AJ Lee's POV
Night after WrestleMania 30
The odds were against me. I didn't care.
It was fourteen to one. One's a powerful number.
I was weak and vulnerable. That didn't mean not determined.
And last night, I once again proved to everyone in the world that I deserved to hold the beloved Diva's Title belt another day.
Sure, as I walked through the doors to the arena everyone was beyond annoyed. No one had wanted to see that butterfly carving still hanging around by waist. But who gave a crap about what anyone else thought? All that mattered was that still, even after my Bipolar lifestyle was proclaimed to the world, the champion of the diva's division still remained AJ Lee.
With the belt slung on my shoulder and my hand clinging to my duffle bag's strap, I made my way past all the craft services and to the locker room, despite the fact that there was no doubt in my mind I'd be hiding in the bathroom within a matter of hours.
As usual, there was almost no one else present as my feet scuffed the cement floor. Finding the locker room, I gently opened the door only to see another figure already present. And, to my relief, it wasn't any of the Total Divas. It was Emma.
Honestly, after last night, I didn't know where Emma and I stood. I vaguely remembered what happened, but the memory was still there...
The match had just begun and, as expected, I was the first one targeted. Tamina and myself were immediately shoved into the center of a circle of divas, all twelve of them laying fire on us only seconds later. Quickly, knowing that I wouldn't be able to withhold the abuse for very long, I scrambled out of the ring to the floor, leaving the rest of the divas to fight it out.
Regaining my strength and looking over to the other side of the apron, I saw Summer Rae attempting to gain the win through Emma. She kicked out and rolled under the ropes to escape. Thank god. I was not about to loose my championship to Summer Rae.
The match continued on as I pulled myself up by the ropes and into one of the corners. Summer now had her eyes on me and charged at me. Thankfully I regained the advantage and ended up being the one to slam her into the turnbuckle, only to be pushed out of the ring once more due to Cameron.
It was clear their strategy was to keep me out of the ring and away from any pins. Good luck with that, you Barbie dolls.
As I crawled to my right, halfway to standing on my feet, I looked up and saw Emma, not five feet away from me, strong and full of energy. She was standing tall and could completely demolish me right now if she wanted to. I was weak and Emma could take me out right now. She knew it. I knew it.
But she didn't. As we exchanged glances, I saw something in her eyes. A hint of pity along with just good nature. Instead of smashing my face in, Emma backed away and walked in the opposite direction, acting as if she hadn't seen me.
She had, though. And she didn't do what any other diva in that ring would have done.
Looking at the young Australian, I went and set my bags down, keeping my title on my shoulder. Emma continued to search around in her bag for something, not noticing as I walked up behind her. I tapped her on the shoulder. Emma turned around startled and caught herself from falling backwards.
"Hey," I said.
"Um, hi AJ," Emma replied. She was like a deer in headlights.
"Why'd you do that?" I asked. She tilted her head in confusion.
"Do what?" the blonde said in response.
"Last night," I said. "You could have knocked me out. You didn't." I crossed my arms and looked up at the cracking ceiling then back to her. "I just want to know why."
Emma didn't respond. I continued to wait for words to come out of her mouth. When they finally did, they were shaky and unsupported. "I didn't want to hurt a friend."
"What?" I replied. Just then, the door busted open and a flash of bright red hair entered our view. We both turned our heads to see Eva Marie standing in the doorway in her high-wasted pants and black crop top, making me look like nothing with my glasses, old Love Bites shirt, and jean shorts.
"Oh, hey Emma," Eva said smiling until her eyes fell on me. Her lips curled into a line. "AJ."
"Can't say hi to me?" I snapped. "The dye seeping into your brain, I see." I couldn't help as the sharp comment slipped out of my mouth. My mood had been on thin ice as of lately and I could loose control at any time, leading to many snarky remarks directed to my fellow coworkers. But what could I do to stop it?
Eva rolled her eyes. "Cute." She went and placed her stuff right next to Emma's bag, linking arms with the blonde as she set it on the bench. "Hey, me and a bunch of the other Total Divas are gonna go get something to eat at craft services. Wanna come?"
"Uh..." Emma started as I walked back towards by own belongings. "Sure."
"Awesome!" Eva said, dragging Emma away until it was just me who remained in the locker room.
Typical Total Divas. Making my life a living hell.
Sitting down and pulling my phone out of my pocket, I opened up the only texting thread I had, the word Punk plastered above the five text messages that had been shared between us. Two from when I needed advice, two from him attempting to comfort me, and one from him congratulating me for retaining my title last night.
I almost wished I had an excuse for him to text me other than when I needed help. An excuse to talk to him, hear his voice. Maybe even feel his arms wrapped around my waist again. I didn't know what it was about him, all I knew was that I wanted him here. With me. To take in his cologne and to feel his skin against my fingers.
A sigh escaped my lips. What was I doing? Hopelessly wishing for him to be with me? Yeah, like that would ever happen.
Wait, was I... No. I wasn't in love with him. I mean, I was, but not now, and never again. Right?
Shoving my selfish desires to the side, I heard noise coming from outside the locker room. People. Great.
Deciding that it was a good time to make my way to my safe haven, I picked up my bag and walked to the door, ignoring whoever was entering as I did.
When I finally stumbled across the bathroom, I slipped inside and threw my things onto the floor, opening the door to one of the stalls and sitting on the toilet seat.
