Aftermath
"I can't… I can't marry him." AJ shook her head, almost hyperventilating as she sat on the toilet seat with Punk crouched down in front of her. She'd hit her breaking point with the lies she had been tricking herself with. The denial. She just couldn't do it.
"I know." Punk nodded, "It's ok." He whispered, cupping her cheeks.
"I love you." She cried, "I love you." She nodded. She was crying with relief. Relief she could finally be honest with herself. To know that she had found someone she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. Him. And to not deny herself of that for a second longer.
Punk suddenly heard the hotel door opening, standing up straight as AJ looked over with worry.
"April!" Jason yelled as Punk looked at AJ. He knew chaos was sure to follow after she had just ran out on her own wedding, in front of everyone, in front of her fiancé.
"You should go." AJ nodded to Punk worriedly, "You need to go." She said as the bathroom door burst open.
"What the hell are you doing in here?" Jason spat, looking over at Punk whilst AJ stood up, "And what the hell are you playing at?" He pointed to AJ angrily.
"I think you need to give her some space." Punk advised, stepping in front of AJ as Jason looked at him. Punk could see the expression changing on his face and he knew Jason had worked it out.
"It's you." Jason realised, "You're the guy." He said, shock turning to anger as Punk looked across at him.
"Let's just… all calm down." Punk nodded.
"Calm down?" Jason spat, "Is it him? Is he the one you…" He looked over at AJ for confirmation as AJ sighed.
"Jason." AJ shook her head as Jason laughed a little, an angry laugh.
"You fucked my wife?" Jason turned to Punk.
"She's not your wife." Punk made clear as Jason punched him across the face, which he was expecting, sending him falling backwards as AJ gasped with fright.
"Jason, stop!" AJ yelled, watching as Jason mounted Punk, punching into him as Punk rolled him over and got his own punches in, "Stop it!" AJ yelled worriedly, backing towards the bathroom door, hearing more people coming into the room, glad to see Dean who she begged to break up the fight.
"Enough!" Dean yelled, grabbing Punk back, pulling him to his feet, "You need to get yourself out of here." Dean whispered to Punk seriously.
"I'm not going anywhere." Punk spat, pushing Dean off him and backing up.
"I think everyone needs to leave this room." Renee advised.
"I ain't leaving her with him." Punk made clear.
"I'll be fine." AJ nodded to him, "I have to talk to him." She said as Punk looked over at her, "I don't want you to get hurt. You should go." She nodded as Punk sighed to himself.
"Come on. We'll go wait outside." Dean nudged Punk along, watching as AJ's mother walked into the hotel room like a raging bull. Punk knew it was her mother just based on how angry she seemed.
"Who are you people?" Jeanette shook her head angrily, looking on at Punk who had a bloody nose, her eyes then looking into the bathroom where Jason was standing, equally as beaten. She put one and one together.
"We're just leaving." Renee nodded nervously as Jeanette looked up at Punk.
"I don't know who you are, but you best get out of this room right now." Jeanette made clear as Punk stared down at her.
"Alright Phil, move it." Dean pushed Punk forward, getting him out the door with Renee, leaving only AJ, Jason and Jeanette in the room.
"I'm sorry." AJ shook her head, standing at the bathroom door watching Jason clean his bloody lip, "I didn't want to do that but… I can't. I can't do it." She said as Jason turned to her.
"Do you have any idea how humiliating that was?" Jason looked across at her, "And he's here? You invited him?"
"No… I didn't, he just came." AJ shook her head, "Even if he didn't, I can't do this. I can't marry you when I love someone else." She said.
"You never told me it was him. You said I didn't know the guy." Jason said.
"Well… you don't." AJ said, "You don't know him."
"Today was the day you realised you couldn't marry me? Today?" Jason spat angrily as AJ looked on with fear, "This feels like some sort of circus." He spat, pushing by her and walking out of the bathroom into the hotel room where Jeanette was sitting at the couch area.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say." AJ cried, walking after him, noticing her mother was now in the room. She felt like a child who everyone was mad at, pointing and blaming her, and she understood why.
