What a weird night it had been, Seth thought. He had gone into it looking at the Mixed Match Challenge as something that might be a laugh, maybe a bit of fun, and if his team ended up going a long way, it could present a chance to win himself a Universal Championship shot. Now though, he felt differently about it, thanks to Lacey Evans.
It was perfectly clear that having fun was not part of Ms Evans agenda in WWE. While Seth had shown her around backstage, Lacey had daintily walked beside him with a look on her face that conveyed disapproval with everyone and everything she saw. Her high standards had apparently not been met at any point.
Her aloof attitude had continued while the Smackdown episode had been taking place. For some inexplicable reason, Seth had offered to sit and watch it with her. They had found a quiet room and sat in front of a monitor throughout the whole show, with the conversation between them remaining strictly on the in-ring action.
"Well, Seth, I do declare that I'm highly unimpressed with what I've seen," Lacey had drawled in her well-spoken southern accent as the main event came to a conclusion. "I don't think we should have much trouble beating these people, and bringing some class to WWE in the process."
"We? You think I'm going to bring class?" Seth had asked innocently, taking the opportunity to try and needle her.
Lacey had studiously looked at him for a moment before her bright red lips had curved into a hint of a smile. "We'll work on that."
Seth had immediately wondered what his supposedly smart comment had landed him in for.
With the show over with, it was time for them to leave. As decreed by Shane McMahon, and in accordance with longstanding WWE convention, Seth and Lacey were required to travel together now that they were teammates.
"Do you have a hire car?" Seth asked her as they prepared to leave. Because they hadn't been competing, neither of them had any reason to go to the locker rooms before taking off. "I came here with Dean, so if you're not driving either we might have a bit of a problem," he explained.
"No, I don't have a hire car," Lacey said, finding the suggestion contemptible. "I drive my own car whenever I can."
"That won't be very often," Seth informed her. "Often, you'll have to fly to get from place to place now that you're in WWE. We work quite the hectic schedule."
"Then I shall fly first class," she said firmly. "Are you ready to leave, or are we staying here all night?"
"Lead the way, my lady," Seth said with theatrical graciousness.
Before long, they were walking into the parking garage. Seth spotted Lacey's car straight away. Parked on its own, off to one side of the garage, was a light blue 1950's style Chevrolet. It looked to be in mint condition, but even so it didn't appeal to Seth. He was used to traveling in modern luxury cars.
"My car is over here," Lacey said proudly.
Despite her less than pleasant attitude for most of the night, Seth didn't have the heart to offend her by talking down her ride. He walked slightly behind her across the garage, taking a look at her shapely legs. Weird dress sense and caustic temperament notwithstanding, she was a seriously sexy lady.
Thinking that reminded Seth of his bet with Dean. The money at stake was almost irrelevant. It was a battle of male pride to see which one of them could get their Mixed Match Challenge partner into bed first.
Seth began to picture what Lacey would look like naked, riding him. He wondered if the classy lady in public could be dirty in the bedroom. He found the thought quite a turn on.
"My, you are ignorant," Lacey said haughtily.
Startled, Seth realised that he had been so engrossed in thinking about her in a state of undress that he had blanked out something she had said to him. "Sorry, what was that?" he asked.
"I asked where you are staying tonight. It's all well and good for us to say we will travel together, what if we're not going to the same hotel?"
Seth named his hotel and said, "I bet you're there too? It's the closest nice hotel to the arena we'll be working at tomorrow."
"Actually, I am," Lacey said as she unlocked the driver's door. She had to get in and reach over to unlock Seth's door before he could open it.
Getting into the car, Seth was greeted with the smell of her perfume. She must have put so much on that morning that it had filled the car, and was still lingering. He found it quite intoxicating, in a good way.
Saying nothing, Lacey started the car. Although it was an old model, Seth discovered that it had been fitted with a CD player which started up along with the car. It began playing some 1940s or 50s song that Seth had never heard before. He sighed inwardly, figuring that he was in for a night of that. In this car, with that soundtrack, next to this woman, was about the worst fit for Seth Rollins that he could possibly imagine.
As Lacey pulled out of the garage onto the street, she seemed content to hum along to the music. Seth sat back in his seat and studied her without letting on that he was doing it. Her shapely legs worked the pedals and her velvet gloved hands turned the steering wheel. Her arms were surprisingly muscular for such a glamorous lady, he noticed. But then, she was a wrestler. It was hard for Seth to even picture that, having only ever seen her in the outfit she currently had on.
"We should come up with a gimmick for our team. And a name," Lacey said.
Seth smiled, happy with her genuine interest in the team. Although they hadn't really connected in conversation, it did feel like the ice was thawing between them.
"Good idea," Seth replied. He decided to add some humour. "Let me guess, this is going to involve me dressing up smartly?"
