Two
"Nikki" John tirelessly tried. They were having one of those conversations, and like always it rubbed her the wrong way. He sighed once more as her pulled into a spot to park. "Nikki will you please talk to me".
She opened the door in response. Instead she made an exit from the black pickup truck where she retrieved her bags before he could say another word. John closed his eyes, dropping his head on the steering wheel, fighting to keep his composure. "Fine then," he finally relented. John rolled down the window yelling at her retreating form. "BE THAT WAY!"
Nicole paused briefly in her tracks, her lips forming a reply but at the last moment thought better of it and continued into the building. She would not waste her time anymore. There was no use.
Since her sister's wedding last weekend, she and John could not seem to get on the same page. She had to give him credit though. He tried, he really did but she could not get over the fact that her little sister was now happily married. Not that she wasn't happy - because she was, but it was a smack in the face to realize Brianna would have something she never would.
And maybe Brianna wasn't her little sister by much - just seventeen minutes and ten seconds but the fact of the matter was that everyone around her was married.
Her sister.
Her brother.
Even her friends enjoyed the privilege of marriage; no matter how dysfunctional they seemed at times. And as crazy as it sounded Nicole wanted that. She wanted someone to call her own and John did not. He theorized that he couldn't, not after the disaster of his first marriage. He preferred to keep things simple and fun. A relationship without the true commitment - one without a real future was more like it. She shouldn't be mad - couldn't was a better term. John laid the ground rules out from the beginning.
He was done with marriage, and he was not parental material. Period.
"Hey girly," A voice behind her broke her musings.
"Nattie".
"Girly," The Canadian greeted in response, squeezing one half of the Bella twins tightly before stepping back. "It's so good to see you again" she latched onto Nicole's arm and proceeded towards the woman's locker room. "And don't give me that crap about it only being a week since Brie's wedding, which was absolutely beautiful by the way," they found empty lockers side by side and started to unpack, "but with me down in Florida with TJ, it's felt like ages since I've seen you girls". Natalya glanced around the room taking in the four other women who seemed to be in their own world. "But ya'know TJ has a match tonight, and of course I'm stuck - I shouldn't say stuck, of course I'm not stuck with my husband ... in that way but you know what I mean, right? I mean how do they expect me to move up the ranks here if they wont even let me compete. Valet is only useful..."
Natalya continued on with her complaints while Nicole tried to keep her composure. All she could really think about is how Natalya should be grateful to have someone like TJ by her side. Sure, they argued like cats and dogs sometimes but at the end of the day there was no mistaking the love between the two.
"... he thinks it's such a great idea too..."
Nicole found a hair tie and dismissively tossed her hair into an untidy bun before unzipping her skirt on the side.
"What do you think I should do?"
"Just hang in there Nattie" Nicole tried to ensure positively in her automatic tone but Natalya ranted about the same issues all the time, and today was just not Nicole's day to be bothered with other people's drama. "You have nothing to worry about. You're one of the greatest in the ring. You and-".
"TJ will work it out. Yeah, I know. Nikki you always say that".
"Then why do you have such a hard time believing it?"
"What's crawled up your ass today?" Natalya watched as Nicole chucked her bag into the empty locker before sitting down with a thump. "Are you okay?" The blonde took a seat beside Nicole, reaching over to wrap her arm around her shoulders.
"It's nothing" Nicole lied. She was becoming surprisingly good at that. She lied to everyone; all for his sake. John was a sweet guy. He was good in more ways than bad, there was no denying that but when it came to his relationships with women he tended to fall short. At first Nicole didn't mind because she wasn't looking for anything serious, especially with her career just taking off, but as time passed - she made the mistake that most people tended to do and fell in love. She thought that maybe over time John would feel the same way - bend his rules a bit and come to think of her the way she thought of him constantly. He wasn't completely irrational, and admitted that he did care for her on a serious level but that came with a grain of salt because he could never "love her in that way". A pulse at her temple jumped at the memory.
"In that way".
For so long she sacrificed her own happiness with hopes that John would come around. It hurt like hell when she realized that was all their relationship would ever come to be. A constant sacrifice. "I'm fine".
"You're lying" Natalya was strangely good at reading people, so she knew without digging too deep that something was definitely amiss. "But if you don't want to talk about it right now," she shrugged the shoulder Nicole wasn't leaning on, "I understand".
"Thanks" Nicole released a sigh she didn't know she was holding. Sometimes it was best not to talk about things. She couldn't even be sure if this was really the end between her and John. There was no reason to cause a fuss about it, especially at work.
