Monday 16th January 2012

Raw, Honda Centre, Anaheim, CA

"Friends…they cherish one another's hopes. They are kind to one another's dreams."

-Henry David Thoreau

Walking into the Jacksonville arena with Stu later that afternoon, the moment was bittersweet for Cassie. For the most part she was pretty excited to be there. It was nice to be with Stu at a WWE show, just to be around him when she wasn't drunk or high. She hadn't really seen him wrestle in a long time, not like this. Not at a show with him. Cassie was excited in general to be spending a couple of days with him, it had been too long. And while she knew she didn't have too, she wanted to show him that she was better, she was clean; she was slowly piecing her life back together. He was her oldest friend and like so many, she had treated him awfully while on drugs. Even if he told her otherwise, she knew she had to make it up to him.

"You alright?" Stu stopped, watching Cassie who had stopped, seeing the pensive look on her face.

"Yeah, just remembering the last time I was in this arena. I came to a show with dad, he surprised me with the tickets. He was in Anaheim for some business meeting and he managed to get some last minute tickets. It was the last show we went to, before I turned into a brat," Cassie chuckle. "We had the best time though. It's kind of nice that the first arena I'm in again with you is this one."

"He always took your dream of wrestling seriously. I remember when I first got to the US and stayed with you, he said one day it would be the two of us standing in a WWE ring."

"He did, but there was also always the family business waiting for me after wrestling. He really believed in you though. I remember after you signed with the wwe and he said it wasn't a surprise to him because he always knew you would make it.

Stu placed a comforting hand on Cassie's arm, "He was a good man." Stu had a solemn look on his face. "What I said to you that night in the bar about your parents being disappointed in you, I didn't mean it. I guess I just wanted to shock you into getting some help, to sticking with rehab." Cassie nodded, moving into Stu's embrace when he wrapped an around her. "We better make sure you've got some more good memories of this arena."

"Ooh I can't wait to meet her. Tell her all your embarrassing stories," Cassie laughed with Stu while they sat in catering. Stu had just told him about his girlfriend, wwe diva Alicia.

"See this is why Alex is my favourite, she's the nice sister," Stu joked.

"Pfff, I can be nice." Stu gave Cassie a look. "Ish. I can be niceish."

"Stubborn. Argumentative. Sarcastic. I think one of those words are what you're looking for."

"I am not argumentative."

Stu gave her another pointed look.

"It's not my fault people say stupid shit."

"Just your job to point it out, call them out on it."

"Exactly. I'm doing society a favour," Cassie smirked.

"In all fairness, you do tend to call out actual arseholes. Remember when you saved that girl from that guy that kept hitting on her? I disappear for two minutes to take a call, come back and find you arguing with a guy twice your size."

"Who hits on someone in Taco bell anyway?"

"You do have a nice side really. You've never been able to fool me otherwise. Once you get past your argumentative and sarcastic side," Stu smiled.

"Sure, if that's what you want to believe." Cassie replied impassively. While she was there to fix her friendship with Stu, she wasn't there to make new friends. Things were complicated enough trying to fix herself and all the mess she had created, she didn't need to let any more people down. "So, who are you fighting tonight?" she asked, changing the subject.

Stu wasn't stupid, he knew she had purposefully changed the subject. "R-Truth, sheamus and Miz.

"Hey Stu, have you seen Punk?" Eve Torres asked, walking over to their table.

"Not since the gym this morning, sorry."

"Thanks anyway, I'll let you get back to your interview," she smiled.

Stu chuckled, "This isn't an interview. This is Cassie, she's an old friend. She's in town for a few days."

"Oh so sorry, there's always people being interviewed for WWE. Com or the magazine. Well I'm Eve, nice to meet you."

"You should come join us," Stu smiled. "I'm sure Punk will be in catering at some point, you know him."

Half an hour later and they had also been joined by Alicia, Kofi, AJ and Celeste. Most of them interested in who Cassie was and how long she was here for, though she noticed AJ wasn't very talkative. While they were nice enough, Cassie was wondering how many more times she could fake a smile for them. She's slowly found herself drowning out most of the conversation for the last five minutes. She knew Stu was just being his usual friendly self and wanted her to know some more friendly faces there, but she wasn't interested. He was her only reason for her being there, not the other people sitting at the table.

Then things suddenly got more interested. She only briefly glance up to see who was sitting down at the table, immediately catching the look of recognition on his face at seeing her.

"This is Cassie, Stu's friend. Cassie, meet the WWE's self-proclaimed Jerk." Eve made the introduction.

"It's okay, we've already met." Cassie replied, her eyes on Punk.

"Yeah, I met her at the gym this morning when she first ran into Stu. Very friendly." Cassie saw the small smirk, the glint in his eyes.

"Watch out for this one, Cassie. He's a bit of a Casanova," Eve grinned.

"I'm sure I can handle myself."

"Hey play nice, let's not forget who set you up with Renner." Punk replied in a joking manner, though his eyes remained on Cassie.

