She couldn't find him, not while the Main Event taping was going on. From what Lucy knew about the WWE, Tuesdays were filming days for Main Event and SmackDown. Sometimes wrestlers performed twice in one day, which bewildered Lucy once she stopped to think about it.
"Hey..." Her head snapped up when she heard someone familiar approach.
"Mr. Punk..." Lucy slightly gasped not expecting him to show up at all. "I uh, hi, Phil."
Phil Brooks smiled at the woman in front of him. "Hi back. How are you doing?"
"Um, fine. Why do you ask?"
"John asked me to go check up on you, since you're sort of hard to find for him. Were you a champion of hide and seek growing up?"
Lucy bit a laugh as she looked at Phil's lip ring. "I guess. My brothers were always too old to play the games girls did. At least I didn't play with babydolls. I played with dinosaurs."
"Really, and what was your favorite growing up?"
"Velociraptor, well sort of. Deinonychus was my favorite. Jurassic Park had it wrong in the movies. They liked the name of Velociraptor but in real life, they are only about three feet tall. Deinonychus is the height of a grown man, so the movie people morphed the two together, leaving out the fact that both were feathered. Sorry, it's hard to keep things simple when I try to explain them."
"You don't need to keep apologizing for speaking your mind. Look at me, people hate and love me at the same time for what I have to say. You can't please everyone." He smiled calmly at her. "You have to please yourself. So what would please you right now?"
"I'm looking for The Shield." She hoped that he didn't hate them like some people she knew.
"Are you going to thank Ambrose for what he did last night? It's all over Twitter right now." Phil asked as he watched her fidget with one of the rings on her fingers.
"No, I...I want to go out with Jon and Joe with my friend Nessa. I just have to find them first."
"Come on, then. I think I know where to look. They're in the SmackDown taping."
"I don't want to bother them if they're getting ready for the show." She motioned with her hands, shaking her head with them.
"Trust me, you won't." Phil gave her a big grin.
Lucy had never really hung out with Phil Brooks, the Mr. Punk thing came when out of a minor shock she'd forgotten his real name. John and Phil were friends, even if they were enemies on the shows at some points. Each have had their highs and lows in the company, but both were easygoing. And she'd slip up once in a while and call Phil Mr. Punk. Phil knew and understood, allowing the younger woman to get used to him on her own terms. He never pushed her to be his friend.
"I heard you were coming back. Sorry if I missed your return." Lucy said, looking up at Phil.
"Hey, it's okay, Toots. I've been watching your skits since you started though. You're really good."
"Thank you."
"I'm wondering though; what is your dealings with The Shield anyway?"
"I met Roman at the airport when I was going home last week for personal reasons. And then he scared off Maddox who kept pestering me to go out with him. Last night, Jon stepped up when my John didn't do anything. That one also involved Maddox, but this time he left his mark" She pulled up her sleeve for him to see.
"Oh shit, that looks bad doesn't it? And that's why you, John and Maddox were in that meeting with Stephanie. What's going to happen now?"
"I don't know. Management wants to move me from being Vickie's PA to The Shield. They haven't decided yet. Hopefully by Monday they will."
"We're all friends around here, Lucy. Come get me if you need anything. As friends, can we go out and grab some sodas some time? I'm not rushing you to make a decision, but just know you can count on me, Toots. You're my friend's sister, I guess I kind of look at you like a sister too."
"Have you called your sister?" Lucy had vaguely remembered Phil mentioning his home life, that he had a younger sister and he was close to her, along with his parents. He had a brother but he wasn't close to him at all.
"Shit no, and hey look there's one of the Shield guys." Phil motioned up the hall towards one of the locker rooms. "You go talk to him and I'll see if I can get a hold of my sister. Thanks for reminding me, Toots." He lightly touched her elbow, well aware of her issues with being touched by people. "I'll see you around."
Phil was an interesting man, Lucy mused as she worried her lip. Looking at Colby, she tried to think of what to say. She had to be confident, she had to be sure of herself even if she wasn't. Why was this so hard for her?
"Colby..." She said approaching him from behind. "Hi."
"Hey, Lucy. How have you been?"
