Once again, apologies for the lack of updates this past week. All I can say is: busy, busy, drama, busy, busy. That's kind of my life right now. But the Bears played a kick ass game tonight and it inspired me to finish this chapter so here it is. I'm not in love with this one but it's a proper set up for what's about to happen...oooh, foreshadowing (well..not really)...As always: Read, Enjoy, and Review,my peeps! Hope ya like it! Hugs and all that!

Chapter 25...

Monday…

"He kissed you!" Raquel stared at her sister as they shared a very early breakfast. She picked Brianna up from the airport that morning and could tell within seconds that something was wrong. She was acting all nervous and she wasn't making eye contact. Brianna denied it until they sat down to breakfast in the hotel restaurant. That was when, after a little gentle prodding, she told her about everything that took place the day before.

Brianna nodded.

"And you're just telling me this now?" Raquel stared.

"What was I supposed to do?" Brianna asked. "Call you the second it happened?"

"Uh, yeah," Raquel nodded.

Brianna finished her water, staring at the glass as if it held the answers to all of life's questions.

"You two practically made out and then you just let him leave?" Raquel put her fork down. She needed both hands free to smack her sister around for being so damn frustrating. She couldn't understand why Brianna was so confused. The choice between John and Nick seemed like an easy one.

"I didn't know what else to do..I thought about stopping him but..I don't know. What was I supposed to say? It was like my brain just stopped working," Brianna ran a hand through her hair.

"Did you like it?" Raquel smirked.

Bri rolled her eyes, not answering the question.

"You did," Raquel nodded.

"I did not!" Brianna insisted.

Raquel gave her an incredulous look. Brianna was a horrible liar.

"Okay whatever, I liked it," Brianna shrugged, pushing her food around on her plate.

"Duh," Raquel laughed.

Brianna took a deep breath, still not meeting Raquel's eyes. Raquel made light of it but she did feel bad for her. She knew that this was a difficult situation and knowing Brianna, she was having trouble figuring out how to make everyone else happy. She really needed to teach her how to put herself first.

Brianna rested her head on the table, "Am I an idiot?"

"Yes, yes you are," Raquel patted the back of her head.

"Seriously," Brianna sighed, sitting up. "This isn't me. I'm engaged. I don't go around kissing other guys."

"John isn't just some guy Bri," she reminded her. "He's obviously not if you let him tongue you down."

"Raquel!" Bri squeaked.

Raquel laughed, scooting her chair over and hugging her sister, "You already know my opinion on this. I think you should dump Nick's ungrateful ass and marry John and have a bunch of babies. And as much as I wish you would just do what I tell you to, I think we both know you're not going to."

"Because I'm a dumbass?" Brianna suggested.

"That's part of it," Raquel nodded.

"Why do I come to you when I need help?" Brianna sighed, resting her head on Raquel's shoulder.

Raquel rested her head atop Bri's, "I guess because you just don't know any better."

---------------------

"You're the best friend ever," Paula gushed as Candice opened the door to her hotel room.

Candice smiled, "I try."

Paula walked in, dropping her bags on the floor. After Paula called and told her everything that happened with John on Sunday, Candice suggested that she fly to Chicago as a guest of Candice. That way she could be around John and get him to change his mind. Sooner or later, he was going to realize what a huge mistake he made.

"Have you seen him today?" Paula asked.

Candice shook her head, "Not yet..but most of us just got in..It's still really early in the morning, I'm sure we'll see him before we have to go to the arena."

Paula smiled, "I hope so."

"Make yourself comfortable," Candice suggested, walking toward her bed. "I'm gonna get some more sleep before we have to go anywhere."

