While Seth took an extra couple days off to get CJ comfortably situated in his home, Roman and Dean were doing house shows. Seth would join them the next night and would stay with them until the European tour was over. Though not completely in the loop on what was going on between the trio, Roman sensed that something bad had happened between Dean and CJ. The fact that she and Seth were all lovey-dovey on twitter was enough confirmation to him that Dean fucked up.
Seth and CJ had gone back and forth for months, before Dean was even in the equation, on being a couple. She had all the golden reasons as to why they shouldn't and, when her words didn't work, her body backed up her voice and Seth had a weak resolve. So why, after all that hard work and reasoning, did the stubborn blonde give in? The next question would be did Dean know or not? He only assumed that the dishwater blonde brawler didn't have a clue, since he only knew because he checked twitter. Dean hated twitter and the idea of social media, saying that it was all "an unnecessary pain in the ass".
Glancing over at his teammate, Roman saw that Dean was coming down from the adrenaline high that came from doing any sort of work, whether it was media or ring work, and was slowly getting more somber in his movements. He was the same way the last couple nights; pissed off in the ring, but a disheveled mess once he got into their hotel room. No desire to go to the bar, which wasn't very Ambrose like, he just threw himself onto his bed and was out like a light in under ten minutes. Another action that wasn't very Ambrose-like: he cuddled the extra pillow and clung to it desperately.
"Did you want to talk about it?" Roman asked, watching as Dean struggled to get into his shirt. He wasn't sure that Dean was even listening, but he wasn't going to repeat himself. Roman Reigns did not like to repeat himself.
"I'm fine." Dean muttered once the battle with his shirt was over and he moved on to putting on his shoes. Roman only looked at him, waiting for Dean to make eye contact before he nodded. Something their team had been doing and had gotten used to doing. Only one simple nod of the head to convey an even simpler message.
I'm here for you.
Dean only nodded in response, telling Roman that he was well aware of that fact, and grateful for it. They were in war times, and what they needed to hang onto more than anything was their brotherhood. Roman could only hope that whatever Dean did wouldn't upset the balance within The Shield once Seth returned.
"Is there any food in your house that lacks protein?" CJ asked as she scoured Seth's pantry for something unhealthy. His chuckle could be heard from where he played video games in the living room and she shook her head. "Is there anything unhealthy here?"
"Probably not, babe."
"That's about to change. I'm starving."
"There's a box of those granola bars you like so much on the bottom shelf of the pantry by the dog treats. We'll go grocery shopping when I get back from Europe."
"That's, like, two weeks away."
"It's like a week. My schedule is on the fridge."
"Can you get me cheesy tshirts?" CJ asked with a small grin, scrolling through her twitter timeline. "And can you not put bad pictures of us on twitter?"
"That is a cute picture of us, and one of the few I have where we're both fully clothed and looking kind of like a couple." Seth defended and CJ pursed her lips as she got a better look at the picture. They were in the 360 Restaurant of the CN Tower in Toronto, and Seth was taking a selfie that she threw up finger-guns in the background since she didn't know what else to do. "The tweet was cute, too."
"I didn't read the tweet. I just saw the picture." CJ admitted, scrolling through her timeline and favoriting one of Bad News Barrett's tweets. She thought the Bad News gimmick was the best thing since sliced bread.
"Go read the tweet." Seth demanded and CJ sighed, but smiled as she complied with his request. "Read it aloud so I know you did."
"Really?" She asked, but complied once she found the tweet. "'I couldn't be any more grateful that I fell in love with my best friend.' Aw, Sethie."
"I'm cute."
"Just adorable." CJ agreed, making her way out to the living room and accepting Seth's invitation to sit on his lap. He put the controller in her hands and she looked up at him in uncertainty. "I've never-"
"Just shoot at anything that moves." Seth instructed, placing his hands over hers on the controller and gently guiding her through the map. "There's one."
"Did I get it?"
"Yeah." She actually didn't, but Seth didn't mind lying to boost her self esteem even though it was just a video game. "I know how much you love The Walking Dead, so I actually bought you all the current chapters of the game online."
