CHASING CHAOS. SEVEN.
•:•☾☼☽•:•
YOUR PAST IS DEAD YET IT STILL HAUNTS YOU AND YOU LET IT.
— neptunememes
•:•☾☼☽•:•
CHAPTER SEVEN - CHASE THE EMBERS, EVEN IF YOU BURN
━━━━━ •:•☾☼☽•:• ━━━━━
ARENA LIGHTS were shinning down on the blonde as she laid on the floor in the fetal position, while the universe screamed in response of the match that had took place. The bell rung minutes ago, but the assault on Josephine never stopped when Ronda felt anger boil inside her.
Now she laid there with her mouth full of her blood. Dazed and almost broken. Almost. And she couldn't stop laughing, a smile twisted onto her lips as she medical staff had ran down with gloves covering their hands, the referee's were holding Ronda back as she spat back curses at the blonde.
Josephine rolled onto her side, looking over at Ronda who shouted back at her but Josephine never spoke, all she did was smirk back at her. Her teeth were a diluted shade of red and blood was trickling down her chin. If it was not for the metallic taste in her mouth, she wouldn't of known that her lip had been busted open.
"Are you good to stand, Josephine?" One of the medical staff asked her as started to crowd around her, their eyes looking down at the blood on and around her lips.
Josephine nodded back at them and with her assistance, she rose to her feet. The crowd around them had cheered and the beat of Josephine's song went through the speakers. She cradled her arm while walking to the back, but that was not the end of the chaos when she stepped through the curtain.
"Are you kidding me, Logan?" She could hear Becky's voice from a foot away when the black curtain hung behind her. She was angry. "Out of all the people, you? Why would you do that?"
"I didn't think it was a big deal." Logan snapped back at her, her hand raised in the air. "It's just a storyline, Becks. What's gotten into you?" The Latina yelled back at her best-friend whom was fuming that she out of all people would teach Josephine her move, and practice with her. She felt betrayed.
"It's not just a storyline." Becky yelled back, not even thinking about what had just slipped out of her mouth for all the people to hear that stood near them. "I thought that you, over everyone else, would understand what this means to me."
Sonya turned her head with a confused expression, she had been watching Josephine's match when she had put Becky's submission move onto Ronda, and the red-head almost exploded onto her best-friend.
Logan had been smirking when the red-head turned towards her with confusion on her face, unaware that Josephine had practiced with her but when she saw the proud look on Logan's face, the dots connected.
Logan's face had softened when she looked back at her best-friend's hurt expression. She had worked so hard for what she has now, and for Logan to teach her rival, who would have an opportunity for Becky's title, in time. Hurt the red-head. "Becks, I do know how much the title means to you."
Logan reached out to grab onto her but Becky shoved her away with a shake of her head. Logan's eyebrows rose on her forehead in surprise, not once had they fought like they have and Logan felt a stab to her heart.
"A best-friend would have never went behind my back and did what you done." Becky shook her head in a repeated emotion, almost trying to grasp her mind around the situation. "I can't have a friend who would betray me..." her voice wavered slightly.
Logan reached out for her best-friend once again, her fingers slipping against the leather of her jacket as she pushed her away again. "Becky.." Logan could barely understand what she was going to say. She didn't want to believe that Becky would break off their friendship for something so small and meaningless. "I didn't know it would hurt you."
Becky's hurt expression had twisted into something much, much darker when she saw the blonde come towards them with the medical staff walking behind her. She was holding a white towel to her lip. The blood soaking through the fabric.
"Becks, I'm sorry." Logan pleaded with widened eyes, shaking her head when the red-head turned around after glancing down at Logan with a penetrating stare. The brunette watched her with a shocked and broken look on her face as she made her way down the hallway, her shoulders tensed up, head hanging a bit low. Logan let a shaky breath escape from her lips, turning around to greet the blonde who was staring back at them, feeling a tiny ounce of guilt rubbing onto her conscience.
"I didn't mean—" Josephine shook her head while a sorrow look on her face appeared but Logan shook her head, not wanting her to apologize for something she didn't mean to do.
"It wasn't you. She hasn't been the same person since—" Logan took a moment to gather herself as her voice cracked under her emotions.
