Paige's POV:

A pillow. A cold, lifeless pillow. I wake up clinging to a small pillow, but that's not how I fell asleep. I fell asleep to my arms around a body. AJ's body.

Last night. Probably the most exciting night I've had. And the most confusing. All I can think about is how I sadly rejected April, which was the start of her downfall. I'm still not sure if she was acting like that because she drank too much or what, but it made me a little frightened.

'It was kind of a turn on watching her,' I actually agree with the pesky voice for once. She was really sexy, even in her state. Maybe it's because I was left with blue balls. I don't know, just something about her acting crazy makes her so irresistible. It looks good on her.

I need to focus. I bring my attention back to her being gone before my thoughts stray too far. I sit up slightly and frown. No initial sight of her anywhere. And I don't hear the shower running. I look on the side of her bed— the bed I'm currently sleeping in— and her stuff is still here. I think that's good, but not really. I can't even call her to see where she is.

However, she's a grown woman and she can do as she pleases... it would've been nice to know if she left though. I'm sure she's fine and she'll be back shortly. As long as I see her before I leave at 5 then I'll be okay.

*time skip*

I have to leave in 16 minutes to get to the car and I still haven't seen April! I really hope she's okay... so I can strangle her. In the past 5 hours, I've done everything but eat and leave this room and I'm starting to get a little agitated.

Where the hell could she be?!

Trying to calm myself down, I grab a complimentary pen and paper out of the drawer and write her a note if she chooses to come back before I do. After that I grab my bags and walk out the door.

*time skip*

I arrive back at the hotel bruised, beaten, and tired as hell. Summer put up a good fight, even though she lost. I don't know why I've never seen her fight like this on TV. Whatever the reason, it was great way to take my mind off of everything.

I walk into the building, receiving stares from people in the lobby. I know I look rough— my hair is all tangled and ugly, I'm still in my wrestling gear and boots but I have an oversized jacket covering me. I have bruises but they probably look 2x worse because I'm so pale. Overall not cute.

I keep my head down as I slowly walk to the elevator and up to my room. Once I get in, I notice the lights are on, so she must be here.

I walk all the way in the door, careful not to walk too fast because I'm sore. When I get to the beds, she's not there. In fact, none of her stuff is here at all. Her bed is neatly made, her half of the closet is empty, and there are no traces that she has ever been here! It's like I was living alone.

My anger starts to rise a little. She did all of this... just to not talk to me? Are you fucking serious?! Are. You. Fucking. Serious! How the fuck old are we, April?

"Really, AJ? I thought we were better than this." I mutter bitterly. In her defense, I did do the same thing, but not to this length!

In the midst of my anger, I didn't even look at the phone on my bed. I walk over and drop my bags, picking up the phone.

It's my phone. Where the hell did this come from? If A.J. puts this here, where did she get it from? I appreciate greatly, but I'd be so much more appreciative if she was actually here. I press the power button, and it needs to be charged, obviously. Hasn't been charged in days.

I pull out my charger and plug it in. No need to sit and wait, because it'll be a while before it finally charges. So I lay down, eventually leading to me falling asleep, a little angry, a little grateful, and a lot confused.

*the next day*

I wake up and stretch, but immediately wince because my joints are still a little sore. I don't have to go anywhere today, so I can take it a little easy.

I lay back and sigh deeply. It's quiet. There's no TV playing, not even birds chirping. It's just quiet. Alarmingly quiet. I look over at the clock and it reads 1:59 pm. I've never slept this late in a while. Even when I have nowhere to go, my alarm on phone wakes me up.

My phone... MY PHONE! I forgot all about it!

I instantly reach down and grab my phone off the charger. I hold the power button and it turns on. I didn't even get a chance to put my password in before all of my missed notifications over the past few days light my phone up like a bloody Christmas tree. A LOT of them are from social media, many are from missed calls and a few are from texts and other notifications from apps.

I let the phone go off for a while as I get up with a small smile on my face. I don't know the first thing I'm gonna do. I mean, I should call and check up on April, but I don't wanna do that right now.

...Who am I kidding?

I impatiently swipe up and punch my code in and head for April's contact. I press call and listen to the multiple rings, which eventually goes to voicemail.

"Damn it." I try again, with the same result. Well, her phone is on, or else it would've gone straight to voicemail. Ugh, I'm starting to get frustrated and worried.

