Hey guys! I've had this idea in my head for a while and just wanted to submit it because there's not enough Paige/AJ fanfics out there. This is my first story, so I hope you guys like it! And I hope you enjoyed the first chapter :)
Eight missed calls. Eight missed calls from a number Paige hadn't seen light up her screen in over six months. It hadn't mattered if she had erased her number a while ago, she could still recognize that number even if it were in a field of complicated calculus problems.
Sitting at a densely populated café on the outskirts of Atlanta, Paige seriously considered "accidentally" dropping her phone in the scorching hot cup of black coffee sitting two feet away from her. She sat there twisting the phone in her hand occasionally letting it hit the wooden table with a dull thud. What was she going to do? AJ had called her eight different times, probably wanting to catch up and explain why she hadn't contacted the dark haired Diva about her return to WWE. Paige was torn. She wanted to check the voicemails left for her, just to confirm that was what AJ really wanted to talk about, but the other part of her really didn't want to hear the tiny brunette's voice any more than she had to.
"You okay there young lady?" The sound of a voice that wasn't her own so close to her, shocked the dark haired woman back to reality. She quickly turned her head to the side seeing the gray haired waitress that had previously served her staring down at her with a look of concern covering her wrinkled face.
"Wha-yeah, yeah everything's good," Paige reassured the older woman, shaking herself out of her thoughts.
Paige watched the woman hesitate and then give her a small, sad smile.
"Who's the fella making you all moody and depressed?" Paige nearly choked on her coffee that she finally decided to taste while the woman was talking.
"How-"
"Sweetie, I may be old but I've seen a lot in my days. You don't look like that over nothing" Wow this woman was seriously a walking, talking surprise.
"What gave it away?" Paige asked, curiously. The woman set down the pot of coffee she carried over to ask about a refill, and slid into the seat across from the young woman. This woman had to be at least in her late 50's.
"You look like you just found out your puppy died," the woman said. Paige glanced at her name tag. Phyllis.
"Alright, Phyllis. You're good, I'll give you that. But I'd rather not talk about it," Paige said, twirling her index finger around the rim of her large coffee. She heard Phyllis chuckle.
"Come on, I could use some drama around here. You don't sound like you're from around here, so when you leave this café you'll probably never see my face again, so what's the harm? It might even make you feel better," the older woman said, giving Paige a warm smile.
"My name's Saraya, by the way. You can call me Paige though," the dark haired Diva said sarcastically. "I'm a wrestler. WWE Diva. So yes, you're right I probably won't be back here for a while." Paige was attempting to take the woman's attention away from the real questions she wanted answers to. The older woman raised her eyebrows.
"You wrestle? Like punching people wrestling?" Paige tried to stifle her laugh.
"Yes. And I'm originally from England. My stage name is Paige."
"Okay see we're getting somewhere," Phyllis chuckled. "But that's still not the juicy details I want."
Paige slowly brought the warm cup to her lips, choosing her next words carefully.
"No can do. I don't, how do you Americans say it, 'Kiss and tell?'" Phyllis leaned in, pushing her coffee pot out of the way.
"Smartass."
"Thanks for the coffee, Phyllis. It was great meeting you, but it's Tuesday which means I have a show to record,"Paige said, scooting her chair out and getting to her feet. She grabbed her leather jacket off the back of her chair and slipped it on, grinning at the waitress across from her.
"Kids these days. Take care of yourself, Saraya." Paige stood momentarily, the grin slipping from her face as she watched the woman. If only she knew.
XXXXXX
"Paige! Paige wait up!"
The dark haired Diva slowed her stride, recognizing the beautiful voice that infiltrated her mind for months.
"AJ. Hey." Could she get any lamer? She grimaced as the tiny Diva stopped in front of her, a little too close for comfort.
"I've been trying to call you but you didn't answer. I was worried there for a little bit," AJ said, suddenly finding the hem of her T-Shirt very interesting. The taller woman was still angry at AJ, but the more she thought about it the more she became disappointed that the brunette hadn't contacted her at all about her return.
"I've been busy. You should be too, being the General Manager and all," Paige tried to keep the bite out of her voice, failing miserably.
"Paige I'm sorry. I really am. I know I should have told you, but-"
"But what, AJ?" Paige snapped. She felt her blood pressure rising. She also felt the cold air whip right through her thin, black jacket sending chills down her spine. She was on her way to the building for her match when AJ caught her. The tiny Diva had to have been waiting for her, it was freezing out and AJ's nose showed signs of abuse from the bitter cold. She wasn't wearing a jacket, her white blouse being the only thing to protect her. AJ could be really dumb sometimes.
"Phillip didn't want me to tell you," AJ let out softly, wrapping her arms around herself. She had said it so softly that Paige wasn't sure she heard her correctly.
"What?" she asked, adjusting her hat. Nervous habit.
"Phillip didn't want me to talk to you." What the hell was going on.
"AJ, lets go inside. It's freezing and you have no jacket," Paige said, ushering the smaller woman towards the building. However, AJ didn't budge.
"No, I want to make sure we're okay. You were my friend, Paige. I care about you and I owe you an explanation." AJ lightly shoved the dark haired Diva in the chest, pushing her back.
