Fight // WWE Dean Ambrose

Chapter 15

"This is my house!!" Paige exclaims from the top turnbuckle. She pushes the black hair out of her face and throws her arms up in victory. I awkwardly stand on the opposite turnbuckle, unsure of what to do. I wish I had her confidence. I wave gingerly and smile.
Paige and I had just ran out and cleared the ring of the trash talking Bella's, and now we get to celebrate as the live show crowd cheers and Paige's music fills the arena. People yell my name, and I wave down to them, smiling and trying not to be blinded form the spotlights. This is nuts. It's a surreal feeling. Even though I've been out in front of a crowd every night for the past few days, it still feels amazing every time. I could have never expected for this to happen, it's insane. I'm not a wrestler, and probably will never be, but this experience, this early in my career is amazing.
Paige looks over at me from across the ring and smiles. We both jump down and swiftly slide under the bottom rope out of the ring. I'm even wearing new red and black ring gear with an R on the top left corner, similar to Paige's. I think this is supposed to be a gimmick to mock the Bella's, but I don't care. I love my outfit. This has got to be the best day of my life, I wish it would never end.
"That was amazing!" I exclaim over the roar of the crowd. I hug Paige in excitement as we rush through the curtain to the back stage area.
It's been 5 days since I almost went to Dean's apartment. The guilt I feel for upsetting him still follows me, and I wish I could apologize. I haven't ran into Dean or Roman since then. It's been hard, since Hunter has wanted me at every Live Show to build up the Bella's vs Paige and Riley match, which is tomorrow. Deans been at every show I have, but every time we pass in the halls, I'm lucky to earn a look in my direction from him. Usually, he just pretends to be talking to whoever he's with, or he'll turn around and walk away from me. At the taping for Friday Night Smackdown, Stephanie wanted me to interview Dean, but Paige told me Dean got into a fight with Hunter about it, until Hunter agreed to let Byron Saxton do it. That hurt a lot, but I'm trying to forget about it.
"Let's go get changed so we can go to sleep!" Paige yells and I laugh in agreement. This past week has been so crazy, so neither of us have slept much. As we walk down the hall, other superstars congratulate us. The corridor is crowded, as we try to make our way through to the second locker room. Paige holds my arm and I can feel my heartbeat in my chest. This is my new favourite feeling,
"Hey" a voice says from behind us. Paige and I turn around, and see John in his ring attire, stretching his leg against a cement wall. The United States championship is placed beside him, his name plate clear across the bottom. He looks down at it with pride.
"Hey" I smile, keeping it casual. After all, interacting with him is the reason I'm in this match.
"Really cool stuff you've been doing" he grins at me, before turning to Paige and congratulating her too. I feel Paige perk up beside me. She loves being complimented on her work in the ring.
"Thanks" Paige says and they begin to dive into a conversation about a diva rival from many years ago that I've never heard about. I slowly lose interest, I wish I knew what they were talking about. I sigh and look around the hallway. All of the arenas look the same to me, local sports teams posters plastered on all of the walls, but other then that the walls are usually beige. At least this arena has a blue and orange stripe horizontally lining the wall. Electric carts fill most of the hallways, and cords run along the floor.
I see Seth Rollins jogging towards the entrance area. I think he and John have a match tonight. I smile and give him a small wave as he passes with his music blasting through the headphones. He nods and continues, obviously focused. I can still hear the crowd talking and waiting in anticipation for the next match. I am still buzzing with excitement from going out there.
"Come on Rileykins" Paige says, grabbing my arm and walking towards the changing room. I wave goodbye to John as I am dragged away.
"That was just so fun" I gush to her and she nods in agreement.
"I know, I wish I could-" she begins, but stops talking suddenly. She stares straight ahead with an uncomfortable look. I look up to see what she's so upset by.
