AJ's pov
Tuesday 5th March – 11:57pm
"I thought you said you had planned a surprise for me?"
"No I didn't."
"Yes you did. You said that you wanted to make it up to me by surprising me with something."
"Babe, I know for a fact that I didn't. I said that my idea on how to make it up to you involved me, you and a bed and the rest is a surprise. But surely you could guess what I meant by the surprise part."
Dolph follows that up with an ever so playful wink. This man will be the death of me, I swear. Just looking at him now, currently stripping himself of his t-shirt to get changed from the long night we've had, it's hard to believe that we're together. This glorious man in front of me that has booked yet another expensive hotel suite for the two of us, is my boyfriend. How did I become so lucky?
"Okay, I must have misheard you. Kinda got my hopes up now though, I was looking forward to a surprise."
"Does this mean I have to surprise you to keep you happy? Am I not good enough for you anymore AJ? Babe, I'm deeply hurt."
I giggle at his goofiness and after walking across to the other side of the room to meet him, I throw my arms around his neck and kiss him on his slightly stubbled cheek. "You know that you're more than enough for me Ziggy." I knew that would entice a devilish grin from him.
I remove my arms from around his neck and then glide my fingers across his perfectly chiselled abs. I pride myself on having awesome abs for a woman, but damn it, Dolph is like a greek god.
"What's wrong with you? You've got a frown on your face."
What's wrong with me? For once, absolutely nothing is wrong. The mess with John and Dolph should hopefully now be all sorted out, Nikki's mad, I think Zack and Kaitlyn are back together and me and Dolph aren't fighting. There's not much else that could make me happier. But since he mentioned it, I realise I do have a frown on my face, but not for anything bad like he's thinking. It's more because I'm in awe of his body.
"You know, you should be arrested for having a body this perfect. It's not exactly fair on the rest of humanity is it?"
The uncontrollable laughter that emerges from him shocks me. All I'm doing is stating a fact that he has probably one of the most physically flawless bodies I've ever seen in my existence. "That's a pretty random thing to say AJ. What brought that up?"
"Just look at you! Showing off your toned abs and sexy muscles. You and your perfect body disgust me."
"Okay, maybe I do have a pretty great body that every other man in the world should be jealous of. But you see my 'toned abs and sexy muscles' every day AJ, why are you bringing it up now babe?"
"I just have these moments every now and again where I have to stop and appreciate how amazing you are and how lucky I am to have you. Right now I'm having one of those moments."
"I should be the one complimenting you on your body really. Millions, hell even billions of guys will agree that you have a killer figure. And I know what you mean about having those moments. I think I have one every single day that I'm with you."
"What would people say if they knew that you were this sweet to me?"
"That doesn't matter because nobody's going to find out. It's our little secret babe."
Tuesday 12th March – 5:21 pm
"So you and Zack are okay now then, yeah?"
"We're great! After last week, we're honestly better than we were before. We got back together in the hotel room when you left, but that night we stayed up talking for hours and hours about our relationship and what we mean to each other and it really helped. He explained about his frustration with the company and how he was deeply sorry that he took it out on me, and now we are so much happier than before. I think we needed something big like that to happen to us to make it better between us, as weird as it sounds."
"Kait, it doesn't sound weird at all. I totally understand. I'm just glad you both worked things out like I knew you would."
I haven't been able to talk to Kaitlyn properly all week due to the both of us spending much needed time with our boyfriends. Looks like a week with them did the trick as Kaitlyn's as happy as I've ever seen her.
"Thanks AJ. How have you been anyway?"
"Me? I've been great. Dolph's been a total sweetheart all week with me. So yeah, I'm happy like you are."
"That's great! Oh, before I forget, AJ you need to let me know what you want to do for your birthday. I was wondering whether you want to spend it with me, or Dolph, or maybe both?"
"Hey, I want to spend my birthday with you. Don't I always?"
Kait doesn't even say anything, but instead envelops me with her muscular arms. In that moment where I am sharing a friendly embrace with my best friend, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I swivel round to see who it is, and shock horror, it's Nikki.
"Hi. Um, AJ can I talk to you please? Privately if that's okay."
I glance to Kaitlyn and nod to her to let her know that it's okay to leave me and Nikki on our own. I'm slightly taken aback by Nikki saying she wants to talk privately to me, but I think it's been a long time coming for us to have another confrontation. Kait reluctantly walks away from the two of us and I direct my attention to one half of the Bella twins. Surprisingly enough, Nikki isn't giving off a bitchy vibe like she normally does.
"Okay Nikki, what do you want to talk to me about?"
"I uh.. I'm not really sure where to begin with this. There's a lot of things I need to uh.. apologise for."
Hold the damn phone. Is she going to.. wait for it.. APOLOGISE? I am speechless. My only problem with this is whether she's being sincere or not. Everybody knows how she lies through her teeth.
"You want to apologise to me? Is this some kind of joke because it's not really funny Nikki."
"It's not a joke at all, but I suppose I can understand why you may think that, I know I haven't been the kindest of people towards you or Dolph lately."
"That's an understatement."
"I know, I know. Okay so first of all, I want to apologise for flirting with Dolph. I did flirt with him a while back, and I don't even know why because I swear I don't have feelings for him anymore. I think seeing you guys together on TV and then eventually finding out you were an item in real life.. it made me jealous. He's happier with you than he ever was with me, and that's not an easy thing for me to accept."
