The weekend seems to crawl by. Everywhere she goes Ravyn is confronted by fans and paparazzi grilling her about the leaked videos. When they aren't questioning every detail of the movies they're snapping pictures and recording her every move. They're absolutely relentless, and she tries her hardest to keep AJ from getting involved or even seen with her. Taking great care in making sure they aren't caught on camera together. She finds herself wearing dark sunglasses and oversized hooded jackets everywhere they go so that he doesn't get dragged into the media frenzy.
Monday morning Ravyn gets back to her hotel room in Roanoke, Virginia after a quick workout at the hotel gym. She flops onto the bed and plays with her phone. AJ had left while she was at the gym to go do a meet and greet. With nothing else to do for the rest of the morning she hits the speed dial for her best friend and waits patiently as the phone rings a few times.
"Hola amiga!" JJ answers brightly.
"Hey friend... Can we get breakfast or something?" Ravyn's stomach grumbles.
JJ chuckles, "That might be kinda hard. Unless you figured out how to teleport hash browns across the country."
"Are you still in Mexico?" Ravyn groans. "I'm having the worst week of my life and my best friend isn't even here to help me wallow in my misery."
JJ is instantly worried, "What's going on friend?"
Ravyn struggles to figure out the right way to word everything that's happened over the last few days, "So.. Uhh..there were some videos leaked on Friday... From when Corey and I were together. He, of course, claims that he had nothing to do with this."
JJ is quiet for almost a full minute, "Umm... The kind of videos that I'm thinking of?"
"Exactly the kind of videos that you're thinking of," Ravyn confirms.
"Shit, why didn't you call me sooner?" JJ exclaims.
Ravyn sighs, "Between trying to put out that fire, endless meetings with the office and trying to keep AJ from killing Corey ... I assumes that you already knew. Then I'd remembered that you've been in Mexico.. It's been a really tough few days."
"I wish I was there. I really haven't been paying attention to social media this week," JJ admits. "God... Now I hate this trip even more. I want to be there with you."
"Are you going to be at Smackdown tomorrow? I have to have another meeting with Vince.. And Corey... And Seth," Ravyn pauses. "And I'd really just rather die than deal with this. I just won the fucking title... And now this."
"Yeah, we leave first thing in the morning," JJ tells her. "I'll find you the moment I get to the building."
Ravyn sighs, "That can't be soon enough. Having to be in the same room as Corey for more than five minutes makes me want to vomit. And I have a feeling this will be a long one."
"I would leave right now if I could, you know that right?" JJ asks hopefully.
"I know you would. You'd bring me potatoes and make everything better," Ravyn sighs. "I've been pulled from TV and all of the live shows for the next week or two until this is under control."
"This will blow over soon. These things never last long, people have short attention spans. Soon there will be a new scandal drawing the trolls out from their mother's basements," JJ advises wisely.
The girls chat a little longer about nothing in particular before hanging up. Both of them excited to see the other at Smackdown the next day.
Ravyn spends almost her entire Tuesday in meetings with Vince, Seth, Corey, Mark Carrano and the entire WWE legal team. The company has been feverishly trying to quell the excitement surrounding the videos while attempting to find the source of the leaks. By the time she gets out of the conference room 205 Live is about to go on the air. She sneaks down the hallway and slips into AJ's locker room. Steam pours out of the open bathroom door where AJ finishes up a shower. The faucet squeaks and the water ceases to fall. AJ emerges from the doorway with one towel wrapped around his waist and another drying his dripping hair.
"Let me get dressed and then we can get out of here," he tells her.
She smiles at him. Just taking a moment to really enjoy looking at him. His muscular chest smattered with dark hair. Biceps nearly popping from under soft skin. The fluffy white terry cloth hangs snugly just under his belly button. She finds herself biting her lip while gazing at his perfect abs. She has to tell herself to stop staring and look away.
"See something you like?" He smirks playfully.
She just grins and tosses a balled up T-shirt at him. He chuckles and tugs it on over his head with a cocky grin. He finishes up getting dressed and before long they're on a red eye to Atlanta.
The next two days seem to fly by for AJ and Ravyn. They spend every single moment together. For the first time in weeks Ravyn finally relaxes, completely comfortable at home with AJ just enjoying each other's company. Too quickly though they're back on a and headed for Odessa Texas.
