Kelly and April were sitting on the couch and Phil was on the floor playing a video game. "Kelly, come on. I know you like him. Why won't you just admit it?" April asked. For the past hour she'd been trying to get Kelly to admit her feelings for Joe. "Because I don't. I mean of course I'm attracted to him, who wouldn't be?" she said shrugging her shoulders. April narrowed her eyes at Kelly, "You know what I think?" "No, but I'm sure you're gonna tell me anyway." Phil laughed and April shot him a dirty look, " I think you're just scared to be in a relationship again. You haven't really dated anyone since Zac." Kelly stayed quiet. Zac was her former High School Musical co-star and ex boyfriend. They dated for almost5 years before he broke up with her. It was right after Christmas, Kelly was expecting an engagement ring for Christmas; instead she got dumped shortly after, she was devastated. She really loved Zac and hadn't been with anyone since; sure she went out with a few guys, but it was never anything serious. Kelly made the decision that she wasn't going to ate again until she met someone that wanted a serious relationship like she did. " I just don't want to be hurt again April. He really broke my heart. I loved Zac so much and when we broke up…" she went silent. "Aww, honey, come here." April said bringing Kelly into a hug. Phil paused his game, went over to the couch, and patted Kelly on the back. "Kelly if you like Joe you should tell him how you feel." Kelly pulled out of April's hug, "I don't know Phil, I just don't think that's a good idea." He stayed silent for a minute. "Did you know Joe was engaged when he came to WWE?" "What1?"She looked at April, who shrugged her shoulders meaning she had no idea either. "Yeah, his college sweetheart, her name was Galina. They'd been dating since his freshmen year up until after his debut with the shield. He came home for a few days and caught her in the act. The poor guy was heart broken; she was all he ever talked about when he was on the road, it drove Jon and Colby crazy sometimes. Anyway, they tried to make it work after that, but they were miserable so they called off the wedding and broke up. He cut off all kinds of communication with females after that unless it was for work. He hooked up with a girl here and there, but that was it. Now, you show up and he's smiling and holding your hand and stuff. If you ask me, I'd say he likes you…a lot." Kelly thought about that for a second, "Ok, but I still don't think it's a good idea. I like him a lot too, but I don't want to ruin whatever this thing we have is." April sighed, "As your best friend and best friend-in-law we support you in whatever decisions you make. I just hope you know what you're doing." Kelly giggled and Phil looked at her, "What?" "Best friend-in-law?" he asked, "Is that even a real thing?" Kelly made fun of her best friend. April flicked both of them off before getting of the couch to get something to drink. "I'm tired I'm gonna call it a night." April said walking over to Phil and sweetly kissing him. She turned to Kelly hugging her and going to the back room. "I love that girl. Craziness and all." Phil said as he watched her leave the room. Kelly smiled, "Good, you make each other happy and that's all I care about." "Now all we need to focus on is you and you future man." " Nah, I think I'm good. If Joe and I are meant to be we'll end up together." Kelly and Phil stayed up a little longer talking and laughing. Phil was a amazing guy to her best friend and a great friend to her. She hoped she'd have a relationship as happy as theirs someday, but was satisfied with how things were for the moment.
It was Wednesday, another Main Event and then everyone would have Thursday off before Smackdown on Friday. They were in Beaumont, Texas. Kelly and April were eating breakfast when Phil came in from the back room, "Good morning ladies!" he said kissing April's cheek and messing up Kelly's hair on the top of her head. She pushed his hand away laughing, "You're lucky I haven't showered yet Phillip." "Whatever you say Kellyana." Kelly stuck her tongue out, "You two act like little kids when you're together." April said eating her cereal.
