Disclaimer: The story you are reading is a fictitious work of this author and is not intended to portray real-life events. Any resemblance to any real-life events is purely coincidental. The names of all World Wrestling Entertainment televised and live programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans and wrestling moves and all World Wrestling Entertainment logos are trademarks, which are the exclusive property of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2013 World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The names of all TNA televised and live programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans and wrestling moves and all TNA logos are trademarks, which are the exclusive property of TNA Entertainment, LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2013 TNA Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Author's Note: If you have no idea what the title of this chapter means, look up the singer Sade (pronounced Sha-day) and her most popular hits. Then, you'll figure it out.
The Squared Circle
Chapter 11
Sade Ain't Never Lied
Monday, April 15, 2013 – 4:30 pm - The Westin Poinsett Hotel – Greenville, South Carolina
It had been two hours since the end of the fight to end all fights and Nicole was still pissed. She didn't want to feel the conflicting feelings of love and hate swirl inside her at the same time. She wished that Brie had never opened her mouth. She wished that she could forget that July day twelve years earlier but it seemed like every time, she blinked she could see them in bed together. Every time she drew breath, she could smell them together. Every time she reached out to touch anything, she could feel Brie's skin. Nicole was seething and couldn't do a damn thing about it. The last thing that she wanted was to be around people. She certainly did not want to wrestle that night. But given the storyline, she had little choice. And she definitely did not have it inside her to be near…
"Nikki?" Nicole heard the voice of her boyfriend and face of the WWE, John Cena, followed by the suite door closing. "Nik?"
"Here, John." Nicole said flatly. John turned the corner and saw Nicole at the round table near the window with four mini-bottles of wine from the mini-bar in front of her, three of them empty.
"Since when do we drink before a show?" John asked calmly.
Nicole cut her eyes coldly at John. "The last thing I need right now is your low-key, condescending inquisition." Nicole spat. John nodded.
"Do you… want to talk about it?" John asked. "Whatever's bothering you must be pretty serious."
"I don't want to talk." Nicole said through gritted teeth. John stood for a moment and carefully sized up Nicole before speaking again, softening his tone.
"I just don't want them to smell alcohol on your breath before the show." John said.
Nicole nodded. "You know what? Take the fucking bottles!" Nicole said as she swung her arm and violently raked the bottles off the table, knocking them to the floor. She then ran both hands through her hair.
"Nik, what's wrong?"
"WHAT PART OF I DON'T WANT TO FUCKING TALK DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!" Nicole stood up suddenly, knocking her chair onto the floor. "GODDAMNIT!" Nicole turned her back to John.
John waited another couple of beats before speaking again. "Can I at least offer you a ride to the arena?"
Nicole wheeled around. "John, I don't give two fucks about that arena right now. I just want to be left alone. I'll get there, how I get there, when I get there." Nicole again turned her back on John.
"Okay. I'll see you there." John said quietly before turning on his heels and walking toward the door. When Nicole heard the door close, her tears overwhelmed her again and she began silently sobbing.
Monday, April 15, 2013 – 4:35 pm - The Westin Poinsett Hotel – Greenville, South Carolina
Bryan "Daniel Bryan" Danielson, spent the better part of 45 minutes trying to mentally figure out what was wrong with his girlfriend, Brianna. From the moment he walked into her room, she had spoken less than 10 words to him. It was obvious to him that she had been crying. When he asked her what was wrong, she simply shook her head, balled herself up into a seated fetal position and closed her eyes. There had been times where she had been so angry that she shut down on him, but this was the first time that he could recall her being forlorn and withdrawn without anger as a companion. As much as Bryan wanted to push, he sensed that pushing her at that moment would make her break and that he did not want to happen.
"Brie? It's time to go to the arena." Bryan said. Brie registered no reaction. "Brie… we don't want to be late."
"You go. I need a few minutes to myself. I'll grab a cab or the shuttle." Brie said in as small a voice as Bryan had remembered coming from her.
"Are you sure you need to be alone?"
Brie glanced at him. "I'll be fine." Brie said, barely above a whisper.
Bryan looked at Brie for a moment, then walked over and kissed her on the forehead. Brie looked up at him and Bryan bent down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "Don't be late." Bryan said softly. Brie nodded. Bryan then retreated for the door. Once the door closed behind him, Brie laid her head back down on the back of the couch and closed her eyes, wishing that the day would come to an end.
