"I'm starving this morning!"
AJ perused the menu in front of her, but sent Dolph a secret look. He looked at her over his own menu and smiled a little. There was probably a reason for AJ's ravenous appetite, and it didn't have anything to do with the show they'd worked the night before. It might have had something to do with the workout they had after the show though. Dolph averted his eyes from her gaze lest Kaitlyn and E catching them making googly eyes at each other.
"I just realized how much trouble we might get in by being seen eating breakfast together," Kaitlyn joked. "I think we're all supposed to hate each other or something, is that still a thing?"
"I thought we got all our aggression out during our match," E said, "did you get your aggression out, AJ?"
"I don't know, part of me still wants to whip Dolph's butt," she said, jutting her bottom lip out as she gave him a hard look. Dolph had to keep from licking his lips because she was just conjuring up images of things he wanted to do with her.
Ever since she'd told him he was perfect and he realized that this might not just be a 'no strings attached friends with benefits having sex with your coworker who you used to make out with' thing, he became acutely aware of all their interactions, trying to make sense of them. He didn't want to overanalyze though because that could also be detrimental. Maybe he was reading too much into things, maybe he wasn't reading enough into other things. It was difficult to know, but he didn't want to risk asking her because what if she said something he didn't want to hear?
"You know you have an open invitation," he joked, well, not necessarily joked, but challenged really. She speared him with a look that nearly stopped him from breathing. He could only imagine what was running through her mind. Luckily for them, their two breakfast companions were looking at the menu and hardly paying attention to the two of them.
"Oh hey," Kaitlyn said, "did you need a ride to Milwaukee because E and I were leaving around 11, so if you were going to come, you need to be ready by then."
"No, I'm going with Dolph today," AJ smiled over at him, "he asked me last night, oh, and you know who else asked if I wanted a ride, Punk, I mean, it was a pretty nice offer, getting to ride on his bus of all things, but Dolph asked me first."
"Punk asked you?" Dolph wondered. He wasn't jealous, but it seemed like he was taking a greater interest in his friendship with AJ, and there was something that didn't settle right with Dolph over that. It wasn't that he was possessive over AJ, he had no right to be, he wasn't her boyfriend, but it did kind of cut into time he could be spending with her.
"Yeah, it was after his segment, but before my match, I was backstage because I had to go on after the commercial, he said that he had plenty of space on the bus, it was just him and Kofi most of the time, and have you been in that bus, it's so crazy. He has like a big screen and video games, and it's pretty sweet," AJ said.
"No, I've never been on it," Dolph said.
"It's pretty cool, but you asked first," she told him, "so you take precedent."
"You could have said yes if you wanted to go on his bus, I wouldn't have been offended," Dolph told her, but he was already kind of offended. It sounded like AJ really wanted to get on that bus and play video games, but she was stuck with him. He didn't know how to feel about that, but he tried not to take it personally. He could maybe someday get his own bus, but he kind of liked the driving, it calmed him.
"No, I wanted to go with you," she told him, and that weariness left him slightly. She went back to her menu just as the waitress came up to take their orders. They all placed their orders with her, leaving them to their discussions again. "You know, we should all go in on a bus together, how fun would that be?"
"Together, as in the four of us on a bus?" Kaitlyn asked.
"I sense that it would turn into a Survivor situation," E contemplated slowly, "I don't know how, but I feel like we'd all stake claim to different territories and we'd end up having masking tape on the floor so we all have our own space. I claim the kitchen."
"I got the bathroom," Dolph said, and off everyone's looks, "It's probably the only space that has a mirror, sue me!"
"It'd be fun, we could all afford one together, that way we can just be our little family away from everyone else," AJ told them, but they all groaned. "Oh, you know you love our little, dysfunctional family, don't act like you don't."
"I thought you two were divorced now, we can't have a bus with two divorced people on it, think of the children," Kaitlyn gestured towards E.
"I do have very delicate sensibilities," E said, pretending to look sad, "but I have been trying to come up with scenarios to get them back together, I've been watching both versions of the Parent Trap, and because of that have been learning to play the guitar and find someone who can pass as my twin."
"How's that going?" Dolph asked.
"Harder than you'd think, I've got a short list, but I'm pretty thorough in my interviews," E answered, "I still think it's a load of crap that we got split up in the first place, what was even the point?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Dolph said.
"Mine too," AJ chimed in. Dolph was about to say something more, but he felt AJ's foot brushing up against his leg, and his eyes widened as he looked at her. She pretended not to know what she was doing, grabbing her cup of coffee and taking a leisurely sip. Her leg wasn't that long, so she could only reach just inside his knee, but that was enough to get him going. They were sitting in a booth and they were against the wall so nobody could see what was going on. Her foot just kept slowly rubbing up and down his leg, and she was driving him crazy right now.
Thankfully, their food came out a few minutes later and she relented her game of footsie with him, if you could call it that. They all started to eat, chatting about new storylines after SummerSlam, and what was ahead for them all. Dolph was just listening to E talk about how he was thinking about starting an instagram account to up his visibility when AJ reached over and grabbed a piece of Dolph's toast, taking a bite and putting it back on his plate.
