Trading Heartbeats
Chapter 1 : Spilled Coffee
"Shh, it's about to come on," hushed a petite girl of about 24. She smoothed down her shoulder-length black hair which complemented her dark brown skin well. She crawled over in front of the T.V. sitting cross-legged on the floor, barefoot. This petite girl went by Khaila, (no, not Kayla, but Khaila - as in Kyle-ah), and although she appeared to be the smallest of her group of companions, personality-wise that wasn't so. "We know, Khaila. We can see," chimed in another girl a year older and several inches taller than Khaila. She, herself, had shoulder-length hair; although instead of side-bangs and brown hair as Khaila had, this girl had bangs running straight across her forehead accompanied by red hair. She was of the same complexion as Khaila if not lighter by a shade or two. She sat cross-legged on the couch staring up at the rotating ceiling fan. This girl went by the name of Sonelle. To her left, with her feet hanging off of the arm of the sofa while her back rested on the seat was another girl, Brittany, whose hair had stretched down her back and was a deep brown colour. Brittany seemed to be a carbon copy of Sonelle only a bit shorter, a year younger and only a smidge quieter. Her eyes gazed up at her cell phone that she held up towards the ceiling while her fingers swept across it as she texted.
Suddenly another girl, carrying a bowl of popcorn, stumbled into the room after tripping over a pair of her own ankle-high converse. She had long, wavy, deep red hair that stretched no further than the center of her back and was about 25 years old. This girl had a different complexion from her companions; she was fairer. As she set the popcorn down on the small coffee table, she took a seat on the floor hugging her knees and gazing with her grey/green eyes up at the T.V. As she pinned her side-bangs behind her ear, she picked up a piece of popcorn and ate it at once. This girl's name was Amelia Rose.
Back on the sofa, Brittany had shifted her position on the couch to sitting cross-legged. "It's starting," Amelia exclaimed. Instantly, Sonelle picked up the T.V. remote and turned up the volume on the T.V. 'Yes, sir, we promised you a great match,' spoke the man in the opening credits. Amelia's eyes lit up as flashes of older wrestling matches and wrestlers passed by on the screen followed by the big 'W' with a line under it. The pyrotechnics soared and flashed around the arena welcoming the crowd of Chicago, Illinois to the WWE Pay-Per-View Money In the Bank. If it wasn't apparent by now, Amelia and her three best friends bonded over something most girls their age wouldn't, and that was wrestling. They would watch every Pay-Per-View, every Monday night RAW and every Friday night Smackdown together. "It's like tradition," as Brittany had put it one Friday evening while they were all gathered at the apartment that she shared with Sonelle. (In all, the four girls rented two apartments; Brittany and Sonelle stayed in the one directly to the right of Amelia and Khaila's (the one they'd watch Money In The Bank at.)
Brittany, Sonelle, Khaila and Amelia stared intently at the T.V. screen taking in every single moment of the Money In The Bank Pay-Per-View. "I can't believe they're in our home town of Chicago, Illinois, and we couldn't get tickets to see them," sighed Amelia. The others groaned and muttered 'yeah' and 'I know, right'. After the arena, the home town, the Pay-Per-View, and the matches had been introduced by head commentator, Michael Cole, the ring bell sounded three times. "This first match," began the ring announcer Justin Roberts, "is the Smackdown Money In The Bank ladder match!" The crowd came to life applauding and roaring with excitement. Brittany and Amelia shifted excitedly in their seats as their favourite superstars from this brand were about to make their way to the ring. "The only way to win this match," Justin Roberts further explained after the crowd seemed to die down a bit, "is to climb up the ladder and seize the briefcase hanging high above this ring! The superstar who does retrieve the briefcase will be Mr. Money In The Bank." The crowd roared to life once more.
