Disclaimer, etc., in part 1. Thanks to those that have reviewed/favorited/followed this one. :)
Part Eight
"Hey, man."
CM Punk looked up at the sound of the voice, momentarily surprised to hear it... Then shaking his head slightly as he realized the reason the other person was there. Due to a nasty snowstorm where the SmackDown roster was supposed to be this weekend, those shows had ended up having to be cancelled, so several members of the SmackDown roster had been added to the RAW live events' card. Despite the fact that he'd known all of that before, the events of the past eighteen hours or so had caused it to slip his mind.
"Hey," the WWE champion replied with a nod as he looked over at Daniel Bryan. "What's up?"
"I feel like maybe I should be asking you that," Daniel replied, frowning slightly as he looked over at Punk. "I saw you earlier, when you got here. Got to say I was kind of surprised to see who you arrived with."
Punk shrugged, knowing that Daniel Bryan probably wasn't the only person in the company that had been surprised to see him arrive with Eve in the passenger seat... Well, if much of anyone else had seen then, that is. "She's a friend. It's no big thing," he stated, then rolled his eyes as he saw the look on his friend's face. "What?"
"Nothing, just... I'm kind of curious about what's going on, since Brie mentioned that last night you were looking for Eve and asked Nikki and Dolph where she was... Something about needing to give Eve her phone back because she'd left it in your rental car after hitching a ride back to the hotel with you."
Punk snorted. "Yeah, so?"
"So... I'm almost certain I saw Eve getting into a car with Kofi Kingston last night after the show. They didn't feel like going out to eat, so they headed back. Just... Kind of made me wonder. Especially since Brie and Nikki seemed convinced that there's something going on between you and Eve."
The WWE champion shifted slightly, suddenly very uncomfortable, not sure how Eve would want him to play this. After all, while they both knew that Brie and Nikki were gossips, Eve hadn't made the decision yet about whether or not they were going to go with the rumors and actually pretend to have something going on. Arching a brow, he looked over at Daniel. "So... Since when have you been hanging around Nikki and Brie enough to get their latest attempts at gossip?" he finally asked, trying to turn it back on his friend a bit, and he realized with some surprise that he'd actually hit a nerve when he saw the way that Bryan shifted uncomfortably at his words. "Wait a minute... Is something going on with you and Brie?" he questioned, knowing that there couldn't be anything with him and Nikki. Nikki Bella was, after all, involved with Dolph Ziggler - everyone knew it - and Daniel Bryan was not the type to go after a woman that was already involved with someone else... Which just left Brie for him to suddenly look so shifty about.
Daniel crossed his arms over his chest in a purely defensive gesture that Punk found more than a little amusing. "I asked you about Eve first."
"And then you set yourself up by making it clear you've been spending time with a Bella twin," Punk replied, then shrugged, frowning as a sudden thought came to him. "Did you tell Brie and Nikki that you'd seen Eve hitch a ride with Kofi last night?" he asked, and his friend shook his head.
"No. I figured you had a reason to lie. And I know you lied because I know what I saw. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get you and Kofi mixed up. We all know he's far better-looking than you are," Daniel said, and Punk automatically lifted a hand, flipping the bird at his friend.
"Cute. Jackass," Punk stated, then sighed, leaning back against the wall, his head falling against the surface with a soft thud. "Look, I needed to talk to Eve last night, so I may have fibbed a little. It didn't hurt anybody, and it was important that I talk to her."
"Why is that?"
"Because there was something that she needed to know that I couldn't just let go. It couldn't wait. I saw Nikki and Dolph, and I knew that Nikki was likely to know Eve's room number, so I asked. And I figured it would be best if I had some sort of a reason why. I'm guessing the reason Brie wasn't with them is because she was with you."
Daniel rolled his eyes at the final pointed comment. "So you found out where Eve was rooming. Because you had to tell her something. And then this morning, minutes after she'd asked if she could ride with Nikki and Brie, she texted back and said she was riding with you instead."
"Yeah, well, if you and Dolph were with the twins, it's probably a good thing that she rode with me instead, isn't it?" He shrugged. "Would have been a bit crowded in that car."
"We had a van, and Eve would have been perfectly welcome to ride with us. She's a cool lady."
"That she is," Punk muttered, all too aware of the frown on his old friend's face. Apparently, something in his tone had tipped Daniel off to... something.
"What's going on?" Daniel wanted to know. "Don't give me crap, Punk. Is something... Is Eve okay?"
"Wow, jumping to conclusions there. She's fine."
"You found something out last night that you couldn't wait until morning to tell her, so you went looking for her, and then... You somehow ended up with her again this morning and asked her to ride with you. And she took you up on it. So what gives?"
"Let's just say I'm helping her out with something," the WWE champion said, and Daniel let out a snort.
"No, that's not in any way cryptic and annoying."
"Well, it's all you're going to get. I'm not going into anything because it's not my place. And if you're worried about Eve, just know... I'm going to make sure she's okay," Punk said, looking over at the shorter man. "I'm not telling you anything unless she gives the okay for it. That's just the way it goes."
Daniel nodded. "I can understand that. But if you need any help, man... You know where to find me," he said, and while Punk appreciated the thought, he couldn't help but smirk at the other man.
"Apparently I do. In the bed of Brie Bella," he said, and Daniel gave him a glare that really wasn't all that effective.
"Oh, go to hell."
"Yeah, I'll save you a seat."