Walking towards us staring at the floor, is Dean. The same Dean I haven't seen in a week. Paige knows what's happened with us, and tightens her grip on my arm in an attempt to comfort me. My breath catches for a second when I see him, and I feel my stomach rise. But I don't let him bother me. I have to keep a brave face on.
"He's just another person, just be casual." I think to myself. I poke my chin up and put on a brave face, keeping my arm linked with Paige. The closer we get to Dean, the more butterflies I get in my stomach. He's in his ring gear, a simple grey tank top... Like the one he lent me.
Shut up Riley! As much as I hate to admit it, I miss Dean. I want to hear him rant on about something stupid that he's passionate about. Or have him make those stupid random comments about everything and anything. At times he was a really nice friend to have around, as much as I hate to admit it. But it's my fault he's gone.
Come on, look at me. If he just looks at me, I can give him a look of apology. Then, he'll forgive me, and all will be fine.
He approaches me, looking everywhere except at me. Come on! Look at me! Closer, closer...
He's gone. Right past me, not even a glance at me. Clearly, I'm not important to him. But I already knew that before I started getting close to him. I'm nothing to him, so he should be nothing to me as well. Why did I think he would want to forgive me? I always forget that he used to hate me, and he was forced to help me train. He was probably just waiting for me to mess up and piss him off so he would have an excuse to not talk to me. So, if I'm not important to him, he isn't important to me.
Paige squeezes my arm and leads me into the dressing room. While we get changed, Paige tries to make jokes to cheer me up. I force out a few laughs, but my heart isn't really into it right now. I seriously just want to go back to the hotel and sleep. I pull on the dress I was wearing earlier. It's one of my favourite, and oldest dresses, kind of worn out around the top. I pull my hair up into a lazy ponytail. I know wwe fans are going to be outside taking pictures of Paige, with me somewhere in the background, and that maybe I should look presentable, but I don't care. I just want to be relaxed and comfortable. This has been the longest week of my life, constant moving, constant business meetings, or meetings with producers, or meetings with seamstresses for my ring attire, or workouts with Paige. I didn't realize how valuable free time was until it was taken from me.
"You ready?" Paige asks, swinging a bag over her shoulder. I pull up the handle up on my suitcase and nod. We walk out together to the parking lot. A few fans outside of the arena call for Paige, and she looks over to me, as if she's asking to go over and talk to them.
"Go ahead" I tell her with a smile and she returns a much bigger one. She drops her bags beside our car that the valet pulled up for us, and quickly walks over to the group of people.
Crap... Paige has the keys in her pocket. Well, this is awkward. I'm just supposed to stand here, and wait for her to come back. I look like such a loser. I pull out my phone to make me less awkward, but it isn't working.
"Riley!!" I hear a voice calling and I look up. The same group of people that Paige is with is calling my name. What? I must be mistaken.
"Riley please!" They call again. There calling me. Whoa... I don't know what to do. It's a small crowd, since the live show is still going on, but it's still unreal. I'm not a diva, I'm a commentator.
I've seen Byron, Eden, and Jillian get asked for autographs, even though their announcers... This is just so new to me. To be thrown right into a major storyline when I'm not even a diva? Unheard of.
I walk over to the group, most of them are men, but there's a few kids there too, which is neat.
"Can you sign this?" "You're so pretty!" "Just sign anywhere" "can I get a picture?" It's kind of weird, coming into WWE I wasn't prepared for this. I knew I would be in the public eye, but I didn't know I would be asked for autographs, or that people would even know my name for that matter.
"You're my new favourite diva" a little girl with her blonde hair in pigtails and a Brie Mode T-shirt tells me. I look down and smile at her, crouching to her level.
"Thank you so much! Are you a future divas champion?" I ask, and she laughs. Her dad says she is, and I laugh too. This is so heartwarming.
After Paige and I finish, we walk back towards the car. As we walk away, the small group erupts into cheers,and begins a chant I can't make out.
"Don't look now" Paige warns me, looking at the crowd.
