The whole next day they spent together. She called out of work due to personal reasons and they spent the whole day catching each other up on their lives. Making promises to never let this happen again. By the time the day was ending, it was as if the two were carefree teenagers again. Just laughing at each other while throwing popcorn while the other made some corny joke. They definitely weren't acting like adults in their late twenties. The next step in their regained friendship took a little but of convincing on Colby's part. Bridgette was reluctant, but eventually she gave in.
That Monday, Colby entered the arena. It wasn't too long before Joe and Jon were behind him.
"Hey man, how are you feeling?" Joe asked. He remember what he said to Colby, but he knew Colby, he wasn't going to let it go. And he was going to think about it all weekend.
"Good." He smiled.
"Really?" Joe asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, really." Colby replied with a smile. "There's someone I want you to meet." He motion for a woman to walk over to them. "Guys, this is Bridgette. Bridgette, this is Joe and Jon."
The two looked at each other as if not knowing how to handle this. They definitely didn't expect him to find her and bring her there only a few days later.
"Nice to meet you." She smiled.
"You too." Joe said trying to be polite.
"Possibly." Jon said while crossing his arms over his chest. "Why are we waiting until now to meet you? Why have you gone away for so long? And how do we know you aren't going to do it again?"
Colby was taken about by his friend. "Hey man, back off."
"No Cole, it's okay. I understand where he's coming from. I did up and leave without saying anything. It's kind of a long story."
"One that is really none of your business."
"Look if they are ever going to trust me, they should know. If they're really as close to you as you say they are, they deserve to know. And eventually they'll realize that it won't happen again." Bridgette said to him.
Colby looked at his two friends. "Bottom line, she had a fucked up past. Escaped abuse. Left and never contacted anyone so she couldn't be found and could live her life. Got it?" Colby explained, trying to finish this conversation.
"That sounds...understandable." Joe said. Jon still looked doubtful.
"If there is anything you guys would like to know, you can ask. I know he's just trying to protect me, but I need to stop hiding. He made me realize that over the weekend. I'm glad he found me. He deserved to know the truth. Even though I was doing what was best for myself and my mother, he didn't deserve to be hurt like that. I honestly didn't think he would. But that's besides the point. I'm done running. I'm here to live my life the way I want to live it, not how I was living before hiding. Hopefully over time you can see that I am here to stay for as long as Cole will have me." She smiled.
"We don't want to pry. We just want to make sure that he doesn't get hurt again." Joe explained.
"Understood. And I never want to do that again."
"Speak for yourself Joe." Jon said, uncrossing his arms and leaning towards her. "Abuse huh? From who?"
"Step-father." She retorted rather quickly.
"Physical?"
"Sometimes."
"Jon…" Colby tried to chime in.
"Sexual?"
"JON!" Colby yelled.
"Hey, she said I could ask anything."
"Yes. Mental and sexual mostly, sometimes physical if I fought him. I also got pregnant so my mother and I left so we wouldn't have to deal with him again. Satisfied?" Bridgette said, slightly hurting herself by bringing all of this up, especially to perfect strangers.
"Yup." Jon answered leaning back against a stage box. "For now."
Colby shot him a death glare as if telling him to shut up through his eyes.
"So, you two...you a thing?"
"God no." Bridgette spoke.
"Well damn. I mean I know I have my flaws but that was rude." Colby said as she laughed. She had caught him off guard and temporarily caused him to drop his anger.
"What I mean is, we never dated back then and just got back in touch now. That's not what I'm looking for right now."
"Hey, we travel with the man. We don't blame you."
"Thanks Joe. See this is why I don't ever bring anyone around you two."
"Well you guys probably have to get ready for the show and everything. I'm going to leave you be and try and find my seat inside." Bridgette said. "Again, it was nice meeting you all."
She turned and started to walk out of the backstage area. Joe and Colby went into their locker room to get changed and were talking. Neither of them didn't realize that Jon hadn't followed them in and instead ran up behind Bridgette.
"Hey, Colby's friend, wait up!" He called.
She stopped and turned around.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I didn't know about what all happened to you. I was just trying to make sure you weren't going to up and leave and hurt him again. I didn't mean to make you upset."
She smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. "I appreciate that. Thank you. And it's alright. You two are his best friends. He told me a lot about you guys over the last few days. I understand you wanting to protect him. I really do."
"If you ever need anyone to talk to, you can always come to me or Joe as well. I'm not as crazy as everyone seems to think I am. Besides, if you two are really going to be as close as you used to be, you're probably going to be around us a lot." Jon smiled.
She nodded. Then they both turned and went their separate ways. She went inside the arena and found the seat that was on the ticket that Colby had given her. She looked down at the wrestling ring that she saw on TV. She looked around and tried to take everything in and breathe. There were so many times she debated on going to a show when they came near her, just to be in the same room with him again and see him from afar, but she couldn't never bring herself to do so just in case something happened and he would have somehow seen her. This was all so surreal to her. She couldn't believe that not only was she there, but she was there because he wanted her there. She could watch him compete and tell him how proud she was. Her heart was fluttering. Just then she felt her phone buzz in her pocket.
'Should not have brought you. Neither of them will top bugging me about when we're going to hook up.' A text message said.
She smiled. 'Well make sure you tell them again how that is not happening. And make sure to tell them I'm single. Definitely single. ;)'
'Definitely should not have brought you.'
'Aw, is somebody jealous? Don't worry, I'll be sure to back you up sometimes. Just not right now.'
She laughed and put her phone back into her pocket. Just in time for the show to begin. She was starting to feel less tense as the night went on. It didn't feel weird, she didn't feel out of place, she started to feel just like she used to. She could see that he felt the same way. The more time they spent talking and spending time together, the more it felt like that weird a had closed and they hadn't spent any time apart. She finally felt the way she had been looking to feel her whole life. All she really needed was him by her side.
End.
Thank you for all who read and followed the story! I hope you enjoyed it! This was my first attempt at writing in a while. Your reading gave me encouragement to continue!
I may do a follow up on them in the future if inspiration hits me. I'll just have to see where my brain takes off next. There are a few other things I'm working on, so we'll see! Thanks again!
