A/N: Thank you everyone! Onward. Please, R&R. Ya'll are my motivation to keep pluggin' away.
"Chelsea Sweetly standing by with the number one contender for the Diva's championship belt, Natalya. Nat, as we saw the other night on Raw, the current champion, AJ Lee, was able to overcome odds against your cast mate, Naomi. Your match with AJ is getting closer, but can you see yourself being able to get through AJ's seemingly unbreakable wall?"
Natalya's grin grew wide as her eyes angrily flashed towards her former friend. Chelsea thought, for a moment, perhaps she'd botched part of the scene. It was taped, so they could re-do the scene later if they had to. But the fans there that night, they saw the error up close and personal.
"Well, Chelsea. Do you see yourself when you put your makeup on in the morning? Or do you always put it on in the dark?" Natalya said, a faux sweetness to her voice.
Chelsea felt her face get hot. No, she definitely hadn't botched anything. But Nat intentionally did. That little bitch comment was not in the notes that Vickie Guerrero had handed off earlier in the evening.
"Really, Chels. It's no surprise you and AJ have become buddies," the blond Canadian continued, and then looked down her nose at Chelsea's attire. "After all, you both dress like depressed middle school girls." She put emphasis on the word, making Chelsea feel like she was a few inches tall.
"But yeah, if you mean by AJ's unbreakable wall that Yeti named Tamina Snuka, then no, I'm not worried. What can she do against making AJ tap out to the sharpshooter?" Natalya had grown closer, and Chelsea could smell her sickening, sugary sweet perfume. With a creepy, demonic smile, her eyes were daggers into the black haired woman. "Don't get excited, Chelsea Sweetly. I know you're not a real wrestler, but the sharpshooter is my finishing move…not any kind of injectable."
With that, she winked right into the camera, leaving Chelsea stunned, mouth open, mic in hand, and the fans in Orlando speechless. Eva Marie, who was supposed to have interrupted and challenged Natalie, was nowhere in sight.
The last clip from the interview shown on the titantron was of Chelsea angrily thowing the WWE microphone on the cold, smooth concrete. Yep, she'd have to pay for that.
Roman sat with his two friends in their locker room, staring at the tiny TV screen in shock. There was no way that interview was approved.
"Wow," he said to himself, realizing that he'd finally spoken. "That looks like one nasty catfight."
Seth, mouth agape, shook his head and looked across Dean's chest at his oldest friend. "Yeah, I'd say so. Can they even say something like that on PG TV?"
"Doubtful," the Samoan replied, clipping and unclipping his leather wrist cuffs. "They'll probably cut that for Friday night, or maybe re-shoot it with Renee tomorrow. Either way, I see one hefty fine in Natalie's immediate future."
"Think they might take away her title shot?" Seth asked, and Roman considered that. He supposed it was entirely possible, if she'd ticked off the boss enough. 25,000 people did just see her call the newest announcer and interviewer a druggie…even if that was cut later; it surely would make its rounds on Twitter.
"She won't lose her shot, but she won't get the gold," Dean spoke for the first time, his face expressionless. His eyes were cold and dead, and his features were frozen in stone. He'd been acting really strangely recently, constantly annoyed by either someone or something. "It was a shitty thing to call her out like that publicly. But really guys, it's not like what she said about her was a lie."
The two men turned inward at Dean, who was positioned in the middle on the wooden bench. He pretended not to notice as he began a new text. Roman caught a quick glimpse at the contact picture —a blonde with sunglasses hiding her eyes, and doing what Naomi had called the "Duck Face." Sadly, the only woman Dean had eyes for since...what was her name again?
"What?" he asked, noticing his friends' stares after he pressed 'Send'.
"Dude," Seth said back, shaking his head as though he didn't approve of Dean's comment. Roman shook his head along, miffed that Dean would even side with the cruelty behind the angry words of the number one contender.
