If anyone is interested the song used in this chapter is "Saturday Night" by The Misfits. I specifically had the Michale Graves solo version in mind though. Enjoy :)
The girls meet Tyler and Dolph in one of the many rings at the Performance Center and start stretching. Tyler leads them through the familiar Storm Wrestling Academy warmup drills. Ravyn catches AJ entering the building out of the corner of her eye, but stays focused on the exercise they're working through. The girls rotate in and out of the ring with the guys until a fifth body rolls into the ring with them.
"Hey guys, mind if I join ya?" Finn Balor's thick Irish accent almost bubbles.
"Of course!" JJ smiles. "Glad to see you're cleared to start training again."
"Just happy there's people to train with today," Finn beams. "With NXT on tour I feel like I've been running drills alone forever."
The five of them settle back into a routine, tagging in and out over and over. They each rotate through working with everyone, bumping and doing some chain wrestling. JJ tags Ravyn in to work with Finn while she catches her breath on the apron. Ravyn locks up with the Irishman and quickly works him into a headlock. He muscles his way out and shoots her to the ropes. The two of them have a bizarre chemistry that comes off as oddly sexual. Finn flirts through touch and domination while Ravyn, just happy to be back in the ring, is completely oblivious to his advances. AJ, however, has become completely distracted by the two in the ring. Before he can express his displeasure with Finn's closeness to his girlfriend. Tyler, sick of the display, blindly tags himself in sending Finn to the outside. He and Ravyn work around the ring doing their best to be as light as possible. He takes extra care to be gentle with her until she tags Dolph in.
Finally AJ decides to join their workout. Clearly annoyed by the attention Finn is showing Ravyn. As soon as they're in the ring together again AJ tags Finn out. For the first time in her career Ravyn stands across the ring from AJ. They lock up and begin chain wrestling. JJ and Dolph pick up on the electricity between the two of them but manage to hide their amusement. Finn tags Ravyn out and stands toe to toe with AJ. The awkwardness of the situation eventually fades and AJ, ever the professional, gently wrestles Finn into submission. He tags out and steps down from the apron, letting JJ and Dolph finish out the session. Ravyn's eyes follow AJ as he walks back towards the locker room. She can't help smiling when she realizes that he stepped in the ring with her to keep Finn away.
"Shit!" JJ exclaims as she hits the mat awkwardly.
"You ok friend?" Ravyn slips between the ropes to go to her side.
Dolph is there with her, checking on his girlfriend. "Yeah, I just landed more on my hip than my back," JJ explains.
"Can you stand?" Ravyn asks.
Ravyn and Dolph help her to her feet carefully. "You ok babe?"
"It hurts," JJ admits. "I'm fine. Everything's fine."
"You should check with the doc here before you do anything," Ravyn insists more than suggests.
JJ begins to protest until she sees the stern faces of her best friend and boyfriend staring back at her, "Fine."
Ravyn takes a shower while JJ meets with the doctor. She takes the quiet opportunity in the locker room to text AJ. "Mr. Styles, did I detect a hint of jealousy out there?"
"I'm the only one that gets to touch you like that," he fires back.
She smirks, "I didn't even notice until you stiffed him once or twice."
"I didn't stiff him. Just made him think about where his hands were that's all," she can almost hear the phrase in his beautiful accent.
"That's kind of a turn on actually," she flirts.
"Now we have something to look forward to when we get back to your place,"
"How are you feeling?" Ravyn asks her friend as she slides into the quiet corner both at their favorite local steakhouse.
JJ sighs, "Doc says I should rest it for a few weeks. He's getting in touch with Shane to let him know that I'm not cleared to wrestle for a few weeks."
"But you can still valet," Ravyn suggests. "Maybe we can do something with Zack since Mojo turned on him."
"Babe," Dolph looks at JJ and smiles. "Don't worry. We'll make it work."
"I just hate taking time off," JJ declares with frustration in her voice.
"Better to take the time off now than to risk missing Japan," AJ pipes in.
JJ turns to look at him, wanting to say something sassy but conceding, "You're probably right."
"I almost forgot that we're going to Japan!" Ravyn pauses her thought while the waitress takes their order. "Isn't this a duel brand tour? Raw is going too?"
"Yep," Dolph confirms. "Four shows then we come back home for the week before the Rumble."
"So... You're saying that both brands will be in Japan at the same time... Ravyn starts to smile. "Does this mean we get to see the Hoots!?"
AJ rolls his eyes dramatically, "I guess we won't have a choice."
Ravyn beams, "I love those guys."
"Then you can sit with them on the bus," AJ snorts.
They chat until their food arrives. They girls start by picking apart their starter salads. Ravyn removing all of the tomatoes from hers and JJ discarding all of her cucumbers. With no communication or prompting from one another they dump the unwanted vegetables onto a clean bread plate in the center of the table. Once they rid their salads of undesirables they each take what the other woman had disposed of. After depositing their newly acquired rewards to their own plates they turn to look at the guys, who are staring at them with stunned amusement.
