Three weeks later, you found yourself sitting on the balcony of your hotel room in San Antonio, Texas, for yet another weekend of Ring of Honor shows. After the last one, you had gone home and been on bed rest for about four days. It appeared that the stomach flu had taken a stronger hold on you than you thought. You slowly got better, able to return to your part-time job, working as a club manager at a local music venue. Wrestling was great, but on its own, with you on your own, it didn't pay all the bills.

Adam had texted you the day after he had helped you in Atlanta, checking in on you, making sure you had made it home. The exchange had been brief, dying off after a handful of messages, but you had appreciated the gesture all the same. Perhaps things were going to be OK for the two of you? You hadn't spoken to him since then, but you were meant to meet up with a group from the roster tonight for dinner and you felt confident he'd in the group. Hopefully the both of you didn't go back to the angry, icy exchanges from before, and perhaps you'd finally get some understanding of all of his actions.

You remained sitting on the balcony in the cool Texas air, reading your book, until it was time to get ready to meet up downstairs with your dinner companions. Jay had told you to be there by 6PM, and it was just after 5 now. It wasn't that you had a lot to do to get ready; add some hair spray to your wavy hair, make sure your makeup was OK, gather your purse. But you didn't want to feel rushed.

So you meandered back in to your room, to pull on a pair of medium tint skinny jeans & a baggy grey sweater, that hung off your frame comfortably. You fixed your hair and makeup, trying to cover up the bags under your eyes, if only to avoid a confrontation with Jay about "why aren't you sleepin', kid?". You were sleeping, just probably not as much as you should be.

Eventually you found it was time to meet downstairs, so you slipped on your black ballet flats, grabbed your purse, and left your room. You took the elevator down to the ground floor, and upon the doors opening, saw Mark, Nick, Matt, and Lethal standing in a group off to the side. You went to them, exchanging greetings and hugs.

"Who are we waiting on?" You inquired.

"Jay, Cole, and probably Page?" Nick answered. "At least, that's what they told me."

"Gotcha." You spoke with Lethal in the meantime, talking about his new house and the problems that were coming with that. It was within minutes that Jay arrived, instantly putting an arm around your shoulders. He spoke with Nick and Matt, while you maintained your conversation with Lethal. Some moments later, both Adams arrived. But only Page greeted you directly; Cole just looked at you without an expression on his face.

It shocked you, honestly. It wasn't what you expected. Not that you thought he was going to pick you up excitedly and swing you around, but you had at least thought you'd get words spoken to you. But you didn't comment on it, unsure if it was anything really. Maybe he was just in a bad mood overall?

You realized quickly however, that wasn't the case.

You walked to the nearby restaurant for dinner, a sports bar type place. The entire walk over, you talked with Nick, and Adam kept himself at the back of the pack away from you. In the restaurant when you all were seated, you found yourself between Jay and Lethal, with Matt and Page across from you. Adam was on the end of the table on your opposing side, Nick between him and Matt.

Throughout dinner, you were engaged in conversation with all of your friends, exchanging stories and anecdotes and laughs. Except with Adam Cole. You got the idea, after direct comments and questions to him a handful of times, and only receiving short responses or semi-smiles back, that he didn't want to speak with you.

And that pissed you off.

So you spent dinner after that ignoring him back. You had a few beers, laughed loudly with your genuine friends, and let Adam sit with his apparent hatred for you.

It was when you were walking back in to the hotel, following along after the guys who had announced it was time for an after-dinner drink in the hotel bar, that you felt a sudden need for answers. It may have been the alcohol, and it may have been you hitting your tolerance for his behavior. But you were just so irritated at how Adam had treated you all night long, reverting to the distant and passive attitude from before. You were also mad at yourself, for thinking his behavior in Atlanta indicated a change in your relationship, like there was a possible reconciliation in the works.

You were just tired of him being such an unjustified prick towards you honestly.

"We'll meet you guys over there," you declared, grabbing Adam's forearm, as you all stood in the lobby. You weren't sure who looked the most surprised and confused at that moment among the group. But no one said anything, and you didn't see the subtle nod Adam gave to Matt, indicating he was fine with this sudden turn of events. Jay looked at you, lifting an eyebrow in question, and you responded with a stern look back, confident in your choice. The guys shuffled away in to the hotel bar, leaving you and Adam in the lobby.

"What do you need?" He asked once you were alone, looking down at you, appearing unfazed by the change in plans.

"We're not doing this out here," you decided, looking around. The number of hotels you had been in over the years, now in the hundreds easily, made you aware that usually there were conference and meeting rooms along the first floor. Tightening your grip on Adam's arm, you tugged him to follow you down a hallway, which he did without protest.

