Keep Up

Chapter Twelve

"Write this down," Dean told me. "'Open house at 8987 Green Jade Drive at 2:00pm tomorrow."
I wrote down what he said and clicked my pen off. That was the fifth and hopefully the last address that we were going to visit. We had three open houses tomorrow and two the day after.
The front of the houses we've seen on the Zillow website were nice, but we still had to look through them to see if the interiors were just as pleasant.
I looked over at Dean and saw that he was trying his best to stay awake. He had a light red hue around his neck and a few faint bruises here and there from where Kane punched him. I took the computer off his lap and jerked my head to the bathroom.
"Go take a shower," I told him. He groggily got out of bed. "Don't fall."
"Watch me fall just because you said that," he grumbled as he closed the door behind himself.
As I powered the laptop off, my phone rang. After checking the Caller ID and seeing that it was my little sister, Chalice, I answered.
"Hello?"
"Hey, how's it hangin?"
I laughed. "Pretty good," I replied. "Looking over some houses with Dean. We're thinking about getting one here soon."
"Ooh," Chalice gushed. "So serious."
I sucked my teeth. "Oh, shut up. You and everyone else I know need to can it."
She giggled.
"I miss you guys...a lot," I stated truthfully, suddenly tearing up. "I love you."
"We love you, too, Chels. You know that."
"I know," I agreed.
"I swear, sometimes you're so sensitive when I call," she stated.
I laughed, wiping a stray tear. "I can't help it," I defended. "I miss seeing you guys all the time."
"But we haven't seen you 24/7 in years."
"I know," I agreed. "But I'm still not used to it."
"Yeah," Chalice agreed.
"So, what're you calling me about?" I asked.
"Nothing," Chalice replied. "Just to be calling. I was bored." I nodded. "But I should let you go."
"Alright," I said. "Bye."
"Bye, Mrs. Ambrose." And before I could argue, the line went dead. I shook my head as I took the phone away from my ear and set it on the nightstand.

Now we're in Las Vegas at Dean's apartment, getting ready for our first open house.
"Are you sure you're ready to say goodbye to this place?" I asked him, as I left him in the living room to go into the kitchen. He hopped up from the couch to follow.
"I'm sure," he says in mock irritation. "How many times are you going to ask me that?"
"I just want to make sure this is truly what you want," I told him. "Buying a house is a really big deal. Plus, you have me as your housemate."
He laughed, pulling me to him. "I'm ready, okay?" he said. "I really want this. Now quit asking."
I held my hands up in surrender. "Fine," I replied. "I'm done asking."
He looked down at his watch, then raised his eyebrows at me. "It's time," he said. "Are you ready?"
I pretended to think it over. "I guess."

I instantly fell in love with the last house even before I got out of the car. It was a two-story, olive green structure with plenty of windows and a beautiful awning at the front door.
The realtor smiled knowingly. "I see we have a winner," she stated. "But for appearances' sake, let me show you what's inside."

