Belong
Chapter 1
"So you'll never guess what happened to me last night." Valisa said by way of greeting, sidling up beside her friend and partner in crime.
"Let me take a WILD guess and say it has something to do with a certain tattooed wrestler." Zelia replied, sarcasm dripping in her tone while sipping her water. "Do I wanna know what happened?"
"That son of a bitch had the NERVE to corner me at the ice machine last night." Valisa scowled darkly, holding her own beverage of choice diet Pepsi and took a long drink from it. "I swear, when will he take a hint and leave me alone?"
"Maybe when you stop with the mixed signals?" Zelia replied distractedly, running a hand through her long raven black hair. "Just admit it, Vali. One minute you want to be with him and the next you don't. You really have to make up your mind and figure out what you want."
Valisa sighed, knowing Zelia was right and admired her blunt attitude, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Enough about him, what's got you so preoccupied?" She turned the conversation to Zelia, both girls heading to the arena cafeteria for a half hour lunch break.
Zelia frowned, not sure she was ready to talk about it because she was too busy trying to wrap her mind around what she found out. "Nothing, I just found out some news today that I don't know if I should be happy about or not. It's a long boring story."
In 2007, Zelia signed a contract with the WWE to work as part of the ring crew, much like she'd done in the Heartland Wrestling Association since 2005. Zelia loved working for the HWA and honestly thought she'd end up retiring with the company, but such was not the case. She was released from her contract in late 2006 because of budget cuts, though Zelia was one step ahead of the HWA. She managed to contact the WWE and they hired her on in early 2007 during WrestleMania time, the company's busiest time of the year. It was a major transition, but Valisa made it a lot easier to deal with and welcomed Zelia with open arms along with the rest of the ring crew. So for the past almost 6 years, Zelia became part of the WWE family and left her HWA one behind, not keeping contact with any of her friends.
There was one person in the HWA that Zelia hadn't seen since she left in late 2006. She recently found out this person was signed to a contract with the WWE and would be debuting shortly. The writers were keeping it quiet because they didn't want the debut ruined by the internet. So Zelia had no idea when it would happen, though it wasn't for lack of trying. To say she was nervous was an understatement because Zelia had no idea what she'd do when she came face to face with this person again. She left HWA without a word, no goodbyes or farewells and this person had been one of her closest friends in the company.
"Well, if you ever need to talk about it, you know I'm here for you." Valisa assured her softly, both of them grabbing a sandwich with chips and sat down at a nearby table. "So what should I do about Brooks?"
Zelia chuckled, shrugging and chomped on a chip. "I have no idea. You two have such a volatile thing going on. Let me ask you something."
"Shoot."
"What exactly do you feel for him? Is it lust, like, love?" She laughed when Valisa nearly choked on a bite of her sandwich, jade eyes dancing with amusement.
"You are such a bitch." Valisa grunted, taking a long swallow of her diet Pepsi and pounded her chest a few times. "And I have no unearthly clue. Granted, he's sexy as hell with those tattoos, even the Pepsi one on his upper arm, but…he's very opinionated too. I just wanna cut his tongue off, then he would be perfect."
"Ouch, remind me not to get on your bad side."
Halfway through lunch, Zelia looked up and felt her entire body tense while Valisa talked about Phillip Brooks, only paying attention partially. Now her attention was glued on something, or rather someone, else. The rumors were true, all of them. Her jade eyes followed his every move, not believing how much he'd changed in the past almost 6 years. His haphazard dishwater blonde hair was slicked back with water as little rivulets slid down his arms and neck. His 225 pound muscular frame was encased in black cargo pants with what looked to be a tactical black vest buckled on. Two other men followed him inside the cafeteria, both also decked in the same attire.
"I think I'll finish my lunch outside." Zelia murmured, not giving Valisa to say anything else as she grabbed her food and hightailed it out of the cafeteria, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.
