Since Colby got a ride to the arena, I offered to drive him back to his hotel.
"I've never heard of a girl head butting her ex!" he exclaimed nearly dying of laughter while I parked the car.
"I'm never gonna live this down am I?" I sighed as we both got out and he pulled his things out of the trunk and I leaned against my car.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Look how's about we go out tomorrow and I DON'T tell everyone how you're half bull, half human and sent a guy flying"
"Go ahead and tell everyone, they won't believe you, but get on my bad side and you're next."
His chuckle made me smile more than I'd like to admit, but he's a pretty nice guy. "Seriously, though, I've got a taping for Smackdown and nothing to do before then."
I pulled my phone out from my pocket to turn it back on, and saw I got a text from my brother.
'Headed for austin. Semi finals for my tournament tomorrow. wish me luck' with all that went down tonight I completely forgot to say goodbye to my brother, but I know how important this was to him. And I guess from the look on my face as I read the text, he figured out I didn't have plans for tomorrow.
"Hey!" he snatched my phone from my hands and started tapping the screen for a few minutes before returning my phone.
"Just text me when you're ready to head out, or just wanna talk" he swung his sports bag over his shoulder. "Oh and you might find a few surprises in there" he said as he walked towards the hotel lobby.
"Next time i'm putting a password!" I called out to him laughing and shaking my head.
The 30 minute ride home was pretty relaxing, I hardly even paid attention to what songs played on the radio, all I could think about was how amazing today was. I felt like this was a new start for me, or at least how things should have been from the beginning. I felt like I could breathe easy for the first time in a long time.
Since I was on the road most of the time, Thomas invaded the house, and his belongings were littered all over our home. Still it was nice to be home, and as I threw my things on the floor of my old room, I threw my tired body on the bed, burying my face into my pillow. I had a ritual when I was younger to tear my pillows open, write a letter about my dreams and aspirations, put the letter in a ziplock bag, place it in the pillow and patch to up with a heart shaped cloth. That way I would never forget the dreams I held close to my heart. I traced the heart shaped patch on my pillow, which is one of the few things that remained in my room from my childhood. I started thinking about how far I had come from being a shy, scrawny little girl, with a fear of heights, to a strong, confident, high flying Diva. In the beginning no one believed that I could make it, and it was an amazing feeling proving them wrong. I decided to take a quick shower before my ego and my sleepiness got the best of me. I grabbed my towel, put my music full blast, and headed to the shower. Afterwards I put on a plain midnight blue tank top and white shorts and headed to bed, sighing in relief knowing that I had finally regained my freedom from Trent. 'So I'm single again huh' suddenly my feeling of relief disappeared. I had been with Trent so long that it had gotten to a point that I didn't have many friends outside of the WWE, much less guy friends. Then he popped into my mind, and all I could think about was him, his deep intimidating eyes that softened when he smiled. 'Vanessa get yourself together!' But his smile... above everything else it's his smile that made me weak. That same smile he had that day he made me crash and burn, was now stuck in my head and making my heart race. Despite how much the thought of him affected me, I had to put myself first, I had to reach my goal of becoming the Diva's Champion and nothing was going to get in my way. Nothing.
The next morning I got up at 7 to get ready for the day, changed out of my pajamas, into my camo FighterGirls shorts and black muscle shirt, and pulled my hair up into a messy bun. Right as I was reaching for my black Nike shoes I heard my phone buzzing. As I picked it up off he dresser I noticed it was an alarm set for 7:15 am that read 'meet me at the gym across from the hotel -colby'. 'So this is what he meant by a surprise' I chuckled as I slipped on my shoes. As I grabbed my keys, wallet and sports bag, I texted him I was already on my way.
With the traffic from my house to the gym Colby asked me to meet him at,it was already 8 when I got there. I flashed the gym employee my membership pass and he let me in. From the entrance you could see the ring set up towards the back of the building and I could make out a two toned ninja and a pasty red-headed fella wrestling while a bubbly dancing queen stood off to the side.
"Vanessa!" Emma called out to me in her awesome Australian accent and greeted me with a hug.
"It's about time ya got here. Emma here has been bored out of her mind" Stephen's accent was thick as ever and I tried not to giggle when we pronounced bored as BOARed.
"Sorry guys I live far from here" I set down my bag and squatted down to start some stretches and as Emma joined me I heard Colby call out to me.
"You're not gonna ram anybody today are you?"
I glared at him with all the hatred I could possibly muster up only to have him laugh at the expression on my face.
"What's he talking about about?" Emma asked me with a slight chuckle.
"Heh, it's nothing"
-Seth's POV-
I hadn't seen Vanessa often before last night, since she was avoiding me all the time, but I noticed a few things I wasn't able to see last night, and I began to understand her choice in ring attire. She had scars across her knuckles, a burn scar on the back of her left hand, and had three large scars on her outer forearms. The decorated sleeves she wore in the ring covered them up completely and the tape she wrapped around her hands hid her scars as well. So many things I don't know about her, but want to find out.
