Charlotte sat in an empty hallway alone for the first time in a long time. Not since she had won the Diva's Championship. Then she'd been given her own dressing room once she had become Women's Champion, but now she had neither belt, nor no dressing room. The lack of weight on her shoulder or around her waste felt like a missing body part. That little wench had taken her title that she had worked so hard to make relevant. She was the one that had taken the division on her back and gotten herself drafted third out of the entire roster of women and men. Sasha had taken her belt in NXT and now she had to ruin Charlotte's life once again.
"Hey, that was a really good match! I couldn't take my eyes off of you!"
Charlotte snapped her head up and came face to face with Sami Zayn staring at her brightly. She glared at him and his stupid hat, "What do you want?"
"To congratulate you. Like I said, that was one of the best matches I've seen in a while. And you did it on the first new RAW. Makes us look good against Smackdown and people are gonna be talking about it for a while." He was smiling and being way too cheery for her to look at him with any sort of kindness.
"I don't want to talk about it. I lost. Get out of my face." She growled at him, he looked at her confused and looked between them.
"I'm like five feet away."
"You know what I meant!"
He held up his hands, "I get it, you lost and you aren't happy. But you should at least be proud of yourself."
She felt her face relax from her glare, slowly starting to lose her mask of anger, as she looked up at him from the floor, "Why is that?"
"Besides the fact that it was a five star match, you and all the other girls that have been coming up from NXT have wanted women's wrestling to be like this for ages and it's finally arrived and is here to stay." He looked at her kindly, and how was this guy, who had been killing his ex best friend less than twenty-four hours ago, being so kind and carefree this soon.
"Yes, but it was my destiny to carry it and now I've lost the title that I gave up everything for." She could feel the pricks behind her eyes. She'd torn family and friends from her life to get this belt and to keep it. Becky and her father flashed in her mind quickly, but she shut that down before they lingered. She had gotten good at that during her championship reign.
"Well, how is the women's division going to flourish if it's just you? I mean don't get me wrong, you're the best women's wrestler in my mind, but you can't put that kind of pressure on yourself without some help."
She searched his eyes for any malicious intent and found none. She didn't want to give up the argument. She still felt petty and tried to piss him off so he could leave her to mourn alone. "Well I still lost the belt, but you wouldn't know anything about that up here in the big leagues would you?"
Sami smiled and shrugged, "It's coming soon enough. Plus, how are you gonna become two time Women's Champion if you don't lose the belt?"
She blinked at him, "What?"
"That's the thing I've never gotten. Like yeah, you can be sad about you losing your belt, it's only natural, but now it gives you the chance to try to step your game up and win it back and become the first ever two time champ." Sami shrugged with a happy look on her face.
Now that Charlotte thought about it, he was right. She had something to shoot for again. Becoming the first two-time champion for that belt. She appraised him, wondering if he had meant to make her feel better. He was staring at her kindly and when they locked eyes she looked away from him with a blush. He was too kind and it was like staring into the sun.
"That's not a terrible way to think about it."
"Well if you put this much pressure on yourself, you'll collapse eventually. Let Sasha run with the title a bit and rest and relax and then train and take it back. You look exhausted and not just from your match." He looked at her with concern.
He was a perceptive little Canadian she'd give him that. "Well it's just from carrying the entire division…"
He laughed, "I don't doubt it. But now you have a ton of free time to train and reflect on yourself. Spend some time with the people you care about. Recharge and come back better than ever."
Charlotte felt her heart jump and throb with pain. She didn't have anyone she cared about. Not anymore. Her dad, Becky, Paige had all been cast aside for her chance at the title. "I would, but I don't think that's an option with all the bridges I've burned."
Sami frowned, "Have you tried apologizing?"
She looked up at him blankly, "What?"
He shrugged, "You know, saying you're sorry."
She scoffed out a laugh, "Yeah, like they'd care."
He smiled, "As possibly the king of getting betrayed, I can say they'd care. They'd care a lot."
She looked up at him disbelievingly, "You're telling me, if Kevin apologized you'd forgive him?"
Sami sighed, "Definitely not at first. It would be nice to hear though, and I'd appreciate the effort if it was genuine. But Kevin has quadrupled down on his betrayal even after I offered him peace several times. You may have set fire to your bridges, but there's still time to throw water on some of them."
Charlotte felt hope, something she had not felt in a long time, surge through her chest. She looks at him, and she felt herself crumbling under his gaze. He'd worn her down, and she just felt her mask fall away and gave him a pitiful look. "It was lonely at the top…"
He strolled forward and reached a hand towards her. She took it and hauled herself up. When she stood they were almost nose-to-nose. She felt a blush creeping up in her cheeks as she stared in Sami's kind eyes. "It doesn't have to be. Not unless you make it that way."
Charlotte had always been taught to do anything to get to the top, and once you were there, to ditch everything you cared about so you could focus on the one thing that mattered, the belt. Becky had tried to tell her the same thing back in December and January but she hadn't been ready to listen. Why would she? She was at the top and was doing what she had been conditioned and trained to do. But now that she had lost the women's championship she was ready to hear it. Especially if it was coming from Sami Zayn.
He was staring back at her with a little pink dusted on his cheeks as well, a little tougher to make out under the beard, but Charlotte could see it. "And if you can't put the fires out on your bridges, well, we could always build a new one."
Charlotte gulped and felt herself heat up and her blush most likely darken. Just the way he had enunciated 'we' had her mind running everywhere. "Sami…" But before she could get any more words out, she was interrupted by Dana.
"Finally I found you. We need to go plan. We have to get that bitch back for what she did." Dana seemed to realize their position and pushed Sami away. "Back up Zayn! That's royalty you're talking to."
Sami looked lost on what to say to that, but Charlotte faintly heard him murmur, "You're damn right she is…" under his breath. But not in the typical way that people had addressed her. It wasn't sarcastic and biting, but more fond and exasperated. She felt a flutter in her stomach and tried to hide a smile that was making its way on her face. Dana took her arm and began leading her away, but she regained her wits and shrugged Dana off and turned back to Sami who's eyes had not moved from her the entire time.
"Thanks, Zayn. What you said wasn't completely dumb. But your hat is still stupid." She watched his eyes flicker with humor as he touched his hat subconsciously.
"Glad I could please the royal court."
She turned around before he could catch her smile and stalked off.
Later that night after she had been lying in bed for an hour with no sleep in sight for the foreseeable future. She flipped the lamp light on. She used to share rooms back when Team PCB was going strong. She'd gotten used to Becky's snores and Paige's talking in her sleep. Then after they'd broken up it had taken her a few nights to adjust without those comforts. This night had been a replay of those first few nights, but the thing that kept running through her head wasn't her title belt, like she had expected. It was the words from Sami Zayn today, as well as the man himself.
She got up and walked over to her travel suitcase and rummaged through it. She found it near the bottom of all her clothes. She didn't know why she had kept it. She had cleaned out her bag after the Royal Rumble, and while she told her dad that she'd thrown it away with the rest of her old stuff, she hadn't had the heart to. She stared at the Lass Kicker shirt and remembered Sami's words, "You may have set fire to your bridges, but there's still time to throw water on some of them." She gulped. She could try, but there was no reason or guarantee Becky would forgive her. But before she could go down that dark path of thoughts, she remembered Sami's other words. "And if you can't put the fires out on your bridges, well we could always build a new one."
She felt herself smile. Starting to feel the lack of weight on her shoulder, not as a body part missing, but as a burden being lifted. And it was all thanks to Sami Zayn. Charlotte smiled as she thought about the bearded Canadian. Maybe she'd run into him again. And maybe this time it wouldn't be on accident.