Everyone had a past. Roman had one, too…and so did Dean. The only difference was, none of them had received such hatred from their colleagues that their dirty laundry was aired. Sure, there was always the gossip. That was inevitable in any workplace. But the measures that the Total Divas star was taking were amazing. Surely, Natalie knew about Chelsea's struggle, but he could guess it was so much deeper than that. He'd seen it before, even in his extended family. Sometimes, drugs just outweighed the importance of other things. Even if you didn't want them to. They were a slippery slope, and by the time you decided to stop going downhill, you were already falling face-first over your own feet.
Dean sighed. "Look guys. I don't have a real problem with Chelsea. Really. She's fine in the ring, she does deserve to be here, for the most part. I didn't like her little buddy, Jeff, one bit. Especially the handful of times I had to work with him in TNA. It's hard to see her with her black and teal hair and not think of him, too. She still emulates his presence and I don't think she even realizes it."
Roman thought about that. He knew that Jeff Hardy had been in a serious relationship for quite some time, and had pretty recently gotten married. From what he knew, Chelsea and Jeff were just friends. How deep was his relationship with his so-called friend, though? Maybe she was still caught up in him.
"She's decent looking, besides that black shit she does to her eyes. I don't care to get to know her personality though. Between her past, her appearance, and the more retarded Hardy, I just can't get over that. Call it a twist of fate, but she's damaged, just like him. Besides, look at the women here, guys. Summer Rae, for example," his eyes darted towards Roman, who just rolled his eyes. He knew the tallest member had zero interest in Summer, but she was exactly the kind of person that Dean felt Ro should date.
"Women like Summer are the doting wives. The ones who take care of themselves, who look their best at every moment. Who take pride in their clothing choices. Just like my Marissa," Dean smiled to himself. "Trust me. Women like Chelsea are the problem with today's women. They curse like drunken sailors, spend irresponsible amounts of money on tattoos, and shop at Target. Personally, I prefer the feminine type. Dresses—easy access. Long hair to grab on to, gorgeous blue eyes, and a perfect 10 figure."
Roman scoffed, hoping his mate's monologue was going to end soon. Dean wasn't always such a sucker for stereotypical women. It was that stupid girl he'd met that changed him into the Ed Hardy wearing tool recently. Sometimes Roman missed the old Dean, who didn't care what the label was on his jeans. Sure, his confidence had skyrocketed, but the Dean he'd been friends with before was the one that he'd liked. But after a tumultuous end to his last relationship, he had changed.
"This girl," he jabbed a finger at the TV, which as currently blue and signaling a commercial break, "has nothing. Rubber shoes, Jeff's hair color, and ripped tights. Where's the future in that?"
"You forgot the fact that she can out-maneuver you in the squared circle," Seth mumbled, causing Roman to smirk.
"Yeah, Dean. Can Summer Rae do that?" he laughed along, the long-haired men antagonizing the ringleader.
"I'd definitely prefer Summer," Dean groaned.
"Well, that's great and all," Seth collected his laughs, but still chuckled. "But I like her, and I think she's pretty rad. She's not like the other ones here who stare at the flaws they have as a regular pastime. I know AJ's out for the night, and Sweetly doesn't know a lot of people, so I invited her over to game. You're welcome," he stretched his arms back, folding them behind his head.
Dean turned again. "You didn't think to clear that with me?" he said coolly, clearly annoyed. The icy tone in his voice caused Roman to cringe.
"Didn't realize I needed your permission, oh Great One," mocked Seth, his goofy smile spreading across his face. Dean sighed yet again, running a hand through his hair.
"Whatever," he mumbled, getting up from his spot. He hurriedly left the other two alone, and Roman turned to Seth, simultaneously breathing sighs of relief.
"When did Dean become such a bitch?" Seth asked, notably peeved.
"When he started dating one."
"The winner of the 2014 Royal Rumble is…AJ LEE!" Seth announced, and Roman groaned, holding up his own PlayStation 3 controller in defeat.
