Hi friends! I know it's been a superlongwhile but my life has been so hectic. Thanks for sticking with this and THANK YOU to everyone who has reviewed so far. The more reviews I get, the easier it is to keep this story going…

Again, a ton has happened on TV with Maryse and Punk lately, but I'm still pretending that he has hair and she isn't the host of NXT…

Disclaimer: I don't own the WWE or the people in it.

Chapter 9

Euphoric. That was the only way to describe the way Phil felt with Maryse's hand in his. They stayed blissfully connected from when they left the car until they got to the back door of the arena. Punk felt an almost-unbearable tug in his heart as their hands split and their plan took action.

As they had discussed earlier, Maryse and the bearded superstar would act like they just happened to arrive at the arena simultaneously so as to not cause a scene. He would chat innocently with the blonde beauty all the way to her locker room, and then keep his phone with him throughout the rest of the evening in case she needed him for anything. The second Phil flung the back doors open, Maryse initiated the phony conversation.

"Yes, I've always liked coming to Kansas City," she said casually. Phil had to bite his lip ring to control the giggles he felt coming because of this silly chat. Her mischievous eyes caught his and she covered her mouth to stifle her own laugh.

Ugh. He thought. I really am terrible at this whole "small talk" thing. I'm not a very good liar either, so this should be a real shitshow…

"Oh, me too," Punk replied, over-emphasizing his words and using a slightly louder voice than normal. "It is a beautiful city and I love being here."

This time, the French Canadian couldn't control herself, and she let out a giant cackle in the middle of the hallway. The noise caught the attention of several people who began eyeing the pair curiously. Not wanting their interaction to look too suspicious, Punk joined in with an overly-enthusiastic laugh of his own.

"Oh Maryse," he began nervously. "You just tell the funniest jokes…"

All this sentence accomplished, though, was making Maryse laugh even harder. Luckily for both of them, they had arrived outside the Divas' changing area. He turned to her, trying to make it look casual and waved a small goodbye. Her cute giggles stopped and her face slowly changed from happiness to fear. He lingered just long enough to make sure she caught him wink, letting the gorgeous diva know that he would be there for her.

"Bye punkie," She said, trying to regain her composure. "I'm sure I'll see you around."

With that, Maryse disappeared behind the locker room door in a flash of platinum hair and Punk retreated down the hallway to prepare for the rest of the evening.

Phil opened the door to the changing room he shared with the other superstars and was greeted by curious stares and awkward, sudden silence. They had obviously just been talking about him. He tried to ignore the eyes on him and made his way back to the corner of the room, dropping his bag next to the farthest locker away from the huddled bunch of males. As expected, the raven-haired superstar didn't have to wait long for the other guys to start hurling questions his way.

"Hey, where you been this morning?" Kofi Kingston asked him. "We normally work out before shows together, but I couldn't get a hold of you man."

"Yeah, that makes two of us," Rey Mysterio started. "I tried calling you to talk about our match but you went MIA on me."

Punk kept his back to the crew, avoiding all eye contact with the guys that know him best. If they saw his face, they would see right through all of the bullshit he was about to sell…. He felt terrible that he hadn't contacted his closest friends this morning and he felt even worse that he had to lie to them.

"I'm so sorry I didn't call you guys. I just wanted to work out by myself this morning," he said, busying himself with the stuff in his bag and trying to remain calm.

Christian's voice popped up over the quiet murmurs as he secured his wrist tape on the other side of the locker room.

"Come to think of it," the veteran began. "I didn't see you wandering the hallways of the arena when I got here. You're always the first to arrive."

The heads of the curious crowd snapped from Christian back to Punk as if they were watching an intense tennis match. Phil's mind was working in overdrive and he knew this wasn't looking good…

"Well, I—"

"That's because he rode with Maryse to the arena."

SHIT. Punk turned slowly to see the cocky Cody Rhodes staring right at him as he leaned against one of the lockers. Rhodes waited for all of the eyes in the room to focus on him before he questioned Phil.

"I mean, that was who you walked in with, right?"

Well, so much for the plan… Phil thought. Time for Plan B: Just make stuff up and remember to tell Maryse later so that we can keep our story straight.

"Yeah, her car broke down so I offered her a lift," The tattooed superstar stated coolly. "That's also why I was a bit later than usual, Christian. But thanks for keeping tabs on me buddy. It's good to know that you've memorized my life patterns."

This was enough to raise a chuckle out of a few of the superstars and lighten the mood a bit in the locker room. Unfortunately, the light-heartedness was short lived as the brash 2nd-generation wrestler wasn't done interrogating Punk yet.

"And so that's why you had to hold her hand into the building?" Rhodes asked, knowing the reaction it would get from the Peanut Gallery.

Heads snapped right back to Punk, and Punk had about three seconds to think of a solid reply on the spot.

"One of her heels was like, broken or something," he muttered. He knew his face was red from embarrassment and nervousness. "I was just helping her walk…"

As if on cue, Christian innocently piped in.

"I will never understand how chicks can wear those things," the Canadian said. "They're sexy as hell, but they look like they would annihilate your feet."

With that, the room filled with chatter from the boys weighing the pros and cons of female footwear and Phil was able to breathe a sigh of relief. He owed Christian a steak dinner for the diversion he just created…

He finished changing quickly in the corner and began feeling pretty good about his cover-up as he replayed the conversation in his head. Phil felt good, that is, until his phone began to vibrate.

Looking down, he saw her name flash onto the screen and he quickly opened the text Maryse had sent him. His heart dropped to the ground when just one word came up: Help.

Phil immediately surveyed the area, mind churning and came upon another disturbing realization. The Miz was nowhere to be found.

That was all the proof Punk needed. The bearded superstar grabbed his phone and tore out of the lockerroom as fast as possible, hoping that he would be able to find the source of all of his happiness before it was too late.

Ok, I promise to update again soon, but please REVIEW to let me know if what you like and don't like so far.

Also, someone asked if I would do story requests. I've never really thought about it, but I would be willing to give it a shot! If you have one, leave it in the comments, and I will message you to talk about it