Hugging my title belt tight to my chest, I kissed the butterfly engraved into it and let myself, for the first time in a month, completely release all the emotion I'd built up inside.
The rage. The anger. The emptiness. The confusion. It all spilled out in warm tears and splashed on my cheeks. No sobs, no screaming, just droplets sliding down my face.
Hopefully I'd get my life back on track soon.
_____
Tamina and myself made way to the ring, the crowd still cheering me for some reason as we did. I never understood why they seamed to love me so much. All I'd ever been to them and to anyone else was hostile, arrogant, and selfish. But hey, I guess that's what they like in a wrestler.
Grabbing a microphone, I talked about my win. How I was the longest reigning diva's champion in history, how I'd beaten every diva that had come to the ring to face me, how I was destined to have the title forever.
And then that's when everything changed.
Music hit. Not a Total Diva's music, not a True Diva's music, not Stephanie's music, but a strange rock ballad. It filled the arena and everyone went wild as the fair skinned, raven haired beauty Paige walked town the ramp towards me and Tamina.
Paige. I'd met her. Smart kid, good fighter, could back up whatever she claimed to be, exactly what any rebellious fan would want in a diva. But I was the veteran in this ring.
I was shocked at what came out of her mouth, though. She came out, not to beat me to a pulp, but to give me congratulations.
"You did great last night!" she said, her British accent already catching the attention of the fans who didn't quite know of her.
I was a little flattered at her comment, but apparently not enough to take it to heart. "Well, thank you. And you know what, I think every single diva should be lining up and congratulating me and thanking for everything I've done for them!" I turned my attention back to Paige. "But as much as I appreciate it, I don't need your congratulations. So why don't you go running back to NXT because the champion does not like being interrupted."
A chant of boos echoed the arena as the crowd slowly turned their backs on me. Paige raised the mic to her lips. "Um, I'm sorry, I just wanted to say congratulations, AJ."
With my ego taking over, I spoke again. "Well aren't you the sweetest little crumpet!" I poked her cheek with my index finger, to which Paige didn't look amused afterwards. "But you know what? While you're here in my ring and you're all fancy and dressed, why don't I do to you what I did to every single diva last night? Why don't I beat you?"
I smirked as Paige suddenly had a small look of shock in her face. "Um, I, uh, I'm not- I'm not ready to... not I'm not-"
"No you're not? You're not? Oh, ok, yeah, I-I uh, I think you are." I raised my hand and drew it across her cheek. Paige caught herself from eating the apron as I stood next to her, looking down. "Are you ready now?" Paige chants started. "Are you ready now, Paige? Well, ready or not, I think we need to have a match right now! And for a special post WrestleMania treat, I will put my title on the line!"
The place erupted. I was impressed. Divas usually didn't get this much excitement going. "So let's get a referee out her right now!"
And with that, my title hanging in the balance, the match started. I began my rampage as I beat up the young NXT rookie, after some time getting her into the Black Widow. Unfortunately, I could never quite get it locked in correctly, which Paige found out quickly. She used this to her advantage and reversed the move into the Paige Turner. My mind clouded as I felt my legs being lifted in to the air and a pounding hand next to me.
One.
Two.
Three.
Even though I was only half conscious, I could heart the roaring from fans as Tamina ran into the ring. But Paige was long gone. Long gone with my title.
No. The word repeated in my head. No no no no no. This wasn't happening. I pulled myself up, supporting my body with my elbows beneath me, looking at the ramp where Paige stood with the belt raised in her arms. My heartbeat quickened along with my breathing as my only source of power slowly released its grasp on me. I sat up and started screaming, not caring about the world around me.
Tamina grabbed my shoulders and roughly forced my to my feet, myself still screaming and hollering. I was mad at her for not helping me, but right now my head felt like it was being rammed by a car over and over again. I took off towards the back, completely set on finding Paige and ripping the title out of her hands and putting them back in my bloodthirsty ones.
Scanning through the backstage area, I saw a flash of pale skin and black hair. I scampered after her slowly, my head tilted to the side, watching her as she continued to walk with my title. Just as I was about to pounce on her...
Emma ran up to Paige, tears streaming down both their faces, and embraced her in a hug. Several other divas came over and joined in on the celebration. My frozen heart thawed at Paige's excitement and hope, reminding me of Payback 2013.
I backed away, making sure no one saw me, and ran towards the bathroom to collect my bags. I had to get out of here. I knew exactly where I was going and nothing was going to stop me.
Barging into the bathroom and grabbing my duffle bag from the stall I'd hidden it in, I yanked a sweatshirt out of my bag along with a pair of skinny jeans and changed as quickly as I could. Putting my glasses on and stuffing my phone into my pocket, I grabbed all my belongings, now lacking the extra weight of a belt, and ran towards the parking lot.
I unlocked my car, throwing my bag into the backseat as I walked over to the driver's seat. My phone buzzed against my skin like mad. I slid it out of my pocket, Punk's name coming up under several text messages. My brain too focused on my goal to read them, I tossed my phone into the passenger seat and turned on my car.
Pressing my foot down on the gas, I started my last journey to Chicago, Illinois.
A/N: Was anyone literally screaming when Paige's music hit on Monday? Cause I was.
Anyway, sorry this took so long to be posted, but this was a very crazy, eventful week in wrestling. Hopefully you guys will like the next chapter! I've got it all planned out and I'm excited to see what you guys think!
All for now, I guess! Again, I can not thank you all enough for getting my story this popular!
- El ♥