Maybe I Tend To Make The Same Mistakes
- Monday Night Raw, 26 May-
Tia is set to defend her title against Summer Rae at Payback this coming Sunday in a match that was announced on tonight's show. It's unlikely Rae will win the match but it's interesting that she's being pushed as a formidable adversary for the champion – even getting the pin over Tia in a mixed tag match that also involved the new IC Champion and Fandango. Something tells me that we are far from seeing the end of Sami Zayn and Tia verses Fandango and Summer Rae. I'm not quite sure how much more they can do with the storyline at this point but we'll just have to wait and see.
-May 27, 2014; Atlanta, Georgia-
Standing with her back to the door, Tessa pouted and added puppy dog eyes for good measure.
"And you're absolutely positive that you don't want to come out tonight?"
"Yeah, T," Rami nodded, laughing at her behaviour. "I'm still not a huge fan of being hungover on flights."
"I'll be back," Tessa hesitated as she thought and smiled when she had her answer, "not late?"
"I'll be here," he laughed before a smile settled onto his face. "You look great. Don't let anyone look at you too long."
"If you came with me you could make sure of that yourself," she told him sweetly, holding her clutch in front of her and making her shoulders shimmy just enough to get his attention.
He smirked at her and spoke with a light laugh, "Summer will be waiting for you."
Choosing not to respond verbally, Tessa pushed the tip of her tongue between her lips and winked before she swiftly turned around and exited the room, purposely shaking her ass a little as she did so.
As soon as she shut the door behind her, Tessa spotted Summer walking towards her. They greeted each other with hugs and compliments before they made their way to the elevator and then to the hotel lobby.
"I guess you couldn't convince him to come out?"
"He's going back to Florida first thing in the morning."
Summer snorted, "He's just being an old man who wants to catch up on some of the sleep he's missed in the past two weeks."
Tessa shrugged, "If you hadn't twisted my arm over and over again I would be doing the exact same thing."
The smile that graced Summer's face was full of innocence but Tessa knew better than to expect that the night would remain that way. It was a night out to celebrate the birthdays of the week: Nattie, Colby, Joe and Bryan who they were going to party extra hard for because of his absence.
It was when they were walking past the club that Tessa finally worked out her relationship with nightclubs: although she didn't exactly like the music or the attention she usually got from guys she enjoyed being out with her friends enough for that to be a nonissue. It didn't bother her that Summer would find a man to dance with most of the night or that Nikki would largely be preoccupied by John because she had Brie to keep her company.
"10 o'clock, dark, shaggy hair with the huge eyebrows and the blue shirt," Tessa said as she walked towards Brie with their latest round of drinks. "He keeps looking at you."
Brie looked in his direction casually, sure not to catch his eye, and groaned, "Him? Really? I am way out of his league!"
"I know it, you know it and he probably knows it, too, which is why he hasn't walked over here yet."
"For the sake of his ego I really hope he doesn't," Brie said, laughing in an undertone. "I'll just have to," she picked up her drink with her left hand, "hope that he gets this message."
Tessa's laugh was quickly drowned out by a change in song but her smile was visible even in the dim light. She could make out Summer dancing with somebody and when she turned around she was able to see Nikki whispering into John's ear as she sat on his lap.
"You look good in tight dresses," Brie told her. "That style suits you."
Tessa looked down at her dress and realised that it was the same make as the one she wore on New Years. Tight, short and high-necked; enough to make her look good without drawing too much attention.
"And I'm not the only one who thinks so," Brie added nodding her head towards the bar. Looking over her shoulder, Tessa's eyes widened when she saw who her friend was referring to. She turned back to Brie with a slack jaw as she shook her head.
"No, no, no," she said quickly and vehemently. "Even if Rami wasn't in the picture, he has way too many tattoos!"
"Tattoos are cool!"
"Yeah," Tessa said with an enthusiastic nod. "One or two small ones, for sure! He is covered with them!"
Brie made a comment about Tessa being too much of a goody two shoes and the champion scoffed though made no attempt to argue. It was a comment that had been made many times in her life so she had come to accept it.
Brie was long gone from the club, leaving Tessa behind with Nattie, TJ, Naomi and Jimmy. The plan was, come 3.30, for Tessa to get one more drink and then call it a night. She'd had fun, even if the tattooed man from the beginning of the night had barely stopped looking at her.
When she was at the bar waiting to order her final drink, Tessa felt a hand drop lightly onto her arm and she looked up expecting to see one of her co-workers. She would have given anything for it to be one of her co-workers.
She immediately turned her head back to face the bar in the hopes that he would get the hint and leave but his hand remained.
"What're you drinkin', sweetheart?"
The Southern accent caught her off guard – having spent so much time travelling through Europe it was jarring – and she looked up at him out of the corner of her eye before her eyes snapped straight back to the liquor on the back wall.
"Nothing?"
She wished that it hadn't come out as uncertain as it had. Uncertainty led to, in her experience, openings for continued conversation. Men saw questions as an invite, as a challenge and neither of those things were something that Tessa was offering.
"What're you at the bar for if you ain't drinkin'?"
All possible responses left her head – not even an unsure question could be brought to her mind as he moved ever so slightly towards her.
