Welcome to the Queendom

Chapter Eleven

Friday was a very productive day. We were in Houston for Friday Night SmackDown and the weather decided to give us a break and bring its temperature up. I wanted to take advantage of the warmth so I dressed in a strapless, royal blue dress, matching high heels-I've grown comfortable with them-and a bracelet, earrings, and necklace that said LOVE. Yesterday I got my nails done for the first time in, like, forever with The Bellas and they actually looked really good. It was a great distraction from Dean. I curled my hair and put a knot in the back then grabbed my phone and room key before heading out. I checked my phone to see if I had any messages as I closed my hotel door, but it was blank.....again. The time and my screen saver as well as the Slide To Unlock message at the bottom of my screen flashed hopefully at me to let me know that they were still here. Ever since Dean left me at the coffee shop Tuesday he hasn't once sent me a text to elaborate on his strange behavior. I wasn't due for Main Event so I stayed in my hotel room and watched the show grumpily. Seth and Roman called a few times, asking if I knew what was up with Dean. He was acting strange toward them too, but I told them I was clueless and hung up before it could turn into a real conversation. As I walked down the hall, my heels making soft thudding noises against the carpet, the door opened a couple of doors down and The Bellas emerged. Both were wearing mid-thigh dresses except Brie's was a navy blue lace and Nikki's was a scarlet red strapless, kind of like mind minus the thin gold belt around the waist.
"Hey," Nikki drew out the word. "What's going on?"
"Nothing much," I replied nonchalantly as I pressed the home button and looked down at my screen once again.
"What's wrong?" Brie asked.
I shook my head. "Nothing."
"So how was your date with Mr. Ambrose?" Nikki questioned making me roll my eyes.
"For the last time Nikki, it wasn't a date," I said as I started to walk again with them keeping pace with me. "Besides it was a total bust."
Nikki gaped. "What happened? Did he not like the outfit? Did he not like you in heels?"
I put my hand up to stop her as we climbed onto the elevator. Brie pushed the lobby button. "No," I replied. "He was just acting weird. Something in that coffee shop spooked him and he dragged me out of the building. I asked him what was going on and he just walked away saying he would make it up to me. He hasn't texted since then."
Brie shook her head. "Did you get a look at what had him worried?" she asked, but I shook my head.
"He pulled me out of the shop before I could."
She tapped her chin with her index finger, thinking. "Have you talk to Seth and Roman?"
"They're clueless too," I stated. "They called me Tuesday night asking if I knew what was wrong with him. I'm worried."
Nikki placed a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay. He'll be at the arena tonight so maybe you can talk to him then. For now, hang out with us." She grinned at me before looping her arm around mine. Brie did the same.
"Yeah you guys are right," I admitted. "So where to?"

