Chapter 11
Leila smoothed some flyaway hairs back into her ponytail as she walked quickly down the hallway, her heels clicking on the tiled floor. She had wanted to talk to Jeff about what had happened a few nights earlier at the club; she hadn’t seen him since then and when she had woken up he was gone.
Leila walked into the locker room where they’d be cutting the promo. No one was there yet and she took a seat on the wooden bench and crossed her legs, smoothing the short black skirt she was wearing.
She looked up as she watched Jeff walk into the room, in his full wrestling attire. She felt her cheeks turn red at seeing him, knowing what she had done at the club. Although it was blurry, she remembered parts of it clearly.
“Hey,” Jeff said, sitting next to her as he noticed her red cheeks.
“Hi,” Leila replied, not looking up.
Jeff let his eyes check her out as he admired the short black skirt and leather knee high boots she was wearing. He adjusted the hat he was wearing awkwardly as he hoped the crew would show up soon.
“I’m really sorry about the other night,” Leila apologized through the discomfort, “I usually don’t drink, and I…”
“It’s cool, don’t worry about it,” Jeff interrupted, grinning at her as she smiled quickly back at him.
“Thanks,” she whispered, staring into his green eyes. Although she was drunk didn’t mean she didn’t remember their kiss, or kisses, and she remembered how much she enjoyed them.
Leila turned her attention from Jeff as the cameraman walked in. Jeff greeted him and he quickly introduced himself to Leila. They ran over the script one more time before deciding to tape it.
“Ok, action,” the camera man, Will, said as he focused the camera.
Leila stood in front of the mirror like she was scripted to. She felt her heart pounding, wanting her first promo to go perfect. She heard the door close and turned around on cue, and smiled as Jeff walked in.
“Hey,” Leila said, “how are you feeling after last Monday?”
“I’m feeling a lot better,” Jeff replied his lines, “I actually wanted to thank you for coming into the ring and everything.”
“It was nothing,” Leila smiled, letting her hand run down his arm like she was told to do, “I was just glad you were ok.”
“Well, I appreciated it,” Jeff said getting closer, “I guess I’ll see you out there tonight.”
“I guess you will,” Leila replied with a smirk, “good luck against Chuck and Billy.”
She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, which had been added to the script 2 days earlier and whispered, “for good luck.”
Jeff winked at her as he exited the room, the camera following him and then Will called cut. Leila sighed as it was over. Her first promo and it only took one take. Jeff walked back into the room with his hands in his pockets and a smirk on his face.
“Is that all you needed?” Jeff asked Will.
“Yeah, that was great,” Will said adjusting something on the camera, “the 2 of you have a lot of chemistry. I think this is going to be a really believable relationship.”
“I guess that’s what we’re aiming for,” Leila laughed as she looked at Jeff quickly.
“We definitely have a believable one,” Jeff replied with a quick wink in her direction.
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Leila walked around the ring slowly as the crowd waited for Raw to come back from commercial break. She looked up at the titantron as they showed Jeff’s land the week earlier; then she smiled as she saw herself on the titantron as Jeff walked in from earlier. The crowd went wild as they watched it and Leila couldn’t help but think of what a couple she and Jeff made on that screen.
Leila listened to the crowd erupt as she was used to as the Hardys’ music hit and they appeared on the stage with Lita. She introduced them loudly as they jogged down the ramp and slid in. As scripted, Jeff slid into the ring and winked and smiled at Leila, obvious to the crowd.
Leila returned a flirty smile as she knew the camera was focused on her face. As Chuck and Billy’s cut off the Hardys’ music she introduced the tag team champions as they walked down the ramp and climbed into the ring.
Chuck towered over Leila as he walked towards her and yelled something about her being bias during this match. Rolling her eyes she climbed out of the ring and made her way to her usual seat. Watching the match with interest, she felt her palms getting sweaty, knowing she would play a key role in the next few minutes.
She watched as Jeff climbed to the top rope again, holding her breath she watched the swanton onto Billy and Jeff roll over for a pin. Leila let out her breath realizing Jeff came out unharmed. She watched as the referee slammed his hand against the mat 3 times, then the bell was rung and the Hardys’ music played.
“And the winner of the match,” Leila announced over the screaming audience, “The Hardy Boyz!”
Leila stepped back as she watched Chuck walking over towards her, she prayed she wouldn’t mess up.
“Little bitch!” Chuck screamed, pointing his finger at her as Leila held up her hands and tried to apologize.
Her eyes went wide as Chuck grabbed her by her ponytail and tried to drag her into the ring as Leila begged for him to let her go. She waited for Jeff to hit him from behind, which was the next part of the script and felt like forever.
She felt Chuck let go of her hair and she fell to the floor, like it said in the script as she watched Jeff punch Chuck until more refs came out to break them up. Jeff slowly walked over to Leila where he helped her up, and Leila forgot about everyone around them as she stared at his smile, not sure if it was genuine or just because of the script.
The crowd went crazy as Leila leaned over towards Jeff and whispered a quick thank you in his ear. He gave her a quick pat on the shoulder before following his brother and Lita up the ramp and backstage.
Leila tried to hide a smile as she climbed back into the ring, ready to announce the next match. Her first in-ring promo went awesome!
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Leila stepped backstage as Raw went off the air, exhausted and happy. With surprise, she noticed Jeff standing feet away, with his hands in his pockets. Noticing her come backstage, he walked over to her and enveloped her into a hug, which she didn’t resist.
“Congratulations,” Jeff said as he pulled away, “that was a great show.”
“Thanks,” Leila replied awkwardly.
“Jeff, Leila, just the two people I wanted to see!” a booming voice said behind them.
“Mr. McMahon,” Leila answered, turning around surprised, “how are you?”
Leila felt her heart racing and her mouth become dry. What if he was there to tell her how bad she had been?
“I just wanted to congratulate you both on a show well done,” he answered, “and let you both know that I thought the crowd was really responding to you two and we’re going to move the kiss up to the next Raw.”
“Are you sure?” Jeff asked, looking over at Leila who was playing nervously with a ring on her finger.
“Absolutely,” Mr. McMahon responded.
“How’s it gonna happen?” Leila asked, trying to get her voice out.
“In the ring after Jeff’s match, we’re not too sure about details yet,” he explained, “but it will be a pretty passionate kiss. We want to see how much of a response you get; it shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll see you two later.”
“Not a problem,” Leila repeated softly as she watched the older man leave.
“Next week,” Leila said turning to Jeff awkwardly, “I guess we’ll have to see when we get the scripts.”
“Are you comfortable with this?” Jeff asked.
“I guess I don’t have a choice,” Leila shrugged as she walked off, “besides, we’ve kissed before.”
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chapter 12
chapter 10