Bryan stepped onto the empty elevator with ring gear bag in hand, headed to the garage for the five-minute drive to the arena. One floor into his ride, the car stopped. When the doors opened, John stepped on.
"What's up John?" Bryan said.
"Before or after getting reamed out by Nikki?" John replied.
"What?"
"Nikki is supremely pissed off about something and she all but kicked my ass out of her room."
"Something is going on with Brie too. She completely shut down on me. It's like she's in shock or something." Bryan said.
"Those two have had fights before but this is different." John said just as the elevator opened again. WWE's Apex Predator, Randy Orton, stepped onto the elevator and chuckled.
"Man, fuck Friday Night Smackdown. Your women got started a day early!" Randy said, referring to Friday's Smackdown being taped on Tuesdays, the night after Raw.
"What are you talking about?" Bryan asked.
"Nikki and Brie had a knockdown, drag-out earlier. I was taking a nap and they woke me up." Randy said.
"What were they yelling about?" John asked.
"Yelling? No, brother. I heard furniture moving and a couple of thuds. It was a straight-up fight." Randy offered. Bryan and John looked at Randy, then at each other.
"Well whatever is going on, we can't crack them. Brie shut down on him and Nikki bit my head off." John said.
"Ask Layla. I heard her voice out in the hallway. I'm pretty sure she talked to Brie right after it happened." Randy said just as the elevator chimed signaling the end of their descent to the lobby.
"I'll ask her." John said as they stepped off. "She used to have a thing for me."
"Uh, don't you mean you had a thing for her?" Randy corrected. "I'm pretty sure the Doctor of Divanomics was trying to mack on her."
"I had a thing for her, she had a thing for me… does it really matter which was which?" John asked playfully.
As they walked toward the parking lot, Bryan got a gleam in his eye and shot his hands up in the air. "YES!" Bryan started his signature catchphrase.
"Don't start that shit again, Danielson." John deadpanned causing Randy and Bryan to laugh as he smirked. "But seriously, I'll find her in the arena and I'll talk to her.
Monday, April 15, 2013 – 6:30 pm – Bi-Lo Center – Greenville, South Carolina
Layla had put the finishing touches on her makeup and was making the rounds backstage when her phone rang. The phone number and the name associated with it put a huge grin on her face. In the six days since her initiation, Mercedes had been a frequent phone partner with Layla. The two women engaged in a back and forth teasing banter that to the outsider looking in would appear to be between two people in puppy love. With these two however, the term 'puppy lust' would be more appropriate.
"What's up, Mami?" Layla purred.
"You have got to stop that." Mercedes said with a grin.
"You don't want me to stop."
"I know that's right."
"So, did you find out what they have planned for you?"
"Girl, they want to turn me heel. They're thinking this obnoxious, over-the-top, I'm the Queen B-type."
"How are you feeling about that?"
"Sexy as hell." Mercedes said. "The way I fucked you… is the way I envision that version of Sasha Banks fucking. Except Sasha would throw a c-note on the nightstand after she was done and be like 'Now bitch, bounce!'"
"That is so fucking hot…" Just then, Layla saw John making a beeline for her and decided an abrupt end to the conversation was in order. "Cede, I have to go. We need to talk more about Sasha's out of ring activities later."
"I can't wait to get my hands on you again."
"Same here." Layla said as John was now standing in front of her. She smiled up at him. "Later." Layla hung up the phone. "Hey John. What's up? You're not trying to push up on me, are you? You are taken."
John laughed. "That's a good one. I recall you doing the pushing-up-on but that's for another time. I need to talk to you about Brie and Nikki."
Layla's eyes briefly darted. "Brie and Nikki? What about them?"
"Something is going on between the two of them and a birdie told me that you may know something about it."
"Who is this little birdie?" Layla inquired.
"Oh, it's a big birdie, but a birdie nonetheless." John said. "This is a reliable birdie that heard them fighting this afternoon and heard you talking to Brie afterward." Layla rapidly blinked her eyes. "Lay, what's going on?"
"John, all I can say is that it is something personal between the two of them that only they can work out."
"But you know what it is?"
"Does it matter if I do?" Layla asked rhetorically.
"Well, since you're not giving up any information, then no. I guess it doesn't." John replied.
