Good at Running Away

-April 11, 2014; Sedona, Arizona-

"This is probably the most beautiful wedding I've ever been to," Tessa said to Claudio as they walked towards into the reception room together. He had, just like at the Hall of Fame, become her impromptu date and she had been following him around since the ceremony.

"I can't say that I disagree."

Tessa, as she always did, held onto his bicep as they walked through the doors. She smiled at the simple decor and the beautiful flowers knowing that Brie had spent a lot of time working on every detail.

"I guess this is where we part," she smiled, looking down at the name tags on the table nearest the door. "I am needed over on the single ladies' table."

"Yeah, I think I'm expected at the bachelor's table over there," Claudio pointed to the other side of the room. "You're going to be okay?"

"Summer and I will have heaps of fun," she assured him, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "Thank you for keeping me company."

He smiled at her, "It's good to have you back, June."

Tessa walked over to Summer who was sitting alone at a table set for 6 people. Before sitting down beside the blonde, Tessa did a quick, discrete, lap of the table and made a face to Summer when she didn't recognise any of the names.

"Are you looking to hook up tonight?"

"I don't think there are many single people here at all," Summer answered, sounding slightly disappointed. "No wonder Nikki gets so upset about John not wanting to get married – when almost literally everyone else here is."

Tessa was only seconds away from asking, in jest, how Chuck would feel if Summer hooked up with anybody else but was quick to remind herself that that was not a topic she wanted to get on to.

They introduced themselves to Brie's other single friends but it wasn't long before they were immersed in their own conversation about their future storyline. At Extreme Rules Summer Rae would be getting a Divas title shot. To make it appropriate for the Extreme Rules card, Tamina, too, would be getting a shot. It didn't worry Tessa at all to be involved in a three-way match – in Japan's Ice Ribbon she had been Triangle Ribbon Champion, a belt that was only contested in three-way matches – but Summer was nervous, so Tessa spent a lot of time ensuring her that it would be okay.

While she was doing that, though, Tessa couldn't help but notice how much time Rami was spending talking with the band. She wouldn't have thought anything of it had it not been for most of the evening. No matter how much he loved music, the amount of time he had spent talking quietly with them between sets was more than enough to draw her attention.

"You want to dance?"

"A dance with the Champ? Of course," Tessa grinned up at Bryan who was holding his hand out to her. She took it and stood up, letting the groom guide her to the dance floor. "I'm so proud of you. How many times have you pinched yourself today? This week?"

"I haven't stopped," he said with a light laugh, taking her to the centre of the dance floor. They stood beside Brie and John Cena, and Bryan held onto her waist with one hand and used his other to hold her hand out. Tessa laughed at the awkward way he did so.

The song they danced to was neither slow nor fast, good for Bryan to dance in as silly a manner as possible. It was something she had come to expect for him, Bryan's dancing method was only to be as silly as possible so that no one knew that he had two left feet. For such a great professional wrestler he was a very uncoordinated man.

"If I'd been facing Brie," Tessa said during a break in the music, "I would have let her go over. Just so you two could rule together."

Bryan laughed, "You're one of a kind, aren't you, Tessa?"

"I try," Tessa smiled. It didn't matter if she was joking or not – she didn't even know – she just wanted to make sure that Bryan and Brie were happy and Bryan recognised it. "Thank you for, um, forgiving me? I guess? For being my friend again."

"I taught you how to do a proper surfboard, of course I'm your friend."

"You're my friend because back in 2005 – maybe even 2006 – you showed me a surfboard," Tessa laughed rather loudly. "Why does anyone ever say anything back about wrestling?"

In the past few weeks, since she started talking to Claudio again, she had really begun to feel at home in the WWE. The perfect mix of old friends and new was making her feel comfortable and welcomed, something she hadn't expected to feel after only a few months.

"Can I cut in?"

Tessa looked at Bryan with pleading eyes, hoping that he would sense her apprehension. His eyes showed he understood but he nodded nonetheless.

"Sure, man."

Bryan held Tessa's hand out to Rami. The second they touched Tessa closed her eyes and all her breath left her. Rami moved her hand to his shoulder and she shifted to rest on the back of his neck. Her other hand rested on his other shoulder, before she dropped her head onto it –facing away from him.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked quietly as Rami's arms settled around her waist. "This isn't fair."

He didn't say anything, just rested his check on the back of her head.

Tessa swallowed the lump that formed in her throat but another immediately took its place. She kept her eyes closed and tried to fight back the forming tears. As much as it was paining her to be as close to Rami as she was, Tessa never wanted him to let go. For the first time since she left she felt safe – she felt at home.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. She hadn't intended for him to hear her but when he nuzzled his head closer to hers she knew that he had.

Tessa, as soon as the song finished, lifted her head and stepped away. She felt Rami's arms drop from around her waist only to catch her wrist as she tried to leave.

"T-"

"I can't," she shook her head, keeping her back to him, causing her hair to fall in her face. She didn't bother to push it away; it was going to hide the heartache on her face. She pleaded with him, "Please."