A couple hours later we headed to the arena about an hour before the start of the show. As we climbed out, I spotted Dean and the guys unloading from their car a few slots down.
"Here's your chance," Brie whispered into my ear as she pointed at Dean.
I nodded and gave each of them a departing hug before starting (with my duffel in hand) toward their retreating figures, heading to the back entrance. Air rushed up to me as they opened the door.
"Here you go," Seth mumbled as he held the door open for me. I don't think he recognized who it was.
"Thanks, Seth."
He turned around and grinned. "Hey, Chel," he greeted brightly.
I saw Dean flinch and his casual stroll turned tense and fast paced. "Dean," I said warningly as I followed. He walked a little faster. "Dean!" I nearly screamed, receiving strange sideways looks from my peers. "You have some explaining to do." He walked even faster. With a huff, I quickly took off one of my heels and chucked it (not too roughly) at the back of his head. It went-toe first-into his skull. That made him stop. He picked up my shoe and turned around, glowering at me.
"Ouch," I heard Roman say as they caught up with us.
"What?" Dean demanded.
"I want to know what your problem is. Why are you acting this way? Is it because of what you saw at the coffee house?" I questioned and his face drained of color. Figuring this wasn't the place to talk about it, I gave Seth and Roman a nod to let them know I could take it from here and they disappeared down the hall. I noted a locker room next to me and knocked to see if it was empty or not. When I found out it was and put my shoe back on, I placed Dean and I's duffel bags by the door and pulled him into the room. I locked the door behind ourselves and leaned my body against it, my arms folded across my chest. "Talk," I demanded.
"Why do you care?" he asked tiredly as he rubbed his forehead. "It's not like it's any of your business."
"See, that's where you're wrong," I pointed out, jamming a knowing finger in his direction. "Everything that happens to you, everything that you do is my business and vice versa." It was silent for a second as he let that sink in. "I'm here for you."
He snorted. "Yeah, like I've never heard that before." I dropped my hands at my sides. "I don't know why people take a fancy in manipulating me. Tricking me into thinking that someone was gonna be there and then they don't know me the next day. I'm not stupid, Chelsea. I've been around a long time, you know, and I'm not gonna make the same mistake again."
I took a deep and calming breath. "So you want me to leave you alone?" I asked.
He looked up at me, a little caught off guard. "What?" I repeated the question again which made him fidget with the hem of his navy blue long sleeve. "I mean....." he trailed off for a second, "....no," he whispered barely audible, but I was able to catch it.
"I don't know who you've been running around with," I began, "but I'm not them. If you're with me, we're in this for life until you say otherwise." I marched up to him and grabbed his face in my hands, turning him so that he had no choice but to look at me. "I'm going to ask you this again, do you want me gone?" I could see his Adam's Apple bob as he swallowed. He slowly shook his head. I had a whisper of a smile on my face as I asked, "So, are you going to tell me what spooked you at the coffee house?"
He averted his eyes from left to right, refusing to look me in the eyes again. "It was just some psychotic ex-girlfriend of mine. I guess she found out where I was."
I wasn't really convinced, but I nodded in understanding anyways. "Was that so hard to admit?" I questioned, removing my hands from his face.
He shrugged. "Not really."
"Exactly," I said. "We shouldn't have had to go through all this. Was it worth a shoe to the back of the head?"
He shook his head, his face disintegrating from it's guarded mask. "No." We quietly laughed as we emerged from the locker room and picked up our bags. "See you Sunday," he said with a wink as he went down the direction of the hall where Roman and Seth had went moments before.
"Alright," I called out before frowning to myself. "Wait, what's Sunday?" But he was already too far away to hear and Brie and Nikki were approaching.
"What's wrong?" Brie asked, noting my confused expression.
"He just said that he would see me Sunday," I said which made the girls smile a little. "What did that mean?"
"Well you are a newbie so of course you wouldn't know this," Nikki began as I rested my fists on my hips, "but Brie and I throw season balls every year. It's to let these guys wind down because they're always focusing on their jobs they really don't have any fun. So Sunday is our Spring Ball."
"Spring Ball?" I asked. "First of all, where are we a princess novel? Second of all, why am I the last one to find out about this?"
"Well we wanted to surprise you," Brie clarified, "before Mr. Ambrose," she pointed over her shoulder with her thumb, "ruined it. We were gonna take you dress shopping and tell you then."
"Our dresses need to be the best," Nikki said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because we're holding court. We booked the ball at Eden Palace Inc. in Brooklyn, our next stop. The party starts at 5:00 because it closes at 8."
I nodded my head, letting the information sink in. "So when were you planning on going dress shopping?"
"You mean when were we planning on going dress shopping?" Nikki corrected making me roll my eyes. "Tomorrow at Muzzie's. We'll send you the directions later. Be there by noon." With that they walked off as a crew director came running down the hall, yelling, "Show starts in 10! SmackDown starts in 10 minutes people!"
I walked to the Divas locker room and found exactly who I was looking for. "Hey," I said bluntly as I picked an empty locker and plopped my duffel down in front of it.
"What?" she rudely replied.
Without answering, I whipped out my phone, pressed a few buttons and placed the phone to my ear.
"Hi," I greeted. "I would like to make a reservation for tomorrow afternoon at 1:00."
"1:00 will be perfect," the lady on the other end said.
"Awesome," I replied before ending the conversation and turning back to her. "There," I said with finality. "I made you and Dean a reservation at the District 7 Grill, be there."
A smug smile spread across her face. "Perfect," she simpered before sauntering out of the locker room.
I shook my head. She knows just how to work my nerves.