Disclaimer, etc., in the prologue.

Part Twenty

Natalya had told her that the Funkadactyls wanted some friendly competition for the weekend, and that was what the two divas had gotten. Unfortunately for Cameron and Naomi, the fact that the competition was friendly didn't change the outcome of the matches for them... The Funkadactyls lost both of the matches, Eve and Natalya beating them both Saturday and Sunday nights. Eve had picked up the pin and the win on Saturday, taking Cameron down with a neckbreaker before finishing her off with a moonsault, and Natalya had managed to make Naomi submit to the sharpshooter on Sunday. Even so, the four women had shook hands after each match, showing each other respect, and Naomi had declared that it wouldn't be so easy for them next time... Eve didn't mind the words; she was just glad that Naomi seemed to be the type not to give up when she was met with disappointment on the first try. She was persistent... and that could be a very good quality for people to have, as long as it didn't devolve into out and out stubbornness.

"So... Two-for-two. Not so bad for your first weekend back," Natalya said as the two women finished changing back into their street clothes after the show. Naomi and Cameron had already left the locker room, the two women looking for the Uso brothers, since they'd traveled with them.

"Yeah... And hey, at least Cameron and Naomi didn't seem to take it too personally."

"Naomi will be looking for a way to beat you soon enough. It's what she does."

"It's what all of us should do... Figure out ways to beat each other. It's kind of our job, you know," Eve said with a smile, and Nattie rolled her eyes.

"True enough," the blonde woman said, pushing her hair back from her face. It had fallen from its clip during her shower, leaving it wet and somewhat tangled. "It's too cold for me to go out with my hair still wet, so I'm going to dry it a bit before we go, okay?"

Eve nodded. "Sure. I'll meet you at the car," she said, making a vague gesture toward the door. They were still traveling together, since Nattie's husband wasn't on the road this weekend. Gathering her things, Eve headed out into the hallway, making sure she had the key to the rental car that she and the other diva were sharing as she walked. Quite honestly, she was relieved to have the weekend over and to only have RAW left before she could head back home. It wasn't that she didn't like hanging out with the others; it was simply that she hadn't been home in over a week, and when she'd left home, she'd still been CM Punk's girlfriend, planning to spend her days off with him... And she'd been planning to surprise him with the fact that she was once again signed to the company. Instead, she'd gotten a huge surprise of her own, and since Monday night, she'd been doing her best to avoid being anywhere near him. So far, she'd been successful.

Until tonight.

Turning the corner, Eve caught sight of her former boyfriend, the woman mentally cursing the fact that they were on the same tour of live events this weekend... Which really wasn't a surprise, since that had been done intentionally, seeing as they'd still been together when she'd been secretly scheduled. Odds were that they would be scheduled for the same set of live events for quite some time, since those were usually scheduled well in advance and the people dividing the roster for the two sets of live events couldn't have known that she and Punk wouldn't be together any longer. She certainly hadn't known it.

Quickly, Eve took a step back, intending to go back where she came from... Back to the divas' locker room to wait until Natalya was done drying her hair. Punk's head was down as he walked, so he hadn't seen her yet... But then he looked up, his gaze almost immediately locking on hers even as she turned to go back around the corner.

"Eve! Wait!" he called out, and she could hear him coming after her. If it wouldn't have been completely undignified, then she would have run, but she refused to actually run from something (she firmly believed that walking briskly was completely different... or maybe not), and besides that, she was wearing heels, and she was not going to twist an ankle in an attempt to get away from her ex-boyfriend. That would just make her feel even more ridiculous than she already did at the moment.

"Eve, please!" Punk called out to her again, this time from much closer, and it was because his voice was so close that Eve wasn't surprised when he reached out and took hold of her arm. Because she expected it, Eve was able to twist around, breaking his grasp, but Punk was persistent, grabbing hold of her again, the diva finding her back against the wall. She glared at the man, her expression making it very clear what she thought about the fact that he'd dared to grab hold of her.

"Let me go."

"Not until you hear me out," he said quietly, and she snorted.

"Hear you out? Why? So you can try and twist this around so that it's my fault you fucked another woman?" Eve spat out, watching the way he flinched when she cursed. "What? Don't like it being called that? Was it too precious and special for that word-"

"No. It wasn't. It was a giant fucking mistake, and I know it."

"No, Punk. That was not a mistake. A mistake is picking up the wrong kind of soda or forgetting to pick something up at the store or sending a text that you hadn't finished yet. Those are mistakes. Making the decision to get into bed with a coworker when you already have a girlfriend - who is about to come and visit you, no less - is not just 'a mistake'. It is a decision that you consciously made. And since you don't drink or do drugs, you don't even have that as an excuse to fall back on. Not that it would work anyway."

"Eve, I am so sorry. If I could find a way to go back and do things differently-"

"Then you would win some sort of a prize because you'd mastered time travel which, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't exist yet. But you know something, Punk? You shouldn't have to use time travel to fix things because you cheated on your girlfriend. You should just choose not to cheat instead."

"I know. I know it. I am so, so sorry," he breathed, his face far too close to hers, his eyes on hers, and Eve could see the guilt there, the sorrow. The look in his eyes, the expression on his face... It was enough to make her gut twist, to make her waver for just the barest of moments... And he saw it. He saw the slight weakening, and he leaned in toward her, coming closer and closer...

But she pushed him away.

Standing up straight, she pushed him back, moving away from the wall herself, shaking her head as she looked at him. "No. It's not going to happen."

"I still love you, Eve."

"And maybe part of me still loves you. But it's not enough. Because you betrayed me. You hurt me. And I'm not going to let you back in my life just to hurt me again."

"I wouldn't hurt you this time."

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't have hurt me the first time, either."