John left Maria to be with Mickie, and the two become bitter enemies. But John still has locked away feelings, and Maria wants nothing to do with him. Or so she thought...

Chapter 1-Hurt

It was a cool October night at the BTI Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. Everyone on the Raw roster was rushing around in order to prepare for Raw. Everyone, except a certain diva who believed she had too much history to get the job done with a certain superstar.

"I don't want to a do a scripted romance with him!" Maria complained to Triple H and Shawn Michaels along with Trish Stratus. The three were backstage, trying to soothe Maria. "Vince knew that we just broke up, and he's gonna do THIS?" Maria sighed out of frustration and started to pace, running a hand through her red curly locks.

"Maybe he didn't know" Trish offered.

"Please," Maria scoffed at Trish with a quirked brow. "Stephanie knew we were together. She probably called up daddy with this brilliant idea…" Maria sarcastically remarked. "I feel like I'm going to be sick." Maria raked her fingers through her hair again, tussling it off to the left side of her head, then ran her hand down her face and brushed it across her neck.

"Why don't you just suck it up?" Paul suggested. Trish punched him in the arm. "What?" He asked incredulous as Maria managed a growl at him. "These things normally don't last too long. Just get it over with and don't pay too much attention to him."

"But that's not it." Shawn interfered before Maria could bite his head off. "It's not that fact that she just has to work with him. It's the fact that they have to ask like they did when they were dating but with the knowledge of what John did to her." Paul glared at him.

"I'm still in idle shock" Maria started to rant off emotions that she's held for a long time. "He left me for Mickie. She's so skanky. It's like he slapped me in the face. I had to see him on her like that, and I had to be told, the 'I don't love you anymore.'" Maria's voice cracked at the end of her sentence and she shook her head. "Two months ago today" she muttered to herself, "That's the most hurtful man I've ever encountered, and I never want to see his ass again!" Maria exclaimed, pointing to the open door to get her point across.

"So basically," said Shawn, "You don't want to work with him, because you hate him."

Maria nodded in affirmation.

"Or," HBK continued to say quietly, "you don't want to work with him because you're afraid to fall back in love and get your heart broken again?"

Maria turned to look at him and the two stared at one another. "Shawn..."

.:.

If anyone was a madman that night it was John Cena. He was on a rage internally because of the scripted romance with Maria, his ex-girlfriend of 3 years. Everybody else is all in my business any other time John thought to himself as he searched for Mickie's room, so didn't they know we broke up? Vince wants to screw us both over. Another little voice seemed to tell him. "Unbelievable" John said out loud. He had left Maria for Mickie. Maria always argued with him about little things, even though they had a hell of a good time together. Well, hopefully she's with someone better than me he thought, not feeling even guilty about what he'd done, or… at least he tried not to.

Flashback

"Hey, John" Mickie met John in front of the elevators on his floor. "So, what did you want to see me about?"

"Nothing" John said with a smile as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "I just wanted to see you." With that, he kissed her on the lips.

Mickie giggled lightly through the kiss before breaking away. "You're always so sweet. Did you tell Maria yet?"

"No," John admitted truthfully, "I'm gonna tell her tomorrow though. I feel so much better with you, Mickie." With that, he kissed her again, and the two began to get intimate as their arms entangled further and their kiss became deeper.

"John?" Maria wondered sleepily in the halls, then she looked ahead and saw her boyfriend kissing another girl. She stopped to stare, in shock for a few seconds, then, she turned around and went back in her room, waiting for him to come, her stomach still flipping over from the scene she saw. Several minutes later, John came back with a huge dimpled grin on his face. The room was dark so when he pulled the sheets back on the bed.

"So...did you and your girlfriend have a good time?" Maria asked stiffly.

"What are you talking about Mickie-- err...Maria?" John slapped himself internally for saying that. "Look, Ria-"

"No," Maria interrupted. "I wasted three years of my life on you and then you go ahead and throw it all away?" Maria jumped out of the bed, standing on the opposite side and flicked on the light. "Didn't I mean anything to you?"