But should I be, though? I mean, we're not together. She is a friend, granted, but should I be caring this much to get in contact with her? If she wanted to be found, she would've left a note or something! So maybe I'm doing too much.

Making up my mind, I look at all the missed calls from the past few day. They were mainly from work and work colleagues, but a couple were from friends and family from home. I'll call them all back later.

I go to my messages and there are a lot. But the first message Listed was from April. Even when I try to leave her alone, she somehow pops up.

'Because she knows she can,'  that pesky, pesky voice theories. 'Obviously she keeps popping up because you want her to. She's only using the power she knows she has over you.'

"She doesn't have power over me." I sigh.

'She has more than you think.'

"I am my own person. I make choices because I want to."

"Yet here you are, about to give into checking her message. Weak.'

I open the message anyways, because I'm a friend who's worried above everything else. I open them and she sent two different messages.

They read:

Wednesday Jun. 16,10:29 PM

Hey Ik it's been a min but we need talk. You may not want to but it's needed. Call me back.

Today, 4:58 PM

Hey, I know you'll see this so no point in leaving a note. I went on the road w a couple other superstars for some MAW Kids near Quebec. It's gonna be a couple days. I'll be back before Monday

Oh how the tables have turned. Now who's the one avoiding who? Nevertheless, as much as I really want to text her back, I'm just gonna give her the space she wants.

I go the next person down, which is my mom being worried about me. I text her back that I'm fine, that I lost my phone and l call her later. I copy and paste, having a feeling I'm gonna keep saying the same line.

After a few down, I get to Foxy, and instead I'm gonna call her. I do feel bad for kicking her out so abruptly last night. Last night...

I can tell where my mind is going so I shake it off and call her. It takes a few rings, but she eventually answers.

"Hello?" She sounds groggy and tired.

"Morning, camper. If this is a bad time I can call back later."

"Paige! Oh no sorry," she sounds a lot more alert now. It makes me chuckle. "Sorry, I just woke up an hour ago."

"You feeling okay?" I ask.

"Yeah just a slight headache."

"Well I won't bother you then. I just wanted to apologize for last night; if I was a little rude, I didn't mean to. I just—"

"No need to apologize, y'all needed to do... whatever y'all had to do," she snickers. "But how is she doing?" The mention of April makes me a little annoyed yet, somber.

"We didn't do anything," I argue with a lie. "And  she's doing fine, I think."

"You 'think'?"

"She's not here so I don't know."

"Oh! Then can I come down? I didn't know if you wanted to alone time so didn't ask."

I laugh, but shake my head. "Sure. I need company and I don't feel like leaving my room." It turns into a whine as I flop back.

"I'll be there soon, then."

"'Kay."

I end the call and force myself to get up. As I got up I caught a whiff of myself... and I almost pass out. I reek, and badly; I still smell from my match last night. I was so emotional I forgot to take a shower.

I grab everything and head over to the door and leave it unlocked for Alicia.

...

As I'm hopping out of the shower, I hear a knock at the door. I yell as loud as I can "It's open!, almost slipping in the process.

The door open and closes and I quickly rush to be presentable. 5 ish minutes later, I step out of the bathroom.

I walk over to the beds only to find Alicia laying on my bed under the covers. I scoff at my own bed being taken over.

Before I can say anything, she asks, "Where is all her stuff at?"

I sit on the now empty bed. "She's gone for a while, I guess." I shrug as I ignore the small sting on my core.

"Did you guys get in a fight or something?" She props herself up on her hand moved her hair out of her face.

I instantly go back to last night. A very hot and heavy night. "I-uh, we had a, um, a disagreement on something," I feel my cheeks on fire. They're burning very hot as I try to take my fumbled words and form clear sentences. "But that's not why she's gone. She went to a Make-A-Wish trip. She said she'll be back." I try to avoid eye contact because I'm the worst liar sometimes, even though I technically didn't lie.

The silence is deafening at the point. I hope she doesn't asks what actually happened. I don't know if I could handle explaining everything.

"Oh wow," she finally says. "I'm sorry to hear that." She sounds like she's only playing along, but it's so believable I can't tell.

"It was a small spat but thanks."

"A little spat?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, your neck begs to differ." She randomly bursts out laughing. What? I rush up to the bathroom and take a look in the mirror.

A good long look. At 4 different hickeys on my bloody neck!

A shocked look on my face, I reach up to touch one that looks this size of a freaking quarter.