By and large, the places and events Alexa attended with clients on jobs like this one were high class affairs at expensive restaurants or VIP only clubs. Tonight, however, she was about to enter a regular city centre bar with Dean Ambrose. It wasn't a usual kind of venue for her to frequent, but she had to make it look like it was.
Considering the venue in question and the people who would be found within, a certain adjustment to social etiquette was required from Alexa. She would look weird in on his arm. She would probably look weird ordering a glass of wine. The drink of choice should be beer, even though she didn't particularly care for it. While working bookings, what she liked was often a secondary consideration. The satisfaction of the client with their moment of Bliss was all important.
"There are plenty of people here already," Alexa commented, walking beside Dean across the lot towards the bar's rear entrance.
"Yeah, good," he replied. "I didn't want to be here early."
"Honestly, holding a reunion at a bar seems odd. I would have expected somewhere bigger."
Dean shrugged. "Don't ask me, I didn't organise it. I probably only got an invite so certain people could have a laugh. Unluckily for them, they're not going to have anything to laugh about."
"We'll make sure of it. But no more out of character comments," Alexa warned in a hushed tone as they approached the door into the bar.
Walking inside, Alexa naturally recognised no one. She was pleased to see that on first glance, she was among the best dressed of the women, without outclassing them to point where something seemed odd about it. There had been a sign out front to say that the bar was closed for a private party, so Alexa knew that all of these people were former school friends of Dean, although that was apparently the wrong term to use.
A small group of people had been standing near the door, chatting away and drinking. They all looked at the new arrivals, and Alexa saw confused expressions while some of them tried to recall either her or Dean's faces.
"Dean Ambrose," a man with dark hair and a beard realised after a moment. He stepped forward, with his girlfriend beside him. She had her hair coloured a rather strange shade of grey.
"Marty Scurll," Dean said, no emotion in his tone.
Marty offered his hand and they shook. It came across as more of a combative gesture than a friendly one.
"I didn't think you'd come," Marty commented.
"I didn't think you'd invite me."
"Well, we've all grown up a bit since I used to kick you around the sports field every lunch time," Marty said in attempt to belittle Dean in front of his girlfriend. Marty looked at Alexa properly for the first time, and she liked the surprise she saw when he took in her beauty. She also saw the question, 'How has Dean landed her?' go through his mind.
"I'm sure some of us have grown up," Dean said evenly. "I came because I'm one who has. Allow me to introduce Lexi Kaufman, my girlfriend."
You didn't need to add that last part, Alexa thought, glad that he had at least remembered the name she had told him to use. They didn't exactly want someone deciding to look up the name Alexa Bliss and giving the game away.
"Hi," Alexa smiled, putting a bit of an edge to it. "You must be one of the bullies I've heard about."
Marty took that in his stride, but did drop some of his attitude. "Nice to meet you, Lexi. This is Deonna," he added, motioning to his partner.
"Hi," Deonna said, making no effort to shake hands. Alexa detected some arrogance about her, giving her something in common with her boyfriend.
Dean looked at Alexa. "I'll go and get us a drink. What would you like?"
"Whatever beer you're having," Alexa said in a relaxed manner. She was at ease in her character. Acting had always been her passion, even before she had found a unique way to make money out of it.
As Dean walked off towards the bar, Marty also turned and walked away, leaving Alexa standing with Deonna.
Marty's girlfriend sipped from her bottle of beer. "Where did you meet Dean?" she wanted to know. "From what Marty has told me, he was the ultimate outcast at school."
"Yeah? Well now he's a successful wrestler," Alexa said, defending her man exactly as would have been expected. "He makes great money, and he's only going to get bigger from here. To answer your question, that's where I met him; at the wrestling company he signed for a few months back. I work there doing makeup for the female wrestlers."
While she had been speaking, Alexa had been able to see Marty in the background, across the room. He had approached two other men, both of whom had quickly looked in her direction. She knew there had been some kind of, 'Look who Dean Ambrose is dating. You won't believe it,' kind of comment made.
"Wrestling? Well, that's different," Deonna said, making it clear that the word different actually meant pathetic. Apparently she was about as pleasant as her boyfriend.
"How about you? What do you do?" Alexa asked, needing to avoid trying to defend wrestling as a form of entertainment, since she knew nothing about it.
"I'm a personal trainer. Marty works as a doorman at a club."
Of course he does, so he can get paid to bully people, Alexa thought, her face impassive.
With Dean still waiting to be served at the bar, Marty came back over, now with his two friends. He was quick to handle the introductions. "Randy, Jinder, this is Lexi. She's here with Dean Ambrose. Lexi, meet Jinder and Randy."
