~~~James~~~

"...And I promise you Stu will not get away with this, he will be punished" I could see the gears rotating in Freya's mind and to be honest, I didn't like it at all. At least she understood that I hadn't tried to kill myself, unlike the others, speaking of which, Matt (Evan) came back in as Freya's phone rang.

"Hello?" Freya said down the phone, the impatience in her voice totally obvious, "I'm a bit busy right now Serge, can it wait?" I was intrigued so I eavesdropped, even though I couldn't hear what this Serge guy was saying, I would just try to work it out by Freya's reaction.

"Serge, are you kidding me? I know it's not often that that may happen but if it does, I don't really care. The guy works here so if Cam 's talking with Cena then-" Freya said, her impatience level had gone up and I was just worried that this job would take it's toll on her. I could tell the guy interrupted and judging by the complete silence Freya had going on, this was something bad.

"No. No he is not. Thank-you Serge" Freya let out in a tight voice, she looked over at me before continuing, "Now if you wouldn't mind, I have something to take care of". Not that I was ungrateful for the care and concern but I wasn't an animal to take care of, in fact, if Freya wasn't one of my best friends, I'd be offended.

"What's up Freya?" Matt asked, the first thing he'd sad since coming back into the room.

"Nothing, just wish people would have the courtesy to speak to me in a language I speak. Matt you don't have a match, are you ok to stay with James?" Freya asked, they must have thought I wasn't paying attention because I was too traumatized and sure, I was slightly freaking out but I was usually good at keeping things like this together. Anyway, I was listening to what they were saying and now that I'd sobered up, I wanted to do my job and face Joe tonight.

"Freya, I'm not-" I began, only for her to interrupt. If she knew I hadn't tried to off myself then why was she asking someone to baby-sit me.

"I know you're not, I already said I know you hadn't honey but you're upset and I want someone with you" I would usually agree but I didn't need to be babysitted by a guy who's face hadn't aged since he was 6, no offense to Matt, he's one cute guy but I don't need looking after. Instead of blowing up at two of my best friends, I just sighed and went to the bathroom to change. I could hear them talking as I changed but I couldn't quite make out what they were saying, by the time I was changed, I emerged from the bathroom, hearing Matt say,

"...Look Freya, I've got everything sorted here, you get back to the arena". Well, I wasn't having this, I was ready, so I emerged from the bathroom.

"No, we'll all go, I've got a match."

"James, I don't think that's a good idea" Freya said.

"Freya's right James, you should take it easy" Matt backed her up, and here I was thinking they both knew me better than this, surely they knew that if I worked it would keep my mind off of the...the incident.

"No, I have a match against Joe and I will fight" Now, as good friends of mine, they knew not to argue, as I was very good at arguing but I could tell they didn't think I had my head right for a singles match.

"Fine, but now it's a tag team. I'll sort out a tag-team partner for you and Joe. Now Matt, I need you for something else" Freya explained, I knew it had something to do with Stu but to be honest, he deserved a beating. I just hoped Freya didn't abuse her power for me. Freya then walked off, I could see the gears of her mind working again and I sighed, looking over at Matt. He looked at me with pity and concern and I had to explain myself.

"Matt, I didn't-" I began, only for him to interrupt, eurghh.

"I know what I saw and I saw my best friend try to drown himself, what the fuck were you actually thinking?" He shouted at me, I suddenly felt angry so I just glared at him.

"Think whatever you want to then, just remember that ignorance is bliss until you realize that you're wrong" I wouldn't say I was a genius but that shut up Matt long enough for me to grab my things, especially my I-pod with headphones at the ready and storm out. I looked around and put on my best cute face to get a cab, who cares if the cabbie was gay, I wasn't going to shag him anytime soon, I had my eyes on one man. With a sigh, I fell into the backseat of the cab. Looking at my I-pod I flicked to my play lists and found my favourite one, 'Future hits', it wasn't really true as the world didn't pay attention to the amazing sound of the music I listened to but still, it was amazing to me. I clicked shuffle and was met with the familiar soft beat to Kendrick Lamar's 'Opposites Attract (Tomorrow W/O her), I let it play and looked out the window, getting carried away in the music. After a few songs and most likely twenty minutes later, the cabbie pulled up at the arena, I threw a few bills at him, not caring in the slightest if I needed any change and made my way into the arena.

I wasn't really paying attention to my surroundings as I made my way to the locker room, luckily nobody else was in there but I wouldn't have known if they were, I was listening to my music very loudly. My I-pod seemed to be taking a liking to Kendrick Lamar as it was blaring his song 'Barbed Wire' as I changed into my ring gear. As I emerged from my locker room, I saw Ted in his ring gear walking the other way to where I was going, I sighed as I watched him walk off, before making my way to Freya's office. I wanted to talk to her before I went on, to make sure things were cool. She wasn't there so I pointlessly wondered around for a bit, ending up seeing Freya at the gorilla. She had an evil grin on her face and I was worried my fears from earlier had come to fruition.

"Freya, what the hell are you doing?" I shouted at her, she couldn't already be abusing her power, it would only end badly.