Before either of us knew it, it was Monday afternoon and our mini vacation was long behind us. We met Roman in the back parking lot of the Verizon Center in Washington DC.
"Hey, guys," Roman greeted as he took out a suitcase and duffel bag from the trunk of his rental. "How was house hunting?"
"Amazing," I gushed, still starry eyed. "The house we picked is amazing."
Dean grinned as he unloaded our bags, seemingly happy with himself.
We're immediately met with an loud, screeching voice when we head inside.
"Excuse me!"
Dean closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "This is really not what I need right now."
"Excuse me!"
"Is it just me or does she seem to be getting closer?" Roman questioned.
"Brace yourselves, boys."
"Excuse me!"
"Vicky!" I screamed as we watched her break through the crowd of wrestlers to approach us. "Do you really have to be that loud all the time?" I asked more quietly as she came closer. "It's really not necessary."
"Where have you guys been?" Vicky demanded as she got in my face in particular.
The boys and I exchanged confused looks. "What are you talking about? We're not late."
"Ah, ah, ah," Vicky contradicts me, waving a finger in my face. She pulls back the sleeve of her suit jacket to look at the watch on her wrist. "You are exactly two minutes late, which is completely unacceptable."
Dean's jaw dropped, but I covered his mouth before he could say anything to make the Smackdown general manager even more irate.
"You're right, Vicky," I say in a placating voice, hoping my cooperation will make her leave. "That is unacceptable and I'll make sure we never do it again."
With a satisfied nod, she turned on her heel and stalked away.
"Okay, what was that about?" Dean demanded as he removed my hand from his face.
I threw an accusing look at Roman. "She knows you messed with Stephanie's coffee."
"She does not," Roman said, waving my accusation away dismissively. "She's just on edge because Stephanie might fire her tonight."
"Which isn't right," I told them as we made our way to their dressing room. We didn't know how much longer they had before they had to join the other superstars in the main locker room. "Stephanie and Hunter have been having that poor woman run circles around them for weeks. I'll admit, Vicky is rough around the edges, but even she shouldn't be treated that way."
"Well, I'm not outing myself," Roman stated firmly. "If Vicky has to go down for me, then she just has to go down, but I have an agenda I'm going to keep."
Realizing the argument wasn't going to change in my favor, I opened the door to their locker room.
"I'm going to catering," I said. "I'll be back soon."
Dean clenched his jaw, knowing I was more than likely going to run into Seth. It was like he knew exactly where I was as soon as he could smell me in the building.
Without waiting to hear a smart remark, I left.

"What's on the menu for you tonight?"
"Jesus, Seth." I start, gripping onto my Styrofoam bowl so as not to spill my apples. "Don't do that."
Seth was standing directly behind me, our clothes seeming to be the only thing separating us.
"You smell good," he said, leaning in even closer to smell the spot where my neck and shoulder met.
I spin around, setting my bowl on the nearest table. "You're too close," I growled through clenched teeth. "Unless you want your head kicked in, I suggest you step off."
"Dean's nowhere near here," Seth replied.
"Who said anything about Dean?" I raised my eyebrow challengingly.
He backed up a few steps, his hands slightly raised. "Fine." He pulled out a chair from the table I set my food down, gesturing for me to sit.
"I'm not here for small talk," I told him. "Just to eat."
"We don't have to talk," he said. "Doesn't mean we can't silently enjoy each other's company."
I took the chair reluctantly and pulled my bowl towards me.
"How was searching for a house?" Seth asked after a few moments, swiping one of my apple slices. "Find anything?"
I narrowed my eyes at him. Despite his efforts for nonchalance, I knew he was tense by the way he held his shoulders. I slowly crossed a leg over the other, turned my bowl around to irritate him even more.
"It was great," I brag. "The last house we saw was gorgeous, I knew that was the one."
Seth glared at me, knowing I was being extra for his benefit. "When are you supposed to be moving in?"
"Sometime after Money in the Bank." I shrug as if this was of little importance. "Soon, though."
"So it's really happening." Seth said this with a faraway look in his eye. "Moving pretty fast, don't you think?"
I frowned. "No, I don't think so," I told him. "No, we haven't been together long, but it just feels right."
Seth scoffed before rising to his feet. "If people did everything based on what felt right, no one would get anywhere."
"Whatever," I mumbled under my breath as he walked away, no doubt to meet up with Hunter or Randy.
"If it isn't my lovely Americano."
Grinning, I turned around to see Paige approaching in her ring gear with her Divas title propped up on her shoulder.
"Americano." I looked up at the ceiling in thought. "I like it."
Laughing, she planted herself on top of the table I'm at. "Wanna come out with me?"
"What's the purpose?" I questioned, finishing off my apple slices.
"Alicia vs Naomi," Paige answered. "Wanna get an up close and personal look."
"Checking out the competition," I said. "Naomi's been on fire lately."
Paige looked at her title, flicked imaginary lint off the plate. "She's been okay." But she grinned as she said it, knowing full well that she found herself some good competition.