Aside from the faux bomb scare, the next two weeks went without incident, they passed through a different town every night and now Liz was looking forward to the off day. It was already noon and she had just rolled out of bed when her cell phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and answered "Hey Phil!"

"Hey Lizzie, so I need a favor," He was nervous, maybe this wasn't the best idea, but there was no turning back now that he had her on the phone.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking. And how are you today Philip?" Liz giggled picturing him rolling his eyes when she called him Philip. "Sure, what can I do for you?"

Oh, the things you can for me… "I have this charity party Paul signed me up for, wanna be my date?"

"Um, sure, but, if you are going to represent the WWE, don't you have to bring one of the Divas with you?"

"Really, Lizzie, I am CM Punk, I can bring whoever I want, and I want to bring you."

"Anything for you, Mr. Punk!"

"Great, I'll pick you up at 7. Text me your room number."

"OK. But, wait! What should I wear?"

"I'm not up to date on current women's fashion trends, I'll be wearing a suit, if that helps."

"Not really, but thanks. I'll see you at 7 then." Liz hung up and scowled at her phone, she couldn't just throw on a suit and she didn't exactly have any party clothes in her suitcase, it was mostly uniforms, jeans and some tshirts. She would have to go shopping, she hated shopping, the things a girl will do for her friends… She grabbed Phil's hoodie and set off to go shopping for party clothes.

Liz sighed as she wandered through the cute little boutique a few doors down from the hotel. She had no idea what she should wear to this thing. She was staring a cute sparkly top thinking about how long it would take before her cleavage popped out when she heard someone calling her name. "Hey Liz! You look stressed out."

She looked up and saw Renee Young holding some of the same cute little tops that her stupid boobs could never fit into. "Yeah, Phil asked me to go to some charity thing with him tonight and I have no idea what to wear."

"Really? That's so cool, I'm going with Sami. So, things with Punk are going well then, huh?"

"You are going too?" Liz was so relieved, "Can you help me pick something out? Oh, and you know that we are just friends, so stop being so silly."

"But you are wearing his hoodie."

Renee was seriously adorable, "Well, if that's the case, then half the roster is dating Antonio Cesaro, every time I turn around I see someone wearing his shirt." Renee scrunched up her face and she realized how bad that sounded, Jeez Lizzie, think before you speak. "I'm sorry, I'm just stressed out about this party, I hate shopping and it's even harder to shop alone. Are you still willing to help me?"

"Of course, silly, but to be honest, I hope you weren't planning on buying that top," she pointed to the little sparkly thing in Liz's hand, she couldn't help it, she started laughing and shaking her head, "Oh my god, of course not, my boobs would never fit in this!"

It took an entire hour, but with Renee helping her it wasn't nearly as painful as Liz was expecting, in fact, it was almost fun. They finally picked out an adorable pink strapless dress for Renee, it was long and had a slit up the side that was borderline scandalous, but it looked perfect on her. After Liz finally came to grips with the fact that she would have to wear a dress, Renee picked out a cocktail length dress in a stunning shade of royal blue, it had a modest halter top that Liz was 99% sure her boobs wouldn't fall out of. On a normal sized woman, it would have been a mini skirt, but since Liz was so short it was the perfect length. Just as they parted ways Renee reminded her that she still needed to pick up some dressy shoes. Crap, dress shoes, Liz lived in sneakers for at least the last five years, she wasn't looking forward to squeezing her poor feet into high heels.

Liz found a cute pair of strappy sandals with a kitten heel, at least she wouldn't break an ankle, but wow, her feet looked hideous. She couldn't believe she was about to admit it, but she needed a pedicure. Dammit, Phil totally owed her for this.


It was almost 7:00, Punk was standing outside her hotel room having a minor panic attack. He ran into Sami at the gym and of course, Renee had told him about how Liz freaked out when she suggested that they were an item. But to make matters worse, Renee thinks that Liz is just in denial and that she is really in love with him. What the hell was he doing? Was Randy right? Should he just kiss her and see what happens? He knew Liz, he knew that she needed to be in control, if he did that, he would lose her trust and then he'd never stand a chance.

Liz was staring at the tiny purse that Renee convinced her to buy, how the hell was she supposed to fit anything in it? Room key, driver's license, credit card, cash, lip gloss, breath mints, there was no way it would all fit in there. She was just about to squeeze the little sucker closed when the knock on her door startling her and she dropped the whole thing on the floor. She sighed; at least Phil was on time.

She opened the door and was stunned, Phil was wearing black suit pants, a light blue dress shirt with a bold blue tie and he had his suit jacket draped over his arm. Wow, he looked good enough to eat, what the hell, Lizzie, get it together, you see him every single day in his wrestling trunks, he is practically in his underwear half the time, he is completely dressed in a suit for a formal party, now stop drooling over your best friend. "Wow, you clean up nice. Come in while I grab my shoes and try to get all my junk in this tiny purse."

Punk knew she would look gorgeous all dressed up, but he wasn't prepared for her reaction to him being all dressed up. Was he imagining it? Was it wishful thinking? "Lizzie, you look beautiful," he said giving her a hug, "Don't worry about the bag, I'll put your room key and ID in my pocket, you won't need anything else."

Liz had a great time at the party, she usually hated things like this, but being with Phil made it so much more fun. No one bothered her about drinking soda, no one made any inappropriate comments, and she didn't have to wander around trying to make conversation with people she didn't know. Everyone gravitated to Phil and he took control of every conversation. Liz was proud that he asked her to be his date.

They were riding home from the party when Phil decided to ask a question that had been on his mind for a long time, "So, Liz, I um, I noticed you never drink alcohol at any of these parties."

Liz nodded, "Yeah, I made the decision a long time ago not to drink. Most people can't respect that."

He knew that feeling, "I know it's a personal choice, but I'm curious why." He glanced at her through the corner of his eye, she looked nervous, he couldn't imagine why, I mean, he was Mr. Straight Edge, everyone knew it, he would never judge someone for NOT drinking.

"Well, you see, I come from a long line of alcoholics. Both my grandfathers and my parents, they were functioning alcoholics, no one knew except the people who lived with them. Of course, I didn't make the connection until I was about 14 years old." She looked over at Phil, he looked distraught, she realized how bad it sounded. "Now, don't go thinking I was abused, they never hit me or anything like that, I mean, they were nasty and yelled a lot and sometimes they broke things, but they never touched me, I just knew when to hide in my room with the radio and a book to keep me company until whatever it was passed. I just don't want to be like them, that's all."

Punk parked the car in the hotel parking lot and pulled Liz into his arms. He hugged her as tightly as he could, "I'm sorry Lizzie, that must have been awful. You are a very strong woman. I respect you and I am honored that you chose to share this with me."

Liz relaxed against his body, realizing for the first time how good he smelled and how safe she felt in his arms. She had to remind herself, they were just friends and that's how they both wanted it to be. Right?