"You realize I am gonna bug you until you talk to me, don't you?" Seth stood in the doorway of the locker room, watching Sasha brush her hair.

"So we're back to normal then?"

"You and me don't have a normal, Banks."

"Pretty sure it sounds like this."

"For someone who has so much to say," he shook his head, "you've been awfully evasive."

"You really shouldn't be in here, Rollins," she glanced over her shoulder.

"No one's in here."

"What if I wanted to get dressed?"

"I've seen it all before," his eyes grazed over her hungrily.

"Seth. I'm just not ready to deal with it."

"Well, when are you going to be?"

"I don't know!"

"I need something here, Banks."

"That's what you have, an 'I don't know'."

"The fuck did I even do to deserve this? Okay, it was weird, I'm sorry, but it's not like I slept with your sister and boiled your bunny."

"I don't have a sister. Or a bunny."

"Well that's good, I would have to be pretty talented to fuck up that way. This though, almost seems pedestrian."

"We've been doing this for a week, aren't you tired?" she tossed down the hair brush, exasperated.

"Me? No, I am wide awake, baby."

"Well I am, I'm tired of doing this, I'm tired of-"

"Me," he finished for her. "You're tired of me."

"I did not say that."

"No, please, I got it." He turned on his heel and stormed out of the locker room.

In the hotel café the next morning, Sasha was avoiding his gaze as she had coffee with Sami, Kevin, and Chris. Not that that would stop him. He sauntered over and said hello to the group, and Sasha glared at him though he pretended not to notice. These were his friends too.

"What's up boys? Banks?"

"We were helping Sami out with some girl trouble," Chris said to Seth.

"Ah, Becky?"

Sami choked on his tea and blushed, shaking his head.

"No, not Becky. You don't know her."

"Who is she?"

"She uh… works at the coffee place by the performance center in Orlando."

"She's a fan, isn't she?" Seth smirked, "well well well."

"Maybe…I mean she's watched before." Sami's ears were turning pink.

"She knows you are?" Seth probed, "that you're a big fucking deal?"

"It's not like that. Look, she's cool and she's sweet, been giving me free double shots for months,"

"Oh she definitely knows," Kevin laughed.

"But the point is," Sami rolled his eyes, "she's great, she just lives a very different life than me, and it's making it hard for us to get together."

"So no progress," Chris finished.

"Right, no progress."

"When'd you ask her out?" Sasha asked.

"Well, actually, she-"

Seth let out a low whistle, "knows what she wants, I like that."

"That was a few weeks ago, we haven't made it happen since."

"Ball's in your court," Sasha nodded.

"Yeah, you should tell her you really wanna see her, " Seth agreed, his eyes flickering over to Sasha. "Ladies love it when you just go for it. Don't they, Sash?"

"Mhmm," she pursed her lips.

"Yeah they love it when you know what you want, too," he tried to catch her eye but she was having none of it. "Take charge, you know, remind her why she picked you."

"I'm not really a take charge guy, Seth,"

"Just dive in," he smiled at her again, "you might surprise yourself."

"I'll call her," Sami sighed.

"Calling is good, I'm more of a man of action myself," Seth grinned.

"You mean like buying her flowers?" he asked.

"Yeah," he snickered, still not taking his eyes off her, "something like that."

"Well thanks, I think we probably should hit the road," Sami gestured to Chris and Kevin nodded. "See ya Seth, Sasha."

The three guys said gathered their bags, already starting to bicker, and walked through the revolving doors of the hotel. Seth looked back to Sasha and she was glaring at him.

"Your coffee bitter?" he teased.

"What the fuck was that, Rollins?"

"Giving Sami girl advice, obviously."

"Oh obviously."

"Stop, I was just playing."

"You're being a jerk is what you're doing."

"Easy kitten, wasn't trying to wind you up."

"Oh no? With the dancing around it and the innuendos?" she was unimpressed as he cackled. "Maybe you're the one who should try flowers."

"You want flowers?" he asked in a more serious tone. "I'll buy you stupid flowers."

"That's not the point, you're the one who's supposed to think of it!"

"Think of buying you flowers? For what? For saying I love you?"

"Or maybe for saying that you didn't."

He narrowed his eyes, "so you wanted me to say I love you?"

"No! Of course not. But you didn't have to be so rude about it."

"I'm being rude?"

"Yeah, you're being rude. After all of that time playing hot and cold-"

"Pretty sure I was only ever hot, Sash,"

"No, you weren't. You were all over the place, you were romantic one second and only interested in sex the next. I never knew if you were serious about anything at all, and then you go and you mock me for not knowing where I stand with you. All the while, I'm trying to figure out if I'm supposed to let you bolt or say it back."