"Oh, save the tears." Jason shook his head, "I've known you for almost three years, April. I've loved you. I've… I've gave you everything you could possibly want and need. I even forgave you for cheating." He spat, "You won't ever find a man like that again." He made clear as AJ looked across at him, "We were making this marriage work."
"I can't make any of this work if I don't love you!" AJ yelled, "And you know I don't so why are you even bothering?" She cried, "Why do you want to be with me when I don't love you?" She shook her head. In her emotionally drained state, she was still confused and she still wanted her own answers.
"Because he loves you, you stupid girl." Jeanette spat, standing up from the couch as AJ looked at her, "You should be ashamed of yourself. Embarrassed. Running out of your own wedding. Everyone staring at you like that. It's humiliating." She shook her head.
"I don't care." AJ shook her head, "I don't. Because the only ones who want this marriage in this room are you two. I don't. And I… I let you get into my head and convince me this was what I wanted, what I needed." She looked at her mother, "But I won't do this to myself. I won't do this to Jason." She looked over at him, "I love Phil."
"I don't know who that is. He is a stranger. Not just to me but to you." Jeanette spat, "You're throwing away this whole relationship? This marriage? For a stranger you cheated on your fiancé with? How much lower can you get?"
"He's not a stranger." AJ said defensively, "He loves me and I… I want to be with him. I always did." She said as Jason looked across at her.
"You don't got a voice all of a sudden? You had to wait until you met me in the ceremony to run out on our wedding and cause a scene?" Jason spat.
"I don't have a voice! Not when I'm around the both of you!" AJ shouted, "God it's… it's like I'm in a room with my parents again." She said, feeling sick to her stomach at the resembling feeling from her childhood. All the yelling at her, not letting her speak or have an opinion, telling her what to do. She couldn't believe she had let them treat her this way for this long. She hadn't realised until now just how much Jason reminded her of her father.
"Don't be so ridiculous." Jeanette spat, "Your father would be ashamed of you right now. Causing a scene like that. Claiming to be in love with… with the person you cheated with. No little girl of mine behaves like that."
"I am not your little girl!" AJ yelled, "I'm a grown woman who can decide what she wants and who she wants. And I don't want you." She looked at Jason.
"Boy are you gonna hate your life when he gets fed up of you. You're gonna regret doing this." Jason spat as AJ shook her head.
"I'm done listening to you both. I am sorry for doing this to you." AJ nodded to Jason sincerely, "I should have been honest with you since the minute you asked to marry me again. But I'm not going to feel guilty for doing what's best for me." She said as Jeanette shook her head.
"I think everyone just needs a little breather." Jeanette thought to herself, "And then cooler heads will prevail and we can start back where we left off. I can tell people that April just had a little moment of panic. It happens. And we can carry on with the ceremony." She nodded.
"No." AJ said immediately, "No, I am leaving." She shook her head, walking over to her bag with her things in it, packing it all up frantically.
"You walk out that door and you will regret it for the rest of your life." Jeanette warned angrily, walking over to AJ who shook her head.
"No, I won't." AJ shook her head, zipping her bag up. She'd finally had her moment of clarity. She knew exactly what she was doing and she knew it was the right thing for her. It was what she wanted all along.
"You will." Jason added as AJ shook her head, picking her bag up.
"I won't." AJ promised them, walking towards the door.
"You're gonna leave in that dress?" Jeanette asked, horrified.
"She's lost her mind." Jason shook his head, turning to the mini bar in the room to pour himself a much needed drink. His pride wouldn't allow him to believe she was actually leaving, on what was supposed to be their wedding day, for another man.
"Well that's not your problem anymore." AJ said, opening the hotel door and leaving, slamming the door shut behind her as she walked down the corridor, ripping out her veil from her head, passing some family members who just stared at her in disbelief. But she didn't care.
