"Wow, you look great."

AJ's nervous smile broke out into a genuinely happy one. She'd been so nervous to show him her dress, hoping that it was dressy enough, and not dowdy or anything. She didn't want to say she didn't have the confidence, but she'd been walking around the hotel, and all the women she saw were so made up, while she was walking around in no makeup and loose clothing. She didn't want to disappoint him.

She knew it was silly because Dolph loved her, and she loved him, and their relationship was going really well, but there was some sort of inferiority complex that happened whenever she was around his world. Everyone was just so much, so over-the-top in some way, that she felt like she shone a lot less brightly than everyone around her, and it was a strange feeling to be so out of her element.

"You think so?" she just had to be sure so she asked. She didn't really have anything else to wear, so this would have to suffice either way, the other dresses she bought were too quirky and not dressy enough for a red carpet event.

"Yeah, I love that dress on you, it's gorgeous," he told her, grinning at her as he put on his cufflinks. "When did you get that?"

"A while ago, I didn't know if it was dressy enough or, you know, like the best thing for this event, do you think it's okay. I mean, it's a little late to change and all that, so unless you want me to go to this in a dress covered with skulls…"

"No, that's totally okay. It's going to be fun tonight, there's going to be an auction and celebrities there and everything. I think one of the things being auctioned off is something with my face on it, so if you want that, you better get in there early and make sure nobody else gets it."

"Oh yeah, what would I do without seeing your face around me all the time," she told him, walking up to him and kissing his cheek. "Oops, I got lip gloss on you, should I leave it on there so that everyone knows you're mine."

"Marking your territory, I like it," he winked at her. "I'm not sure who's going to be there, but I'm sure there will be women vying for my attention."

"Oh no, am I going to have to break out the old fighting stance?" she said playfully, putting up her fists. "I'm ready to fight for what's mine."

"Good, I like a woman willing to fight for me, oh, it's like the wild west, and I'm the damsel in distress."

"Who's tying you to the train tracks?" she asked as she delicately wiped away the lip gloss from his cheek.

"I'm not sure, but being tied up sounds pretty fun," he told her, and she slapped him lightly on the chest.

"Is your brother coming tonight?"

"Nah, he's not, it's not that everyone wasn't invited, but a lot of the NXT guys are doing exhibition matches over at Axxess, so he won't be able to attend. I'm lucky I get to attend, I thought I was going to have to do a signing, but turns out, I don't. I have one tomorrow though, you going to be okay while I do it?"

"While you do it?" she raised her eyebrows playfully. He laughed, loving it when she would counter with some kind of dirty joke. He nodded eagerly, and she leaned towards him to give him a hug. He wrapped his arms around her, and she felt safe and better about the event they were going to. As long as Dolph was there, it wasn't going to be so bad. "I'm going to visit with some friends and family tomorrow."

"I'll make sure you have a private car to take you there."

"Nick…"

"What? I know you don't like driving, plus, it's just easier. It's not even that big a deal, we have them at our disposal for the week, there's a whole fleet of them for personal use, so it's not a huge thing. We're going to use it when we go to the comedy club tomorrow night."

"Oh yeah, where we get to meet your ex?"

"We're not going to have to talk to her, believe me, we don't have to," he took a step back so he could cup her face. "I would never make you meet my ex, no matter how friendly we are with each other."

"I met Nikki yesterday," AJ pointed out. Nikki was actually nothing like AJ would have thought. Onscreen, she just seemed so incredibly vapid and snobby, but AJ was pleasantly surprised to find that she had the entirely wrong idea about Nikki, and she almost felt bad for thinking so ill of her.

"Oops, excuse me," AJ said, bumping into someone on her way back from the convenience store around the corner from the hotel. While Dolph told her to just attack the mini-bar, there just wasn't anything good in it, so she walked to the store to grab some junk food. In her shopping bag was a huge bag of chips, soda, candy and cookies.

"No problem." AJ looked up and gulped. She recognized Nikki Bella instantly. It was easy to tell the difference now, Dolph had insinuated, and AJ could now see exactly what he meant. "Oh, you're Nikki."

"Yeah, are you a fan or something? Did you want an autograph?"

AJ blushed deeply. This wasn't the first time someone thought she was a fan staying at the hotel. Because AJ had only been to the one show, and she'd spent a lot of time out in the crowd actually watching the show, she hadn't been able to meet everyone, and she probably didn't make much of an impression on the ones she did meet.

"Um, no, actually, I'm Nick's girlfriend."

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Now it was Nikki's turn to blush. "I didn't even…oh God, he's shown me pictures of you, I feel stupid now."

"Oh, no, no, no, please don't, I mean, you didn't know, and I'm kind of not…like dressed up really, or anything," and she wasn't. She was just in a pair of sweats and one of Dolph's WWE shirts, representing her boyfriend. No wonder Nikki thought she was a fan.

"Still…so hey, I'm Nicole, you're AJ, see, I remembered that at least," she laughed. "Is Nick up in your room?"

