Things had been weird with Seth and I for a while after Danny turned up to the house for dinner. He had pretty much let the whole neighborhood know that Danny had been abusing me when we were together. Joe had been upset that I didn't come to him for help when it happened before I had explained to him that I had never asked Seth for help he just decided to kick his ass.
"Need help with your vest?" I turned around to see Seth standing behind me. We had our own locker room which was great but Dean and Joe were off getting food at catering and I thought I was alone.
"Yeah, thanks." Seth hadn't been such an ass to me lately which was nice but he still had his moments where he said something that was really inappropriate. Seth stood behind me and buckled up my vest for me.
"You look nice." He says as he moves my hair to my back to the middle of my back. I turn around with the stupidest look on my face and he chuckles. "I'm being nice." He defends loudly and I scoff.
"I don't like it when you're nice, it's actually really weird." I scrunch up my face at him, it's not so weird that he's not being an asshole; the weird part was that he just complimented me. He's standing quite close to me and it's making me a little uneasy so as I always do in weird situations with my ex-boyfriends ex-best friend I push him away and lock myself in the bathroom so I can do my makeup. I can hear him sigh as I close the door but I don't care, I'm not used to him not flinging insults at me every ten seconds so what makes him think that I'm going to be ok with a fucking compliment?
Tonight someone was going through a table and they weren't going to tell us who until we were almost ready to go out there. I suppose it's so we didn't have to stew on it, so we wouldn't be anxious the whole day. "Seth you'll be going through the table tonight." The producer said as we prepared to walk through the crowd.
"Cool." He shrugged his shoulders and then our music came on. The nervous feeling in my gut disappeared when I learnt that I wouldn't be going through table care of Ryback tonight. The fight was amazing as always and Seth rolls out of the ring groaning from a kick to the head from Daniel Bryan I was grabbed my the back of my vest and hoisted up on to Ryback's shoulder.
"No!" I started to struggle and scream trying to get myself out of it. This wasn't in the script. The table was in the middle of the ring and other than me no other member of the shield was in the ring. Seth was trying to climb back in to the ring and Roman and Dean were on the outside fighting against Kane and Daniel Bryan. "Stop!" I screamed pleading with Ryback to put me down. This was not supposed to happen.
Just as Seth made it in to the ring Ryback put me through the table with more force than was necessary, which as it turns out happens a lot more often because I'm half the weight of the wrestlers that they usually work with. The match continued while I laid half conscious in the wreck of the table.
The minute the match is over Seth crawls over to me. "Are you ok?" He whispers in to my ear as he puts a hand on my cheek.
"My neck hurts." I mumble and close my eyes.
We were the main event so once Kane, Daniel and Ryback had left the ring the medics slid in to the ring. "Stay calm Cleo we're just going to put a neck brace on and we're going to transport you to the hospital." The medic says. Seth is still kneeling beside me looking rather horrified.
The medic goes through a whole heap of questions before he decides that a check up with the doctor backstage might be better than going to the hospital. So the boys follow me backstage as I'm wheeled up on the gurney and the show finishes. "You guys need to wait here." The doctor says as Seth, Dean and Joe all attempt to walk in to the room when the medics help me off the gurney and in to the room where the doctor is waiting to see me.
The doctor wasn't that concerned, it's definitely not the first time I had been put through a table and it definitely wasn't the first time that my head had bounced off the canvas like that. I was advised to ice my neck every couple of hours and if I started to feel dizzy or light headed I was to go straight to the hospital. The doctor gave me an icepack and left to get me a prescription for some painkillers if I needed them. "Who the hell authorized Ryback to put Cleo through a fucking table?!" As I sat on the edge of the medical bed with the ice pack on my neck the door swung open and Stephanie McMahon walking in fuming. Seth took his chance to slip in to the room as well and then Joe and Dean followed as well as Daniel Bryan, Ryback and the producer who told us that it was Seth going through the table.
"I told the shield that it was Seth going through the table. I wasn't given any instructions to advise Ryback who was going through the table." The producer said.