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John looked up at the ceiling, laying on the bed in his new hotel room. He was exhausted. Sleep refused to come the night before. Then, he thought he might get some sleep on the plane…No such luck. He and Brianna were on the same flight. They weren't sitting very close but just knowing she was there kept him from falling asleep. He kept looking over at her, expecting her to be looking at him. He was hoping for some hint, some tiny clue to tell him that their kiss had the same effect on her that it did him. Had it kept her up all night? Had she replayed it over and over in her mind the way he did? From the looks of it, she was just fine. For the first part of the flight, she was looking through some papers, occasionally making notes. More than once he saw her make a face at something she wrote, then scratch it out, write something else and smile, satisfied with her revision.

"Not that you were watching her like a stalker or anything John," he said to himself, shifting a little in the bed.

He hadn't spent the entire time looking at her. He read a few magazines, looked through his itinerary, and sent a text to Jeff and Randy telling them when they were going to work out. Then, after that was done, it was back to looking at Brianna. She had fallen asleep, curled up in her seat, her head resting against the window. The seat next to her was empty and he was tempted to take it. They needed to talk. But if she wanted to talk to him, she would have. She knew he was on the plane. He was a big guy, she couldn't miss him. He hoped he was wrong but there was a part of him, a big part, that was worried about what she would say once they did talk. He felt the passion when she kissed him. He knew she was just as into it as he was. But what if she convinced herself that she wasn't? Knowing her, she felt like she'd suddenly become some horrible person because she kissed someone other than her fiancé. The fiancé that didn't deserve her. The fiancé that she didn't want the way she wanted him.

Why the hell do women have to be so damn confusing?

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10:00 A.M.

Brianna watched from her chair between Brooke and her producer as Shane McMahon gave the dancers a speech about how they were auditioning to not only dance backup for Brooke at Summerslam, but to dance on Brooke's promotional tour for her album, a provision her label had decided on a few days earlier. Shane explained to them that they would be on the road rehearsing for a few weeks and told them a little about traveling with the WWE. He also made sure to tell them that if they were there to see wrestlers or become wrestlers, not backup dancers, then they should probably leave. Brianna smirked a little when she saw at least four girls and two guys begin to look very nervous. Shane had done a great job setting everything up. The ring wasn't in place yet so the dancers were auditioning in the open space where it was supposed to be. Most of them were sitting in the seats where the roaring crowd would be that night for Raw, a few of them were sitting on the barricade. Brianna, Brooke, Brooke's producer, and her mother and father were sitting at a table at the end of the ramp that the crew had just finished setting up. Of course, with Brooke and her family came the camera crew from Hogan Knows Best, they were behind the table, and Shane had placed two WWE photographers amongst the crowd to take pictures of the auditions for the WWE's website. Brianna hadn't quite expected this much attention for the auditions but it wasn't a big deal. As long as everyone let her do her job, she didn't mind at all.

"Okay," Shane clapped his hands together as his speech came to an end. "Now that I've bored you all to tears, allow me to introduce a choreographer you all should feel very privileged to have the opportunity to work with Brianna Kavner."

Most of the dancers cheered and Brianna got up, motioning for them to quiet down.

"Thank you for the introduction Shane," she said. Then, she turned to the crowd of dancers, "And thank you all for coming out. I'm gonna make this as quick as possible because we don't have a ton of time…To be honest, there are a lot more of you here than we anticipated."

Some of the dancers were starting to look nervous. Brianna could understand why. Back when she was auditioning, the phrase 'there are more of you than we anticipated', usually meant 'most of you are gonna get sent home without us even seeing you dance'.

"Don't get antsy," she laughed. "Because you have my word that I will do everything I can to make sure you all get a chance to dance for us today…But for me to be able to make that happen, I need you all to be as cooperative as humanly possible. You were given numbers when you signed in. I expect you to have that number pinned somewhere on your clothing. I don't care where, it can be on your ass, your arm, wherever, but it needs to be visible."

They all nodded.

"The first part of the audition is gonna go like this," she began. "I'm sure if any of you are like I was when I first started out, when you found out about this call, you found any Brooke Hogan song you could and came up with some steps."

A few of them laughed or smiled sheepishly.

