Monday 3rd December
AJ, it's Punk, I need to talk to you. Can you meet me in my locker room after the show at around 11:30? I'll see you later.
The voicemail Punk had left on AJ's phone earlier on in the day said he would meet her at 11:30 in his locker room. It's now 11:44 and he's nowhere to be found. She'd wandered into the room 20 minutes ago, making sure she was early in the hope that whatever Punk had to say would be over quicker so she could get back to her hotel. But he wasn't here, and many of the other superstars and staff had already left the building. It was now reaching the point where she had been stood up by Punk, and he isn't going to show up any time soon.
She sent Punk a text message for the third time in the past ten minutes asking where he was, this time the text was more hateful. AJ really didn't like being left out or forgotten about, especially by Punk when he sounded as if he was being completely serious when he said he wanted to talk to her.
She paced up and down the room, becoming more frustrated with the WWE champion for not showing up with each step. She finally heard the door open, and swivelled round expecting to see a certain Straight edge superstar in the door way. What she was expecting however, was not what she saw. It was Dolph.
There was an uncomfortably long stare down between the pair, and a range of emotions being felt on both sides, simply from looking at one another. Dolph was the first to break the stare, as he bowed his head and scuttled over to where his briefcase was sitting on the side. AJ sat down in a chair and studied him for a while, cautious of being in the same room as him. After Punk had told her that Dolph was in love with her last week, she hadn't been able to think of much else, but there was still a hint of animosity between them, and it wasn't going to go away instantly.
AJ tried to distract herself by playing a random game on her phone, after realising she'd been staring at his back for the past few minutes. She contemplated leaving as it was becoming increasingly obvious that Punk probably wasn't going to show up any time soon. But it was as if she subconsciously wanted to stay. This was the closest she has been to Dolph in a week, and even though AJ didn't have a clue on what to say to him right now, she desired to talk to him, or at the very least, be near him.
Dolph sat down on the bench at the opposite side of the room to her. He hated the fact that not so long ago, him and AJ were meeting up with each other every night, talking for hours and thoroughly enjoying being in one another's company, and now, they were acting like strangers. It might not hurt him as much if he wasn't completely head over heels in love with the girl.
"What are you doing in the men's locker room, AJ?" He nervously asked her.
She peeked up at him from the screen and looked back down again, avoiding any sort of long eye contact. "I'm waiting for someone."
Dolph bit his lip from replying back with something as he jumped to conclusions by assuming she was in here to meet John. He reluctantly avoided an argument about the whole AJ and John situation as he was serious about wanting to get her back.
"So, I heard about the ladder match you're having with John at TLC." AJ said, still not looking up at him.
"Yeah," He sighed, "I'm not too happy about that."
"Why?"
"Because I earned this briefcase AJ, and it didn't sit too well with me the first time a certain somebody made me put it on the line. But, it's much worse this time you know, John cashed in his briefcase and lost, and I know you're like his best friend now, but can you honestly tell me what gives him the right to have a shot at taking this away from me?" He pointed to the briefcase.
She glanced up and then back down again, refusing to add a comment onto what he had said. She had grown quite fond of John in the time that they had gotten to know each other, and even though she agreed with Dolph, Cena didn't exactly deserve a shot at his briefcase, she wasn't going to bitch about someone close to her. It was really starting to dawn on her the amount of hatred that Dolph held for Cena. She didn't know whether it was only because of her or whether it had always been there, but it did make her slightly uncomfortable to know that they would be squaring off for something so important in just a few week's time.
AJ put her phone to the side and let her eyes wander all around the room, looking at anything other than Dolph. Her hands mindlessly started fiddling with her brunette locks, and without even concentrating, she started to twirl the strands into neat braids. Dolph never took his eyes away from her while she was doing this, and it ended up making him chuckle.
"What's so funny, Ziggler?" She asked bitterly, not liking the fact that he was laughing at her.
"Nothing really, I just find it rather amusing that you're nervous to be in a room alone with me."
"I'm not nervous." She shook her head.
"Yes you are. I've noticed it about you, whenever you're nervous, you start playing with either your clothes or your hair. You do it all the time."
She looked down at the styled tress that had formed and instantly moved her hands away. "It doesn't always mean I'm nervous." She protested, now folding her arms in annoyance.
"Sure, whatever you say." He laughed again.