"I wasn't told anything so once the table was in there I just picked up the only person who was still in the ring. Look Cleo I'm sorry, you're just so light I couldn't help it." Ryback who I knew well as Ryan looked at me when he spoke and frowned.
"I'm fine." I tell him with a croaky voice.
"You're not fine! Someone needs to be held accountable for this!" Seth grumbled.
"Will you fucking relax? Jesus I'm not hurt that bad, it could have been worse." I grumble and look over to Seth who has snuck around so that he's standing behind me on the other side of the medical bed.
Stephanie just stood there and watched as I turned around on the bed and started bickering with Seth. "Oh yeah? And what if it was worse? What you be saying then, Cleo?" He raises an eyebrow at me and crosses his arms over his chest.
"Jesus Seth I'm fine, it wasn't worse alright, I'm not completely incapable of taking a bump so shut the fuck up." I know I should watch my mouth in front of the boss but she's known me since I was eight, she already knew I had a potty mouth.
"That's enough both of you!" Stephanie interrupted just before Seth was about to open his mouth to retort. "Cleo go back to the hotel and rest. Ryback I'm fining you five thousand dollars and suspending you for a week for unnecessary force. Colby and Cleo I want you down at the café in the hotel lobby at nine o'clock tomorrow morning." With that she turned on her heel and walked out of the room.
The producer made a turn for the exit as did Ryback and Daniel after Ryback once again apologized for almost killing me with a table. "C'mon babe. Back to the hotel for you." Dean slipped his arm around my waist gently and helped me up from the bed and helped me to the car. "Ok you wanna tell me what the hell is going on with you Colbert? Because I would not be surprised if you end up with an on screen boyfriend with the way you two bicker." Dean says as he starts the car and reverses out of the parking spot.
"There's nothing going on. He's just an ass who doesn't know when to shut his mouth." I groan loudly just at the thought of him. Why the hell was he so worried about someone being held accountable for that? Obviously there was a mix-up in communication and Ryback thought it was whoever was in the ring at the time. Unfortunately that had been me but I honestly didn't think that he deserved to be fined and suspended for it.
"Uh Cleo I'm not sure if you noticed but he was sticking up for you, not being a complete ass." Dean seems confused as to why I'm even angry at Seth; I just didn't understand why he had to be involved in something like that. I was the one injured not him.
"What do you mean on screen boyfriend?!" I had only just realized what he had said earlier and I was definitely not ok with any sort of storyline that included Seth more than three feet near me.
"Oh come on! As if you hadn't noticed that the chemistry between you guys is ridiculously entertaining. I wouldn't be surprised one little bit if the reason Steph wants to meet you tomorrow is because of that." Dean explains as he turns a corner and presses his foot on the gas and we speed down the street. "Cleo you have to admit he's been way nicer to you since Danny turned up before we started touring." He adds and I physically shiver at the sound of his name. He hadn't made any contact since Colby had punched him and he hadn't made any formal complaints to the police. "Sorry." Dean muttered when he saw my reaction to his name.
"You're right he has been a bit nicer to me since then but that doesn't mean that we're gonna become best friends." I grumble.
…
I slept terribly that night because my neck was still sore and I couldn't get comfortable. So I was up early and made an appointment to go and see the physio before I met with Seth and Stephanie at the café downstairs in the lobby of the hotel.
"Thanks for meeting me." Stephanie said as I took a seat followed by Seth who had met me in the hallway. He was staying with Joe in the room next to where I was sharing with Dean. We were alternating who we shared with each week and next week was the week that I had to share with Seth and I was definitely not looking forward to that. "How are you feeling Cleo?" She asked as a barista brought over three take away coffees.
"A little better, I went to see the physio this morning." I tell her with a kind smile and sip on my coffee.
"Great to hear. This won't take long; I want you two to work on your friendship because in two weeks you're going to be an official couple on screen." She says and puts two copies of the next script in front of us.
I look down at the thick booklet of what we're going to be doing for the next two weeks and groan inwardly as Seth scoffs loudly and says. "Are you fucking kidding me?"
Please leave me a review if you're enjoying the story!