Points of View: September
Rock
I don�t know how it ever happened. It just did. It wasn�t my fault, really. But then again, I can�t really blame her, can I? She didn�t do anything. Much. She had looked at me with those sad, tear-filled eyes, and I was hers. Well, not exactly.
On his way to the hotel after a big night, she ran straight into him, and tumbled into the middle of the street. Right in front of an on-coming vehicle. Rock managed to grab her and pull her away just in time, and she walked away from him without even a �thank you�. Somewhat annoyed, he chased after her, and was stunned to realise that he had just saved Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley�s life.
�You!�
�Leave me alone,� she mumbled, avoiding looking at him.
Irritated, Rock made her look at him, but suddenly wished that he hadn�t. Her face was pale and tear-streaked, and her eyes red and filled with obvious anguish. This was something new. �Are�are you okay?�
�Why didn�t you just leave me to get hit?� she asked bitterly, before wrenching her face from his grasp and striding away.
He didn�t want to know what had happened, and she was certainly the very last person he ever wanted to get involved with. But Rock knew that he couldn�t just leave her wandering around the city in her state. Telling himself that it was because he wouldn�t be able to handle Linda McMahon�s grief at having lost her daughter, he reluctantly followed her.
And so began the story. Our story. Mine and Stephanie�s.
I comforted her, I cheered her up, I made her smile, and laugh. I began to like her, then to respect her. I fell in love with her.
I know that I should never have let myself get to the point where I suddenly realise that I can�t see myself living without her, but I have not only reached that point, I flew past it at a hundred kilometres per hour.
It�s not her fault that I love her. She didn�t twist my arm, demanding that I fall in love with her. All she did was kiss me softly on the cheek, murmured �Thank you, and goodbye�, and I was hers. It�s not her fault that I dream of her every night, that I pray for her every day, that I wish she was mine every hour. It�s not her fault that my life is suddenly empty without her soft smile and gentle laughs.
We had just been friends before, but not anymore. And I refuse to take full blame for that. After all, it wasn�t me who had whispered, �I love you�.
Chris
I love her. I do. And that�s why it hurts so much that it�s not me she smiles shyly at anymore when she thinks nobody is looking. But I�m looking. I�m always watching her. I guess it became a habit when she became the owner of ECW. Suddenly surrounded by a locker room full of guys I didn�t really know, I watched her every move, listened to her every word for any sign that she was the kind of person I called her on national TV every week.
Maybe I asked too many questions? Maybe I got a little too jealous? Maybe I got a little too demanding? Maybe I didn�t care enough? Or maybe she knows�
Stephanie is a woman like no other, and thus must be treated as such. I�m not saying that she gets preferential treatment, just�different.
The whole thing happened suddenly, but almost undetectably. She called me the night after� She had called me one night, saying she was �unable to make it�. A headache, or stomach ache, or some other forgettable illness. And in my guilt I had agreed readily, not even questioning her choice. It was only later that I realised that had been the first time Stephanie cancelled on me of her own will.
That first call soon became one of many.
But it wasn�t only the numerous �unable to make it� calls. There was a sudden detachment in her behaviour towards me, and when I questioned her it was always �nothing�. Ever since that first call we have had only a handful of nights together. Ever since that first call, we have never spent a night in the same bed.
I think she knows. But I can�t ask. I won�t. Mainly because I�m too afraid of her answer.
I don�t want to lose Stephanie. That�s why I�m so confused � and furious � at why I did what I did. An accident? A momentary lapse of sanity? A sudden weakness in the heat of the moment?
Fact � I did do it. Fact � I can�t take it back. Fact � I am losing her.
Conclusion � she knows.
Stephanie
Chris and I have been together since he first entered the Federation. The whole Andrew-thing, he tolerated, mainly because Andrew was a friend who was �looking after� me. But the whole Hunter-thing is completely different story.
Chris had been furious by my plan, and for awhile I feared that maybe I was going to lose him. I would never have gone through the plan if Chris had made the ultimatum. He never did. After a few days, he calmed down enough to tell me that he supported me for the time being. That support continued. Until the whole Hunter-vs-Chris-thing.
I�m surprised he managed to stick around that long. But their whole feud eased quickly soon after the Last Man Standing match. I refused to let myself ever be placed into that kind of situation again, and so I had begged Hunter to just let Chris be. He grudgingly agreed.
But I think it had been that whole Kurt-thing that was finally the last straw for Chris. I didn�t even like Kurt. But, after that, things started to change slightly for us. He became a lot more interested in other women. I�d like to believe that he never actually slept with any of them.
Well, that was until the one night I had walked in on him.
That was the night that changed me, and my life. A door had slammed in my face, but another had appeared in it�s place. Chris�for Rocky.
Chris likes to think that I�m unlike any woman he�s ever met before. What he doesn�t realise is a woman scorned is still a woman scorned. But I couldn�t hurt him back. Things were already changing for the both of us, though I doubt he realised that. Slowly, we were both going our separate ways.
That same night, Rocky had saved my life. Literally, and figuratively. It took me little while to finally admit that I actually liked and respected him enough to call him �friend�. After you got to know him and all, of course. Sweet, considerate, thoughtful, funny, understanding. He was a lot like Chris, but also the complete opposite of him in many ways.
It took me a lot less time to fall in love with him.
Hunter
I watch the two of them, and wonder if they realise how much they are hurting her. I realise that it�s not really either of their faults. You heart chooses whom it loves, not the other way around. I found that out the hard way, and I�m still trying to get over it.
They�re fighting over her. It always comes down to her. It�s always about her. In a way, I don�t blame either of them. But there is just something about her that draws the wrong kinds of guys to her.
Stephanie thinks I don�t know, but I know a lot more than she realises. I know a whole lot more than I care to know.
First, Jericho. That proud, verbose, inconsiderate, arrogant, egotistical, overrated blonde asshole. Then, Rock. That proud, verbose, inconsiderate, arrogant, egotistical, overrated non-blonde asshole.
Those two guys are more alike than they care to admit. I wonder if that�s what Stephanie found most attractive about them? That they are so similar? But I have to give her more credit than that. She�s certainly smarter than that.
And she also deserves a whole lot more than either of them. Jericho, then Rock.
What the hell does she see in either of those guys?
