A/N: Thanks for the reviews and such for the story, enjoy the chapter, and review please! And also have a Happy New Year! :)
"I can't believe you're leaving me here to fend for myself."
"I hardly think that I'm leaving you this poor and hopeless soul," Kaitlyn chuckled, "you have tons of friends here, and your boyfriend's here, so I think you're going to be fine. Besides, greener pastures and all that."
"We have mighty fine pastures here, my friend," AJ tried to put on her best cheesy grin like that would get Kaitlyn to stay. She was still trying to let that news sink in. Kaitlyn told her about four days ago that she'd put in her notice to the company, and she wouldn't be renewing her contract when it came up. She needed to process the information for a little longer before she could be fully supportive of her friend's decision to leave.
She would miss her, that was for sure. Kaitlyn was someone she grew up with in a sense. They started together, and from the moment they met, they clicked. They didn't automatically fit into the diva mold, and through that common bond they managed to become so much more than coworkers, and now her friend was leaving her, and it felt like the end of an era. She felt like she needed Kaitlyn now especially.
"Yes, they are might fine, pard'ner, but I think I like the ones over yonder," Kaitlyn said, donning a horrible country twang. "We'll still talk all the time, and I'll give you all the wife scoop so when you eventually marry Dolph, you'll know exactly how it's going to be, the truth, not sugar coated or anything." This caused AJ to clam up a little bit, and Kaitlyn could feel the sudden tenseness in the air. "Hey, what's wrong? I mean, I guess I shouldn't have assumed that you and Dolph would get married, but I guess with the living together thing, not that you have to marry a guy you live with, but…is everything okay with you two?"
"Yeah, everything is fine," AJ said distractedly, "I mean, between us it's fine."
"That means there's some outside force? Is there a Death Star nearby?" she joked, but AJ didn't really laugh. "I know that wasn't my best, but you could have given me a courtesy laugh at least."
"It's Nikki."
"Nikki? Like Nikki Bella Nikki? That Nikki?"
"Yeah, the one and only," AJ gave a deep sigh. "I just, you know how I've been becoming friends with Brie?"
"Yeah, you two have been hanging out, it makes me happy to know that you two have a friendship going on so I don't have to worry about you when I leave. I wouldn't want to think of you sitting here all alone."
"Well, Brie and I get along well, I like her, I like hanging out with her, but Nikki has a problem with it…and me it seems. We went out to lunch last week, and it was a disaster, and that's putting it nicely."
"Uh oh, what happened?"
"She's just…I don't know if she wants Dolph back or not, but she's sure giving a compelling argument for it," AJ admitted. "It's like, she says she doesn't want him, but I can't believe her at this point. Do you know what she told me?"
"What?" Kaitlyn asked, curious now.
"She told me what Dolph's favorite sexual position was when they were together. She just blurts it out in the middle of lunch."
"Wow, that's low," Kaitlyn said, "why would she do that? She's with John Cena, and she's always talking about how in love with him she is, and how great he treats her, and how his lifestyle is just the one she wants."
"I know!" AJ threw her hands up in frustration. "I don't know what kind of game she's playing, but before the lunch, she goes to our hotel room, and she brings Dolph his favorite dessert—"
"Please tell me that's not a euphemism, and she really just brought him food," Kaitlyn interjected, shuddering at the thought of Nikki throwing herself at Dolph in some weird attempt at getting him back.
"It was, brownies, she brought him brownies as a 'thank you' for giving her advice on John."
"Advice on John?"
"She goes to him to ask him about that agreement John made her sign, the cohabitation one. She goes to talk to Dolph about it, and I don't know, it's just like, I don't really get what she's trying to do here, I don't know if she wants Dolph back or if this is some weird power play she's trying to pull on me."
AJ sighed. She really didn't want to think about it because it made her head spin, but maybe getting a fresh perspective on it, maybe getting an outside opinion would quell her fears. Yes, they were fears. She was insecure sometimes, even now, even after being with Dolph for so long because, well, he was Dolph, and he was attractive and charming, and it never went unnoticed by her that women were constantly looking at him appreciatively and acting suggestively around him.
"What does Dolph think?" Kaitlyn wondered. "Or does he just not see it or anything?"
"No, he sees it, we've talked about it, that's why I'm not really too worried about the both of us because he sees what's going on and it's not like I'm crazy jealous new girlfriend and she's the innocent ex-girlfriend."
"There's still something that's bothering you though," Kaitlyn deduced. She could tell from her friend's tone that this ran deeper. She wondered how long AJ was keeping this in and not talking about it. She hoped it wasn't too long because nobody should have to keep their feelings to themselves when it was about something this big.
"I just…it's like, I mean, Dolph has remained pretty friendly with all of his exes—"
"Really?" Kaitlyn made a face. She was still friends with one of her exes, but the others, she would rather not see them again, thank you very much. It wasn't that they were bad people, it just dredged up a lot of things she didn't want to dredge up.