"Did you actually set them up though? Did you think, here's two people I know and I think they could be good together. Or did they meet each other at some event that you were at, being the mutual friend, and then one of them asked you for the other's number because there was some chemistry there? Are you cupid and Casanova in one, or just a regular, narcissistic Casanova?" Cassie grinned, while everyone around the table chuckled.

Punk was amused. "I guess you've caught me out, the secret is out. All I did was pass a number on and, as they say, the rest is history. I like that you said narcissistic Casanova though."

"What else would you call someone that describes themselves as the Best In The World?"

"Ha, she got you there, man." Kofi said before laughing.

"Though it's pretty ambiguous when you just say it like that. Does it count outside the ring as well, at other activities?" The others at the table had started to pick up on the sexual tension emanating between Punk and Cassie.

"It depends what activities we're talking about."

"Sporting activities, naturally. You are an athlete after all."

Before Punk could respond, Cassie's phone started vibrating on the table. Seeing that it was Alex, Cassie went out of catering to take the call.

When Cassie returned ten minutes later, the conversation had moved on. Not that she really minded. Needing something to do, and not wanting to appear too rude sitting there on her phone, Cassie decided to get another drink.

Cassie turned to Stu and Alicia. "I'll be back in a minute, just going to grab a bottle of water. Did either of you want anything?"

After Stu and Alicia both told her they were ok, Cassie walked over to the table where there were various drinks, grabbing a bottle of water. As she turned to head back to the table, she bumped into something hard, she looked up to see Chris Jericho standing in front of her. He looked down at her and she could see him giving her the once over, a salacious grin on his face. She had heard enough about him over the years, how he tried it on with a lot of the divas and various make-up artists and stylists. The open relationship he had with his wife.

"Well hello gorgeous," he smiled. "Haven't seen you around here, you must be new. If you ever need help finding your way around or any other needs, I'm your man."

Cassie caught the meaning of his words, she looked up giving him a look of complete disgust. "Don't call me that and don't expect me to take up your little offer. Better yet, just don't talk to me."

"Ooh feisty, I like it, more of a challenge. I'll be seeing you around, gorgeous."

"Now look, Chris. I know you think you're some kind of rock star and you think that entitles you hit on women half your age, but I figured even a guy like you would understand the simple phrase of 'don't talk to me'. Apparently I was wrong, so I'll make it clear. Don't. Talk. To. Me. Again."

The salacious grin on his face had long gone as Cassie embarrassed him I front of all the people who were sat in catering. Stu and the others whose table wasn't far from Chris and Cassie, could hear every word being said between the two looked on with amused looks on their faces, especially Punk.

Chris did not take kind to people talking to him this way and as Cassie went to walk away, he put an arm out to stop her.

"Just a little warning, darling it won't do you any good talking to people like me that way."

While Stu knew Cassie could handle herself, he was ready to leap into action if Chris got heavy handed. Cassie simply looked up, a sweet smile on her face before replying. She was used to dealing with guys like Chris Jericho, he didn't scare her one bit.

"Ooh don't tell me, you're going to go running to Vince to tell him that I was mean to you and hurt your feelings and you want me dealt with? Good luck with that. As you can see I'm quaking in my boots. Toodles." With that she patted his arm before walking around him and back to the table.

"Now Cassie, that wasn't very nice." Punk was grinning as the words left his mouth.

"He deserved it and Stu, before you give me the speech, you know you found it funny."

"It was pretty good. I mean, I've seen better from you, but I'd give that a solid 7 out of ten."

"I'm offended. Only 7?"

"That was pretty tame for you. You didn't even swear. You only get 7 for that because of who it was." Stu grinned at her.

"Ooh that sounded like a challenge to me? Is this like some kind of competition between you two? Celeste asked. "I mean there's a whole bunch of assholes in this place if you want to up your score. Though personally, I fucking loved it."

"Way too many assholes in this company," AJ added. "Though I doubt you've got the time for your little competition. You're only here for a couple of days, right?"

Cassie noted the tone in the smaller woman's voice, it was becoming pretty clear that AJ didn't much like her. "Yes, just a couple of days. But I've always got time to call assholes like Chris out on their shit."

"Well it'll be fun to have you around for the next couple of days," Celeste smiled, she had noticed AJ's off behaviour with Cassie and she didn't want things to become awkward.

Cassie sat by one of the monitor bays, watching Stu's segment with R-Truth. She had to admit, she was seriously amused by R-Truth "Ello Guvnor" line. When R-Truth started talking about Disney World and Pinocchio, Cassie was straight up laughing. She found the whole segment hilarious.

She was sitting there laughing when she heard someone behind her, turning her head briefly she saw it was Punk before turning back to face the monitor.

"I'm starting to think you're actually a crazy fan stalking me. Singling me out in the gym this morning, then you're in catering earlier and here you are now." Cassie didn't bother to look at Punk as she heard him sit down next to her. Though she didn't doubt that he had that slight smirk of his on his face.

"Technically, I was in all three places first. So that would make you the stalker and me the stalked."

"True. But you were the one orchestrating the kiss this morning, do you often kiss your stalkers?"

Cassie stood up from her seat, "Only the tattooed ones." She replied as she walked off.

