Ashley arrived in Canada where the wedding was taking place she was in Montreal and the wedding was in Toronto. Trish was supposed to be picking her up and taking her back to her house. Ashley didn't see Trish and then she heard someone calling her. She opted not to turn around, not to let him find her then catching another plane back home to West Chester. She turned around and forced a smile. John walked up to her, she wasn't sire what to do around him anymore should she hug him or just standing there not saying anything. John looked different he was more serious the John that she knew was always laughing and smiling this was definitely going to be a uncomfortable ride. Finally he pulled her into a hug. She heard him sigh.
"I've missed you" he said.
'Yeah well it's your fault that we haven't seen each other' she thought bitterly but she simply said "Me too"
He grabbed her bags and loaded them into his rental. She took her seat next to him and the ride began. John had noticed somethings had changed about Ashley also. She still wore black that would never change but what she was wearing, she was wearing a pair of tight black jeans with rhinestones on the pocket and a black bandanna shirt. She had added some weight not a lot but enough to give her the curves that John thought a woman should have. Ashley had grown up in the few short months that they hadn't seen each other.
"So how much did Trish pay you to come and pick me up?" she asked
John smiled for the first time that was Ashley for ya she was always bluntly honest even when you didn't want to hear it.
"Something came up and I offered to come I wanted to talk to you like I said before I honestly missed you" he replied.
"Ok so talk" she said
"You aren't going to make this easy on me are you?" he asked
"Make what?" she asked looking innocent.
John looked at her for a split second before turning back to the road.
"You know what I am talking about" he said
"You mean the fact that I told you the truth and you were not man enough to listen to me and you thought I was jealous when all i was doing was looking out for you, Jesus John you said I was trying to sabotage your happiness" she said the last part was a little less then yelling. "I didn't know you knew a big would like sabotage" she added bringing a smile to her lips she was pressing his buttons so why not just go right for the kill. "so how is Kasey?" she asked.
"What do you care?" he retorted
"Just making conversation" she replied
"Hey I don't ask you about your boyfriend don't ask me about my ex" he said but then he cringed he had meant to say girlfriend. He didn't want Ashley to know she was right because then he would look stupid.
"You know the old me would say I told you so but I'm not like that anymore so let's just drop this" she said
"Ok now you are scaring me I want my Ashley back" he said. Something about being with her again was breaking him down he didn't want to be serious he needed to joke around and be near her.
"John how long is it to Trish's house?" she asked
"About a 3 hour ride" he answered. "So I thought you were bringing Bam with you"
"Yeah I was but he had some last minute thing to do let's just say I am pissed at him right now" she replied there was no use lying to John he could tell me she was anyway.
"So how long have you two been dating?" he asked
"5 months and I thought we agreed not to talk about our love life" she said
"Yeah true so how are things going with you and your dad?" he asked
"Good I can't believe we are so close after being separated for 16 years" she replied
"Chris is a good man" John said
"Yeah, he hasn't met Bam yet thought to tell you the truth I think Bam is afraid to meet him"
"I would be afraid too if I messed up Chris could kick my ass" John said with a small laugh.
"No, Dad always liked you I think he was waiting for us to get together like everyone else" Ashley said
"Yeah my parents are the same way why can't you just call her and admit you were wrong" John said imitating his mother.
"I always knew your mother was a smart woman she just raised a stubborn son" Ashley replied.
"Ok like you aren't stubborn?" he asked
"Have you met my father it's a character trait" she replied.
"Do you ever think about us?" he asked
The question caught her off guard she wasn't really sure how to answer it.
"Yeah I guess so" she replied
"Well ya know sometimes I think about it too" she said trying to word it like it was no big deal.
"Johnny somethings never change" she said
"Yeah and somethings do" he said taking her hand into his.
Ashley knew she shouldn't be doing this the feelings were still there but it just felt so right being there with him. Ashley switched the radio stations and groaned when Mariah Carey's We belong together came on.
"Hits kinda close to home don't ya think?" John asked
"That was the reason for the groan" Ashley replied
"I'm going to ask you a question and I want an honest answer" John said
"Ok shoot" she replied
"Do you love Bam?" he asked
"Why do you want to know" she countered.
"Answer the question" he retorted
Ashley sighed "I don't know I care for him a lot but I don't think I love him at this time"
John tried to hide it but Ashley thought she saw a hint of a smile. She shook her head she knew he was up to something, she knew him too well not to see something coming. Ashley rested her head back against the head rest and pretended to be asleep for a while. John played with the radio for a while until he found a song he seemed to know which was weird because it was a rock song. Ashley knew it too it was called Everything by Lifehouse. John began to sing along with the song he had such a beautiful singing voice even when he was rapping it was there deep within the profane lyrics.
find
me here
and speak to me
I want to feel you
I need to hear
you
you are the light
that's leading me
to the place
where
I find peace again
you are the strength
that keeps me
walking
you are the hope
that keeps me trusting
you are the
life
to my soul
you are my purpose
you're everything
The song continued and John kept singing. Ashley fell asleep listening to John sing. She woke up about two hours later she blamed her need to sleep on jet lag . She looked around it was dark now.
