Quitters

All it takes is for a friend to be forward with you with the truth...

Phil Brooks took Daphne Consuelos back to Chicago the next night. He felt like this was the only way that he could catch up to her and really convince her that there are better things than the WWE for her. Daphne was twenty-four years old. She had spent the first half of her twenties trying to make a name for herself in the wrestling world. Now, he wanted to know if she knew who she was outside of the wrestling scene. Outside of the ring, the glitz and glamour of Total Divas. Phil wanted to know if she had substance within herself. When he had contacted his wife April Brooks about Daphne staying at their home, she was a little angry, but she knew deep inside that Phil would do nothing to hurt her. She only had a few rules that Daphne had to live by: she was not allowed in the bedroom and could not touch her collection of Chuck Taylor's and rare comic books that took her years to attain in her possession. It had been a month since she left the WWE and the wrestling dirt sheets have connected her leaving to CM Punk's walking out of the WWE.

It was September and out of all of her friends, she was able to get into hold with her boyfriend, Colby Lopez. She felt like he needed to know where her situation was and how she did not have the heart to go back to wrestling. Colby knew from the sound of her voice that she was really broken in the inside and needed to clear her head. This afternoon, Phil had managed to pull her out of bed as Daphne put on a pair of baggy and grey sweatpants and a white tank as the two of them went up his balcony, which they could see the streets of Chicago at. Phil gestured for her to take a seat across from him one the red couch, which he sat on the black single recliner couch that was his favorite chair to go to. Daphne could sense that Phil was going to go to one of his lectures and she was prepared for it.

"I'm not going to say that I told you so because it might be considered still a shock that it occurred to you. I want you to know that what happened with you at SummerSlam was something that isn't something that you can look at for a moment and then ignore. Breaking down in front of millions of people is not normal and most importantly, it is not professional at all. Your character and the human being side of you are two separate things and should not be morphed into one. Daphne, I know how you feel. You feel angry at the fact that you aren't the top star of your division and that you have not been champion. I know that feeling because that is what I felt in January. How you just snapped and reacted was something that I felt like doing because no one seemed to give a shit about me and how I felt. Daphne, perhaps what happened is a sign." Phil explained as Daphne looked at him, piercing her blue eyes through his hazel colored eyes that she could never tell if they were blue or green.

"A sign of what, Phil?" Daphne asked, feeling nervous about what will come out of his mouth.

"That you shouldn't be wrestling anymore. Being a professional wrestler requires you to have thick skin and to know how to manage your stress in the healthiest way. I remembered trying to teach you that, when you came to the main roster that you need to eat healthier foods that will not increase your stress. You seemed to be fine when I left, but have you been changing your eating habits and not eating your fruits and veggies?" Phil asked as Daphne sighed. Ever since Phil left, she had not been eating as well as she should. It is difficult to find a healthy meal on the road, when the most convenient food is fast food. Even though she avoided places like McDonalds, which did not stop her from going inside and having food that will help comfort her.

"I'm a wrestler. I can't find a single healthy restaurant to go into, when your boyfriend and Assbrose want to go to Wendy's and have a Baconator! I try to have their fruit salads, but it is not fulfilling to me anymore. No healthy food I tried made me happy anymore, so that's why over a cupped fruit, I went with French fries. I felt like it was escape from all the pressures that the WWE has placed on me. They want to build me up to become champion and then, they kick me to the curb for your wife, who has not earned a single damn thing in the company!" Daphne ranted as Phil shushed her, trying to get his friend to calm down, before the whole city of Chicago could hear her.

"Is some of your stress linked to April? I do not know what April did to deserve all of the hatred that you have been putting on her. Look, I know that she felt depressed, when I left, but her best friend was not with her and I left, how do you expect her to react to her feelings? You, Colby, Jon and everyone else gave up on her, when she needed a friend. April called me the Monday of the week of SummerSlam in tears that you told her that she was second best to me? When was I ever involved in the fucking conversation? I do not want to be brought into your petty and childish school girl fights. Daphne, you are twenty-four years old and you have a life ahead of you, but you broke down before the biggest push of your entire career. April is not to blame for that, but you are." Phil lectured her as Daphne felt like a little child, who was being scolded by her parent after she did something that she was not supposed to do.

"Your wife called me reality TV trash! How dare you stick up for her? When are you finally going to realize that April is not as sweet as you think she is? She told me that I was undeserving to become Divas Champion and that I sold myself to reality television! She brought up all of my insecurities, so I decided that I would get even with her and make her feel as bad as I did." Daphne ranted, trying to make a good point that April was not this sweet little angel that Phil thought of her as.

"April is not an angel, Daphne, but neither are you," Phil responded, "You need to know that there are other Divas that wanted to be champion as much as you do, but you do not throw a fit, when things do not go your way. You seem like a female version of me. I can name two examples from SummerSlam that people will make comparisons with you and me. First, you threw a pipebomb of your own and second, you walked out of the WWE. Daphne, I do not know what type of game you are playing, but this game can jeopardize your career in the WWE. This is a very dangerous game and you need to play your cards carefully. You need to stop being me and begin being yourself."

"I know what I am doing, Phil. I know what occurred at SummerSlam made it seem like I want to be another you, but there is an explanation about it that you will hear eventually. If I didn't know what I was doing, I would have not come to Chicago with you. I feel like a change is not going to come to the Divas Division, unless they are scared that one of their top Divas was not in the WWE. The WWE is shitting their pants because I am not there, just like what happened, when you were not there. It might take a day, month or year, but I will hold on to this game for as long as it takes." Daphne explained as Phil nodded, understanding where she was coming from, even though he was concerned for her career.

"Since you are bunking with me, I want to show you the Chicago life. I want you to know that there are many opportunities that are outside of the WWE. I want to show you that there is such things is loosening up and having fun," he stood up as he took her by the hand, helping her up to her feet, "And no, we are not going to any nightclubs and drinking alcohol. I know that Colby and the others will want to do their best to convince you to go back to the WWE, but I am here to steer you into a different direction. So, if you let me do that, then that will be awesome." Phil smiled at her as she smiled back, before hearing her ringtone going off from her phone.

Daphne took her phone out of her pocket before she read the name of the contact: Hunter Levesque. A man, who turned his back on her and never fought for her to keep her championship opportunity, the same man that just left her out in the cold. What the hell did Hunter want now?

"So what do you say, Daphne?" Phil asked her how it felt to go to an organic restaurant that he knew the chef of the restaurant, but Daphne was focused on the name of the contact that she did not hear a single word that Phil said. She looked at him confused, "How does eating healthy sound to you today?" he asked her again, making a little clarification to what he had in mind her with.

Daphne looked at her ringing phone and pressed ignored, before smiling at Phil, "That will be lovely."

What could Daphne's explanation for trying to mirror Punk at SummerSlam could be? What could Hunter possibly want with Daphne? Will Phil be able to stir her at the right direction or will Colby show Daphne what the right direction really is? Please favorite, follow and review! :)