Chapter 19: Kaitlyn and the Better Option

One of Eve Torres's most irritating qualities, in Kaitlyn Bonin's humble opinion, was her power of persuasion. She did not hesitate to remind her of this as she walked with her into Believers for the first time ever.

"I don't get why you're so crabby," Eve said as she gave a polite hello to the receptionist. "You love working out; with how good this gym is it should be your favourite place in the world. Besides, me and Maria love it. And when Kelly came down here the other day she said the same thing..."

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, and I'm sure the gorgeous Samoan who owns this place isn't skewing your opinion at all."

Eve gave her a sideways look but Kaitlyn shrugged.

"You know it's true!"

"Whatever. But the point is you've been hiding from the world since Saturday night. It's time for you to do something productive."

"Thanks, mom."

"Come on," Eve urged, grabbing Kaitlyn by the arm and heading towards the main gyms. "My class isn't for another couple of hours so let's go get buff!"

Kaitlyn reluctantly followed her into a weights room but stopped, gaping open-mouthed, as she looked around. As Eve didn't hesitate to remind her, Kaitlyn was a fitness freak and the sight of the spacious, modern, well-equipped weights room made her beam in glee like a kid out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Eve smirked as she watched her facial expression change.

"Told you so."

Kaitlyn poked her tongue out at her and immediately headed over to one of the training stations, closely flanked by Eve. She was looking forward to a peaceful morning workout, but clearly Eve had other ideas.

"So..." the Latina said suddenly just as Kaitlyn took a seat at a weights bench. She rolled her eyes and shot Eve a death glare.

"How did I know you brought me here with an agenda in mind?"

"Kait! I don't have an agenda. I just thought it'd be nice to hang out, maybe catch up a little..."

"Catch up on what?"

Eve gave a shrug but continued staring intently at her friend.

"Look, Evie," Kaitlyn sighed. "I just do not want to talk about the party. There's absolutely nothing to say."

Eve raised her eyebrows, making Kaitlyn roll her eyes again.

"Everything about it was embarrassing," she continued. "I got totally wasted; made an ass of myself in front of Mike at his big fancy party; almost got into a fight with Ziggler and made Kelly cry. Oh, and not to mention that part where I puked on Dolph's shoes. Actually, now that I think about, that was pretty cool."

"It definitely was," Eve giggled. "But that's not the point. The point is Kelly's over it. She has no idea about what went down and I am not going to be the first to tell her."

"Are you suggesting that I should?"

Eve shrugged.

"You and I know better than anyone that secrets always find a way to come out."

Kaitlyn sighed and gave a nod of agreement. All throughout their conversation, the two women had continued their workout smoothly. Now, Eve had sat up from her weights so that she could look over at Kaitlyn with a frank expression, making the two-tone haired woman stop too.

"You can't keep running from all of this, Kait. You know there's a better option."

"I know there is."

And with that, Kaitlyn resumed her workout in silence. Eve knew better than to say anything else; and so she bit her lip and watched Kaitlyn nervously as she remained in a stony silence with a look of fierce concentration on her face.

"I've organized a little get together for Friday night," Eve piped up suddenly, trying to put some pep in her tone.

"Oh yeah?" Kaitlyn replied, although distantly.

"Yeah. Alicia and Kelly are bringing their men and Maria's somehow managed to get Punk to come – 'as a friend' of course."

"Who you are bringing?" Kaitlyn asked, now interested.

"Well, uh, I've been thinking of asking Roman."

"Sounds good."

"And you?"

Kaitlyn wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead and looked over at Eve, who had a hopeful grin on her face.

"I don't think I can make it Evie."

Eve frowned as she chugged down some water. "Why not?"

"Because I'm flying out to Iowa that day."

The deadpan tone in Kaitlyn's voice barely compared to the shock that had now spread across Eve's features.

"And how long are you going for?! Were you not going to tell us?"

"Uh," Kaitlyn gave a nervous giggle. "Not exactly. But now you know. I'm going for a couple of weeks."