"Ambrose! Ambrose! Ambrose!" The chants are clearer. Oh gosh.
"Come on" Paige pulls on my arm, trying to help me get out of there. I push her arm off lightly.
"No, it's fine. We work together, we're going to see each other eventually. It's just silly drama" I assure her, we've reached the car by now. Quickly, we shove our bags into the trunk and rush into our seats, ready for a good sleep to prepare for our big day tomorrow.
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I throw my bag onto the floor, and myself a chair. This has been a stressful day. Paige and I both overslept, so we did a quick last training session first thing in the morning. Then, we had to drive through the main city to the arena for the biggest Monday night raw of my career. Paige and I split up for hair and makeup, and I haven't seen her since. This is the most chaotic night to end the most chaotic week of my life, I'm both sad and glad it's almost over, so I can relax again. I don't know how top superstars haven't had a mental breakdown yet, if I did this for 300 days a year I think I would have a stroke.
"Riley!" I hear Paige yell. I turn around from my cubby in the locker room and see her running towards me.
"Are you excited?" She exclaims and I nod. Excited is a bit of an understatement. The show starts in a few minutes, and the match with Nikki and Brie is supposed to be 2 matches before the main event. I hardly slept last night because I was so nervous and excited. That's why I slept so late this morning, because when I finally did fall asleep, I was out like a light. I never really actually thought about this match. I could get hurt, I could make a fool out of myself. I haven't stopped shaking all day. I'm both physically and mentally prepared for this. I'm hoping a week of basic in ring training from Paige is enough to put on a good show.
"I'm going to talk to Nattie, are you coming?" She asks.
"No, I have to call my dad. I promised him. But I'll catch up with you guys later" I smile and she hugs me before running off. She hadn't stopped running around all day, She just may be more excited then me. Every match she has, she gets this excited for. It's been a few weeks since she's been in action, so I'm hoping she doesn't get hurt again.
I pull out my phone and dial my dads number. It picks up on the third ring.
"Hello" his rough voice says, and I smile into the phone. Already, i can feel the tears forming in my eyes.
"Hi dad" I sniffle. It's hard being away from him right now when he's in need.
"Hi pumpkin! Your brothers and I are sat around the TV waiting to watch you" he exclaims, and I hear shouting behind him. My brothers. I laugh at the comments I hear them exclaim.
"Oh wow. Thank you guys!" I say, and he dives into a spiel about how proud they are of me. He gets very emotional, which is rare for him. For all of the years I've been alive, I've seen him cry once.
"I really do love you guys. I'm hoping to get a few days off to come visit you after this chaos dies down" I tell him. He tells me it sounds great, and that he will have my grandmother over to see me when I do.
I hear the fireworks, indicating raw is starting. I feel goosebumps rise up my arms, and I let out a long breath.
"Dad, I have to go, the shows starting" I say.
"Okay, I'll be watching. Love you kiddo" I can hear his smile through the phone, which means the world to me.
Once we hang up, I decide to put my ring gear on. It's black spandex shorts, a glittery purple crop top with an R on the side, and plain black shoes. The seamstress made Paige and I's outfits to match, I love them both so much. While I'm tying my shoes, I hear voices outside the dressing room. The door stays open most of the time, but the door frame is around a corner so nobody can see inside.
"Did you see Paige?" It's Nikki's voice.
"Yeah, I took care of her." That's Brie. What do they mean "took care" of her.
"I don't know about this" a hesitant third voice says. I know exactly who it is. John.
"Riley is gonna be pissed" Brie says, and nikki laughs.
"Well, she messes with my man, I mess with her tag partner. It's the circle of life" nikki sounds proud of what she's saying. I know what they did, they took out Paige, so I'm going into my match alone. Oh my god...
