Jaylynn zipped up her duffel bag slowly,
not really in that much of a hurry to leave the arena. The only thing
she was going to would be a lonely hotel room.
"Jaylynn, can we talk?" a soft voice
asked. Jaylynn looked up and nodded to Angela, noting that the girl's
usual smile was missing form her face. "I just wanted to know if you
are upset that I'm seeing Shane Helms?" Angel asked as she sat down
next to her friend.
"Why would I be upset?" Jaylynn asked.
"I know that you have feelings for him. That much is obvious. I don't
know if you two had a thing or.." Angela explained but Jaylynn cut her
off. "We didn't have a thing. There never was a thing and there never
will be a thing. We are just friends." Jaylynn told her in a monotone
voice.
"I just wanted to make sure that nothing
would come between our friendship." Angela told her. Jaylynn finally
glanced over at the girl and noticed the concerned look in her eyes.
Jaylynn smiled, hoping that it looked sincere. "Really. I'm okay with
it. We are still cool." she said.
"Do you want to go grab a drink with
us?" Angela asked. Jaylynn shook her head. "No thanks. I'm in a hurry
to get back to the hotel. I'll catch you later though, okay?" Jaylynn
said, shooting the girl another smile before walking away.
***
Jaylynn let herself into her apartment
the next day, glad to Finally be home. Well, home as it could be.
Dropping her bags into a pile on the
floor, she crossed to the answering machine that was flickering.
Pressing play, she waited for it to play by flipping through important
mail.
"Hey Jaylynn, it's Stephanie. Sorry that
I didn't catch you after Smackdown, but you know how it is. I was just
calling to check on you. Call me."
"Jaylynn, it's Jeff. Maybe we should
talk. Ok, I know we should talk. So, call me and maybe we can meet up
and, uh, talk."
"Hey Jay, this is your favorite Adam.
Just calling to say hi. So, call me back and tell me what a dork I
am."
"Hi Jaylynn, it's Kali. Shannon and I
will be in Cameron over break, and we wanted to have a barbeque. So if
you're around, and I know you will be, give us a call. We want you to
come."
The machine gave one long beep to signal
that there were no more messages. Jaylynn grabbed her laundry bag and
went to work on putting off calling everyone back until later that
night.
***
Jaylynn slid her sunglasses on as she
pulled into Shannon's long driveway. There were already a number of
cars there and Jaylynn considered turning around and speeding back
home. But she had promised Kali that she would be here.
"Everyone is worried about you. Just
make an appearance so that we can all see that you are ok. You never
know, you might have fun." Kali had said and Jaylynn had reluctantly
agree'd.
Jaylynn stepped out of her car and she
could hear laughter coming from the back so she slowly made her way in
that direction. She wore black capri's that hid the bruises that
remained on her legs. She wore a red tank top, but makeup disguised
the fading bruises. Her brown hair was down shadowing her face enough
to hide the trace bruise there.
Jaylynn rounded the corner and saw her
friends gathered in the yard. Amy was lounging by the pool with Matt
and another girl that she didn't recognize. Jeff was standing by the
grill, motioning madly as he talked to Shannon. Kali was talking
quietly to Shane Helms at a picnic table.
Kali smiled and went over to greet her
friend. "Hey, glad you came. I wasn't sure if you would show up or
not." "I told you I would. What's gong on?" Jaylynn asked.
"oh, nothing. Why don't we go join Amy,
Matt and Michelle." Kali said. "Don't you think I should say hi to
Shannon? He is the other host of this party." Jaylynn grinned.
"No. I mean, he's having a talk with
Jeff. Plus, you should meet Amy's cousin Michelle." Kali urged. "Ok.
I'll go over. But go back to your conversation with Helms. I can find
my way to the pool." Jaylynn teased.
"No. Shane and I are done talking. He
got my point." Kali said. Jaylynn shrugged and followed Kali,
wondering what she was hiding from her.