You were lucky, having chosen the right direction to go in, seeing placards on the wall that let you know these were in fact conference rooms you were passing. You kept going down the hallway until you were at the last possible room. Pushing down on the handle, the door opened, and you dragged Adam in behind you. The room was small, maybe with a dozen empty round tables inside. It was only when you heard the door slam shut that you let go of Adam's arm.

"Wanna tell me why I was kidnapped?"

"Kidnapping implies no one knows where you are," you responded, turning around so you were facing him. You were annoyed with how calm he looked, like this situation was just another day for him. Like he didn't know you were mad. Like your behavior wasn't bothering him in any way.

"Alright then, why did you bring me here?"

"Because I want to know what tonight was about," you commanded, putting your hands to your hips.

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

"This whole night, all through dinner, it was back to the ignoring and cold-shoulder and hostility bullshit. I thought we were past that? I thought, now I'm realizing for some stupid reason I thought this, but maybe things weren't going to stay so bad between us?"

"And why did you think that?" Adam questioned, looking unaffected by any of your words and actions still.

"Because the last time I saw you, you were nice. You were the person I knew for so many years, the person I saw as a good friend of mine. You weren't…this…this shadow of a man to me."

"Nothing's changed, Brenna," he affirmed. "Whatever you thought, you were wrong."

"I can fucking see that," you snapped, and you saw a flicker of surprise cross his face at your harsh reply. "Just, do me a favor, yea? Stop fucking around with me. I can't handle this back and forth bullshit anymore. If you wanna tell me what the hell is up, that would be great. But if you wanna ignore me, then go all in on that, OK?"

"Oh sweetheart, I can do that perfectly," he smirked, as though he had just accepted a challenge. He let his eyes scan over you entirely once, before shaking his head briefly, and turned towards the door. This pissed you off even more, feeling like he saw you as not even worth an explanation. And that was all you wanted really.

"Just go on then, walking away from me, without explaining yourself, like you always fucking do," you barked. "Some day when you grow the fuck up, I would love to hear why you treat me like this. What wonderful reasons you have for all of this. But for now, I'm done with this shit, Adam. I don't want to see you, hear you, be near you if I can help it. You've hurt me enough. And you don't…"

"I'M FUCKING SORRY!" Adam roared suddenly, effectively cutting you off, as he spun back around from the door. Your eyes grew wide at the loudness, at the genuine anger he was directing towards you.

"Is that what you want to hear, Brenna? I. AM. SORRY." He punctuated his last three words by chopping his hand up and down in the air towards you. He turned back away from you after that, shaking his head, before putting his hands to his hips, almost vibrating with emotion. You were stunned silent. He had never blown up at you like this before. You didn't know what to do, if you should do anything at all. You hoped no one had heard him, and came running down the hallway and in to the room. You slightly hated yourself for bringing him to this room now, confronting him like you had. You had expected an argument, maybe, but not this explosion.

After a beat, he reeled back around to face you.

"You think I don't know I fucked up? Because I DO. I know I hurt you, but dammit Bren, you aren't the only one hurt here, SO STOP FUCKING ACTING LIKE YOU ARE," he demanded, his voice still raised. "I didn't set out to have us end up here. I didn't, whether you believe that or not. What I said to you at your birthday, that was the truth. After Evan died, I didn't know what to say to you. I'm not Jay, I'm not Cabana, I don't handle shit like that well. I wanted to, Jesus, I wanted to be able to comfort you and be there for you but I just…couldn't. So I didn't try, because I didn't want to make things worse for you."

"And how'd that work out?" You couldn't help yourself from making the snide comment, recovering from your shock the more he spoke. His eyes narrowed, and you regretted speaking.

"Why don't you tell me," he retorted, and you clenched your jaw, knowing he had a point. Things were worse, for both of you. You weren't happy with this state of affairs, that much was clear. You had the same social circle, and you couldn't even be around each other without something happening. You had a feeling it was getting on your friends' and coworkers' nerves to have to deal with the two of you and your…whatever this was. It was definitely on your nerves.

You let any more comments stay in your head, realizing that you would only further fuel the already infuriated man. And you had a feeling that wasn't something you wanted to do. You had only ever seen Adam like this when it involved wrestling, never outside of it, and certainly never with you. You didn't know how this was going to go, and that worried you.

Adam regarded you in the silence, and when he realized you weren't going to speak more, he continued on. He still looked just as angry, but he brought his voice down in volume, though his tone remained upset.

"When you came back…shit, it wasn't like I didn't want to talk to you, because I did. We were close Bren, not best friends, but how many years have we been on the road together? But I just…couldn't bring myself to be around you. You were so sad, and I didn't know how to make it better for you. So I left you alone, because I knew you were better taken care of by everyone else. I thought about saying something to you all the time, I wanted to, but the more time that passed the more…awkward it all became.

