“Party of two?” The hostess questioned, looking back and forth between Randy and Tania.

“Yes, thank you.” Randy smiled. He looked over as Tania seemed to be straightening out her blouse again. He had long since lost track of how many times she had done it. As the hostess grabbed two menus, Randy and Tania followed close behind to an empty booth.

When she moved aside, Tania slipped inside. “This place is nice.”

“Quiet, too.”

“Another good thing.” Watching the waiter now make his way over, Tania realized how hungry she actually was.

“Can I get you two something to drink?” Glancing at his nametag, Tania noticed that his name was Rick. Something she always did. From personal experience, she knew how much being a waiter sucked at times. Taking the time to pay attention to their name and use it was always something that they appreciated.

Opening the one flap of the menu, Randy searched over the choices. “Ah, two drafts will work.” He glanced up to see if the order was alright with Tania. When she didn’t’ say anything, Randy nodded to the waiter. “You okay Tan?”

“Course.” She wondered if Randy was somehow able to read her. See that she was obviously confused about something. “Can I ask why Adam can’t stand Shane?”

Randy shrugged. “I’m not sure. Sad thing is, I guess they used to be pretty good friends. Were at each other’s weddings. No one really knows what happened, one day the just showed up hating each other.”

“That’s sad, really.” Now she was more concerned about her position. Was she going to be in the middle of a fight between Shane and Adam? “Must have been something serious.”

“You’d assume so.” Randy often wondered himself. Right now, though, he wanted to know more about Tania. “Why work here? With the company?”

“I’m not sure. It was only supposed to be a temp job for the summer. Something to gain a little extra cash. The only criteria I had for it was that it was a physical job to keep me in shape. Somehow a summer became longer.”

“What did you plan on doing?” Randy inquired before thanking the waiter as he set their drinks down. “If the job with the company was only meant to be temporary.”

Tania hesitated for a moment. “I, uh, wanted to go back to school. Get something a little better than a bachelor’s in Visual Arts.”

“You’re an artist?”

He seemed so surprised. “I guess you could call me that. It was something I just tended to do to keep myself amused. After high school, it seemed like the logical choice.”

“I think that’s awesome.”

“Yeah…” It hadn’t got here anywhere though. No job, no career and no money. Which, of course, was why she had taken the job with the WWE.

Randy took a drink, then watched Tania for a moment. “What were you going for?”

Her eyebrows arched. “…Art.”

“No, no.” Randy corrected himself. “I meant when you said you wanted to go back. After the summer job.” Randy was curious what it was she actually wanted to do.

“Oh. Para Medicine.”

“Really?” Tania nodded. “That’s amazing. Hard job to do emotionally. Why haven’t you gone yet?”

Tania hated this discussion. No one understood her reasons. “I, uh, haven’t gone through the screening process yet. For some reason I bail out last minute.”

“You’ll do it when you’re ready.” Tania smiled in hearing Randy’s words. He was the first person to actually just leave it at that as opposed to telling her to grow up. Stop being so damn pathetic and do something with her life, not just let it waste away.

---

“Where were you?” Adam questioned the moment Jay stepped back into the locker room.

“Looking for someone, that’s all.” He hoped that Adam wouldn’t press the subject, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to come up with a believable answer.

Hesitating for a moment, Adam gave a small nod. “I’ve got a huge favour to ask of you Jay, friend to friend.”

“Yeah? What’s that?” Jay was a little leery as to what the favour was actually going to be. Adam could be very unpredictable, and if it had anything to do with the events that had happened already then Jay would be in some serious trouble.

“Next Monday, I want you to try and distract Shane for me.”

Jay frowned. “If it has something to do with Tania, my answer is no.” He refused to get involved. Tania was too nice a girl for him to hurt. “Also, whatever you have planned, I’d rethink it. Is this really worth it? Is she worth it?”

“Oh yeah.” Adam assured. “It’s completely worth it.

---

“I have to admit, I’ve found you to be completely opposite than what I would have thought.” Tania admitted as she took a bite of her steak. It was something she had noticed the first time she had met Randy, and for some reason felt the need to say.

“Let me guess,” Randy smiled, “you figured me to be some cocky, arrogant son of a bitch?”

Those were pretty much the words that she had intended to use. “You’re a complete opposite though. I like that.” Definitely a change from some of her coworkers. “Makes for good conversation.”

“It does.” Winking at Tania, he filled his fork with salad. “So is always being away a big hassle for you? Especially when it comes to family and boyfriends?” Randy knew it was fairly easy for him, his family had grown up knowing the way the business was. His father spent more time away than home. Not only that, but anytime that he wanted to head home all he had to do was jump on a plane. Money wasn’t that big of an issue in that sense. Someone on the crew though, probably didn’t have it so easy.

“I don’t need to be around my family that much. I mean, I call them all the time, but me being away doesn’t make that much of an impact.” Tania didn’t see it as that big of a deal. They had never been a family that was dependent on one another. “And with that being said, I haven’t bothered much with relationships since I finished school. You?”

“I can go home if I want but my family understands what the job is like. Talking in terms of relationships, I don’t worry too much. My career is what is most important to me right now, while I’m still young and in remarkable shape.”

“Shame.” Tania laughed. “We could have been a cute couple.”

“Sickeningly cute.” Randy added with a little laugh, enjoying the little jokes they seemed to be able to have with one another. “Definitely a shame.”

Tania nodded in agreement. “Though, if someone were to come along with an ass I’d probably leave you.”

“Once again there you go with shooting down my ego.” Randy feigned the hurt of the comment. “I’ll make you a deal, next time I’m at the gym I’ll make extra sure to work on toning by rear for you. Work those muscles for all they are worth.”

“Sounds fair. Maybe you should even think about asking Dave what he does to keep his in such great shape.”

“You were looking at Dave’s too?” Randy couldn’t help but erupt into laughter. The woman sitting in front of him was just as bad as a man. “I think I might have to tell him that one.”

Shrugging, Tania went back to her meal. If Randy thought she would get embarrassed over it then he was sadly mistaking. “Go ahead. In fact, I double dare you to.”

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