Thanks for all the follows, favourites and reviews for the first couple of chapters. Sorry for the wait for this chapter.
Avery spent most of the day just wondering around Orlando, before she took her time walking home. From all the calls and messages on her phone from her dad and Christina, she could already tell another argument was happening the moment she stepped through the door after she had stormed our earlier. that morning. There was no way she would just be able to head up to her room.
When she finally reached the front of the house, she took a deep breath before finally opening the door and going in.
"There you are, we've been calling you all afternoon. The boys are down for the weekend, thought we'd have a barbeque." Christina smiled at Ava. "Your dad wanted a quick word with you, he's out back."
Avery just nodded, placing her bag down as she made her way out the back. Out of her three half-brothers, Daniel, 25, Dane, 23 and Bailey 20, Ava got on best with Bailey. She always figured it was because they were closer in age, he'd always been the nicest to her out of the three, always tried including her. But that was Bailey in general, a genuinely good and nice person. Though these days she rarely spoke to him anymore, he was off at College studying Events Management. She got on fine with Dane, they were pleasant enough to each other. But her and Daniel, they had never really got on. Always clashed, always arguing with each other. Which only got worse the older Ava got and the further she grew apart from their dad.
"Well if it isn't our resident troublemaker, really outdone yourself this time."
Ava glared at Daniel. "How about you go fuck yourself-"
"Dan. Ava. Both of you stop it now." Regal looked between his son and daughter. "Ava, come with me a minute."
Ava followed her dad back into the house, sitting on a chair opposite him in the living room.
"I've been calling you most of the day."
"I needed to get out the house and I wasn't really in the mood for talking to anyone." Ava answered, more interested in a loose thread on her jean shorts than looking at her dad.
"Where did you go?"
"Around town, stopped at a few coffee shops. Don't worry I didn't steal anything before you start accusing-"
"I wasn't going to say anything like that, Ava. You seem to have this idea in your head that I only think the worst of you, which isn't true."
Ava finally looked up at her dad, "You haven't given me much reason to think otherwise."
That hurt Regal. "I want you being here to be an opportunity for us to fix things. I know I've got a lot to make up for and we've got a lot to catch up on. I don't like not knowing if turquoise is your favourite colour anymore or if you still hate jelly, or what's going on in your life anymore. I don't like not knowing who my daughter is."
Ava stood up, ready to go back outside. "One little talk isn't going to fix things. You want to get to know someone, maybe try let them tell you their side of the story before you jump to your own conclusions."
"Ava. Wait, please. Can you just meet me half way here? I know this talk wasn't going to just fix things, that wasn't the point of it. But can we let it be a starting point?"
"We don't talk about the incident. I'm not spending every day at that stupid performance centre. I'm not just going to start calling you dad again, we're nowhere near that yet. Yes, turquoise is still my favourite colour and I will NEVER like jelly. It's disgusting."
Regal chuckled to himself at his daughter's hate for jelly, some things were still the same. He was also relived that she seemed to slowly be coming around, they had a long way to go and he could deal with her rules for now. "I can live with those requests. I'm at the performance centre 5 days a week, I think you being there three days a week is fair enough. There's some work you can do there and you're allowed to use the machines and equipment there too. I'm sure the athlete in you will appreciate all the state of the art machines and equipment we have."
"Fine. But don't expect me to be everyone's best friend there."
"I'm not expecting that. But the way you acted yesterday at the performance centre was plain disrespectful. I get that you're angry at me, but I won't have you taking it out on other people. Understood?"
Ava rolled her eyes. "Yes. Can I go now?"
In a minute. There's something else I wanted to talk to you about. As you know, occasionally I still go on the road, working as a producer. Starting with Raw on Monday, I'm going to be on the road for a couple of weeks. I think it'll be best if you come with me."
Ava didn't like the idea of it, but she didn't like being here much better either. And right now, she just wanted to get away from this conversation. "Whatever. I hate wrestling whether I'm here or on the road."
Regal knew that was the best he was going to get out of Ava right now. He was just glad she wasn't kicking up a fuss about it. "Consistent with your distaste for the profession. Maybe in time you'll grow to like it somewhat. Or at least the work out facilities at the performance centre, being an athlete yourself. I tend to get to the performance centre early, so feel free to make use of any of the machines while it's quiet."
"Thanks. I'm hungry, I'm going to head out back again."
