Welcome to the Queendom

Chapter Thirty-Six

Clover Grill was very small. As soon as you stepped onto the gray and white checkerboard tiles there were red topped stools, the counter, and the stove and drink dispensers to your right and silver metal tables topped with a Today's Specials menu, sugar in the packets and the shaker, salt, pepper, ketchup, and mustard, and chairs to you left. The walls contained Mardi Gras decor. On the way over here, Dean and I came up with 6 more A food items: arugula, avocados, anchovies, amaranth (Dean said it. We had to look it up on google for proof), allspice, and artificial sweetener (after a two minute debate). 8 more left.
Seth and Roman were sitting at the second table by the entrance.
"Hey....." Seth trailed off when he saw Dean and I holding hands. He grinned. "Well, then." He bounced his eyebrows.
"Shut up," Dean said as he punched his friend's shoulder and pulled a chair across from him out for me. He took the seat beside me.
"When did this start?" Roman asked, leaning his elbows on the table.
"Today," Dean said simply as he grabbed the Today's Specials menu and examined.
"Today?" Roman and Seth asked in unison.
"When today? How?"
I pressed both of my lips together and looked over at Dean. Biting back a smile, he nodded for me to tell the story. And so I did. I told them that I decided to go out for a run earlier that morning and that if I hadn't had made a detour and turned onto Frenchmen St. to Blue Nile, I wouldn't have seen Dean passed out in front of it. I told them our conversation, even about Madison since they already know her, and then about how we decided to start dating.
Roman nodded with a grin. "I'm happy for you guys," he said.
"Yeah, definitely," Seth seconded. "Are things weird now? Are you guys still letting the situation sink in?"
Dean shook his head. "Not really," he confessed.
"I am, actually," I said.
A waiter came up to us from behind the counter with a notepad and pencil. "What would you guys like to drink?"
He left after we ordered. "So, how's that ankle of yours, Chels?" Seth asked.
I frowned, and moved my ankle around under the table. I completely forgot about it. "Actually, pretty good," I said as I looked down at it. "The bruise is still there," I touch it and winced, "but you have to touch it in order for it to hurt. I'll be 100% by Friday."
"That's good," Roman said as Dean laid his arm over the back of my chair.
The entrance opened and we all groaned in unison. Madison, in a crop top and a miniskirt that really put the mini in the term, walked in.
"You've got to be kidding me," Dean muttered. "How did she know I was here?"
"Either she has your phone rigged or it's a sick coincidence," I said.
He crossed his fingers and whispered, "I know I didn't believe in you before, but please let this be a coincidence."
Madison walked up to us. She waved at Seth and Roman and then gave a flirtatious flip of her hair and a smile to Dean.
"Hello, Kelsey," she greeted stiffly.
"It's Chelsea," I corrected.
"Same thing," she said.
"Not exactly," I mumbled.
When the waiter came from the back with our drinks and took a look at Madison's backside, he dropped them. He hadn't even realized what he did until Madison turned around and asked, "Are you gonna get that?"
He looked down at the mess and swore, gathering it up and taking it back. She turned back to us. "Dean," she said, "what is she doing here?"
"She's my girlfriend," he stated slowly as if she was a first grader.
She laughed. "That's a really sick joke to play, Dean. Everyone knows you and I are an item," she clarified.
"Oh, yeah, see about the kiss-"
But Dean clamped a hand on my mouth before I could finish. Madison looked at me expectantly, wanting for me to continue.
"No, what was she gonna say?" she asked. "What about our kiss last night?"
"It was a mistake," Dean sighed. "You know I don't like you that way."
"But why?" she asked, still not getting it. "Everyone likes me that way. I just don't understand."
"You're selfish and conceited and have the nastiest attitude anyone has ever seen. You're also manipulative and no one wants to be around you."
"Seth!" Roman and Dean exclaimed.
"What?!" he exclaimed back, his shoulders touching his earlobes. "Someone had to give her the reason. Beating around the bush is just gonna make her come back," he defended.
Everyone turned to Madison for her reaction. She was staring at a spot on the table, letting Seth's blatant truth sink in. All too quickly, she straightened, her back lightning rod straight, her chin stuck out.
"I don't care what you say about me," she stated. "Dean loves me, just deep down-"
"Way, way deep down," I muffled into Dean's mouth.
"-and soon enough, he'll figure that out."
She gave him a wink and sauntered out, luckily before the waiter came back with new drinks.
I tapped Dean's hand and he uncovered my mouth. He leaned his elbows on the table and ran his fingers through his hair. I patted his back.
"She's not gonna stop," Dean stated, "is she?"
I bit my lip. "She could." He turned and looked at me. "But maybe not."
"That girl's crazy," Seth said, shaking his head. "What'd you see in her, anyways."
"Nothing," Dean replied. "I just dated her because my mom said she was a good influence. That was when I was hanging with the wrong crowd and out all hours of the night. Dating her just made me do that more."
I pressed my lips together sympathetically. "Just a out-of-the-blue question, is she the reason you started smoking?" He slowly nodded his head. "Figured."
The waiter came back to get our food orders. When he gave those to us minutes later we started to steer the conversation away from Madison and talked about WrestleMania and the upcoming weeks of wrestling. We had three days off next week and we're making plans to stay at Seth's place in Iowa so I made a note to visit Mom and the kids this weekend.