Valisa frowned, watching her friend rush out like her backside was on fire and wondered what that was about. She noticed Zelia had given one of the new rookies a onceover, a familiarity in her jade eyes. He had to be the reason behind Zelia's uneasiness and something told Valisa they had a history. Picking up her own mess, Valisa tossed it away in the garbage and walked past them on her way out the door, going to track down Zelia.
"Okay Zel, out with it." Valisa demanded when she found her friend sitting out back on one of the equipment trunks.
"Out with what?"
"Don't play dumb with me." Valisa folded her arms in front of her chest, ocean blue eyes peering at her skeptically. "You can fool a lot of people, but I've known you for almost 6 years. I saw what you did in there. As soon as those rookies came into the cafeteria, you bolted. What gives?"
Zelia sighed, hating how observant Valisa could be. "I know one of them." She finally admitted, lowering her eyes to the ground while swinging her feet back and forth lightly.
"The blonde?"
Zelia nodded, closing her eyes. "His name is Jonathan Good. We used to work for the same wrestling organization called Heartland Wrestling Association. He was a close friend of mine and I helped him a few times whenever he got injured badly in a match. I was part of the ring crew just like I am here. At the end of 2006, I lost my job due to cutbacks because of economy, or so they said. The ring crew was very expendable in that company. I left and never said goodbye or anything to Jon. I haven't seen or talked to him in almost 6 years and when I found out he was signed to this company, I almost put my resignation in. I'm terrified to talk to him again because I betrayed him by leaving without so much as a 'fuck you, have a nice life'."
Valisa frowned, hearing the pain clear in her friend's voice and hopped up on the equipment trunk, wrapping a secure arm around her shoulders. "You were going through a lot back then and had just lost your job. I'm sure if you explain things to him, he'll understand. I don't know the guy from a hole in the ground, but it sounds like you do. Something tells me he'll forgive you for leaving and not saying goodbye or keeping contact. But then again that's just me, you have to do what YOU think is right."
They talked for a little while longer and headed back inside to finish setting up for the big pay-per-view that night. It was Survivor Series, one of the 4 major events the WWE had every year. Indianapolis, Indiana would be getting a very rude awakening that night, but nobody knew exactly what kind of impact it would be. Benjamin, the ring crew manager, instructed Zelia to climb up to the catwalk to fix one of the lights. She didn't mind, strapping the safety harness on and began ascending the ladder, having pulled her black hair up in a messy tight bun on top of her head.
Just as she arrived on the catwalk, Jonathan with the other men he'd been with in the cafeteria appeared on the top of the stage. Zelia noticed them instantly and immediately felt her heart twinge painfully in her chest, pushing the pain in the back of her mind. She would deal with it later at the hotel when she was alone in her hotel room. Right now, she had to focus on getting this light fixture to work and carefully moved to the other side to check it, immediately finding the problem.
"Nice work, Bell." Benjamin praised, clapping the woman on the back as soon as she landed on her feet, smiling. "I was worried we'd have to replace that damn thing."
"Not a problem, Ben. It looks like they need help with the ring pole." She observed, her back facing the three men slowly making their way down the newly installed ramp.
"Get on it." Benjamin headed past the trio to check on the Titan tron, wanting make sure everything worked properly.
Jon watched the woman called Bell head down to the ring, bluish grey eyes narrowing slightly. Even with her back turned to him, he could tell she was a beautiful woman with a fit body. Black hair and part of the ring crew with the name Bell…it suddenly dawned on Jon as he left his fellow co-workers to follow her. Could it be? His hand reached out to tap her shoulder and watched as the woman turned around until unmistakable jade eyes locked with his.
"Holy shit." He blurted, his mouth parting slightly as shock filled his body from head to toe. "Zelia?"
There was no way she could play dumb and act like she didn't know who he was. "Hey Jon." She greeted softly, noting the perplexity in his eyes and tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear.
"That's all you have to say to me? Hey Jon?" His voice filled with disbelief, trying to wrap his mind around the fact Zelia Bell worked for the WWE and probably had all this time.
"Hey Zel, we need you over here!"
