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"Hey, how's it going?"
Ashley looked up to see the kind face of Trish. The little blonde sat down beside her in the bleachers of the arena, where the Diva Search winner had her journal open on her lap. She shrugged uncertainly, her facial expression somewhat neutral.
"It's okay, I guess... I haven't spoken to Matt in two weeks." The truth was, she didn't want to have to ever speak with him again, but she knew she had to. She hadn't "officially" broken it off with him, not even by leaving him a note. For that, she considered herself a coward.
"How's Carlito treating you?" the Canadian diva asked. "Really well, from what I hear?"
This time, Ashley couldn't supress the smile. She nodded as she raised her hand to her lips. The young man was amazing. He'd allowed her to stay with him all this time, never asking for anything in return. He was even going to go with her to the doctor the next day, when she would be having her soft cast removed.
"Yeah," she managed. "Charlie is really great."
"Hey, you two."
The blonde divas instantly looked up at the sound of the voice. Amy waved at them with her left hand while her right was practically lost in Adam's much larger one. The couple were climbing their way up the aisle Trish had maneuvered moments earlier.
"Hey, you two," Trish threw back with a smile.
"What's going on?" the redhead questioned her friends as she came to stand by the Canadian woman's right.
"Just some girl talk."
"On that note," Adam cut in, "this is where I leave you three. I'm not quite up for 'girl talking' at the moment."
The three women giggled.
The tall blond man lowered his head to kiss his girlfriend.
"Have fun. See you ladies later." He turned back the way they'd come and trotted quickly with those long legs of his.
Amy entered the aisle to take a seat beside Trish. She reached out and offered her left hand to Ashley, squeezing her own hand in a warm, friendly manner.
"How are you, Ash?"
"I'm really doing okay. Hey, how's Lucas?" she asked, her mood brightening as she thought of the little terrier mix.
The redhead beamed at the question. She was so ecstatic to have her dog back.
"He's great," she replied. "He gets along beautifully with Adam's dogs and everything."
"Good."
The trio remained silent for a moment, each woman confined to her own individual thoughts. Then, Amy spoke up again.
"I got another call from the psycho last week."
Trish's brown eyes widened.
"Oh, Amy, not again."
The redheaded diva nodded.
"Yes, again." She groaned and rolled her eyes. "Adam called her. I didn't hear the conversation, but he told her to fuck off. He doesn't think she's going to, so he had his lawyer write up a restraining order."
"But that doesn't prevent her from calling you, does it?" The question came from Ashley.
"No, I guess not," Amy said. "We've both been screening our calls, as you might have noticed."
"I know I noticed," Trish said.
Oddly enough, as though on some sort of cue, Ashley's cell phone began to ring in her purse. She exchanged gazes with the other two women knowingly before digging for the device in her bag. Her heart was thudding hard in her chest as she took a glimpse at the display. Sure enough, it was him. She held the phone up for her friends to see the name shining on the display.
Amy shook her head with disgust. She certainly understood how the blonde was feeling and sympathized, as she'd been there herself.
The ringing stopped on the fourth one, and then the blonde knew he was leaving her yet another voicemail. Minutes later, her cell phone beeped, confirming that. She shook her head.
"Maybe you should change your number," Trish suggested.
"Um..." Ashley shrugged, knowing that wouldn't be a horrible idea. On the flip-side, everyone she knew had her current number, and it would be a pain in the ass to have to contact all of them to give them a new one. She was big into text messaging, but still... It would be a hassle.
"There's my girl."
The three women looked up, Trish's entire face lighting up as she caught sight of her boyfriend. She rose in an instant, stepping carefully past Amy to get to him.
"Hi, baby," she said, as she pressed up on her tiptoes for a kiss.
Cena wrapped an arm around the blonde's slender waist and smiled at the other two divas, greeting them.
"What's goin' on?"
"Just a little girl talk... You know how it is, John," Trish quipped.
"I dig," the man said with a wink. "Hope you don't mind, but I actually came to grab you away. They need you backstage, Trish." He hooked a thumb over his shoulder, in the proper direction.
"Oh. Okay." She turned back to her two fellow divas. "I guess I should go, then. I'll see you two later," she promised.
Amy and Ashley said goodbye and waved as Trish and Cena retreated down the stairs. Then, the redhead turned her gaze on the younger woman.
"So... Looks like it's just you and me, Ash."
The blonde woman smiled, but it was half-hearted as her mind was preoccupied by what had been occurring in her life in recent months.
"Yeah," she said softly. She met the redhead's hazel gaze. "Amy... Can I talk to you about something?"
"Sure... Shoot."
Sighing deeply, Ashley ran her hair through her long golden hair and blurted it all out.