It became a habit for Dean and Renee to secretly meet after his matches. Sometimes they met even before he went inside the ring, but those moments were quiet rare. This was for a simple reason; he needed to focus, and Renee's presence was distracting. And although he was fine with improvising, the management had mixed feelings and preferred him being professional. Therefore no romantic escapes before the show. But once he was done, nobody could tell him what to do. And it seemed appropriate to him to be rewarded after an excellent performance.
Although the two weren't very careful with hiding their relationship, not that it was ever their intention, it was still a secret. They didn't care about public opinion on them being a couple, but also it was not important for anybody to know. When people find out, they find out. Neither Renee nor Dean made a big deal out of it.
Of course it was a big deal for them. It was new and unexpected. Few months ago they wouldn't think of this happening. Although, but they didn't admit this to each other, on quite a few occasions they had some sexual thoughts about one another. Now all of it was true. And it seemed surprisingly easy. They didn't judge the rightness of their relationship; it didn't matter. Maybe it wouldn't make sense to some, but who cared? It made sense to them. And it made them happy.
So as usual, after Dean played his part in the show, he left his teammates and started his typical search for his girlfriend. He didn't say anything to anybody; he didn't need to explain to anybody what he was doing. Also, he couldn't waste time which he could spend with her instead. She became his priority; everything else could wait.
Meanwhile Seth and Roman headed to the cloakroom. They were done for the day. An idea of a break was attractive. They could finally get to relax. For how much they loved wrestling and working for WWE, it took almost all their time. But they had no reason to complain; they were definitely among the company's stars at the moment. And it wasn't going to change anytime soon.
They found the room empty, although they could hear somebody taking a shower. Before following the same path, they wanted to get some water. Roman grabbed a bottle but instead of drinking the water, he poured it over him. He shook his head to get it out his hair. Then he took a sip. When Seth was done drinking, he opened the locker to get his phone and checked the missed calls. There were some, but none was urgent.
They didn't notice when the water in the bathroom stopped running; but suddenly Big E walked passed them.
"Hey," he said. "Done for the day?" he asked as he approached the locker with his clothes.
"Yep," Roman answered him. "We're going to the bar after we get ready, you wanna join us?"
"We are?" Seth asked confused. He didn't recall them setting on going to the bar afterwards. But he assumed that it was probable that it was Roman's spontaneous idea rather than that he had mentioned it before and Seth wasn't listening.
"Sounds great," Big E responded.
"Cool. Give us ten minutes. We can meet outside."
Roman grabbed a towel and headed to the shower. Seth was right behind him. He just needed to send out one text message.
When Roman heard him joining in the next shower unit, he started a conversation. "Is Dean coming too?"
"I didn't even know I was coming," Seth shouted to be heard in the noise of running water.
"But you are, right?" Roman didn't even think of possibility of Seth not going. He didn't discuss the program with him beforehand, but he knew Seth's schedule and that he didn't have other plans. So if he was now to say he wouldn't go get a drink with him, it would be considered unreasonable by Roman.
"Sure, why not," Seth said.
"And Dean? Where is he anyway?" he added a supplementary question. He hasn't really thought before where he went. He didn't even notice he was gone, to be honest. But he still didn't give it much importance. Washing his hair took more of his attention.
Seth casually answered his question, "I guess he's with Renee."
"Renee?" Roman wondered. "Did I miss something?"
"Yeah. But I believe I know as little as you."
"What's going on with them?" Roman wanted to know.
"My question exactly. . . . Still haven't got an answer, though."
"Explain me that."
"Dean doesn't want to tell me what their "current status" is. Well, he said something, but I highly doubt that it was true."
"Why? Is he mad at you or something?"
Seth shook his head, although Roman had no chance to see it. Then he used words to express his disillusionment. "I did nothing to him. I have no idea why he doesn't want to tell me."
"Yeah. He's keeping his personal life to himself; such an asshole," Roman said ironically. But he doubted that was the reason. "I bet he's doing it just to piss you off. He's pure evil," he said but smiled subsequently. He wondered what it would be like to be in Dean's head. Either a lot of fun or it would make you want to kill yourself. But it could be interesting to see what he was thinking, and even more to finally understand his reasons. Anyway, Roman considered Dean's actions hilarious. At least most of the time. Although sometimes he went with the games he played with Seth too far. Roman hoped this wouldn't be the case. "Have you thought of asking Renee?" Roman suggested.