"John, we've been friends since I got here. I tell you what I'll do. I'll work on them. I'll talk to them. This situation requires… a woman's touch." Layla inwardly smiled at the double entendre. "That's all I can promise right now. Good enough?"
"Okay. Good enough." John said. "Thanks Lay." John opened his arms to offer Layla a hug.
"That's what friends are for." Layla stepped forward and embraced John. "Even friends whose muscle-bound friends crush on them." As they broke the embraced, John smirked.
"Alright." John said as he started to back away. "I got you, Lil' Mama."
"Break a leg tonight!" Layla said, wishing John luck in the way actors do backstage before a performance.
The reigning WWE Divas Champion, born Celeste Bonin and known to the WWE Universe as Kaitlyn, searched high and low for her opponent for the evening to go over their match but she was nowhere to be found. Kaitlyn had just passed a clock that read 6:42 pm and while she was not yet nervous, she was concerned because normally, she would have seen Nicole by that time in the evening. Kaitlyn continued walking the backstage area stopping those that she thought might have an idea of Nicole's whereabouts.
"Naomi, have you seen Nikki this evening? I haven't seen her since the airport." Kaitlyn asked.
"No. I saw her checking in at the hotel but that was the last time." Naomi answered.
"Thanks." Kaitlyn said as she walked. About 15 steps later, she saw her best friend, AJ Lee, talking with her current on-screen companions, Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston. "Guys, have you seen Nikki?"
"Not since the airport." AJ said. Both Dolph and Big E shook their heads. "But, I saw Brie about 10 minutes ago coming in. Maybe she's with her."
"Thanks, Dollface." Kaitlyn said. "Catch me before I go on." AJ threw her hand up as Kaitlyn walked away. She asked one of the backstage people where The Bellas dressing room was and was pointed in that direction. A minute later, she knocked on the door.
"Come!" The slightly less-than-enthusiastic voice of Brie said from behind the door. Kaitlyn opened it and gave Brie her usual greeting.
"'Sup, Brie Cheese! Where's your carbon copy? I've been looking for her."
Brie finished pulling her pants off before picking up her wrestling tights. "Don't know, don't care. The bitch could no-show for all I care." Brie growled.
"Whoa!" Kaitlyn said with a softened voice. While her best friend, AJ, had a relatively lukewarm relationship with the beautiful twins at best, Kaitlyn genuinely liked the two women and would occasionally drink with them. "Brie, that's your sister. I know you don't mean that. What happened?"
Brie was in the middle of pulling her tights up and stopped mid-thigh. "Kay, it doesn't even matter." Brie said flatly. "There's a part of me that wishes I could tell you but… doesn't matter."
Kaitlyn took a deep breath and sighed. "Okay. Remember, you can always talk to me if you need to. I won't even talk. I'll just listen."
Brie smiled a small smile. "You and Lay are the best. Sometimes I feel like I don't even deserve y'all."
Kaitlyn gently pulled Brie to her feet. "Yes you do. 'Cause I know you'd do the same for me." Kaitlyn opened her arms to hug Brie, who happily accepted the warm gesture. About 15 seconds into the hug, the dressing room door opened. Kaitlyn and Brie broke the embrace and turned their heads to see a stone-faced Nicole standing in front of an upset-looking Stephanie.
"Kay, can we have the room please?" Stephanie said as more of a statement than a question.
"Sure." Kaitlyn gave Brie a quick rub on her arm before walking toward the door. "Hey Nik. Find me when you're done." She said softly.
"Okay." Nicole returned with equal softness. When the door closed, Stephanie spoke.
"The show starts in ten minutes and the two of you go on in a little less than two hours." Stephanie began in a somber, irritated tone. Matches being taped for Superstars and Main Event started at 7 pm Eastern time. Monday Night Raw's live telecast started at 8. "Now, Brie, Nikki made a request to have a separate dressing room from you and I denied it because we just don't have the rooms. I am going to tell you the same thing that I told her. Whatever the beef you two have is, you better squash it and squash it quick. And if you can't squash it by the time you hit the gorilla, you better fake it. You two are the faces of the Divas division and are supposed to be in lock-step accord in pulling Twin Magic on Kay tonight. The fans better not read one flicker of a look in your eyes of any type of dissention between the two of you. You are professionals and I expect you to conduct yourselves that way. Am I clear?"
"Yes." The two women mumbled.
"I said am I clear?" Stephanie reiterated.
"Yes." "Crystal." Two women answered.