"Excuse you?" Dolph said.
"What? My breakfast didn't come with toast, and I just wanted a bite," she said innocently.
"You don't even ask?"
"Why? Do I need to?" she asked. "You've had my tongue in your mouth so many times, don't you think that means I can bite your toast?"
"You two act like an old married couple, I swear," Kaitlyn said as she dumped some ketchup on her hash browns. "Are you sure you guys weren't really together because you guys are just like, way too in tune with each other."
"That's what happens when you spend all your time with this idiot," AJ jerked her thumb at him, "but for the record, you guys are the best friends I have right now, and I'm really happy we did get to work together, and I'm glad I found you, E, and you, Dolph because I don't know what I'd do without you."
"You sound like you're giving the speech right before the big game or something," Dolph laughed, "we'll always be friends, that's a given." He gave her an earnest look, wanting her to know that was always true. Whatever they were doing, they would always remain friends. Her face softened as she looked at him, and their gazes met and stopped and it was like neither could breathe, but the spell was broken when Kaitlyn started talking about dying her hair back to just brunette and asked AJ her opinion.
After breakfast, the foursome went their own way, and Dolph and AJ adjourned to their separate rooms to pack, but Dolph finished early, as he usually did, and went to her room to help her pack or to wait for her to pack. She was notoriously slow at packing, and sometimes he'd have to wait upwards of an hour just to get her to pack something. He walked into the room to which he had a key, and went into her bedroom, sitting down on the bed. She was staring at her suitcase intently.
"I don't know what to wear."
"You're wearing clothes."
"Oh, I didn't mean for today, silly," AJ said, "I just meant for the next couple days. I only brought enough for today and tomorrow, but I guess I could wash them and they'd keep, yeah, I guess I could."
"Why do you need extra clothes, aren't you flying to Tampa tomorrow, I thought I was driving us both to the airport," he told her. He didn't always drive her to the airport, but sometimes he did, and since she was driving with him today, he thought it a silent agreement that he would drive her tomorrow too.
"I didn't tell you?" AJ mused. "I guess I had my mouth full last night and couldn't talk."
"Don't get me started," he narrowed his eyes at her and she giggled playfully. She walked over to him and straddled his lap, settling herself against him so his legs were nestled neatly between her thighs. "So why are you staying in, ugh, Milwaukee?"
"I'm not," AJ told him, wrapping her arms loosely around his neck. "I'm actually headed back here to Chicago tomorrow morning, early, so I won't be going to the airport."
"Chicago?" he asked, his voice thickening a little bit because somehow now the word was difficult to get out of his mouth. If she said that she was coming back here with Punk, he didn't know what he'd do. What was with Punk's sudden interest in her? Why was this guy everywhere now? He wasn't claiming that AJ was his or anything, but it bothered him because there was something here between him and AJ, and shouldn't that be explored?
He didn't know anything anymore. He didn't want to talk to her and ruin this delicate balance they had going, but weren't their feelings here that weren't there before? He wasn't even sure what he really felt for her, but whenever she brought up Punk, it was like something ate away at his insides. Was that love? Was that him needing her in ways he didn't need her before? He wished he could talk to her, but that was dangerous.
"Yeah, Chicago, I know, I should just move here," she joked.
"Um, why are you coming back here?" He wasn't even sure if he wanted to know the answer, but he had to know at the same time.
"Kaitlyn's coming back for a photoshoot. They're doing this series now, for the site, it's like a diva's day off type thing, it's going to be a casual type shoot, I guess is what they're saying. I think Kaitlyn, Layla, and Summer are the ones doing it tomorrow, but Kaitlyn thought it'd be fun to do some sight-seeing."
He heaved a breath of relief that he wasn't even aware he'd been holding. "That sounds like fun, what does a guy have to do to get in on that girl-on-girl action?"
"No! Nothing like that," she slapped him on the back before he captured her lips in a kiss. He felt the need to kiss her, maybe it was in thanks, he didn't know, but he just had to kiss her in that moment. Perhaps he just needed to remind himself that at the end of the day, she fell into his bed, not anyone else's. He was getting possessive of her, he was letting his feelings get the better of him, and at some point, he was going to break, and they were going to have to talk.
"Damn, and here I thought I might get lucky."
"You get lucky far too often," she joked, kissing his jaw. "If we didn't have to leave soon, I would probably say let's go for it right now, but we've got work and we can't be late for that."
"Yeah, I know," he said as she pulled away. He took a moment just to stare at her face, brushing the hair away so he could get a clear view of her. Her dark eyes looked at his inquisitively. "You look beautiful this morning."
"You're a sap," she told him, pushing herself off of him so she could continue packing. "Don't get soft on me, Ziggler."
"I think it's safe to say I'm always pretty hard around you, Lee," he responded and she dropped her head in laughter. "Hey, AJ?"
"Yeah?" she asked, putting stuff into her suitcase.
"You're okay with our situation right now, right, like, this doesn't bug you? I don't bug you?" It was all he dared ask right now. It wasn't a deep question, it wasn't delving into their feelings, but it would at least give him some reassurance that she was grounded with him.
"Of course I'm okay, of course I am."