Monday 6th August
It was 2am and Dolph had only just arrived at the hotel he was staying at for the night. Being a WWE superstar was all that this man had ever wanted to do in his life, and obviously it had its perks, but the amount of travel and lack of sleep that came with his dream job took its toll on him. Nights like this where he had just been driving for three hours straight, and knew that in four hours he had to check out of the hotel and catch a flight just plain sucked. Not to mention the drama with John before the show, that didn't really put him in a good mood.
Dolph opened the door to his room for the night and once he'd walked in he put his entire luggage to the side and released a long, overdue sigh. His eyes wandered around the room. It certainly wasn't the shabbiest of places he'd ever stayed. It had quite a spacious feel with not too many furniture items, and from a first look, the bed looked pretty comfy. That was all he needed right now.
He flopped onto the bed and without even getting under the covers; he closed his eyes hoping to fall into a blissful sleep. But how could a person sleep when they have far too much going on in their minds? He was reluctantly thinking about everything, from John and Zack saying that they thought he had feelings for AJ, to thinking about just AJ alone. It's all he did now, think about her. She was an important person in his life, so having her in his thoughts weren't anything new, but for a while now, she's been the only thing that's really mattered above everything else. Truth be told, it scared him how often he thought of her these days.
That didn't necessarily mean that Zack and John were right about him having feelings for AJ though, he was still sure about that one. Maybe the reason for why he was fighting so hard against having romantic feelings for her was because she was his best friend. Now, Zack could be considered that too, but AJ was different to him in every way. Zack never wanted to have deep conversations, he never wanted to do anything other than go to parties and hang out at the gym. He loved Zack like a brother, but at the end of the day, he wasn't AJ. He now considered AJ his bestest friend, and if he even allowed himself to think of her as more than that, he'd risk losing her.
How could he risk losing her as his best friend when all of his relationships turn to mush?
Take Sarah for an example of that. Two weeks ago, Dolph and Sarah were a happy, new couple. When the relationship first started out, it was great. When Dolph got his few days off from work, he went and stayed at her apartment with her, they had fun and for the rest of the week, they texted each other and had occasional phone calls. That's more than some couples get to have at all. He should have known it was a relationship doomed to fail though, a busy teacher and an even busier wrestler doesn't sound like it would last a few weeks, never mind a month.
Another relationship that was actually his longest, but still turned out badly for the show off. His relationship with Nikki Bella. They had dated each other for about a year quite a while back, and they had a lot of fun, but that's all it really was. There was no clear commitment between them, and it wasn't really going anywhere. After a year of being together, Dolph felt like he was supposed to be completely in love and thinking about marriage, a future, all of that stuff. But he didn't. He wanted out, and honestly cared more about finding someone else more suited to him to settle down with. A few years later, he still hasn't found that.
Nikki and John. That situation still felt rather weird to him. Something wasn't right and he could feel it in his bones. It could have just been the way they looked together, far too comfy for a couple of people who were just friends. Sure, maybe Dolph was being hypocritical with how close he was with AJ, but this whole John and Nikki friendship had never even been heard of before, so what's with the closeness? Also, AJ said that John had something to do for work while they were getting their dinner, and having some friendship time with a Bella twin didn't exactly look like work. John may have been adamant that nothing is going on, but Dolph couldn't trust him. And despite how he wanted so desperately to get along with the man for AJ's sake, he still didn't like him and judging by his words earlier, John still didn't like Dolph.
"Do you think AJ hasn't told me all about how you guys became friends in the first place? I know that you liked her and asked her out but she turned you down. Don't stand here and say that you don't still like her in that way when everything you seem to do says differently. I'm not an idiot Dolph, so just own up to it and stay the hell away."
The words were rattling around in his head. Own up to it and stay the hell away. That's the line that hurt the most. Was John really threatening him, AJ's best friend in the world, to stay away? What gave him the right? Like Dolph could ever stay away from AJ. She had said to Dolph a while ago that no matter what happens, they wouldn't let relationships get in the way of their friendship, and damn it he was going to stick to that, so if John thought he could order Dolph to stay away from her just in case he's harbouring some feelings (which he was sure he didn't have), that asshole had another thing coming.
Dolph was just about to doze off in spite of having too much on his mind until he felt his phone vibrate in the pocket of his black hoodie. 2am. It was 2am, who in the world would want to make a phone call right now?
He pulled the phone out of his pocket and answered without even opening his eyes. "Hello?" He asked groggily.
"Hey, I'm so sorry if I woke you, it's AJ," Dolph's eyes flew open as soon as he heard her gentle, whispering voice on the other end of the line. "I know it's really late, but John's just fallen asleep."
