Something to Believe In

CH 7: Idiots

  Since we're already there, Michelle decides to head over to Lay-Cool's locker room and get ready for the show. It's only a few hours away. Personally, I'm glad for the reprieve. As much as I love her, being around Michelle is draining right now. I'm not particularly in the mood to go back to the hotel, either, so I find myself in catering, hours before anyone else. It's quiet and peaceful, which is how I end up zoning out. I've got my iPod on shuffle, earbuds in, and I'm staring at the inside of my eyelids. It's nice.

Until someone else sits down beside me, that is. My first thought is that it's probably Michelle. I open my eyes to check, and nope. It's not Michelle. I sigh and pull the earbuds out. "Hardy."

"Punk," he says.

I look around. We're the only ones in the entire room. I raise my eyebrows at him. "Fancy meeting you here."

He shifts his weight and meets my gaze. "Yeah, imagine that." He indicates the earbuds. "What are you listening to?"

I make a face. "Really? Did you come over here to ask me that?" But at his reminder, I shut the iPod off.

Hardy sighs. "Sorry." He's still not saying anything.

"Hardy," I say, and he looks at me. "I'm not sure what you want from me. You must have had a reason for coming over here."

He gives me a pained smile. "Yeah. I'm just..." Hardy shakes his head. "I don't even know."

"If you're going to ask me how she is..."

"I wasn't," he assures me.

"I'll tell you anyway. She's heartbroken."

"She's not the only one," Hardy says. "And I think I've got more of a right to be hurt than she does."

"I do not want to be in the middle of it," I tell him. "You can work your issues out with Michelle." I pick up the earbuds, intending to replace them so I can turn the music back on.

"She betrayed me,"' he says.

"Contrary to what you may think," I say, "she actually loves you. You're the idiot that walked away from her."

His lips compress, and I can see the anger on his face. "Well, good for her. Maybe next time, she'll think before she messes with someone." I expect him to storm off, but he doesn't. I have no idea what he wants from me, and I'm not about to find out, either, since Michelle picks that moment to walk into catering. I can see from the look on her face that she caught at least some of that. She moves stiffly to the table and stops beside me.

"Hey, sweetie," she says, and at first, I think she's talking to him, but then she adds, "Matt," with a curt nod. And then, the does the unthinkable. She leans down and kisses me. I'm so stunned, I can't even get a word out. "Thanks for letting me stay over last night."

Hardy pushes away from the table, his face red. Oh, God. I stare up at him. Despite what he'd just been saying, I can see pain in his eyes. I want to shake her. "I see," he says. His fists are clenched and he's staring at the pair of us. "Punk..." His jaw works, and then he turns away. "I don't think she does." And then he's striding away from us, as fast as he can go.

When I look up at her, she's staring after him. "What the hell was that?" I demand.

She finally tears her gaze away from the door. "What?"

For the first time since our friendship started, I wish I could walk away. "That wasn't acceptable, McCool. I don't want to get in another damned fight because of you."

"What do you mean, another fight?" she demands. "You make it sound like I'm dragging you into fights, left and right."

"Lately? It feels like it." I stand up.

"Where are you going now?"

"I've got to go see the doc, so he can look at my back, thanks to your friends at the bar last night." In truth, I just want out of there. My back's not all that sore, and I know it'll be fine for tonight.

"Oh. Uh, I'll see you later, then?"

"Yeah." I head for the door, tucking my iPod into my pocket. There's nowhere for me to go but the locker room or the doctor's office. I'm halfway to the doctor's office when Hardy catches up with me.

"Punk," he says.

"Look, Hardy," I say, "whatever you're thinking, don't. I'm not involved with your girlfriend."

"Ex," he mutters bitterly.

"Whatever."

"It doesn't matter," he says. "Because you know what? I've moved on. You can have her."

I smirk. "Yeah, okay. I'm buying that. Maybe if you hadn't stormed out of catering, looking like you wanted to kill me..."

Hardy sighs. "It's making me crazy," he says. "I put everything into that relationship, Punk. I was fully invested."

"And yet you walked away."

He looks frustrated. "She betrayed me."

"She made a stupid bet with her friend that she realized was a mistake almost instantly."

"Glad to know where I ranked with her," he says, still bitter. "As a mistake." I whap him in the head, which causes him to glare at me. "Punk," he growls.

"The bet was the mistake, you idiot. Not you. Why do you think she and Layla were fighting? We thought it was a joke at first, but after they had that girl's weekend, she confessed to me that she was falling for you. She's a mopey pain in the ass without you, and a less mopey pain in the ass with you." We're at the door to the doctor's office. I turn to him. "Maybe you should go and apologize to her, and make her less insufferable for the rest of us."

"Apologize?" he asks, incredulous. "I didn't do anything to her!"

"Except walk away," I say. "And face it; she's a woman. They're always right, so you may as well just get it over with."