"Johnny why aren't we there yet?" she asked "in fact why aren't we moving"
"We ran out of gas and my cell phone died" he replied.
"So we are stuck here until someone comes along and helps us?" she asked
"Looks that way" he said
"Oh great what the hell are we going to do until then?" she asked
"Well I have some ideas but none of them you would like" he said with a smirk.
"Is that all you think about?" she asked
"Pretty much yeah" he answered
"Pervert" she said
"That's my middle name" he said
"Really I thought your full name was Johnathan Felix Anthony Cena" she said she knew he hated his full name.
"Now why do you have to go around using my full name for ya don't hear me callin' you Ashley Michelle"
"Go ahead it doesn't bother me anymore" she said.
"So you let other people call you Shelly now?" he asked
"No that was your nickname nobody else's" she replied.
"I really have missed you" he said looking at her.
"Yeah you've said it about 300 times" she said
"Well then you get the message" he said.
"I missed you too there were so many times I wanted to call you but I didn't not because I was mad or anything I didn't call because I didn't want to start problems between you and Kasey whether you believe this or not I wanted you to be happy even if that was with Kasey" she said.
"She was always jealous of our relationship and I don't blame her I spent more time with you than her" he said "I can believe we let a girl come between us"
"Um yeah ok that sounds like something you would say to Randy but I feel ya" she said.
"So what the hell have you been doing I know you were thinking about law school" he said
"Well I applied to a few schools but I haven't heard anything yet" she replied "I also work part time for a legal aid place in West Chester and when I'm not doing that I'm hanging out with Bam and his crew or sometimes I watch my friend Jake's kids while he works" she said "oh John Jake's son JJ is a huge wrestling fan and you are like his idol oh even better you are like his Hulk Hogan and I am always like yeah I know John Cena but he doesn't believe me and I'm always like one of these days I'm going to break down my pride and call him and then you'll see"
"I'll take that into consideration" he said that was code for I'll have to make a shout out on Raw.
"I heard the new track the other day on the radio it was fly but nothing will beat Right now that song it's I can't even describe it , that was the first song that I had been listening to clips and I just heard the clip to that song and it was like a scene of peace washed over me" Ashley said
"Yeah that track is special" he said
"Who would have thought that way back when I'd be here right now" she said "hey wow play on words"
"I think being in this car is getting to you" he said
"Yeah maybe" she said looking up at him.
Their eyes met and both felt it the weird sensation in their stomachs the connection was still there. She looked away first.
"We shouldn't be doing this" she said
"Doing what we're talking" he said
"You know what we are doing if we keeps this up we are both going to say things and we're going to go digging into the past" she said
"Ash there has always been something different about you and I'll be the first one to admit that it makes you special" he said "when you tried to kill yourself I thought I was going to loose you and the thought of that was worse then me dying myself, it was then that I realized that I truly loved you but I was afraid that you wouldn't feel the same way or that we would loose what we had and so I tried to find a way to get over you and Kasey helped a little but she could never compare to you" John said
Ashley couldn't take it anymore she started to cry it wasn't sadness she was feeling it was more like letting the emotions she had locked away free. John understood and wrapped his arms around her as best he could.
"I love you too John I always have and always will but there can't be anything between us I'm with Bam and it isn't fair to him" she said
"Well is it fair that you are lying to him when you tell him you love him when you really love me?" John asked he didn't bother to hide the hurt in his voice.
"John please this can't happen" she said her voice shaky.
Although he didn't agree he could see what this was doing to her and he didn't want her to hurt anymore. John pulled the seat back and tried to fall asleep but it was getting too cold in the car.
"Ash are you cold?" he asked
"Yeah" she replied.
"Maybe there is a blanket in the trunk I'll go check" he said
She watched him walk away. She took a few shaky breathes to calm her down he came back with a small blanket.
"This ain't big enough for the both of us so what I was thinking the backseat is big enough for us both to lie down so we should just do that nothing funny just sleep because it is better than us both freezing to death" he suggested.
"Ok I have no problem with that" she said.
They were both lying in the backseat.
"Feels like old times" he said
"Yeah when you used to sneak into my hotel room at nights when I was on the road with Matt" she said
"Oh come on he knew what I was doing he just didn't care" John said
"Yeah well you are still a stalker" she said with a yawn. She cuddled closer to him and began to fall asleep. John sighed he was happy to be this way well maybe not in a backseat of a car but to be with Ashley was all he wanted.
"I love you" he whispered thinking she was asleep.
"I love you too Johnny" she replied.