As he stood by the bar ordering his second beer for the night, Chris eyed his assortment of friends. Matt and Stacy were still on the dance floor, the tall blonde woman laughing throatily at something her boyfriend had said. Jay and Trish were at the table with their drinks and some food. The petite blonde was smiling as she fed her fellow Canadian some chicken fingers and mozzerella sticks. Amy was on the dance floor with Jeff, and the two of them appeared almost to be the center of attention, as both were great dancers and were really "gettin' jiggy with it." And finally, also at the table sat Adam and Stephanie. The two of them seemed, at least for the moment, the odd ones out, and they were making conversation and nursing drinks of their own.
From where he stood, Jericho had a perfect view of Stephanie's face. A sudden impulse coming to him, he raised his free hand to wave, hoping to capture the brunette's attention. He succeeded. As the young woman made eye contact with him, her pretty face brightening with a smile, Chris made a gesture, pointing at Adam.
After a few seconds, he noticed Steph speaking to the tall blond, her eyes going back to him. And then Adam glanced over his shoulder at him.
Chris made a "come here" gesture, and the tall Canadian slid out away from the table, bringing his beer with him.
"Hey, Chris...what's up?"
The other blond gave him a small, sly smile. "Err...not too much...I just wanted to talk to you for a minute."
"What about?" Adam asked as he laid his stein down on the bar. He wondered what his friend was up to and assumed it had something to do with Stephanie.
"Real simple, Junior," Chris quipped after a swallow of his beverage. "Do you have any interest in anyone at the moment?"
Adam was taken aback. "Why do you ask?" Fleetingly, he wondered if Chris had noticed him talking with Stephanie at the table and if the shorter man thought he was interested in her.
"I'm just wondering is all..."
The tall Canadian raised an eyebrow, not buying into such a response. "No, seriously, Chris...why do you ask?"
The older man allowed his gaze to travel across the club to Amy ever so briefly - a short enough time to ensure that his friend would never be any the wiser. He was taking a big risk here, as he'd promised the redhead he wouldn't breathe a word to the tall man about her feelings for him.
"Well...I really am just wondering, Adam...that's all there is to it."
"Is this about Stephanie?" the lanky blond questioned. "Because I really was just making friendly conversation...why would I want to risk Paul Levesque's wrath?" he emphasized.
Chris rolled his eyes, getting impatient with his friend. "Would you please just answer my question already, Junior?"
"Well...yeah," Adam finally replied. He ran a hand through his long hair, noting the way Jericho's eyebrows quirked upward for a second. Then, the man's lips curled into a smile.
"Okay...now, here's the really hard part," the smaller blond quipped. "Who is this lucky lady?"
Adam stared at his friend suspiciously, again wondering what the typically smart aleck man was up to. Could it perhaps be that Chris was also interested in someone, and this was his way of making sure they weren't hot for the same girl? With Jericho, he could never be sure. The man was his friend, but at the same time, he could be extremely secretive and mysterious - and a bit mischievous as well.
"It's okay to tell me, Adam...I won't say a word," Jericho promised. The smile was still present on his face, but the right corner of his lip arched a bit more.
The tall blond remained silent for a beat longer, then chanced a glance over his shoulder toward the dance floor. He smiled at how happy Amy looked as she continued to dance with the colorful-haired Hardy Boy.
"It's Amy, isn't it?"
Adam whipped his head back toward Chris, surprised. "How did you...?"
"Aw, come on, give me a little credit," the other man quipped. "It's so obvious by the way you look at her."
The taller blond was silent for a moment as he glanced down at his beer. Then, "You're not going to say anything to her, are you?" In truth, he wouldn't really mind it if Jericho did, but he really felt it was his place to tell Amy how he felt about her.
"Nah, I won't do that," the older man replied. "But why haven't you told her?"
"Well..." Adam again raked his hand through his hair. "...just a little nervous, I guess."
Chris stared at him for a long moment in silence as he considered the situation and his options - there were so little of them, given his promise to Amy. He grinned as an idea suddenly struck him.
"Would you like to let her know how you feel without actually having the words leave your mouth?"
The tall blond cocked his head to one side, his eyebrow arched as he regarded his friend suspiciously.
*
Amy returned to the table and sat down across from Stephanie, who was now there alone, as Jay and Trish had gotten up to dance a few minutes earlier. The brunette seemed a little out of place, and maybe even a bit lonely as she sipped on a glass of sherry.
"So, Steph," the redhead began, "how are things going?"
"Oh, okay...I guess..." The brunette met the other woman's eyes briefly, and Amy could tell that she was lying.
"Well, you seem to be enjoying this current storyling with Chris."
"Yeah, I really am," Stephanie said, a small smile touching her lips. After another quick sip of her beverage, she continued. "I'm having a lot of fun working with him, you know? I haven't been enjoying my storylines for awhile, but this one is a blast." Her voice was full of enthusiasm, and the redhead noticed her facial expression matched. "Chris is a lot of fun, and...well, I guess I'm feeling a little sad that it's all going to be coming to an end soon..."
Vince, rather than his daughter, was in charge of the current angle going on between his daughter, the Undisputed champion and Triple H. When this story had begun, Chris had come up with the idea of Stephanie's "pregnancy" being as a result of an affair with him - since the brunette was being placed with him, anyway - but that had been prompty shot down in flames. As it turned out, the "pregnancy" was decided to be a lie so Stephanie could hold onto her disgruntled husband. On top of all this, Mr. McMahon had emphatically stated that the end of March was going to signify a lot of changes, the end of several things - and a "new beginning" of sorts - whatever that meant.
As the brunette continued talking about Chris, Amy suddenly realized something - Stephanie really liked him. And if her instincts were correct, she liked him a lot. Judging from the way she spoke of Paul Levesque, the young woman wasn't all that thrilled with her boyfriend - but when she spoke of Jericho... Amy bit her lip as Stephanie began speaking of the upcoming WrestleMania, an idea taking shape in her mind.