Christmas flew by and before I knew it I was on a plane back to Tampa with Adam, my stomach did backflips in anticipation for what was to come. I shifted in my seat watching out of the window as we landed, Adam slept peacefully in the seat next to me for the whole flight leaving me with nothing but my thoughts. I pondered over the past few months of my life and how things had changed in that time, I had left England, met Adam, met Isabelle, started wrestling, met Stu, and been offered the chance of a lifetime. I couldn't have imagined in a million years when I got on that plane to North Carolina and turned up to my aunt and uncles house in the middle of the night that this is how things would have turned out for me.
"Hey" Adam said sleepily as he slowly woke up, his eyes flickered open, and a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips "You excited?"
"Nervous" I sighed sitting back into my seat and continuing to watch out of the window as the plane flew down the runway eventually coming to a stop.
"Don't be" He smiled grabbing my hand to reassure me "You're amazing" he said through a yawn as he stood up and got our carry on bags down.
"Are you nervous?" I asked as we pulled into the arena.
"Yes" he replied instantly "It's been a long time since I was last wrestling here" Adam admitted bringing the car to a stop.
"You're going to be great I know it" I reassured him as we both exited the vehicle. We walked through the backstage doors of the arena together, this was the night that Adam would be making his big return to the ring, the plan was for him to be a mystery component for the WWE championship against Brock Lesnar, the WWE had been promoting a mystery number 1 contender for a few weeks and tonight that would be revealed as Adam when he returned and attacked Lesnar whilst he was in the ring demanding to know who he would be fighting.
"What if I don't have it anymore?" He sighed as we navigated the twists and turns of the backstage area.
"Adam" I commanded grabbing his hand and pulling him to a stop in the empty hallway, he turned to face me and I looked in to his eyes "You're amazing at what you do and that's not something you just lose…you're going to go out there and it will all fall in to place" I told him.
"Adam…" A voice came from down the hall, I took a step back behind Adam recognising the voice straightaway and not wanting to cause any upset. We both looked around for the source of the voice but it was quite dark as some of the lights were still off. "Adam is that you?" The voice came again.
"Beth?" He replied as she stepped around the corner.
"Adam I…" She began until she saw me stood behind him "Oh…" She said her face going dark and angry "I guess the articles were right" She snapped glaring at me.
"I've told you already that there's nothing going on so why would you believe the media?" he replied, she still hadn't taken her eyes off me now completely ignoring Adam.
"I'll see you in the ring" She warned spinning on her heel and walking away.
We entered his dressing room and began to wait, we were instructed not to leave the room until Adam was due to go out, somehow, despite his presence in the WWE over the past couple of weeks they were able to keep Adams return relatively secret, despite the odd rumour nothing had been confirmed.
I heard you're hear?
Is that true?
Stu x
Yeah
I'm sorry I didn't tell you
Jayme x
It's fine, can I see you?
Stu x
I looked up from my phone and looked over to Adam who was in the corner stretching wearing his ring gear, I smiled slightly as I watched him completely mesmerized by him, I cleared my throat.
"Hey Adam, do you think it would be safe for me to see Stu?" I asked, he looked up furrowing his brow at me.
"Jay, I can't risk anyone seeing us yet, if they see you hear they'll know I'm around to" He explained "As soon as I've gone out there you can go find him, I promise" he told me continuing to stretch.
"Stu already knows" I informed him "He's just text" I turned my phone showing Adam the screen.
"Shit" he muttered rubbing his chin "Beth must have told him" He thought out loud. A low knocking on the door interrupted our conversation, we both looked at each other for a split second unsure of what to do. Adam nodded his head towards the door for me to go and answer as he stood to the side so he wouldn't be visible to whoever was at the door. I hesitantly made my way over and cracked the door slightly to reveal Stu stood in the hallway, quickly I opened the door wide enough and gestured for him to come in.
"It's just Stu" I told Adam, his jaw tightened, and he mumbled something inaudibly as he went back to warming up. "How did you know where I was?" I asked ignoring Adam's hostility.