Since Chelsea Sweetly wasn't a character on the WWE game, she had no choice but to pick her lone friend. Roman played as himself, as did Seth and Dean. The latter were knocked out fairly early in the tournament, but Chelsea and Roman battled it out in the end.
"Yeah, like that would ever happen," Dean mumbled, but there was a hint of a smile on his lips anyways.
"Very impressive," Roman turned to Chelsea. "Even more impressive is how quickly you managed to take out Seth. He thinks he's some sort of video game guru."
"Nice button mashing skills, dude," Seth fist-bumped Chelsea, which only made her laugh.
"Well, you haven't met the real destroyer of all video games…my brother."
It was true. The siblings had grown up together watching Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Attitude era, and no matter how long they'd been apart, it was like they'd never stopped speaking. They'd chattered about newcomers like Gene Snitsky, and laughed at Goldust. And always, they pretended to play their favorite character's storylines on both the original PlayStation and later the PlayStation 2. While Toby dominated most sports games, Chelsea was fierce competition when it came to any wrestling ones…especially when she'd create unbeatable characters that often were based on herself.
"Well, I'd like to meet him. And by meet him, I mean challenge him to an epic duel," Seth raised his can of Diet Mountain Dew, as if to give cheers.
"One day, you might. I promised myself that once I get back in the ring, I'd send him a ticket to cheer me on."
"Do you see him often?" Roman surprised himself as he spoke. Chelsea was seemingly very independent, and he'd found himself growing curious during the talk of her brother. Since his own family was so tight-knit, he generally had the misconception that everyone else's was, too. Though he knew the thought was extremely juvenile, it still surprised him a bit when he found someone's home life was less than ideal.
"Not in awhile," Chelsea admitted sheepishly, her darkened eyes landing on Roman. She twisted her curly hair lamely, letting it unwind itself. "He's in the United States Air Force. So I did see him right after he graduated boot camp. But right now, he's doing more job training in Texas, I think."
Chelsea had to admit, she was glad that her relationship with Toby had began to deteriorate when she'd first began her career. She never, ever wanted her younger brother to see her in such awful shape. She had been pretty drugged during his boot camp graduation, but she hoped he was still pumped with adrenaline at the commencement of it to notice her zombie-like state. Though for the most part, the rest of her family, specifically her mother, was shamed by her drug habit and even more shamed when she'd disappeared to rehab. She guessed he knew where she'd been while she wrote to him from her double room in California. After all, her family sure did know how to talk about the odd-duck, which was, quite unfortunately, Chelsea.
"Can't wait to meet him," Roman responded, a sincere smile meeting her. There, he'd made some kind of a move. He hoped that she'd caught on to that.
"Hey, Ro, if I give you some change, you should run down to the vending machine and grab some candy," Seth started digging in his pocket, returning successful with a handful of coins.
"Sure, dude. What'd you want?"
"Not sure, really. Let Chelsea Sweetly pick, she seems like the one to ask," he winked at her, and she laughed again.
Roman loved her laugh. She had such a natural, tinkling one. He was really elated that it helped her mood being with his friends, even though Dean was still kind of in a mood himself . He had heard rumors about AJ losing her title, which he guessed was the real reason she wasn't around during tonight's tapings. Since locker rooms talked, he also knew that AJ had quickly befriended Chelsea, seeing as they were both immensely disliked by the other divas. Though he never fully understood what the big issue with AJ was, he did fear for Chelsea. With Natalie Niedhart as somewhat of a leader of the Total Divas, it was likely that the anti-diva with black and teal hair was now an enemy of all of them.
Chelsea got up from her position on the floor before Roman did, her long-sleeved, plain black t-shirt clinging to her stomach. Roman had to tear his eyes away when a tiny peek of her lace red thong rode a little high above her jeans. Which, he had noticed, accentuated her rear nicely.