Eve began to protest but eventually manage to take a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation. Kaitlyn looked over at her again, as if daring her to say what she knew she wanted to say. To her surprise, Eve simply began smiling and congratulated her on the good news.

"So that's your better option?"

Kaitlyn gave a smug smile and shrugged. Eve sighed and picked up a new set of weights. This had been one long ass week.

"I've gotta say, Kaitlyn; this is actually a pleasant surprise."

Kaitlyn gave Mike an unexpectedly bright grin as he welcomed her into his family home. It was no secret that the Mizanin family had more than enough money to spare; something that Kaitlyn was quickly reminded of as she was given a brief tour of their luxury Greenwich townhouse.

"The pool's usually a little bluer, but the pool boy's been off sick for a couple of weeks."

Kaitlyn snorted at the seriousness of Mike's tone, making her ask what the problem was.

"Nothing," she giggled, looking at the pictures surrounding her on the walls. "It's just that you really are still The Miz, even to this day."

He grinned sheepishly but shrugged it off.

"I guess I am."

He paused reflectively, smiling to himself as he offered Kaitlyn a seat at the kitchen table while he made coffee.

"How's my favourite girl gang doing after the party the other night?"

She sighed and fiddled with the bracelets on her wrist.

"According to Eve, Kelly's alright. I haven't spoken to her, but I'm not sure if I should say anything."

Mike nodded in understanding, coming back to the table with two mugs and taking the seat opposite Kaitlyn.

"She still doesn't know?"

For a moment, she looked up at him with earnest eyes debating with herself on how to respond to this. A million things were running through her mind, beginning with the calm question/statement:

"So you know, huh?"

He nodded, a guilty look in his eyes.

"Through Eve or Dolph?" Kaitlyn pressed on.

"Sort of both. Being friends with him and her boyfriend meant that I'd find out one way or another."

She nodded.

"Did you know that I knew?"

"I didn't back then," she took a spoon from the table and stirred her coffee calmly. "But after this weekend I sort of figured it out.

Mike nodded again.

"I never told anyone," he assured her. For a moment she wasn't sure of whether or not to believe him, but something about the look of earnest in his expression made it easier to do so.

"How much do you know?"

He sighed, clearly not wanting to delve too deeply into her personal issues. Kaitlyn, however, had other plans and urged him to go on.

"I know that you... slept with Dolph," he said finally after much hesitation. "When him and Kelly were on a break."

"At homecoming," she added, although the glazed over look in her eyes made it seem like this was more for her own benefit. She remained silent in thought and then let out a scoff. "God, I was such an idiot."

"Forgive me if I'm crossing any lines here, but did you have feelings for him?"

"I loved him," she said with a matter-of-fact tone. "I loved him since Junior High and he knew."

Mike raised his eyebrows and let out a low whistle.

"I had no idea."

"No, I don't think anyone did," she scoffed again. "Well, no one except me, him and Eve."

"Why Eve?"

She shrugged.

"You know Eve. She's always been the den mother of our group. She's a loyal friend but she notices everything. She saw one interaction between us back in the ninth grade and she figured it out. I made her promise to never say a word to anyone, not even when he ended up hooking up with Kelly or when we... Whatever."

Mike sighed and sat back, trying to process all of this new information.

"We all went through some shit back in those days, didn't we?"

"We still are," Kaitlyn added glumly, staring into her coffee mug.

"Why didn't anything ever happen between the two of you? Well, except the... y'know. All those years and you never became anything more?"

"I don't know if you remember this, but me and Dolph were really good friends back in Junior High," she began, wrapping her hands around her mug. "We both did track together for years and our moms would sometimes hang out, stuff like that. He was so nice back then. We'd talk, we'd hang out, we'd joke around. But I guess he just saw me as one of the guys; like a little sister. I mean, considering how late of a bloomer I was, not too surprising, right? Then high school happened and he became the big, popular jock, friends with all the cool kids, and he wanted nothing to do with me. He loved all the attention he got from the hot girls, so why would he slum it with me? Our friendship fell off the map and we both got on with our lives. I don't think we had one conversation once we hit high school. Then when he started dating Kelly..."

