Becomes You

Her feet gave flight to a thousand things; as Terri raced down the halls in search of the woman's locker room, she practiced what she would tell Jackie..something about meeting a new, exciting man who had swept her heart away in a dashing, entirely splendorific manner...

She stopped dead in her tracks at the women's locker room. A flurry of embarrassed arms and legs righted themselves, and two sheepish faces surfaced from a mass of tangled limbs.

"Oh dear," She told the wall, "I'm so sorry..."

Dustin brushed the collar of his coat back into place and tried to capture Terri's eyes as he said, "No problem, Ter.." It wasn't an apology, but it shouldn't have been.

Why wasn't she accustomed to the sight of Dustin and Jackie canoodling yet?

Terri understood the finality of change in her relationship with Dustin. Love still existed between them, but it had mellowed from passion to friendship. There had been no infidelity, no easy-way-out for either of them; his relationship with Jackie was brand new.

Yet pain prickled the corner of her heart as Dustin left the room with a friendly pat to her back.

Jackie's smile was awkward as she buttoned her baseball jacket up. "Wanna grab dinner?"

Terri nodded, "McDonalds? I'll settle for anything."

Jackie grabbed her duffel and then her best friend's hand, "Let's go."

***

The roadside McDonalds they selected proved both peacefully sedate and near closing time at this particular hour. Selecting salads and bottled water, they settled down to a table in the non-smoking section and began a course of light conversation.

Jackie mentioned a book she had seen in the duty-free shop in Fresno; Terri remembered hearing about a series of house show cards Jackie had been booked into, and Jackie groaned her frustration at working the bottom of the card in "women's freak show" matches. Dakota naturally entered the conversation. After concluding a long, complicated retelling of Dakotah's latest riding lesson, she saw a gap in the conversation and decided to fill it with her juicy tale.

"Were you watching the monitor during Kane's promo tonight?"

"Oh yeah!" Jackie smirked, her voice bright, "He looked like a pretty good kisser...is he?"

Terri frowned, "Aww, I thought you were busy getting ready for your match with Trish while we were taping those promos..."

"Trish uses television as a form of therapy," Jackie sipped at her water with a lazy smirk, "She says Kane's a great kisser."

Terri laughed, "Oh, like you couldn't tell already!"

Jackie laughed, then studied her best friend's expression, "There's something else going on. What is it?"

Terri tilted her head, a smile evident on her features, "Well.."

"Come on, tell me!"

The blonde laughed, then said, "Kane and I are going to meet tomorrow, to talk about our 'relationship'." God help her, she actually used finger quotes.

Jackie grinned, "Well, the two of you have been flirting for months. I'm not shocked."

Sheepishness crawled over Terri's soul, "I thought we were the only people who noticed that."

"Honey, it's all over the locker room," She laughed, "Everyone already thinks you're screwing."

Death would have been preferable to Terri at that moment. She squirmed in embarrassment, and Jackie's wicked giggle penetrated her humiliation.

"Don't be nervy, Ter," She smiled, "We're all pulling for you."

Terri laughed, swallowing her angst with a gulp of water, "Thank you." She didn't really know if she meant it.

***

Jackie, like Dustin and Booker, had a room at the Sheraton; Terri walked her friend to the hotel, then crossed the street to claim her room at the Holiday Inn. Attempting stealth, she used a back entrance, resisting the idea of using the hotel's courtyard as an entrance. A few fans, nonetheless, captured her in an elevator. Pressing her for hugs and pictures, she patently ignored the grabby hands that tried to claim her as personal property.

When she managed an escape, her room became a haven; the shower, a sanctuary. Emerging in an oversized tee-shirt she slumped to her bed in the purest display of relief.

Surprisingly, sleep would not arrive; an hour of tossing beneath the covers finally provoked Terri into rolling over and grabbing the room's remote control. Infomercials greeted her.

Dissatisfied, she rose to her feet and strolled over to a side window, opening it to allow a cross breeze of cool air. Her room overlooked the hotel's room; unseasonably warm outside, the gate guarding it had gone unlocked.

Her eyes widened when they fell upon the pool's cool blue surface.

Kane stroked through the warm blue water, his backstroke graceful and effortless. She studied him for a long, satisfying moment; the cut of his arms, abs and back beguiling her from afar. He couldn't see her, and she couldn't quite tell if he wore a swimsuit. She knew, only, that water clung to his form like a familiar. Odd to her mind; fire was his elemental, after all.

He surfaced suddenly, leaping out of the pool and toweling himself off with his own jeans. She noticed that he wore a pair of soaking-wet briefs; even through the distance, they left nothing to the imagination. He leapt into his jeans, then, like a cat, vaulted over the spindly iron gate and padded along the sidewalk to his hotel.

Terri slipped the blinds shut, somewhat rattled by what she had just seen. She lay down to analyze her feelings, but images of Oxy Clean seemed to drain her focus, lulling her from frustration to sleep.

Only upon waking would she realize that he had been wearing his mask during his night swim.


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