"You got jealous so you flirted with my boyfriend? You have your own boyfriend so that doesn't make any sense to me."
"I know it doesn't AJ. Basically, I can tell just by looking at him that he's completely in love with you. He was honestly never that way with me and I became jealous even though I'm happy with John. I can't really explain that."
"What do you mean 'never that way'?"
She starts fumbling with her hands, and at a guess that means that she's nervous. This is a totally new look for her rather than the normal Nikki I'm used to.
"You know what I mean. His face lights up whenever you're around, and he speaks so highly of you. You know how quick he is to defend you if anyone disrespects your name. He's head over heels, and that's obvious to everyone who knows about your relationship."
"I guess he is. I'm lucky."
"You are lucky, he's a great man. He doesn't have anger issues by the way, I did lie about that. I wanted to stir things up between you two and looking back now I'm not sure why. I should have just accepted that me and him would have never worked out and I should have cared more about my own relationship than yours. I am truly sorry AJ."
"All I've wanted from you is an apology for your actions, but now that you finally are apologising, how am I supposed to believe that this is sincere? You have never even showed signs of being sorry before, so what's changed?"
She pauses for a while and then takes a seat on the crate by my side. Luckily everyone else in the arena is busy doing their own thing so they can't be nosy and listen to our conversation. "John and I have spent the entire week talking about what went down last Monday and Tuesday, and he made me realise that I have been a total bitch about things. Because me and Brie have returned full time to the divas division now, we're going to see each other a lot AJ, and I don't want to be dealing with this drama. I know now that I should be the one to step up and apologise for my actions so we can move on from this."
She's sat there, still fumbling with her hands, and in her eyes I think I can see honesty. I'm trying to process the words she has just spoken. She wants to move on from all the drama? It sounds like a good idea to me, but I still find it hard to believe that she's genuinely trying to make peace with me.
"I don't know Nikki, I'd love to be cohesive with you, but a lot has happened and I'm not sure I can put that all behind me and just be friends. I don't really work that way with people."
"I understand AJ, I really do. I don't expect you to be best friends with me straight away or anything, and of course I don't even expect you to like me, but like you said, if we we're cohesive at work it's better for everyone. Please accept my apology for everything?"
She extends her hand out for me to shake as confirmation of accepting her apology. Do I shake her hand? Do I just instantly believe she's being truthful and not plotting some kind of scheme? I'm tired of fighting with her, so putting all of this behind us does seem like the favourable option. I shake her hand and see a smile appear on her face. Maybe this is the start of happier times.
"Okay Nikki, I accept your apology. I don't want any drama between us. No more ridiculous fights about guys or whatever. Moving on, yeah?"
"Yes. We're moving on. Thank you AJ."
Tuesday 12th March – 11:49 pm
"I'll see you later Kait, I've gotta go meet Dolph in the parking lot."
She runs over to me so she can give me a hug before I leave. "Okay AJ, but can you do me a favour and please text me about what you want to do for your birthday. What kind of best friend would I be if I didn't do anything with you for it?"
"Okay, I'll text you. Honestly, we don't have to do much, living my dream is good enough for me."
"I knew you were going to say that, but that's not good enough girl! I'll see you later."
I wave to her and then make my way out of the arena doors. It's a chilly night and unfortunately my jacket is in Dolph's rental, but luckily I can just make out where it is in the dark.
I open the passenger door to the car and am instantly met with Dolph's impeccably gorgeous smile. Nikki was right when she said he lights up whenever I'm around. It makes me feel all special and gooey inside.
"Hey babe, it's about time you got here. I want to get back to the hotel already!"
"I'm sorry, I tried to get out of there as quick as I could but I ended up talking with some of the girls. Let's get back Ziggy, I'm so tired!"
Before he sets off, he leans over to me and kisses me. Damn it, he smells so good like he always does. Having a boyfriend that smells irresistible may be one of the greatest things ever. I seem to be saying this a lot lately, but I am so lucky. My phone goes off in my hand so I click the messages button to read whoever has been sending me a text. It's Kaitlyn. Didn't she literally just see me a minute ago?
'This is just a text to remind you to let me know what you want to do for your birthday! If you don't give me any ideas I may have to steal your shtick and slap the bejesus outta you. Love you xo –Kaitlyn'
I laugh at her dry humour, but then glance up to Dolph. How do I want to spend my birthday? Of course I want to do something with Kait, it's tradition with the two of us, but it'll be my first birthday with Dolph as my boyfriend too. I want to do something with him.
"Dolph? What should we do next Tuesday? I mean it's not like there's anything special going on that day of course."
He turns to me for a brief second with a puzzled look on his face. Maybe he didn't understand my tacky joke. "That's a random day to ask me what we're doing something on. Well, obviously we'll be at the smackdown tapings. That's all I've got planned so far."
"Oh right. So, nothing else planned at all?"
"Nope. Why would there be?"
"No reason. No reason at all."
I can't believe it. He doesn't remember when my birthday is. My boyfriend who supposedly loves me so damn much doesn't know that it's my birthday next week. I don't want to cause a fuss because I didn't want to make a big deal out of the date in the first place, but surely him of all people would have remembered? I falsely smile at him and then turn my gaze to out of the window. This is going to be a long trip of trying to hide that I'm upset with this.
I really wanted to update this yesterday, but again I've been busy. Anyway, hope you liked and reviews are better than most things in the world. :)