I'm sorry for not posting in two weeks! /: I feel awful, but I got really busy in my personal life, and it just wasn't in the cards to update.
Regardless of that, I hope you all enjoy chapter eight.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Thursday afternoon, after the SmackDown taping, Kelly and CM Punk sat across from each other. He had asked her to go to lunch and she just couldn't say no. Despite trying to deny the feelings that were obvious to everyone else, Kelly knew that she cared about him more than she let herself see.
Their waitress, who was obviously attracted to Punk but didn't want to mess with his beautiful date there, had just taken their order, and disappeared through the restaurant as Kelly looked back to Punk. He smiled back to her, and she giggled before looking down into her lemonade.
"So, are you alright?" He asked, after a moment of silence between them, listening to the cars passing by and the restaurant noise around them.
Kelly looked up, confused. "What do you mean?"
"I mean… I know you were really worried before. About the girls who just came back. How they took out Eve and all of that…" He put his hand over hers on top of the table. "We don't have to talk about this if you don't want to."
She shrugged. "We'll have to talk about it eventually. I mean, I begged you to be my bodyguard from them, I can't just not talk to you about everything." She met his eyes once again. "Yes, I am really scared of them. Deathly afraid. They took out Eve, and Beth, and all of the other girls… I mean… what if they got to me? They would destroy me. I'm awful." She took her hands back and put them over her face, trying to stop herself from crying.
Punk stood up from across the table and moved over to kneel next to her chair, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to him. "Kelly… hey… what if I helped you a little? Not too much, but you have to get over your fear of them. As long as you fear them, they're going to have power over you. You have to accept that some pain is going to be necessary so that you girls can get them out of here, or at least win this war." She looked up and met his eyes, and he smiled at her, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "I'll make sure nothing really bad happens to you, as well, okay? But you need to step up and stop being afraid."
Kelly kept her eyes locked with Punk for a bit before placing a small kiss on his lips and nodding. "I… Okay. I'm going to step it up. I'm going to try to stop being so afraid. And, uh…" she grabbed his hand before he could get back into his seat, and pulled him back over for another quick kiss. "Thank you… for believing in me."
That night, all of the girls who had been signed to the company before this mess-no resigning of their contracts necessary-were gathered up in one hotel room once again, gossiping and laughing as they talked with each other about the week. Well, about everything but the attacks on Maryse-who had left for now because she didn't want anyone to have to see her with her mask on in the ring-and Alicia Fox.
They talked at first about the girls who were all missing, the list of which still included all of the girls with major injuries, and Tamina, who was going to be out for another week at least, if not for a longer amount of time.
"Alright, I am absolutely sick and tired of looking at these same four walls." Kelly sat up from where she had been laying on her stomach across one of the two queen beds in the room, tossing her feet over the edge of the bed to stand up next to the window and look out over the girls. "I want to get out there, go out-have fun."
"But what about-"
"No buts." Kelly interrupted a rather scared-looking AJ's complaint, and Kaitlyn put her hand on AJ's shoulder to try calming down the panic rising in her eyes. They had a match next week against them, they should at least be over the fear. "There will be no buts about anything. Do you know the chance that they'll all be out wherever we go?"
"Little to none." Natalya admitted from where she had been sitting next to AJ and Kaitlyn, and Alicia nodded from her seat next to Kelly, standing up as well. "It's actually not such an awful idea to go out and have some fun. Let loose."
"But, where would we even go?"
AJ still seemed reserved at this idea, and she linked her arm up with Kaitlyn, who hadn't stood up to join the mob mentality yet, either.
"I don't want to go anywhere weird." Kaitlyn added.
"We'll just go to a club or something-someone look up clubs with good reviews in the area." Alicia was officially in on the plan, and quickly, everyone had rushed into action but AJ and Kaitlyn, who required a little pushing but joined in later.
By the time 11 pm rolled around, every girl who had been in her pajamas in the hotel room was dressed completely and ready to go, from their head to their toes. Many of the girls wore shorts and tank tops with boots or heels, but of course AJ wore a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, and her Converse boots. The Bella twins, Natalya, and Kelly opted for minidresses. Aksana and Alicia opted for looser fitted dressed than the body-contouring dresses, but still wore dresses out.
From there, they called up all of their bodyguards to meet them in the lobby, and they all had been getting ready as well. When they got to the lobby, they were quite the sight to be seen, smiling and laughing as they grabbed each other for hugs or cheek kisses-or actual kisses-as they coupled up with their bodyguards.
Aksana clung to the arm of Goldust, as they had continued to date off-screen. It was a strange relationship, but he made her happy, which was strange for such a bratty girl like Aksana. Meanwhile, Natalya, AJ and Kaitlyn clung to their own bodyguards of Tyson Kidd, Primo, and Cody Rhodes.