"It's okay, you tried to prepare, that's good," Bri laughed. "But I don't want to see what you come up with for Brooke's songs. I already have choreography for most of them. So I've picked out 6 songs, none of which are Brooke's, when you come up here, we need you to stand on the mark, say your name and then one of those songs will play. You'll each get 45 seconds to freestyle. When you finish, we'll ask you a few questions and then let you know if we'd like for you to stay around and learn some choreography. Once we've gotten through everyone, those of you who've been asked to stay will learn a short routine. Depending on how long this takes, we might make our decision today or we might ask you to come back and run through it tomorrow. Everybody understand?"

All of the dancers agreed.

"Fantastic," Bri smiled, walking back toward the table, "Number 1, can you step up to the mark please?"

---------------------

Jeff impatiently pushed the 'Down' button as he waited for the elevator. He pushed it again and finally, after a few seconds, the doors opened. He was greeted with the sight of Raquel looking down at her nails.

"Morning," he nodded.

"Hey," she smiled.

Jeff grew nervous for a second, then relaxed. Seeing her smile at him was something he was still getting used to. It was nice but he was always suspicious for a few seconds. He couldn't help it.

"How is it that we always end up in elevators together?" he asked.

"I don't know," she laughed. "I don't care as long as we don't get stuck."

"This one seems to be running pretty well," Jeff lightly knocked on the wall. "Where ya headed?"

"I don't know really," she shrugged. "I need some coffee but after that…"

She trailed off and he nodded, "Sounds like fun."

She laughed as the doors opened and he gestured for her to go first, "I'm sure it will be. Where are you headed?"

"A few of us have to go to the arena early to sign some stuff that's gonna be put up for auction," he explained as they walked. "And I have a sudden craving for McDonald's."

Raquel laughed.

"Seriously, I've been thinking about pancakes and sausage from McDonald's since we got off the plane."

"Now that you mention it, their hash browns are damn good," Raquel laughed.

"See," Jeff laughed. "You know about the breakfast menu."

They reached the doors to the lobby and Jeff held the door open for her. He smiled, enjoying the sound of her laugh. It wasn't the condescending laugh he was used to, yet another welcome change.

"Listen, if you're not busy, you wanna go grab some breakfast?" he asked. "My treat."

"I already had breakfast with Bri," she said.

"Oh," he nodded.

She smiled, "But I guess I could split a hash brown with you."

---------------------

John turned down the hall toward the locker rooms, his bag thrown over his shoulder. He had to be at the arena early to sign a bunch of stuff for the auction website and he wanted to toss his bag in the locker room before he got started. His phone beeped in his pocket but he ignored it, figuring it was just Paula trying to get in touch with him again. She was truly someone he had to look at and wonder 'What the hell did I see in her?'

He was so lost in trying to answer that question that he didn't see her until it was too late.

---------------------

Brianna stumbled back dropping the dancers headshots and résumés on the floor.

"Shit!" she dropped to her knees to pick them up. She'd just finished putting them in the exact order she wanted.

"Sorry Bri."

She looked up, realizing that she hadn't even looked to see who she collided with. John's eyes met hers as he knelt down to help her. She quickly looked back down to the floor, pushing the papers together, completely disregarding the order. He handed her a few and they were done quickly. He stood up, holding out his hand to help her up.

"Thanks," she said, lightly brushing dust off of her knees. She looked up at him again and her breath caught in her throat. She didn't know what to do or say.

"So," she nodded.

"How are the auditions going?" he asked.

"Okay," she pushed her hands into her pocket. "The hard part is weeding out the ones that are here to see wrestlers."

John laughed a little, "Sounds fun."

"Yeah," she nodded.

He was better at hiding it but she could see that he felt just as awkward as she did.

"So," he lightly rubbed the spot behind his ear.

She sighed, looking down at her hands, "Are we gonna talk about it or not?"

"I didn't think you wanted to," John admitted, looking relieved that she was the first to bring it up.

"I don't think we have much of a choice," she shrugged.

