against the wall outside the arena Lenny couldn’t believe that she was actually doing this. “What the hell am I doing here?” She muttered to herself. She yawned and didn’t even bother trying to cover her mouth. There was no one here to see her. She shook her head slightly. It was so weird. Here she was, Miss Independent standing her waiting for a guy. God that was just so unlike her. Not only had she never let herself mix work and pleasure before but also she wasn’t someone who waited for a guy. If they wanted her then she let them do all of the running. She sighed heavily. Maybe that was why she wasn’t exactly swimming in offers for dates lately. Maybe she was just totally unapproachable. Well she couldn’t be that unapproachable because Kevin had asked her out.
“Damn.” She ground out as she realised the direction of her thoughts. This was not a date! This was nothing more than two friends going for a bite to eat together. Of course it never occurred to her that she and Kevin couldn’t exactly be what she would really call friends. They had never spent any time together outside of work before ... well apart from that few minutes conversation outside the hospital last week. She had to admit that that had surprised her. He seemed to be someone who could make her say things that she definitely had no intention of ever saying out loud. Maybe going out to eat with him was a huge mistake.
Then adjusting the way that she was standing to make herself look even more carefree she shook her head once more. Nope, just friends. “Just friends going out to eat.” She muttered to herself almost like a mantra. “Yeah right Lenny. That’s why you reapplied your make up after you came out of the shower.”
“Hey you sound just like I did earlier.”
Letting out a little squeak Lenny spun around. As soon as she saw who it was she felt like an idiot and pressed her palm to her chest hoping that her heart would stop trying to pound its way out of there. She knew that it was a massive over reaction but she also knew that it was something that was bound to happen considering what had happened to her earlier. She would have thought that she would be more aware of what was happening around her but it seemed like she just hadn’t learned her lesson at all. “Well way to scare the life out of my Chris.” She said with a slight edge to her voice but then she smiled and softened her words. “You are pretty good at the whole creeping thing ... anyone ever tell you that before?”
“Nope, I can’t say that they have.” Chris said honestly. He hadn’t been creeping up on her at all. He hadn’t been all with the stealthy. Hell he had been talking to Jay and he thought pretty loudly up till a few seconds ago. Then he had noticed Lenny standing here and decided to come over to talk to her. Perhaps it wasn’t the wisest decision that he could have made considering what he had heard earlier. Hell he could already feel the Boy Scout in him demanding that he tell her everything. But he bit at his lip. This had nothing to do with him and he wanted nothing more to do with it. She was a grown woman and he was sure that she could make the right choices for herself whatever they may be. Yeah he definitely felt bad knowing that she might have some humiliation coming to her but everyone had to have some kind of initiation into this place. “I’ve always preferred to make something of an entrance myself.”
She laughed lightly. “Well you definitely did it that time.” She pulled her hand away from her chest. “Consider me so completely terrified. I think that you took about five years off my life.” Then she thought about what he had said when he approached her. “What did you mean when you said that I sounded like you earlier?”
“Just that you seemed to be pretty deep in the whole thinking too much and talking to yourself thing.” He answered her with a grin. “Jay caught me doing the same thing a few hours ago and accused me of looking like a mental case.”
Arching a brow she propped her hands on her hips. “I’m warning you that better not even think about saying the same thing to me.” She told him and tried to keep the stern look on her face. “Just think, if I am an escaped mental case then I would probably know all kinds of ways to hurt you and not have to go to jail.”
“Point taken.” He said and laughed. That was something that you had to give this chick. She was never short of a comeback and she seemed to know how to handle herself. Reaching out he caught her face between his hands. He noted her look of surprise but just continued to give her the once over. “How’s the head feeling?” He asked and when he was about half way through asking that question he noticed something else and frowned deeply. Now how in the hell had he missed that tonight in the ring? That place was lit up better than anywhere else in the world. Yeah, he had been kind of busy getting his ass kicked at the time but still Lenny had been right in his face more than a few times but it just hadn’t registered.
Shooting him an odd look Lenny just shrugged. “My head is absolutely fine.” She said and took a step back. She was pleased to see that he took the hint right away and let her go. “No lingering after-effects at all.” She added honestly.
“Then what the hell is this?” Chris asked softly as he let his fingers drift over her face and pause on her cheek. Nope, he was pretty sure that he wasn’t imagining things. She had definitely winced right then. He hadn’t noticed this at all that night at the hospital, or the next night. He was pretty sure that it shouldn’t take that long for a bruise to become noticeable. But he was beginning to think that perhaps this wasn’t connected with the stiff bump that she had taken in the ring at all. The colour of the bruise was wrong ... it looked ... well, fresh ... for want of a better word.
Rolling her eyes Lenny jerked her head back once more. “Oh that, it’s nothing.” She stated airily and watched as he pulled his fingers away from her face but rubbed them together. He seemed to be doing far too much considering for her liking. “What can I say? I’m a mega klutz who does occasionally injure herself when there is no ring involved.”
“Yeah, but it looks bad.” He said thoughtfully as he stared at his fingers. “And that’s when it’s covered with make up. I can’t believe that I didn’t notice it before now. It should have hit me the moment that I realised that you were wearing more make up than you usually do.”