"Beth was crying to Nattie in catering about seeing you guys here" He revealed "But that's not why I'm here" He stated with a smile, my stomach filled with butterflies in response "I just had to see you again" he added, I bit my bottom lip and looked down at my feet trying to hide my now bright red cheeks.
"I'm glad you came by" I responded, Adam made a noise over in the corner gaining both of our attention, Stu sighed in exasperation.
"Is there a problem?" Stu snapped turning to look over at Adam.
"Nope" Adam responded spreading a sickly-sweet smile across his face and walking towards the door "I'm next" He said turning to me and holding his hand out.
"I'll see you after?" I said turning back to Stu who nodded in response "Let's go" I said glaring at Adam, brushing past his outstretched hand and exiting the room. We navigated the hallway in complete silence, the nerves Adam was feeling were clear to see even from a step behind him, we reached the curtain where everybody stood staring at Adam in complete shock. No one had expected the mystery number 1 contender to be Adam at all.
"Jayme!" A thunderous voice came from behind me making me jump, I turned to see Vince walking towards us.
"I…Uhh…Yeah" I stammered.
"You're going with him" He commanded stopping in front of us both.
"What?" I gasped filled with horror, Adam placed a reassuring hand on my arm as he see me panic.
"I said go with him" He responded in exasperation pointing to Adam.
"I'm not supposed to yet" I told him trying to take a step back, but Adam grabbed my hand.
"It doesn't matter" Adam assured me looking down at me, I could hear Brock speaking down in the ring demanding to know who his competitor was for Day 1.
"I'm not even dressed to go out there" I pointed out gesturing to my attire, of jeans, trainers and a jumper looking between both Vince and Adam. At this point other superstars were all stood around watching the exchange.
"You look fine" Vince snapped turning and walking away.
"I think you look great" He winked making me blush slightly. "Come with me" He smiled gripping my hand tight.
"What do I need to do?" I asked with a sigh realising I wasn't going to win this argument.
"Nothing, just come down to the ring with me, I'll attack Brock and then we will come back up the ramp together" He quickly explained, before I could respond his music began and we were walking through the curtain. The crowd erupted I steadied myself as the force of the energy from the crowd almost floored me, I stood staring down at Brock who was in complete shock as Adam ran up and down soaking the moment in. He turned and gestured for me to follow him down to the ring we both ran down and slid under the bottom rope, the crowd continued to cheer as we both stared at Brock who was looking between us both. Adam lunged and began landing punch after punch to Brock who no matter his size could not get the upper hand as Adam was on top of him landing blow after blow. A moment later Brock pushed him off and rolled out the ring retreating up the ramp with a look of horror on his face, Adam stood up and wrapped an arm around my waist as we watched together both with a smirk on our face.
"That was amazing" I laughed as we entered back through the curtain.
"You were amazing" he said pulling me in to a hug "You're a natural" He whispered into my hair. As we pulled apart, we both became suddenly aware of the fact there were a number of others stood around all waiting to congratulate Adam, I cleared my throat and took a step away from him to allow everyone over to him.
"You were brilliant" Stu's voice came from behind me.
"Thank you" I beamed turning to face him and wrapping my arms around his neck, his hands rested on the bottom of my back.
"Shall we go for a walk?" He asked, I looked over my shoulder to see Adam engrossed in conversation with several others, I turned back to Stu and gave him a quick nod. We walked aimlessly down a number of hallways saying hello to others as we passed them, ever now and again someone would stop to congratulate me or ask where Adam was. "I'm sorry if this is inappropriate but I need to ask before I let myself get more involved is there something more between you and Adam?" I sighed in defeat not even slightly shocked that this question was coming up again due to the articles now flying around.
"No" I told him "I'm not sure who spoke to the media but there really isn't anything going on, he's not interested"
"And what about you?" Stu asked "Are you interested?"