"Of course you did," John said standing up, "but you are constantly nagging me about everything. I loved you Maria but Mickie can just… Mickie's…"

"—A slut. Every new place we go she sleeps with at least two guys and brags about it the next day. I wouldn't be surprised if you had any diseases. I better get myself tested." Maria sniped, folding her arms across her chest.

"Look, it was hard considering that I didn't love you anymore, but—"

"Save it, John! There you go. You got what you wanted. You don't love me anymore now I'm not holding you back. Go be with the slut. But when you figure out that you left me for that sorry excuse of a woman, remember that I want nothing to do with you."

"Ria." John's voice softened as he called her back. She zipped up her suitcase and left without a second glance with tears silently rolling down her face.

John ran his hand over his face before he began to pace. He decided to call her, hopefully she had cooled down. That idea fell to pieces as he opened his phone to find picture of him and Maria. She was kissing his cheek and his arms were wrapped tightly around her. He remembered that he didn't want to let go. John snapped his phone shut before falling to the sheets.

"Shit."

End Flashback

Maria had stayed in Trish's room and he began to room with Mickie. They haven't talked to each other since then, two months ago today.

John shook his flashback out of his head and headed to Mickie's room without another thought.

Meet me in my dressing room later if you want to get 'warmed up' before your match, Mickie told him as they headed off the plane that morning after planting a kiss on his cheek. John knew she wanted him to come anyway, so he didn't say no. He eventually found Mickie's dressing room. He was about to knock when he heard familiar voices carrying from an open locker room door just a few doors down the hall. He recognized Maria's voice and curiosity got the best of him. He walked the three steps to see Maria pacing while Trish, Hunter and Shawn were sitting on the bench. Trish was Maria's best friend but seeing DX there made him curious.

Since when did she hang out with them? He thought to himself. He looked at Maria and she looked beautiful. She was wearing a red V-neck ¾ length sleeve shirt with dark blue skinny jeans tucked into tall knee-high boots. Her hair was red now, compared to the blonde locks she had when they were dating. John liked her new haircut but one thing he didn't like was the stressed look on her face. A old feeling crept up as he felt a slight urge to protect her. He pushed it away with a rough shake of his head and perked his ears up to listen to their conversation.

"So, basically" HBK was talking, "You don't want to work with him, because you hate him."

Maria shook her head furiously.

"Or," Shawn's voice had grown quieter, and a look of confusion appeared on The Champ's face, "you don't want to work with him because you're afraid to fall back in love and get your heart broken again."

John saw Maria's head shoot up at HBK. "Shawn..." Maria started. John could tell she was glaring at him by the sound of her voice. "I can't believe you."

"Maria-"

"How dare you Shawn Michaels! I don't love him anymore." Maria's voice broke as she continued. "I don't care about him anymore." She then started to walk away. Fast. John zipped back and knocked hastily on Mickie's door. He hoped she would hurry up and answer the door, but it was too late. Maria came around the corner, and when she saw him, she froze. Her eyes flickered to a surprised expression which quickly replaced with a glare. The two stared at one another until the door opened.

"Johnny," Mickie crooned, wearing a silky purple robe and holding the string in her hand. She saw Maria and raised her eyebrows at John. Maria rolled her eyes with a sigh and continued to walk. John caught the smell of her favorite perfume, Be Delicious by DKNY.

"Ready for your warm-up?" Mickie asked.

"Yeah" said John, taking Maria out of his head and with a smile, let Mickie pull him into her room and close the door after him.

Maria had heard them and she shook her head angrily. John apparently cared about Mickie, and she wondered why he would suddenly not love her anymore. I guess he doesn't care if he hurts my feelings or not she thought afterwards. She wondered if Shawn was right for a minute, if she was still in love, and if she was still hurt. I'm healed Maria told herself, but somehow, that just didn't sound right.

A/N: So after watching Maria on this week's Celebrity Apprentice and seeing how she really gets mad gave me the inspiration to rewrite this chapter like I said I would. I'm working on all my other updates and should hopefully get those out soon! Thanks to all! Lots of love!