After Raw, Stu, Cassie and Alicia decided to drive that night to the next city for Smackdown the following day instead of making the drive the following morning. Considering both Stu and Alicia had had matches that night and she didn't always sleep much these days, Cassie had offered to do the driving. While Stu had fallen asleep during the drive, Cassie found herself chatting with Alicia most of the way. She liked Stu's girlfriend; liked how genuine and down to earth she was. Plus it was obvious how much she cared for Stu.

Cassie was sitting on a random production crate down one of the random corridors of the arena Smackdown was being recorded in that night. She had been talking with Stu, but Stephanie's assistant had come along and told him that Stephanie wanted to speak to him, go over some major changes to his current storyline. Cassie had stayed where she was on the crate, before Stu had been called away he had said there was something he wanted to talk to her about.

Sitting on the crate, Cassie found herself fiddling with her sobriety coin, flipping it between her fingers. When Cassie got the coin, representing her first year alcohol free, it was a big, important moment for her. During moments when she was tempted to give in, she looked at the coin. It was a simple coin but it was a big source of inspiration to her, reminding her how far she had come. Other times, she simply found herself flipping it between her fingers when she was bored.

"You look like a poster child for a bored person."

Cassie looked up seeing Punk standing there, she hadn't even realised there was anyone down the same corridor.

"You going to change that?"

"You want a little adventure before the show starts?"

"Well, until Stu gets back. How long do your adventures normally last?"

"They can go quite a while, you'd be impressed." Cassie noticed the slight smirk on Punk's face, the amusement in his eyes. She was surprised, however, when he suddenly jumped up on the crate next to her. There was barely an inch between their shoulders, Punk's face turned her way. He noticed the coin in her hand, knew what it was. He'd seen one of his close friends, Joey Mercury, battle with addiction.

Cassie saw Punk's eyes on the coin. While Cassie wasn't one to shout that she was a recovering addict from a rooftop, she wasn't ashamed of it. She wasn't hiding it from the world. It was a part of who she was and when she had to, she would reveal that fact about herself. She never lied when she turned things like offers to go out for drinks down. With everything in her life, it was too much hard work keeping up the presence that she was someone she wasn't, so she didn't.

"It represents a year sober."

"That's a big achievement."

"It's kind of weird talking about this with a guy who has straight edge tattooed across his stomach."

"Joey Mercury used to say the same thing to me. Everyone has their battles, their demons and you're clearly fighting yours. I think that's something to be proud of."

Cassie smiled, "I guess that's two things Joey and I have in common now. Battles with drugs and alcohol and telling you about them. I'm sure you'd make a great psychiatrist."

"No, I think I'm too narcissistic for that."

Cassie burst out laughing at that, jumping down from the crate when she saw Stu heading back to her. "True. Well this has been fun but we can't all sit around doing nothing," she grinned as she started walking towards Stu.

"It's been good fun having you here the last couple of days," Stu told Cassie as he looked over a script for his segment on Smackdown later that night. "I was thinking, why don't you stay on the road for a little longer? It's been so long since we hung out like this and we haven't had a sparring session in years. You still as cocky?"

"I'm confident, not cocky you little shit," Cassie grinned. "Are you sure about staying on the road longer? Will the bosses be okay with it?"

"Yeah, I'll sort it. Someone's always got a girlfriend or wife or kid or some family member on the road for a week or two. Plus it will be fun having you around a little longer."

"Then yes, I'd love too. It'll be good. I do have to be in Philly next week though, I have my own show to attend next Thursday."

"Yeah, where and who are you fighting?"

"It's a CZW match."

"CZW? Are you crazy?"

The horrified look on Stu's face was too much for Cassie. She burst out laughing, unable to keep it up.

"No it's a Shimmer event, against Athena. Your face though. Priceless."

"Ugh, screw you. I forgot how hard it is to tell when you're joking and when you're being serious."

"It's nice to know you care about my safety," she grinned.

"I've seen CZW matches and they're pretty damn messed up, Cassie."

"I know, I've had a couple before."

"What? When?"

"Back in 2009. Ended up with a load of thumb tacks in my back. I was pretty high at the time though, so it wasn't that bad."

"Is this another joke? Very funny."

"No, I'm being serious this time. You can YouTube it."

"I'd rather not. There's something just so wrong about thumb tacks. Ladder matches, Kendo sticks, I'll do all that. But thumb tacks are just wrong on so many levels."

"You used to be a bare knuckle boxer and you got stabbed once, but a few thumb tacks scare you?"

"It's like standing on Lego, that shit hurts. It's just wrong, okay? We've all got things we don't like."

"True. I know it might be a bit weird with you signed here, but maybe you could come watch the show? If you want, that is? It's cool if you don't or you're busy or whatever."

"Nah, I'll be there. Can't have you watching all my matches and me watching none of yours."

Cassie couldn't help but smile, Stu coming to watch one of her matches and her watching his matches was how they had always planned it. Back before things had gone downhill and she had taken off, avoiding her family and friends. Back then, they had always been so supportive of each other's dream. Their passion for wrestling half of what bonded them so much.