Sore and banged up after the segment on Raw, Clementine was glad to quickly put away her first glass of wine of the night. She hoped that the alcohol would take the edge off the aches and pains brought on not only by the Raw beat down but also by working for over an hour in the Royal Rumble the night before.
Across the table, Logan McMahon made a start on his first beer. "How's the shoulder?" he asked.
"Pretty sore," Clem replied, understating it. If she had been honest, after what had happened on Raw she would rather have gone back to her hotel room to relax than go out for the meal with him. But she should have thought about that earlier in the night when she had told him to take her out. It wouldn't have been fair to do that and then cancel on him.
Taking a serious ass kicking from her mother, even though it was obviously all part of the show, had left her feeling emotionally drained as well as physically battered and bruised. Anyone who had ever worked with Lucy Thorne/Rollins could have testified to the fact that she worked stiff, and Clem now knew it herself first hand. There had been no going easy because it was her daughter she was working with, that was for sure.
The most painful spot for Clem had been when Lucy had run full speed into her, sending her crashing through the barrier. It was just typical that she had fallen in such a way that most of the impact had been taken on her already bruised shoulder. After the Rumble, WWE's doctor had recommend two weeks of rest to make sure no complications developed from the injury, but that hadn't been possible with Lucy needing to turn heel on her.
"Lucy didn't hold back, did she?" Logan asked. "She was really wrecking you out there."
"Mom doesn't know anything other than working stiff," Clem said with a small smile. "It was only the spot through the barricade that hurt. Typically, I took it on my shoulder. I had to go back to the doctor again when I got backstage. Mom was upset, bless her. Working this program is going to be seriously tough for both of us."
Logan sipped from his beer. "What did the doctor say?"
"He wasn't happy that they had me out there doing those spots, but I'm sure it's not the first time his advice has been ignored. At least I only aggravated the bruising, there's still no lasting damage. But he told me he's going to recommend in the strongest terms that I rest until Elimination Chamber now, so I guess that's what'll have to happen. They'll probably put in the storyline that I'm home recovering from the attack or something."
They turned their attention to their menus. They both announced that they liked the look of the seafood platters, so when their server returned to the table, Logan ordered a big one, supposedly enough to feed four people.
"It says that serves four people," Clem said with a giggle after the server left them to it.
"I'm sure we'll manage to get through most of it," Logan grinned. He picked up the wine bottle and refilled her glass for her.
Clementine thanked him, feeling happy that things had felt genuinely warm between them since he had picked her up at her hotel. It felt like the earlier stages of their relationship, before things had started to take a negative turn. Thinking that, however, made her remember the reason they were having this dinner. She lifted her cap and ran a hand through her hair – a habit that she didn't know she had when she was nervous about something.
Seeing her do that also focussed Logan's mind on the reason they were there. "So, uh, I know I owe you an apology, Clem. I shouldn't have gone off at you the way I did a couple of weeks ago. You didn't deserve it at all. I'd had a few drinks and I was pissed off, but that's no excuse for taking out my frustrations on you. I'm sorry, babe."
Clem considered that for a moment. He had come across as genuinely and sincerely sorry. If this had been the first time something had gone wrong between them she would have accepted the apology and they could have moved on without saying anything more about it. But this wasn't the first time he had upset her, and the last time had been particularly unpleasant.
After not being used on Raw for the third consecutive week, Logan had gotten drunk and had then gone off at her about how unfair it was that she was pushed as one of the top stars of the company and was over like crazy with the fans, while he had struggled to even get a televised match lately. Jealously and negativity like that, Clem could do without, and she had to tell him as much.
"I need to be upfront with you," she said with a sigh. "Apologising is one thing, but frankly, it's not good enough. I don't want your apologies, I want to be with someone who doesn't get jealous of me to start with. There's no place in my life for that kind of negativity, Logan. As you well know, getting to where I am now has been my goal since I was ten years old. I've busted my ass for it. I've never asked my parents to help me out in any way, shape or form as far as making it in WWE is concerned. Everything that's happened in my career has been earned, not handed to me. I'm truly sorry you're not being used much lately. If I was a part of the decision making process I would use you, but I'm not. There's nothing I can do about it, so taking out your anger on me is totally unfair and unjustified."
"I know," he said with a grimace at his own behaviour. "You're totally right in everything you just said. I am really happy for you that you're having such success, and I know you deserve every bit of it. At the same time, though, it's human to be envious of what you have. Not jealous, I know it's wrong to feel that way, but envious. You're out there every week with crowds in the palm of your hand, chanting your name and going wild as soon as your music drops. When you won the rumble the other night, there were people literally jumping around, losing their minds. Everyone who wrestles for a living would love to experience something like that."
