Stress had gotten the better of me over the past few months. I longed for a solid stretch of time to myself to decompress and not worry about the world. I told Randy about the blatant harassment eventually. I was getting pissed. I had gotten Dana's leg broken but I wasn't responsible. Things happened. Of course, Randy and the rest of the world had heard about the match where everything went wrong. Our group wasn't ready and anxiety had taken over, the company had just announced that they were going public and all of a sudden our small audiences burst in to full arenas making everything had to concentrate on. There was a lot I still didn't know about the business.
Having a hidden talent surprised all of us but we all worked for what we wanted, I guess that just made me lucky. After talking me down, Randy said his goodbyes and we agreed to talk after the evening's card. He was set to face Dean, a match many people weren't sure if they wanted to see again or not, but there wasn't much talent moving up in to the main roster. To make things much stickier, Paul Heyman had taken over as the new general manager and was wreaking havoc on the roster. There were many things to contemplate if invited to move up, but I had to pay my dues first.
As I arrived at the arena, things went smoother than I had expected. I wandered in to the group meetings last, kept my back to the wall and always made sure to leave first to avoid the crowd. I wanted to be invisible, especially after everything I had dealt with within the past year. I couldn't be too careful and not knowing most of the roster seemed safer.
Before I left the group this time a familiar voice caught my ear. "Oh no you don't," he said as I turned to walk away. My head fell a notch and a sigh escaped my lips. I just wanted to be my introverted self. A hand grasped my wrist and pulled me around; everyone else just ignored the blatant invasion of space and thought nothing of it. "Can I help you?" I retorted pulling my hand back. Of all people Dean was staring me in the face and I wasn't ready to deal with him.
"Ah, come on Erin you can't even say hi anymore? You disappear out of nowhere and don't expect anyone to check on you?"
"Heavy thoughts for the beginning of the day don't you think?" I spat. My anxiety was through the roof I had no time for this, I just wanted to get to the gym and work, not remember or feel anything.
"Maybe," he smirked, "Look I'm sorry, I just had to see how you are that's all."
I didn't believe it for a second. "Yea, sure. I'm fine. Happy?"
His eyebrows crumpled under his blonde hair as he silently disagreed with me. A moment passed in silence before he cleared his throat. Looking around, everyone else has gone and we were alone in the board room we had been cramped in to. "I know what's really going on, so don't think I haven't been keeping an eye on you Erin."
"Back to babysitting eh? Don't you have a match you need to get to? Why are you even here?"
"Slow down, yes and yes." He chuckled, "I must have hit a nerve, good. When you're ready to sit down and talk come find me."
Flustered I watched him walk past me. "Toodles," he jested as the door slammed shut behind him. What was that all about? I had so many questions all of a sudden. Through the anger, my thoughts had malfunctioned and I couldn't see the issues right in front of me. In a fog, I wandered to the gym and got started.