Kelly was walking to catering when she saw Colby on a crate on his phone. Hey two-toned." Kelly said hopping up next to him. He smiled, "Two-toned?" "Yeah, cause your hair is half blond and half black, two-toned." Colby laughed, "Ok cupcake." "Ooh I love cupcakes, red velvet is my favorite." She said smiling, "Ok, I'll try to remember that." Kelly smiled, "Whatcha up to?" "Nothing scrolling through social media." Kelly leaned up against the wall. " I have another match tonight against Maryse. She wanted a rematch." "Kick her ass will ya? I don't really like her, drama seems to follow wherever that girl has been." Kelly laughed, "No problem." They stayed silent for a minute, "Joe likes you, ya know." Kelly sat up and sighed, "I like him too." "Then why don't you too tell each other? This is crazy." Kelly looked at Colby, "I don't I don't want to mess things up." Colby looked up from his phone, "Kelly I may not know you very well, but I doe know Joe. He's not the type to share his feelings, so when he does he tends to be pretty serious." "How hard was it for him to get over Galina?" Colby was taken back, "How'd you hear about that?" "I have my ways." "To be honest the big guy was torn to pieces, he loved that girl. But in her defense it's really hard to have a relationship when one of you is constantly on the road. I'm not saying what she did was ok, but looking from both sides it was pretty messed up. You have to be able to take everything that comes along with dating a wrestler, which includes being on the road most of the time. Galina couldn't handle that, and it's understandable, but Joe thought they were stronger than that. He just wished she'd told her instead of cheating." Kelly nodded her head in understanding. "Hey Colb, just talked to Carrano. We don't have a match tonight." Joe said making his way to the crate. He didn't see Kelly until was directly in front of the crate because she was hidden by Colby. "Kelly, I didn't see you. what's up?" she smiled at him, "Hey Joe and nothing just sitting with Colby here. He looked lonely so I thought I'd keep him company." Colby laughed shaking his head. "Do you have a match tonight? I didn't get to see you yesterday, I'm sorry." "It's cool and yeah. Maryse wanted a rematch so… I have a match with Kaitlyn on Smackdown." Joe raised his eyebrows, "Don't kill her." Kelly laughed at both his reaction and response, "Don't worry I won't. I just hope that if I beat her it puts me in the running to become the new Divas Champion." "Ha! That won't happen." Kelly turned her head and saw Kaitlyn standing there with the championship in her hand. "Well looks like they forgot it was garbage day because you're still here.' Kelly said rolling her eyes. "Cute, but there's no way you're not beating me on Smackdown and you definitely aren't beating me for my title. We all know the only reason you were called up is because John is your brother and Stephanie and Hunter are like your family." Kelly jumped off the crate and walked over to Kaitlyn, "I was called up because I can and will beat you for that title. I don't need john or anyone's help to beat you, I think I've proven that enough when we were both in NXT, 'cause I remember correctly I beat you to become the NXT Women's Champion and became the longest reigning one at that. You better watch your back sweetheart because your knife may have hurt, but it's nothing compared to my claws." Kaitlyn shot daggers at Kelly's back as she walked away. Now I'm really gonna beat her on Friday.
Kelly had just finished putting her gear on. She wore a white top and bottoms outlined with a turquoise blue, blue socks and white and blue Jordan's. Kelly made her way down the hall and stopped to stretch when she saw a pair freshly pedicure feet standing in front of her. she looked up and saw Stephanie smiling down at her, "Kelly, I'm glad I caught you before your match." Kelly stood up and hugged her, "Hey Steph! What's going on?" "I just wanted to let you know that your storyline with Randy was going to start tonight." "Oh, ok sounds great." Stephanie smiled, "I'm glad to see you here Kelly honest. I have total faith in you and can't wait to see you as Divas Champion one day." Kelly took that to heart, although she had very close relationship with the McMahons she knew they didn't compliment you unless you deserved, so when Steph did Kelly felt like she'd accomplished something already.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! "The following is a Divas match scheduled for one fall. Introducing first, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Kelly K!" "Welcome back ladies and gentlemen! We are live here in Beaumont, Texas for Main Event, I'm Michael Cole, joined here by JBL, Jerry "Bradshaw" Layfield, and Jerry "The King" Lawler." "Yes, it is so good to be here Michael." JBL said enthusiastically "Well everybody we are watching WWE's newest diva Kelly K compete here tonight against Maryse who lost to Kelly last night in New Orleans, Louisiana on Tuesday night's Main Event." "Yeah and let me tell you, Kelly had some tricks up her sleeve." King said laughing, "You know uh, King I couldn't agree with you more. Here we go back to last night's match and see how Kelly grabs Maryse by her hair, running towards the rope pushing herself off and planting Maryse flat on her face." "Yeah I know Maryse was feeling that." "King she was, she was feeling it so much that she demanded that she get a rematch and quote 'Formally introduce Kelly to the WWE'." "I don't know if this rematch was good idea, because Kelly looks ready and set to go!" JBL said as he watched the divas lock up.