"What?" The girls ask in unison.
"You two are weird," Dolph says what AJ is thinking.
Ravyn and Breezango arrive to the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri early the following Tuesday for the first Smackdown Live of 2017. JJ rushes up to them grinning like a fool as soon as she sees them walk in.
"We're finally working together today!" She beams. "Dolph pitched an idea and creative said we can try it! Go get dressed we have to go film!"
"What are you talking about?" Ravyn laughs at her friends enthusiasm.
"Just get dressed," JJ insists. "Meet us in the garage. We're going to film something awesome!"
Ravyn and the boys go change into their Fashion Police gear before meeting JJ, Dolph and Zack Ryder back at the garage. JJ hands Ravyn a piece of paper with an address scribbled on it. They climb back into their rental and follow the GPS to the location provided. The short drive just outside of the city takes them to what appears, at first glance, to be a ghost town. Ravyn starts to giggle as they pull into a dusty parking lot.
"She's brilliant," Ravyn laughs.
"Where are we?" Dango asks.
"I think J is going to help us get away from the super sexy stuff and work towards something else," Ravyn smiles.
"Cool," Tyler nods. "I mean I love kissing you and all, but it's a little awkward knowing you have a boyfriend now."
"Whoa whoa whoa," Dango looks back and forth from Tyler to Ravyn. "Since when?"
"Uhh..." Ravyn blushes. "It's been a few weeks."
"My bad dude. I didn't know," he apologizes.
Luckily JJ appears from the other car in the lot and ends the awkward exchange between them. She drags Ravyn away and into an old western style building. The four boys follow them in and meet with the film crew. They film a few scenes before heading back to the arena to watch Smackdown. With both Ravyn and JJ not cleared to wrestle their boys get the evening off. A few minutes into the show their first segment airs.
Breezango drag a protesting handcuffed Zack Ryder into the Police station of the ghost town. The guys toss him into a jail cell and lock the metal sliding door behind him.
"We've been after this one a long time, Breeze," Dango states.
"Well done Dango," Tyler tips his shades.
"Are you serious bro?" Zack asks in disbelief.
"Nice job boys," Ravyn stands up from behind the desk on the other side of the small room. "Smackdown will be a lot less hideous with this Uggo off the streets."
"Guys, let me out of here," Zack pleads shaking the steel bars.
"Not gonna happen... Bro," Dango mocks him. "You're gonna be in here a long time."
"Yeah a real long time!" Tyler confirms.
The scene out fades with a shot of Zack sitting down on the cot in the cell shaking his head in disbelief.
"That was funny," Heath Slater laughs as the show goes to commercial.
"It was alright," a familiar smarmy voice sends chills down Ravyn's spine. She turns to see Corey leaning against the wall near the door of the monitor room.
"Don't engage him," Tyler whispers in her ear as he puts his arm around his shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. "Focus on me. Once the show comes back on we'll leave."
It feels like forever before the show returns from commercial, Tyler nudges her to get up. As he takes her by the hand and tries to lead her from the room Corey steps between the two of them and the exit.
"It would be sweet if you responded to my tweets," his cocky smirk making her stomach churn.
Tyler shoves past him, "Fuck off Graves."
Corey sneers as Tyler leads Ravyn past him. He escorts Ravyn to the women's locker room. Once inside the safety of the steel doors she fishes her phone from her bag. Knowing that she'll regret it, she opens Twitter to find out what Corey had been talking about. It takes her a few minutes of thumbing through a few hundred notifications to find one from Corey. A lump rises in her throat as she reads silently. JJ enters the room to find Ravyn, paler than ever, staring at her phone.
"Hey, I just saw Tyler. You okay?" She asks already knowing the answer. "Corey is a douchebag."
"A douchebag who has apparently been tweeting at me for almost a week," Ravyn sputters.
"What do you mean?" JJ worries.
"He sent me these over the last few days," Ravyn hands her the phone.
JJ reads the tweets aloud. "I can remember when I saw her last. We were running around and having a blast," she pauses, moving on to the second one. "I was cruising without you, they were playing our song." JJ looks at her friend, "What even is this? He tagged you in these publicly too."
"Song lyrics," Ravyn explains shortly. "A Misfits song."
"I assume that it isn't a positive one," JJ shrugs.
Ravyn shakes her head, "Unless a song about a guy murdering his lover and confessing to the police is the new wave of positivity."
"Gonna go with no on that one," JJ tries to keep the look of terror off of her face. "Have you talked to AJ?"
"No," Ravyn swallows trying to keep her panic attack at bay. "I was hoping Corey would just leave the whole thing alone."
"Well that's clearly not going to happen," JJ says matter of factly. "So you need to come up with a way to tell AJ. Probably sooner than later."