She'd never been religious, it was one of the things that she could never really understand. But there Petula was, fingering the St. Michael pendant around her neck. For the longest time she never wore anything around her neck, she had this fear of being choked in the night, but this was her father's old police pendant, and St. Michael was a protector of the police. But it wasn't about having St. Michael, it was another thing of her father's that she had.
Petula was nervous, but because she didn't want to smoke she was rubbing her thumb over the St. Michael pendant. This was soothing, it reminded her of her Dad and how he soothed her. So in a round about way it was like her Dad was soothing her. The one thing she was going to miss was his thick English accent.
"You're spacing there, Tula." She heard Jon say, making her head snap up.
Jon was walking up with his two Shield friends. Sure she's met Joe but he still scared the daylights out of her, for no particular reason. Maybe it was because to her Joe was a mountain, even if Jon was just as tall. She didn't know why Jon was less threatening than Joe but this was irrational to her. Colby was the one that spoke up.
"Hey, Jon told us about your Dad. Sorry to hear about it. How's your mom taking it?"
"I wouldn't know, she abandoned us when I was two. She just didn't want a family like ours, I guess." She responded glancing at Joe again.
"Tula and I are heading out to eat. Could you guys take my stuff back to the hotel for me?" Jon asks, changing the subject.
"Sure, Man." Joe responded as they began heading to the car that they arrived in.
Petula followed and watched as each man hefted their stuff into the trunk of their rental car. To her it looked like a game of Tetris, watching the squares and rectangles fit nicely into it. That Brain Games show on NatGeo said that men have better spacial reasoning than women, like memorizing the ways of getting a packed trunk to fit together. Women were better at reading directions to the fullest extent. Of course that wasn't always that way.
"Something on your mind?" Joe's voice interrupts her rambling thoughts.
She shrugged, holding her arm in front of her by the elbow. "Just thinking mindless thoughts. I'm good at that."
"So's Jon, when he's got his crap out of order. Move it, Man." Colby complained.
Jon didn't move, or move faster as he put his stuff in the trunk. It was like he was testing the half blonde and half black haired man, seeing if he could get him mad.
"Well, thanks for grabbing my gear for me. Lock it in the car when you get back to the hotel, I have the spare key with me." Jon said stepping away from the trunk. "Come on, Tula, let's go. I'm really hungry."
"What do you want to eat?" She asks as they head away from the arena.
"I was going to say whatever you want to eat." Jon shoved his hands in his pockets.
"As long as it's not sushi, or seafood, I'm not much of a picky person. I'll say what I don't like, so you should give me your options and I'll say if I like it or not."
At least she's honest, Jon mused as they turned down a street near the arena. "How are you doing, with your Dad being gone?"
"I don't know. Truthfully I've come to terms with it long ago, when we figured out what the problems he was having. I knew he was going to die, he knew it, too. So instead of taking his life he rode it out for as long as he could. I just...dealing with this sort of thing isn't what I know or understand how to do. I know Neurotypicals, NTs, grieve for loved ones, but...I loved my Dad...it's just confusing. A page turns, if I don't like what's written there I move on to the next page or the one after that. I don't like my Dad being gone, but truthfully, he's been gone for three months. He wasn't my Dad, but then again he is...does that make any sense?"
"Honestly no. You lost me at NTs."
"NTs or Neurotypicals are what normal people are. Normal thinkers, they understand feelings, and social stuff, but I don't. I nearly had a panic attack because I agreed to go out to dinner with you and Stu, thinking that you would be mad about it because...irrational thinking."
"We're friends, Tula, you and me." Jon stopped at the corner to wait for the light to change. "You can have a choice in the matter of who you would want to go hang out with. I'm just...a little shocked you'd want to do that with me."
"Hang out with you, why would that be a shock?"
"I'm not the nicest guy to be around if you're a female. Honestly, you're the first I've ever really connected with on a personal level. Usually I just...lead them to my bed and force the out in the morning."
"I guess that sounds plausible. I have a hard time making friends as it is."
"You're cute when you ramble though." He instantly regretted saying that as the crossing light turned for them. "When you get excited about something, your face lights up and you have this...happiness to you."
"I like your dimples when you smile. They show up when you're really happy, that's the only way I know that you are happy."
He was impressed that someone would notice that.
Dinner consisted of Mexican food. They talked about the usual things that normal people did to get to know each other. Jon was interested in Petula's intense interest in robotics. He happily listened to her as she described her time with the Robot Combat League as a robotics engineer. She was happy about that, really happy. It was when her father was alive to know what she was doing.
"What about you? Was wrestling what you wanted to do?" Petula asked as they left the restaurant.
Instead of taking a cab back to the hotel, they walked. Jon was loving this conversation so it was a good thing they had time on their hands to get to know each other.
"Yes, I've always wanted to be a wrestler. ECW was my favorite one at the time when I decided to become a wrestler. Have you ever watched it?"
"No, only when Chris suggested it. He told me that I would be good for this job. But I didn't know anything about the WWE so I had to research it. I think the only reason why I took this job was because I needed to support my Dad's health."
