A/N: Good morning, Upper East Siders! Updates for y'all! I still can't believe this one's coming to an end. Possibly in four chapters or nine. We'll see how it goes. Much love to Kate, Nikki, Hermione Sandwhich, Zay, hardygirl87, Straight Edge Queen, WWEFan182, g2Luvmeh, kizzy, x0xSkylerFatex0x, Roonani, JNHMMH4eva, SOAHardyOrtonCenaFan for their awesome reviews. You guys are the best! Read. Review. ENJOY! Peace and love!
"Who's that girl? Is that Hope?"
Matt turned away from the window at the sound of his father's voice. Looks like he wasn't the only one spying on Jeff. He wasn't surprised to hear his father ask about Hope. When Jeff hadn't been able to deal with his feelings, he'd turned to their father. He nodded his head as a response to his father's question, before glancing briefly at his brother. Jeff looked so happy just laying in the grass with Hope. But, something in his gut told Matt that his brother's happiness would be short lived. He just hoped that he was overreacting.
"Last I heard, she was still engaged to someone else," Gil said.
"It's a long, complicated story, but he broke her heart and Jeff's been trying comfort her," Matt replied.
"You think she'll be good for him?"
"Absolutely."
There was no doubt in Matt's mind that Jeff and Hope would be good for each other. Anybody could see that. When Jeff had given up on love for good, Hope had unknowingly showed him that love had a funny way of finding you. They couldn't have been more perfect for each other. As he watched the couple snuggle in the grass, that aching feeling crept up on him again. Why did he get the feeling that their happiness would be short lived? Because he knew Punk still desired Hope. The idiot probably wanted to win her back. What lengths would he go to this time to try and win her over? Matt was afraid to know for sure, but he took it upon himself to make sure that Punk didn't win.
xXx xXx xXx
"What if she doesn't forgive you?" Punk asked.
Maria sighed at his words. As the two weeks of vacation were now coming to a close, he'd asked that more frequently. The redhead just didn't have an answer for it. Helping Punk win back Hope all depended on Hope forgiving her. Would that happen? Maria wasn't so sure. But, she wasn't backing down. She missed her best friend terribly and was prepared to do anything to get forgiveness. Begging, groveling, bribery. She'd do any of it. She collapsed onto the couch next to Punk, wishing he hadn't asked that question. She hated thinking about all the negativity, but he made a perfectly valid point.
"I don't know, Punk," Maria frowned. "I really don't."
"If she doesn't forgive you, then there's no hope for me," Punk replied. "No pun intended."
"You know she has feelings for Jeff too."
Punk felt his fists clench at her words. Jeff. He was willing to bet that Jeff was already making moves on Hope. It made him sick to his stomach. It just wasn't fair. Hope was supposed be his, no one else's. He didn't hate Jeff. No, he just envied him. Punk would've given anything to have Hope talk to him. She still refused to answer his calls. Or maybe that was Jeff's doing. He took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself, not wanting to snap at Maria.
"He doesn't matter," he said through clenched teeth. "She'll realize that it's me she really loves."
"Just don't do anything stupid again," Maria replied.
xXx xXx xXx
After the way things ended with Punk, Hope was still surprised that she'd moved on so quickly. She couldn't even find the words to express how happy she was with Jeff, but she had a feeling that Punk would try to seduce her. John had mentioned that the straight edge superstar was looking to win her back. It just wasn't going to happen. She was done with him and nothing he said would change that. Though she would've been lying if she said that she didn't miss him. But, could they even have a friendship after what he put her through? She honestly wasn't sure.
"Hope, can I talk to you?"
The brunette looked up to see Maria standing in the doorway of the locker room. For a moment, she just sat there motionless. It'd been so long since the pair had spoken to each other and Hope missed her friend terribly. She gave a soft nod and Maria entered the locker room, sitting across from Hope. She wasn't sure what to say. The words were getting stuck in her throat. Maybe this was a bad idea. As Maria started to leave, Hope called her name.
"Ria, please don't go," Hope murmured.
Maria stopped walking, turning to face her former friend.
"I miss you, I miss talking to you."
"I'm so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you. I made a mistake with Punk, an absolutely terrible mistake."
"Can we be friends again? I moved on and I'm over all of this, I just… I just want my best friend back."
Maria nodded her head vigorously as Hope pulled her into a hug. Both women felt tears sting their eyes, but they were too happy to care. The redhead felt like a great weight was just lifted off her chest. Hope had forgiven her. She got what she truly wanted; Hope's forgiveness. Now they could get their friendship back on track. So when was Maria supposed to tell her friend that Punk wasn't giving up on her?
xXx xXx xXx
Punk ached to know if Maria had spoken to Hope. The redhead had promised to call him right after, but she hadn't. Did that mean things had gone bad? If so, how badly did things go? Was there a fight? He hated not knowing where he stood. If Maria failed to win back Hope's friendship, then he was completely screwed. Part of him thought he was screwed either way, but he was trying to remain positive. Punk tried to stifle a groan as he saw Jeff and John enter the arena.
