October 31st, 2011 – Monday Night RAW

April Mendez never really had any romantic interaction in her near 25 years of life. All of the boys never really looked at her as someone they could possibly date. This could have been because she did things that were considered to be more "male oriented", rather than all of the things the other girls were doing. She did date Jay Lethal, the man who trained her in wrestling, but it wasn't anything serious. So as a WWE Diva, many things were new to her. The Divas were known for using sex as a weapon, but this was just something that AJ had no real knowledge of. However, she just wasn't about to go around admitting that to just anyone.

Just a week earlier, she was approached by the creative team to possibly start a romantic line with fellow newcomer to WWE, Bryan Danielson, who was going under the ring name Daniel Bryan, after his previous storyline left the company. Despite not actually interacting very much in their time on NXT she figured it may be a good opportunity. Something that her best friend, Celeste, had said only weeks prior had gotten AJ thinking. One of the reasons that their friend Mary had taken the romantic line with Cody Rhodes was for more air time. Going in for this line with Bryan would definitely do the same for AJ. So she figured it wouldn't hurt to try it out. She would discuss the possibilities with the superstar and see where it could possibly go.

Halloween was a special night for the WWE. It happened to land on a Monday that year, and the company decided to put on one of their "super shows" in which competitors from the SmackDown brand could come onto RAW for more exposure. That night, they held the annual Halloween costume Divas battle royal for a number one contender spot for the Divas Championship. That night, AJ dressed up as Kitana from the Mortal Kombat series. It was her first Halloween battle royal, and where she knew she wasn't going to win, but she had hoped to make an impression in other ways. Like most female video game characters, Kitana was portrayed in a very sexy manner, but AJ found a version best suiting her, along with knowing that she had to keep things "PG" for the show's current format.

After the match, AJ went back to the locker room and showered off before changing back into her normal clothing for the rest of the night. As she made her way down to the dressing room area she was approached by a somewhat large man, in comparison to herself anyway, which caught her off-guard. She jumped back, gasping a little.

"Sorry, sorry!" The face of the company quickly apologized for scaring the petite Diva, gently placing his hands on her shoulders. "It's April, right?"

AJ slowly looked up to meet the eyes of John Cena and smiled. "John Cena? Excuse me while I fan-girl a moment."

John chuckled at the adorableness of the young Diva, letting her soak in the fact that it was in fact one of her idols talking to her. "Take your time, darling."

She felt her cheeks flush, feeling silly for acting in such a manner around one of her coworkers. She hadn't been with the company for very long yet. So she did tend to get a little starstruck every now and again amongst some of the bigger names. "Sorry," she giggled. "And yes, I'm April. You can call me AJ, though. It's actually a nickname."

He nodded with a small grin, but his demeanor quickly changed. "You're friends with Mary Williams, right?"

AJ's eyes widened, she knew there had to be a reason why she had been approached by one of the biggest superstars in the company. She saw that she was at her dressing room, so she quickly opened the door and grabbed his wrist, pulling him inside. "It's you?"

"Me what? I just wanted to ask if you've heard from her in the past few weeks. I can't help but feel like she's avoiding me." He swallowed hard as he closed the door behind himself. It had been six weeks since he had heard any word on the girl he once thought could be the one for him, and he was genuinely concerned about how things were left the last time he saw her.

"The one who's got her so twisted," AJ bit her lip. "Celeste and I knew it had to involve a guy."

"Celeste?" John tilted his head in curiosity.

"Kaitlyn, sorry. Yeah, I know it tends to get a little confusing. I may love this business, but I never quite understood the need for everyone to go by fake names," AJ took a deep breath.

"I know. I'm one of the lucky few," John chuckled softly. "But you didn't answer my question, hon."

AJ looked down, playing with her hair. She was looking for the right words to explain the situation to him without really giving much away.

"It's a simple question, AJ. I just want to know if she's alright. I found some videos on YouTube from when she was younger..." John stopped mid-sentence when he saw the young Diva's head snap to attention. "So you do know about that," it was more of a statement than a question. He already had his answer by her reaction.

"John, you know I can't tell you anything," she pleaded with him. "But as far as I know, she is okay. Celeste and I have barely spoken to her in weeks. I actually had to ask Cody myself last week at SmackDown, and he assured me that she's fine. And I'm sure that she's not around tonight because she made it clear that she has no interest in the Divas Championship."

"That may be my fault. At least partly," the former champion admitted with a sigh. "A group of us went out to a bar one night and I mentioned wanting to meet her son, and..."

April held up her hand with a sigh, causing him to stop. "Look, I can tell that you care about her. In which case I hope that you can just be patient and let her come to you on her own."

John gave her a bit of a puppy dog pout, wanting a little more.

The tiny girl sighed, shaking her head with a smile. "I can give you random updates on her. Nothing too in depth."

Finally satisfied, John took her hand, shaking it as he leaned in to press a kiss to her cheek. "Thank you. This really means a lot to me. I've been getting shut out by Randy regarding her."

AJ pouted, the thought of Celeste shutting her out over anything killed her inside, so she really felt for John in that moment. "Just give her time, John. She's been through a lot."

The older man smiled, nodding as he opened the door once more and started to walk out of the room. As he was about to leave the doorway turned his head with a small smirk, "you say I've got her twisted, huh?"

AJ pursed her lips, kicking him in the butt playfully. "You're married, mister. Just go or I'll reconsider keeping you updated on her."