"Good. I'll see you out there." Stephanie said as she glared at the two women once before turning and leaving the dressing room, closing the door behind her.
For the next 15 tension-filled minutes, neither women uttered a sound as they got dressed. Whereas Brie would occasionally glance at Nicole out of the corner of her eye, Nicole would not look in Brie's direction. Her emotions were still like a downed power line that was very much alive and full of enough current to kill anyone who dared to touch it. The mental replay loop of the 17-year old Brie in bed, looking up at her would not stop playing in her mind. That loop continued to stoke the fire inside her. She had to get away from Brie before she said something that she would regret. Despite reaching the dressing room after her sister, Nicole finished dressing first and was ready to go get touches done on her hair and makeup. She stood up and walked toward the door. Just before her hand touched the knob, words that were boiling inside her bubbled to the surface and she turned her head toward Brie, but not her body.
"You don't mention that day for 12 years and you decided today to open your mouth. Why?" Brie had her head down surfing the Internet on her cell phone. All motion stopped when Nicole asked her question. Brie could not bring herself to give an answer. "Never mind. Forget it. I don't even want to know." Nicole now turned her body and fully faced her sister. "I swore to God that I would never say another word to you again in life but Stephanie is right. We are professionals and this job is too good for me to fuck it up over you. So when we hit the gorilla, we are The Bella Twins and I will do everything I always do. But when we aren't in the arena, you better not so much as breathe on me or…"
"Or what?" Brie said in a low voice. "You'll choke me out? Don't worry about me, Nicole. As long as you do your job, I'll do mine. I'm not gonna fuck this up over you either."
"I'll see you at the gorilla. Just try to keep up with us out there tonight." Nicole paused for a moment before delivering a gut punch of a line. "I know you're a little slow sometimes." Nicole then turned and walked out.
Brie's temper hit the flash boiling point as she shot up off of the bench, made a beeline for the door and flung it open. She turned her head to the right then the left and spotted Nicole just before she went around the corner.
"Stuck-up bitch!" Brie snarled as she stalked out of the dressing room after her sister. Unbeknownst to her, someone familiar with the current dynamic watched this unfold and stepped in to save both of their careers.
"Whoa, killer! Don't do something you'll regret." Layla said as she intercepted Brie and physically held her back.
"Stephanie Nicole Garcia-Colace is a condescending cunt." Brie spat. "Yes, I called her a cunt; a cunt that needs her cunty brains scrambled. And I'm just the chef to do it."
"Brie…"
"She called me slow! She has been calling me slow and stupid since we were kids! She knows that is a sore spot for me…"
"She is lashing out." Layla said. "Don't take her bait."
"If it wasn't for you and Kay and Stephanie… I would…" Brie caught herself before tears could well up. "Thanks for saving me, Lay."
"I'm not losing either one of you. Okay?" Layla said before embracing Brie.
"Okay." Brie said softly as she hugged Layla.
Despite the high-strung emotions of the day, the in-ring Nikki and Brie got along thick as thieves and gave no indication that there was trouble in the Bellaverse. Behind the scenes, however, the locker room exchange between the two sisters was the last non-wrestling conversation they would have for nearly a month.
Monday, May 6, 2013 – 4 pm - Doubletree Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center – Roanoke, Virginia
In just 30 minutes, Nicole would be headed over to the Roanoke Civic Center for that evening's Monday Night Raw. In the ring, The Bella Twins were as strong as ever, racking up victories over The Funkadactyls and WWE Divas Champion Kaitlyn with the help of Kaitlyn's former on-screen BFF, AJ Lee. Outside of the ring, the two women were not on speaking terms. Layla told Stephanie that for right now, it would be in the company's best interest to put them in rooms as far from each other and limit their outside appearances as much as they could. To her surprise, Stephanie complied without question. Her rationale was that as long as the in-ring product didn't suffer because of their family feud, she was going to let them work it out. Stephanie remembered days when she could have spit on Shane but had to share a conference call and a ring with him and Vince's response was to do nothing and let brother and sister sort it out.
Nicole was sitting in her room waiting for the last 30 minutes to tick by, watching a rerun episode of Law & Order: SVU when there was a knock on the door. She got up and smoothed her skirt out before walking over to the door and opening it.
"Hey Nikki." Bryan said with a warm smile.
