Okay, so maybe I should just make every other Friday my update day, since I can't seem to get on board with Thursdays!
Rebel8954, Yep, a tough match. Absolutely. I'm totally not going to throw in any curve balls or twists. Never. I wouldn't do that…
Skovko, Haha, true, just have Dean swaggering around at ringside!
Mandy, Aww, sorry you didn't get the job, but sometimes, no matter how hard you want it, you just know that some things aren't going to work. Besides which, it sounds like you totally made the right choice, so well done you! No Kaylee in this chapter, but I hope Lauren and the boys cheer you up with some good old fashioned bonding instead. Hugs.
xXBalorBabeXx, True, but that doesn't mean that Kaylee can't try to play the sympathy card forever (and you know she's going to!)
Wolfgirl2013, Yay, one more fan for Lauren, lol!
Crazyredhead2005, Thank you! Glad you're still enjoying it. We're slowly getting to the big match itself, so thanks for being patient!
Minnie1015, He's just 'borrowing' it for safe keeping. That's all. Very innocent. Dean would never do anything illegal like stealing (coughcough).
Time for some positivity…
Soul Food
"Of course they're gonna freakin' cheer for you," Dean snorted three hours later, pointing a French fry in my face. Seeing it as an invite, I leaned over and took a bite of it, then nibbled my way up until he let me have all of it, since I'd tried to be healthy by ordering a salad and I was regretting it bitterly, "Why the fuck wouldn't they?"
I reluctantly pushed around a piece of lettuce and uncovered a block of feta cheese.
Ooh, result.
"Because they'll all feel sorry for Kaylee having to wrestle while she's injured," I groused, making sure to put inverted commas around the last part, since I had seen her backstage not an hour before, swanning around and drinking a latte like nothing had happened.
Because it hadn't.
"So?" my husband shrugged back, donating me a whole handful of French fries, which was part of the reason I loved him so much, "That bitch could break her leg in fifteen places an' still be the shittiest person in the world. So her gettin' steamrolled by Truth won't change that."
"Except that she didn't get steamrolled," I pointed out, since no one but me seemed convinced about that part. Well, either that or they didn't really care.
"Okay, I'm back. So, what are we talking about?" Roman grinned, sliding into our booth in the corner of the diner on the outskirts of Virginia that we had chosen because no one else we knew was likely to stop in. He pointed at the grilled chicken burger in front of him with a side order of sweet potato fries, "Is this mine?"
He was tucking in before Dean had even finished nodding.
"We were talking about Kaylee's so called injury," I huffed, not bothering to air quote injury this time, but making sure to use my most sarcastic tone, "And how she's trying to get the fans to feel sorry for her so they'll cheer for her on Sunday. Ooh look, there's Seth."
"About time, his food's getting cold," Dean mumbled, as I stood up and waved enthusiastically across the room. Because who didn't like a big warm welcome?
Seth apparently.
"Lauren sit down," he hissed, sliding into the booth beside Roman wearing shades and a coat with the collar pulled up, "Or do you want everybody to stare at us?"
I gaped in offence at him,
"Um, hello? You're out here dressed like a Cold War agent and you think I'm the problem?"
Roman snorted into his fries and then tried to pretend he'd inhaled one too quickly as Seth shot him an unimpressed glare. Dean on the other hand went to high five me, grinning like a lunatic,
"You tell him wife."
"So I guess you don't want to hear the Authority news I've brought you?" Seth sneered as he finally took a bite of his food. Like me, he'd gone for something more healthy, but unlike me he seemed to be pleased with his choice.
"No no, I do. Go ahead," I backtracked, miming locking my mouth and then tossing away the key.
Not that Seth seemed completely convinced by it. Although knowing it was probably the best he would get, he rolled his eyes and got down to business.
"Kaylee is faking being injured."
I blinked,
"And?"
Seth shot me a look over the top of his salad,
"What do you mean, and?"
I winced,
"Um, I meant that while that is very, interesting information, I was kind of hoping you'd say something I didn't know."
In response, Seth gave me another withering look. Huh, two in two minutes. We had a new record.