"Yeah, he's a really good breaker-upper I guess, but it's never bothered me, he's just someone that people don't want to lose from their lives, but it's like, I don't know, Nikki is here, and what if she does want him back? We've all seen the pictures of the two of them, and they did look happy, and it just worries me, and I don't want to be worried because I trust him, but I don't trust her, and I don't know the depths—"
"Stop right there," Kaitlyn said. "Look, Dolph loves you. He's not the kind of guy who is going to string a girl along while in love with someone else. That's not him, you know that, I know that, we all know that. Don't let Nikki plant these seeds."
"I'm trying," AJ said. "I think I need to go talk to him, just reassure myself a little more."
"Okay, we'll talk later?"
"Yeah, we'll talk later."
"And if Nikki tries to pull anything else, tell me so that I can come kick her ass. I may be leaving, but that doesn't mean my fighting skills will be going anywhere," Kaitlyn winked at her friend, who laughed and stood up, leaving catering in search of her boyfriend. He would make her feel better just by holding her for a few moments.
"AJ, AJ, wait up!" AJ looked over her shoulder to see Brie jogging towards her. She was already in her ring gear, but she was wearing one of Daniel's hoodies over it to keep her arms. Her hair flew behind her until she was next to AJ, and now she looked tousled and beautiful, which only reminded AJ of how beautiful Nikki could be, and that was a bad reminder.
"Hey," AJ gave her best smile. She and Brie hadn't talked much since the incident, and she wasn't sure if it was her trying to duck around Brie or if Brie was trying to keep her distance from her. It was probably both though. "What's up?"
"I just…I know we haven't gotten to talk lately, but I'm still so sorry about what happened at lunch. I'm never bringing Nikki with us ever again, it's just, I was hoping that if she got to spend time with you too, she'd see how cool you are, and she wouldn't be so…Nikki about it."
"It's okay, really," AJ said, "she's your sister, and you know, we all do dumb things…"
"I don't condone at all what she said," Brie shook her head, still trying to get over what an embarrassment her sister had been.
Brie covered a lot for Nikki growing up. It wasn't that they both didn't have their shortcomings, or that they both weren't a little rebellious, but Nikki loved pushing the limits more. There were times, she would tell nobody about them, where Brie had to pull Nikki back from the edge of very dangerous things. They were adults now, but she was still pulling Nikki back from destruction. In this case, it was her jealousy over AJ.
"I know."
"I cussed her out, believe me," Brie said, "she's just…she's really having a difficult time with all of this. I think she's gotten so used to us just being closer than everyone else, and she feels threatened because we've been getting close. I've had a lot of friends here in the business, but I don't know, the two of us, I think we click in a way that makes her uncomfortable."
"I like hanging out with you two, but if Nikki—"
"She's not my dictator," Brie shook her head, "I will hang out with who I want, but please don't think of this as her trying to get Dolph back, it's not like that, it's between you and me, that's what is really bothering her."
"I want to believe that," AJ said, but she couldn't really. "Do you know she's been going to Dolph? That she brought him brownies and everything?"
"She…has?" Brie didn't know this, and she felt stupid for not knowing what was going on right under her nose. "I can't believe her."
"So you think…" AJ let her voice trail off because she wasn't entirely sure how she was going to finish that sentence. What if Brie thought Nikki was going to go after Dolph? Did Brie know any of Nikki's tricks? Did she stand a chance? Dolph was strong, but what if Nikki knew how to weaken him? Her head was spinning again.
"No, God no," Brie said, shaking her head, and AJ wasn't sure if it was just in an attempt to placate her or if Brie was telling her the truth. "No, she's not going to go after Dolph, I think this is just her trying…Nikki can be so petty sometimes."
"Petty enough for this?"
"I hate to say it, and I love her, but yes," Brie felt like she was throwing her sister under the bus a little bit, but she couldn't lie. Nikki could get petty and jealous and act in very childish ways. There was one girl in high school, but Brie would rather not think about what happened there.
Nikki was just going to have to get some of her own medicine. If she wanted to be blunt with AJ, Brie would be blunt with her sister. If Nikki continued down this path just because she was jealous of a friendship, she was going to alienate more than her sister and AJ. If she tried to play it off like she wanted Dolph back, that was going to drive John away (especially after John had been so hurt after his divorce). Nikki was putting so much at stake for a silly, petty reason.
"Oh."
"I'll take care of it," Brie told her. "Trust me, I'll take care of it."
AJ wasn't sure what that meant, "Brie, please, she's already mad about what's been going on with the both of us, I don't want to make matters worse or anything."
"I won't, but my sister needs to learn her lesson, and she needs to learn it fast."
