"Tatum!" I heard my friend yell from across the training room.
I didn't ignore him per say because I knew he'd walk over to me and I don't stop my training for anyone. I'm sure the pads wouldn't mind the break though.
"What?" I asked when Jon walked over to me.
"Come to my house tonight." he said as I hit the pads.
"What?"
"You heard me." he groaned, rubbing his hand over his head.
"I thought you said you didn't wanna do this anymore?" I asked, not stopping to look at him.
"I did ... I do ... that's not why ... damn it, will you just stop for a second and look at me." he growled.
"You know I don't stop training for anyone." I grumbled.
"Tate ..."
"What is it, Mox?" I asked, stopping to turn and look at him.
"Just come over tonight." he said.
"I don't hear a question and I'm very confused right now."
"I just wanna hang. We hang out and it's cool." he said.
"You wanna hang, you just don't want the sex?" I asked.
Jon Moxley and I have been FWB for a long time now, we've been just friends for a lot longer than that. He's a good friend and we used to just hang out without having sex. He came to me a few weeks ago and said that he didn't wanna continue the benefits part of our friendship and I totally understood. We promised each other that we'd keep things 100 all of the time and we did.
Not to say that I wasn't disappointed that things were stopping but he's a good friend and I didn't wanna lose that. I'm just confused about this sudden sort of invitation because he's made quite sure not to be alone with me since he decided he didn't wanna have sex. Men are confusing no matter how much they say women are the more confusing ones.
"Yeah, I just wanna hang out." he said.
"Who else is gonna be there?" I asked him.
"No one, why would someone else be there?"
"Mox, by your own doing we haven't been alone anywhere for the past few weeks since we stopped having sex." I said before drinking some water.
"Can you not ... that's not true." he argued, looking around us.
"Yes, it is. You haven't wanted to be alone with me so I assumed there would be other people there."
"Well no, it's just gonna be us like old times." he said.
"Um, okay, sure. See you later." I muttered when he smiled and walked away.
I looked at him and considered myself perplexed. Then again, Jon Moxley is one of the most confusing men in my life. He has the emotional range of a 5-year-old and bounces from one thing to the next at any given time with no notice.
"What the hell was that?" My friend Britt asked.
"Honestly, I have no idea. He's been avoiding me for a few weeks and suddenly he invites me to his house. I'm confusion." I told her.
"Adam said the guys were ragging on him."
"About what?"
"You." she smiled.
"Why would they do that?" I asked.
"Because ever since you two stopped hanging out, he's been permanently crabby. You'd think he just went through a bad breakup." she giggled.
"Nope, I'm still confusion. He started avoiding me, not the other way around."
"Tatum, that man has feelings for you." she told me for the 2,987,439,872,347,389th time.
"Britt, knock it off. He doesn't."
"How is it that everyone else can see that the two of you are in love with each other but the two of you can't?"
"You're fucking goofy." I laughed.
I ... might have harbored feelings for Mox before but that stopped long before I made it to AEW. I met him in WWE and he left much before I did but we kept in touch. The two of us always clicked well together and we always hung out, even after he left WWE. Me coming to AEW after my contract expired just put us in constant contact with each other and one thing led to another and we started hooking up. That didn't hero me much in the emotional department but I was able to keep myself and my heart in check.
"I see it and so do your friends. Look, be discreet ... he's watching you right now."
Just to appease her, I lifted my arms over my head and pretended to stretch and I did catch him looking at me. When he noticed I was looking, he looked away and it all is throwing me off.
"So he was looking at me, it's not the first time." I argued.
"In denial!" she said before walking off when her boyfriend called.
For the rest of the day, I couldn't get Britt's words out of my head. I went home and showered, changed into jean shorts and a loose, over-the-shoulder shirt. On my way to Jon's, I stopped and got some snacks knowing that he'll order Chinese food because it's our thing.
I'm still more than a little bit confused by his sudden invitation to hang out. To my knowledge, he's been seeing Renee Paquette during this time. It did sting more than a little bit but we were just FWB and nothing more. That was one of the rules we established.
Just FWB
No catching feelings (I kinda broke that one)
Always keep it 100
If/ when we were to decide to end it we'd stay friends (he broke that one)
This was to stay between us (we made sure not to break this one)
Don't sleep with any of our close friends
At some point, we both broke a rule and now I don't know where we stand. Driving up to his house feels weird after not being here or speaking to him in weeks. I don't like not knowing where I stand with people, it makes me uncomfortable but such is life.
Normally, I'd just let myself in but this is a different time in our friendship, so I knocked. Jon opened the door and looked at me curiously.
"Why didn't you walk in? I left the door unlocked." he asked me.