"Of course I asked her. But she's on Dean's side now. She won't tell me anything unless she gets permission from Dean."
"Now I'm really curious," Roman said as he stopped the water and stepped out of the shower. "You have really no idea if something happened between them?"
"I don't know. I'm not even sure I care anymore," Seth admitted resignedly.
"No wonder Dean always wins when you give up that easily."
"Why don't you try to get that information out of him?"
"I will," Roman accepted the challenge. "Man, I didn't even know he was single again. What happened with that other girl?" Roman totally forgot about Dean's previous relationship. He couldn't even remember what her name was.
"I'm not really sure; Dean didn't say much. I know there was the Renee thing. . . . Oh," Seth remembered, "and she got a job offer in Vegas."
"Hm, so was that a good or bad thing?"
"Since they're not together anymore, I guess Dean wasn't too happy about it. I talked to him back then. He said he wasn't ready or something, that it was too soon for them to be so close to each other."
"So he dumbed his girlfriend because he wasn't comfortable with her being close to him for those few days that he spends at home; and he replaced her with somebody who he works with, therefore spends most of the time with? That . . . makes sense," Roman said confused.
"Hey, don't question Dean's logic. I'm sure not even he knows what he's doing. But it makes sense in some way. He can go home knowing there isn't somebody who puts you under pressure of nonstop presence. I mean, you go home to relax, not to be stressed out."
"Your girlfriend must be a lucky girl."
"I didn't say I feel that way," Seth defended himself. "And yes, she is. Look, all I'm saying is that Dean has his reasons. They don't always make sense, but as far as I'm concern, I'm glad he's with Renee."
"I thought you didn't know whether they were dating."
"I still don't. But I start to believe they are in a relationship. Think about it. If they weren't, and it bothered him, he wouldn't talk about it. Yet he does; although rarely. And, for Christ's sake, they kissed in front of me!"
Roman didn't know how to react to that information since it was the first time he heard of them kissing. And Seth was there? That just sounded odd. But then again, he wasn't here.
"I don't think Renee's a kind of girl who would just mess around with her coworkers. And if I'm correct in my hypothesis," Said added a "big word" to make him sound more important, "the fact they really are together is what gives him the confidence to lie to me. If they weren't together, he would be honest; he's not so they are a couple."
"God, Seth!" exclaimed Roman. "You have way too much free time. Now I get why they don't tell you the truth. You're digging too much into it. I'm sure they don't think about it as much as you do."
"But . . ." Seth wanted to say something clever in his defense, but it was time for him to realize the truth. He was acting as if it his relationship. That had to stop. Sure he was curious, but that didn't justify his breaking into their privacy.
"Just . . . leave it, okay? Look, I'll ask Renee, and then I'll let you know. But that's it. It's their life and it's their decision if they want people to know or not."
Seth accepted Roman's instructions. But he hoped Roman would get that information out of Renee. Sure, it wasn't crucial for him to know about their relationship, but he couldn't just let it go, not knowing the truth. Seth was determined to let them live their life, but only when he knows what's going on.
But while Seth was still thinking about them, Roman had already moved on to the unrelated topic. He spoke enthusiastically, "Would you believe what happened last night? I went on YouTube and there was a recommended video of me doing some sweet Superman punches to the song Kryptonite. How cool is that?" He was saying it as if it was the best thing ever.
"You know that those recommendations are based on you search history, right?" wanted to make sure.
"Hmm . . ." Roman seemed not to realize that.
"Dude, what do you watch there? Videos of you?" Seth asked with unhidden judgment.
"Hey, like you never do that."
"For research purposes," Seth hoped to justify his actions.
"Right. That's why you watched that jump you did at Extreme Rules at least twenty times." Roman shook his head. They both knew they didn't watch videos of themselves only to see what they did wrong and how they can improve their moves in the future. They could admire, too. Who was to judge them appreciating their well-executed moves?