"Well I'm sorry that wasn't good enough Miss Know It All," he huffed, before thankfully seeming to soften a little. Or at least by his standards, which wasn't a lot, "So I guess that means I don't need to tell you about her plan to pretend to still be injured on Sunday night? So that if she wins she can be a fan hero, and that if she loses she can demand a rematch."
"What?" I shrieked, so loudly that it made the lone trucker at the counter look up in surprise from his slice of apple pie. Because while I had figured there'd be some sneaky plan for Fastlane, the thought of having to wrestle Kaylee again in the event that I did manage to beat her the first time, hadn't even entered my mind. Mostly because I hadn't wanted to wrestle her in the first place, let alone a freaking second time.
"Hey there baby girl," Roman smiled as the waitress walked past us for the billionth time since we had walked in, which I guessed might have been on account of the big Samoan, "Can we get a chocolate fudge sundae here stat? Oh, and uh, throw on a few extra sprinkles, because I think we're gonna need them."
"Thanks uce," I mumbled back, pushing aside my half eaten salad to make sure I didn't fill up on feta cheese.
Dean reached over and snagged up a lettuce leaf,
"Princess, don't worry. It won't come to that. Firstly because you'll totally beat her, both times if you have to. An' secondly because if at any point it looks she's gettin' the upper hand on you, then I'm gonna come out there an' make the bitch lose."
"And how are you going to do that?" Seth snorted, as the waitress came back with a large sundae glass, topped with sauce and—ooh yay—extra sprinkles.
"Just come out an' distract her," Dean shrugged, "Maybe by wearin' black lace panties, an' a woman's cut out bra top."
I laughed in response, which was clearly the reaction that he had been aiming for.
Seth and Roman looked nauseous.
"Wearing what?"
"Inside joke," Dean offered back, leaning over and dipping a French fry in my sundae.
"Dean. Ewww."
"Look, the point is," he continued, ignoring me, "That it doesn't freakin' matter what Hunter an' Stephanie try, no way are they drivin' my wife outta the company. Plus, we still got five days left, which means I can teach you like, a whole bunch of moves still."
"Oh good," I lied, trying hard to sound pleased, despite the fact that even if I trained every second of every minute of every hour for the next five days, I would still be the most unprepared wrestler ever.
But what was the alternative?
Losing my job?
Nope.
"And we still need to get through Smackdown," Seth pointed out, like I had forgotten what day it was, "Which means that there's still time to—,"
"Bellas," Roman hissed suddenly, grabbing Seth's head and forcibly
shoving him under the table as two matching figures stalked in through the doors, trailed by Daniel Bryan and John Cena, who couldn't have looked more different if they'd tried, thanks to Bryan's hemp plants rule t-shirt, and Cena's eye meltingly neon trucker cap.
Huh, I wondered if Tim and Daniel Bryan had ever moved in the same circles?
"Oh, would you look who it is," Nikki Bella sneered as she spotted us, because of course it was too much to hope they'd just walk by, or somehow develop temporary partial blindness.
Brie crossed her arms,
"Well, well, if it isn't the girl that stood there and did nothing while our poor friend Kaylee was lying injured on the ground."
John Cena meanwhile nodded courteously at us, like there wasn't a beef in progress,
"Lauren, Ambrose, Reigns."
For a second, we all sat—and stood—and stared at him, which apparently he didn't notice at all, considering the way his eyes swung to the trucker and then lit up in enthusiasm,
"Ooh, apple pie."
For a second, the five of us simply blinked at him, then instantly went back to sniping,
"Oh come on," I huffed, feeling buoyed by the fact that I had the guys around me. Apart from Seth. Although he was still there. Or at least he was technically speaking, "She's faking. Truth didn't touch her at all. Which I happen to know because I was two seats away from her and saw her two seconds after it happened looking fine."
Nikki rolled her eyes like I was being an idiot,
"It's called delayed trauma," she snipped in response, which wasn't a term I'd heard used on ER before. And I'd watched all fifteen seasons. More than once.
"It's called what?"
