Road to Ruin [AEW Oneshots]

a good place to start

"Who was it?" Elizabeth asked curiously as she took a seat on the mattress beside him.

Pac wasn't sure about answering Elizabeth because he wasn't sure what he wanted to say to Sami, if he said anything at all. Pac knew how Elizabeth would respond upon hearing that Sami wanted to see him; she would encourage it and try to push Pac to reconnect with the man that he had considered to be his best friend for many, many years.

Would that really be such a bad thing, though? To, at the very least, have a coffee with Sami? If things went poorly, Pac could always fuck off and find a better way to spend his time before work.

"Sami Zayn," It was the first time that Pac had said the name of his old friend in several years. "He wants to see me tomorrow."

"Sami? Oh, fuck," Elizabeth's eyes widened a bit as she looked at Pac. "This is a big deal, love."

"I don't think so," Pac objected. "He's texted me many fuckin' times since we last saw each other."

"That may be true, but this is the first time you've ever mentioned it to me. I think... I think that says a lot about what your heart wants to do," Elizabeth gave him a gentle, encouraging smile.

As much as Pac didn't want to admit it, she had a point. The fact that he was even thinking about it this much meant that things weren't the same as they had been the last time that Pac had heard from Sami.

"You should go see him," Elizabeth said. "At least, I think you should, for what it's worth. I think it'd be good for you."

Pac grew silent as he contemplated his girlfriend's words. He stared down at the message Sami had most recently sent him, then he began scrolling back through older ones. As he looked at the dates on each one, a strange feeling ached in his chest while watching the messages become less frequent, though the enthusiasm remained the same.

"... Fuck," Pac muttered more to himself than Elizabeth as he tapped the reply box on his screen and brought up the keyboard. His fingers hovered over it for a moment, uncertain if he truly wanted to go through with it.

As impulsively as Pac had ever done anything, he went with the mindset of 'fuck it' and texted Sami, asking for a location and a time. Once the message had been sent, Pac locked his phone and sat it with the screen facing down on the bed.

"Well, no use sitting around anymore, huh?" Pac thumped the mattress with one hand as he rose to his feet. "You said Max wanted to meet around 11, right?"

Looking at Elizabeth as she nodded, Pac noticed the warm smile on her lips. She was proud of him, of the fact that he had actually managed to message Sami instead of ignoring him as Pac had done for years at this point.

"Yeah, just as soon as Page finishes whatever he's doing with The Bucks," Elizabeth said.

As the couple prepared for the day, Elizabeth did not question Pac about his conversation with Sami. She did not mention the meeting that the two were planning for the next morning. Pac appreciated that she gave him space until he was ready to talk about it.

Pac wasn't entirely sure if he had made the right decision, but if nothing else, he could just cancel at the last minute. A dick move, sure, but surely nothing worse than the way Pac had merely left Sami on read in the past.

One thing that Pac had to at least admit to himself, though, was that he had missed Sami tremendously.

~

Waiting alone in the small cafe for Pac's arrival was incredibly nerve-wracking for Sami. The warm smell of freshly ground coffee beans and pastries filled the air but it did little to alleviate the anxiety that stirred in the pit of Sami's stomach.