Love Conquers All

It’s been four months since I started talking to John, and the talking never stopped. During these past four months, John has made trips to Lubbock to come visit me and Demitra. I will never forget the look on his face when he saw me for the very first time in three years. He came to my apartment around 10:00 pm and he called me to let me know he was outside. Being that it was raining that night, I wore a black Texas Tech hoodie with matching sweat pants and dark purple rain boots. I ran down to the parking lot and he flashed his lights at me to let me know that was him. I quickly ran to the car and hopped into the passenger seat. I still had my hood on so he could only see my face; I never told him that I went blonde. He took a good look at my face, like as if he was studying and noticing every single feature of it. After a good minute of him recognizing me, he grew a huge smile on his face and hugged me as tight as he could. “Wow Emika! Look at you! You’ve changed so much; I remember your skin used to be a bit darker. But you’re still as beautiful as I remembered.” Taking a small giggle from his compliment, I then pulled down my hood from my head to show him my new hair. His eyes grew wide and it took him another good minute to get used to my hair. He then cleared his throat and smiled again. “Wow, you certainly have changed. I guess I’m going to have to get used to the new you. But if you ask me, although you look beautiful as a blonde, you looked gorgeous as a brunette.” At that moment, all I could do was smile, as I felt my cheeks beginning to blush.

*Saturday, November/2011

Today was the day that everything about me started to change. I began to keep up with wrestling; I kept going to the gym earlier and leaving later, especially when John was around. I even started going to tanning salons to get my original dark skin color back. In time, I lost my ivory skin color and grew into my new beautiful olive color. It grew to where my blonde hair was too light for my skin tone, so I dyed it back to dark brown. I started wearing clear contacts to reveal my natural brown eyes. I really started to look like the old me, but in better shape. I would go out in public with my new/old look and very few people recognized me as Emika the WWE diva. One thing that didn’t change was that I still went by Julie instead of Emika.

After working a six hour shift at Dion’s, I decided to head straight to the gym afterwards since John texted me saying he would meet me there and that he was bringing a friend with him. I headed down to one of my favorite gyms, Freedom Fitness. I quickly go to the women’s locker room and change from my warm winter clothes to my sports bra and favorite black and white Nike sweats and matching shoes. I take a look at myself in the mirror and do my hair in a ponytail. I also check my make-up to make sure I looked good. I was really starting to grow feelings for John and I wanted to do whatever I could to make sure I looked my best for him. By the time I was done fixing my make-up, I stretched a bit and headed out to the abs workout area. By the time I got there, John was there with CM Punk. It grew to my surprise since I thought they hated each other. They both looked at me and smiled. John gave me a hug.

“Hey Emika. Glad to see you. This is my friend Phil, also known as CM Punk.” John said after he let go of me to let me get a good look at Phil. Phil smiled at me and extended his hand out in front of me for a handshake.

“Hello Phil. Nice to meet you, I’m a big fan.” I said nervously as our hands met. Instead of a normal handshake, he held my hand for a good second and smirked at me.

“Nice to meet you too Emika, you are definitely quite a charmer…” Phil then placed a gentle light kiss on the back of my hand. Who knew he could be quite the gentleman when he’s not on camera? He then looked back up at me and smiled. “…just like John said you would be. But John you never mentioned to me how beautiful she is. And how she has the body, and face, of a goddess.” He was still holding my hand as his other free hand was placed on top of mine and his, covering my hand completely. I couldn’t help but blush heavily and giggle a little at his compliment. I could tell he was being a flirt, and I honestly didn’t mind. He could go on like this all day. John, however, was not too pleased with Phil’s flirting.

“Emika, how about you go ahead and get started. I need to talk to Phil for a second.” He said as polite as he could. I nodded at John and started walking away. Phil was still holding my hand until I went far enough for him to let me go. I made my way to one machine for the abs and began my work. At the same time, I kept my eyes on John and Phil to see what they were saying. I am very good at reading lips and they both were standing to where I could see exactly who was saying what.

From John, I picked up: Phil what the hell do you think you’re doing?

From Phil: I wasn’t doing anything John. I was trying to be polite, but John you didn’t tell me that she was such a looker.

John: I didn’t tell you because I knew you would try to pull something like this.

Phil: Well, what did you think was going to happen when I saw her John?

John: Whatever Phil, just keep your damn comments to yourself.

John then walked away from Phil and came over to the workout machine beside me. I gave him a sort of confused look and acted like I didn’t know what was going on. “John, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Just really nothing to worry about.” He said not really looking at me. I then look at Phil as he smiles at me and takes on the treadmills in the other room.