"Delayed trauma," Brie replied, sounding the words out as if I was a toddler just learning how to talk, "And it's why she didn't know she was actually injured until a few seconds later."
"Stephanie says it's because she's so tough," Nicole gushed, which earned a wry sounding snort from my husband.
"Yeah, like a steak that's been cooked for too long."
In response, Roman smothered a snort in his French fries, then hastily turned it into a cough to try and mask Seth's laugh from under the table.
Although the twins clearly thought he had caught something,
"Eww."
"Honey? Do we have any more of those biodegradable hand towels?" Daniel Bryan asked, finally arriving on the scene. Apparently by the way of the bathroom, given that his hands were still wet from the sink. Although at least he made an attempt to be friendly, "Oh, hey guys. What are you doing here? And why do you have four meals for three people?"
Silently, we all looked down at the plates. One for me, one for Roman, one for Dean—
And one for Seth.
Hastily I pulled it towards me and started to tuck into it,
"Um, this one's also mine."
Nikki, Daniel and Brie all blinked at me,
"You ordered yourself two salads?" Brie asked, watching me much through a mouthful of kale like the overgrown guinea pig I apparently now was.
I nodded as enthusiastically as I could manage,
"Uh huh. I just love me some salad," I chirped, attempting to swallow a particularly large mouthful and not throw up, because god it was bland. And chewy. And spiky. Was it meant to be spiky? I wasn't really sure, since I usually only ate it in burgers and sandwiches.
Nikki stared back at me deadpan,
"You're weird."
Coming from her that was almost a compliment.
"Thank you," I chirped, before letting out a yelp as Seth pinched my shin without any warning in what I assumed was a silent hurry up. A silent and painful hurry up.
Dean kicked him.
"Ow."
"Soooo," I barked loudly to cover up the sound, which apparently nearly half deafened the Bellas if the way they winced and stepped back from the table was anything to go by, "What brings you all here? We thought everyone else was in the next town already."
"You mean we hoped they were," Dean mumbled into his coke, which just like Kaylee and JBL had done to me earlier, the Bella twins chose to completely ignore.
"Bryan is having a low blood sugar episode," Nicole huffed as if that was somehow our fault, "We stopped here to see if they had anything vegan."
"Which they don't," Brie continued, reading the menu on the wall, all of which was heavily meat based.
Feeling bad, I reached into my purse and pulled out a packet of unopened cashews, which I handed across to the hairy wrestler.
"Here."
Because as much as I disliked his chosen life partner and her equally bitchy and unpleasant clone, Bryan had never been anything but sweet to me. Despite the fact that when I'd first met him The Shield had been beating him senseless for months, which meant that he'd have had every right to be mean to me. But he hadn't and I'd always appreciated that.
Plus I'd been carrying them around since forever and still chose to snack on unhealthy things instead, so I doubted I was going to miss them.
Unlike Bryan, who's eyes nearly popped out in gratitude.
"Thanks Lauren, you're a lifesaver."
"Anytime," I chirped back, ignoring the death glare being sent by his girlfriend. Which apparently was the final straw,
"Bryan, come on, we're leaving," Brie snipped at him, flicking her hair back over her shoulder in pretty much the exact same way Kaylee had done. Which must have been something they got taught at bitch school while the rest of us were busy learning fractions in maths.
Nicole backed her up with a matching shoulder hair flick, and then suddenly bellowed across the diner,
"John, we're going."
Over at the counter, the former WWE Champion looked up defeatedly from his slice of apple pie, then shrugged his shoulders at the trucker beside him as if to say well, what're you gonna do, then pulled his bright green peaked cap lower and reluctantly followed the others out through the doors.
The second he'd gone I squeezed out of our corner booth and snagged his uneaten dessert for myself. Because after all, it would have been a shame to waste it.
"The coast's clear Nancy Drew, you can come outta hidin'," Dean drawled, knocking on the table top for added effect, which obviously sounded much louder underneath it, judging from the way Seth came out holding his ears.
Oh, my mistake, holding his ears and bellyaching.
"God damn it Dean. What did you do that for, you idiot? And you," he grumbled, turning to face me, "Please tell me you didn't actually eat my salad."