"If you came over here to talk about Brie, you can save your breath." Nicole stood with the door in her right hand, ready to slam it at a moment's notice.
"I didn't come over here to talk about her. I actually wanted to see how you were doing. I haven't talked to you since you two stopped talking." Bryan said. Nikki took a moment to study Bryan's face. In the time that she had known him, she found him to be a straight shooter and decided that he was being sincere. She stepped aside and waved him into the room. "How are you doing?"
"I'm okay." Nicole said in a clipped fashion as she sat down.
"Okay." Bryan said.
"Okay?" Nicole asked. She was bracing for an inquisition like she would get from John. "You're not gonna browbeat and press me?"
"I'm not John." Bryan replied. "If you tell me you're okay, you're okay. Unless you're not."
Nicole paused for a moment. "So… maybe…. I'm not okay." Bryan simply blinked and looked at her. "I'm angry at your girlfriend and I don't know if and when that will stop."
"Alright. And I'm not going to ask what it's about because if you wanted me to know, you'd have told me. I just wanted to let you know that just because I'm dating your sister and you two are on the outs doesn't mean that we have to be. I'm still your friend."
For the first time since Bryan walked in, Nicole allowed herself to relax a little. "I appreciate that. This… is something that Brie and I have to deal with."
"And just so you know, John is worried too. I know he may come off as high-handed sometimes, but… his heart is in the right place. I mean, we're not best buds, but we talk." Bryan offered.
Nicole smiled. "Thank you Bryan. Really. I'm not just saying that."
Before Bryan could respond, there was another knock on Nicole's door. She walked over and answered it. One of the WWE's many production assistant's was at the door.
"Hey Tommy. What's up?" Nicole said.
"Hey Nikki. When you get to the arena, post-production wants to see you in trailer 6. Something about re-doing a voice over." Tommy said.
"Okay. Thanks. I'll see you over there." Nicole said.
"Okay. Bye Nikki. Bye Bryan." Both of them threw up their hands.
"I'm gonna take off too. I'm riding with Dolph and E." Bryan said.
"See you over there and… thanks again." Nicole said, placing a kiss on Bryan's cheek then playfully pretending to choke and spit out hair. "Too much hair."
"Funny. John said the same thing about you the other day." Bryan joked. Nicole scoffed and let out an incredulous chuckle followed by a punch to the arm.
"You ass! Get out!" Nicole playfully yelled.
"Bye." Bryan said with a grin as he turned to leave.
Monday, May 6, 2013 – 4:50 pm – Roanoke Civic Center – Roanoke, Virginia
Nicole opened the door to the dressing room she shared with Brie and saw her sitting in a padded folding chair with her feet propped up in another. Brie glanced up when she felt Nicole's presence but made no effort to speak. She simply glanced back down at her cell phone. Nicole huffed and put her bag down. She was about to start going through her bag when she remembered that the post-production team wanted to see her. After looking at Brie one more time, she turned and walked out of the room. When she left, Brie looked up with her eyes, then lifted her head, removing the ear buds from her ears and sighed. She then cocked her head to the side and shook it. She sat there for a couple of minutes in thought when the sound of knocking on the door broke her train of thought.
"Are you decent?" The disembodied voice said.
"Yes! Come in!" Brie said. When she saw who it was, she smiled. "Hey Tommy. What's up?"
"Hey Brie. Post-production wants to see you in trailer 6. Something about re-doing a voice over." Tommy said.
"Okay." Brie said. "Now?"
"Yeah." Tommy replied.
"Okay. Thanks." Brie said as Tommy retreated.
Tommy walked away from the dressing room and turned the corner to walk down the hallway. Halfway down the hallway, he saw Kaitlyn having an animated conversation with Layla. He walked up on them as they were in the middle of a big belly laugh.
"OH MY GOD KAY, STOP IT!" Layla had tears streaming down her face from laughing so hard. "I can't take it anymore!"
"Hey Kay. Lay." Tommy said snickering at the impromptu rhyme as Layla wiped her tears.
"Tommy!" Layla said. "What have you got for me?"
"Two Bellas headed for a fake voice over re-do in a fake post trailer." Tommy said. "What do you have for me?"
Layla reached in her jeans and pulled out a crisp one-hundred dollar bill, unfolded it and snapped it. "One Benjamin, headed for your pocket." Layla said handing the bill to Tommy.
"Pleasure doing business with you." Tommy said with a smile as he walked away.