"You're dating Ambrose?" Jinder asked sceptically, while Randy smiled at his friend's question.
Another couple of pricks, Alexa thought before sweetly answering the question as if she couldn't tell what they were thinking. "Yes, for a couple of months now.
"You have met him before tonight, right?" Randy asked, drawing laughter from the others.
"Look, you guys aren't being very nice," Alexa said. Even though Dean was only a client, he seemed like a nice enough guy and she didn't like him being talked about in this way. Besides, as his girlfriend the attitude she was getting would anger her. "Dean and I came for a night out; a few drinks and a few laughs. We didn't come for him to be mocked and for you to try and humiliate him. You're acting like you're still in school."
The three men glanced at each other, looking a little chastened by what she had said.
"We just find it a bit hard to believe that Ambrose is dating someone as beautiful as you," Jinder said. His comment sounded creepy to Alexa.
"I mean, in school, Ambrose couldn't make a friend, let alone get himself a girlfriend," Randy said. "The only sexual contact he got was with his stepdad."
"Randy!" Deonna scolded as Alexa cringed. Apparently that was too much even for the bitch.
"Sorry," Randy shrugged.
To Alexa's relief, Dean finally reappeared with two bottles of beer. "The service isn't great here," he grumbled, handing Alexa her beer.
"Thank you," she smiled. "I was just getting the third degree about our relationship from Jinder and Randy here."
"Might have guessed you two wouldn't be far away if Marty was here," Dean said, unable to act like he was pleased to see them. "Just to put you all the picture, Alexa works at the company I wrestle for as a makeup artist. We met there, I found the courage to ask her to dinner..."
"And we've been dating ever since," Alexa finished for him. She stretched up and pecked him on the lips.
"Now can we move on, or not?" Dean asked his three former tormentors, practically challenging them.
Two women approached the group. One of them joined Orton, and the other put an arm around Jinder's waist. Marty made the introductions.
"Meet Kim, Randy's wife, and Alicia, Jinder's partner. Guys, this Dean Ambrose and his girlfriend Lexi..."
"Kaufman," Alexa reminded him.
"Call my Foxy," Alicia said, while Kim smiled a vague greeting.
Alexa was more interesting in why Alicia appeared to have some kind of sailor's hat on, but decided not to comment on it.
There was a pool table nearby. The group of men who had been playing on it finished a game and walked off together, laughing and joking with each other.
"Sure, we can move on," Marty said to Dean, glancing over at the pool table. "How about a game of pool? Eight ball. Me against you, Deonna against Lexi, and a doubles game if we need a decider."
Alexa couldn't have been happier. There was no way for Marty, his girlfriend, or any of the other idiots to know that there were only two sports in the world that she was any good at. One of them was cheerleading, her childhood passion, and the other was pool, thanks to her father being an incredibly gifted player. What a perfect opportunity to humble the people who were trying to humble Dean. She figured that was exactly what he wanted from his moment of Bliss.
Dean looked at Alexa to see if she was up for taking them on. She gave him a quick wink, trying to tell him to trust her, and to take the challenge.
"Alright, you're on," Dean said to Marty.
"This should be fun," Deonna said smugly, leading the way over to the pool table.
With Jinder, Randy, Alicia and Kim forming a small crowd, Marty racked up the balls.
"Coin toss for the break off?" Marty suggested when the balls were ready.
"Alright. I call heads," Dean said.
Randy produced a coin and tossed it up into the air, allowing it to fall onto the table so that everyone could see the result. It was a head, giving Dean the choice to break off himself or have his opponent do it.
"I'll break off," Dean decided.
Alexa calmly sipped her beer, hoping the Dean was a good player.
Dean was able to get a lot of power into his break off shot, scattering the balls everywhere. One solid ball and one striped ball disappeared into pockets, giving Dean the choice of which ones he wanted to play. There was a solid ball right over a pocket, so he chose to play them.
"Great shot," Alexa said, smiling at him.
Dean smiled back before lining up his next shot.
Over the next few minutes, Alexa watched what turned out to be a bit of a mess of a game. Both Dean and Marty missed shots that they ought to have made, perhaps feeling the pressure that a potential humbling loss put on them.
With Dean down to one ball left to clear to get to the final black, Alexa thought he might have the game won. Unfortunately Dean hit the near jaw with a shot to a middle pocket, bringing Marty back to the table. He had three balls left.
Marty set about clearing up, his group of friends cheering him on.
"Looks like I've fucked it here," Dean muttered to Alexa when Marty knocked his final ball in. He now only had to sink the black for the win, and it wasn't going to be a particularly tough shot into the bottom right corner.