His somewhat newfound cheery mood annoyed her, because it felt as if she was an open book to him. Yes, she knew he loved her and maybe that was why, because he knew her probably more than anybody else, but it annoyed her that he could see past whatever front she put up. "Can you really blame me for being nervous? We haven't had a proper conversation in weeks and now you just so happen to be sitting around doing nothing in this locker room while I'm in here."
"Hey, I'm waiting for someone to get in here too, I'm waiting to talk to Punk, he's apparently got something he wants to talk to me about."
Her eyes squinted at him and she tilted her head to the side. "You're waiting to talk to Punk?" It was all starting to dawn on her. Punk didn't really want to talk to her about something, this was all a set up. "Oh, this is laughable. I'm in here to talk to Punk."
A confused frown formed on his face, as he couldn't quite understand what AJ was getting at. "So, we're both in here to talk to the champ, what's the big deal?"
She shot him a glare, and then shook her head at him. "Don't you see what he's done? He's told us both that he wants to talk to us, but he actually never intended to. It's all a set up so we can be in the same room together. Alone." She put emphasis on the final word in the sentence so he would understand the implication.
It all started to register in his head, and once he realised what Punk had done, he stood up and started to laugh again. "Well, what a crafty son of bitch."
She rolled her eyes at his reaction, and then picked up her things to leave the room. Once she was near the doorway, Dolph noticed and immediately dashed over to block her way. "Whoa, why are you leaving? Look, if Punk planned for us to both be in here and end up at least talking, then maybe we should." He begged.
AJ's eyes scanned his face for a moment before even thinking about what to say back to him. It was crazy how lost she could get, if only for a few seconds, by simply just looking at him. Every aspect of his attributes made her insides tingle, and when he used his puppy dog pleading eyes to his advantage, it was almost certain that she would give in to him. AJ tore her eyes away from his face and wandered over to the other side to the room, slyly avoiding him. "What do we have to talk about?"
"Well," He took a few steps closer towards where she was standing, "Care to explain to me what's going on between you and my TLC opponent, and why I had to watch the two of you make out, in a disgusting manner by the way."
AJ started chewing on her bottom lip, and then tucked her hair behind her head to avoid nervously playing with it, like he so observantly picked up on. "It's none of your business what's going on between us," She pushed her chest out defiantly to seem more confident than what she was, "Why do you even care so much anyway?"
He scoffed at the inquisition. "Are you really asking me that right now?" He retorted, while raising his eyebrow, "After everything we've been through, you're asking me why I care about you and John being so… together? Don't act like you don't know that it hurts me to see you with him AJ, I know you aren't stupid."
"What, and just because it hurts you, a man who said that we should stay away from each other not so long ago, I should stop being around someone you don't like?" Her voice now had a detection of hurt to it, which was not lost on the money in the bank holder.
"I never said you shouldn't be around him, all I asked was what's going on between you two, because one week you're telling me you have feelings for me, and the next you're making out with him of all people in front of millions!"
"If I want to kiss John Cena, I damn well will kiss John Cena, I am free to do whatever the hell I want, you're not my boyfriend, remember?" The New Jersey native had now switched from hurt, to being defensive.
"Sure, you can do whatever you want AJ, but do you even realise how much it hurts to see you and him together? Okay, so I was never your boyfriend and I'm certainly not now, but you know how I feel about you." He stated, each word glazed with emotion.
She opened her mouth to reply, but stopped herself as she recalled what Punk had said to her last week. 'He told me himself that he is in love with you.' AJ imagined him pouring his heart out to the WWE champion and it felt as if her heart was breaking knowing how he must have felt seeing her and John together. Dolph and AJ had both done several things to hurt the other, but it was definitely not in her intention to cause him pain by getting closer to John.
The Cenation leader had been there for her at a time when no-one else was, and she had reciprocated that kindness by being there for him during his injury. They had become close, mainly because it seemed like he was the only one who truly cared, but she enjoyed his company. He was in no way like Dolph, and she didn't have feelings for him like that, but yes, she had kissed him with no real reason behind those kisses, other than they were close and she believed John liked her in that way. And, it didn't hurt for her to at least try and get over Dolph, because she believed they would never end up together.
"I never kissed John as a way to hurt you okay, it's complicated." She was staring into his light blue eyes intensely, "I will apologise to you right now about hurting you, but don't act like you haven't hurt me too. You humiliated me in front of millions, not much different from what Punk did a while back, and that tore me up inside. And seeing as how we're talking about hating to see each other with other people, you're still hanging around with Vickie, someone that I know you hate almost as much as I do. What the hell is up with that?"
"You know I pretty much owe Vickie my career, I'm going to get rid of her at some point, but not yet."