Maryse kicked Kelly in her side forcing her to her knees before running the ropes and delivering a drop kick. Kelly had the wind knocked out of her; she wasn't prepared for that one. Struggling to get to her feet Kelly grabbed at the ropes to pull herself up only to be kicked back down by Maryse, who quickly went for the cover, but Kelly kicked out at 2. Maryse was going for another drop kick, but Kelly ducked and delivered a forearm, Maryse backed up only to be met by Kelly throwing herself into her and the turnbuckle. Kelly went for another one knocking Maryse down. The crowd was going nuts and Kelly loved every minute of it. She went for a running knew but Maryse moved out of the way causing Kelly to fall out of the ring. She fell pretty hard and trouble getting back to her feet as she heard the ref start counting. Making it back into the ring at the count of 6 Kelly was met with a brutal stomping from Maryse before she pulled her down and began to bash her head against the mat. Kelly jumped off her, ran towards the ropes, and gave her a running bulldog, Kelly went for the cover, but Maryse kicked out at two. Taking a risk Kelly climbed to the top rope and hit Maryse with a missile drop kick. Maryse rolled to the other side of the ring, but Kelly knew that would keep her down. Kelly waited 'till Maryse got to her feet and ran towards the ropes grabbing her by the hair, pushing her feet off the top rope and planting Maryse on her face just like the night before. Kelly picked up the win again, but as she was raising her hand in victory Kaitlyn attacked Kelly from behind. The crowd started booing Kaitlyn, but she didn't care. "This is for Monday!" she screamed while kicking her. I hear voices in my head! They counsel me, they understand! They talk to me… Randy came running down the ramp and yanked Kaitlyn off Kelly. Just as he was helping her up, one of his tag team partners, Cody Rhodes came running out, "What the hell Randy?" Kaitlyn went after Kelly again, but Kelly was prepared this time and tackled Kaitlyn to the ground delivering wild punches left and right. Both Randy and Cody pulled the girls off each other as the show went to commercial.
"You were great out there baby girl!" Joe said as he greeted Kelly when she got backstage. Kelly smiled and hugged him, "Thanx, did you see the whole thing?" "Yeah me and the guys were watching, you were amazing out there, I can't wait to get in the ring with you." he said smiling down at her. "Pssh, yeah right. Kelly you're an absolute joke.' Kaitlyn said adjusting the Divas Championship on her arm. "Well that's not what the crowd thinks." Kaitlyn turned around and saw her boss standing there smiling down at her, "As a matter of fact the way they reacted got me thinking. Kelly you and Kaitlyn will have a match on Friday Night Smackdown." "What?!" they both exclaimed, Kelly in excitement and Kaitlyn in disgust, "Steph, you can't be serious." Kaitlyn whined. Stephanie smiled, 'Oh I'm 100% serious; this will be great for you storyline. Randy, Cody I want the both of you at ringside for this." "Yes ma'am" they said nodding. "Great, well everyone enjoy their day off tomorrow and I'll see you all in Houston on Friday." With that Stephanie walked away. Kaitlyn shot Kelly a dirty look, "We'll see who the REAL diva is Friday." She said before storming away. Randy and Cody stared after her, "Man that girl is crazy." Randy laughed, "Kelly everyone is going out tonight since we don't have to work tomorrow you coming?" Kelly looked at Joe, "Are you going" Joe bobbed his head, "Yeah, I let Colby and Jon talk me into it." Kelly looked back at Cody and Randy, "Yep, count me in."
* End of chapter 9!