It was Monday Night Raw; the Raw two weeks before Battleground, and skipping happily through the halls in the back of the arena was a young woman who held a great piece of importance around her waist; the Diva Championship belt. And holder of that title was AJ Lee. With a happy smile on her face and a swing in her skip, she seemed to nod in acknowledgement at everyone her eyes locked on. But as she turned a corner, her smile dropped and she nearly froze in her tracks. With one more small bounce, she gently smiled at the girl who stood before her; Alicia Fox.
"Hey, there, Alicia!" AJ sneered faintly as she tilted her head to the left, her hands dropping down behind her back with her fingers rolling across her belt's black strap. "So…how's it going?"
"Hehe, nothing really." Alicia rolled her eyes up as she leaned to the side, her left hand dropping to her hip. "I was just wondering about who I was going to wrestle against tonight…"
"Sounds like an interesting thought process. I'll leave you to that." AJ nodded slightly, with a somewhat fast-paced speech, before skipping around Alicia, only to be grabbed by the arm and turned back around.
"Heh…you misunderstand me, sweetie." Alicia whispered slightly as she lowered her head down a bit. As AJ snapped her arm back with a small scowl, Alicia laughed teasingly. "You see…I haven't gotten a chance to face you for a while, now that you and Paige have a title match at Battleground."
"So?" AJ huffed with a tinge of not caring.
"Haha! So I asked Stephanie McMahon to put me in a match against you later tonight."
"Of course you did, my little princess!" AJ twittered as she patted Alicia's head with her right hand. As she placed her hand back behind herself and shifted her head to the right, Alicia rolled her eyes at her.
"Yes…anyways…get ready, AJ! 'Cause it is after the match between Dean and Seth." Alicia laughed.
"Which is obviously now…" AJ drawled with a small grumble and a raise of an eyebrow.
Alicia laughed casually as she threw her head to the ceiling. She then chuckled softly as she rubbed her eyes and nodded slowly at AJ. "Of course. Why not?"
AJ grinned thankfully with a small snicker as she bounced again. "Well, then, Alicia…I will go and get ready for our match. Thanks for telling me." She beamed before turning on her heels. But as she took a few skips down the hall, Alicia laughed mischievously, which made AJ stop.
She gazed over her shoulder back at Alicia who clasped her hands together before nodding gradually. "Be sure to bring a friend…because it's a tag team match."
"Oh? Well, I'll just find Paige then."
"No can do, Cupcake. Paige isn't here tonight." Alicia inferred with a tilt of her head.
"…Then Naomi. She seems to like me, now." AJ decided with a faint smile as she rolled her left foot against the ground.
"Can't! She already had a match with Eva Marie. And got beaten pretty bad…" Alicia replied with a roll of her shoulders and a hidden evil smirk.
"T-Then…Nikki?" AJ stuttered fearfully.
"Pff…she's taking a couple of weeks off from the WWE. You know…with all of the punishment she's been getting from Steph because of her sis." Alicia waved her hand in the air carelessly as she leaned on one leg and eyed the ceiling.
"Then who will be my partner? No one else likes me!" AJ retorted as she threw her arms into the air before dropping them back at her sides.
Alicia giggled. "I guess you'll have to go about it alone…" She droned as she shrugged her left shoulder at her before spinning around and skipping her own skip the opposite way AJ was going to go.
AJ Lee glared, baring her teeth slightly, as she finally figured out this was a trap set by Alicia. Probably to get Fox an easy ticket to a title shot at AJ's belt. AJ's eyes dropped to the floor as she shook her head aggressively in anger to this set-up. "How in the world am I going to turn this to my favor?" She mused quietly. "Hmm…I guess I can try to persuade Natalya to-no…I know just the girl to help me…" AJ laughed quietly with a harsh smile. She then laughed gently as she jumped an inch into the air before circling around and continuing to skip off in the direction of the dressing rooms.
As she turned the first corner to the right, she gave a startled gasp as she stumbled forward a few feet, desperate to halt herself before she made contact with the person she encountered. It was of no use though as she basically crashed into the man, sending him onto the floor. Luckily, AJ had firm balance even with such a surprise, so she remained on her feet. She blinked a couple of times before giggling and hiding her hands behind her back as she looked down at the man she knocked into.
"I am so sorry, Ziggy!" She snickered deeply as she bent forward slightly, turning her gaze down onto Dolph Ziggler, who shook his head to shake away the temporary confusion.
At the sound of AJ's familiar voice, Dolph looked up at her with a pleased smile. "Well, hello, AJ. Any chance you can help my up?" He asked with a small grin.
"Hmmm…nope." She replied with a long 'n' sound. "Why would I, anyways?"
Ziggler huffed lightly with a twitch of a smile. "Maybe because you knocked me down to begin with."
"Hmm…I don't remember that." She grinned teasingly, turning her head to the side a bit and staring up at the ceiling as if she was actually trying to remember something she clearly didn't forget about.
Dolph rolled his eyes in a half circle before shaking his head and uttering a small laugh that sounded more like a gentle cough. "Fine…" He breathed out before placing his hands down against the floor and pushing himself back to his feet. He looked down at his hands and grunted softly, seeing them a bit red from catching his fall with them. As he rubbed them together to try to ease the little pain he had, he smiled back up at AJ. "So what you hopping around and bumping into guys for? Trying to catch another man to be your 'friend'?" He held up both pointer fingers, giving quotation marks around the word friend.