"And now, what will you do?"
She shrugged. "There's nothing here that I want but I need to find a different job first so I guess..." Petula groaned. "The first time I actually get some friends, and I just want to leave. Maybe I'll stick with this job and see where it takes me." She looked up at the night sky. "There's this one place back home that Dad and I would go, out in the woods where we could see the stars. I love looking at the stars, but the only constellation is Orion. I see constellations like circuit boards in electronics."
Her dark brown hair, though short, was darkner now in the night. Jon wondered if her hair was soft like it had felt she she was leaning her head on his arm.
"When I was younger, I would sit on the roof of my apartment building and watch for shooting stars. I'd wished to get a new life because mine was so shitty."
"Did you grow up on the wrong street in a city?"
"Yeah. My mom wasn't the best mom in the world. I didn't even know my dad."
"My mom left, I think because she found out that I was autistic. Then Dad was left with me to take care of, me and my problems..."
"Tula, listen to me. I know about autism, my little cousin's best friend was an autistic boy who had this obsessive liking for anything baseball. I know what it is, I understand it. Just because you like robotics, with a hgih IQ like you do, you don't have anymore problems that I do."
He didn't care that she was different? She'd thought he would go the other way, call her a freak or something.
"I don't know what to say to you, I don't know if saying thank you is enough. Because it feels better to know that someone isn't going to judge me. You understand me, you...just are you." She tried to voice what she was thinking but it was hard to do it.
Jon didn't mind, he was grateful that she understood that he didn't judge her for having Asperger's Syndrome. He earned her trust somewhat.
But what does he do about these feelings that were starting to come alive within him?
The next day, Petula had to work during the tapings of SmackDown and Main Event. There was a rash of stomach flu going through a lot of the techs, luckily she had by passed that. Fiona and her husband gave Petula a ride that arena and she was greeted by Stu. Jon had told her that The Shield only had a small place in the show that night and would be leaving early, which left her with more time with Stu.
"Ready for tonight?" He asked as he found her assembling the ring.
"What's going on tonight?" AJ asked, appearing out of nowhere. "Are we having a date?" She looked between Petula and Stu. "You know what the others are going to say about this. Especially if it involves Ms. Piggy."
"You gained some ballocks there, AJ. What brought this on?" Stu asked, coming to stand between both women. "And tell the truth."
Ms. Piggy, she hated her body. Her ugly, fat body. Petula felt her throat close up on her, like she couldn't swallow. Stu shouldn't have to be nice to her just because she was a little different, because she was fat. But there he was making sure that AJ wasn't getting anywhere near her.
"Come on, to be seen with that...that thing, it's rediculous. You could have gone after one of the makeup artists, the hairstylists, hell even the wardrobe people...you choose that." AJ motioned to all of that was Petula. "I mean really, a fat slob?"
"Enough!" He took a step towards the shorter woman, who stared at him in shock. His roaring command made Petula jump as well. "Go, get out of here. If I see you harrassing her, I'm sure I can get you for harassment, you little floozy."
AJ was mortified, Petula was shocked, but he didn't hit her, he stood up for Petula and it intrigued her. Why would he go against the backstage politics for someone like her? Petula wondered this, as did AJ, who now half ran away from the tall Englishman.
"I don't understand...what did I do?" She asked, making Stu turn to look at her. She was staring at the ring post. "I didn't do anything to anyone. Why is this my fault?"
"It's not your fault, Pet." Stu's voice was gentler now. "You've done nothing. It would have been worse if you actively sought me out."
"But I didn't. The only reason why you know me is because I helped Jon." She glanced at him sideways, while still trying to work. "So in a way, it's my fault."
"Pet, look at me." She did, or sort of, she was looking at his mouth. "It's not your fault that you're breaking the boundaries around here. It's okay to want to be friends with the talent. I'm bloody happy that I like you. It's been a while since I met a woman who actually knows what she's talking about."
"I like that you think like that, Stu. It's hard for me to make friends." She said as an uneasy silence fell over her.
"So are we still on for tonight?" He asked, trying to change the conversation.
"Yeah. Um...I was hanging out with Jon the other night. I'm having some weight issues but I don't know the first thing about exercise. He said that he would help me, but he made a reference to you being a bareknuckle boxer. Since boxing is a healthy thing to do, I was wondering if you could teach me."
"I could, yes. Actually, I've never had a woman ask me to before."
"Why? It's not their thing or what?"
"Well, around here, not really. Sure some of the blokes do stuff like that, but besides Kaitlyn, I don't think any of the divas are interested in boxing."
"Oh." And keeping a conversation with anyone was a hard thing because then she was afraid she would be laughed at. "But I would still like to learn. Having a healthy lifestyle is a good thing."
"That's a good way of looking at it, Pet." He smiled.
But it still loomed in the back of her head, would he accept her?
Would Stu accept and understand that she was autistic?
I guess that's a good chapter to post. What do you guys think?