"I didn't bolt. You bolted."

"That's not bolting," she dismissed.

"You should call the Olympic committee with that takeoff speed."

"Oh you have no place to judge there and you know it."

"Again, I'm right here. Trying to talk to you. The one who bolted."

"I've said my piece."

"And your piece is what, exactly?

"That I don't need your bullshit."

"There it is again," he crossed his arms.

"Well it's true, isn't it?"

"Look, if this is how you want this to be, this is how it can be." He slammed his empty cup into the garbage can next to their seats.

"Why are you always the one who gets to storm out?"

"You wanna storm?" he said with a scowl, "be my guest."

"Well," she stood up abruptly, "fine."

"Fine."

"Fine!" leaving him in her dust, she stormed off to her rental car and slammed the door.

XXX

"Pass that salt, Banks?" Seth muttered to her in the booth of the hotel bar that night after Monday Night Raw.

"You sure you should be doing that stuff?" she asked, handing him the salt from the middle of the table as he took one of the tequila shots that Roman had brought over. "We have an early morning."

"Thanks but I don't need a babysitter," he dumped a bit of salt onto his hand, "sweet of you to think of me."

"Not sweet, you're my ride."

"Might wanna find a new one." He threw his head back with the shot and shook his head. "Jesus Ro."

"Cheap stuff, sorry. You want one, Sasha?"

"I'm alright, thanks," she smiled at him across the table.

"More for us, boys," Seth said, reaching for another. Kofi and Xavier laughed and each took one of the shot glasses.

Sasha rolled her eyes at Bayley, who laughed and shook her head.

"You all getting in the Rumble?" Bayley asked the guys, sipping on her mixed drink.

"Should be," Xavier nodded, "The Merchandise over here still has the record."

"Yessir," Roman grinned. "First spot's probably going to Sami or maybe Seth."

"Cheers," Seth sighed and the others laughed.

"Nervous?" Sasha asked with a sly smile. "Stamina's not really your strong suit."

He paused, his drink in his hand, and slowly turned towards her, daggers in his eyes.

"I do just fine, thanks." He threw back his head again and then met her eye with a grumpy look on his face.

"Hey Sash," Xavier broke their stare down, "what about the women's Royal Rumble?"

"They're planning on announcing it next week, there's 15 spots so everyone should be able to get in plus a few surprises."

"Are you going in first Sasha?" Seth asked with a smirk.

"Nope, not as far as I know. But if I was, it wouldn't be a problem, because I'm a pro."

"Hmm, debatable," he sneered and she glared at him from the side of her eye.

She gnawed on the side of her mouth. Bayley had her eyes on the two of them, but the boys were distracted, continuing to talk about Auska maybe coming up and Emma's return. He grinned at her and raised an eyebrow, obviously he was not going to go down without a fight. As he tossed his head back again, she thought of telling him he was cut off, but knew he wasn't in the mood to be bossed around by her. She was beyond relieved when he switched to beer, though a drunk text was probably still in her future.

It was 8am when Sasha pounded on his door the next morning. A few minutes later, he opened it, groggy, his hair a mess, wearing only a pair of basketball shorts he'd thrown on.

"Banks, it's early."

"It's 8 o'clock, just like we talked about."

"What?" he blinked rapidly.

"We're driving to Omaha together this morning. We agreed, remember?"

"Ohhh shit," he leaned against the doorway, "that was like weeks ago when we were mapping out the loop. I would've thought you'd rather go with anyone else."

"I reminded you last night."

"During the tequila shots?" he chuckled, "that one's on you. C'mon in, I'm mostly packed, I'll just be a few."

She rolled her eyes and plopped down on the unmade bed. On the other side, Seth rifled through his suitcase to find clothes and tried not to think about how much he missed the sight of her on his bed.

"I'm surprised you didn't try to get out of this, kicking and screaming."

"Well, we agreed. Plus we used to travel together all the time, it's no big deal."

"Right," he dropped the basketball shorts and boxers to the floor to switch them for some jeans and smirked over his shoulder at her widened eyes. "No big deal."

"Not gonna work, Rollins."

"Oh, should I turn around?"

"How about putting on some pants?"

He snickered, pulling up a pair of light wash jeans, and reached for a black t-shirt. Sasha collapsed back to the bed.

"Can you hurry up?"

"Hold on," he sauntered into the bathroom, collecting his bottles and comb. "If you're bored, you could go get me a coffee, princess. I'm gonna need it."