“You noticed that?” She asked as soon as he said that. She didn’t think that anyone paid that much attention to her to even notice something that small and inconsequential. Well yeah, Trish had noticed but that was just because all of the other girls knew that she barely wore any make up at all while she was working.
He nodded then found himself smiling at her surprise. “Hey don’t sound so surprised.” He said and let his hand drop to his side once more. “I’m a guy. Yeah as such I don’t usually notice much.” He added with his tongue wedged firmly in his cheek. “But we do tend to notice when the women around us start to do odd things. Like change the way they look, or wear more make up than usual.” He shrugged. Now that he had given voice to that particular thought it did sound more than a little ridiculous but it was still true. That was how guys tended to think and notice changes around them. “If it was nothing ... if it was so unimportant then why did you go to such lengths to hide it?”
“Well that’s a total no brainer.” Lenny said with a little snort. “By order of the management. They took one look at my face and decided that I couldn’t show it on screen with an unsightly bruise. You guys can run around pouring blood from every orifice but god forbid if one of us girls has a hair out of fucking place.” Unconsciously her hand stroked over the marked flesh. “But it will be gone in a matter of days and my skin will once again be able to breathe. I hate wearing this much war paint.” She could see the way that he was still standing there looking like he had no intention of moving at all. “Honestly Chris ... would I lie to you? It’s nothing. Just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time ... something else that I happen to be a master of apparently.”
Flashing back to what he had heard earlier he was sure that right now she must have been waiting for Nash. He couldn’t stop the slightly disgusted expression that spread over his face. “Yeah ... it really seems like you might be.” He mumbled.
“What was that Chris? I couldn’t hear you.” She said and leaned a little closer.
-o0o-
Hoisting his bag a little higher on his shoulder Kevin strolled out of the back of the arena. He wasn’t a dumbass and had known that the moment the match was over that it was a race between him and Paul. He knew his buddy. If Paul had been ready to go before him then he was pretty sure that the devious bastard would have found some way to get himself invited along with him and Lenny tonight. So Kevin had sped through everything that he needed to do to make sure that he was the first one of them to leave. He had looked for her in the arena before realising that she would probably be outside. He wasn’t sure if that thought pleased him or not. Was she so ashamed of the fact that she was going out to eat with him that she didn’t want anyone else to see. He pulled a face as soon as he had that thought. Oh well not that it mattered. All that he had to do was work on her long enough to get her into bed and then it wouldn’t be a concern any longer. Then she could do whatever the hell she wanted.
And that was the moment that he caught sight of her. Or should he say ... them. He felt his steps slow considerably as he watched them. Hell it was true. Body language could sometimes speak so much louder than words. What the fuck did Irvine think he was doing? It seemed that every time he turned around lately the guy was getting in his way! First at the hospital when he had been going to put everything into action and this time he was here. Oh no way. There was no way that he was letting that little boy and some stupid crush that he had get in his way. There was too much at stake here.
He couldn’t deny the slight anger that he felt at the way that the two of them seemed to be leaning into one another. They were both laughing lightly. Shaking his head he found his steps speeding up, as he got closer to them.
-o0o-
Opening his mouth to say something else to Lenny, Chris was cut off as Kevin walked past him bashing into him slightly and wrapped a proprietary arm around her shoulder. Well there was nothing like putting up a couple of keep out signs was there? He shut up immediately and bit at his lip to stop himself from saying something that he wouldn’t be able to take back.
“Ready to go Lenny?” Kevin asked with a smile. He wasn’t sure how she was able to do that. She always made him smile even when she was being downright bitchy to him.
Looking pointedly at the arm that he had thrown over her Lenny nodded. “Gimme a few secs Kev.” She said basically dismissing him. “If you want to go to your car I can follow you to wherever you want to go to eat. You’ve been travelling for a lot longer than I have so you probably know all the good places to go in this town.” Then she looked to Chris again. “What were you saying Chris?” She asked him and hoped that he would say something. Yeah she knew that he hadn’t actually been saying anything when Kevin strolled up to them but there was no way that she was going to let Kevin know that. The second that he had draped an arm over her like he owned her she had seen red.
Thinking quickly Chris tried to come up with something to say. He knew what she was doing and he found himself wanting to applaud her. “Um, just that you should put some ice on that when you get back to the hotel.” He said lamely but at least he had been able to come up with something.
“I will thank you.” She said and smiled at him beatifically. Again she found her hand touching her face but she didn’t even really register it. She knew that Kevin was only standing a few steps behind her, he hadn’t listened to her at all ... he hadn’t gone to his car but she wasn’t surprised by that. He wasn’t the kind of guy who was used to someone, least of all a woman, telling him what to do. “So I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” She added finally as she began to walk away from him.
Resisting the urge to just reach out and grab her to stop her from going off with Nash Chris instead just nodded his head. “Yep, you better believe it baby.” He said saucily and then winking at her he took off for his car.
“*Now* are you ready to go?” Kevin asked pointedly as he stood there looking at her with an arched brow. He could not believe that she had made him wait like that. Yeah it had only been a matter of seconds but still ... she had made him wait! Who the hell did she think she was?
Smiling at the obviously frustrated man standing in front of her Lenny nodded. “Well yes I am Kev.” She said in a very buddy buddy tone. “Let’s go get something to eat. Suddenly I’m starved.” She said and moving around him she headed for her car. |
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