She left the hotel, spotting Punk standing outside with Dean and Renee. She rushed down the stairs, feeling like she was truly running towards everything she ever wanted and needed. She knew she'd find the comedy in it one day at the fact she still had her wedding dress on.
"Hey." Renee noticed her, "What's going on?"
"I need out of here." AJ nodded to Punk, "Can we get out of here?" She asked him as he nodded.
"Yeah." He nodded, "Yeah, ok." He said, taking his keys to the car out of his pocket, taking her hand as AJ followed him to the car.
"You ever seen the movie runaway bride?" Dean asked Renee who turned to him with a raised brow.
"Let me guess… does this remind you of it?" Renee asked as Dean nodded.
"Yeah… well minus the horse." Dean nodded to her as Renee chuckled.
"Is she still sleeping?" Renee asked, standing in the kitchen of Punk and Dean's apartment the next morning.
"Yeah." Punk nodded, "In the wedding dress."
"Oh, God." Renee groaned, "She needs to get out of that thing."
"She will eventually." Punk said, pouring himself some coffee.
After getting to the apartment last night, AJ had pretty much crashed on Punk's bed, falling asleep from the emotionally draining day she'd had. He didn't blame her, and he stayed by her side all night, just to let her know he was here.
"Did she say anything about what she told Jason?" Renee asked curiously.
"No, she fell asleep pretty quickly." Punk said, "I'm assuming it was probably a lot of yelling."
"Morning all." Dean nodded, walking into the kitchen in his boxer shorts, grabbing the coffee pot and pouring some, "How is Cinderella doing?" He asked them.
"She's ok." Punk scoffed, "Still sleeping."
"What happens now?" Dean asked, "I mean… it really took her six months to realise she wasn't in love with this guy? She couldn't have realised the night before her wedding at least? It had to be on the day, facing him in the middle of the ceremony?" Dean asked.
"Try being a little more sensitive." Renee nodded to him, "This would never have even happened if it wasn't for her mom. She got in her head. So did Jason." She believed, "I don't care how long it took her, at least she finally stood up for herself." She nodded.
"Yeah, so shut up." Punk nodded to Dean.
"Hey, in a few years it'll be a great story to tell." Dean nodded.
"I'm gonna see if the smell of coffee might wake her up." Punk said, leaving the kitchen and heading back into his bedroom where AJ was awake, "Morning." He smiled as she looked up at him, still lying in bed but with wide eyes.
"Hey." AJ looked up at him.
"Did the smell of coffee wake you up?" He smiled.
"Yeah I think so." She nodded, sitting up on the bed as he passed her over the mug, "I really need to get out of this dress." She shook her head, "Is it ok if I take a shower?" She asked him.
"Of course." He nodded.
Last night all felt like a blur to her, like some nightmare, but waking up in the dress reminded her it actually happened.
"I don't know how I can go back to the house-"
"Hey, you stay here for as long as you need." Punk nodded to her, "And if you need things from the house, I'm sure Renee could go get them." He said as she nodded.
"Thank you." She said, "Did I really run out of my own wedding?" She shook her head, placing her coffee on the bedside table, "I ran out of my actual wedding?" She laughed a little as he looked across at her.
"I don't know, I think it's better than having to go through a divorce." Punk shrugged as she smiled a little. She needed his light sense of humour right now.
"Yeah, you're right." AJ nodded, "I'm sorry for-"
"We don't have to do this." Punk shook his head, "Not right now anyway. You had a rough night. Take your time and make yourself feel at home." He nodded to her, "I'll be here." He promised as she nodded.
"Thank you." She nodded quietly, "I think I'm gonna take a shower." She nodded, "And get out of this thing." She shook her head, making her way over to the bathroom as Punk watched her disappear. He just wanted to be there for her now, and he believed she was finally going to let him.