"Lay, what are you up to?" Kaitlyn asked.
"Helping two people I care about get out of their own way." Layla said. "I've got to go." Layla said as she jogged away.
Moments later, she turned a corner in the bowels of the Roanoke Civic Center just in time to see Brie about 30 feet from the steps that led up to the trailer door. Layla tip-toe sprinted toward Brie, dipping behind travel cases and set pieces so as not to be seen. She reached the edge of the trailer just as Brie reached to top step. When Brie opened the door, Layla sprinted to the top of the steps and pulled a padlock out of her back pocket.
Inside the trailer, as Brie closed the door behind her, she turned her head to see Nicole, who had walked to the end of the trailer looking for the crew and was now walking back towards her.
"Voice over?" Nicole asked.
"Voice over." Brie responded. "Tommy?"
Nicole paused. "That sonofabitch. He set us up!"
"No he didn't." Brie said. "But I know who did." Brie then wheeled around to fling the door open. "LAYLA!" When she went to open the door, the knob turned, but the door wouldn't open. Brie tugged on it several more times, then pounded it several times with the palm of her hand. "LAYLA EL! OPEN THE DOOR!"
"I'M DOING THIS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD! YOU TWO NEED TO WORK THIS OUT! AND I'M NOT LETTING YOU OUT UNTIL YOU DO!"
Nicole walked up to the door and started pounding on it. "LAYLA! IT'S ALMOST 5 O'CLOCK! WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO PLAY AROUND!"
"THEN I SUGGEST YOU START TALKING TO EACH OTHER AND STOP TALKING TO ME!"
Nicole kicked the door. "GODDAMNIT!"
Brie rolled her eyes, let her head fall back as she shook it and put her hands on her hips.
"You put her up to this." Nicole grumbled.
"I did not!" Brie screeched. "You think I want to be trapped in here with you?! I'm a victim too!"
"This is bullshit." Nicole said as she walked over and flopped down on the sofa that was placed in between the two console areas of the massive trailer.
"I guess now you have to talk to me." Brie said.
"The hell I do." Nicole shot back. Brie looked at Nicole expectantly. Nicole looked at Brie and relaxed all of her tension. "Fine. You wanna talk? Talk. I'm tired of being tense around you so screw this. Let's get this over with."
"For the last two months, all I've been able to think about is that day and everything we shared and everything we felt…" Brie started. "I miss it. And I want to do it again… with you."
Nicole's face contorted. "What… in the name of God has gotten…"
"I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU, GODDAMNIT!" Brie exclaimed. "OKAY?! SHIT!" In that moment the dam broke and Brie's tears overtook her. "I FELT SOMETHING THAT DAY! NO ONE HAS EVER MADE ME FEEL PHYSICALLY OR EMOTIONALLY THE WAY YOU DID AND I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY I CAN'T TAKE IT BACK!" Brie paused. Nicole's face took on a look of total shock and disbelief. "I swallowed it and forgot about it for 12 years and I had a conversation with someone about something else and it brought up all this stuff that I thought I had buried deep inside me. And when I said what I said, I honestly didn't plan it but maybe subconsciously I did mean to say it. Maybe subconsciously I needed to say it to get the ball rolling." Brie gasped to choke down a sob. Hearing Brie sob caused Nicole's tears to begin to fall. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA… NO FUCKING IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO WAKE UP IN THE MORNING AND ADMIT TO YOURSELF THAT YOU ARE IN LOVE… with your twin… sister." Brie began to cry a little harder. She didn't notice Nicole starting to nod her head.
"Yeah… I do." Nicole strained to say.
"What?" Brie asked meekly.
Nicole's words were just above a whisper. "I do know… how hard it is." Nicole's tears began to fall more. "I'm not supposed… to… we weren't supposed to do… what we did. But it was the most… incredible thing I had ever experienced in my life… that's what making love… is supposed to be like." Nicole shuddered and sobbed again. "I want you so bad again and that's why I hit you. That's why I choked you. Because I am so… fucking… scared. I'm scared of everything; of our friendship changing, of the guys finding out, of the girls finding out… Oh God!" It just clicked in Nicole's mind. "Layla knows, doesn't she?!"
"It's okay." Brie said. "She wanted to help me. Help us."
