Driven To Decide
Kalli McMahon’s eyes were locked on the screen.
There was Matt.
His ‘Live for the Moment’ shirt hanging loosely from his body as he bent over in front of him, one leg upon it, doing up his boots as Amy Dumas... She broke off, Lita, in this particular instance, hovered behind him, trying to appease with soothing words and an ‘I love you.’
But Matt Hardy did not reply. He didn’t look up, he didn’t move toward her. It was almost as though he had not heard at all...
Until she turned to walk away.
“Oh you love me, huh?”
“Yes.”
“I guess you’re just trying to say that to make me feel bad for not talking to you...”
The words were entirely scripted, Kalli could tell...
But there was emotion behind his eyes when he neared the camera that was sincere. To those who didn’t know him well, Matt Hardy had just cut a perfectly good little promo. To Kalli... He was a hurt and desperate man, still trying desperately to prove it was Krissy he wanted to be with. His eyes looked tired, he looked hurt...
And though she ached for him, Kalli McMahon knew all to well that she could do nothing for him. Not anymore.
“Just like the Hardy Boys and Lita, me and you, we’re breaking up!!!”
The door slammed shut and Kalli nearly shuddered. She had dreaded the break up of the Hardy Boys since they had come to the WWF. Not because she didn’t want them to pursue single careers and become more than just a Tag Team, but because, above all else, Kalli McMahon was a dedicated Hardy Boys fan. She loved the two together, she loved everything about them... The excitement, the desire they and dedication they brought to the ring. Everything from their backstage promos to Poetry In Motion, she was a fan to her very core. She always had been.
And like much of the WWF watching world, she couldn’t help but feel that disappointment, that hurt, that it was all coming crashing to an end.
As Lita leant, Amy trying desperately to cry against the door, Kalli sighed. She knew her friend would have been worried about this promo. Not just because it called for more acting than Amy really thought she was capable of, but because it struck a little too close to home.
It was hard for Amy. Being so near someone she loved all the time, being his girlfriend in the eyes of fans the world over, and in truth, meaning little to him.
Kalli had a bit of an idea how that felt now.
That Monday Night with Matt... She had felt like his everything. For those few hours their entire lives revolved around each other.
And in the morning he had walked away like she didn’t matter a damn.
It confused the hell out of her. Because just a few days ago when she had been leaving the country, he had near enough asked her to stay...
That last kiss between them still lingered on her lips when all she wanted was to push it away.
“Lita...”
Jeff’s gentle voice filled the television and Kalli’s attentions were suddenly very much back on the screen before her.
The moment his arms slipped around Lita, his face so supportive, his fingers creeping into her hair as he held her...
Kalli McMahon ached.
She wanted to be the one in his arms. She missed it, craved it even, and there he was... A perfect image of the kind of moment she had shared with Jeff Hardy over and over again throughout the years. Except for Kalli and Jeff, it wasn’t a storyline, it wasn’t a segment that would be forgotten inside a month...
It was all real. Like everything else between them...
Except loyalty.
Her loyalty had been the only lie.
She sighed, her eyes still locked on the screen. If she could have paused Raw right there and stared at the picture before her all night, she would have. Because as she looked at it, she could pretend it was her. That was the girl in Jeff’s arms again.
“Are you okay?” Heidi asked from where she sat in the arm chair across the room.
Kalli had nearly forgotten she was there, “Yeah. I’m good,” though her eyes were still locked on the picture.
But the picture faded away and eventually Matt head down to the ring, waiting, an angry scowl seemingly permanently written onto his face.
It was more than just the phone call from Krissy that alerted her to the truth behind that look right now. Everything about Matt, the way he stood, the way he walked. Matt Hardy was angry. Matt Hardy was angry... Legit.
When Jeff and Lita appeared, heading down to the ring, Kalli’s breath almost caught in her throat. She didn’t want to see this, she didn’t want to know what happened next, suddenly very grateful she had not subjected herself to WWF Vengeance for the same reason she felt so uncomfortable now.
She never wanted to see Matt and Jeff fight.
When they stepped up to each other in the ring, the McMahon Heiress grimaced. She wish they knew exactly what they were saying to each other, but she could see, right there with her own eyes, that Matt and Jeff Hardy were about to explode.
When Matt stepped forward, shoving Lita out of the way, Kalli took one long, sharp deep breath...
And after that, she wasn’t sure when she breathed again.
The way the two brothers threw each other around the ring horrified her, and though she knew the storyline would have called for a complete breakdown between The Hardy Boys, this was something else. To the trained eye, some of those punches were connecting a lot more than they should have, those kicks, everything...
For what she was sure was the millionth time, tears filled Kalli McMahon’s eyes, and so transfixed was she on the picture before her that she did nothing to fight them, letting them come without restraint.
Matt and Jeff Hardy really were at war.
Krissy could blame the both of them as much as she wanted, but deep down Kalli knew...
She was the one who had caused this.
Lita climbed the turnbuckle, leaping forward to Hurricanrana Matt and Kalli looked away, unable to see the TV any longer past the blur of the tears in her eyes. Her head fell into her hands and she knew...
She had caused this...
And Krissy was right.
She had to go home.
“Oh, Kalli,” The girl wasn’t aware her sister had moved from her arm chair to sit beside her on the sofa until her arms moved around her. “Please don’t cry.”
But cry Kalli did.
She cried through the last of the match, she cried through Ric Flair’s backstage segment with Lance Storm after it, she cried beyond Lance Storm Vs Big Show...
It was nearly the end of Raw when the tears started to ease.
“Honey?” Heidi whispered when her sister looked up, her sad eyes locked on her face, dread, but guilt-laden determination on her face. Confused by the look Heidi asked, “What is it?”
Krissy breathed a sigh of relief. "You don't have to. Once you watch it, I know you'll be on the first plane home. If there's one thing I still know about you, Kalli, it's that you won't let this happen without a fight."
Krissy knew.
That was why Kalli hated her next words with a passion she could derive for nothing else anymore.
“I have to go.”
Not sure what Kalli was talking about Heidi asked softly, “You have to go?”
And Kalli nodded. “I have to go back.”
Heidi’s face fell. She wasn’t sure how good an idea that was... But the look in her sister’s eye told her that though reluctant, her mind was made up. She sighed, and though part of her longed for a way out of the entire situation, she whispered, “Then I’ll book us the next flight out.”
The McMahon Heiress shook her head, “You don’t have to...”
“I want to.” Heidi grinned, “Besides, someone has gotta keep you out of trouble.” She got up, moving over to the phone, “I’ll organize it now.”
Kalli watched her go.
“Besides, someone has gotta keep you out of trouble.”
Was that even possible anymore?
~ The End ~