"Wasn't sure if you wanted me to do that so I decided to play it safe."
"Right ... come in, Chinese should be here in 10 minutes. I got here later than I expected." he said.
"No problem."
I followed him inside and out of habit walked into the kitchen to put the drinks in the refrigerator. When I walked into the living room, I wasn't surprised to see the fluffy blankets or LED lights on. Jon takes movie nights seriously and has mood lighting to match every movie. He turns it into a movie experience each time. His surround sound system is also a thing of beauty.
"What are we watching tonight, Mox?" I asked, sitting on my normal loveseat.
"The Mummy, 1 and 2 if you're up for it." he said.
"For sure."
I grabbed the blanket, a dark hunter green that he bought for me and lives here permanently, and snuggled under it as he dimmed the main lights and set the LED strip that was around the TV.
"I missed this." I told him.
"I did too. Tatum ..."
He was interrupted by the doorbell and he huffed as he got up to get the food. I paused the movie and went into the kitchen to get plates, utensils for him, and chopsticks for me, along with our drinks and napkins.
"Jon, why am I here?" I asked as we sat down to eat.
"Cause I wanted you here."
"Why? You've been ignoring me for weeks."
"I didn't ..."
"Jon."
"Okay, maybe I was ignoring you." he mumbled before stuffing his face with orange chicken.
Jon Moxley is an absolute ass, however Jonathan Good is a really great man, who sucks at talking in general. Especially when it comes to talking about anything emotional. I know him, he's gotta work his way up to actually talking about what he needs to get out, so I hit play on the movie and ate.
"How's Renee?" I asked after a couple of minutes.
"What?"
"Aren't you dating Paquette?"
The question burned my tongue but I'm trying to be conversational.
"Does that bother you?" he asked.
"You're a single man, Mox. You can date whoever you want." I replied, staring a hole into the tv.
"That's not what I asked, Tatum."
"Yeah well, you haven't answered my question either." I grumbled.
"I guess I haven't. One thing has to do with the other." he sighed.
"Are you telling me that you started ignoring me because you were dating Paquette?" I asked, starting to get angry.
"Tatum ..."
"It's an easy question, Moxley, yes or no."
"Kind of." he sighed again, rubbing his hands over his head.
"Sort ... who's idea was that?"
"What do you mean?"
"Did she tell you that you had to stop hanging out with me or did you decide I wasn't worth your time because you had a girlfriend?"
"Neither! Who do you think I am?" he demanded.
"I honestly don't know." I sighed, getting up from the couch.
"Wait, no! Don't go."
"Explain it to me."
"I stopped our thing ..." he said, getting up and pushing.
"Yes and what about it."
"I needed to stop it."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because I broke a rule! We promised not to break our rules and I did. So I had to stop. I tried to hang out with Renee but it wasn't the same. Didn't feel right so I stopped."
"Okay, what rule did you break?" I asked, feeling my heart rate increase.
I don't know if I can handle finding out that he slept with one of my friends. I don't wanna know which one either. Maybe I should just leave with my immature ass.
"Tatum ..."
He stopped in front of me and reached out but I stepped back. The band-aid needs to be ripped off, no coddling.
"Who was it?" I asked, I lied, I need to know.
"Who was what?"
"You slept with one of my friends, didn't you? That's what this is about?"
"Fuck no! Tatum, I fell in love with you." he said and I think I would've been less shocked if he hit me with a DDT.
"I'm sorry."
"I fucking fell in love with my best friend which is totally fucking cliché because you don't fucking love me back. The only fucking reason I realized it was because I saw you talking to a guy at the bar and I wanted to fucking burn his eyes out for looking at you like a piece of meat. No one looks at what's mine like that. The guys noticed me glaring holes into the fuckers head and started ragging on me. Of course, I denied it, told them they were off their fucking rockers but they weren't. If I'm honest, I noticed it before but that night made me realize that I'm not the only person who looks at you and actually sees you. You're fucking gorgeous, yeah, but you're smart, fucking strong, goofy as all hell, and you don't love me back. I can't stand the pity look so please stop it because I..."
Before he could continue ranting, I got on my toes, cupped his cheeks in my hands, and pressed my lips to his. Jon wrapped his arms around me and we sort of floated on a soft kiss.
"Why did you kiss me?" he whispered when I pulled away.
"Because you're an idiot." I smiled.
"Yeah, I know that, doesn't answer my question." he said, pressing his forehead to mine.
"You're an idiot because for someone so fucking smart, you didn't see that I'm in love with you too." I whispered out loud for the first time.
"Tatum ..."
"I love you too, Jonathan Good."
"Well damn." he muttered before kissing me again.
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