Walking out the back, Ava sat down in the closest chair. Bailey moved a few seats down so he was next to his sister, his mum already having warned Daniel to behave.
"So any plans for your birthday? I can come up for the weekend again if you want?"
Ava hadn't really thought much about her birthday this year. It was only 9 days until she turned 19 but with the way everything was this year, she just didn't care. She always spent it with her friends back in Cali, but that wasn't happening this year. No, this year she would be on the road with her dad. "Thanks for the offer but there'd be no point you coming up again. I'll be on the road for the next couple of weeks, lucky me. Living the dream me."
"Good thing I bought your present up with me today then," Bailey smiled. "You're not opening it until your actual birthday though," he teased her.
Ava moved so she could lean over and give Bailey a one armed hug, blinking back a couple of tears. He was always so nice to her, even when she was being moody. She didn't really feel like any of her family were going to bother with her birthday this year. "Thanks. I'll try resist the urge to open it."
Ava spent most of the evening sitting and talking with Bailey. After everything had been cleared up, she made her way upstairs; spending nearly an hour on facetime with her friends, Leo and Tyler from back home.
Heading to the performance centre early the following morning with her dad, Ava was glad of the quiet when they got inside and she could work out in peace for a while before all the developmental wrestlers and divas arrived. When she had been there a couple of days prior, she hadn't really paid attention to the state of the art equipment they had. The work out room was massive, open space with every machine and piece of equipment Ava could ever dream of using. If she had to come to this place with her dad three days a week, she knew where she would be spending most of her time.
Today though was the first time she had actually worked out since getting to Florida. In the past she was used to working out each day, her dance had always required her to stay fit and she'd always liked working out. It gave her a chance to block out everything else and work through any frustrations she had, and over the years there was always frustrations. But lately, she was more frustrated with everything than she ever had been.
She started off with some cardio, spending thirty minutes on one of the elliptical machines doing a HIIT workout before moving onto to one of her old circuit workouts. Starting off with several reps of sit ups and stomach crunches and then some squats with kettle bells.
With her music pounding in her ears, lost in her own little world, she kept her form perfect while squatting with a kettle bell in each hand, she didn't notice the little group of stars make their way into the same workout room.
"Is she one of the new divas?" Colin Cassady asked, looking at Enzo, Sami, Carmella and Bayley. Noticing the other woman in the room, she had her back to them but he didn't recognise her. He knew all the others and what they looked like, but he didn't recognise the small, short haired woman.
"She's new but she's not a diva. Something to do with Regal," Sami answered earning looks from the others. He had recognised her short form and short brunette hair straight away. "I saw her here on Thursday, she didn't seem too happy to be here. Then I saw her around town yesterday. Maybe you'll have better luck with her girls," Sami smiled at Carmella and Bayley.
"If there's one thing I know, I hate people interrupting me mid work out. So I say we leave it for now, introduce ourselves later," Carmella suggested.
"Probably a good idea."
Finishing with the kettle bells, Ava wasn't too shocked to see other people there. She knew at some point the developmental wrestlers would start showing up. As long as she was left to her own devices, she didn't really care about the others there. She moved on to shuttle runs, followed by some burpees and then a plank to finish.
When she finished she downed what was left of her bottle of water, taking a moment to just sit there as she felt the burn in her muscles.
After a quick shower and changing into some fresh clothes, Ava had spent the last couple of hours on her phone, sitting on one of the seats at the island in the kitchen area of the performance centre. The space for the developmental stars to take a break was an open floor, the kitchen area led directly to a lounge area where there couches, large HD tv's, laptops and a bookshelf full of dvds of old matches and ppv's.
"Hey there. Little warning, stick with either the mango or berry smoothie, they're the best ones."
Ava turned her head, arching a brow as she looked at the blonde woman now sitting next to her. "Thanks."
"I'm Carmella."
"Ava. Look I've gotta-"
"Hey Carm, we're heading out for a quick coffee. All the good stuff here has run out." Ava was cut off mid-sentence by Enzo. Turning to see who was speaking she only recognised Sami, having no idea who the guy speaking was or the man and woman next to Sami.
"You want to come with us, Ava?"
Before Ava could answer, her dad came into the lounge and over to her, holding something out to her, smiling at the others he passed. "There you are. This is for you, your access pass for the building."
Ava took the pass, dropping it down on the island next to her. "Thanks."
"I see you've all met Ava."
"I'm being nice, don't worry." Ava rolled her eyes, sighing.