"Dealing with stuff I didn't want to deal with. Um, have you seen Jon or Joe, preferably both?" She asked, playing with her ring again.
"Yeah, they're in the men's locker room. I'll go find them for you." He nodded, stepping into the room in question.
He had been gone for a second the door opened and out stepped one of the Europeans, not the two men she had been hoping for. The creepy Englishman, Wade Barrett, looked at her as she stared at him with wide eyes, not in awe but in morbid fear. She didn't know him at all, or well enough to know that he wasn't a bad guy outside of the ring.
"What are you standing out here for, Lucy?" Hi voice boomed, at least to her. She took an instinctive step backwards.
"Just waiting on someone." She replied hastily.
"Ste's worried about you, you know." He said, his voice soothing down from what she was used to hearing. "Ste's a friend of John's, so he worries easily. Ste talks about you a lot. I'm surprised you haven't met him yet. Are you okay, you look pale."
"Oh, I'm okay. I uh, I had a meeting about what happened last night."
"It's all over the bloody internet. Have you seen some of the comments about your own brother?"
"No, I haven't. I don't have Twitter, or Facebook or any of that. I don't like social medias."
He hmmed slightly. Stu Bennett, that's what she remembered his name as outside of the shows. "Did Maddox at least get his arse nailed for what he did?"
"No, but management is thinking about changing my place in the show, since I basically work Raw only."
"That's good. I have to go, I'm on first tonight for the SmackDown taping."
"Okay. Be careful, please."
He smiled at her, charmed at her kind words. It's been a while since someone told him to be careful and rightly he liked that. Then Stu turned and headed towards where the gorilla and entrance ramp to the ring was located. Lucy wasn't aware that she had been seen talking to the tall Englishman, nor that it was one of the people she was looking for.
"You're a hot topic around here, Sunshine." Jon's voice said, causing her to look back at the doorway to the men's locker room. "You okay?"
"Frazzled, everyone wants to know details that I don't want to give out."
Lucy felt the heat come to her face and her breathing momentarily stopped as she watched Joe step up to the door tightening his belt, and not the Tag Team Champion belt either. He was shirtless, and slightly wet from the obvious shower he had taken. Her hands started shaking as Joe's gaze fell onto her. Briefly looking at his chest, Lucy looked back at Jon, who had this all knowing smirk on his face.
"Um, Nessa wanted to know if you two wanted to go out and do something with us." Lucy said, twisting her ring on her finger.
"What about me?" Colby spoke up from between Joe and Jon's shoulders. "I want to do something fun."
"I thought you had a girl back home in Iowa," asked Lucy while her face sort of scrunched up in thought. Joe smirked at that beautiful face and how she could act so innocent sometimes.
"I do but I can't go back this week. And a club is so redundant, don't you think?" Colby asked.
"Redundant? Have you been hanging out with Sandow or Rhodes lately?" Jon asked, looking at the younger man.
"What?" Colby sounded insulted. "I can be smart, too." He paused. "Sometimes."
Lucy laughed. "It's the start of summer and fairs are popping up around everywhere. How about we find one to visit on a day you're not busy."
"I'm so gonna win my girl a prize. That's a great idea, Luce. I think we have tomorrow off, there aren't any house shows for a few days. Tomorrow sound great for you guys?" Colby asked.
"Sure why not. It's not like we can think of anything better to do." Jon shrugged. "What about you, man? Want to take the girls out to a fair? I'm sure we can find a tunnel of love for us to enjoy."
"Man, shut up. But if you want to go, we'll go tomorrow." Joe smiled at Lucy, and that warm and fuzzy, and that nervous feeling came back to her stomach, shivering down to her toes.
"Great. Um, can I have someone's phone number so I can call about the details later?" She asked holding her phone out.
"Why don't you do it, Joe? I have to finish getting ready." Jon stepped away, practically dragging Colby with him. "You too, Little Man."
"Dude, I'm only like five months younger than you and you're only taller by two inches. Ow, hey, watch what you're grabbing!"
That left Lucy with a shirtless Samoan standing practically in front of her. The view made her mouth go dry and her brain go blank.
Well here's another update. Enjoy.