He nodded to an open door not far from where they were standing. She followed him into the small office, closing the door behind them.

He looked at her expectantly, "Well?"

"Well what?"

"You look like you have a lot on your mind," John shrugged. "You first."

"Okay," she nodded, taking a deep breath. She wasn't sure how to say what she needed to say. She needed to figure it out soon though because John looked pretty anxious. After talking to Raquel for almost an hour, she'd come to a conclusion. A conclusion that Raquel didn't like and John probably wouldn't either.

"Last night…" she searched for the right words. "Last night..I was tired..very tired. And I've been under a lot of stress lately and-"

"And you think it was a mistake?" he finished. She could see from the look in his eyes that this wasn't going to go as smoothly as she'd hoped. He looked frustrated.

She nodded slowly in answer to his question.

"Why?" he asked, obviously a little annoyed. "Because of Nick?"

Brianna looked away, feeling insecure under his gaze.

"Nick treats you like shit," John said. "Or hadn't you noticed?"

"This is complicated John," she looked up at him again.

"What's so complicated?" he asked. "Nick is an asshole. I'm not. It's not brain surgery!"

Brianna could feel her face getting hot. A part of her could understand his frustration but it was beginning piss her off that he couldn't seem to understand her position.

She tried to speak calmly, "It's easy for you to simplify it when you're not in my shoes."

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John stared at Bri, trying to figure out what was wrong with her. She could get angry with him at the drop of a hat it seemed, but from what he knew, she didn't do that with Nick. He ran a hand over his hair, thinking back to what Randy said. He didn't want to admit it but it was possible that Randy's paranoid theories weren't so paranoid after all. Maybe she really was just messing with his head. Maybe she was perfectly content with her relationship with her fiancé and John was nothing but someone for her to toy with when she got bored.

"You know what," he shrugged, trying to keep his anger in check. "Maybe you're right…Maybe that kiss was a mistake."

She looked surprised. Probably because he hadn't reacted the way she wanted. He wasn't professing his love and begging her to leave Nick. He shook his head, not wanting to be in the room with her anymore. It was becoming clear to him that she wasn't the Brianna he knew before. She was a different person. Someone John wasn't sure he needed in his life.

---------------------

"Oh that one turned out good," Jeff laughed, pointing at a picture of Raquel signing a chair from Raw. The pictures were on a monitor that David, the photographer, set up to make sure everyone saw what was going up on the site.

"You think so?" Raquel laughed. "I don't like that one."

"Why not?" Jeff asked.

"Because I look weird and my nose is all wrinkled up," she said.

"You were laughing," he shrugged.

"Because you pulled up your shirt and said 'sign these'," Raquel playfully pushed him.

"You know you wanted to," he laughed. "I like that one. It's cute."

"If you say so."

Raquel smiled as David showed them another set of pictures. She couldn't believe how much fun she was having with Jeff. They spent much longer than they anticipated at McDonald's. Once their food was finished they just sat at a table in the corner, trading random stories. Then when they made it to the arena, they spent most of their time trying to make each other laugh while they were having their pictures taken.

She pointed to a picture of Jeff crossing his eyes while holding one of his signed t-shirts, "I think that's the one."

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Later…

Paula walked into the women's dressing room where Candice was sitting in a chair, flipping through the pages of a magazine.

"Hey," Paula smiled, handing her friend a cup of coffee.

"Thanks hun," Candice smiled. Something about the smile seemed a little off, like she was hiding something. Paula noticed that Candice quickly closed the magazine, placing it next to her and then moving her leg over it.

"What's that?" Paula questioned.

"What's what?"

"Under your leg," Paula laughed, pointing at the periodical.

"Oh that," Candice laughed. "That's just next month's WWE magazine. Vince gave it to me today. It's an advance copy."

"Why'd he give it to you?" Paula asked.

"I'm on the cover," Candice smiled proudly, holding it up to show her the picture.

"You look great!" Paula exclaimed. "Let me see."