Maybe that's why he'd lost to the girl…she was flippin' hot. A definite distraction. It worried him how much a distraction she might be...but whatever it was that had him constantly wondering about her had made his mind cloudy. And although she was a kid at heart, he found himself thinking that maybe there was more to this thing between them. He knew she'd be a tough case, with a broken past…but she was different, and didn't care that she was.
"Hey, Superman, are we gonna check out the heart attack machine, or what?" Chelsea's voice had brought him out of his own mind, and he stood quickly, feeling like a fool. Wearing his favorite gray sweats, she smirked at him, then led the way out of the room. Roman turned, and Seth caught his gaze, giving him a double thumbs-up and a ridiculous, over-caricatured smile.
He followed Chelsea as her dumb black flip-flops padded against the blue carpeting. He kept trying not to focus on her taut ass, but it was tough…she put in just enough wiggle to her step for him to look, but not enough to make her look like she was trying too hard.
"So, this night's been really interesting," she commented, stopping at the vending machine. He noted she sounded almost sarcastic, and if he knew she was being serious, he'd have questioned it. She dug some change out of her own pocket, counted it, then got herself some Raisinettes.
"It's always interesting around here," Roman replied. "But since you showed up and caused the ruckus in the divas division, it's gotten much more interesting."
Chelsea laughed heartily, shaking her head. "If you mean by causing ruckus, ensuring that I'm the black sheep, then yes. I love wrestling. I've dreamed this since I was a little kid. But sometimes I still think that I should cut the ties while I can. People know what I did, and it blows. I hate to say it, but who I was is all I'll ever be."
Roman stood closer to the woman, whose face became blotchy with her confession. She had a bit of a breakdown, but he was grateful that she'd told him, of all people. Perhaps she was just hurting for anyone to listen to her screams, but that didn't seem like the type of girl that she was. He could tell that she was frustrated with recent events. He couldn't blame her. But he felt as though she was sucking him in closer, and he almost ached to know this strange, beautiful, chaotic woman. It was almost unexplainable, but if this was what love felt like for Jimmy and Naomi, he was pretty sure that's what was going on.
Slow down, Superman.
"Who you were is not who you are, Chelsea. I can see you for who you are, whether or not you want to believe it. You're still hurt. You're sad. You're angry. And you feel like you're alone." Roman felt like he was quoting from a novel, and the moment was almost too good and too perfect to be reality.
"You don't know me," she said quietly, throwing a handful of her chocolate raisins into her mouth. She was agitated, but still carried a wounded puppy look in her eyes.
"You're right. But the more I see you, and spend time with you, the more I think I'd like to."
Chelsea searched his face for a moment, not sure if he was being an asshole or not. Roman's face was solid, and if anything, honest.
"You don't know what I did, then," she answered, pushing him away.
"It doesn't really matter."
"It does to me."
She turned away from him for only a moment, before looking at him again out of the corners of her eyes. He stepped towards her again, considering giving her a hug, but she backed away as though she could read his mind.
"I should really get going," she mumbled, tripping over her flip-flop. Roman caught her mid-fall, and she looked up at him again. He noticed that her darkened eyes were the purest of blue, with gold flecks around the middle. Just like a sunny day. If this were a movie, he'd kiss her. He would admit that he couldn't stop thinking about her, and he thought that maybe, despite his best intentions, she was the missing link in his life. He'd said he was worried about his career and didn't have time for a woman...but this moment made him think otherwise.
She broke the embrace quickly, embarrassed. "Tell Seth I said thanks. Really. I just have a long day tomorrow," she stumbled away from Roman. It wasn't far from the truth. She'd be shooting for her entrance video, plus training, plus either starting on the road or taking a few days off to go home. He didn't ask what her plans were after her day was complete, although he did wonder.
Even though Roman worried that he'd scared her off, he knew he hadn't. If anything, he made her think. And maybe she wasn't ready to break her odd bond with the younger Hardy brother, but when she was, he wanted to be the reason she did.
