The Ballad of Mona Lisa ► CM Punk

S E V E N

I took a seat in one of the poolside chairs.

I scanned the area, but upon not seeing Phil, I put my head in my hands.

"You okay?"

My head shot up. Phil was standing in front of me, frowning in concern.

"I didn't think you were coming," I replied, frowning.

"I'm the one who suggested meeting here," He said. "Why wouldn't I come?"

"Well, you ditched me at the arena," I reminded him. "So, I wasn't sure what to expect."

"Sorry about that..." He avoided my eyes, looking at the ground instead.

"I don't want an apology," I said. "I want an explanation."

"It's a long story."

"I've got time." I crossed my arms.

He finally looked back up at me. "I can't tell you, Mona. I'm sorry. I understand if you're mad at me."

I glared at him. "If you were sorry, you'd tell me."

I stood up to leave, but he grabbed my wrist, stopping me. I turned to look at him.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"To get another room," I replied.

"You can't," He said. "There aren't any rooms left – I checked."

"Why did you check?"

"I figured you wouldn't want to be in the same room as me, so I was going to get my own room," He explained. "But there aren't any rooms left."

Sometimes Phil does things like this that remind me why he's my best friend. It also makes it hard for me to remain mad.

"You know, you make it really hard to be mad at you," I told him.

He shrugged. "That's just the way I am."

I rolled my eyes. "Will you promise me something?"

"What?"

"Promise you'll tell me what happened," I said. He's about to protest, so I continued. "Not right now. Just tell me when you're ready. I want to know."

He's quiet at first, but he finally said, "All right. I'll tell you. But like you said, not now."

"That's all I ask."

***

I woke up the next morning, and Phil isn't in the room. Either I sleep in really late, or he just wakes up really early.

After showering and getting dressed, I finally leave the room and head to the elevator at the end of the hall. Once the doors open, I'm greeted by Shawn.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, stepping onto the elevator.

He smiled. "Hey, Mona. You know, we never got to talk last night."

I shrugged and laughed. "Sorry about that. I was unconscious for a little bit. It would've been a pretty one-sided conversation."

It looked like he wanted to remain serious, but he couldn't help but laugh at my remark.

"Yeah, that's true," He agreed. "How are you, by the way?"

"I'm fine," I replied. "I don't have a concussion, so that's good."

"That is good." He nodded. "Well, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"All right."

"I know for a fact that a certain guy likes you." He was smirking now.

I raised an eyebrow. "Did he tell you this?"

"No." He shook his head. "I can just tell by looking at him."

The elevator doors opened, and we stepped into the lobby.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"You'll have to find out yourself," He told me. He began walking away. "I need to go. You should figure it out soon, because I don't think he wants to wait around forever."

As Shawn walked away, I called after him. He just kept walking, though, so I sighed and frowned. I looked around the lobby, and I found Phil and John, with Mike, Cody, and Ted. It didn't look like they were arguing, but I didn't want to wait and find out. I walked over to them.

"Hey guys!" I said, smiling. "You're not at each other's throats, so that's a good thing."

"I was just telling him that if he hurts you, I'll kick his ass," Phil said.

I blinked. "Oh."

"Well, I've got to go," Phil said. I must've made a face, because he added, "You do, too. We're in Chicago next week, and we're visiting my sister. Don't tell me you forgot?"

I scoffed. "Of course I didn't forget. You just keep leaving, so I wasn't sure where you were going."

Whenever we're back in Chicago, Phil and I always visit his sister, Chaleen. If you think that name sounds familiar, she sent the infamous "OMG Kevin Nash wtf thought he was dead lol" text.

We always get an earlier flight than everyone else so we have time to hang out with her before the show.

"Wait..." John finally spoke up. He was frowning. "I thought she – "

I immediately saw where he was going with this, so I interrupted him. "Ignore the rumors. They're wrong." Phil just walked away. I looked back at John. "Don't listen to Jericho. He's an idiot, and nothing he says is true."

I quickly turned around, leaving John and catching up with Phil. After a few minutes, he was talking again, so that was good.

We grabbed our things, and we made our way to the airport.

Once on the plane, I fell asleep, and didn't wake up until the captain told us we were landing.

I looked out the plane window.

Home sweet home...

***

This chapter is short, but it was short originally lol.

Plus, I finally figured out how to save gifs to my computer + use them in stories!

I make a bunch of references in this story to Punk's feud with Chris Jericho, like near the end with Mona and John, and when Chris tried attacking Punk with the belt. (For whatever reason, in 2012, I just hated Chris Jericho omg)

As always, let me know what you thought! :)