Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or real people depicted in this story. The characters belong to WWE, and the people own themselves. Pretty tame story, so read to your heart's content.
A/N: I was talking with Carly last month around Christmas, and this story popped into my head, so I'm writing it down. It takes place around Christmas, and for the story's purpose, AJ is single. That's all you need to know going in. I hope you enjoy it, and please review and let me know if I should continue it or not. Thanks. :)
Dolph nearly ran up the steps to his parents' house, his suitcase dragging behind him. The air was so frigid, and no matter how many years he'd lived here, no matter how many times he visited, the cold still stabbed at him like it hated him. It was like he was just born to be in warmer climates, which made living in Phoenix ideal. He stopped at the front door, knocking loudly because he didn't want to dig around for his keys. The door swung open and he saw his younger brother on the other side.
Dolph nearly pushed his brother out of the way to get inside, stomping his feet to rid them of the snow they accumulated from the space between his rental and the front door. Ryan scowled at his brother, but then looked behind him. "Hey, where's your girlfriend?"
"My what?" Dolph turned to him in question, wondering what his brother was even going on about.
"Your girlfriend, you know, the girl who is more than your friend."
"I have no idea who you're talking about," Dolph shook his head. "I haven't had a girlfriend this year, which is kind of depressing now that I think about it, the year is almost over, it's almost 2014, and I spent 2013 without a girlfriend."
"Wow, talk about droughts," Ryan said.
"Hey, I never said that," Dolph pointed at him, smirking a little bit. Ryan rolled his eyes at his brother's antics. He was not going to pry and ask whom he might have slept with; there were just some things he didn't need to know about his brother's love life. "Wait, who did you think was my girlfriend? Lauren? Because we're just friends."
"No, AJ," Ryan said like it should have been obvious.
Dolph's eyes widened considerably, but only very briefly before his face went blank, "What? Um, bro, you do know the difference between storylines and real life, don't you? Because if you don't, I'm not sure the wrestling business is for you."
"Really? Wow, now I find out, it only took me 29 years, but thanks," he said sarcastically, making a face at his brother. "I thought you two were together."
"Yeah, no," Dolph said, walking into the house. "Where is everyone? I thought everyone would be here when I got in."
"Of course, of course, because you've got to be the center of attention, the one that everyone greets with a hero's welcome, right? God, bro, get off the high horse every once in a while."
"I thought there would a parade, I was looking forward to sitting on top of the float," he said, "but seriously, where is everyone?"
"Um, Mom and Dad are at some Christmas party thing with one of their friends, Donny is at his place, and so it's just you and me, and well, I thought it was going to be you and me and AJ, but I guess not."
Dolph just scoffed, "I don't know why you even thought that, I've never given any indication that I was with her. We were together for a storyline, now we're not together in that storyline, so we're back to being coworkers."
"Really? You're just back to being coworkers?" Ryan said.
"Yup, so I'm going to go put my things upstairs in my room, and we'll order in a pizza or something, I'm starving," Dolph said, "I grabbed a burrito before leaving this morning, but haven't had anything since. Can you order?"
"Yeah, sure," Ryan said, walking into the kitchen as Dolph went to the front door where his suitcase was sitting.
Ryan was very confused. He really, honestly thought AJ and his brother were dating. He wasn't the only one either. His mother thought it too, saying that she was hoping Dolph was bringing her for Christmas because she hadn't seen her since Raw was last in Cleveland. Everyone just thought they were trying to hide it for now because it was probably new. That was why nobody brought it up at Thanksgiving even though everyone kept hinting about it. His dumbass brother apparently didn't pick up on any of the hints.
Whenever he talked to Dolph, the subject of AJ always came up, even if they weren't discussing anything wrestling-related. Something would just remind Dolph of a story about AJ or they'd talk about something and his brother would comment on how much AJ liked or disliked it. Now his brother was denying ever having feelings for AJ when it was pretty clear his brother had a lot of them, and none of them seemed friendly.
He went into the kitchen to order the pizza, still thinking about how his brother had to be lying. There was no way he didn't have feelings for AJ. This was just Dolph being Dolph though. When he was around women he liked, he lost his cool. He became shy, awkward, and he could just imagine him trying to act aloof around AJ and completely failing. His brother just wasn't smooth when it came to women he actually wanted to be with, he'd seen it a million times growing up. Some women found it endearing.
"Did you order?" Dolph said, coming into the kitchen and seeing his brother just standing there. "Are you kidding? You're just standing there and you couldn't order?"
"You were gone like a second!" Ryan said, grabbing the phone and dialing the pizza number his parents kept on the fridge just for occasions like this. He ordered the pizza as he watched his brother grab a water from the fridge and take a few chugs of it. "Okay, ordered, one for you, one for me, and all the leftovers for mom and dad."
"Great," Dolph said.
"So AJ really isn't your girlfriend?"
"No! How many times do I have to say it, she's not my girlfriend, she's never been my girlfriend, alright? We're just friends, we're close now, but that's what happens when you have your tongue in someone's mouth for the majority of a year," he said, "she's one of my best friends."
"Best friends? That's not something you toss around a lot."
"Because I don't have that many, but she is, she's great," Dolph shrugged carelessly. "I mean, she's really funny, and she can keep up with me, which is great, it's good to have someone like that, that I can travel with and stuff."