"I understand that," Clem conceded. "Trust me, I know how blessed I am to have that kind of support, and to be booked the way I was in the rumble. But what I need from my boyfriend isn't jealousy, or even envy. I need someone who's going to be happy for me that I'm having success in my career. I look at my mom and dad, and I want a relationship like theirs. Do you think my mom has ever been jealous of my dad, or the other way around? No. There's never been anything like that between them because what they have is true love. I see that, and it makes me seriously question what we have. I have to be frank, since we came here to talk about where we stand. The way I see it, our relationship doesn't weigh up to theirs."
Logan bristled at that. "So you're saying I'm not good enough for you, is that it?"
Clem shook her head. "No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying I don't know if we're good for each other anymore. I don't know if this is going to work. I don't even know if it should work. Let's be honest, this isn't the first time we've had a talk like this, is it? I find myself wondering if we're trying to save something that can't, or shouldn't be saved."
He took a swig from his beer before responding. "You've been listening to Lucy, haven't you? She hasn't liked me since day one. She way too protective of you, Clem."
Now it was Clementine's turn to get annoyed. She was a patient and tolerant person in a lot of ways, but one thing she absolutely could not stand was any form of criticism of either Seth or Lucy. And for Logan to say Lucy was too protective of her, knowing full well what the story of her adoption was, was totally out of line on his part.
"Don't sit there and tell me my mom's too protective of me," she snapped. "How dare you? Yes, she is protective of me, and so is my dad, and you damned well know why. And if you must know, both of them have advised me to break things off with you because they've had enough of seeing me upset every time we have an argument."
"So why are we sitting here then?" Logan demanded impatiently.
In that moment, with a heavy heart, Clem realised there was only one answer she could give to that. "Honestly, I don't know," she said quietly.
Looking annoyed as much as dejected, Logan said, "I guess that's it then, is it?"
The fact that he hadn't made any kind of further attempt to fight to save the relationship confirmed the decision for Clem. "Yeah, I guess it is," she said simply, feeling tears stinging her eyes. "But we can still be friends, right?"
With a bitter expression on his face, Logan downed the rest of his beer and banged the empty glass down on the table. "Honestly, I don't think that's going to work for me. If we're breaking up, then we're finished." With that, he stood to leave.
"Logan, wait," Clem tried.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a few twenty dollar bills. He tossed them disrespectfully onto the table in front of her and said, "Enjoy the food, I guess."
Watching him walk away, Clem started to cry, and not just at the horrible way he had thrown the money at her. She had genuinely loved Logan, and it hurt a lot to break up with him. Ending any relationship was never easy. Theirs had been a year old, almost to the day. And now it was over. The one thing she tried to console herself with was that, having seen his reaction and how disrespectfully he had tossed the money on the table, she knew it had been the right decision to end it. Her mom, as ever, had been right all along in her belief that Logan didn't respect her the way a partner should.
"Hey, are you okay?" the server asked gently, leaning over the table to look at Clem, who raised her head and met her eyes. The middle aged woman had compassion written all over her face, telling Clem that she had probably seen the way Logan had left the table. The twenty dollar bills were still scattered across the table top.
"I won't be needing the seafood platter," Clem managed to say, her voice slightly ragged.
"That's okay, honey. I doubt they've started on it yet anyway. I'll cancel it for you now."
"Thank you," Clem said as she stood up. "You can put that money in your tips jar or something. I don't want it."
"Are you sure?" the woman asked in great surprise.
"Yeah. Keep it." With that, Clem made a swift exit, only realising as she neared the exit that since Logan had brought her to the restaurant and had now taken off, she was going to have to get herself a ride back to her hotel.
"Great," she sighed to herself. Walking out into the street, she opened the leading urban transport company's app and booked herself a ride. When that was done, she wrote out a text to Lucy, briefly telling her what had happened, and that she was on her way back to the hotel. A reply soon came through.
Mom: I'm so sorry, sweet pea. Do you need us to come pick you up? Love you loads.
Despite everything, Clem had to smile. She could picture her mom typing out some kind of sentence about knowing all along that Logan was an asshole, but then deleting it. She typed out a reply.
No, thank you. I'll be back soon. Can I maybe come to your room? I could use a drink and some company.
Moments later, another message came through.
Mom: Of course. Your dad's on to room service as we speak. Room 355.
Clem typed out a final message.
Thank you, mom. Love you so much.
She pressed send moments before her ride pulled up in front of her. As she got into the car, she tried to put a brave face on things in front of the driver.
"Hey, how are you?" the cheerful old man in the driver's seat asked.
"Been better, man," Clem said honestly. "But I'll be alright. I always am."
A/N: Thank you everyone who left a review last time.
Clem broke up with Logan. Do you think it was the right decision?
Now, I'm in need of some feedback from you guys. A lot of you were asking for more Clementine while I was focusing on La Arquitecta. I do have some other plans for short stories for this world, but I'm considering a new story set in current day WWE with Clem as the main character. Let me know if you would be interested in that.