Same Day, Cafeteria, 7:15 A.M...
"One down, one more to go." Shane thought as he sat down at his usual table.
In his mind, this was like a fucked up game that he was forced to partake in by some sort of otherworldly deity that loved making his life a living hell. It was like the hardest round of target practice ever. Instead of hitting the target and harming whatever animal you're shooting at, you have to still hit the target, but somehow prevent the target from being harmed. But at the end of the day, you're still shooting the thing, so it's gonna be in pain no matter what. The key for Shane was to try and cushion the blow for both of his targets, so they're in pain, but not too much pain. Like a little scratch instead of a full on flesh wound. Anyway, Shane noticed that Dean was approaching the table, which was unbecoming of the carefree teenager.
"Dean? What the hell are you doing here?" Shane asked.
Dean looked at him funny.
"I go to this school, genius. Did you forget that?" He answers while taking a seat at the table next to Shane.
"No, smartass. I mean, what are you doing here this early? It's not even 7:30 dude. You usually don't get here until like 8 at the earliest."
"Oh, I don't know. Just felt I coming earlier than usual I guess."
Shane narrowed his eyes at his slightly unstable friend.
"Bull fuckin shit."
"What? Is that really so hard to believe?" Dean asked defensively.
"Yes. Yes it is. I know there's a reason behind this."
Ambrose folded his arms.
"Oh yeah? And what makes you so sure that I'm lying."
"Because Dean Ambrose hates school more than anything else in the world. There is no way in hell you'd come to school early by your own decision. Now, what's the reason?"
Dean sighed.
"Alright, you got me. Alicia threatened to cut off sex again if I didn't start coming to school on time more often.
Shane laughed hard at Dean's confession.
"I knew it! I knew you didn't do this of your own free will! Jeez man. Alicia really does have you by your nuts, literally!"
"Yeah, laugh it up, ya dick. If you had a girl on you nearly 24/7, then you'd understand the stress I'm under."
At that statement, Shane cringed.
"You have no fucking idea what stress is." He thought to himself. Out loud he just answered with a simple, "Whatever, man."
"That's what I thought. Plus, I couldn't go against what she says if I wanted to."
"Huh? Why's that?"
"Because anytime I try, she flips out and goes into a total meltdown and breaks anything in sight. Last weekend she wanted to go out to the park for a date. I didn't feel like it because I had just gotten off of work and I was tired, so I said maybe another time. When I said that, she started crying and accusing me of cheating. She threw my potted plant and shattered it to pieces. I loved Mitch, and she just destroyed him."
Shane cut him off.
"Hold on, hold on. You had a potted plant for a pet? And you named it Mitch? What the hell?"
"Listen! Mitch meant a lot to me! Respect the dead! Anyway, yeah. Girl's a ticking time bomb. One minute she's kissing me and telling me she loves me, another she's destroying my property in a fit of rage."
"Then why are you still with her?"
"Because, man...She lets me do things that no other chick has. Like, she is a straight up freak. And her head is so good dude. That girl could suck a golf ball through straw if she tried hard enough. I can't just give that up."
"So, let me my wrap my head around this. You're willing to stay in a borderline abusive relationship... with a crazy person... because you like the way she sucks your dick?"
"Among other sex related things, yup." Dean confirmed.
Shane facepalmed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I'm gonna say something to her."
Ambrose panicked.
"Oh no you don't. You're not gonna ruin this for me, damn it!"
"Listen, no one fucks with my friends. I'm not gonna let you become a slave to some crazy bitch. Whether you want to admit or not, she's not good for you man. At first I thought you guys were fine, but I guess not. I'm fixing this shit dude."
"But- but-"
"No buts!"
"Why no buts? Butts are funny!"
Dean and Shane turned around in their seats to see a smiling Bayley, giggling at her own joke.
"Get it? Cause butts?" She continued.
Dean laughed.