"Going!" he laughed as he retreated down the hall.

AJ shook her head as she stood in her doorway, considering to stick around and play a video game, but decided against it. She left her dressing room, going in the opposite direction that John had just gone, and went for a walk. She passed by a number of crew members and superstars in the halls of the arena, politely greeting each one with a smile on her face until she ran into Cody. She stopped, blocking his path and tossed her hair aside. "John Cena?"

"No, I'm Cody Rhodes. You know that," the Intercontinental Champion scoffed in pure arrogance.

AJ rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "No, I just had a little chat with John... about Mary."

Cody's face fell, his body tensing up. He grabbed AJ's wrist, pulling her aside. "What did you tell him?"

"Chill, Cody," she took a deep breath. "I just told him that she's okay. I don't get it. He's married."

Cody looked around, making sure that no one was around before pulling her into the nearest empty room. "Yes, I know that he's married. That's part of the reason she's been so scarce lately. They should be together."

AJ sighed heavily, frowning as she ran her fingers through her dark hair. "She ended it because of Marcus, didn't she?"

Cody nodded, biting his lip. "We all know that he is a very understanding guy, and he most likely would be okay with everything."

"That still didn't stop her from being scared. That kid is everything to her. That's why she's never fully given herself to anyone, isn't it?" AJ looked down, hoping to avoid having the topic getting turned onto her.

"Well she did come close with Randy... things just didn't work out in that way for them," Cody shrugged with a small laugh.

"By what she's told Celeste and I, it was all pure heat between her and Randy. Basically, there isn't anything they didn't do together," AJ felt her cheeks burning at the subject, not having any experience with it personally.

"Yeah, apparently their sex life was insane. Not that it's any of our business." Cody paused, blinking as he studied the expression of the small Diva in front of him. "AJ... is something wrong?"

"Yeah, sorry," she started, biting her lip. "It's just that I'm about to start a storyline with Daniel Bryan, and I just... I don't know..."

"Are you really that inexperienced? I just thought... back on NXT there were all of those incredibly cheesy storylines... AJ, was I really your first kiss?" Cody looked on in pure shock.

AJ slowly looked up, a look of complete innocence on her face. "Yeah... So far every time I've kissed a guy, it's been on screen."

"You could have fooled me," he smiled, hoping to boost her spirits. "You knocked me off my feet in more ways than one."

With that confession, AJ blushed the deepest shade of red she had in her entire life. "Thanks, Cody. That really means a lot to me. I guess that I'm just nervous. I mean... I barely know Bryan. You and Mary have been extremely close for half of your lives."

Cody nodded, pulling her close to him and wrapping his arms around her for a comforting hug. "How about this? I'll be your romantic coach, so to speak. You can come to me with your scripts, and I'll run through them with you to help you with how to portray yourself around him on camera."

AJ grabbed onto his shirt, inhaling his scent. "This almost makes me wish they didn't have me try to tell Primo that I was into him that same night. I probably would have tried asking you out."

Cody chewed on the inside of his bottom lip as he watched the girl slowly raise her head to look at him. Before he got a chance to respond their lips met. The kiss was sweet and innocent. Unfortunately, it lacked the spark that their first kiss had ignited a year earlier. As they pulled away, they both heaved a sigh. Looking into one another's eyes, they knew that the other hadn't felt anything. "At the time, I would have went for it," he finally whispered after a few moments of silence.

AJ nodded, choosing to not pull away from his embrace. She knew that their moment had long since passed, and she accepted that. "I'll take that coaching offer, though."

Cody smiled, reaching up to run his fingers through her hair. He wondered if he was starting to feel the same for this girl as he did for Mary. That thought made him wonder if that meant he was going soft. Shaking it off, he decided that he didn't care. If he was only like this for a couple of girls, then he would be okay with it. As long as he could stay the same way he did around the rest of the world, he would be happy. "We can start tomorrow at the SmackDown tapings."

After thinking for a few moments, the twenty-four year old Diva tilted her head. "Cody... you're usually a jerk to most everyone. Even backstage."

"Well, not completely. Though, I admit that I do have a bit of an arrogance problem. But yeah, I know that this is a rare side of me. I usually only show it around Mary. She's special, though." Cody shrugged it off, his cocky smirk returning.

"Does that mean I'm special, too?" AJ raised an eyebrow, not letting him get away with it.

Cody sighed, shaking his head. "You are. You may not be as much of an Achilles's heel for me as she is, but I am finding myself having a soft spot for you. Don't let it get out though!" he laughed, playfully tweaking her nose.

AJ shook him off with a giggle. "I won't. Do you really think that anyone would believe me?"

"Outside of Mary, Randy, and Ted? Probably no one," he laughed. "Well, except for John, Stephen, and Zack now. They've all seen me with her."

"You mean that night at a bar a few weeks ago?" AJ asked, biting her lip.

"He told you?" Cody tilted his head skeptically.

AJ shrugged, "only mentioned that he had asked about Marcus and he noticed that it had upset her."

Cody sighed, nodding. "She can't keep it from him forever. Especially after that night. We saw unresolved feelings from both of them that night."

AJ pouted, looking down for a moment. "I don't see this ending well..."

Cody bit his lip, nodding in agreement. "Neither do I."

Don't kill me! Yes, I just did a whole chapter without the main character. At least I mentioned her? Don't worry, though. She'll be back in the next one. I'll also finally be bringing in Punk. You're welcome. /Damien Sandow impersonation