The truth was that Becky hadn't been the same person ever since her and Charlotte fell through. And then her ex-boyfriend who broke up with her. Logan still didn't understand what happened there, Becky wouldn't tell her. All the red-head mentioned was that they fought and she couldn't take the arguments with him anymore and they broke it off.
"—never mind." Logan shook her head, walking forward to put a comforting hand on the blonde's shoulder. Anything to lift the concern off the blonde's face. "You worry about yourself and get your lip checked."
Josephine could see the pain behind Logan's brown eyes, the same ones that were usually full of light and happiness but now they were bright with unshed tears that had yet to fall onto her cheeks. Logan tried to hide her emotions behind a faked smile, but Josephine could see right through it because she used to do that. Before she could say anything to the Latina, she turned around and began walking in the same direction that Becky had taken off in, and left Josephine watching after her.
For a few minutes, her face was frozen with a frown on her lips as she watched Logan's body disappear behind a wall, until she felt a warm hand on her back that pulled her from her thoughts. She turned her head to meet the reassuring smile of Sonya, who had always been right beside the girl when things got tough for her.
Sonya knew that they would make up again since there was no way to keep the brunette and red-head away from each other. They were each other's rocks, and Sonya knew that Becky couldn't make it through anything without the support of her best-friend.
But Josephine could not help but feel a bit hurt and guilty that she had put a wedge between a strong friendship. If she knew that training with Logan would of been a problem, she would have never went along with it.
Sonya frowned at her when her eyes trailed back to the hallway that Logan was absent of. "They'll be friends again, don't worry." Sonya reassured the blonde, pulling her into her side. "Let's get you checked out, alright?"
Josephine glanced down at the dark-haired beauty and then nodded back at her with an appreciated smile. At least she had someone to call a friend.
When they both arrived in the trainer's room, Josephine had to receive two stitches to close up the gash that was hidden in the inside of her bottom lip. When Ronda punched her, her lip had been sucked in between her teeth and she bit down onto it. So, she laid down with her left hand holding onto Sonya's while they stitched her up after numbing it.
The rest of the night had been uneventful, not that Josephine was complaining. After Survivor Series ended and with what her body endured, she has never been so sore in her life. She was glad that Sonya offered to help her with her luggage since her arms felt like soggy noodles.
When Sonya loaded up the last of Josephine's luggage into the back of the car, she turned towards the blonde. "Where you staying at tonight?" she questioned.
"Ritz-Carlton, you?" Josephine told her, waiting for her own response to the question she had just asked.
Sonya had offered to drive her to the hotel when they had been in the training room, since Mandy was traveling with some friends she had in Los Angeles that she hadn't spoken to in quite some time.
Sonya smiled back at her and confirmed that she was staying in the same hotel. It was convenient that they were both heading in the same place and now Sonya didn't have to drive across Los Angeles to bring Josephine to her hotel and then drive back to her own.
The two women parted ways once they had gotten to their hotel, and Josephine left the elevator since Sonya was on a different floor than her. They bid goodbye and the blonde walked down the quiet and dim lighted hallway to her assigned room. Opening up her wallet to find her key card only to notice that it was not there.
Her eyebrows furrowed out of confusion, dropping her bags on the floor to look into her bag. She couldn't find her key card until she remembered that she had been running late this morning and left it on the desk inside her hotel room.
"Fuck." Josephine whispered angrily, her eyes scanning across the dark hallway before gathering her things and walking down towards the lobby of the hotel, only to notice that no-one was there. So she waited ten minutes until she huffed out.
She didn't think anyone would be out at the lobby at this time of night. Josephine's lips pouted out of annoyance and walked towards the elevator, knowing only one other thing she could do.
Two minutes later she found herself on the other side of the door to Sonya's hotel room, hearing nothing inside. She chewed on her bottom lip, she didn't know if she should knock or not but what else was she suppose to do? Wait for the receptionist to come back? But that could take hours and Josephine wanted to take a shower and go to sleep.
Her knuckles hit the reinforced door quietly while Josephine chewed on her bottom lip out of nervousness. She could just turn around here and camp out in the hallway until the receptionist came back, or she could find another hotel. She didn't have much time to think about what to do when the door opened, and Sonya looked back at her with a raised brow.
"I left my key card in the hotel room this morning, and I can't get in." Josephine explained while she smiled sheepishly, her face instantly flushing.