-Vanessa's POV-
The rest of our gym session consisted of a mixed tag team match with Sheamus and I against Seth and Emma, which ended with Seth on the receiving end of Sheamus's Brogue Kick. Of course Emma and I still had plenty of energy to burn, so we decided to hit the treadmill until it was time for Emma to meet up with Paige.
"So what's with the big smile you've been wearing all day?" Emma asked not even phased by the fact that we were in a full fledged jog.
"Pfft, what smile?" I scoffed trying to force my smile into a frown.
"Spill it" she smacked my arm playfully.
"It's... Trent..." I averted my eyes as I sped up the speed on the treadmill.
".......No...." I didn't even have to say what happened last night. The look of shock that was then overcome by a grin that spread from ear to ear told me that she figured out what went down.
"Yeah..."
"YOU'RE SINGLE?!" Emma cried out louder than I would've liked and I heard the loud clank of weights being dropped.
"Shh!!! Emma!"
"Well it's about time you dumped that scumbag Trent!"
"It just feels weird y'know?" I looked over my shoulder to Seth who was still working in the ring with Sheamus "It's like something I was waiting for but now that it's happened I don't exactly know what to do."
It was nice actually talking to someone about what had happened last night but I never mentioned how Seth and I suddenly became friends, or the head butting incident of course. But before I knew it Emma was on her way to meeting Paige, and Sheamus was off to meet his girlfriend for lunch, leaving me and Seth in the ring, going over our moves.
"Come on! At least try it!" I sat on the top turnbuckle across from where Seth set down a punching bag to use as a dummy.
"I'm not doing a double moonsault!" he rolled his eyes and chuckled.
"Weenie" I mumbled.
"You wanna say that again?" he eyed me, even daring me, to say it again.
I held my hands up in defeat knowing what he was capable of. It would be pretty dumb of me to pick a fight with Seth, seeing as how he's at least 80 pounds heavier than I am, and I'm 5'4 while he stands at 6'2.
As I popped my fingers for the hundredth time today, Seth propped up the punching bag against the turnbuckles, picking it up with little effort. "Can I ask you something?"
'Those words are never good' I looked up at him as he leaned against the bag, looking at me with honest eyes.
"Yesterday at the restaurant, you almost cried, why?" As much as I tried I couldn't keep my heart from racing when he looked at me with those deep brown eyes.
"...It's stupid..." I hopped down from he turnbuckle only to have him corner me back into it. I've never been so happy and nervous at the same time, but as much as I tried to keep up my walls, he broke them down without even trying. "Anything I've ever tried to do or succeed in, I've been told no, or to give up. I dealt with it for years, but in Trent's case it was the one thing I was most passionate about, so coming from him, it hurt. It got to a point I almost quit" I scoffed and moved past Seth and slid out of the ring towards my bag and opened a Gatorade. I held another one out to him, and he took it only to set it on the apron and continue listening, though I felt like I was just whining. "If it was any one else telling me those things, I wouldn't care but..." I looked down at my drink tracing the logo with my thumb.
"But what?" he stepped closer to me taking the drink out of my hands.
'Is he honestly interested in what I'm saying? Well that's a first' I smiled to myself a bit and looked at him only to avert my eyes "Like I said it's stupid..."
He had a look on his face as if he somewhat had an idea of what I was going to say, but wanted confirmation.
"He was my first boyfriend" I said under my breath, and from the look on his face, that wasn't what he expected me to say at all. "Don't look at me like that!" I elbowed him in the stomach a bit harder than I meant to.
He laughed a little, holding his stomach as I took my drink back from him. "Come on don't take it the wrong way" he grabbed my arm gently, pulling me in towards him slightly, making my heart race.
"Watch it, Lopez..." I was so captivated by him I couldn't even threaten him without breaking into a smile.
"Come on... I don't know your last name" he laughed, letting go of my arm and picking up his drink, only to down the whole thing in 15 seconds flat.
"It's Hernandez" he looked at me surprised that I actually told him my real name and slid back into the ring measuring up the punching bag before going for a running clothesline.
"What are you going for?" he stood on the apron watching as I reset.
"Clothesline From Hell" trying once more to completely flip over the bag but not quite succeeding.
"Really? It's not enough you head butt people and came out with Starcrossed Wasteland, now you wanna send someone to Hell with a clothesline?"
I reset once more, "I'm gonna keep pushing it until my very last breath, Rollins" this time I put every fiber of my being into my clothesline diving feet first between the two top ropes and completely flipping over the punching bag.
"Close your mouth Colby, you'll catch flies" I slid out onto the apron, tapping his cheek lightly and hopping down. He just stood there shocked at what he had just seen, and honestly I was shocked too, but I was more proud than anything else.
* yeeeesssss finally home:D California was awesome but now back to work, and by work I mean staying home with my boys and eating ice cream to our hearts content :D