"Currently, I'm watching a match unfold, why?" She said, trying to play innocent but I saw through it, she'd done something. I looked at the screen to see Stu in the ring with Matt and Phil, sure I was kind of happy that he was getting a well-deserved beating but that didn't make it right.

"Freya, that isn't right".

"No James, what isn't right is the fact that piece of shit is still working for this company!" She screamed at me, I knew she cared and of course she didn't like the fact that the scumbag had tried to rape me but it wasn't about that, she was abusing her power already and she hadn't been in the job a week.

"But Freya, think about what you're doing. Fine, the match, let it go ahead, he needs an ass-kicking but humiliating him too? Freya that's taking it too far, that's abusing your authority, that's you becoming just like the rest" I said, sure it probably stung but I was usually quite honest with my words, she knew this but I could see it had hit home, so I hugged her, "I'm sorry Freya, but I need to stop you from becoming what you hate the most".

"No, you're right" Freya said, I could see she understood now and she went to a techie and spoke to him, telling him to stop the embarrassing scene that was already happening. I watched on in shock, honestly, any other day I'd probably laugh but this had been a crap day and I wasn't in the mood. Freya turned back to me, I could see the guilt in her face.

"James..." She tried to say but obviously she couldn't explain herself. I was slightly angry about it.

"No, it's okay...you tried" I said, I could feel the anger build up at her, I know power corrupted and the like but she'd abused her authority already, I was more disappointed if anything.

"Don't hate me James, please! You're the only friend I have here!" She begged, I wasn't on the verge of ending our friendship at all so I assured her that this was far from what I was thinking with a hug.

"I don't hate you, just wished you'd run things past me" She chuckled and sighed in relief, sometimes she got too worked up but she'd still let her personal work over her job, that could cost her a lot. When we pulled away I saw Mike 'The Miz' Mizanin walk past and smile at her, Freya smiled back and waved him off, telling him she was okay, I caught on and smirked.

"Ha! You fancy The Miz!"

"I do not!" Freya said in protest, I didn't blame her, he was pretty fit and if he swung my way, let's just say, I'd do things...but Freya liked him, so I should probably not think that way about him.

"Mmm-hmm? You cannot lie to me, I'm your best friend and I saw you eyeballing The Miz" I laughed, was it evil that I liked to have things to hold over my best friends? Probably but that was me.

"Hardy har har Mr., but you have yourself a tag-match with the very fine Ted Dibiase" She shot back, I swear, I went as white as Stephen (Sheamus) at that remark, I looked at her with a look that asked her if she was being serious.

"I have not!"

"I think you'll find sweetie that you have. Don't worry Ted's a nice guy, he likes you" I didn't know what she meant by that, I knew Ted was a cool guy and we did speak when I could actually say words in his presence, anyway, I waved goodbye at Freya as I spotted the time and ran to the gorilla. I smiled at Ted as he walked out and I soon followed. I can't remember much about that match as I wasn't feeling amazing, I'm pretty sure I botched a few moves but in the end, Ted hit Dreamstreet and we won. After that I took an extremely quick shower in the locker room and met Matt, we made our way to our hotel room, I wasn't feeling 100% and I knew that after everything went away and I was on my own in bed, I'd probably have a nightmare about Wade. I knew this would happen after I finished for the night but it was better now because I had more chance of falling asleep, as I was still exhausted.

"James, I'm going to bed, you okay in there?" Matt asked through the bathroom door. I knew he'd be worried about me if I said anything slightly negative and I wasn't one who liked to cause a fuss about myself, so I didn't tell Matt about the disturbing thoughts that were torturing my mind.

"I'm fine, go to bed, I'll be out there in a few" I replied, this was true; I did plan on trying to sleep.

"Okay man, just...don't keep it bottled up, I don't want you having a breakdown, none of us do, I know you want to avoid it but soon we'll have to talk about this, goodnight James" Matt said, I felt guilty that I wasn't telling him how I felt, especially because he'd just told me to open up but I really didn't want to talk about it now, so I left it.

"I'm sorry" I whispered, pretty sure he hadn't heard that, then louder, "goodnight Matt". I rested my head on the bathroom door, closing my eyes and trying to calm myself, trying to postpone the breakdown stage but as soon as I opened my eyes I realized this would never happen, I was too stressed to sleep. I went over to my bed as I exited the bathroom part of the hotel room, hearing Matt's snores. I fell back on the pillows, clutching my I pod, plugging in my headphones and clicking shuffle and, as per usual, my pod was bumming Kendrick Lamar. The song it chose was kind of sad, it featured a girl called Jhene Aiko, entitled 'Growing Apart (To grow closer)'. I listened to the first verse play and couldn't help but feel sad.

That's what she said to me, that place I used to call home is just a bed to me,
We don't even sleep, neighbours can hear her weep,
Meanwhile I'm in these streets with everybody, I'm trying to get it
And she know they got me, I watch her feelings watch me
As they stare me with the saddest eyes of loneliness
Look each other in the face and barely blink
Tried to make it right but the pen ran out of ink,
So if my letters don't reach you, hope these lyrics in sync.