"Seth, you didn't-"
"I did. I want you to have fun here, and having fun means playing with all my toys."
"I can think of another way that we could have fun." CJ purred, leaning her head back on his shoulder and kissing his cheek. She wasn't surprised that his eyes were glued to the TV, fingers still nimbly working over hers on the controller as he played the game.
"What did you have in mind, babe?"
"Heading up to the bedroom." She kissed his cheek once again. "Getting naked." Yet another kiss was pressed to his cheek. "I think you know where I'm going with this."
"I definitely do, baby. Once this game is over, you've got me." Seth assured, quickly stealing a kiss from his girlfriend before redirecting his attention to the TV. Although she was a bit disappointed with having to wait, knowing that Seth wanted to ravish her in a few minutes made it all better.
Roman was in the shower and Dean had nothing to do. He tried pacing, smoking, closing his eyes and praying for sleep, but nothing occupied his attention enough. No matter what he did; he had that nagging feeling in the back of his head, screaming at him that leaving CJ was the wrong thing to do.
Eventually he settled on pulling out his laptop and doing what he used to do when he missed her and couldn't get to her: he googled her. But he didn't like what he saw in the slightest. Pictures of her and Seth from both of their twitters, and very recent, made him clench his jaw in irritation. Just the thought of her shaking up with Seth so soon after their "breakup" pissed him off.
He wouldn't deny that Seth and CJ made a cute couple, but he had to say that CJ would look better on his arm than Seth's. At the end of the day Seth had to realize that he'd be raising a child that wasn't his and if Dean wanted to step up to be part of his child's life, CJ had to give him that right and there was nothing Seth could do about it. She would give him that right because she probably didn't want her child to grow up without its biological father. That was the bright light at the end of his dark tunnel. CJ and Seth just didn't know it yet.
"I'm assuming you know about CJ and Seth." Roman commented as he walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist while he worked on toweling his long hair dry.
"How long have you known?"
"When I went on twitter last night."
"I'm probably the last to know that my best friend jumped after my ex, aren't I?" Dean snapped, slamming his laptop shut before shoving it off his lap and onto the bed beside him.
"Technically, and don't you dare get pissy with me, she's not your ex. You were never dating." Roman reasoned and Dean glared up at him. "I don't know what happened between you two, but you can't blame Seth for doing exactly what you did when they got into that fight after WrestleMania."
As much as Dean wanted to argue, he knew Roman was right. What Seth did, although the circumstances were a bit more extreme this time around, was no different than what he had done back in April. The fact of the matter was that he fucked up and Seth came to her rescue, and all he could do now is sit back and wait for him to screw things up with her again.
"You're right."
"I know." Roman chuckled, playfully mussing up Dean's already messy curls which sparked an fussy groan from the blonde. "I have to ask, though. When Seth gets here are you going to be cool about it, or are you going to make the European tour hell for me?"
"If he doesn't start some shit, I won't have to finish it."
"You're leaving me tomorrow." CJ commented as they walked around his neighborhood with his dogs on leashes. After great sex, a bath, and a nap, CJ asked Seth to take her on an adventure and he happily obliged. She had Kevin while he had Lola, their free hands clasped together while they walked. CJ had never really lived in a community environment before, having lived in apartments with introvert neighbors since birth.
"It's only like, twelve days." Seth reasoned with a smile, not wanting to admit out loud that he really didn't want to go. He waited so long for her to be his, and he wasn't interested in traveling without her. "I'll be back before you know it."
"I know, but I've developed some dependency and I don't know what I'm going to do without you in this new environment." She admitted, avoiding eye contact with her boyfriend. She felt too vulnerable with an admission like that.
"Your car has GPS, and I'm pretty sure Syracuse is bigger than Davenport. Once I'm back, it'll be like you've lived here forever." He assured and CJ looked up at him. Even in sunglasses, the uncertainty was evident in her eyes and he stopped to kiss her forehead. "You act like you're terrible at making friends."
"Have you met me? I'm kind of a huge bitch."