"I'm coming!" She called back, jade eyes never leaving his. "We can talk later if you want." Zelia whipped a pen out of her pocket and scrawled her cell number on his hand, blowing on it for a second before closing his fingers around it. "Your choice, break a leg tonight, Moxley."
Jon Moxley was his wrestling persona in the HWA and Zelia called him that instead of using his first name. It just fit him better for some reason. Zelia wouldn't be able to use it a lot around the WWE, but old habits die hard. Jon watched her walk toward the ring and looked down at his hand as his coworkers walked up to him. They were Seth Rollins –his real name was Colby Lopez- and Roman Reigns –his real name was Leati Joseph Anoa'i, but everyone called him Joe for short-, the group would be dubbed forever as The Shield after tonight's pay-per-view.
"What's going on, Jon? Who is that?" Colby asked, his voice filled with confusion.
"An old coworker I knew in HWA." Jon replied, turning to face both of his coworkers. "We have a debut to get ready for tonight. Come on." They headed up the ramp and Jon wished his hand would stop burning from Zelia's touch.
After the setup was completed, the ring crew headed to the back as fans began piling in the arena, packing it to the rafters. The ring crew could either go back to the hotel and come back later to take the setup down or stick around until the fans left after the show. Valisa decided to stay because she wanted to watch Phillip's match against John Cena and Ryback –his real name was Ryan Reeves- for the WWE Championship. They found an empty dressing room with a monitor and two chairs, getting snacks from the cafeteria and settled in to watch the pay-per-view.
"So I noticed you gave the rookie your number." Valisa said, breaking the silence between them halfway through the show. "Do you think he'll call?"
"He's not a rookie." Zelia argued swiftly, defending Jon because she'd saw all the blood he'd shed for this business in HWA. "Believe me, I've seen that man do some incredible insane things and, even though he's new to the WWE, it doesn't mean he hasn't paid his dues with other wrestling organizations."
"Still a rookie in my book." Valisa wasn't deterred easily and chomped on a chip. "So do you think he'll call you or what?"
"I don't know. He sounded confused and shocked, didn't really have time to have a full-blown conversation." Zelia hated how Jon had been the one to come to her first, but there was nothing she could do to change it. "I hope he does. I've missed him a lot."
"Did you two ever…"
"No." So much regret was in that one little word the moment it popped out of Zelia's mouth. "Don't get me wrong, I wanted to, but he never showed me he did. Never made a move or anything, always treated me like a friend. So I left it at that." The harsh truth was Zelia had fallen in love with Jon during their time at HWA, but she never had the courage to tell him how she felt. "Have you figured out what to do about Brooks?"
Valisa nodded, looking a little troubled. "As cute as he is, he's just not my type. I mean part of me wants to experiment and see what he's like in the sack, but a bigger part of me doesn't. He wants to meet me for a drink tonight and I'm declining. You were right. If I keep sending mixed signals and acting like I want him, he'll keep pursuing me and I don't want that to happen."
"Right, so if you don't tell him to bugger off…"
"You can kick my ass and I won't put up a fight."
"Good."
When it came time for the triple threat match for the WWE Championship, Zelia became worried because Jon hadn't made his debut yet. Maybe the writers backed out at the last minute and didn't want him on the pay-per-view. Considering he was the sole reason she stayed behind at the arena, Zelia was extremely annoyed as she watched the championship match half interested.
"What the hell?"
Valisa's words snapped Zelia out of her thoughts as her jade eyes locked on the screen, a big smile crossing her face at the sight of Jon. They were in the audience descending the stairs the fans normally did to take their seats for the event. She heard the announcer's say his name was Dean Ambrose and raised a brow, wondering who came up with that name for him.
"Hello Daddy, oh my god he is HOT." Valisa stated, fanning herself with her hand as her eyes remained glued on the long dark haired, grey eyed beast. "Roman Reigns, huh? He can reign over me anytime, day or night."
"You're so stupid." Zelia laughed, seeing her friend was in current lust and kept her eyes on Jon, very happy for him.
She could only hope Jon called her that night after the show.