After many songs and many images of Wade, above me, in my below, in my mouth, the images torturing my brain to the point that I couldn't close my eyes without seeing him. I felt guilty but I knew only a midnight run would shake off the stress I was feeling. I slipped on a vest, some track pants, a hoodie, slipped my I pod into my hoodie's inside pocket, headphones still plugged in and, with one last look over at Matt, who was now in a deep sleep, I slipped out of our hotel room. This may seem weird to most but it was my usual way of dealing with stress and every time my insomnia acted up, I would usually end up running around the hotel at midnight . I fished my I pod out of my pocket, checking the time, 1:30, hopefully I could get back without anyone realizing I was gone.

...

Around an hour later I was outside the front of the hotel, not sweating as I barely had the energy or will-power to do a full run, so I ended up jogging for about twenty minutes, then wandering around a nearby park, probably looking like a freak as it was like three am. Anyway, I entered the hotel and slumped onto a seat in the lobby, there was nobody around, not even a night watchman, which I guess made sense because it would be extremely weird for somebody to turn up at three am. I hugged my knees to my chest as I began the process of crying my eyes out. I don't know how many times The Weeknd, Drake, Frank Ocean and Kendrick Lamar had played in the last hour but I could tell you that it had been a lot. Anyways following the theme of today, Kendrick Lamar's 'Opposites Attract (Tomorrow W/O Her)' was blaring from my headphones, seemingly blocking out any sound as I sobbed into my forearms. Each sob shook me physically, I was exhausted, both physically and mentally but I was also beyond depressed about what had happened with Wade, I couldn't close my eyes without seeing his face, without being forced to bend over by him, forced to suck him off, like a slut. He made me feel like a no-good whore and it was stuck in my mind. I was crying so hard at this point that I couldn't hear anything else, the music made me deaf to the outside world and when I felt a hand touch my arm softly, I almost screamed out in terror. After almost jumping out of my chair, I looked up to see Ted. Could this day get any worse? I was literally having a breakdown and Ted probably thought I was crazy because it was like 3 AM and I was in the lobby on my own, crying like there was no tomorrow. My earphones fell out of my ears and I heard Ted's voice, usually so strong and deep, now gentle and concerned, it was weird that he was up but I was even more down now that he had seen me like this.

"James" He said, I went to say something but was so overwhelmed by my sobs that I could only sob once more. "James, its okay, come here." Ted hugged me to him, like I'd imagined for a while now but always thought of as nothing more than a dream. "I'm so relieved that I found you everyone's worried, Cassie called me to ask if I could help find you, she said Matt called her and then Freya, saying you'd disappeared, I was so worried but now...now you're here. Did something happen?" Ted explained, I wasn't expecting anyone to wake up and find that I was gone, just to add to my list of failures. I wiped my face, (mostly my eyes and nose) with my hoodie's sleeve before attempting an answer.

"I-It was Wade h-he tried to...he forced himself on me" I shook again as I said it, Ted just held me tighter, stroking my hair to comfort me.

"He...do Freya, Matt and Cassie know?" Ted asked, I nodded and he continued, "wow. What's being done about it?"

"Vince said that h-he couldn't be fired because he's the future..." I trailed off, still shaking with sobs. Ted seemed to understand and kissed the top of my head, trying to calm me down more.

"You know they love you, right? Freya, Matt and Cassie, they really love you, they're so worried because you're like a brother to them...but when it comes to me, I was worried because...well, because...I like you a lot, like like you" Ted looked at me, trying to see if I'd understood what he had said.

"Really?" I choked out, my voice small and broken. Ted looked at me for a few seconds, before placing his lips on mine, in a short but touching kiss. It was all I needed to know. I kissed back, showing Ted that the feelings were mutual. No tongues were involved as it wasn't really appropriate for the situation but our lips were merged together for what seemed like ever, there was definitely a spark between me and Ted.

"James? Oh thank God!" I heard Cassie call from behind us, I turned to the direction of her voice and saw her running at us. When she got close enough to us she jumped at me and hugged me tightly, very tightly. "Thank-you Ted, thank-you so much" Cassie said, I was still on Ted's lap and, just to make it clear to Cassie, I kissed Ted in front of her. "Enough of that, I saw the first time. You need to talk to someone mister, preferably me, Matt, Freya and Ted."

"I'm so sorry Cassie, I just needed to relieve some stress, I wasn't doing anything reckless, I was only on a midnight run" I explained, trying to apologize as I felt quite guilty that all four of them had been up for the last hour or so looking for me.

"Babe, it's okay, just please, talk to one of us when you feel down and you, why didn't you call me Deebo?" Cassie questioned, pointing an accusing finger at Ted.

"I was making sure he was okay, he was in a bad state but I'll explain that later. James, talk with us tomorrow?" Ted answered, turning to me and staring at me. I don't know what it was but Ted had some sort of effect on me and I nodded, pecking him on the lips again with a genuine smile on my face for the first time in what felt like an age. With my knight in shining armor, maybe I would be alright. And, with that thought, I fell asleep, on Ted's lap, in the hotel lobby, at almost four in the morning, with one of my best friends standing next to me.