Though the actual call had happened months ago the words still echoed in Paige's mind.
The last call she had shared with the woman she loved wasn't the type exchanged between lovers. It was the call that ended relationships. Paige shouldn't have been shocked by it and she sure as bloody hell shouldn't have actually been hurt by it, and certainly not for this long but here she was, crying over it six months later.
Nattie was everything Paige had ever wanted in a friend and in a partner. She was intelligent, kind hearted, funny and sassy but also gentle, sensitive and innocent in so many ways that Paige herself was not. Nattie was a hard worker, dedicated to her career and that of her husband Tyson and a fierce competitor in the ring. There was hardly a thing about Natalya that Paige didn't like.
Except for the way she let Tyson treat her, as if she were nothing but a nuisance, as if she were to blame for the state of his career. His obvious dismissal of her feelings and opinions was disgusting. But, since it was exactly this behavior that had driven Nattie into Paige's arms in the first place, Paige supposed in a way she was glad for Tyson's behavior. For a time.
One night after a particularly bad fight Nattie had arrived at Paige's house, make-up ruined from crying and in desperate need of a friend. Paige had been more than happy to be Nattie's shoulder to cry on. Conversation had flowed freely between them and wine even freer and before either of them realized what was happening they were kissing and rolling around on Paige's floor reveling in each other's bodies all night long. After that first night it was all too easy for Paige to fall head over wrestling boots for Natalya.
Eventually Natalya and Paige had started spending so much time together that Tyson had become suspicious, always questioning and accusing. He was right though; his wife was having an affair and that was when the fairytale Paige had been living for the past year fell to pieces around her.
Paige picked up the phone eagerly at the sight of Nattie's name on the screen. "Hey sweetie, how's it going?"
Paige could hear her inhale deeply before sighing over the phone "Paige, it's over between us. I love Tyson, I want things to work between us, he's my husband. Whatever it was that we had, it meant nothing, this thing between us has been a mistake. Don't contact me again outside of work." Nattie's voice was emotionless, monotone as if she was reading from a script.
Paige could hardly speak through the lump in her throat. "You don't mean that Nattie. You can't honestly tell me that this past year has meant nothing, that Tyson makes you feel the way that I do. You know that I love you, Natalya."
"Well, I don't love you." She said with finality.
"No, no Nattie wait! We can talk this through, I know we can find a way to make this work." Her eye's started to fill with tears and her voice got hoarse. "Don't do this Nattie. Please."
"Goodbye Paige." Then a click, and silence.
The conversation played over and over in Paige's head. Natalya's detached voice saying I don't love you, I don't love you, I don't love you.
Paige dropped the phone as black tears finally spilled over and started to stream down her face. This heartache was like a physical pain and Paige clutched her chest and slid down the back of the sofa until she was lying on the couch in the fetal position.
Paige didn't know how long she laid there crying but it was long after her last tears had dried up. She felt empty inside, as if she'd cried out everything that she'd ever been and all that was left was a hollow shell.
Even now all these months later Paige couldn't say she'd felt anything since that day. Nothing but the aching emptiness that had taken root where her heart used to be anyways.
She could remember reading some crap quote about don't fall in love with me because I'll make you love me and tear you apart and then you'll know why they name hurricanes after people. Shitty as the quote was Paige now understood it.
Natalya had torn through Paige's life like a storm and left nothing but scattered debris and broken pieces in her wake. Pieces that Paige was still trying to pick up and put back together. Most days she felt like she'd never be able to put them all back together again.
There was no doubting that when Natalya left she'd taken part of Paige with her but maybe, just maybe, Paige could learn to function with the pieces she had left.
End
A/N: This was originally posted like last year but I deleted it and have since revised it. If you enjoyed it, let me know it!