"Yeah, but isn't that what you've always said you wanted in a woman?"
"So? Doesn't mean I don't want it in friends," Dolph shrugged, taking another sip of his water. He looked at his brother, who was just staring straight back at him. "What?"
"So you mean to tell me, if AJ came in here right now, confessed her love for you, was like, 'Oh, Nick, I'm so in love with you!'" Ryan flounced his arms around and batted his eyelashes exaggeratedly, "you would honestly turn her down? Really?"
"Well, if she came here saying all that, I'm not going to turn her down because she's beautiful, but she's not my girlfriend, get over it," Dolph told him, but Ryan thought he was putting up some kind of front. He couldn't understand why his brother wouldn't make a move. AJ wasn't going to stay single forever, and she could do a lot worse than his brother.
"Mmhmm," Ryan folded his arms.
"You're so weird," Dolph shook his head. "I didn't come home to get interrogated. Where's your girlfriend? Oh, wait, you don't have one either. So you should just shut your mouth about things you don't know."
"Awfully angry about something that isn't a big deal," Ryan pointed out.
"I'm going to take a shower before the pizza gets here, I'll pay, just take what you need out of my wallet," Dolph grabbed his wallet and his phone from his back pocket and placed them on the counter. "I need to get this plane grime off me."
"Okay," Ryan said, watching as his brother disappeared from sight. He glanced over at the wallet and phone sitting on the counter, and a very bad idea came to his brain. Oh, it was very bad, and he really shouldn't, he really, really shouldn't. It wouldn't be a good idea to do what he was thinking. It wouldn't be a good idea at all. Yet, there it was, sticking in his brain, urging him forward. He walked out of the room a little and could hear the water just starting to run.
He walked back into the kitchen and at the phone sitting there innocently in its pink case. His brother loved pink as much as Ryan loved sharks. It was almost a sickness with him. If he picked it up, it wouldn't be hurting anyone, would it? No, of course not, he would put it back where it was. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands. It wouldn't hurt to see if his brother still used the same passcode on this he did on everything else, would it? He was just curious to see if his brother was as predictable as he'd always been.
He punched in the four digit number that corresponded with his brother's first televised match, 1024, and the phone unlocked. Ryan gave a small chuckle, his brother never really changed, and now that his phone was unlocked, it wouldn't hurt to just look at his contacts. It wasn't like he was going to spy on his brother's texts or something, he was better than that. He would never stoop that low. Sticking his head out of the kitchen, he heard the shower still running and was glad his brother still took insanely long showers.
He went to his brother's contacts and scrolled to the start of the M's, figuring that he'd put AJ's full name so it would be under Mendez. He slowly went through the M's, rolling his eyes at how many numbers his brother had in his phone. There was no way he talked to all these people. He went from Mellon to Mendoza, and there was no Mendez to be found. That was weird. Did he not have AJ in his phone? Maybe she was under Lee for some reason. He scrolled back up to the L's, but there was no AJ Lee there. Then he thought maybe she would be under just AJ, so he went back up to the A's, and nope, no AJ there either.
He was shocked that AJ wouldn't be in his phone. He was so sure they were close, but he didn't have her number? That was like big time nowadays, having someone's phone number meant something. Maybe he just missed it in the M's. He scrolled back down to the M's, and he looked through the names again. His thumb slipped a little and went to the N's when he saw it. He scoffed as he read it, My Little AJ. She was in his phone as "My Little AJ."
"Pfft, not in love with her, yeah fucking right," Ryan muttered to himself. He knew he was right, he knew he was right all along. His brother was completely crazy about AJ, and he just didn't want to admit it because he actually liked her and this is what he did, he waffled around forever until finally working up the courage to ask her out, but how long would that take, and would AJ even be single if that happened? She was a gorgeous girl, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that there were a lot of guys who would do anything to be with her. If his brother didn't make a move, he might lose his shot.
He didn't want that to happen. He knew that AJ made his brother happy. He'd hung out with her a number of times when he was still with WWE. His brother would come to visit him in Tampa, and without fail, Dolph would somehow fit AJ into their time together. He saw the way his brother looked at her when she wasn't looking, he saw the way she laughed at everything he said. Ryan saw it all, and he couldn't believe his brother wasn't with her when Ryan had never seen him happier than talking with her, and boy did they get lost in their own world when they talked. Sometimes he felt uncomfortable and very third wheel when they got lost in each other.
So…if his brother wasn't going to do anything, maybe he could…
Without thinking (because thinking would only make him changes his mind), he went to his brother's messages and without fail, his little AJ was one of the last people he was texting with. He spied because he was a horrible human being, and his brother was an idiot. The last thing they talked about was traveling together for the holiday tour, but they were doing so with Big E. Ryan rolled his eyes, leave it to his brother to have the chance to be alone with AJ, but muck it up by inviting someone else. Well, he was going to fix that…and fix his brother.
Hey, me again, what do you say we ride alone?
The shower was off now when he listened, but he had a few minutes, his brother would have to look impeccable and probably blow-dry…yup, there went the blow dryer. Um, okay, sure. The reply came quickly. I guess I'll tell E to get his own ride?
I'm sure he can ride with someone, I really want to be alone with you.
You do, but why?
Because I really like you.
Oh yeah, Dolph was going to kill him.