"Only a couple of bites," I shrugged, "But I figured it was better than letting them find you."
I said the last part with additional stress, just in case he needed reminding that the three of us had literally just covered for his ass.
Ooh, and newsflash: the apple pie was amazing.
"At least tell me you didn't use my fork," Seth huffed back, picking it up and then peering closely at it as if I'd left visible cooties behind. Which would have been hard, since I hadn't actually used it.
In response, I stabbed a piece of pie with my fork and then waved it around in his face as an answer. Which backfired when Dean leant over and ate it.
"Nooo, that was mine."
"You snooze you lose Princess," he grinned, winking back at me, which made it super hard to stay mad. Although I did pull my pie plate a little bit closer and put my arm around it to ward off any more attacks.
Especially as Roman finished his burger and sat back looking happy but nowhere near full.
"So," he started, fighting a smile back, "Did anyone else get a weird text from Steph right after the show last week in Cincinnati? Something about being, ahem, a cowgirl?"
Seth promptly choked on an errant piece of kale, while Dean and I shared a look over the table. Although in Dean's case it was more of a raised brow smirk, whereas I was just trying my best not to giggle.
"Dude," Dean complained, as if he was revolted and not the cause of the rumour, "I'm tryin' to eat."
Based on his expression, Roman didn't believe him either. Plus he'd seen me holding the phone, so it didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened, and who had been responsible for sending the text.
Although Seth at least was still blissfully ignorant,
"Oh yeah," he chuckled, "That. Man was Stephanie pissed. She had to get a new phone and everything. Plus a whole bunch of people still think she sent it. You should have seen how Kane was looking at her earlier. Or rather, not looking at her. He just kept staring at the floor. Steph had to ask him what the hell was wrong with him. Which by the way, is how she found out."
I attempted to try and sound casual,
"Does she know who took her phone in the first place?"
Roman shifted and pointedly cleared his throat, which I managed to ignore with my superior acting skills. Even though my stupid cheeks started to blush.
Darn.
Luckily Seth appeared not to notice since he was too busy eating his rabbit food.
"Nope. But Hunter thinks it was probably Sting, given what's going on right now between the two of them."
"Yep," I nodded keenly, "That makes total sense. Sting. Has to be. I mean, who else would do it?"
"Easy there Dillinger," Dean grunted back, because okay, maybe I was overdoing it.
"Oh, and some guys asked for Kaylee after the show," Seth continued, chasing a last piece of lettuce, then crossing his cutlery over on the plate, "According to what Hunter heard from security, they tried to con their way backstage. Which Steph is taking to mean that Kaylee's getting more popular."
"Crud," I huffed around a mouthful of caramelised apple pie. My last mouthful too, which was kind of a bummer, "And now they'll be feeling more sorry for her. Besides which, what's up with the fans recently? Some guys were asking for Dean a few weeks back. Weird, huh?"
"Getting jealous Princess?" Dean teased, wiggling his brows, which made my heart beat a little bit faster.
And then flutter.
"Maybe?"
"Fuck, then I'd better fix that," he grinned, reaching out and sliding me across the cheap leather until I was snuggled in under his arm staring up at his chin, and his stubble, which was way more attractive than it had any right to be.
Instinctively, I stretched up to kiss him, which should have been super romantic and sweet, but was marred by Seth making loud gagging noises and balling his napkin up in disgust.
Although on second thoughts, maybe that was down to the salad.
"Alright, that does it, I'm going to get the bill before I start bringing up what I've just eaten."
Yep, definitely the salad.
"Okay then," I chirped, ignoring the noise he made in the background as I linked hands with my husband and kissed him again, before suddenly remembering that I hadn't told Roman our exciting—well, to me at least—poultry based news, "Hey uce, did Dean tell you that we have chickens now?"
In response, the big Samoan grinned back conspiratorially,
"Nope, but he has them as his phone background."
"What?"
Instantly I dove a hand into Dean's pocket and started to root around for his cell, before sliding my hand between the booth and his tushy as I continued the hunt in his back pockets.