"Not your princess, not your errand girl."

Coming out of the bathroom, he smirked at her again and packed them into his suitcase.

"You sure about that?"

XXX

Not long after, he was sipping on a cup of coffee that she had bought him and adjusting the mirrors of his rental car. In one of them, he caught her eye and grinned.

"Shut up it got us out of the hotel faster," she grumbled, crossing her arms

"Uh huh."

"Rollins!"

"Should've known what you were getting yourself into."

"You'd think I'd learn by now," she sipped on her own coffee cup.

"Really. You and me never change do we?"

"Not a chance."

"So..." he glanced over to her in the passenger seat through his sunglasses, "are we doing the whole loop then?"

"I mean, my word is worth something. I don't know about you."

"Ouch, down kitten. I'm just saying if you don't wanna spend the next 10 days with me, I'd understand."

"I told you I would do it."

"Alright, so we'll do it." He let the silence hang for a minute. "What about the hotels?"

"Already booked myself separately."

"Good. Would've been nice to save some cash but,"

"Not worth it."

"Yeah I second that. You snore."

"I do not!"

"Yes you do," he cackled, "you have serious nighttime breathing problems."

"Well, you can't keep to your side of the bed."

"I like to cuddle!"

"Cuddling is romantic, getting pushed off the bed is not romantic."

"Whatever, no more of that."

"Yeah luckily," she flipped her hair and looked out the window, "oh except for-"

"Knew it."

"I couldn't get a room in Oklahoma City."

He shook his head, "you just couldn't stay away could you?"

"I'll crash with Bayley if it's an issue. You're the one that suggested we'd be so hot and heavy that separate room was a waste of money."

"Yeah, I stand by it." He took a large gulp of his coffee, "see, you're even chasing after me."

"I'll crash with Bayley."

"It's fine. I'll try to get us two queens when I check in."

"Okay."

"Okay," he said defensively.

"I'm sorry, are you upset?"

"I'm not-" he sighed, "let's just change the subject shall we?" Something about her got under his skin like that, she didn't even have to try.

"That shirt has a hole in it," she responded, smirking to herself.

"Oh my god, Banks."

"I can fix it for you."

"What?"

"If that shitty Black and Brave shirt is that important to you, I can fix it when we get to the arena. It's on the seam."

"Oh. Thanks,"

"Sure. Don't know why you can't just get a new one, you own the gym, but-"

"It's my first," he said softly, just audible, and staring straight ahead. "The first batch we ever made when we opened the place."

She was quiet for a moment before glancing over. "I'll fix it for you when we get to the arena."

"Thanks."

XXX

Sasha groaned as her alarm blared in the early morning. The hotel room was nearly pitch black, but already too bright for her head. It was pounding, they'd overlapped with SmackDown the night before. Which meant Becky had kept her out late drinking and dancing. Keeping up with that girl was a nightmare. She threw an oversized sweatshirt over a pair of leggings and shoved her hair under a baseball cap. Her eyes were bleary and itchy under her thick-rimmed glasses when she stumbled into the elevator of the hotel. Coffee could not come fast enough. Seth had anticipated that it seemed, him and Dean had left at a more reasonable hour than her, and he was waiting for her in the lobby, two cups in hand.

"Looking hot, Banks," he taunted, making her tug at the baggy sweatshirt. Seth smirked and handed her one of the coffee cups, "here."

She glared at him but accepted the coffee. One sip, however, and she stopped, shooting daggers at him from her tired eyes.

"This is decaf."

"Is it?" he smiled slyly, laughing at his little joke.

"Why…why would you do that?" she gaped at him.

He snickered, enjoying the pained look on her face, before taking the cup out of her hands.

"That one's mine," he smirked, switching it with the other, "made it a double. Seemed like you might need it."

She took a long sip of the soothing coffee and sighed. "You're the worst."

"Shall we?" he smirked, rolling his suitcase towards the parking lot. "You know, once you're able to taste the difference between regular and decaf, you probably drink too much coffee."

She wrinkled her nose at him, buckling her seat belt. "You should talk."

"Mmm, no arguments there."

"And you suffered through decaf just for the joke."

"Ha ha ha. Worth it," though his face scrunched up just a bit as he sipped on it.

"Thank you, by the way."

"For what?" he scoffed.

"The double shot."

"Oh," he bit his lip, "yeah I just, uh,"

"It's making me feel human again," she interrupted, not forcing him to stumble through an explanation.

"Well, you still look like a walking hangover."

She rolled her eyes and closed them, sipping on her coffee and trying not to pay him and his little looks too much mind.