"You guys are what?!" Brie and Nikki squealed so loudly that Dean and I covered our ears. I could've sworn I saw the windows shaking.
"Dating," Dean repeated in a whisper as if by doing this, the girls would follow suit.
"Oh my gosh," Nikki breathed, placing a hand over her heart. "I knew it."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I waved my hand dismissively. I didn't need her to tell me, "I told you so."
I laid my head on Dean's shoulder and shifted on the girl's bed. They smiled.
"We have to mark this down," Brie said.
"April 8, 2014, the day that Chelsea Renee and Dean Ambrose started dating," Nikki finished. "What are you guys doing for your six month anniversary?"
"Whoa," I said, putting a hand up to stop them. "Let's worry about right now, okay?"
"Okay," they replied in unison before staring at us some more.
"Stop, that's kind of creepy," Dean said and they cut their eyes away with sneaky smiles.

"Oh my God," I said as I covered my mouth with my hand.
"What?" Dean asked as he slipped his shirt off and kicked his shoes to the foot of the bed, climbing in under the covers with me. I looked around my room, shaking my head. "What?" Dean pressed.
"The Death of the Ultimate Warrior," I read from the WWE app.
"What?" he repeated as he looked at my phone to confirm my statement. He read a little bit of the passage before and shook his head. "Wow."
"That sucks," I stated. "And he was just on Raw last night."
I leaned back against the headboard and sighed. Dean rubbed my arm comfortingly, adding a kiss to my shoulder.
"You okay?"
I nodded. "Just so unexpected, you know? I just never thought."
"I don't think anyone ever thought about the possibility of this," Dean said, shaking his head.
My phone started ringing and I picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hi," a woman sobbed on the other end. "Are you Chelsea Renee?"
"Yes I am," I confirmed. "Can I help you?"
"Yes. I'm the mother of a little girl you visited Saturday at Make-A-Wish. Rebecca?"
"Yeah," I said, smiling. "You're daughter's an angel."
"Yeah," she agreed. "Literally."
"What do you mean by that?" I asked.
She sniffed and took a deep breath before breaking the news. "Rebecca died a couple of hours ago."
"What?!"
Dean looked at me in confusion. "What's wrong?" he mouthed, but I shook my head and held up a finger.
"She's...gone?"
"Yeah," Rebecca's mom cried.
I felt like someone dropped a house on my chest. I didn't know Rebecca that long, but it seemed like forever in those short hours we talked.
When the two of us got off the phone, tears were streaming down my face.
"Babe, what's wrong?" Dean asked.
"This girl," I started to say, "from Make-A-Wish...her name's Rebecca. She just...she just...."
I trailed off and buried my face in my hands.
"She just, what, Chelsea?"
"She died," I whispered. "A few hours ago." I started shaking my head. "I didn't get to say goodbye."
Dean was silent for a few moments as he stared at my distraught face. He laid me down and pressed my back against his stomach and chest, wrapping his arms around my waist.
"It's okay, okay?" he soothed, stroking my hair. "Everything's gonna be okay."
I knew he was just trying to comfort me, but even he didn't believe in his own words.
"Hey, Chelsea?"
"Yeah?"
"Animal crackers."
I laughed and rubbed his arm. "Apple pie," I replied and we both chuckled. But that still didn't keep my mind off of what happened. Despite what Dean said, everything wasn't gonna be okay. 2 deaths in one night can do things to people.
Marked down, April 8, 2014, the day Rebecca and The Ultimate Warrior died.