"I never said you wasn't."
"Yet."
Enzo, Cass, Carmella and Bayley all just looked at each other, confused. Sami not so much, he had seen Ava and Regal interacting before. He still didn't understand how she could get away with it. Anyone in the performance centre with an attitude was always put in their place.
Regal noticed the confuse looks on the others faces. "Ava's my daughter. She's going to be living with me from now on, so you'll see her around here a lot."
"You know, while I'm sure everyone would just love to stand around and here that story, we were actually just about to go out for a quick coffee while they've got a break. Shit coffee here or something like that. So we better get going." Ava had quickly jumped down from the stall, grabbing her bag and the pass her dad had given her, looking at the other guys. "Come on guys, lead the way to this decent coffee."
Once they were outside the performance centre, Enzo, the loudest of the small group, was first to say it. "William Regal is your dad?!"
"Unfortunately. Thanks for getting me out of that, he probably would have awkwardly started introducing me to everyone else like the new girl at school or some crap like that. See ya."
"You're not coming for coffee?"
Ava looked up at Sami, an awkward look on her face. "Bless you guys. So cute. I just wanted to get away from him and that building for a bit and you all gave me the perfect excuse."
They all just stood there, half amused while Ava walked off.
"She's going to be fun around here." Carmella grinned.
"Trouble is the word you're looking for," Sami added.
"Fun and trouble normally go together," Enzo said. "Now, are we actually going for this coffee?"
Sami was on his way from the voice over room to training room which had seven rings, one specifically designed for high flyers, when he spotted Ava. Well heard Ava first. He could only hear her side of the conversation, but it didn't sound good.
"…well fucking hell mom how considerate of you!" Ava was pacing up and down the corridor, holding the phone to her ear. "Oh I'm sorry I interrupted your mani/pedi, thought you might want to know how you're daughter is doing. You know the one you sent off…..the deal was you was…I know things change but I don't get what's changed so much that you won't have my car shipped here anymore. How else do you expect me to get anywhere?! Punishment?! Fucking punishment?! I think I've been punished enough for something I didn't even do! Thanks for caring so much about me!" Ava screamed before hanging up.
It was when she turned back around that she spotted Sami there. "Are you fucking stalking me or something?"
"What? No. I'm heading to the training room, just around the corner from you. Everything okay?"
"Fucking peachy. I always have calls like that."
"Have you considered a career as a telemarketer?" That made Ava laugh. "You've got a real way with people."
"That's what the guidance counsellor told me too."
"Maybe you should consider a career in the squared circle. You'd make a great heel. You seem pretty athletic from what I saw earlier."
"Kudos to you, still at it. But you know I don't think Regal would appreciate you hitting on his daughter, or checking her out."
"No, no, no," Sami felt awkward. He was a genuinely nice guy, just trying to help Ava; be a friendly face for her. "I meant, Enzo, Cass and the girls saw you working out earlier. Not everyone comes in here knowing exactly what they're doing straight away, can just use all the machines and equipment or have the right form when working out like you did earlier. I don't know your background but I'd say it's an athletic one. As for anything else, like I said before, I was just being nice. I know what it's like to be new to something, some place and not really know anyone. I thought you might want a friend, nothing else."
Looking at Sami and the genuine look on his face and how flustered he sounded, Ava was starting to think maybe she had gotten him all wrong. Automatically putting him a 'douchebag just trying to hit on her category' though in her defence, she hadn't been having the best luck with guys recently. She used to think she knew the difference between someone who was genuinely nice and just being friendly and someone hitting on her. But after everything with Rory and then Nick cheating on her, her head was all over the place. "You just want to be my friend?"
Sami nodded. "I don't know your story and you don't have to tell me, you're new here, whatever it is you're going to be doing here with your dad, and you don't seem too keen on making new friends. Everyone needs someone though, at least that one friend that will show you the decent coffee shops and the like. I remember when I first started out wrestling and I was on the road and I didn't really know anyone and that feeling of being new to everything. I'm not saying it has to be me, Bayley and Carmella are both really nice girls."
"It's not my first time being in a new place on my own and I don't plan on being here for long anyway. But thank you. I should probably let you get back to wherever it was you were going."
"Training rooms, just around the corner. Can tag along if you want. It's normally quite fun watching the guys in the high flying ring."
Ava shrugged. "Why not, might cure the boredom for an hour or so."