"Whoa, hey, aren't you gonna at least buy me dinner?" he quipped in response, grabbing hold of my hand, which was still busy fumbling around at his waistband when Seth appeared back clutching hold of a receipt. So on the plus side, it seemed that one of us had bought him dinner.
On seeing us grappling he threw his eyes to the sky, clearly assuming we were up to something kinky,
"Don't you two ever take a damn break?"
"We're not—aha," I yelled in triumph, abandoning my attempt to explain what was going on as my fingers finally closed around Dean's cell phone and pulled it out like I had found the Holy Grail.
"What the—," Dean did a comedy style double take and then tried to grab it back out of my hands, but I slid under the table like a humanoid conger eel and then crawled across the floor to use Seth as a shield.
Huh, perhaps all the wrestling training had sharpened my reflexes. Or maybe it was the salad?
Although I kind of hoped not.
"Oh my god, you totally love them," I crowed in delight as I opened up his phone and came face to face with a picture of Boomer balancing one of the chicks on his nose, "So much for, Princess, we're not gonna keep 'em."
I did the last bit in an attempt at his voice, which made Roman snort-drink the last of his coffee, and made Dean narrow his eyes at me, mock dangerously.
Oooh.
"Roman, catch," I yelled, yeeting the cell phone as Dean made a lunge in my direction from the booth. I squealed as he pulled me back into his ribcage, with his arms wrapped around me to make sure I couldn't move. Although as Dean swung us both in the direction of his best friend, Roman tapped into his footballing past and threw the cell nearly halfway across the diner—
Where Seth was waiting to catch it.
"Touchdown," I yelled.
Instantly, Dean unwrapped himself from around me and took off running with a string of curse words that made the few diners who were still busy eating look up from their plates in semi concern. Although the fact that all four of us were laughing like children seemed to reassure them.
"Come on baby girl," Roman grinned, putting an arm around my shoulders as we followed Seth and Dean back out through the main doors and into the parking lot, where Seth had been cornered and was looking to offload his precious cargo.
"Lauren, heads up."
"Oh god, no," I squeaked, putting my hands out, although thankfully Roman caught the flying phone for me and then handed it over like it was nothing, "Ooh, good hands."
As Dean jogged across, I passed the cell back to him, and was rewarded with a peck on the cheek,
"Thanks wife."
Awww.
"And I might be changin' my mind on the chickens," he offered as Seth rejoined the group, looking relaxed and genuinely happy, like he had in the old days, "Because Spike's pretty cool, an' I figure it would be cruel to just keep like, one of 'em."
I patted his shoulder,
"I know, and they love you too."
Rolling his eyes, Dean sped up to catch Roman—purely so that he didn't have to admit I was right, and that secretly he loved the chicks just as much as I did—which left me and Seth at the back of the pack.
Instantly, I leaned over and punched him,
"Yellow ca—,"
"Yellow car," he crowed, beating me to the hit as we passed by a big rig in sunflower yellow that I guessed belonged to the trucker inside. I grinned in response and he grinned back at me, before clearing his throat and looking down at the ground.
Uh oh, was he about to ask me to prom with him? Because that was just how my date had looked nine years ago when he'd stopped me in the hall after Spanish to ask me to go with him.
"Look, I just wanted to say that I really hope you win on Sunday."
I blinked at him in surprise,
"You do?"
"Of course," he shrugged, as it was obvious, despite not looking in my direction at all, "I mean, I guess over the last two years or whatever, I've just kind of gotten used to having you around, busting my chops and running your mouth and annoying me, and—,"
I didn't let him say anymore. Instead I just leaned over and hugged him.
Way too tight.
To be annoying.
"Aww, and I love you too."
It seemed that tonight was a night of revelations. Both chicken and human based.
Seth pushed me off again,
"What? No."
"Save it Seth, you totally love me. Dean, Seth loves me," I yelled, catching them up and then nuzzling my way in under his shoulder as the architect followed us, protesting that I was wrong.
Just like old times.
Which made me more determined than ever.
I had to beat Kaylee.
This was where I belonged.
Nearly at the big match now, just one more chapter left after this and then it's go time!