Suddenly, Feel The Power by S-Preme began to play as Brittany let out a slight shriek and sat upright staring at the T.V. "Making his way to the ring from Cape Town, South Africa," introduced Justin Roberts, "weighing 223 pounds," he paused before continuing, "Justin Gabriel!" Brittany clasped her hands to her chest resting them right over her heart as she watched Justin Gabriel make his way to the ring. Superstars such as Kane, Wade Barrett, Sin Cara, Sheamus, Daniel Bryan and Heath Slater made their individual ways to the ring, but Amelia was waiting for one more theme song to play. "Woah-Oh," the song dragged. Amelia jumped a bit as she stared at the T.V. marvelling at the man with a face mask who tried to avoid contact with the camera. "Making his way to the ring from Marietta, Georgia and weighing in at 223 pounds … Cody Rhodes," called Justin Roberts. A smile cracked itself onto Amelia's face as she watched Cody push the camera away every now and then while he climbed into the ring.
"Come on, Justin! You can't let Cody win," Brittany called out to the T.V. as Cody Rhodes climbed onto the ladder.
"I can't stand Cody Rhodes - him insulting everyone and their religion," continued Khaila as she watched the match rocking back and forth in her seat. Amelia merely smiled whispering things such as 'Come on, Cody,' under her breath. If it hadn't been made clear yet, Brittany, Sonelle, and Khaila had detested Cody Rhodes while Amelia seemed to be quite infatuated by this superstar. Amelia no longer cheered rather loudly for Cody while with her friends; she found it rather monotonous arguing back and forth with her friends about Cody's gimmick and technically-sound abilities. So, instead of stirring up controversy, she merely muttered chants and goading Cody along in his match under her breath.
The Pay-Per-View progressed and to both Brittany and Amelia's displeasure neither Justin Gabriel nor Cody Rhodes had risen victorious. Moments after, another briefcase was hanging high above the ring as ladders were gathered around it. Justin Roberts introduced this match as the RAW Money In the Bank ladder match. It was Sonelle's turn to straighten up in her seat as she anticipated the entrance of her favourite superstar, Kofi Kingston. "And from Ghana, West Africa, weighing 221 pounds … Kofi Kingston," Justin Roberts had introduced. The match continued on with Sonelle, Brittany, Khaila and Amelia chanting for Kofi to win this match. Alas, to the displeasure of all of them (but most of all Sonelle's), Kofi along with 6 other superstars had come up short of a win. Finally, it was time for the main event. All of them were eager to watch this, however, Khaila seemed a bit more anxious as her favourite superstar, CM Punk, was to participate in this match for the WWE Championship.
The match continued on going back and forth between CM Punk and his opponent and champion at the time, John Cena. Finally, it happened. CM Punk had landed the GTS, and Khaila (along with Chicago, Illinois including Amelia, Brittany and Sonelle) stood up squealing and shrieking in victory as the referee counted the one, two, three and awarded CM Punk his championship. After the match, however, the chairman of WWE, Vince McMahon, who had been standing ringside with Executive Vice President of Talent Relations, John Laurinaitis, (who had received a punch to the face by John Cena during the match and now lay unconscious) had signalled for the RAW Money In The Bank winner in order to cash in for the championship and somehow win it back. Vince had desperately wanted to win back the WWE Championship due to that fact that after tonight, after this Pay-Per-View, CM Punk would walk away from the WWE, and Punk vowed he'd take the WWE Championship with him. An embarrassment like that was the last thing Vince had wanted.
As CM Punk realized what had happened, he delivered a kick to the temple of the Money In The Bank winner and ran off with the championship blowing a kiss to his former boss. The Pay-Per-View concluded and Amelia, Khaila, Brittany and Sonelle looked around at each other with smiles plastered onto their faces. A native Chicago, Illinois born had won the WWE Championship, and there was no sense of pride prouder than that. "I say we celebrate," Sonelle proclaimed as she searched for her shoes.
"With what," Brittany asked in reference to the empty popcorn bowl. Khaila chuckled as she helped Sonelle retrieve her shoes from underneath the couch.
