"So when are you going to stop shying away and tell him already?" Kaitlyn asked as Zara looked up and asked, "Huh?"
"Zack."
"Oh.. Yeah, I can see that going really, really well for me. Hey, Zack, you know that anon twitter account? It's me. The locker room joke." Zara muttered as she bit her nails, wincing as once again, he took a literal beating in the ring. She hated the way they kept purposely throwing him into matches with guys and making him come out the loser.
He was better than that. Zara had always thought so.
"You're not the locker room joke, Z." Kaitlyn said as she studied her friend intently, wondering what was on her mind lately, because she'd been more than a little distant.
"K, don't. You and I both know it's a lie." Zara muttered as she turned on her heel and walked out of the room. She loved her best friend, but when it came to seeing the reality of things, Kaitlyn just didn't sometimes. Zara knew she wasn't as pretty as the others, and she didn't have the "Look" that McMahon and the higher ups were looking for.
Hell, she was just happy to even get the little airtime she did get. Little did she realize that all that was just about to change, and it would all happen because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The blonde walked down the hallway as Jack Swagger stood idly nearby, and watched her. He noticed her stop walking, turn around and he smirked, gave a curt nod.
She returned the gesture with a middle finger and then slunk off.
"Bitch." he muttered as he fell into step behind her, grabbed her wrist and stopped her in her tracks.
"What, Jack, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not into you or whatever propaganda you and that idiot Coulter are pushing, so get lost." Zara said as she looked at him and then snatched her wrist away.
Zeb stepped out, smirked and said calmly, "You're lucky. Jack here.. Well, he likes you.. And the All American American, Jack Swagger, is going straight to the top. Wants to take you with him."
Zara looked from Zeb to Jack, then back and started to laugh as she asked, "Whoa, wait.. Have you two been hitting a bong or something? I mean your slogan is weed the people.." as she bit her lip, falling silent.
Her mama always used to say, 'Z, cherie, one day, that mouth of yours, it's gonna land you straight in the middle of downtown shit city.' And from the look on Jack's face, the creepy look in his eyes, she had to guess that time was now, apparently.
She didn't think, she just slid her heels off and ran as fast as she could, sliding around the corner barefoot, crashing directly into and on top of Zack Ryder.
"Whoa, broskette.."
"My bad, it's just.. Swagger.." Zara muttered, going shy like she always did around Zack, then mentally kicking herself for behaving like such a baby right now.
It's not like he'd ever notice her, he had Eve, the prettiest girl on the roster. No need in her getting all nervous and shaken, right?
"Swagger did what?" Zack asked, as he studied the quiet blonde intently, easily getting lost in the wide brown eyes, just like he somehow always managed to when he saw her with Kaitlyn and AJ backstage.
The guys were always picking on him for it, but she was hot. And the good thing about her was she had no clue just how hot she really was to some of them. She mostly kept to herself, tended to get really jumpy with one or more man in the room, and over half the time, she'd shut down and just not talk to any of them.
One of the guys told him once it was because her father was a bastard, and she was actually afraid of men in general,some more than others. Zack had the feeling that the story wasn't entirely false.
"Nothing, its'.. I'm probably just being paranoid." Zara mumbled as she realized they were still lying on the ground the way they were. She sprang up, still feeling the heat as it'd radiated off of his skin. She held out her hand and said quietly, "It's the least I can do, if I hadn't ran into you you wouldn't have fallen."
Zack sprang up, letting her think she'd pulled him up a little and then before he could repeat his question, he realized she'd walked away, or rather,she'd ran away.
"Story of my life." he muttered as he watched her go. Moments later, Swagger walked by then stopped and asked him dismissively, "Did you see Zara walk by? I need to talk to her." as Zack rolled his eyes then said "Whatever you did freaked her out, Jackass." as he shrugged.
For some reason, he decided NOT to tell Jack that Zara just ran down the hall and into the empty room at the end.
Zara sat on the floor in front of the door in the darkened room, her head on her knees as she bit her lip, tried to get the memories Jack's little ambush just now stirred up from her childhood.
Because if she could help it, she did not think about what'd happened to her when she was 15. It made her sick.
The door got knocked on, and Zack called out from the other side, "You alright, broskette?"
"Fine, really." Zara called back as she composed herself, stood and pulled the door open, just in time for the camera to pan in on them standing close to each other. She bit her lip and whispered, "This can't be good." as Zack realized the cameras caught them in a slightly compromising position, her standing in the doorway, and him standing just outside of it as if he intended on going in.
"Might not be a bad thing, though." Zack said as he saw Jack Swagger glaring at a monitor from the open door of the men's locker room. Zack shot him a smirk and then turned back to Zara as he smiled and then said "Maybe he'll leave you alone." before turning and starting to walk away.
Zara watched him walking off, and bit her lip, sighing. Somehow, she got the feeling that by tomorrow, or even the end of the show tonight, McMahon would be finding some way to twist this, and making Zack regret she'd knocked him down in the hallway just now, making him regret helping her or even talking to her, being that she was the locker room loser.
Zack turned and was about to walk back, tell her something, but Jack stepped out and then snarled, "She's gonna be mine you fucking loser."
"Oh really?" Zack asked, hiding a laugh as he studied the man and then burst into laughter before saying, "Sorry, it's just.. Something tells me you wouldn't know what to do with a woman if you had one."
Jack swung and Zack ducked and then came up swinging himself as he got in a left hook that connected with Jack's nose, sending blood spraying everywhere.
Down the hallway, in the girls locker room, Kaitlyn and AJ looked at one another and then said quietly, "Something tells me that Zara just got herself in the middle of something, whether she wanted to or not."
"Did you hear them just now though? And did you see the way Zack was looking at her, AJ?"
"I did. I think it's time we played Cupid.. For both of their own good. I mean Kofi told me Zack has the cutest crush on her."
"And she's had a crush on him for a while now." Kaitlyn said as Natalya spoke up from behind them to say, "Yeah, well, according to Eve's latest tweet, she's saying that she wants Zack back. Even said she's coming back."
Kaitlyn and AJ groaned as they looked at one another and then said "She does this to her sister on purpose, doesn't she?"
"Yeah. And I say we do everything we can to stop her plans." Natalya said as she smirked mischeviously.