She laughed to herself, remembering the 'good old days'. "When he started dating Kelly, it was as if he never really knew me. I was just one of the best friends of his girlfriend, and apart from the usual niceties here and there, he never associated with me. I hated seeing him with her. For a while it was painful to watch, but then it became about her and protecting her. None of us liked him or trusted him, but what could we do? Kelly was in love and he was helping her come out of her shell and become more confident. Then the nerve of that asshole to spend homecoming night crying on my shoulder about Kelly finding out about him hooking up with Nikki Bella and dumping his ass."

"Junior year, huh?" Mike joked lightly, remembering the end of his own relationship with Eve in the same year.

Kaitlyn shook her head with a sigh. "Why were guys so awful back then? After watching all of that happen with my friends I swore I'd never fall into that trap. But of course, I did. And golden boy Dolph Ziggler got his one night of pleasure before upping and leaving and acting like nothing happened. And crawling back to Kelly crying and begging only to get caught sleeping with Nikki... And then with the..."

She pressed her lips together, as if holding something back.

"Are you alright?" Mike asked quietly, reaching over the table to place a hand over hers.

"I don't even know why I'm here talking to you, of all people," she said, looking up again. "I guess I'm just sick of being a burden to my mom, and Eve, and other others..."

She sniffed, bowing her head to hide her embarrassment at the tears filling her eyes. Without another word, Mike rose slowly and grabbed some tissues.

"Thank you," she said quietly, still avoiding eye contact with him. "I've never forgiven myself for what I did to Kelly. When I found out I was pregnant she was the only person I could think about. How crazy is that?"

It took all of his energy for Mike to stop his jaw from dropping. He eyed Kaitlyn in shock, unsure of how to proceed. Finally he cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"You... what?"

Kaitlyn nodded and looked up through her tears, a small smile plastered on her face.

"Eve was still with you back then. She was supposed to be going to the Hamptons with you for your anniversary, but instead she drove me to the clinic. I was saving up for a new pair of running shoes but I had to put every penny towards the abortion. I never told my mom, I never told Kelly, I sure as hell never told Dolph. But now I guess I'm telling you."

A sober look was spread across Mike's features, taking away the usual animation and confidence that habited upon these same features. Kaitlyn's own face was stripped of any emotion and so was her tone.

"I'm not even mad at him," she said to finish. "I don't think I ever was. He's always just been a scapegoat for how awful I feel about myself."

Mike gulped, his eyes staring at the table before him.

"I-" he began but then stopped himself again. How could anyone even respond to that? Finally, he said: "And Eve just... she just went along with it, kept quiet, never said a word?"

Kaitlyn nodded.

"I just... wow." He once again sat back, speechless. "Kaitlyn... I'm so sorry this all happened to you. How the fuck are you dealing with all of this? How can you And have all of this going on and not having anyone suspect a thing? How could Dolph never even... God, he was such an asshole back then when it came to girls and protection..."

"Mike, it doesn't matter. Whatever happened, happened. That's the past now and that's the besides the point. What matters is trying to make things right while I still can. So, I want you to give this to Dolph."

She reached into her bag and handed Mike an envelope with Dolph's name written on the front in her scrawled handwriting. He looked down at it with a frown.

"Kaitlyn..."

"This is kinda sudden, but I'm going away for a little while... To Iowa, to see some friends. I don't think I should see him again and since he's moving out of Connecticut, I don't think I will. So just give him that and let him know how sorry I am for the other night."

Mike began to protest but Kaitlyn continued her pleading, forcing him to finally agree; reluctantly. After a quick and polite thank you, Mike followed her uneasily to his front door where she, to his (and her) surprise pulled him in for a hug before quickly rushing off to her car.

Chapter 20 approaches!

Questions:

So far, who are your favourite pairings? What pairings are you anticipating or hoping for? ;) And least favourite, for that matter!

Who's stories are you most hooked on?

What drama do you see unfolding?

What exactly is going to go down at Eve's big dinner?

What's next for the girls?