Pulling up at a red light, Lacey looked at him for a moment. She seemed to be scrutinising him. "It wouldn't hurt you to dress with a bit more sophistication, at least when we're on television," she drawled. "You wouldn't even need much work to look like a gentleman."
Seth laughed. "Was there a compliment in there somewhere?"
The light turned green and Lacey got them moving again. "Maybe you're not a nasty," she opined. "Maybe you just need the influence of a lady."
"The influence of a lady," Seth repeated, pondering it. He decided to hell with it, if she wanted to be forward with him like that, he would be forward as well. "Okay, fine. I'll dress smartly when we're on TV together. But in return you have to come to dinner with me."
"Excuse me?" Lacey exclaimed, glancing at him for a moment with wide eyes. "Are you asking me on a date, Mr Rollins?"
Based on her less than positive reaction, Seth decided to dial it back a little. "No, Ms Evans, I'm asking you to share a dinner table with me. We've both got to eat something, and I feel like more time to get to know each other would be a good thing. Let's not forget we'll be wrestling together as a team tomorrow night."
Lacey considered that for a moment. "You make good points. Okay, we can have dinner together, but it will not be a date."
Grinning to himself, Seth said, "Okay then, we're on the same page. I'll look forward to our dinner that isn't a date."
Prior to dinner, which to Seth's surprise Lacey had agreed to have in the hotel's restaurant, they had checked into their rooms and fixed a time to meet back down in the lobby.
Personally, Seth hadn't needed anything like the amount of time Lacey had requested before meeting back up with her. With time to kill after getting changed into a light blue shirt and a pair of black pants, he lay on the bed and called Dean.
After a few rings, Dean answered the call. "Hey, man."
"What's up," Seth said. "How are you getting on with Alexa?"
"I'm in my room already," Dean reported. "And thank fuck. My god, that girl is as big headed as she is sexy. All I've heard all night is how lucky I am to be teaming with her; how she would have won the Mixed Match Challenge last year if Strowman didn't let her down; how underestimated she is as a wrestler. I thought about getting out of the car while we were doing sixty."
Seth laughed loudly. As funny as the story was, he was glad that things were not working out for Dean and Alexa. A bet was a bet, and Seth wanted to win it.
"What about you? Have you killed Marilyn Monroe yet?"
"No. Actually I'm taking her to dinner tonight," Seth said casually. Luckily, Dean couldn't see the fact that he was grinning like an idiot at the way his news would be intentionally misinterpreted.
"Bullshit," Dean accused.
"Not bullshit," Seth countered. "I'm telling you, I'm taking Lacey to dinner tonight. She's gone to her room to get ready. I'm killing time before going down to meet her."
"Damn, you really do move fast," Dean said.
"You're going to have to up your game, dude. I'm going to beat you easily at this rate."
"So it seems," Dean replied, not sounding overly thrilled about it. "So what's Lacey's story, apart from thinking she's superior to everybody else in the world?"
"Honestly, I don't know yet. But while we were driving here I seemed to cut through some of the attitude, and she wasn't that bad." He had emphasised the word that, to imply that she was still full of herself, just not to the extent it had initially appeared.
"I'll believe that when I see it," Dean said dismissively. "The way she walked around all night with that condescending look on her face, I wanted one of the girls to give her a slap."
"Condescending?" Seth said. "That's a big word for you."
"I can do joined up writing too," Dean fired back. "Anyway, I'm going to let you go. After having Lexi in my ear all the way here, I'm going down to the bar."
"Oh, it's Lexi now?" Seth said, putting an exclamation on it to imply intimacy on Dean's behalf.
"Yes, she let me shorten her name. I'll be banging her before we know it," Dean said dryly. "Right, I'm going. There's a beer with my name on it downstairs."
Knowing that they were staying in the same hotel, Seth had a warning to deliver before the call was over. "I don't want to see you in that restaurant tonight while I'm in there with Lacey. Ruining my first date with her voids the bet."
Dean laughed. "You won't need me to ruin the date. You'll do that yourself as soon as you open your boring mouth."
"Savage," Seth said before ending the call, cutting Dean off before he could say anything else.
Chuckling to himself at the banter they had just had, Seth got up off the bed and went into the bathroom to check his appearance in the mirror. He would do, he decided, for a date that wasn't a date.
Next, he found himself wondering what outfit Lacey would show up in. Something glamorous, he was sure. He wondered if he would come to like the vintage styles she wore. He supposed that, much like everything else in their newfound relationship, whether it was just business or more, it would depend on how things went over the upcoming meal.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review on the first chapter. Seeing so many people enjoying it was great!
So, Seth and Lacey are about to share a dinner table. Do you think the chance to talk over the meal will help them to get closer together? Or will they drive each other crazy?