A/N: Thanks again to My Time Is Now for the reviews! I appreciate them so much! Thanks for reading, and reviews are appreciated as always! :) Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!


Chapter 12

At 8am the alarm went off. Trish rolled over to turn it off. She set the hotel alarm clock rather than her phone alarm because she decided to put her phone on silent. She didn't feel like being bothered by anyone, and she wasn't in the mood for conversation. She opened her eyes and rubbed them. They were sore and puffy from all the crying she'd done the night before. She looked at her phone, debating on whether she wanted to even bother to look at it. She decided against it and opted for taking a long, hot shower. She pushed the blankets back and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She sat there for a minute and sighed. She felt like she had been hit by a bus. Every inch of her body ached and she had a killer headache to boot.

She slid off the corner of the bed and trudged towards the bathroom. She pulled back the shower curtain slightly and turned the water on to let it run for a few minutes before she got in. She wanted the water to be as hot as she could possibly get it. When steam started to fill the bathroom, she decided the water would be hot enough to get in. She stripped off the shorts and t-shirt she had worn to bed, and gingerly stepped into the shower. She eased her way under the water until her body was fully adjusted to the temperature. She stood there and let the steaming hot water run down her neck and back. It felt good to her. She stayed in the shower for a long time, much longer as usual. When the water temperature finally started to cool, she decided it would be a good idea to quickly finish her shower before her shower turned to an ice shower. She quickly shampooed her hair and rinsed it out. She put on conditioner, and then moved on to washing her body. After washing her body and rinsing the soap off her body, she turned around to rinse out the remaining conditioner. When she got all the conditioner out of her hair, she turned the water off and pushed back the shower curtain. She grabbed for a towel. She used get hands to wring some of the excess water out of her hair, then took the towel and wrapped her hair up in it. She then stepped out of the shower and grabbed her second towel and dried off her body.

She walked out of the bathroom and began digging through her bags for something to wear. She found a pair of gray sweat pants and a baby blue t-shirt. She got dressed, then used the towel on her head to towel dry her hair a little bit more. When she was done she took both towels and threw them over the back of the chair in the room. She made her way back over to her bed and sat down. She debated on if she wanted to go downstairs and get breakfast or not, but decided against it. She didn't feel like talking to anyone yet and she didn't have much of an appetite.

She reluctantly reached for her phone. She pushed the button and her phone lit up. 8 missed calls and 15 new messages, she read to herself. She clicked on her call log to see her missed calls. Nattie, Nattie, Nattie, Kaitlyn, Randy, Nattie, John, John… She grimaced when she read John's name. Her blue eyes began to fill with tears, she tried to fight them off, but they spilled over and streamed down her cheeks. She then clicked on her text message box. Four messages from Nattie, one from Kaitlyn, three from Randy, one from Tyson, and six from John. Seeing his name caused more tears to roll down her cheeks.

Hey girl. Do you want me to come over? – N
I'm here for you, you know that right? – N
I'm going to take your silence as you're sleeping and not ignoring me. I love you girl. Just call me when you're ready. I have big hugs to give you– N
Hey are you awake? – N
If you need me, let me know. Any time ok? Love you– K
Hey babe – R
Want to talk? – R
I know you probably don't want to talk about it right now, or hear him, or even see his face right now but I think you should hear John out. I'm here if you need me though – R
Head up buttercup :) We're here for you when you're ready – T
Hey – J
Please answer me – J
I'm so sorry for what happened. Please talk to me – J
All I'm asking is for you to hear me out. Please just hear my side of this. That's all I'm asking for – J
If you don't want to ever talk to me again after that, I'll respect that – J
Please? – J

Trish sighed and threw her phone down beside her. She laid back on the pillow, pulled the blankets up and rolled on her side. The tears began to stream down her face now. She didn't have enough strength left to fight it anymore. As she laid there crying, there was a knock at her door. "Who is it?" she called out. There was no answer. Knock, knock. "Who is it?" she called out again. Still no answer. She pushed the covers off and climbed out of bed. She wiped the tears away with her hands, dragged herself to the door and pulled it open. She was met by John's eyes looking back at her. She backed up and went to quickly close the door, but he put his strong hand up and stopped the door from closing.

"Please talk to me," he begged.

"There's nothing to say."

"I have a lot to say."

"I don't," she retorted as she tried to push the door closed, but John was too strong for her and she couldn't get the door to budge.

"Then don't say anything. Just… listen," he asked softly.

With a sigh she let go of the door. She backed up and he slowly pushed the door open. He could see the traces of the fresh tears on her cheeks; he could see the puffiness in her bloodshot eyes. This sent a bolt of pain through his body, straight to his heart. He wanted to take her in his arms and wipe her tears away, but he knew that's not what she wanted. She made her way back to the bed with him following closely behind her. She sat down and he sat down next to her. He took a deep breath.