She took a few steps back from the bar and the man's hand fell from her arm only to return, hotter and tighter, when he realised that she was moving away. Her eyes were set on the exit. She didn't know what she was going to do when she was there; she just knew she needed to get out.
He was speaking to her as she started to walk away from him, his grip slackened on her arm as he made to stand and Tessa used it as an opportunity to snatch it back and hold it tightly in front of her. No words were registering in her mind, just the sound of Gabe's voice replacing all the music and chatter.
'You don't want them to lose their jobs do you?' 'They've worked so hard to get here, what a shame it'd be for you to be the one to ruin it for them?' 'There's nothing wrong with what we're doing.'
She could see the door clearly and picked up her pace, only to be stopped by a body standing in front of her. Taking a step sidewards she tried to reroute herself but the body followed her. Two hands landed on her shoulders and, after a slight shake, she looked up to see Colby staring down at her.
"What's wrong?" He asked urgently, obviously seeing the fear in her eyes. Tessa sighed and wasted no time in moving towards him, tightly wrapping her arms around him, closing her eyes and burying the side her face into his chest. "Tessy? You have to tell me wh-" he stopped talking and tensed. Tessa could only imagine that he caught sight of the man who had been following her. With a squeeze she let him know that she didn't want him to do anything, she just needed him to be there for her.
His arms wrapped around her head as he tried to assure her that it was going to be okay. It had happened in the past, though, and hugs and reassuring words weren't going to do all that much.
"We'll get out of here, okay? Away from everyone else."
He moved around and put his arm over her shoulder, pulling her securely into him as he walked them out of the bar. She sighed shakily, feeling her lip start to tremble.
"What happened, Tessy?" Colby asked when they were outside, the warm, late-May air a welcome change after the stuffiness of the bar. "Did he hurt you? If he hurt you-"
"I just-" she sighed with a shrug. "I overreacted. He didn't even do anything. I just didn't want him to look at me that way."
Colby looked down at her and knew that he needed to get her back to the hotel – somewhere safe, somewhere quiet and somewhere she wouldn't be seen by the fans who had made their way into the club.
Tessa stood frozen, still tucked securely underneath his arm, as he tried to hail a cab. As he did that, he looked around the area, trying to determine if anybody was looking at them funny – if anybody was recognising who they were. The last thing either of them needed was photographs of him trying to hurry her into a car.
Three cabs passed before one pulled up to the curb.
In the backseat Tessa sat in silence but she had a tight grip on Colby's hand and was leaning as close as she could. Her heart continued to hammer against her chest despite her brain repeatedly reaffirming that she had overreacted.
"God," Tessa sighed with watery eyes, "I just want to stop reacting like this. It's so pathetic."
"No one's going to hurt you, Tessy. Not anymore. You have to remember that."
Even when they arrived back at the hotel, Tessa remained close by Colby's side. Because she still wasn't thinking clearly she didn't think about what anybody would think if they were seen together, nor did she think twice about being led towards his hotel room.
"I saw your photoshoot," Colby told her as he guided her into his room. "Maroon was the right choice, huh?"
Tessa nodded, not registering the full extent of what he was saying but relishing in how safe she felt being so far away from the man at the club. Her thoughts were so far from her current location that it took a moment to realise that Colby's hands were cupping her cheeks and that he was leaning in for a kiss.
Their lips met before she had any chance to think about what was happening – it wasn't until Colby's tongue was pressing against her lips that it hit her.
Tessa stepped backwards, gasped and lifted her hand to cover her mouth. She sat down on the edge of the bed as she tried to work out what had just happened. Her fingers met her temples and she muttered 'oh my god' over and over again.
"I'm going," she said suddenly as she stood up. "This was a mistake. I'm not kidding, Colby," she added when he started to cut her off. "Oh my god."
She gripped her clutch tightly in her hand and turned around, walking as quickly as she could towards the door. If it had been anything like their previous relationship, Tessa would have looked back at Colby with a smile and a flirty wave as she left but nothing of the sort was even contemplated.
Elevator music drilled into her brain as she was carried up three floors. Every second felt longer than the one before it. Her head hurt, her feet hurt more and her chest was rising and falling even more rapidly than it had as she was leaving the club. The hotel room door was heavier than she remembered from earlier that night and she used her whole body to get it open.
Rami was sound asleep when she walked into the main section of the room and kicked off her shoes. He didn't stir as she removed her jewellery, not even as she took off her dress. He did, however, roll over as she pulled back the covers with baited breath and slipped between the sheets.
Tessa's head met the pillow and she started to blink back tears, worried about how easily Colby could ruin everything she had just gotten back.
a/n: Thanks to UntilNeverDawns, starsxhearts23, AeonBlue, Straight Edge Queen, alibob687 and the guest for leaving reviews!
Extra big thanks to AeonBlue for being super kind and helping me with this chapter and for letting me talk randomly out of my ass through pm. She's the best and you should all go read Analeptic and it's sequel, Malum.
Yep, there is indeed a sequel to come and you'll hear more about it when this story comes to an end!
How do you think this one is going to end? Tessa can't seem to stop doing things that'll get her into trouble, huh?