"Yeah, good one Martinez. Say, Bayley. You know what this jerk Shane is trying to do? He's trying to break up me and Alicia. I think he wants her to himself."
Bayley pouted.
"Is that true, Shane? That's not very nice."
Shane sighed.
"No, Smiles. I'm not trying to break them up. I'm trying to stop Dean from doing something retarded... again."
She perked back up when she heard that.
"Oh! That's nice! You're a great friend!"
When she said that, Shane's guilt once again flared up and he remembered what he had to do, which made seeing her bright smile feel even worse.
"Thanks Bayley. Listen, I need to talk to you. It's really important, okay?"
"Okay. No problem."
"Let's go somewhere else. This has to be in private."
Dean raised his eyebrow skeptically.
"Oh really? What y'all gonna be doing, hmm?"
Shane rolled his eyes.
"Shut up Dean. Let's go, Bayley."
"Lead the way, captain!" Bayley said while saluting him. Shane couldn't help but smile at the silly gesture.
"If you want somewhere private, go to the roof. I go there when I skip class. Trust me, no one comes up there ever." Dean said with a smirk.
"Okay, roof it is!" Bayley once again yelled.
"Shhh, Smiles. You don't want people to know where we're going." Shane instructed the overzealous girl.
Bayley gasped and covered her mouth.
"Sorry, sorry."
A few minutes later, the two teenagers found themselves on top of the school. Bayley twirled around in a circle and outstretched her arms as if to embrace the cool air around her.
"Bayley? Are you hugging the air?" Shane asked slightly amused.
"Yeah! Even the air needs a little affection. Speaking of which, you haven't received your daily dose of Bayley hugs. And I didn't see you at all yesterday, so this one is gonna be twice as strong. Here it comes!"
Just as she was about to go in for the hug, Shane grabbed her by the shoulders to restrain her.
"Bayley! Bayley wait."
She was surprised by his rejection of her hug.
"Huh? What's wrong?"
"I... I don't feel like I deserve a hug right now honestly."
Now Bayley was really confused.
"Don't deserve one? What do you mean? After what happened, you definitely deserve a hug."
"No. What happened, and what's been happening is exactly why I don't. Look... I've been leading you on, and I'm sorry."
It was hard for her to process what he was saying.
"How? Shane are you okay?"
"Bayley... Me and Alexa have been... doing stuff with each other for a while now. I've kissed both of you multiple times, and without realizing it, I've been leading the two of you on. I know you like me. And so does Alexa. What I'm saying is, I've been unintentionally hurting you guys for almost a month now, going all the way back to the day I first met you."
The normal expression of joy was not on the face of Bayley at the moment. Right now, it was a heart breaking combination of sadness and confusion.
"...You and Alexa? And you still kissed me? You never told me... How could you?" She was asking with a shaky voice, almost like she was about to cry.
Shane hated himself for being the cause of her distress, but he stuck to his guns, knowing this was the only way to fix this.
"Yes. I did, and again I'm sorry. I never wanted to hurt any of you. You gotta believe me."
Bayley's years escaped at this point.
"I.. I believe you. I just can't believe... even after you knew, you still kissed me. I thought we... We were together. That, you loved me."
"I do! I do love you! I just fucked up. Badly. I do love you Bayley, and I want to make this right."
The girl sniffed.
"Okay, how?"
"This weekend, I want you to come to my house. Alexa will also be there, and we're gonna talk about this. We'll figure this out together, I promise."
She wiped her eyes and silently nodded.
"Thank you Smiles. You won't regret this."
He walked up to her and cleared her face of the remaining tears. Bayley looked him straight in the face.
"I still wanna hug you. Even though you've been a really big meanie."
A bittersweet smile came across Shane's face.
"Go ahead."
She weakly wrapped her arms around him while Shane returned the favor. While he was in her grasp, he buried his face into her hair and whispered to her.
"I don't know what I did to deserve you in my life, but I'm glad you are."
