Best Two Out of Three

Part 9

Thursday, June 4, 2020
Daily's Place – Jacksonville, Florida

Alex went down early to her usual ringside spot for the AEW Dark taping the next day. She wanted to be alone and, at the moment, that was about the only place she could go to get some peace and quiet.

Kenny had known she was upset from the moment she'd walked back through the door last night. He'd tried his best to get her to talk about it, but she hadn't wanted to. What could she have possibly said? "Your tag team partner doesn't approve of us because he assumes you're just going to hurt me again"? That would have gone over like a lead balloon. So instead, she'd let Kenny take her mind off of it. It had worked—until it was time to go to sleep. Worry and anxiety had haunted her brain all night, keeping her from rest. By her best guess, she'd gotten five hours, tops.

Chief amongst those worries and anxieties was Adam. Alex didn't understand why he seemed to be so against her and Kenny. She understood that he'd experienced her unhappiness from a front row seat the last time around; she appreciated that he didn't want her to go through that again. But Kenny was his friend, too. Didn't he want to at least give him a second chance to prove himself? She did. Why wasn't that good enough for Adam?

But her confusion over Adam's attitude was far from the only thing that had kept her awake; Chuck and his alleged feelings were a close second. Like she'd told Kenny when she'd broken down to him after the match yesterday, Alex had never taken Chuck's drunken profession of love too seriously. She just didn't think of him in that way. He was Chuck. He was literally her best friend in the entire world; him and the other two morons. But, admittedly, the moron who'd yelled at her in the locker room yesterday had hit the nail on the head. She had flirted with Chuck because she'd known he'd give her the attention Kenny wouldn't—and she hadn't stopped to consider how that might have made Chuck feel. And that made Alex feel like the shittiest person on planet Earth.

She heard the shuffle of feet on the entrance ramp and looked up. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat when she saw who it was. Trent.

He came to a stop a few feet away. "Hey. I hope you don't mind; Kris said I could find you here."

She looked up at him, a curious expression on her face. His hands were behind his back; it was obvious he was holding something. "What do you have?" she cautiously asked.

"A peace offering," he said, and he pulled his hands from behind his back to reveal a bag of candy. The biggest bag of Sour Patch Kids that Alex had ever seen, to be specific. "I figured it's like the commercial," he explained. "I was sour yesterday, and now I'm sweet. Plus I know they're your favorite, so..."

He awkwardly trailed off. Alex had to actively bite back a grin. "Well, jury's still out on you being sweet, but thank you. Really." She accepted the candy as he sat down next to her. "This is the second peace offering I've gotten in less than twenty-four hours," she mused.

He sent her a curious look. "Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Adam bought me a drink last night. He apologized about the match. Said he let his emotions get the best of him."

Trent pursed his lips. But if he had something smart to say about Adam, he kept it to himself. Instead, he looked sheepishly down at the floor. "I'm sorry about what I said yesterday. I was upset and trying to stick up for Chuck... but I crossed a line."

Alex frowned. She didn't want to drag this out any longer than it needed to be. "I know," she said. "You did cross a line... but I forgive you. I know it was said in the heat of the moment. Besides... you weren't exactly wrong about me flirting with Chuck."