When they touch down at the airport AJ kisses Ravyn before they step out into the main concourse. He goes to pick up a rental car while she heads to another gate to meet up with Tyler. The two of them had planned to grab lunch together before that evenings house show. She doesn't have to wait long before Tyler emerges from the tunnel where his plane is unloading. He smiles when he sees her in her huge oversized hoodie and dark sunglasses. The distance between them closes and she hugs him tightly.
"You doing okay?" He asks carefully.
She nods, "Doing better after a few days off away from the world. I'm starving though."
"Let's go get some food then!" He grins.
She follows Tyler to the car rental counter and soon they're pulling up to a local barbecue place. They luck out when the restaurant is almost completely empty. They grab a booth in a secluded corner of the dining room, quickly place an order and settle in to catching up.
"You haven't assaulted any photographers this week have you?" Tyler jokes.
"No," Ravyn snorts. "But that doesn't mean I haven't considered it. They've been exceptionally terrible this week. I've been trying to keep AJ and I a secret, and so far I think we've been pretty good about it. But if they keep up the way they have been its going to be impossible to hide much longer."
"Half of the roster doesn't even know that you guys are a thing," Tyler laughs. "Besides you can always just start traveling with us again."
She laughs, grateful to have such good friends. The two of them sit close at the far side of the circular booth. "You and J were always the best travel buddies," Ravyn recalls.
Tyler smiles, "She would be super upset knowing that we're having Texas barbecue for lunch."
"She can never know!" Ravyn laughs but quickly turns serious. "Speaking of JJ. Where has she been? We were supposed to hang out on Tuesday. I saw she had a TV spot..." Ravyn trails off sadly.
"Maybe you just missed her because you had meetings all day?" Tyler suggests.
"This has been the worst week of my life," she pauses. "And my best friend is nowhere to be found. That hurts."
He frowns, unsure of what to say, "I'm sure everything is fine."
Ravyn takes her phone out and checks for any social media updates from JJ over the last few days. "She's been completely radio silent on the Internet..." She scrolls a bit farther on Facebook. However we can find out 'Five facts about Ravyn Storm', see 'Ten pictures that WWE doesn't want you to see' and also an article entitled 'Why Ravyn Storm and Tyler Breeze are definitely dating'."
Tyler's eyes light up, "I love facts, lay em on me!"
She rolls her eyes and clicks the link to what's sure to be a ridiculous click bait site. "So the first fact is that JJ and I are friends in real life. My favorite food is potatoes. I used to show horses and sold my horse to pay for tuition at Storm Wrestling Academy... Once assaulted a photographer... And dated Corey Graves." She sighs, "And this lovely website makes sure to point out that there are videos of the adult nature out there for your viewing pleasure."
"Sorry," he grimaces. Quickly changing the subject he asks, "You had a horse?"
She nods, "Yeah I rode show jumpers as a junior. And I did, in fact, sell my horse to pay for wrestling school."
"Wow I had no idea!" He admits.
She shrugs, "Want to find out why we're dating?"
"This is bound to be good," he nods.
She clicks the link and starts to scroll through the gibberish that barely qualifies as an article. "So our romance started when we were training together at Lance's wrestling school. We took a break when we were in NXT. Oh, here's the picture of us from the club that night that all the drama started. Me joining Breezango was us getting back together. The rest of the article is just pictures of us together. Ones we posted to Instagram. And a bunch taken by fans or paparazzi... Kinda creepy actually."
"Just wait until they catch us rolling into the arena together today," he smirks. "That will just feed the fire."
Elimination Chamber weekend starts off with a photo of Ravyn leaking. Just a simple shot of her in a hotel mirror. Black high heeled boots, fishnets, a super short plaid skirt and a black button up shirt unbuttoned to expose her chest. One of the photos that she had sent to Corey when they were dating. Luckily the photo doesn't seem to cause quite the controversy as the videos had the week before.
The PPV goes by so quickly that Ravyn doesn't even get a chance to be upset about not being on the card. Arriving at JFK airport early Tuesday morning she wanders through the terminal waiting for AJ's flight to arrive. She browses the many shops that line the open hallway finally stopping in one that sells books and magazines. Someone nearby clears their throat but she doesn't turn to look at them. She can feel someone standing uncomfortably close to her. She takes a step away from them and they move right with her.
"I want you to know that my offer still stands. Having both of you at the same time would probably be the most fun she's ever had," she knows Corey's voice instantly, but doesn't react. "But of course if she's not interested.. I'll be glad to show you some new tricks. Maybe spice things up for you and that redneck you're fucking."