"Well, we could always go out," Amelia suggested while turning off the television and picking up the popcorn bowl which had almost slipped out of her hand.
"Where would we go," Khaila asked as she rose to her feet after handing Sonelle her converse.
"Well, there's a coffee shop downtown," Amelia began as she emptied out the popcorn bowl full of nothing but popcorn kernels into the dirt box in the kitchen while spilling a bit on the floor by accident. She stooped down and picked them up hastily, throwing them into the garbage before she continued, "they sell all these cakes and frozen coffees." As she tossed the empty bowl into the sink, she re-entered the living room.
"What better way to celebrate a CM Punk victory," exclaimed Sonelle. "We'll drink coffee to his success!" Amelia and her friends laughed as they put on their shoes and gathered up their wallets before heading out to the parking lot. Amelia offered her car (/ki8ul2j) and the four girls piled in. In little to no time at all, they were driving down the streets of Chicago to the quaint café Amelia had told them about, and after a few minutes, Amelia pulled into the small parking lot and shut off the engine. As the four girls exited the vehicle they entered the small café. Although it had been one of the smallest buildings on the block, it's vintage and quaint style certainly made up for that.
The café had booths set up against the most right wall of the building, each having a window which was draped with short dark brown curtains and that allowed customers to gaze at the passing cars. The floors were tiled with white tiles and the counter had been set up just across from the booths. "Where do we sit," asked Khaila as she looked around at the vacant booths - which happened to be most. There had only been two other sets of customers in the café: a couple that seemed to be bickering over which drapes they would get to hang in their bedroom and six men, three on each side of the booth, all wearing hats and hoodies politely sipping their coffee and barely uttering a word. Amelia, stretching her neck, finally suggested, "How about that one?" She pointed at the last booth. The girls agreed, but remained in line together.
As the man working behind the counter approached them, he introduced himself as Mark and asked for their orders. As the girls individually decided on and relayed their orders, Amelia could not help but feel a chill down her spine as if someone had been staring at them. She inconspicuously glanced at the set of each customers before looking out the window pretending to be interested in the passing cars. She turned once more to the counter and paid for her frozen coffee along with her companions. The four of them made their way to the last booth in the café and seated themselves there. Brittany had taken the seat closest to the window while Amelia sat nearer to the edge of the booth. Both had sat with their backs to the sets of customers. Khaila and Sonelle sat opposite from them with Khaila taking the window seat.
The girls each sipped their frozen coffees and lattés while discussing a variety of topics such as: wrestling, what they'd do tomorrow, extreme stunts they'd vowed that they one day would attempt and the latest celebrity news - making fun of it, mostly. It was a matter of time before the four friends had finished their frozen coffees and lattés; however, that hadn't satisfied them enough. They were still hungry. Withdrawing their wallets and pulling out coins accumulating enough money to buy at least 4 cookies, they handed it to Amelia. "Here, Amelia. You go buy it," Sonelle said as she dropped the collected coins into Amelia's palm. Amelia groaned looking at the distance she had to walk then looked back at her companions who'd seemed to have the same expression pasted on their faces. Sighing, Amelia reluctantly rose out of her seat and made her way to the counter counting the coins in her hand.
As she had neared the counter, however, someone had bumped hard into Amelia. The coins clanged to the floor as both Amelia and her bumper toppled over landing beside each other. Brittany, Sonelle, and Khaila rose from their seats immediately as did the six - well, now five - men. With her hand pressed to the side of her head, she stole a quick glanced over at her bumper. He'd now been on his knees in the process of getting up. Before he did so, however, he stooped down beside Amelia offering his hand to help her up. Accepting it, she was helped to her feet. "Sorry about the spilled coffee," he lisped apologetically. As Amelia shook her head opening her mouth to say that it had been all her fault, she glanced up into the face of her bumper, and what or who she saw left her absolutely speechless.