He let go of her hand and she all but ran out of the building, turning a couple of corners so that she was out of everybody's sight. She sat down on a wooden bench, her hands on either side of her face as she tried to work out what has just happened.

"Holy shit, Tessa! You two look like you've been together for years!"

Tessa didn't look up when Summer appeared, sitting down beside her, only concentrating on her quivering lip.

"I can't do this," Tessa said with a sniffle. "I can't do this storyline with him. Not if I have to get close to him. I can't do it."

"Don't be silly," Summer chastised, turning to face Tessa properly. Tessa sighed and shrugged hopelessly. "If anything the chemistry between you two is going to make for great television."

"It's going to suck so bad."

"You should know by now that this business is filled with stuff that sucks so bad. Fandango's dancing, for example."

Tessa laughed despite herself and allowed Summer to pull her to her feet. They hugged before Summer directed her back into the building and told her that it wasn't something that should be getting her down.

Tessa made a beeline for Claudio and whacked his shoulder forcefully when she was beside him.

"What was that for?"

"You've all been conspiring against me!"

In between Rami talking to the band, he had been talking quietly to Bryan and Claudio – it didn't take much for her to decipher that they had been working together.

Claudio's shocked expression made her huff and pout.

"Why?" she asked with a small stomp of her foot. "That's so unfair."

"Because he wants to talk to you."

"I've been talking to him!" Tessa argued, her voice rising. "We talked twice on Monday and at Mania."

"But are you going to talk to him about what happened?"

"He slammed a door in my face," she all but spat at him. "And this is a wedding that is being filmed by people in cahoots with our bosses."

"If you're implying that you could have caused a scene – you two are the most passive people I've met. It was never going to end that way."

"He slammed a door in my face," she said again, it was a pathetic excuse and she was very aware of it. Her voice was soft and her head hanging. It was the only excuse she had.

Claudio sighed at her, "And that's the worst of it, Tessa. You need to forgive yourself."

Tessa hesitated, looked at him like she wanted to say something only to look at the ground and walk off slowly. She walked back to her seat and sat down in silence. When Nikki began walking towards her she tried to put on a convincing smile, it was clear that Nikki didn't buy it.

"You don't look like you're having too much fun."

"It completely slipped my mind that Bryan would have invited Rami," Tessa said with a sigh. "But I'm fine, really. What about you? Stressed out of your mind?"

"It's a lot less stressful now that it's happening, believe me," Nikki told her. "Everything has gone pretty flawlessly so that's all we could hope for."

"I'm glad to hear it." Tessa managed a genuine smile, happy to hear that the day was going as Brie had planned.

Tessa and Summer had decided to share a hotel room that night so that they could get a proper night's sleep before flying to Texas for a house show in Hidalgo.

"I really want to get married – like, tomorrow," Tessa said as they walked into their hotel room.

"Tell me about it! How gorgeous did she look and they were both so happy! Screw them, though, happily married and I can't get a guy to go on more than one date with me."

"I'll regret asking this but what happened to Chuck?"

"I think I got a bit too ahead of myself," Summer admitted sheepishly. "He's fantastic and all but my work schedule is dumb and his is also dumb and-"

"Who wants a relationship based on dumb?" Tessa finished after Summer paused to think. "I can't say that I'm not totally relieved. I love Chuck but not enough to have to hear you talk about him all the time."

Summer scoffed and launched a pillow at Tessa's head while her back was turned. It collided firmly, the surprise causing Tessa to lose her balance momentarily. She reached down to pick up the pillow and promptly threw it directly back at Summer who caught it and re-aimed.

A somewhat viscous game of catch started with each woman trying to one up the other with every throw, frequently causing each other to lose balance and let out some high pitched squeals when they felt like they were about to be hit directly in the face.

"Did you ever hear from Jimmy?" Summer asked, catching the pillow.

Tessa ducked as she answered, "He never called. This is probably a situation where I'm supposed to call him but why would I take that initiative?"

"I don't know why you're doing this to yourself," Summer said as she watched Tessa reach down to pick up their weapon but instead of throwing it again, she held it against her chest.

"Bummer," Tessa pouted. "I was hoping that you could explain it to me because I have no clue either."

"He doesn't hate you, you know?" Summer sat down cross-legged on the bed and smiled at Tessa. "Sami, that is. He's always happy to see you and he said that you looked really pretty today."

Tessa felt herself blush and she couldn't help but smile. She looked up at her friend and inhaled deeply.

"I want to," she said slowly. "I can't even begin to explain how badly I want to fix things but I am worried that he doesn't hate me. If he doesn't hate me then why did I leave? I really don't want to know that it was all for nought. Does that make sense?"

Summer nodded with a sigh. She reached out to Tessa who also reached out, letting her hand be squeezed by her friend.

"What're we going to do with you, T?"

a/n guys, writing is hard. Finding inspiration is hard but I'm doing my best and everyone who leaves feedback or even just alerts my stories helps me a lot. Thank you so much to bella315, CarolReigns, Imagineer1392, AeonBlue, UntilNeverDawns, ajroleplays, Straight Edge Queen and deanambooty for taking the time to review.