"What happened last night wasn't what you thought. AJ set me up. I was headed from the locker room to get something to eat and I ran into her on my way. She tried to talk to me but I ignored her. She said she needed to talk to me, that it was something important about you, so I stopped. That's the only reason I stopped. Alicia was with her and when AJ got me to stop, Alicia kept going when AJ stopped. AJ must have known that you guys were coming, and then she grabbed me and kissed me. She did it because she knew you were coming somehow. She knew you would walk up on that happening. I didn't kiss her. I didn't reciprocate the kiss. I pushed her away."

Trish stayed silent. She stared at a spot on the floor. She couldn't stop the tears that were now streaming down her cheeks. John looked at her waiting for some kind of response. But he got nothing.

"Nothing?" he asked softly.

"You said I didn't have to say anything. Just listen. I listened."

"So that's it?"

"That's it."

"You still don't believe me, do you?"

She stayed silent again. She raised her hand to her face and wiped away another tear that streamed down her cheek/ It broke his heart to see her like this. It hurt even more to know it was because of him that she was in this condition to begin with.

"Should I go?" he whispered.

"Yes," she whispered back.

He slowly got up and stood in front of her for a second. He looked down at her. All he wanted to do was take her in his arms and take all her pain away. He bent down and placed a soft kiss on the top of her head which caused her to cry harder. He turned and headed towards the door. He looked back at her, but she still hadn't looked up from the same spot on the floor she had been looking at their entire conversation. He pulled the door open and let himself out. He closed the door softly behind him. When she heard the click of the door closing, she exploded in a full out sob. She laid back down in the bed and pulled the covers up over her head. All she wanted to do was to drown out the rest of the world.


Three hours had gone by until she heard her phone. She knew who it was by the ringtone. It was Randy. She clicked on the green 'answer' button. "Hello?"

"Get your ass up. I'm on my way over," Randy barked.

Seconds later there was someone pounding at her door. She went over to the door and pulled it open. Randy walked through the door as soon as she opened it. He walked past her and straight to her bed and sat down.

"Sure Randy… Come on in," she mumbled under her breath as she closed the door.

"I told you I was coming." She slowly walked back over to the bed and sat down. He looked over at her. "We need to talk. I know you don't want to, you don't want to hear about it and yadda yadda, but we're going to talk."

She didn't answer him.

"You're wrong about this whole John thing."

She rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. "Randy, I really don't wanna talk about this."

"I know that. If you recall, I started off the conversation by stating that," his cocky smile spreading across his lips.

The corners of her lips pulled into a slight smile. "You're such an ass Orton."

"But you love me."

"Like the brother I never wanted."

"But seriously. Think about it… If he was really messing around with AJ, why would he have spent the last two nights with you? Ya know? He worked harder than he's ever done to get your attention. Why would he fuck it up now by messing with AJ?"

"I don't know…" she answered softly.

"He wouldn't. She knew you were coming down that way. She knew if she timed it just right, that's what you'd see and you'd be pissed at John, and blah blah blah. Fast forward to now and bam! That's what you saw and now you're pissed at John. Her plan worked brilliantly. She's a little evil genius."

"AJ just happened to know I was going that way at that very moment? That doesn't sound very likely Randy. It's not like I called her and told her I was on my way to catering."

"Yeah, she did. I'm telling you, she's a little evil genius."

She sighed. "Really Randy? That's the best you could come up with?"

Randy frowned at her. "What was the first thing he did when you saw him?"

"He pushed her away."

"Right. Because he didn't know that was going to happen. The 'Oh Shit' look wasn't just because you walked up. It was because he was genuinely surprised by the crazy bitch grabbing his face and shamming her tongue down this throat."

Trish shrugged, "If I got caught kissing someone when I was trying to make someone else believe I liked them, the first thing I'd do it push them away. Then come up with some excuse as to how it wasn't what they thought, blah blah blah."

"Look at this face," Randy said pointing to his face. "Do you think I would lie to you?"

"It's not you who I'm worried about lying to me Randy, you know that."

"He's my best friend and I know my best friend. He's telling the truth. I believe him. Just think about it and think about what I said before you go and make any kind of rash decisions about it. Really think about it, okay?"

She nodded at him.

Randy glanced over at the clock. "Now get your ass out of that bed, and get ready. We have to get to check in for Smackdown." He swatted at her and smacked her in the leg.

She giggled and swatted back at him. "Out of my room Orton."

"What I can't stay for the show?" he joked grinning as he stood up.

"Out Orton!" she commanded, pushing him towards the door.

"Want me to ride with you?" he asked.

"Will you drive?"

"Of course. You know I'm not getting in the car while you drive," he joked.

She swatted at him again. He nimbly slid to the side, avoiding her. "It's 3:00. You have a half an hour. Hurry it up toots. We have to be there by 5:00."

"Yes sir," she mocked.

He grinned. "Now that's what I like to hear."

"You're such an ass! Sometimes, I don't even know why I'm friends with you," she said chuckling.

"Hey?"

"What?"

"You're smiling and laughing. My job is done. That's all I wanted to see," he said with a genuine warmness to his voice.

She smiled at him. "Thank you Randy, I needed that." She walked over to him, wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed him.

He smiled, wrapped his arms around her small frame, and gave her a squeeze back. "I know you did. And anything for you honey, that's what friends are for."