Paula grabbed the magazine but Candice wouldn't let it go.

"Oh you don't need to see it," Candice laughed nervously. "The pictures inside really aren't that great."

"Come on, I wanna see," Paula tugged, wanting to figure out what her friend was hiding.

"Really, you don't," Candice shook her head, trying to pull it back.

"Candice!" Paula exclaimed, yanking the magazine away. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Candice looked tense. "I just um..there's something in there that you might not want to see."

"What?" Paula opened it, flipping through the pages. That was when she spotted it.

---------------------

"Okay people," Brianna stood in the ring. After the crew set it up, Vince had given her permission to continue auditions and use the ring for a few hours. Raquel had come to ringside to watch along with Trish, Andrew, Matt, and Jeff.

"We're gonna take this from the top," she instructed. "No music, just counts."

All of the dancers nodded.

"Okay, 5..6..7..8.."

Brianna scanned the group, taking mental notes of their strengths and weaknesses. Natalie was a stand out, as usual, along with a few others. Brianna called out moves occasionally, just to remind the few who seemed to be losing the steps.

"Very nice," Brianna said as they reached the end of the routine. "You're all doing a great job. You guys can take a seat for a few while I go over some things with Brooke. I'll call you back in about 10 minutes."

Brianna turned toward her sister and her friends but before she could say anything she heard someone coming down the ramp toward the ring.

"Hey!"

---------------------

Raquel was ready to give Brianna some opinions on the dancers when she heard a loud "Hey!"

She turned to see Paula storming down the ramp. Her furious gaze was trained on Brianna.

"What the hell?" Trish looked as confused as Raquel felt.

Paula walked up the ring steps and entered the ring. Raquel was beginning to feel like she was sitting ringside at Raw.

"Can I help you?" Brianna raised a brow at her.

Paula was holding a magazine in her hand. She held it in Brianna's face, "What the hell is this?"

"Looks like a magazine to me," Brianna said, pushing it away. "Do you need something? I'm trying to get some work done here."

"Oh you mean you're taking a break from trying to steal my boyfriend?" Paula glared.

A smile slowly spread across Brianna's face, "Last I heard, he wasn't your boyfriend anymore."

Paula's response was a hard slap across Bri's face.

"You crazy bitch!" Brianna stared for a second.

Paula had a smug smile on her face. Brianna fixed that with a hard punch right to the other woman's jaw.

"Damn!" Trish laughed as Paula fell, holding her face.

"Whore!" Paula yelled, pulling off one of the pumps she was wearing and launching it at Bri. Brianna ducked but it caught the top of her head. That was obviously the last straw because Brianna ran at Paula, who was finally standing up after getting punched. Bri's fist caught the redhead's jaw again but before Paula could fall, she reached out, grabbing hold of Brianna's hair, causing them both to fall.

Raquel stood up, ready to stop this but Andrew grabbed her arm, "Dude…let 'em fight."

"No!" Raquel pulled her arm away. She was about to demand that someone stop the fight but before she could, Matt and Jeff had hopped the barricade and slid into the ring, pulling the furious women apart. Jeff wrapped his arms around Brianna's waist and lifted her off of a screaming Paula.

"Let me go!" Brianna yelled.

"Calm down," Jeff said as she struggled against him.

"I'm calm," Bri said. "That bitch is the one attacking people!"

"You're trying to steal my man!" Paula yelled, struggling to free herself from Matt's grasp.

"He's not your man dumbass!" Bri yelled.

"And how would you know that?" Paula asked.

"He told me," Brianna smiled, a little out of breath from the struggle.

That seemed to set Paula off again, "Bitch!"

Paula wriggled free and ran at Jeff and Brianna. Bri stepped on Jeff's foot.

"Ow!" he yelled, letting her go.

The women were at it again and there was a loud smack that rang throughout the arena when Paula slapped Bri again. Brianna recovered quickly though with a backhand across Paula's face. Before either of them could swing again, Matt and Jeff grabbed them, pulling them apart.

