Chapter 13: Gloomy Sunday
((title taken from the Sarah Brightman song))
It's been days since the argument I had with Jake and we still haven't spoken about what we said to each other. Chris and I have been travelling together and last night I got to go to my first autograph signing. There, surprisingly, were people there for just me and not Chris. But that's neither here not there. Tonight is a big night. Tonight is the pay-per-view: Extreme Rules. Chris has an opener, some sort of battle royal to see who the next number one contender for the intercontinental championship is. Jake may have a match to but I haven't really kept with him since our argument.
"Kirstie, you ready to meet the other announcers?" Josh asks as we head to the guerilla to meet the other broadcasters for the evening: Jerry Lawler and Micheal Cole.
"You said not to speak to Cole. Is he rude?" I ask, smoothing out the red bottom of my dress and tugging on my sleeve to straighten it.
"Everytime I've talked to the man he's been a bastard," Josh shrugs. "And you look fine, stop fidgeting."
I laugh, "Thanks Jay."
"Did you just nickname me?" he laughs.
"Something wrong with it?" I smile, sitting in a chair as I see two men, both contrasting deeply from the other, heading our way. One is tall and big boned, with brown hair speckled with gray and a clean shaven face where two brown eyes sit. He has a smile on his face and even from where I am I can tell he's wrinkling with crows feet and deep laugh lines. His clothes, however, aren't something that you'd expect a man of his age to wear in this field. Instead of wearing a suit like Vince or even Ric Flair, and yes I know who Ric Flair is I wasn't born under a rock, he's wearing a blood red t-shirt with what looks like rhinestones displayed in the shape of a crown and blue jeans.
His partner, however, looks more refined. He's not to tall, maybe as tall as I am and lanky, with black (or at least dark brown) hair slicked back on his head and a goatee of the same shade covering the lower half of his face and two beady blue eyes in that rat-like face. He wears a scowl, no age lines but he doesn't need them. I can tell he's young, or at least younger than his partner. Instead of the fun t-shirt/jeans combo, he's wearing a business suit made of a deep brown material and all one color. As soon as they get near us, the more practical man smirks, "Josh, whose your friend?"
"This is my broadcast partner Kirstie Monroe. Kirstie this is Jerry Lawler," he nods in the direction of the more fun loving of the pair, "and Micheal Cole." he nods in the direction of the other man.
"Josh has told me a lot about you Micheal but I'm afraid he hasn't told me much about you J-"
"Ha! See, I told you I was the better broadcaster!" Micheal lets out a sharp bark of a laugh, "What did Josh tell you about me? About how I'm undefeated at Wrestlemania? About how I'm the best broadcaster in the WWE?"
"Actually he didn't tell me any of those things, he just told me you were an asshole," I reply, turning to Jerry, extending a hand to shake his.
He laughs as he shakes my hand, "I like you already kid. How long have you been working with the WWE?"
"About a month," I smile. "I love my job so far."
"It's fun but sometimes, when you get pulled into the ring, it's not as fun," Jerry nods. "So you two will be calling the Smackdown matches and Micheal and I will be calling the Raw matches."
"Anything interesting happening with the Raw matches?" I ask.
"We have that co-ed championship match tonight with Katana and Edge from Smackdown fighting CM Punk and Lillie Guerrero as well as Randy Orton and Nolee Lacroix," Jerry smiles.
I nod, "I dunno what alls going on for Smackdown but I do know there's a match to see the new number one contender of the Intercontinental championship."
Micheal sneers, "Your a broadcaster and you don't even know whats going to happen for you brand on the pay-per-view? That's pathetic."
"Micheal lay off!" Jerry growls, "She's new to this! If I remember, we had to tell you DURING broadcasts what was going on. At least she has a stack of papers that seem to have stuff written on them!"
I smile, "Thanks Mr. Lawler."
He nods back at me, "No problem. Why don't we all go out to the ring and see where they have us sitting for the night." The four of us walk out to the ring where two different tables sit. Neither has name plaques on them to tell us who should sit where.
"We should probably call seniority," Micheal sneers.
"As much as I hate to agree with him..." Jerry laughs.
"I understand, seniorirty is duly noted," I nod as we put our papers down on the tables. I put my purse next to it and head backstage. We've got a little before the show and I need to grab something to drink. I head into the cafeteria where I see Jake sitting with Trent and Cody. He looks at me and gestures me over but I choose to ignore him. That is, until Cody gets up and grabs me by the arm.
"C'mon you're going to talk to him," Cody says to me.
"Cody, I don't want to talk to Jake!" I say angrily, pulling away from him. "I just want to get me something to eat and drink before I have to be at the ring."
"At least tell him you support him in his title match tonight!" Cody says to me, "Having my best friend on Raw has taught me that when they need you dammit they need you!"
"I don't want to talk to him!" he says to me again.
I frown, "Whatever, if I at least tell him that I support him in his title match tonight will you get off my back?"
"Yes, yes I will," Cody smirks.
I sigh and I head to the table, I don't bother to sit down. "Look, Jake, I want to tell you that I support you tonight against...whoever your fighting."
"Del Rio and Christian," he replies softly, not looking at me.
"Well...good luck. I haven't forgiven you for what you said to me earlier," I reply.
He looks at me, anger in his eyes. "What I said to you! What about what you said to me?"
"I didn't-"
"God damn it will you two shut up!" Trent shouts at us, drawing us both quiet. "You two are best friends and yet you act like children! What if one of you was fired and you never got to see each other again? What the fuck would you do then! So stop acting like children and get the fuck over yourselves!"
I look at him, blinking my eyes before I finally find the words, "Look, Trent, I understand why you're so adament on this subject but I'm not like you. What he said hurt and I don't necessarily view him as a friend at the moment."
"Well, I'm glad we both see eye to eye," Jake replies, getting up and walking off.
Trent throws his fork down, "You two piss me off!" he storms off and I look at Cody whose just shaking his head.
"I...I didn't mean to make Trent upset Cody," I frown, looking at my dashing friend.
"It's okay. Trent...he's just having a hard time right now, that's all." Cody replies, rubbing my back.
"Why is he having such a hard time?" I ask, looking at him.
"This time last year...Trent and Caylen were tag team champions without a care in the world. They lost the tag team titles here...Caylen was fired the next day."
I look at him, "Oh man...that's rough..."
"Yeah. Hint why he's so set on friendship being the one thing that can save us. Some people even think..." he trails off, looking after where Trent's left.
"Think what?"
"It's not my place to say. But let me just hint that if people are right...Smackdown's going to be down another superstar soon..." Cody shakes his head and walks off. I sigh. Just great, now everyone's all depressed. I grab a Diet Pepsi and a small bit of a sub which I eat and drink on the way to the backstage ramp. Jerry's music hits first, then Micheals, then Josh's.
"I'M BEAUTIFUL IN MY/WAY CUZ GOD MAKES/NO MISTAKES I'M ON/THE RIGHT TRACK BABY/I WAS BORN THIS/WAY.." starts my theme music. I walk out to the fans, smiling and cheering. Obviously I'm likeable on the broadcasting headset. When I get to my spot at the table, I smile.
"Welcome everyone to Extreme Rules, the one night a year where anything and everything goes!" I smile as the show begins.
A/N: Yeah, so, again not writing matches because I don't feel like it. Besides, all that matters are the outcomes anyways!