Sonya smiled back at her and laughed before opening the door more to invite the blonde into her room. "Don't worry about it, you can crash here until the morning."
Josephine smiled back at her as she entered the room and put her suitcases near the other bed that was on the oposite side of the room. She was glad that Sonya had an extra bed in her room, assuming this one would have been for Mandy.
Josephine turned back around, her hand going up and down on her arm as her nervousness was eating her alive. "Thank you for letting me stay here tonight, you didn't have too."
"Nonsense." Sonya shook her head and walked further into the room, plopping onto her bed.
"I wouldn't leave you to camp out of the hallway." She told her and then pointed towards the restroom next to the door. "You can have a shower if you like, I've already had one."
Josephine smiled back at her and grabbed a change of clothes before heading towards the bathroom, leaving Sonya behind to watch her as she disappeared, then she turned on the television while waiting for her.
Sonya could feel the nervous tension in the room that radiated from the blonde, and she knew she felt uncomfortable with coming here without notice. She was glad that Josephine had knocked on her door then just camping out somewhere.
She probably would be worried if she did.
About five minutes later, Josephine came out of the bathroom with a white baggy shirt on, some black shorts, and her wet hair thrown up into a messy bun.
She wasn't going to wash her hair until she saw just how much of a mess it was, stuck up in places that it shouldn't of been and some of the ends of her hair had been caked with her blood.
"I guess this is my bed, huh?" Josephine questioned rather stupidly, just her words were enough to want to knock herself over the head.
Sonya turned her head towards the blonde. "Yeah, unless you want to sleep in my bed." she smirked over at her, meeting the blonde's gaze.
Josephine's lips parted and looked the girl up and down before letting out a tiny laugh before turning her head away from Sonya's gaze as she smiled to herself, her cheeks turning pink.
"So how'd you meet Paige?" Sonya questioned her, trying to strike up a conversation as Josephine situated herself under the sheets.
"She actually stumbled into my gymnasium one morning and we kind of clicked from there." Josephine told her which made Sonya turn towards her.
"You own a gymnasium?"
Josephine nodded. "Yeah, I used to teach gymnastics before I got into wrestling. The Wilson Gymnasium is actually downtown here."
Sonya nodded back at her. "Do you have family here?" she then questioned but a few seconds later regretted her question when the blonde's face fell slightly.
Something must of happened to Jo's parents, maybe they weren't close anymore. "I-I'm sorry." the dark-haired girl apologized but the blonde shook her head.
"No it's alright." Josephine reassured her. "They actually passed eleven years ago." Josephine shot her a sad smile at the mention of her parent's passing, and Sonya's face softened.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up old wounds." Sonya could see how watery her eyes looked with the lamp shinning on her pretty face.
Josephine sat up in her bed, reaching to grab her water bottle from the nightstand. "It's okay, you didn't know." she smiled over at her, taking a sip of her water. "It actually feels good to talk about it. Paige and AJ are the only ones who know."
Sonya felt appreciated that Josephine talked about this subject with her. The blonde really took a chance with her to trust her and tell her something that obviously still impacted her.
"Now I just feel guilty that I brought it up in the first place." Sonya took the covers back from her, moving towards Josephine's bed. "Move over."
Josephine smiled and moved down the bed to give Sonya some room, and she laid down next to her. They faced each other.
"Will you tell me about them?" Sonya questioned, examining her facial features under the light to see a slight bit of hesitation.
"My mom worked as a Pediatrician nurse ever since I was born. She was pretty young too when she got into medical school, a lot of her co-workers said it was because she was a genius." Josephine explained to her, watching as Sonya held onto every word she said.
"And my father was a farmer. We had our own acreage with tons of goats and cows. I used to love playing there as a kid, jumping on the hay bales."
Josephine smiled faintly at the memory of her and her friends climbing on the hay bales and racing each other to the end. Her mother was against them doing it since she didn't want any of them to fall, but being the rebellious child that she was, she done it anyways.
"We lived on that acreage my whole life until my graduation. It was when they passed away that our land was taken from us since I couldn't pay the bills. I was forced out of my home but luckily I saved up tons of money to get myself into Medical School, only to drop out and move out here to Los Angeles."