"Why?" Nicole asked. "Why would she…"
"We'll get to that later." Brie said. "Right now… I just… I love you. And if we never… do that again… I miss talking to you. I miss hanging out with you." Brie paused. "You're my soul." Nicole broke out into a half-cry, half-laugh that turned into more crying. Brie moved over and sat down next to Nicole. "Look, we can worry about the physical stuff later but… I love you. Can we… start by being us again?" Brie took her sister by the hands in their first physical contact outside the ring in a month.
Through teary eyes, Nicole looked at her sister. "We… can never be us again." Nicole said and dropped her head. After a few seconds, she lifted it. "Not after I do this." Nicole leaned forward and pressed her lips to Brie's. With tears still streaming, the two women shared the single most intimate kiss they had ever shared. After a few moments, they broke the kiss. Brie cradled Nicole's head as they touched foreheads and began softly laughing and sniffing their tears.
"We've got some stuff to figure out." Brie said.
"Yeah, we do." Nicole said with a smile.
"And… I also have something that I need to tell you."
"If you tell me we have a love child together, I'm choking you again." Nicole said causing Brie to bust out laughing.
"No. It's something…" Brie looked at the look of pure love in Nicole's eyes. "Something that will keep until tomorrow. I promise."
"Okay." Nicole said in a voice as soft and innocent as Brie ever remembered hearing from her sister. "Should we tell Layla that we're all good?"
"Yeah." Brie said as she stood up and pulled her sister to her feet. They walked over to the trailer door and banged on it several times.
"LAY?!" The sisters said in unison.
"I'm right here!"
"We're okay now." Brie said. "We swear."
"Yeah, Lay. We kissed and made up… literally." Nicole said.
"Aww! That's so… wait. Literally?!"
Brie and Nicole snickered as they heard Layla hurriedly fumbling with the padlock to unlock it. Seconds later, Layla flung the door open.
"Literally?!" Layla asked.
"I know that you know what I knew we knew, so now we all know." Nicole said. "We admitted our feelings to each other. And thank you, for whatever it is you said to her." Brie looked at Nicole with a funny look. "Yeah, the conversation you had with someone that brought all this stuff up. I will give you my Chanel purse if I'm wrong."
"Guilty." Layla said.
"There is also a piece of this puzzle that's missing…" Nicole started before looking at Brie. "That I will be told about tomorrow. For now, me and my BFF are going to get ready for our match." Nicole started to lead Brie by the hand out of the trailer when Brie stopped them.
"Hang on Nikki." Brie said. She then turned to Layla, cupped her face and delivered a long, deep kiss. Nicole furrowed her brow in concentrated interest. A moment later, Brie broke the kiss. "Thanks Boss."
"You got it." Layla said following that with a cute salute.
"That was definitely the tip to a much larger iceberg." Nicole said. "First thing in the morning, Brianna…" Nicole then lapsed into her best Ricky Ricardo accent. "You got some 'splainin' to do."
"Yes I do." Brie winked at Layla, then allowed Nicole to lead her away from the trailer, toward their dressing room.
As Layla watched them walk away, she smiled, shook her head and started singing the hook to Sade's number one hit.
There's a quiet storm
And it never felt like this before
There's a quiet storm
That is you
There's a quiet storm
And it never felt this hot before
Giving me something that's taboo
(Sometimes I think you're just too good for me)
You give me the sweetest taboo
That's why I'm in love with you (with you)
You give me the sweetest taboo
Too good for me
The title of the chapter, Sade Ain't Never Lied. Does it make sense now? The Sweetest Taboo. Nicole and Brie. I know, I know. Where is "the scene" you promised us? It's coming. It just didn't feel right in this chapter. At some point before this story is over, it will be right. Okay, so there is a bunch of stuff going on in WWE, in TNA; The Inner Circle, The Diamond Exchange. I hope I'm not bouncing around too much and that you can follow it. I promise that I have an endgame in mind for both groups in this story. But we're not there yet. We will head back to TNA but first in chapter 12, we will visit the ladies of NXT and see what they are up to. Sasha is the ringleader of the unnamed NXT branch of The Inner Circle and she alluded in chapter 8 to the fact she and Paige have hooked up before. Will they again? Who will Sasha's first NXT target be? So many Divas and Knockouts, so little time. By the way, I am letting you know now that there are some Divas and Knockouts that you won't see or only see in cameos in this story. But that guarantees that there will be a third story in my Diva trilogy. Here we go. But before we do…
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