1. Chapter 1 (1/1)

matt hardy was sitting on a bench backstage tweeting on his blackberry. as he was, he let out a soft chuckle at the message he just received. coming from the other end of the hall, the wwe divas champion, alicia fox came out of the women's dressing room,

ushing out her attire.

the burgundy beauty was wearing a strap-less black dress, which ended mid-thigh and black peep-toe heels. moving her thick waves from her eyes, she looked up. as she did, she smiled at how she saw. it was matt.smiling softly, alicia walked over towards him. "hey matt" she said, leaning over, tapping his arm to get his attention. when he looked up, a smile spread across his face. "hey, what's up?" he said as his

own eyes twinkling."nothing, i just was getting ready for my promo, and i saw you here" alicia smiled, before taking a seat down next to him."oh? in that?" matt chuckled, noticing her dress. which showed off a lot. alicia looked down at her out, before smirking. "i know, it's my new heel attire" she said."what have you been up to?" alicia asked, taking a peek at his phone. he leaned away from her, giving her a small pout.

"nothing, don't you have a promo to do?" he asked. alicia smirked, before carefully slipping off the crate. "i have to go, i'll see you later?" she said, standing infront of him as she opened her arms.he smiled softly, before giving her a tight squeeze."good luck out there" he said, and she blushed. "thanks, and by the way, maria said she wants to talk to you later on" she said, making her way to the entrance. "call her or something!" she said, before disappearing.matt watched her leave, before turning around. `maria' he thought, leaning back against the cold wall. as he did, he began thinking about her. over the past few weeks, he and maria have grown closer since they were put in that mixed tag team match.

matt turned back to his phone, before sending a message he had previously been writing.*next friday*maria gasped, feeling the strong muscle of natalya's bicep connect hard with her jaw. she was knocked for a loop, falling to the mat.

ight lights and stars danced around in vision, her temples aching mildly. trying to regain composure, maria hadn't realized that matt and the great khali were battling with the hart dynasty outside the ring. or that she had just gotten pinned by natalya.the ring bell sounded loudly as 'new foundation' played loudly throughout the arena, making boos and chants erupt around the arena. maria rolled over onto her side, her vision clear enough to where she could the smug look on natalya's face, and watched the canadian walk away with david and tyson.

feeling her emotions drop to the bottom of her stomach, the chicago native slowly began to push herself up from her elbow, her azure eyes looking around as the music died out. her bottom lip began trembling as she carefully stood to her feet.the audience began chanting her name, 'ria' as it repeated around the universe.maria carefully slid herself from the ring, avoiding everybody. matt watched her, trying to catch his

eath. "ria-"he started, but she shoved her hands through her ruby locks, not wanting to talk.as she did, she began walking up the ramp, guilt filling her entire body.*backstage*gail kim was sitting backstage, along with eve. giggling at a joke amy said, gail began typing things into her phone. "is that a message from evannnn-" eve teased, stretching over to steal a glance.gail squealed, hopping off of the crate. "back away" she giggled. "i wanna see!" eve said, trying to take the phone. they both stopped as maria walked by, her eyes getting ready to spill entirely."maria-"eve started, seeing her. maria stopped, looking down at her silver boots. "you alright?" gail asked. maria looked back towards them, trying her hardest not to cry as she flashed them somewhat of a smile. "i'm fine" she said."are you sure?" eve asked, seeing her discomfort."i'm fine" she repeated, before continuing to walk. both divas watched her leave, before sharing a look with each other.at that moment, a very tired matt made his way by, stopping as well. "hey girls, have you seen maria?" he asked, taking in deep

eaths. eve pouted, before saying,"yeah, she just walked down that corridor" she said. "what's going on?" gail asked. matt looked down for a moment, before running a hand back through his hair."nothing, just something i need to take care of" he said, before smiling. "see you around" he said, before jogging in the direction they pointed to. eve gave gail another look, before crossing her arms. "maria!"the redhead stopped, turning around to see who was calling her. as she did, she felt her eyes sting as she saw it was matt. "matt-"she started, not really wanting to talk. matt sighed, and grabbed her arm when she went to walk away. he rolled his eyes when he realized that they were now on the titantron."enough with this losing stuff, just talk to me, communicate, let me know where you head is" he explained, cutting her off every times he went to protest."i really, i really don't wanna talk about it; i mean, it's one thing for me to lose by myself-i've lost a million time by myself" she said. "it's okay" he tried to reason."but another to lose with everybody else, and to lose for people i care about" maria sighed, her emotions taking over once more. matt placed his hands on her small shoulders, getting her attention to listen to him. "look, maria," he started, shushing her gently."enough with this losing nonsense" he started, and she dropped her shoulders. "look, look at me; i've lost matches, i've won matches-it doesn't change the type of person you are in her" he said, pointing to her heart."and you're an awesome, awesome person" matt said, seeing dread in her azure eyes. "maria look, no one is perfect, but when i look at your face, i see something very close to perfect" he said gently, her eyes shimmering softly.after all that had been said, he gently

ushed her ruby waves from her eyes, making her look at him. matt touched her chin softly, before closing his eyes. maria sighed, feeling reassurance inside. something she hadn't felt in a long time. maria closed her eyes again, before leaning forward."whoa-wait a minute!" a voice said. maria rolled her eyes, before turning around. as she did, she spotted none other than michelle mccool and layla. layla smirked, tossing her hair over her shoulder as he did. michelle crossed her arms, smirking as well.maria stared into the cold eyes of michelle, once her best friend. that same woman who caused her so much stress, to where she sit up and cry at night. the images of michelle smiling, giving her hug replayed in her mind, cut off by michelle attacking her after the match,

utally attacking her. that was when maria felt like she had nobody."somebody needs to get a room!" they both said together, taunting them. "oooh it's hot in here!" layla said. maria bit down on her tongue, tempting to smack that little troll's grin off her face."that's just because we walked in-i mean, do you seriously think it'd be these two 'losers' in love?" michelle mocked, giving matt a bitchy eye roll. "losers? uh-huh, love? i don't see it "layla said as well, looking around as if trying to spot something."that's because of old, loose lips over here" michelle, looking away as she pointed over her shoulder towards maria. "please, please" maria said, not caring if these skanks heard them or not."seriously, matt if i was you-i wouldn't kiss on those lips!" layla grinned, pointed towards maria. "you might get the coodies!" lay-cool snickered together, while layla made gagging noises."why is it that neither of you can make a relationship last?" michelle asked. maria raised a

ow, knowing that she was talking about dolph and santino. matt only smirked, knowing that she was talking about his failed relationship with lita and ashley. "or win a match?" layla added, leaning closer."that's a good point" michelle started. "i mean seriously-what's wrong with you two?" lay-cool asked together, pouting. maria fumed, not taking this anymore."i don't know! what wrong with you two!" maria said, stepping forward. as she did the redhead popped her arms between both of them, violently shoving them aside. she didn't even care what they said, but walked off, tears now pouring from her eyes.layla stumbled over in her heels, almost falling if michelle hadn't grabbed her arm.matt sighed, biting down on his bottom lips. as lay-cool began making choking noises, he stepped forward, towering over them at least by four inches, especially layla. michelle backed up a little, maybe regretting what she had just said.he looked back and forth between both women, before shaking his head."children" he started."would you please, grow up?" he said. layla and michelle's jaw dropped, not believing what he had just said. ignoring them, matt pushed past them was well, before walking off in the same direction."maria!" he called after her.the chicago native kept walking, not wanting to be seen at the moment. everybody she ever knew always made fun of her; talking behind her back. at that moment, she didn't care about matt, didn't care about her friends, nor did she care about the wwe.