Sonya looked back at her with pity in her eyes. She had no idea that Josephine had gone through so much to get where she is now. She could never even dream about living without her mother. Her warm hand came up to rest on her arm, which was surprisingly cold due to the lack of blankets covering them.
"Thank you for sharing this with me. I know it couldn't of been easy for you to trust someone after you've gone through so much." Sonya's eyes softened as a single tear escaped from her eye, and the brunette reached up and wiped it away with her thumb.
"It feels good to talk about it with someone else. I've been holding it all in for so long." Josephine smiled back at her even though her eyes were watery. "I just feel like part of me is to blame for their deaths, I don't know, It sounds crazy but--"
Sonya shook her head. "Don't blame yourself. I'm sure that whatever happened to them is not your fault. You have to learn to forgive yourself if you ever hope to seek peace within yourself."
Josephine stared back with a small smile on her face, she felt comfort when she laid down next to Sonya while telling her the details of her life. Even though some parts were sad, explaining the deaths of her parents made her realize that maybe it was not her fault that they had died that night. Not all of her life was filled with heartache and sorrow, just a chunk of it that still bothered her and she had to come to terms that she can't take that back.
She shouldn't spent her days upset about her past life but she could learn from it and cherish the days that she did have her both of her parents for those eighteen years of her life. Some children never got the luxury of living with both of their parents, so Josephine was happy with what she got.
Sonya looked back at her but her smile was slowly fading as they looked in each other's eyes. Their bare legs were inches apart from one another and Josephine could feel the heat radiating off of her body.
Josephine's eyes flickered down to Sonya's pink ones and the moment she did, Sonya began to lean it towards her to capture her lips with hers with such delicately that Josephine almost thought their lips didn't meet.
Sonya's hand found it's way through the covers and onto Josephine's hip, pulling the blonde towards her with a soft tug. It was only until Sonya kissed her with more force that she winced and pulled away breathlessly.
"Oh shit, I forgot about your lip." Sonya apologized, her lips going into a sheepish grin.
"Don't worry about it," Josephine smiled at her. "The kiss was worth the pain."
Sonya let out a small chuckle of amusement, looking back at the blonde who had a playful look in her eyes. "Well, if that kiss was worth it, just wait until your lip is healed. I might just blow you away."
It was Josephine's turn to let a laugh of amusement escape from her lips. "I'll hold you to it." She said while a grin adored her face, which made Sonya bite down onto her bottom lip while gazing back into her pale blue eyes.
She wanted to kiss her again. To finish what they had started but she knew that Josephine was hurting and didn't want to hurt her more. It would have to wait for now. Sonya smiled at her and then rolled onto her side to leave the bed, leaving Josephine cold.
"Goodnight, Jo." She whispered and clicked the lamp off before walking towards her own bed, and pulling the covers over herself.
Josephine laid in silence while she questioned what her heart wanted. She liked the attention that the brunette was giving her, and she had thought of her when her hands were preoccupied with other things, but Sonya deserved better than her. She deserved what the blonde couldn't give her. She hoped that when she woke up the next morning, that Sonya wouldn't press her for a relationship because that was not at all what she was looking for. Maybe Sonya wasn't looking for a relationship, but just something playful and meaningless, Josephine could only hope that was the case.
When it came down to it all and what she wanted, Josephine couldn't think about anyone else expect for the red-headed woman who left a trail of chaos behind her, and she had every intention of chasing the embers left from her even when she pushed her away continuously. She wanted to forget the tanned skin against her own and how that would make her feel, how her words were sharper than knives but even if it sliced her open and bled her dry, she would still continue to find her in the afterlife.
Josephine wanted Becky Lynch, and there was nothing going to stop her. Even if it meant she would have to go through hell to get her.
A/N: ^^ All you guys chasing after me with spears n swords about to kill me for ruining lecky. I'M SORRY ALRIGHT. But jaria, sosephine, or whatever u guys call them are really giving me otp vibes. like sonya we see u trying to get dat ass, get it. ALSO, I can't stop writing for this book like my self is thirsty and really out here dreaming about becky & jo sleeping together. but how ya'll feel about Josephine and Sonya? Yes, no? Maybe? Hell nah? AGAIN, filler chapter since next chapter we're really gonna get into some good shit. like jo and becky in the same ring together HAHAHA. yes.