Andrew laughed, shaking his head, "That was awesome."

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5 Minutes Later…

John stood in Vince's office, looking around, amazed at how this day was going. It wasn't even 2 in the afternoon and he'd already gotten into a near argument with Bri. Then, he heard about Brianna and Paula getting into a fight and now he was in the office after Vince had sent Shane to come get him to address the situation. He'd had to explain to Vince that he and Paula were no longer together and she was not there as his guest. Jeff and Matt, the two who'd broken up the fight, were also in the office. Jeff was standing with an arm over Brianna's shoulders. Her cheeks were red and her hair was a mess. Her angry eyes were trained on Paula. A few feet away, Matt was standing next to Paula, who was sporting a dark bruise along her jaw, another one forming around her eye, and the back of her dress was ripped. She was glaring right back at Bri. John couldn't tell if he liked that this fight started because of him or if it pissed him off. It wasn't a surprise that Paula would do something so stupid and unprofessional but it was out of character for Brianna. At least it proved that their little confrontation earlier bothered her. Still, he didn't need this happening when he was trying to focus on work.

"Exactly how did this start?" Vince asked.

"I read this!" Paula held up the magazine.

"I have no idea what she's talking about!" Brianna exclaimed, frustrated. "I haven't even seen what's in that magazine. I have no clue what set that freak off."

"Don't call me a freak!" Paula screeched.

"Shut up!" Brianna yelled.

"You haven't seen this yet?" Vince asked Brianna, looking surprised.

Bri shook her head.

John was confused. He hadn't seen the magazine either.

"Have you seen it?" Vince asked John.

"Nope," John shook his head. "Why?"

Brianna snatched the magazine from Paula, who was busy staring at John. Once she realized what the other woman had done, Paula tried to get to her.

"Matt, Jeff, could you take Paula into the hall please?" Vince asked.

He wants to talk to me and Bri…Okay, I know I didn't do anything stupid…

Matt and Jeff did as they were asked.

"I told you this was a bad idea," Shane shook his head. "I told you it was gonna cause trouble."

"Shane," Vince glared at his son.

Shane sat back in his chair, shaking his head.

What the hell is in the damn magazine?

Brianna flipped through the pages then stopped. John could see her eyes scanning the words, then, they went wide.

She started to read out loud, "WWE magazine has gotten quite a few letters and emails from fans asking about some pictures that showed up on the internet of WWE champ John Cena with gorgeous So You Think You Can Dance judge, Brianna Kavner. In some of the pictures, Kavner is sporting quite a rock on her left ring finger…WWE Magazine went straight to the source to find out what's really going on."

Brianna looked up from the magazine to Vince, "What is this?"

John took the magazine from her, staring at the pictures accompanying the 'article'. One of them was John and Brianna hugging outside the arena the day that she came to Raw. Another was from the video set when they were looking at her phone together, leaning very close and laughing at one of the pictures. There was one more from the video set but this one was posed. Bri was in her skimpy outfit from one of the dance sequences and they were standing together, he had an arm over her shoulders and was blowing a kiss into the camera. He skimmed over the words she'd already read, then picked up where she left off, "We asked John Cena to comment on the rumors and, never one to hide the truth, he answered all of our questions. The truth is the champ is involved with the beautiful dancer but according to him, the rumor that they are engaged is absolutely false."

Now John looked up at Vince, "Anybody wanna tell us what's going on here?"

"Well…" Vince searched for words.

Brianna walked over to John, reading more, "Cena tells us 'Bri is great. She's smart and funny and she's got that smile. She could get away with murder lookin' like that'."

"They even made up quotes?" Brianna stared.

John didn't say anything. She scanned the article more, choosing another quote to read, " 'This is new for us..and it'll be interesting since I'm pretty sure she's gonna be on the road with us in a matter of days…Where did these come from?"

She looked up at Vince but John had the answer to her question.