"You can give me that explanation inside," Paige fussed. "Come on."
Pushing AJ towards the front doors, they took the short walk in silence. Paige, slipping off her leather jacket, wrapped it around AJ (with protest) as they reached the doors.
"You're clearly cold, just take it."
"Paige, I'm really sorry," the tiny Diva said as they made their way through the arena.
"I would say I understand, but I really don't. What does your husband have to do with this?" Paige asked, clearly confused.
"He-like, overreacts and sees things that aren't really there," AJ tried to explain. Paige studied her, trying to understand.
"So Phillip doesn't like me?" Paige gathered. She never liked him to begin with, this was just giving her a reason to say she doesn't like him.
"It's not that. He just felt- threatened I guess. I don't know, I guess he was jealous of our friendship and he didn't like it when I talked about you," the former Diva's Champ said, struggling to find the right words.
"He's not your father AJ, he can't tell you who to talk to," Paige said, not really knowing how to respond to that in any other way. If Paige knew that Philip was that kind of person, she would have found the courage to go after AJ months ago.
The smaller Diva stepped closer to Paige, snuggling more into the younger woman's warm jacket. They were standing outside the locker rooms, listening to the heat run through the vents.
"I know. I never understood why he was threatened by you, it's not like you wanted to steal me away from him," AJ said, meeting the taller woman's eyes. Paige stared back into those captivating, chocolate eyes starting to wonder why it felt so easy to talk to a woman who hadn't bothered to contact her in months and whom she very much wanted to just pick up and take home. Paige wanted to cry at the words that came out of the tiny woman's mouth.
"...Right?" Paige let out an awkward cough and tried not to concentrate on the sweet smelling perfume the General Manager was wearing.
"Right. I should get ready, I have a match with Nikki soon and I need to warm up," the dark haired Diva said, quickly attempting to end the conversation.
"Paige, wait. What just happened?" of course she wasn't going to let it go. AJ never left things alone.
"Nothing. I don't know what else to tell you, AJ. If someone treated me like Phillip treats you, I'd have left them a long time ago. There are people out there who are lined up waiting for a chance with you, you can do much better than Phillip and you know that," Paige turned, heading inside the Divas locker room. What had she just done? She might have well just screamed at the top of her lungs, "AJ dump your dick of a husband and be with me!"
As the taller Diva opened her designated locker, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Her locker slowly closed. Already knowing what was going on, she dropped her hands to her sides staring at the grey steel that was her locker.
"Saraya. Look at me," Paige's insides should have been burning with rage at the sound of her birth name, but they melted when it came from the mouth of that woman.
"AJ plea-"
"Look," was the stern reply.
She reluctantly turned, looking at the woman who was still wrapped up in her leather jacket.
"I'm going to ask you this once and only once. If you lie to me, which I will know, I'll make sure your life is a living hell on Raw. Worse than it already is," AJ threatened. She may be short, but she knows how to be intimidating.
"Whatever," Paige sassed, folding her arms across her chest, trying to make it seem as if the threat meant nothing.
"Was Phillip right?"
Those three words sunk into Paige's mind like quicksand. This was it wasn't it? Now or never?
"Phillip may be a complete dick, but I'm starting to think he's not as dumb as I thought he was," she watched for a reaction on the smaller woman's face. She didn't immediately get one, which actually worried her. Did she just ruin any type of relationship she could have had with the older woman? Maybe Paige was the dumb one.
Torn from her thoughts, she felt tiny arms wrap around her neck, pulling her down into a hesitant embrace. Shocked, the taller woman just stood there with her arms at her side, staring at the wall behind AJ's head.
"Hug me back...please," AJ's soft voice whispered into her neck. What was going on?
Shaking, Paige's arms finally enclosed the General Manager in a warm hug.
"What are you doing, AJ?" the British woman asked, holding on to the older woman for dear life.
She felt AJ's tiny hands slip away and latch on to her own slightly larger ones, unwrapping them from her waist. She brought their hands together in an attempt to stop the younger woman from shaking. She had never seen Paige so vulnerable and it made her heart hurt.
"Why did you never say anything?" AJ asked, still holding their hands together.
"Can we not ta-"
"How long have you known?" Oh no, what if she had broken AJ? She shouldn't have said anything. What had she been thinking?
"Look short stack, if you really want all these answers, I'll give you as many as I can some other time. I didn't expect this to happen so soon, I'm not ready to talk about it and I really have to get ready," she felt AJ's thumb stroke her own and watched her raise her head to meet her dark eyes.
"But-"
"But nothing, if Phillip knew you were even talking to me he'd probably have both our heads," Paige interrupted.
"I'm the General Manager of Raw, he can't expect me to avoid you forever," AJ sighed, letting go of the taller woman's hands and running her own over her tired face.
"We have got to talk about this Paige, one way or another. We're going to be working together and this can't go untalked about. I can't believe you never said anything," AJ said, starting to pace in front of the dark haired Diva. Paige snorted.
"You really think that would have changed anything, AJ? You would still be married to Phillip and you would still be attempting to start a life with him" Paige said, watching the other woman pace. AJ stopped in front of her, looking her dead in the eyes.
"You don't know that, Paige. It could have changed everything."