"Let's go, guys."
"Can I say it?" Zack Ryder, bodyguard of Rosa, asked as they walked to the front door, and all of the girls rolled their eyes as Rosa squeezed his arm.
"No!" everyone shouted, shaking their heads as they walked through the lobby.
"Ah, come on, let me say it!"
"Fine, just say it," Rosa said with a roll of her eyes. "If it will shut you up."
"Cabs are here!"
"They're our rentals, the valet just pulled them around…" Kelly muttered as they all walked out to where, indeed, their rental cars had been pulled around. They were piling into two large SUVs that had been rented by Cody Rhodes and CM Punk-though Punk opted not to actually drive it-and were quickly to one of the clubs in the city.
Dancing and laughter ensued for the first little while, and all of them gathered in the center of the dance floor, where they did-of course-dance.
Now, all of the girls had gathered around in a booth, their bodyguards with them, a few of the men standing just outside of the booth for lack of room. Everyone was laughing, drinking, and having a good time. Gail's phone went off and from her seat at the edge of the booth, she covered it from the other girls reading it, and then looked up at Justin.
"Hey, I've got to go make a call. I'll just step outside for a minute, alright?" Justin helped her from the booth and then watched her as she left to make sure she was alright, before turning back to the conversation for a minute.
Everyone but Lita and Trish from the new girls walked up then, completely perfect-looking and wearing what were definitely designer dresses and shoes, with their hair and makeup done perfectly.
"Wow," Mickie said, flipping her practically blonde hair over her shoulder. "I guess they'll let anyone in here."
The other girls laughed as Justin and Tyson stepped up in front of the girls. Jeff Hardy and Randy flanked them, because even though Randy's girl, Eve, had been taken out, he still spent time with the rest of them, and Nikki was seated in the back of the booth with Brie.
"We don't want trouble." Justin tried to calm the situation, but it didn't seem to help, as the girls in the booth stood up to talk with the girls outside of it.
"Wow, Mickie's right. What, is she wearing a t-shirt?" Maria raised her eyebrows and pointed directly at AJ, but Kaitlyn rebutted for her friend.
"Uh, excuse you, but at least she didn't pose for Playboy like two little sluts I see."
"Oh, yeah, fitness model?"
"Crazy bitch!"
"Ugly twins!"
"At least we're not anorexic!" Brie and Nikki responded in unison.
"Which one of you was unlucky enough to get stuck with Matt Hardy?" Ashley rolled her eyes, only furthering the tension. "Let me just warn you, he comes up a little short in the bedroom." The girls with her laughed as club security came up, holding the Divas back in their booth.
"What's going on here?" A tall, buff guy asked. He was wearing sunglasses indoors, so the girls couldn't tell if he was on something or just a douche.
"Oh, nothing. We were just leaving." The girls did just that, disappearing back out the door like they had arrived, and Justin looked back at the booth… only to realize Gail was still gone.
"Hey, wait, where's Gail?"
The girls looked everywhere for her in the club, checking the bathrooms and the bar, but ended up returning to the booth empty-handed. Justin was distraught, wondering how he could let that happen, before Kelly spoke up, and made it worse.
"Oh, my God… what if Lita and Trish took her? What if the other girls were just a distraction so that Lita and Trish could grab Gail from outside?!"
The booth exploded with theories about this, and Justin shook his head. "I'm getting a car full of you guys and we're going back to the hotel to look for Gail. She has to be somewhere, she wouldn't just go away randomly."
When they got back to the hotel, they began searching every room they could think of, starting with the room that Maryse had originally been in. They thought that she might have retreated there for some peace and quiet… but they ended up in the room that Gail was originally supposed to be in, with Kelly and Alicia Fox, and found her curled up on the bed in her pajamas, watching TV.
"Oh, my God, you guys. You scared me…" Gail sat up on the bed and crossed her legs, putting the pillow she had been holding in her lap. "Why are you guys back so early?"
"You scared the shit out of us, Gail!" Justin crossed the room and took her into his arms, Gail smiling and wrapping her arms around his neck as well. "Why didn't you come inside and just ask to go back to the hotel? I would have come with you in the taxi, you wouldn't have had to go alone."
"I'm sorry that I worried you, I just… wanted to come back. I got tired." Gail kissed Justin on the cheek and smiled at him. "I really am sorry, but I am tired… so, if I could get some sleep now?"
"Yeah, sure…" Justin said, retreating from the room with the girls he'd brought along, who were all in the other room.
Do you guys have any theories on what happened to Gail, or do you believe her story? How about that confrontation in the club between the two groups of girls? It's getting a little heavy!
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