"She came up to me and started asking about Dean, and his past. Like why did she come to me, it's not like I know. Plus, how weird is that. I told Dean too, he didn't say much about it but he seems mad" John tells them. It's true, earlier this week, I had asked John if he knew anything about Dean, and his life before I got to WWE. John didn't seem to mind me asking at the time, but he probably told Nikki, and they had a laughing fit about me afterwards... And now Dean thinks I'm a nosy little snoop, because I was asking about him. This just gets worse and worse.
"The company was so much better without her here. She's acts so sweet and innocent but she's the biggest who're out there." Nikki adds, and I feel my stomach drop at the harsh comments. I knew Nikki hated me, but I never knew why. I always wanted to know the reasons, but now that i do, I wish i didn't know. Hearing this hurts so much, but I can't stop listening in. I want to know what else they have to say about me.
"If we can do enough damage, then maybe she won't be back" Brie says. I feel like my heart is being broken. Brie and John were both so nice to me. Turns out, they were just rats for Nikki, and everything I told them was being reported right back to her. Two people I thought for sure I could trust. It's my fault, I was stupid enough to fall for t. My eyes are welling up with tears. This is all too much. I don't know who to trust, I don't know who's against me in this damn company, but right now it seems like everyone is.
They continue talking, but their voices get farther and farther off, telling me that they've left. I sit down on a wooden bench lining the wall of the dressing room, and begin sobbing. This is just like those movies about high school, the mean girl messes with the loser new girl. Except, this time the loser girl isn't going to come out on top. They never do. Losers are losers, that's how it's always supposed to be. I guess that's just life. The popular ones always win. I feel a mixture of betrayed, and hurt. I can't trust anyone. I hate the Bella's, and I hate myself for getting into this mess.
Shit, Paige! I forgot that they said they've "taken care of her." I stand up and race out of the dressing room. Before I even make it out the door, I smack right into the stomach of Roman and Seth. Come on, can't I make one dramatic exit without it being messed up.
"Where are you headed superstar?" Roman gives a friendly smirk. I return one, but quickly rush past him.
"I have to find Paige!" I yell. She just left the dressing room, so she can't be far.
"Riley" roman yells. I stop and look over my shoulder.
"She's at the hospital" he tells me and I stand still in shock. Roman and seth jog over to me.
"She what" I ask, hoping I heard them wrong.
"The on site ambulance just took her" seth tells me, adjusting the title hoisted over his shoulder. Both of them are in their ring gear as well, Roman in a bullet proof vest and black pants, and Seth in a black and white suit with a purple tie for a promo he has later on.
"Yeah, Brie got to her pretty hard. I didn't know that was a part of the storyline, but their great actors. Paige actually looked like she had a broken nose" roman chimes in. I sigh, and run my hands through my hair.
"This isn't a part of the storyline, they set me up." My eyes are puffy from crying, and I'm sure my makeup that was done earlier is smudged. The Bella's have taken this way out of the ring and made it into a personal attack against me.
"Oh man" roman says, and puts a hand on my shoulder. I wipe my face and smile lightly.
"No, it's fine. I just have to go out there for my match and wing it I guess" I tell them, knowing what ever I say will make it back to Dean, and they'll all probably share a laugh about this later on. Gosh, I need to stop thinking and caring about what Dean thinks.
Both Seth and Roman seem sorry for me, and I thank them. They seem nice, but I don't think I can trust them fully. They're close with Dean, and I don't need them telling him even more stuff about how weird and embarrassing I am, he already thinks that enough.
Since Paige was the only person I've been close with, I feel completely alone right now.
But I refuse to cry at work. I just have to get this done. A handicap match with the Bella's. Great.
"Stay on top of Nikki" "if she's forced to stay on the ground and do moves, she isn't a threat" Dean's words of wisdom from earlier come into my head. I sigh and repeat the advice over and over and over.

AUTHORS NOTE
Hey guys, sorry for the late update... I'll update tomorrow to make up for it, or maybe even again tonight but no promises. Thanks for the support guys, ily all.
Make sure you look forward to the next chapter, its gonna be A huge part of the story!!