Cody stared at me with wide eyes as I revealed the reason Gwen had broken up with him. He adamantly denied that he had been carry around my underwear for four months. Until I accused him of sleeping with someone else, that is.
"To be one hundred percent honest with you, you keeping them isn't what's made me the most angry... That pisses me off... But what gets me them most is that you were dumb enough to. Jesus, Cody. What were you thinking?"
"You want me to answer that?" he asked with a sarcastic tone, but I nodded at him and told him that I did, "I wasn't thinking, Claire. I got to sleep with the one girl I've wanted to. What's there to think about?"
"You make it sound like a game." I told him bluntly, "That all you had to do was sleep with me."
"You know better than anyone that it wasn't just a game." He growled at me and I held up my hands in defence, "To be honest with you, I didn't even know they were in there. You know, again, better than everyone that my bags don't get completely emptied. I take out the clothes on top and throw 'em in the washer and the rest stays on the bottom until I need a new case."
I looked at him and grimaced, "That's disgusting. You probably have food that's 5 years old in that bag and my underwear was in there. Gross, Codes." I shoved his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down, and the roll of his eyes and the smirk on his face.
"What gets me the most is that you immediately took her side." He said after we had a few moments of silence, "I didn't even get a chance to plead my case. You just immediately assumed I was in the wrong."
"How long have you known me?"
"Twenty years?"
"And how good am I at judging faults?" I asked him and he shrugged at me, "I took your side for twenty years, Cody. You told me that you want me to stop babying you, that you're a man now and need to be treated as such. I never did the babying thing with Ted or Randy, so I never thought to take their side. I'm not allowed to baby you anymore, so your side is not the one that I'll take automatically. It's stupid and pathetic but that's just how I work. I love you, Codes. We've established that before, you are one of my favourite people in this world. You don't hate me no matter how much of a bitch I am and you have never stopped talking to me. You, sir, are my favourite person in the world."
"Wow, you just admitted that. Really? I always knew though." He said arrogantly and I had to lean over and hug him, "I've always got your back, Claire. Always."
"I know, thank you." I kissed his cheek and he kissed the top of my head. Footsteps gradually got closer to our secluded place in the hallway and I looked up to see Mike and Alex walking towards us. Mike had his eyebrow raised but Alex looked very uncaring.
"We're friends again." I told the two men and Mike seemed to understand instantly. "I have to go do some things for this show that you are all on." I said with a sad face, "You guys need to get ready."
Mike had to run off to grant a wish for the Make-A-Wish foundation, thus leaving Alex Riley pro-less for the evening. Mike joked that I should go out to the ring with him for his match against Kaval.
I watched Alex as he tried to pull his bag into the trunk of the car and noticed that it took a lot more effort than usual.
"Are you alright?" I asked curiously as I placed a light hand on his upper back.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" he shrugged my hand off and went to pick up another bag, wincing as he did so.
"You're struggling to lift up some bags. Did you hurt your back?" He put the bag into the trunk and closed it without answering me. I rolled my eyes behind his back and ran to the driver's seat before he could get there, "You can't drive if you can't even lift up a bag."
"I just tweaked my back, I'll be fine tomorrow." he grumbled but went to sit in the passenger's seat anyway.
"How bad does it hurt, Al- Kevin?"
"I probably strained a muscle; I'll be fine tomorrow – like I said." He told me again and I nodded while starting the car, "You can call me Alex, ya know."
"What?" I asked cluelessly as we turned onto the main road.
"You always go to call me Alex but stop yourself and call me Kevin. I have been known to answer to Alex."
"I actually hadn't even noticed that I do that... But I'll try to remember." I smiled at him for a split second before returning my eyes to the road. After five minutes of staying in the exact same spot I put my hands at the top of the steering wheel and rested my head on my arms. "Fucking traffic."
"What's the date today?" Alex asked randomly and I raised my eyebrow, telling him it as the sixteenth of June. "What are you doing for the Fourth of July?"
"Honestly, all I try and do is stay away from Ted. He tries to hit me with fucking cream pies." I grumbled as we kept inching forward in the car. "I'm French; I don't celebrate anything until the fourteenth of next month. Remind to ask Mike if he's coming to Quebec, will you?"
"You don't celebrate Independence Day?"
"Why would I? I'm not American." I shrugged, "Well, okay, technically I am because of the citizenship thing... But I feel about as American as escargot." I laughed along with him, "I won't say no to a party, but I don't make a big effort to wear those hats."
"You've been here for about 20 years though... How does that even work?"
"My parents didn't celebrate it, so I didn't celebrate it. We'd go over to the DiBiases' for their celebration, but we barely stayed for fireworks." I shrugged again, thanking the lord that the traffic was moving and I would be able to sleep.
As we finally pulled up to the hotel, I made an effort to help Alex with his bags to prevent his back from getting any worse and helped him to his room.
I reached my room and walked in to find Mike sleeping soundly on the bed even though it wasn't that late. I changed into my pyjamas and lay down beside him. I didn't really know what I could complain about.
a/n many thanks to Showni, Neurotic-Idealist, rachelisawesome and tvrox12 for kindly reviewing the last chapter! This chapter was pretty random... But whatever =] Also, I have some requests on my page if you want to check them out =] I love you all very much! And you should return the love by reviewing! lol