The tag match went about as badly as one could expect. Phil found himself being taunted by AJ the entire time and not only did Paul get kicked out from ringside, but Dolph abandoned him to follow Vickie, leaving him to get a chokeslam from Kane and lose the match. He was backstage now, changing back into his street clothes. He had no idea where Paul was now. Last he had seen him he was arguing with Vickie about something. Phil had stayed around for two seconds of that before just leaving. Paul would catch up. He always did.
He finished getting dressed and was about to pick up his bag when his dressing room door opened. He looked up, expecting it to be Paul. It was AJ though and he immediately sneered. "What do you want?"
"We need to talk," she replied as she shut the door behind her.
"About what? Your taunting me out there tonight?"
"Try the topic of you decking Wade Barrett," she corrected.
"Oh." He cringed internally. He knew it would get back to her but he had still held on hope that it wouldn't.
"Nobody would tell me WHY," she snapped, restoring hope to him once more. "But Miz kept SMIRKING at me and told me I should come talk to you myself."
Phil vowed to himself to kill Miz right where he stood the next time he saw him. "It's none of your business. He's just being an idiot."
"I'm the GM-"
"A BAD GM."
She scowled at him. "Would you stop? Please? You CAN'T go around punching people!"
"He was being disrespectful."
"Oh Christ..." AJ threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "So now you're punching people backstage for disrespecting you? Have you completely lost your mind?"
"You didn't hear what he said." The need to explain himself suddenly rose up in him though he didn't know why. It would be easier if she thought he kicked Wade's ass for an ego boost. She didn't have to know the truth...then again she would probably just find out anyway. Justbecause Miz sent her in here to put him in the position to confess didn't mean he hadn't told anybody else the real reason Wade had gotten decked. It would get to her one way or another. Maybe she would take it as locker room talk, or maybe she would take it as the truth.
"I don't care what he said," she snapped. She stepped right up to him, poking her finger into his chest. "I have half a mind to suspend you right now."
"You can't!" he shot back. "I'm your champion! You NEED me!"
"I could just strip you of the belt and crown a new champion. You're a spoke on the wheel buddy." She smirked as she used his own phrase back at him. "The wheel keeps turning."
"You wouldn't dare."
"Watch me."
He almost let her get out the door, not thinking she was serious. The moment her hand touched the doorknob though, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.
"Ow!" she yelled, trying to get free. "Let go!"
"He disrespected YOU!" he growled, hating himself for admitting it. "Alright? I punched him for YOU!"
She gave him a look of disbelief. "You expect me to believe that?"
"Why else would Miz send you in here?" he asked. "Fucking little worm set me up for this." He let go of her arm and tried to shoo her away. "Now if you'll excuse me-"
"You punched him for me?" AJ's expression had softened and she sounded so touched.
"Don't make a big deal out of it," Phil said cooly. "It's not a big deal. It meant nothing."
"CLEARLY it did," she replied. She wasn't letting him get off so easy. "You wouldn't have hit him if there was nothing."
"He was being crude."
"Have you heard YOU talk?"
"Okay!" He threw his hands up in the air. "Fine. I hit him because I didn't like him calling you a slut. I admit it. But what good is it? We can't work. That's been proven."
"And who's fault was that?" Uh oh. AJ's eyes had narrowed angrily. Phil tried to take a step back but she was right on him. "YOU ran away from us! I was ready to give you EVERYTHING! I LOVED you! I still..." Her voice trailed off as she quickly looked away, trying to hide the tears that were forming in her eyes. "You just ran away from everything we could have been. And for what? Huh? What was the point of almost letting me in to just shove me back out?"
"Because you're not well!" Phil practically shouted. It was his turn to step forward now and he grabbed AJ's head with both hands as he did so. "I'm NOT good at these things to begin with and you're not any better off! Sometimes I couldn't tell if you actually cared about me or if you were doing anything to stick it to Bryan!"
"I'm OVER him!"
"Now? Maybe you are! A couple of months ago? You were sure back in his bed real quick that week your engagement lasted! And the ONLY reason you dumped him at the altar was because you saw him preparing to throw you in a god damn nuthouse! It took THAT to get you to leave him! You still cared about him even though he treated you like GARBAGE! Even when I-the guy you supposedly loved-was telling you that you were better than that you STILL threw away everything I said and went back to him!"
"I was HURTING you son of a bitch!" She was shouting now. Unbeknownst to them they were attracting quite the audience outside the locker room door. "You LEFT me! Your reject my proposal, you avoid me only to sleep with me right before Money in the Bank and then nothing. You didn't even TRY to talk me out of marrying Daniel. You were going to let me do it."
"What else was I supposed to do? You made your choice."
"No. You were just being an asshole and worrying more about facing Cena that next week. You'd sell your own soul down the river to get the best of him."
"I've gotten the best of him without doing that thank you very much."
"Clearly not if he's still the star of the show."
Phil glared at her, not wanting to get into the truth of that statement. "I'm leaving. I'm not doing this anymore." He took his bag and started heading for the door. He almost hand his hand on the doorknob when AJ grabbed his other arm and turned him back around. He opened his mouth to say something nasty but he was silenced by her closing the rest of the distance between them, her hand grabbing him by the back of his neck and pulling him down so she could kiss him. His eyes widened and he tried to push her back but she just jumped on him, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck to hold herself up. He caved and kissed her back, turning them so he could push her against thedoor with a thud. The kisses got deeper though not as rough as the ones they had shared in their last encounter. They were actually gentle...caring...one might even say loving.
"Dude, I think they're about to do it!" Miz's voice broke the moment out of the blue.
"They're not about to do it!" Cody Rhodes hissed back. "Are they?"
"It's too quiet for them doing it!" Alicia Fox butted in.
"WHY do you three insist on eavesdropping on EVERYONE!" Damien Sandow scolded. "We are ADULTS!"
"But they're going to do it!" Miz shot back. "They-OW OW OW LET GO OF MY EAR!"
"Owww come on man!" Cody whined. "Let go of me I'll come peacefully!"
Phil and AJ looked at each other for the longest time, jaws dropped and a look of utter disbelief written on both their faces. Phil tried to form words but there were none to be had. Finally he gave up and just started laughing. Hard. so hard that he had to put AJ down and double over. She started to laugh as well, accidentally snorting in the process and making him laugh even harder. "I give up!" he finally managed to gasp out. "We're..." he wheezed and shook his head "we're surrounded by idiots."
"You're just figuring that out now?" AJ wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to force herself to stop laughing. "Oh god..." She shook her head and took a deep breath. "I can't even get mad. I can't."
"I can." Phil was killing all three of them if Sandow hadn't already done it. He took several deep breaths himself and finally got a hold of himself. "What um...what was the kiss for?"
"A thank you," AJ replied. "You know, for the whole defending my honor thing."
"Most people don't use their lips to say thank you. Or..." Phil frowned as he actually thought that one through. "I guess technically they do. But you know that wasn't what I meant. I was just-"
She rolled her eyes and kissed him again. "That's for being cute." She grinned at the look on his face and started to leave, but he pulled her back, kissing her because...well because he could. Only reason he could come up with. And for tonight it was fine. He didn't want her to leave and she got it without him having to say it. When they broke apart once again they didn't totally back off. They kept their foreheads pressed together and their hands clapsed, comfortable just staying that way. They were going to have to go out and catch his bus since it was waiting for him. Paul would have to be ditched too which wouldn't go over well but he would deal with that later. Right now, he was planning on enjoying the rest of his night.