He saw something in Jeff's eyes, something he didn't like. His stomach dropped, wondering exactly what happened between Jeff and Hope in the past two weeks. The feeling him in his gut told him that now the odds were even more stacked against him. To top that off, Jeff had noticed him and was heading in his direction. This wasn't going to end well. Both men had such a knack for getting on each other's nerves and now wouldn't be any different.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Jeff demanded. "You're not on Smackdown."
"Neither are you," Punk snapped through gritted teeth.
"Hope doesn't wanna see you. You're wasting your time."
"We'll see about that."
Jeff nearly lost his cool, but he managed to hold himself back. Punk wasn't going to upset him with his little delusion. The enigma knew that Hope wouldn't take Punk back no matter how much he begged. Especially not now since she moved on. Part of Jeff, the caring part, felt a little sorry for Punk. It was obvious that the guy truly loved Hope. But, he'd made an unforgivable mistake and he'd have to suffer the consequences. He should've thought twice before hurting Hope.
A smirk crept onto the Enigma's lips when he saw the look on Punk's face. It was killing the Straight Edge Superstar not knowing whether or not Hope had moved on. Jeff could only imagine the defeat Punk would feel when he found out the truth. It gave him some sort of sick pleasure. He had everything Punk wanted: Hope's love, affection and most important, her trust. The enigma knew it was wrong to shove all that in Punk's face, but he didn't care. The straight edge superstar didn't deserve his kindness.
"Hope moved on," Jeff smirked. "She doesn't care about you anymore."
"You really think you can love her more than I do?" Punk countered.
"I love her more than your feeble mind could possibly imagine."
"We'll see about that."
xXx xXx xXx
Hope couldn't get the smile off of her face even if she wanted to. It felt so good to patch things up with Maria. She felt like things were slowly falling back into place. She had Jeff, she had her friends. Now she could once again focus on her career. After all, she was the Women's Champion and she had to defend her title. She was back in the locker room now, getting ready for her match against Kelly. Getting coffee with Maria really boosted her spirits and that proved to be something that she really needed.
"What's got you all happy?" John asked, interrupting her thoughts.
"Maria and I worked things," Hope replied, glancing up at her best friend.
"Good. You know, it was killing her that you two weren't talking."
"Believe me, it was killing me too."
"I sincerely hope that this doesn't mean you're going forgive Punk."
John watched as Hope's back stiffened and she started chewing on her bottom lip. He knew exactly what that gesture meant. She was thinking of forgiving Punk. She wouldn't look him in the eye because she didn't want to see his reaction. John honestly wanted to scream. There was no way that he'd let Hope forgive Punk after everything he'd done. She still wouldn't look him in the eye and he wanted to scream. Why was she even thinking of this? Hadn't she moved on to Jeff?
"I didn't wanna tell you because I knew you'd be angry," Hope muttered.
"No, Hope, I'm beyond angry," John snapped.
"You're making a big deal out of nothing."
"This isn't nothing. Punk drugged you, tried to rape you and you wanna forgive him?"
Hope finally dared to look up at John and she saw the anger in his eyes. Of course, she knew that he was one hundred percent right. After everything Punk put her through, he didn't deserve her forgiveness. But, that didn't stop her from missing him quite terribly. She missed his laughter, his smile, the way he held. Yeah, she was infinitely happy with Jeff. That still didn't change how she felt about Punk and she hated it.
"Think about Jeff. Don't you love him?" John glared.
"Fuck, John, I'm not saying that I wanna get back together with him!" Hope yelled. "I'm just saying that I miss him in my life. Is that so wrong?"
"You know what? Forget it. Let Punk back into your life, just don't come crying to me when hurts you again."
John knew he was probably being too harsh, but that didn't stop him from slamming the door as he stormed out of the locker room. Had he stayed, he knew that he would've ended up saying something that he regretted. Hope was his best friend and the last thing he wanted was to see her fall under Punk's disastrous spell again. So how was he supposed to convince her that Punk was supposed to stay in her past?
xXx xXx xXx
The fake smile slipped off of Hope's face the moment she made it backstage. She'd put on a happy face for her match and her fans, but her mind was still stuck on John. She truly hated fighting with him, but she was just so stubborn. The brunette let a little smile cross her lips when she felt Jeff wrap his arms around her. Maybe John was right. Maybe, if she was this happy with Jeff, she didn't need Punk in her life. Maybe she'd actually believe that for once.
"You okay?" Jeff asked, looking her in the eye.
"John and I got to a fight earlier and it's still bumming me out," Hope sighed.
"Why don't you get changed and we'll go to Pinkberry? I know that'll make you feel better."
Hope nodded before pulling Jeff in for a kiss. She promised to be ready in ten minutes and Jeff stole another kiss before departing. The brunette already felt a bit better as she headed back to the locker room. She and John would make up, they always did. They'd apologize to each other and things would be good again. Hope felt her heart jumped into her throat when she saw Punk blocking the entrance to the locker room.
"Hey," he said.
A/N: Boom. Review. Love you guys!