"Well, that's the problem isn't it? You never act on things that you want, you just prolong them and sit back. That's why it's taken you seven years to reach this peak of your career. That's why you are still stuck with the woman I hate more than anyone else in the world. That's why me and you never got together. You spewed some bs about wanting the moment you asked me to be your girlfriend to be romantic, but the truth is you didn't have the guts to be with someone who your manager can't stand!" AJ near yelled, a single tear sliding down her cheek as she spoke of their relationship.
"That isn't fair, AJ!"
"None of this entire situation is fair!"
The two of them were now shouting at each other, not caring if someone walked by and heard them, despite the arena being almost empty now. AJ wiped the tear from her cheek, folded her arms and looked directly down at the floor. Dolph was beating himself up inside. He so desperately wanted to get her back, and not have their conversations end up in arguments. If he was serious about getting her back, much like how he told Punk he was, the best thing to do would be to walk out of the room, and leave AJ to calm down. But of course, Dolph didn't do the best thing, he would simply let out his emotions.
"You never answered my question, what's going on with you and Cena?"
Before he had said that sentence, it looked as if AJ was settling down and becoming less angry with him. But bringing up John again made her head shoot up and send him the most evil death glare he had ever seen. "He's just a friend, nothing more." She told him, through gritted teeth.
"Since when do you make out with someone who's only a friend?"
AJ had become tired of his questions about John. She had no idea what she was going to say next, that's how furious she was. "I don't know, since maybe around the time I fell in love with someone who wasn't even my boyfriend!"
She clasped her hands over her mouth, shocked at the words that she had let slip. It wasn't like she had never admitted to him that she had feelings for him, because of course, she had told him that all along. But this was different. This was the first true admission of love, and it spilled out in the most purest and twisted of ways. The first time she had told Dolph that she was in love with him had come from a place of unadulterated anger. That's not how she wanted to tell him. In fact, due to the argument they were having, she wasn't sure if she wanted to tell him at all.
Dolph's entire demeanour had changed. His mouth had formed a slight 'o' shape upon her revelation, and a flush of happiness coursed through his veins hearing those words. The words may have not been said in the kindest of tones, but it was like music to his ears. He knew that the woman he was in love with, the same woman who he has practically been biting his head off for the past five minutes, loved him too. Without realising, his feet were slowly taking his body closer to hers.
"Y-you're in l-love with me?" He couldn't say those words without a grin on his face, and due to his happiness, he stuttered on the most important ones.
AJ could barely look him in the eye without feeling embarrassed about her admission. She was a woman who loved recklessly and was always open about her feelings, but everything with Dolph was so scarily different, it felt like she was a lovestruck teenager with her first boyfriend. "I… Well.. I didn't want to say it like that, but-"
He cut off her muttering by taking hold of her face in his palms and crashing his lips onto hers. He couldn't resist kissing her. She loved him, and he loved her and no matter what they're going through, or they hate they have conceived for one another, now was the moment where he proved to her just how much he loved her. The kiss started out slow, partly because AJ was in shock at him kissing her and also because Dolph wanted this moment to last. He had no clue whether it would all be taken away from him in a heartbeat, or if AJ would walk out of his life straight after and back into John's arms.
After a few seconds of complete shock, she melted into the kiss, content with how familiar and amazing his kisses were. The last few kisses she had were with John, and they in no way compared to this. The way his mouth started to glide along hers in a beautiful rhythm was her definition of perfect. She had missed this. She had missed this so much, and finally after weeks of being no more than two people seemingly at war, they had returned to surrendering to their desires.
Dolph broke the kiss, but instead of moving away from her, her wrapped his fingers into her hair, something that he loved doing but hadn't done in so long, and pulled her tighter to him. "You know that I love you too, right? I love you so damn much." He admitted, almost breathless from the amazing kiss they had shared.
AJ couldn't form any words. She was speechless. Punk had already told her about him being in love with her, but for her to hear him say it himself, in a majestic whisper so that only she could hear, it was indescribable. She only replied with a wide, genuine smile and leaned her head against his in bliss. It's strange how two people could go from being lost in anger to being lost in the phenomenon known as love. For these two, it felt like nothing could spoil this mesmerising moment.
So, after a long time, they finally kissed again! Just to let you wonderful readers know, I think I'm only putting up a few more chapters for this story. I actually never intended for it to be this long, but it is what it is. Anyway, I find reviews to be the best thing ever, so if you fancy dropping one, that'd be amazing. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!