Oh no. He probably told her about the whole thing back in the locker room and she's been waiting for John to fall asleep so she could yell at him. He was way too tired to get into a squabble with her right now. "It's fine, I was still awake, you know me, I don't get much sleep. So, what's up, and why are you whispering?"
"Nothing really, I just wanted to talk to you. As for the whispering thing, I just told you, John's asleep so I don't want to wake him. So, me and you haven't really gotten the chance to talk at all today, which is weird for us. I kind of missed talking to you."
"You're calling me up at 2 in the morning because you miss talking to me? Do you think I'm stupid, come on, I know you rang me because you want something, so 'fess up." He said.
"You know me too well," She laughed "I was just wondering if you would come to Tampa on Wednesday and go shopping with me? It's no big deal if you don't want to go, I just really want your opinion on something if you did come."
This was the type of weird and wonderful friendship they had. She calls him up at such a stupid hour just to ask if he'll go shopping with her. If this was Zack asking this question, he would have told him to fuck off and ignored him for about a week. But AJ, sweet little AJ, he could never do anything like that to her. He may not agree about having feelings for her, but he knew that she had him wrapped around her little finger. "Erm, why do you want me to go shopping with you?" He muttered, rubbing his eyes from the tiredness.
"Like we said the other day, we should do more stuff together like going out, just like we used to. Also, it's mine and John's anniversary soon and I wanted to get him a little gift. I thought if I could get a guy's opinion it would help me out, because so far I'm stuck on what to buy."
His heart sank a little when finding out the reason for this was so she could buy John Cena an anniversary gift. How long had they been together already? Too long, that's for sure. "Wow, anniversary present, huh?" He mumbled, "How long has it been for you two then?"
"Six months this Thursday."
"Really? That long?"
"Yep, half a year. I've never really had a relationship last this long before, so it's special to me I guess."
He bit his lip hard from saying something dumb in reply. A part of him really wanted to question why she was still with him after all this time when he couldn't understand how she could even like him. The Nikki Bella thing also made him want to drive over to whichever hotel AJ was staying at, and beg her to get rid.
"Yeah, it is a long time." Dolph sighed "Anyway, sure, I'll come shopping with you on Wednesday. Just let me know what time you want to go and I'll come meet you."
"Thanks Dolph, you're the best." Even while she was whispering to avoid waking up Cena, he could tell she was excited about being able to go out with him. That brought a smile to his face. "Again, I'm sorry for ringing you at this time but we've both been so busy, I wasn't sure when I'd get another chance to talk. I'll let you go sleep now, so good night, I love you, Ziggy."
She hung up but he still left the phone pressed against his ear. Was this the first time AJ had told Dolph that she loved him? No, absolutely not. This was just another in a long list of times she had ended a phone call by saying she loved him, and she meant it in a best friend kind of way, of course. But that didn't change how he was sat upright on the bed, smiling, smiling wider and brighter than he'd ever smiled before. That's when he knew.
He loved her. It wasn't just him having feelings for this girl who happened to be a huge part of his life, it was so much more than that. It was given away with his beaming smile and butterflies that were still fluttering around in his stomach, even now. He was completely in love with her, and maybe he had been for a while now, but he'd always suppressed it, pushed the mere thought out of his mind. He'd only realised it now, and the realisation had just hit him like a ton of bricks.
He was in love with his best friend.
Dolph started to panic a little. This couldn't happen. This was the last thing he wanted. Feelings would only ruin things for him and AJ, and he couldn't lose her. Ever. She was a part of him now, and she so clearly didn't feel the same way, she wants to buy an anniversary present for her boyfriend of six months for crying out loud.
But everything was starting to make sense, like a cloud that had been hanging over his head had now disappeared. His hatred for Cena was probably caused by how he didn't want to see AJ with anybody else. His long list of failed relationships (they weren't good before he met AJ, but they became worse after becoming her friend), they were all doomed to fail, and why? Because he was in love with AJ, not those girls. They didn't hold a candle to AJ, and he knew it.
This was some weird, huge discovery he'd made, but he was too tired to even analyse everything right now. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, he was going delirious and actually, he only loved her as a friend and nothing more.
Yeah, that could be it. He was just sleep deprived. Sounds logical, right?
Dolph shook his head free of these thoughts, and got up to strip himself of his normal clothing. Once he was down into just his boxer shorts, he climbed into bed and turned off the lamp next to him which he wasn't sure if it was already on when he got here, or if he had switched it on without realising at some point. Once his head hit the pillow, unlike earlier, he managed to fall asleep right away. Just before he dozed off however, there was only one thought going through his head.
He was in love with AJ.