"Yeah, he is, I'm bringing up junk food and we're going to just lie in tonight since all the festivities start tomorrow."

"Ugh, I know what you mean, John and I are pretty much doing the same thing. I just got out of the gym, I have a match on Sunday so I'm trying to at least stay toned, but I don't think the pizza I'm down here to pick up is going to help, but oh well, I wanted pizza."

"You can have pizza delivered to a hotel?"

"Hell yes," Nikki nodded. "The things you learn on the road, trust me. Nick's told me a lot about you, well, actually, bragged a lot about you. He's cute like that."

"Oh yeah, because you two used to—"

"Long time ago, it was amicable, and he's still one of the coolest guys I know. He's really into you, don't let that go, he's one of the really, really good ones, and even when he breaks up with you, you go away feeling like a better person, he's kind of weird like that."

"Thanks."

"No problem, and hey, we should hang out while you're here, I can introduce you to the other divas, and some of the other wrestler's wives and girlfriends and stuff, everyone is nice…wait, scratch that, most of them are cool."

"Okay."

"So I'll see you?"

"Yeah, sure, it was really great to meet you," AJ said.

"You too, have a great night, don't eat too much candy."

"Is there such a thing?" AJ joked.

Nikki laughed, "You're right, there's not. Later."

"Later."

"Well, Nik's different, but it's cool, whatevs, let's go downstairs before we miss our ride."

Dolph led her downstairs, his hand on her lower back the entire time, and she kind of loved when he did that. It was just a small gesture, but it seemed like he just always had to be touching her. They went out of the lobby, and there were still a ton of fans around, but they ducked out quickly and into the private car that would take them to the event. AJ was still getting used to how huge WrestleMania was, and how many fans there were. There were always some milling about everywhere, and it was such a trip to see the lengths these people went through to be here and to even get a glimpse of their favorite wrestlers.

When they arrived at the event, they had to do the whole red carpet thing, and it was such a trip for AJ. She'd never been to any kind of event like this before. At work, there were sometimes passes given out for premieres to movies for the comics they worked on, but she never attended, and even if she did, there was no way she'd be on the red carpet, not with her lowly position. So this was a new experience as she actually waited in line to get her pictures taken.

When it was their turn, Dolph took her hand, giving it a squeeze and they walked down the line, pausing every now and then to take a picture. Dolph would casually wrap his arm around her waist and she would do the same as they smiled for the camera. Sometimes they wanted pictures of him by himself so she'd take a step back and watch him smile and preen for the cameras, and he was so in his element.

"Where will those pictures end up?"

"Eh, the website, probably a few other sites, don't worry about it," he said, "you won't be in any tabloids."

"Oh good, I was worried I'd have to call my parents and tell them whatever they read wasn't true," AJ told him.

"Let's take a WrestleMania kickoff selfie!" he said, grabbing his phone. Before AJ could even blink, Dolph was resting his head against hers and taking a picture. She managed to at least look at his phone before he took the picture, and he showed it to her a second later. "We're hot."

"I look surprised!"

"It's cute, I'm posting it," he said.

"No, you can't, at least let me take one where I'm smiling," she implored of him.

"You are willing to take one with me, oh hell yes," he said, putting his head next to hers again. She smiled, giving in to his selfie obsession, and he took the second picture. He looked at it before showing to her. "Ahh, much better, we're so hot together."

"So you say," she said, but he didn't hear her as he posted the picture on his Twitter. "What did you say?"

"That I make the red carpet look good," he answered as they walked inside the area where the auction and gala was being held. AJ scooted herself a little closer to Dolph as they entered, like he was her tether, which, in essence, he was. They walked around, and she watched as he chatted with people and introduced her. She was polite and entered the conversation where necessary, but she still felt really out of her depth.

"Oh yeah, I know, that was crazy," Dolph laughed as he stood talking to his friend Zack. "Babe, you should hear this story, it's hilarious. Zack and I were out and grabbing food after a show, so this waitress is all doting on me and everything, saying she's a huge fan, and like, she's not even doing anything with Zack. So the entire meal, this goes on then before we leave, she asks for a picture, and she thinks I'm Zack."

"That was probably the highlight of my career," Zack told him.

"That's sad, man, so sad," Dolph shook his head. "So the picture gets taken right when I'm realizing she thinks I'm him, it's classic, really."

"You should see his face. Seriously, he's like face fallen, devastated, embarrassed, and I just start laughing so hard."

"Did you tell her?"

"Nah, we didn't want to embarrass her," Zack said.

AJ listened as they continued talking, but her eyes wandered around the crowd at all the other people that were there, and how they were faring. She felt dressed up enough, which was something of a relief, but everything else felt so strange, like this was a different planet. At one point, Dolph went to get them some drinks, and she saw him stopped and talking to someone, and she almost felt like she was fading into the background. She didn't stand out, she wasn't extraordinarily beautiful, she was hardly interesting.

What did Dolph see in her?