Chapter 7
Two months passed by. I never knew that touring around the country could be so fun. Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games what with all the last minute glitches that I literally had to deal with. But that was me—I love any challenge. Houston, Rochester, LA, New Orleans—so many cities that I have never been to before. I rarely got any day off, just like the WWF superstars themselves. After two hard months, I’d welcome a short vacation anytime.
It was my job to know everybody in the crew and every wrestler. I became close to everyone in the business—especially Jeff himself. Whenever he has time, he’d always talk to me, even though I’m giving orders almost simultaneously. It still seemed strange to me somehow that I’m practically his sister or something. That’s how close we’d gotten. And everybody was beginning to notice it.
That night, we were in Miami. Everybody backstage was busy. I could hear the enormous crowd screaming as The Rock came out on RAW and was doing his talking. I crossed out his name and was scanning what would be next when Stacey walked over to me.
“Hey,” she said. I looked up.
“Oh, hi, Stace,” I greeted back. “What’s up?”
“I should be asking you that,” she said with a smile. I was confused all of a sudden.
“Oh, me? Everything’s been hectic and fun,” I admitted.
“How’s Jeff?” she asked. I wondered why she’d ask me that question.
I shrugged. “He’s OK,” I replied. “Why do you ask?”
“Oh, nothing. I heard that you guys have become close.”
“Yeah. What’s wrong with that?”
She patted me on the arm. “Nothing. Jeff’s a great kid, and you’re lucky,” she said as she walked away.
“What do you mean by that?” I called out to her back.
“Lots of girls would die to be in your position, you know that?” she said over her shoulder with a grin.
It wasn’t over. I got more attention than I expected. Surprisingly, so did Jeff.
“She’s cute, man,” I heard Chris Jericho say. “In an exotic fashion.”
“Don’t you like her?” Jason asked later. He was talking to Jeff in his dressing room before their match. I wasn’t eavesdropping—I accidentally overheard them.
“Sure I do, but not the way you think,” I heard Jeff reply.
“Oh, come on, you guys have totally hit it off. Aren’t you gonna take your relationship with her to the next level?” Adam prodded.
“Get real, Adam,” Jeff snapped. I walked away.
Later, when the show was over, I was called to Vivian’s office. I learned there that I was gonna get my four days of well-deserved day off and my payroll, of course. I packed up and was just going back to my hotel room when I bumped into Mr. Hardy himself.
“Hey,” I greeted him.
“How’s everything?” he asked, his eyes on me.
“You wouldn’t believe this, but, everyone I passed by tonight had something to say about us,” I answered as we walked outside the arena.
“I know,” he said. “I mean, what could be so wrong for a man and a woman to be as inseparable as carrots and peas?” he wondered. I laughed.
“That’s one way of putting it.” I said, punching him lightly on the arm. “I guess I’m not gonna be seeing you for a while,” I added excitedly.
“You got it?” he asked.
“Yeah! Four days and my second payroll!” I hooted and gave him a bear hug.
“That’s great!” he said with enthusiasm, hugging me back. He pulled back and held me by the shoulders. “Guess what? I got it too!” We hugged again.
“Hey, Jeff!” someone called out. We pulled away and turned to look. It was a snickering Chris Jericho. “Do mine eyes have seen the ultimate?” he wondered in a high-pitched voice.
“Oh, come on, Chris. We were just talking about our day off,” Jeff pointed out. I pitched in.
“Honestly, we’re just two excited people because we have a few days off.”
“Whatever you say,” he said, his eyes sparkling and walked away.