"No" I shook my head "Adam is my best friend and I'm not interested in losing that at all" I told him pressing my lips together thinking carefully about what I was saying, despite my previous feelings towards Adam and still being attracted to him I had settled on the fact that it wasn't worth the risk of losing the friendship we had built together and no matter what others had said to me about Adams feelings towards me I wasn't fully convinced that he was any more than attracted to me, he had had chances to tell me and act upon anything he was feeling and he hadn't, that was evidence enough for me that we were just destined to be friends.
"Nice ring" he said raising an eyebrow holding my hand up between us with my thumb at the top showing off the silver ring Adam had given to me for my birthday.
"It was a birthday present" I informed him, he smiled slightly as he ran his thumb over the ring.
"Do you want to pursue anything between us?" He asked taking his gaze from the ring and looking back at me.
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't" I told him "But I'm still working on rebuilding my life after leaving my husband" Stu studied my face as I spoke still holding my hand between us.
"A guy doesn't buy something like this for a girl he doesn't have feelings for" he told me letting go of my hand and continuing to walk silently.
"I don't know what you want me to say Stu" I said finally breaking the silence between us. Again, he stopped and turned to face me.
"I like you Jayme I've made no secret about that but this friendship you have with Adam is in my head telling me to walk away" he spoke looking me in the eye, I admired his honesty.
"I can't tell you what to do Stu" I shrugged "All I can do is tell you that me and Adam are only friends and I know that to others it probably looks a little weird but when I first moved here apart from my aunt and uncle Adam was all I had and yeah maybe I'm way more attached to him than others see as right but I'm not willing to lose the one person who taught me that not all guys are so bad" As I spoke Stu watched me intently "If I wanted to be with him I'd be back there with him not here with you" I pointed out gesturing back towards where we had left Adam chatting to the others. I did my best to steady my breathing without Stu noticing, whilst I truly believed every word I was saying, Adam was still in my head as a very prominent thought, the way he had made me feel when we kissed wasn't the kind of feeling that went away easily. I didn't immediately get a response as we both stood staring at each other, I continued waiting for an answer, I didn't get a verbal reply, instead Stu took a step towards me and bent his head. Our lips connected and he rested his hands on my hips lifting me to sit on a metal box to one side, I rested my hands on his shoulders as he deepened the kiss whilst remaining gentle.
Ahem –
Came a small cough from down the corridor, we broke apart with a small laugh each and looked down at Adam who was stood leaning against the wall at the opposite end of the hallway.
"Vince wanted me to let you know Jayme that some of the girls have got some ring gear for you to try on" He said "I'll let him know your busy" he added turning to walk away.
"Where do I need to go?" I asked.
"I'll show you" Stu said helping me down off the box.
"Adam did you want to come?" I asked as I watched him begin walking away.
"I'll meet you there in 10" he said over his shoulder before walking out of sight.
"He needs to grow the fuck up" Stu muttered as we began walking.
"Don't" I said letting out a large breath.
"Really?" Stu snapped "You think the way he behaves is normal?" he asked.
"No" I admitted "I'll speak to him" I told him as we entered a small room with several women sat at sewing machines. They all greeted me, and a couple walked over with some wrestling gear for me to try on, I stepped into a small changing room and pulled on the full-length plan black tights with mesh down the sides, the top was a dark blue crop top cut to show off my cleavage. I stepped out to find Adam had now joined Stu waiting for me, neither were talking or even looking at each other as they waited, both went wide eyed as they see me step out.
"You look beautiful" Stu said completely stunned, Adam sat silently resting his hand on his chin saying nothing but not taking his eyes off me.
"I like it" I said to the ladies turning away from both men.
"Great, we have a few different colours and some other ideas for further down your storyline with Adam where maybe we could add some rated 'R' logos on the sides" One of the ladies responded, we stood discussing other ideas for a moment before I said my goodbyes and turned back to see that Stu was now sat alone.
"Where's Adam?" I asked as we left.
"I don't know" Stu shrugged "He just upped and left when you were talking" he informed me.