"Oh my god, girl, there you are!" Carmella beamed as she sat down.
"Was I supposed to be somewhere else?" Tabitha raised her eyebrows as she looked up from her breakfast plate.
"Yeah!" Carmella grinned. "In Jeff's room."

As calmly as possible Tabitha put her fork down, folded her hands in front of her and looked at the other woman.

"And why on earth would I be in his room of all places?" She asked.
"Because you left the bar with him last night," Carmella rolled her eyes. "Duh! Obviously."
"I can assure you I left on my own just as I slept in my own room alone," Tabitha said.
"Not according to the rumour mill this morning," Carmella bit her lip and leaned forward. "So, was he any good? Come on, you can tell me."
"Seriously Carmella, I haven't been with Jeff. Who the fuck is spreading this rumour?" Tabitha asked a bit angry.
"I heard it from Dean," Carmella answered.

In a second Tabitha's bit of anger turned into a full blown anger.

"Of course," she sneered. "Dean. Fucking Dean Ambrose. Always count on him to stir up things."

As if he had been summoned by a magic spell, Dean entered the room to get breakfast too. He was full on grinning at Seth who was walking next to him and Tabitha could only imagine what story he was currently telling since Seth hadn't been with them at the bar the night before. She got up from her chair and strode towards him angrily.

"Ambrose!" She spat loudly in anger.

The entire room went silent and all eyes were on her. Dean's grin didn't fade at all. If anything, it grew even wider.

"What is it, sunshine?" He asked.
"Why the fuck are you spreading lies about me?" She asked.
"Not lies, sunshine. I saw you leave with him and you two looked rather cozy," he answered.
"Really?" She put her hands on her sides. "You know damn well Jeff left 30 minutes before me. The same 30 minutes you spent trying to convince me to go back with you. So your pride got hurt by me turning you down and you decided to make up rumours about me? I never had high thoughts about you to begin with but I at least thought you were better than that."
"Come on!" He held out his hands and tried with one of his goofy smiles.
"This is exactly why I turned you down, asshole! And exactly why you could never get me into your bed!" She said loudly.

Before he could fire back at her, she was out of the room. Seth and Dean made their way to a table in the corner where they could talk in peace.

"Dude, really?" Seth asked.
"Come on, it was just for fun," Dean said.
"Seriously?" Seth looked at his friend. "Don't go around ruining people's reputation like that. You know how these things spread on social medias."
"I'm counting on it," Dean grinned.
"Really?" Seth shook his head.
"She should have gone back with me," Dean crossed his arms and stared at Seth. "Are we getting breakfast or not?"
"No thanks, I lost my appetite," Seth got up and left.

Tabitha stepped out of the elevator and walked straight towards a door and pounded away on it. It took a couple of minutes to wake up the sleeping man inside but finally she was greeted with a yawning Jeff Hardy with messy hair and only wearing a pair of boxers.

"Tabitha?" He looked at her confused. "What are you doing here?"
"There's a rumour about us going around. I just wanted to let you know before you hear it from anyone else," she answered.
"Please, come in," he said.

He stepped aside and she stepped into his room. His suitcase was open and his items were spread around the room. Messy as she had always pictured his rooms to be.

"What rumour?" He asked as he sat back down on the bed.
"After you left last night, Dean came on to me strong. I turned him down but that apparently didn't fly well with him. He's been spreading lies about us leaving together all morning," she said.
"That's it?" He asked.
"That's it? What do you mean that's it?" She looked at him confused. "If this thing gets out..."
"It's already out," he cut her off. "Half the roster gladly spreads these rumours as soon as they hear them and if he's had all morning to do so, you know it's already out."

She sniffled a little and turned her head to the ceiling, trying her hardest not to break down and cry on the spot. Although her and Jeff were friends, they weren't that close. Not that she didn't want to be close with him and he seemed to appreciate her friendship a great deal too, but that particular line had never been crossed. They were always smiling and goofing around each other.

"Hey," she felt his hand in hers.

He pulled her in between his legs, locked his arms around her thighs and looked up at her.

"How do you wanna do this?" He asked.
"I don't know," she answered.
"We can try shooting down the rumour but you know it'll never go away, or..." He smirked secretly.
"Or?" She asked.
"Or we can pretend it's true. We start travelling together, rooming together, holding hands in public, basically make people so sick of us that they don't even care to talk about us anymore," he said.

She looked at him with wonder in her eyes. Could they really do such a thing? It had never crossed her mind to actually turn the rumour into truth. Well, sort of. It would be a lie but no one would know.

"Dean's gonna lose his shit totally if he sees his stupid rumour made us realize we had feelings for each other all along and it helped us become an item," he said.

Dean was gonna lose it? That was all she needed.

"I'm in," she said.
"Cool," he grinned from ear to ear.
"But we're getting rooms with single beds," she said.
"Yeah, sure thing. It's not like we actually have to sleep together. We just need everyone else to think we do," he said.
"Gosh, we're dancing with the devil here, aren't we?" She asked nervously.
"But it's gonna be so much fun," he moved his head forward and gave her stomach a tickling kiss that made her giggle. "Ticklish much, my little sugar plum?"
"Sugar plum?" She laughed.
"I have to have a cute pet name for you now," he winked.