Ravyn tugs a kick pad down over her boot, sitting alone in the corner of the women's locker room while the other women chat. She looks absolutely beyond miserable as she shoves her other foot into her black leather wrestling boot. The girls from the baby face bus start to trickle in and JJ's eyes immediately find her best friend.
"You look like you spend the night in the slammer," JJ only half jokes.
Ravyn completely no sells her friends joke and looks up at the redhead forlornly, "I think AJ is rethinking our entire relationship."
"Are you serious?" JJ asks, all humor gone from her tone.
Ravyn nods, "We got in a huge fight at the hotel before coming here. He's sick of all the drama, and the roadblocks..." She stares at her boot, lacing it up slowly. "He asked if I just attract the drama or if I'm the cause of the drama.. I mean. He was almost arrested and the world thinks he's abusive now because of me."
"Damn," JJ struggles to find the right words. "Hopefully he will calm down with some time. This can't last forever. I would like to think that he wouldn't bail on you because of this... I thought he was better than that."
"I mean, I can't blame him. It's been one thing after the other. The leaks, Corey, almost getting arrested in a foreign country..." She pauses. "I'm probably going to stay with Tyler tonight."
"What about a girls night?" JJ suggests.
Ravyn sheepishly replies, "I... I don't want to kick Dolph out of his own room. That seems so unfair."
"He could probably use the space as well. He's not the happiest of people either right now," JJ tells her. "We can always just get our own room for the night."
"That would be really cool," Ravyn seems to brighten up a bit. "Pity party in our room. Maybe the boys will be less upset when we get to New Zealand tomorrow."
JJ sighs, "I hope so. I've been really looking forward to New Zealand."
"Worst case the Kansas-Canada Connection will just enjoy Hobbiton by ourselves. I don't want to let relationship snafus ruin what could be my only visit."
"Agreed. We hobbits can have fun by ourselves," JJ smiles. "It's been too long since we did something on our own."
Ravyn smiles for the first time all day, "You're right. We should celebrate us. Let's not let the guys tag in at all tonight and tear the fucking roof off of this place!"
"And then junk food, potatoes and booze! Oh my!" JJ giggles.
The girls exchange a quick high five before they continue getting ready for the show.
Girls night is a huge success. They travel to Queenstown, New Zealand the next day and what should have been a free day for sightseeing becomes a day filled to the brim with alcohol. Ravyn spends her first night in New Zealand with Gallows and Anderson at the hotel bar until Tyler finally drags her up to bed. Much to her relief they never even ask about AJ. One more night of binge drinking with the Hoots at the airport while the Raw roster prepares to fly back to the states for Monday's live TV and Smackdown goes on to Auckland. Saturday morning Tyler's alarm goes off early. She opens an eye and glares at him from under a pile of blankets. Her body protesting every part of being awake after consuming so much alcohol over the last few days.
He snickers, "Maybe if we didn't drink so much the last few days we wouldn't be so cranky." She flips him off and pulls the blanket over her head in an attempt to hide from the day. "Come one. We're meeting everyone in the lobby in an hour."
She groans and drags herself out of bed. She throws on a comfy hoodie and some dark jeans before adding a pair of sunglasses to hide her tired eyes. It's been four days since her fight with AJ. She'd spent almost every moment that she wasn't working drinking with Gallows and Anderson. They had barely even seen each other at the arenas. Her heart aches not knowing what he's thinking, or even if he cares that they haven't been together.
Tyler leads them down to the lobby where JJ, Dolph and Zack are waiting. They board a tour van and start their trip to Hobbiton. The girls laugh and joke together about finally getting to go to their homeland. The van takes them to one of the filming locations for Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. Hobbiton, the town small town where Bilbo and Frodo had lived in The Shire. They begin a private tour, laughing at taking pictures in every nook and cranny. The girls joke about second breakfasts and elevensies until a snack is located at the Inn. Tyler relentlessly makes fun of Zack as they exit through the gift shop where he can't control his excitement over exclusive Funko Pops.
The last show of the tour is over before they know it and they're back on a long flight home. A quiet day off and then they have Smackdown Live in San Francisco. Ravyn rides to the arena with Tyler and Dango and immediately drops her bag into the women's locker room. Having not seen AJ in almost a week she sets out to find him and figure out what exactly is going on between the two of them. She starts in catering, checks the ring and the production truck. He's nowhere to be found. She finds herself in a quiet hall far away from any activity, seemingly lost.
Hearing voices up ahead she rounds a corner hopefully. She freezes in her tracks when she sees the two faces staring back at her. Corey and Corbin. They start circling around her like sharks smelling blood.
"Hey Toots," Corbin snarls. "Finally come to see what you're missing?"
"Gross," she feigns gagging.
Corey steps up to her. He's so close that she can smell his subtle cologne, "Give us a few minutes and we can really make you gag."
"Is that how long it takes you to get it up these days?" Her sarcastic tongue bound to get her into trouble.
Corbin laughs, "That's cute. She's got jokes."
Corey is less than amused however. He pushes her backwards with his body. She panics as her back touches Corbin's chest. She tries to escape to the side, instead of a safe exit she feels two strong hands grip her shoulders and push her into the cold, unforgiving cement wall. Corey is all over her with the cockiest of smirks.
"Now that that hillbilly boyfriend dumped you you've got no excuse not to come back to me," his sinister eyes gleam with bad intentions. "We can start right now."
"Get off me Corey," she struggles under his vice like grip.
He slowly pins one arm above her head, followed by the other. He grips both of her small wrists with one hand, holding them fast to the wall. She wiggles desperately in an attempt to get free from him. He snickers at her struggle, his free hand caressing her cheek. He ignores her pleas for him to stop as his hand trails from her cheek, past her collarbone and then tracing a single finger down the center of her chest. Corbin laughs hungrily as he rubs his hands together watching Corey manhandle her. She attempts to knee Corey in the groin but he steps out of the way effortlessly. His hand has made it to the top of her belt buckle where two fingers rest just inside against the soft flesh of her stomach. She begs Corey to stop, but he has no intention of listening.
A blur of dark hair and purple fabric comes flying around the corner. Corbin catches a forearm to the back of the head and is sent flying into a production storage case. Fear flickers across Corey's eyes as he sees a fist coming straight for his jaw. Ravyn has never been so relieved to see AJ. Corey back pedals up the hallway holding his face. He turns to sneer at them while taunting them with the flash drive. He shouts a reminder that this isn't over before he and Corbin skitter off down a dark corridor.
AJ turns to Ravyn after making sure that they wouldn't be returning. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" he fires off a barrage of concerned questions. His hands on her arms holding her at a distance so he can look her over worriedly.
Shaken, she nods, "I'm okay."
As if that was the only thing he needed to hear he pulls her into what may be the tightest hug she's ever received. "I'm so sorry," he begins as he holds her against his chest. She breathes in his sweet clean smell trying to relax as he continues. "I was a real ass last week. You didn't deserve that... I was scared. Almost going to jail scared the shit out of me. And I regret the way I acted... I said a lot of things that I didn't mean. I'm sorry. Really and truly sorry. I love you. Please forgive me."
The sadness on his face tells a story of just how much their fight had hurt him. His soft sorrowful eyes melt her icy heart. She nods and buries her face into his chest, inhaling deeply, happy to be back where she knows she belongs. He takes her by the hand and they start to walk back to the more densely populated backstage area.
She can't help but smile as she gives him a quick once over, "That's a really nice shirt." He grins, proudly wearing his girlfriends first official t-shirt.