"But you're funny, smart, outgoing, gorgeous, and tons of other great qualities. You'll do fine. Join a pregnancy support group."
"Ew, no. I watched this show about this one chick who joined a pregnancy support page on Facebook and then met a couple people who kidnapped her. No thank you." CJ rambled and Seth nodded in understanding.
"Did you watch the vine where these two chicks are fighting and one goes into the garage, grabs a shovel, and throws it at the other one?" Seth asked, trying really hard not to laugh. "Funniest shit I've seen in a while. Like, you feel bad for laughing... Until you watch all the variations of it and then you realize that it doesn't stop being funny."
"You are ridiculous." CJ laughed, shaking her head at her boyfriend as he seemed to be laughing at just the memory of the video. "How old are you?"
"Younger than you, ya cougar." Seth teased, playfully meowing at her.
"Only by a couple months, ya jerk." She argued, pouting up at him. Seth only chuckled and kissed her, keeping his mouth on hers to spite the elderly neighbor who lived in the house they were standing in front of. "I feel like you live to piss off your neighbor."
"Since she lives behind me, I like walking around my house naked on the off chance that she'll be looking out at her yard, or even be in her yard, and see me." Seth admitted with a smirk, grinning when CJ rolled her eyes and pulled him along. "You know you wish you had that view."
"I get that view now, dork." She reminded, smiling when he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "No more waking around naked, or I'll tell your mom."
"Wow, using my own mother against me. Totally fair tactics." Seth teased as they rounded the corner and CJ took a look at his neighbor's house for the first time. She could already tell that whoever lived there was artsy and imaginative, the flower boxes lining the driveway and old rain boots serving as makeshift flower pots hanging on the fence really selling CJ on her opinion.
"Have you met your neighbors?"
"Yeah. Michelle lives in this house on the corner. She's really nice and I think you'd like her." He spoke as they walked passed the house, CJ making a mental note to ask where Michelle got those brilliant decor ideas. "And Kyle lives in that house, but his cousin- I think she's his cousin- Mikaela is house sitting for the next few months while he's doing some science thing in Antarctica. She pretty much keeps to herself, but she seemed pretty nice when he introduced her to me before leaving. Those three houses across the street are empty; but over on that corner are Carl and Sadie, they're an older couple that's sending their only child off to college this year, and down at the end of this block is Gavin. I don't know much about him other than he's old and cranky." He finished as they came to a stop on the front porch, CJ nodding intently as she filed all that information away in her mind. She knew it would all be of use soon.
"I take it nobody knows that I'm moving in, huh?" CJ asked, pulling down her sunglasses and giving the block a cursory once over.
"Nope."
"Surprise." She murmured teasingly before following Seth into the house. "What should we have for dinner, babe?"
"Pussy."
"Something I could eat, too, would be preferable."
"I've got something for you to eat." Seth called as he went upstairs and CJ opted to head into the kitchen rather than follow him up. "It'll melt in your mouth."
"Seth, shut up." CJ laughed, shaking her head at him as she trifled the fruit crisper at the bottom of the fridge for fruit she actually liked. Being honest; she wasn't sure that Seth knew what half the fruits in there were, because she sure as hell didn't. "I think we should order takeout."
"I think you should've come upstairs with me."
"Seth, we sleep in the same bed. I would've come up eventually." She commented as she finally found an apple and shut the fridge to see Seth in the kitchen.
"Not fast enough." He complained, watching as she turned the apple over in her hands. "Would you like me to slice that for you?"
"I would've been able to do it myself, but yes please."
SmackDown last night was pretty boring in my opinion, and not just because there was no Shield. Usually more than just a couple things stand out to me but the only thing that really stood out was Ziggler's tweet and the fact that they're making Batista into a wuss. But that's just my opinion. I hope everyone else enjoyed it.
Anyways, thank you to Dixiewinxwrites12, TaijiaK, ChelleLew, angelsdee327, UntilNeverDawns, Ubersassynova, Sarcastic Nightmare, Punkedbyambrose, and AshleighxAwsome for reviewing the last chapter!