AJ rolled her eyes in slight disgust. "You know I'm married now, Dolph…"
"Come on. You know I am only messing with you." He chuckled in such a friendly way that he hoped AJ wouldn't smack his head back onto the floor. But as she chuckled along, Dolph gave a slight sigh of relief. "…But seriously, what's the hurry? I mean, I know your whole form of transportation is skipping, but you seem to be bouncing off the walls compared to your usual pace."
"I turned one corner according to what you know. How can you tell I'm in a hurry?" She titled her head in honest confusion.
"Please…I know you all too well." Ziggler proclaimed with a slight smile. But as AJ raised an eyebrow and didn't make any additional movement, Dolph bit his lower lip gently before turning his head towards his feet. "An educated guess, maybe…?" He seemed to question himself.
"That's more like it." AJ whispered. She then giggled kindly as she twisted her body to the side, making her hip curve to the left as her fingers gripped the belt strap lightly. "Anywho…I guess I am sort of in a hurry. Alicia put me in a match against her…" She mumbled in a distasteful way.
Dolph seemed confused by this and turned his head to the side a bit, his eyes still focused on her. "Why is that a problem? I thought you loved wrestling against people like her."
"That isn't the problem…" She groaned as she titled her head to be nearly horizontal with her shoulders. She sighed in irritation as she ran her right hand through her hair, her fingers rubbing delicately against her scalp. "She put me in a tag team match in hopes of throwing me off and coming alone…since there isn't anyone here right now who likes me enough to help me."
"Oh. So…what are you going to do?" Ziggler asked, dropping his hands to his sides as he narrowed his eyes, as if deeply concerned.
"Why do you care?" AJ asked in a retorted manner, giving Dolph an annoyed stare.
Ziggler took in a short but deep breath before sighing lightly and shaking his head in the direction of the floor. "I know what I did to you, AJ…but I still care about you. Please don't blame what I did on me…" He then gasped worryingly before shaking his head in a bit more fearful way. "No, no! I didn't mean it that way! I meant-"
"Ziggy, calm down! I am just playing with you!" She giggled as she gripped her belt with one hand and teasingly pushed Dolph's shoulder with the other. As Dolph chuckled embarrassingly, AJ giggled before tilting her head at the wall to a nearby clock. "I am pretty sure Ambrose and Rollins' match is almost over. Unless they are taking forever like always…"
"Probably are." Dolph chuckled as he positioned his left hand on his hip and ran his other one through his blonde hair.
AJ gave a deep but inaudible laugh as she swung a little from side to side before leaning onto one leg and smiling kindly up at Dolph. "…I should get ready for my match. I'll check up on you later, Dolph!" She nodded to him before stepping around Ziggler and skipping off.
"Wait!" Dolph shouted, making AJ pause and look back at him. And although she was practically at the end of the hall, Dolph continued to talk to her from where he was. "You didn't tell me what you were going to do with this Alicia problem!"
"Don't worry! You'll know soon enough!" She laughed confidently before turning back around, her long, black hair flipping behind her gracefully as she continued to skip down the hall before turning the corner to all the rooms of the Diva's.
As she reached the door to her dressing room, she grabbed the handle and opened it before slipping in and closing it behind her. She looked around for a few seconds before skipping to her average sized, black couch that she had marked with her white spider web and pink spider logo. As she sat down on it and crossed one leg over the other, she loosened her title strap and pulled it up in front of her face. She stared at the design on it and seemed to grow a fiercer smile as her eyes locked onto what was carved into her belt; 'AJ Lee', which showed her ownership of this significant entitlement to greatness.
She slanted her head to the side once more as she placed her title next to her then reached down to her small, black bag that was neatly decorated with white specks and pink swirls and hearts. She unbuttoned a pocket that rested on the front of her bag and, without difficulty, grabbed out a black and pink Nokia Oro. She clicked on contacts then scrolled down to a name that said 'The Dealer'. She smiled innocently with a silent laugh as she pushed down on that name and held her phone up to her left ear. As she pulled her hair back over her right shoulder, she leaned into her phone a bit more as it began to ring on the other side. She moved her eyes up to the ceiling as it continued to ring, but as the ringing ceased, she uttered a joyful gasp.
"Oh, you answered!" She chuckled excitedly. As she rolled her thumb against the phone and twirled a piece of hair with her other hand, she listened to her friend, almost impatiently. She then let out an offended gasp, which was clearly in a teasing way. "Do you honestly expect me to expect you to always answer your phone?" She blinked a few times before giggling. "You can't say you always have your phone with you when you only answer it, like, five percent of the time!" She then rolled her eyes. "Okay, ten percent. …Fine! Twelve percent, but that is my final offer. I'm being very generous to you, right now." She laughed as she got up from her seat and began to walk around her room as she continued to talk to her friend. "…Listen, I got a favor to ask of you." She nodded a few times before smiling happily. "Oh? You are? That's perfect!" She paced around for a few seconds before walking back in front of her couch and tilting her head to the side her phone was. "Oh, yes. Trust me…just get down to the area behind the stage as quick as you can. I'll explain everything to you then. And surely…you're going to have a blast."