"Don't worry. This is the one game I'm good at. I'll beat this bitch," Alexa replied, looking across the table at Deonna, who was downing the remains of her beer.
Marty looked at Dean before getting down to play his shot, cocky to the end.
Miss it, you prick, Alexa thought.
He played the shot. Initially it looked good, but the black ball hit both jaws of the pocket and stayed out.
Groans came from Marty's friends as he stayed down on the shot, hanging his head in disappointment. To make matters worse, the black ball had rolled right over the opposite corner pocket, leaving it easy for Dean if he could knock in his final ball.
Alexa downed her beer as Dean confidently approached the table. She willed him on, wanting him to make Marty look like the asshole he was.
Making his shot look easier than it was, Dean sunk his final ball. Now all he had to do to win was made the easiest of shots on the black. Giving Alexa a grin, he got down and knocked it in.
"Well played," Jinder said with surprising sportsmanship. He took it upon himself to set up the balls for the next game.
"Yeah, good game," Marty said reluctantly.
"Good game. Now it's over to the ladies," Dean said, showing class in not rubbing his opponent's nose in the defeat. He handed his cue to Alexa with another smile.
"Great job, baby," she said excitedly. It was lucky he had his back to everyone because the momentary look of surprise on his face would have given their game away for sure.
Randy had his coin back out, and was about to toss it.
"Don't bother," Alexa told him. "Deonna can have the call. After all, you guys are losing." Behind her, she heard Dean laugh.
"Fine, I'll break off," Deonna snarked at her.
Shortly, Jinder had the balls racked up and ready to go.
As agreed, the break off shot went to Deonna. She looked fired up and confident, which was all for the better as far as Alexa was confirmed.
Deonna slammed the cue ball into the pack with impressive power. Rather unluckily, she didn't make a single ball.
Time for your lesson, bitch, Alexa thought, walking around the table to take her first shot.
"Let's see what Lexi's got," Kim Orton said.
"Trust me, she's good," Dean said, relying on her wink and trusting it.
Alexa set about showing them. To begin, she made an easy shot on a striped ball. Now that she had a set of balls to work with, she set about calmly walking around the table, knocking them in.
As she worked, Alexa noticed that Deonna, Marty and the others had all gone quiet. They didn't like what they were seeing. They had assumed she would suck, and the reality was proving to be the exact opposite.
In just a few minutes, Alexa had cleared up all of her balls. She now had to sink the black, but had a shot almost the full length of the table to make.
"Go on!" Dean cried, encouraging her.
Deonna stood at the end of the table with a face that looked like she was sucking a lemon.
Alexa put a lot more power into the shot than she needed to, smashing the black ball home.
Everyone applauded bar Deonna, whose expression remained unchanged. She was going to make no effort to congratulate the woman who had beaten her in the most convincing and emphatic of ways.
"Don't worry, I won't bother clearing all of your balls up as well," Alexa said to her with a cheeky grin.
"Alright, Dean, you win," Marty said, finding some graciousness from somewhere. He walked over to Dean and offered his hand. "How about I buy you a beer?"
Dean looked at the offered hand for a moment, decided whether to shake it.
Alexa hoped he would accept the gesture. She noticed Jinder, Randy and their partners drifting away, having lost interest now that their friends had been defeated.
Eventually, Dean took Marty's hand. "We can act like men and let you buying me that beer settle our differences, or we can act like idiots, go outside and settle things once and for all. I'm okay either way, because this time it won't be you beating my ass."
Marty grinned and slapped Dean on the shoulder. "Like I said, we've all grown up since we were in school. I'll go and get a round in."
With that, Marty headed for the bar, Deonna going with him. Dean sat down at a nearby table, looking delighted and a little stunned with how the night had started.
Walking over to him, Alexa sat down on her 'boyfriend's' lap and put an arm around his neck. "We showed those assholes, Dean."
"We sure did. You were unreal, Alexa. Where did you learn to shoot pool like that?"
"My dad. He's a really good player. I'm an only child, so it was me he had to pass the skills on to," she explained with a grin. "We're just lucky those guys picked the one game in the world I can play."
"I still can't believe we won!" Dean exclaimed. "I feel so great right now. I'm literally buzzing."
Alexa pecked him on the lips for the sake of any eyes that might be watching them. "That's what a moment of Bliss feels like."
A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review on the previous chapter.
I hope you enjoyed Dean's moment of Bliss almost as much as he did? :)
There have been some great suggestions from you guys for future moments of Bliss, in addition to the ones I already had myself. Again, I'm happy to consider any ideas you guys have, so please don't hesitate to leave a review or drop me a PM if there's something you'd like to see.