"And then you were…OK. You were laughing again, and you looked good, and I had nothing to do with that. You had gotten yourself to a better place, without me. You never sought me out, you never tried to talk to me so I figured you just didn't…need me as your friend anymore. And I didn't like it, but it was what it was. It sucked to be around you knowing that though. That's why I avoided you. It fucking hurt to watch you move on without me. And yea, it pissed me off. I didn't think it would happen, and it did, and then all I could do was stay away from you to deal with it. By then, I figured that's what you wanted anyways, for me to be at a distance."

"You never thought to say any of this me over the past however many months?"

"Of course I did, all the fucking time," Adam scoffed at your question. "But I knew you were unhappy with me, I knew you and I were…it just wasn't an option. It never seemed right to do. It never seemed like it would matter either. When you hit me…I said that was why I didn't talk to you. Because I felt I was right, you didn't want me around, you were mad at me. I mean, the first interaction we had in months, and it was vicious. And when I did try to really tell you, at your birthday, you just didn't seem to care. You didn't want to hear me out."

"Seriously?" You couldn't help yourself. It felt like a cop-out of an excuse, and you didn't like the accusation he made towards you about your reaction to him.

"OK then, how come you never came to me, huh?" He questioned, crossing his arms over his chest. "You've had just as much opportunity as I've had. Why didn't you ever confront me?"

"You literally left rooms when I came in them!" You exclaimed, throwing your hand out at your side in exasperation. "It's kinda hard to ask questions of someone who refuses to be around you!"

"But that wasn't from day one," Adam pointed out. "I know I did that, I messed that up eventually, but it wasn't like the day you came back I ignored you."

"Ya pretty much did," you argued. "You barely spoke to me that day I came back, and then it was just…less and less and then…nothing."

You considered him for a moment, each of you tense with anger, each refusing to back down from your side. You had heard all he had said, and had a far better understanding of how you had found yourself in the here and now with him. He hadn't meant to hurt you, had reasons for all he did, however misguided they were. All of this on his part hadn't started with malicious intent, but it had ended up there all the same. You got that. It still hurt, and it still wasn't right, but you at least saw his motives behind all of it.

So then why were you both still so confrontational with one another? This wasn't going to fix anything, and wasn't that the point of this little discussion you had started anyways?

"Adam, when I came back…I meant it before when I said I had a lot on my mind," you reminded him of words you had spoken months prior. "The first few months I was back on the road? That was totally fake. I had to force myself to socialize, had to make myself laugh with everyone else. I was so hurt, so lost, without…Evan. So I just…faked it until I made it, basically. And you ignored me…that whole time. You said hi to me on that first day, and then some other days but then it was…silence. I wanted to say something, but I just couldn't take anymore drama at that point. I figured you'd come to me when you wanted, but then you didn't.

"And then you started to avoid me and glare at me and I just thought you hated me for some reason that I didn't know. I wanted to ask you what happened, but I figured you'd just walk away or ignore the question. I asked Matt once if he knew why you treated me how you did, but he told me he didn't and I had to ask you. But it just…wasn't that easy. You didn't want me around it was obvious, so I didn't want to force myself on you. And everything at my birthday…you just, you caught me off guard, and you…confused me. One minute you were being so nice, and then you were mad, and…it didn't make any sense so I didn't believe it."

"I never hated you," he said, his voice having lost almost all of the edge it held previously. He uncrossed his arms from his chest, his arms falling to his sides, a sigh escaping his body. You shrugged slightly, the tension leaving your body as well, unsure of what else to tell him, unsure how this was going to play out further.

The silence was thick in the room between the two of you, neither of you any longer in battle position, but still uncertain about the other and the situation. So much had been said already, and so much still needed to be said.

"I'm sorry I threw that ice pack at you."

"Not sorry for punching me?"

"Nope," you answered, letting a smile grow on your face, a corresponding smaller one coming to his face. The room felt lighter at this. "Look, can we just…stop the yelling and shit…just, let's get a fucking drink and…talk?"

"…yea…uh, that sounds good," Adam agreed with a short nod. "How do you want to do that?"

"I can go in to the bar, see what I can manage to get, let the guys know they'll see us later," you offered. "And then…we meet up in one of ours rooms?"

"OK," he replied, and you noticed just a trace of uncertainty in his voice. "How about you do all that and then come to my room?"

"OK," you agreed.

"432," Adam stated, and you nodded to show you'd heard him. He looked at you for a moment longer, and then turned to open the conference room door, holding it for you to pass through. You walked silently beside one another back down the hallway, and once you hit the lobby you split apart, he going towards the elevators, you towards the hotel bar.

Before you could overthink or over-analyze, you strode in to said bar, on a mission now. You had a good feeling about tonight, and you didn't want to waste time. Time was on your side right now. Stay on a good path, you thought to yourself.

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