"I said that," John explained. "But I didn't say it in an interview..I said it to that creepy kid Max at the video set."

Then, it dawned on them. They'd been set up. They both turned to Vince again.

"You tricked me?" John stared.

"I wouldn't say we tricked you," Vince said.

"I would," Brianna chimed in.

"We?" Shane interrupted. "This was your idea."

Vince glared at his son.

Before they could pry any explanation out of him, Vince's phone rang. He picked it up quickly, excusing himself from the room before anyone could argue.

Brianna watched him leave and then turned back to John and Shane, "I am so confused."

"Dad thought it would be a good idea to run this piece in the magazine," Shane explained. "He says it's a good publicity for both of you."

"What?" John laughed. He was angry but at the same time, it was so confusing it was funny.

"He calls it classic cross promotion," Shane explained. "Fans of you and your show will tune in to Raw to see the guy you're dating and the WWE fans will tune in to your show to see who their champ is dating."

"But it's not true," Brianna shook her head.

"We understand that," Shane nodded. "Which is why Dad sent Max to the video set to get some good quotes out of John."

"Okay, did anyone take into consideration that I have a fiancé?" Brianna asked.

"Trust me, I brought it up," Shane put his hands up. "I'm sorry about this."

"So wait..your dad flips out if someone leaks something true onto the internet, but he puts a fake ass story about me in a magazine and that's cool?" John asked.

Shane shrugged, "You know how he gets when he thinks he sees an opportunity to draw in more viewers.

"What is wrong with your father?" John asked.

Shane shook his head, "You have no idea how many times I get asked that question."

---------------------

"Well that was interesting," Matt laughed as he and Jeff walked away from Paula. They'd left her talking to Candice after making Candice promise to keep her away from Brianna.

"It was nice seeing someone punch Paula in the face," Jeff laughed.

Matt laughed, "Yeah it was. Sucks that John missed it."

Jeff nodded as they rounded the corner.

"So uh…you were hanging out with Raquel today, huh?" Matt asked.

Jeff sighed, not in the mood for 20 Questions, Matt Hardy's new favorite game.

"Yeah Matt, I did," he said. "And after today, I think I'm gonna ask her to marry me."

"You don't have to get all touchy, I was just asking," Matt shrugged.

"I'm not touchy," Jeff insisted. "I just don't want you making something out of nothing."

"I wont," Matt shrugged. "Although you gotta admit it's pretty weird that you two are friends all of a sudden."

"I don't know if I'd say we're friends," Jeff shrugged. "We're just..not enemies anymore."

---------------------

Randy looked up when John stormed into the locker room and then slammed the door shut. He yanked his bag from the bench and roughly pulled the zipper open.

"What's your problem now?" Randy asked.

"You didn't hear about the fight?" John asked.

"Oh I heard about it," Randy laughed. "I heard Vince called them both into a conference room for a talk."

"He did," John nodded. "He asked me to come in too because he thought I brought Paula here. I had to explain to him that we broke up and she wasn't my guest. Then we figured out why Paula flipped out."

"Why?"

"Vince put an 'interview' in the new magazine that made it look like I was confirming that Brianna's my new girlfriend."

"What?" Randy laughed.

"Some shit about cross promotion or something," John shook his head. "I swear, sometimes I think he's losin' it."

Randy laughed, shaking his head, "Well I heard your new woman's got a mean right hook."

"I don't understand her," John said, pacing angrily. "If she's angry enough to try and beat the hell out of Paula over me..why would she say kissing me was a mistake? She blamed sleep depravation. That's bullshit and she knows it. And then when we were in Vince's office, all she was worried about was what Nick would think."

"He is her fiancé," Randy reminded him.

"I'm aware of that," John glared. "I'm just sick of hearing about him. He's not the one she was kissing last night."

"Look man, just don't let her jerk you around," Randy instructed.

John sat down, taking a deep breath, "I wont I just..I just don't get her."

"Don't worry about her," Randy said. "What you need, is a distraction."

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