Later on in the workout, John was helping me out on the pullies, holding my hands on the bar as he helped me pull the weights. I started to blush and thanks to my darker shade, he was unable to tell so easily. Before I was able to turn into a complete cherry, his cell phone rang. He and I let go of the weights so he was able to pull his phone out of his pocket and check to see who it was. “John who is it?” I asked with concern. He looked at me and shook his head a little. “It’s nobody import—“ before he could continue, his phone started ringing again. “Uh, Emika, I really got to take this call. Do you mind if I step away for a few minutes?” He looked at me with hopes that I would say yes. I was interested as to knowing who he needed to talk to. Not that I was being jealous or anything of the sort, just curious. “Go ahead, John. I can continue by myself.” I put on a fake smile to make him think I was actually ok with him leaving me alone. I almost forgot about Phil until he took the machine right beside me.

“Ouch. What a shame. There shouldn’t be a reason good enough to explain why John left a pretty girl like you alone.” Phil has been putting on his gentlemanly charm all afternoon, and I have to admit, it was kind of warming up to me.

I smiled at Phil for his compliment and continued working on the pulley. “He had to take a phone call. I guess it was something extremely important.” As I started my workout, I could see Phil shake his head and snicker a little. I wanted to know what was happening. “What? Is there something I’m missing here?”

“Emika let me ask you something. Are you falling for John? Because it kind of looks like you are. But then again, that’s just my opinion.”

I look away from him to hide the fact that I’m starting to blush and that I was starting to grow a huge smile on my face. He chuckles a little at me and shakes his head. “I knew it.”

Still not looking straight at him, I finally spoke. “Is it that obvious Phil?”

“You made it pretty clear. Every time he touches you, I bet you get goose bumps. And you seem to get pretty nervous every time he speaks to you. Like you wouldn’t be able to find the exact right words to say to him, because you’re scared he might catch you saying something stupid. Am I wrong?”

‘How the hell does he know all of this? Wait, why the hell am I asking myself this when I could be getting the answer straight from him? I really need to stop think-talking to myself. Stupid! Just ask him already!’

I then shake my head a bit and look at him with one eyebrow raised. “And do you mind telling me how exactly do you know all of that? You haven’t even known me for more than two hours and it’s like you can read me like an open book.”

He and I both got off of the machines and took a quick break. Along the way to a few massage chairs Freedom Fitness had by the front door, he explained himself. “The reason I know these things is because I’ve seen this before. John is a big flirt when it comes to beautiful women like you. And that’s all he sees it as, is just flirting. If I were you, I wouldn’t let John get in your head like that.”

“Why? What do you mean?” I was now starting to get worried, in hopes that he won’t say that John is just toying with me.

“Well, I’ve said too much already. But I feel that since you seem really close to John, its best that you know now before this goes any further. Did John ever mention to you that he has a girlfriend?”

I stopped dead in my tracks with my mouth and eyes wide open. I felt my heart shatter into a billion pieces and those pieces go to my stomach, waiting for me to throw them all up all over the floor. I swallowed hard to keep me from doing just that and Phil stops two steps ahead of me and looks back at me with concern. “Are you okay? I’m guessing he never mentioned that to you.”

“N-no, it never even came up.” I take a deep, shaky breath as I ask him my next question. “H-how long have they been together?” I tried my best not to cry.

Phil walked to me and said his answer, which I was hesitant to hear. “They’ve been together for at least seven months.”

I bit on my lower lip hard enough to where I could taste a little bit of blood. My eyes started to water. Phil noticed the look on my face and held me in his arms as tight as he could. “I’m sorry Emika; I felt you needed to know now before this got any worse.” His voice was soothing and made me feel like he was being honest with me. I pulled away enough for me to see his face, but still be in his arms.

I wiped away my tears as much as I could and smiled at him. “It’s okay Phil. Thank you for telling me this now. I really appreciate your honesty.”

He smiled and gently kissed my forehead. “You’re welcome. I just don’t want you to be played with like the other girls he’s done this to.”

Ten minutes later, Phil and I finish our last machines. During the time, we talked and got to know each other better. He seemed like a really amazing guy. He and I had a lot in common and he seemed to know what to say to make me smile. As we walked to the locker rooms, John caught up with us and smiled at me. “Hey Emika, I’m sorry I really had to take this phone call.”

I look at him without smiling back. “That’s fine John. Phil was able to help me on my workouts.” I look at Phil and smile and he smiles back.

“Oh that’s good.” He looks at Phil, then back at me. “So Emika, what are we working on next?”

“Oh, well, Phil and I decided to call it a day. So I’m going to go change.”

“Alright then.” John sounded upset at the idea that it was time to leave. “So do you want to grab a bite to eat after this?”

“Well John, Emika and I decided to go eat and catch a movie with her cousin Demitra after this. You don’t mind right John?” Phil said before I was able to speak.

“Yeah John. Do you mind?” I asked raising one eyebrow. Part of me was hoping he would say yes so that way I knew that Phil was lying to me. But to my somewhat of a surprise. He shook his head no.

Phil then wrapped one arm over my shoulders and escorted me to the women’s locker room. He then took my hand and kissed it and winked at me before I walked in to change.