Later, when most of the group had left for the day, Rami and Olivia were in one of the rings in the gym. Olivia had recovered marginally and now trusted her legs to keep her upright. She felt fatigued, but no longer sapped of energy. Rami had initially suggested they take the evening off extras given her results in the fitness testing, but she near-begged him to stay. She didn't let on at the time, but she now needed every minute in the ring that she could find. Rami had decided they would work on knees and ankles; how to take and keep someone off their feet. They'd been at it for an hour or so when Olivia asked for a drinks break. While filling up her bottle at the cooler, she looked around for others. It was past 7 now; there was no one in the gym and likely to be no one left in the building. Maybe Bill, in his office. She didn't know when word would spread about her match, but didn't want anyone overhearing her telling Rami. She rolled back in the ring, just as Rami moved to hold the ropes open for her. "I'll get you one day," he laughed at her ability to duck his chivalry.
"What's up?" he asked, when Olivia didn't respond to him. "Are you sore?" She shook her head, and took a big breath. "I've got some news," she said cautiously, measuring his reaction. "Some good news, or bad news?" he questioned. Well, that depends... I've been made to feel like I should be extremely grateful. "I've got a dark match," she said, knowing he wouldn't even consider it would be as a referee. His eyes widened and a small grin appeared. "At the next tapings?" he asked. Olivia nodded. "Wow, that's incredible!" He placed his bottle on the apron and came closer to her. "Wait, it is incredible, right?" Olivia looked at him. He looked so genuinely pleased for her. And probably for him. He's worked hard with me too. I can't kill his buzz like that. "Yeah, you could say that," she answered eventually. Rami chuckled, and stepped closer. "Hey, it's okay to be nervous," he said. "In fact, it's perfectly normal. Natural." Says the ten-year veteran. Her trepidation must've shown on her face, and he leaned forward and pulled her into a hug. "Come here," he chuckled, tightening his arms around her. "You'll be just fine. We'll get you ready."
Olivia's hands came to rest on his sides, acutely aware that, while they'd spent hours in holds and covers in the ring, they'd never hugged before. She'd touched his body before, but this felt different. "I'm so proud of you," he said softly, before pulling back. The words sent a quick buzz down her spine, not going unnoticed. What was that about? Rami brought his eyes to hers, and Olivia smiled. The happiness and pride shone through them, it was palpable. He placed one hand on her shoulder, and leaned down to her height. "I promise you, we'll have you ready." After a brief second, she nodded. "I know," she replied. "I know."
Rami was waiting by the main door for Olivia. They'd finished their session, with Olivia's ankle locks improving markedly. She had gone to get changed in the locker room, giving Rami time to reflect. He was thrilled about Olivia's match. She's worked so hard. And so have I. He hadn't predicted she'd pick things up so quickly, but as she reminded him, she had wrestled before. It just wasn't her passion. Shame, he thought. If it was, maybe she could make something of herself. He checked himself. Stop. Stop forcing your dreams on to hers. She's got her own. He started thinking about the lack of excitement in her voice when she told him. I think I was more excited than she was. He'd put it down to nerves, but was starting to question that. Maybe she doesn't actually want the match? That seemed strange to him. Even though it wasn't refereeing, it was still a step up, an acknowledgement from the trainers that they noticed her improvement. And that's what it's about, right? Even her hug had seemed disinterested. It happened without thinking, he'd just been so pleased and proud, and before he knew it, he had hugged her. She'd seemed reluctant to hug him back. Maybe he crossed a line? Or, perhaps at least one of you remembered that you're seeing another woman... Rami shook that out of his head. It was just a celebratory hug. Nothing to do with Kerrie.
Olivia emerged from the hallway. "You alright?" she asked. "You look confused." He shook his head. "No, I'm fine. Just remembered something, that's all." Olivia nodded. "Hey, you hungry?" she asked. "I'm thinking of stopping at Sam's Place if you want to join me?" One corner of her mouth turned into a sideways smile, and Rami suddenly felt his stomach rumble. "Heck yes, I'm ravenous," he replied. Olivia scoffed. "I was hoping you'd say that. I've got some things I want to run past you." He raised an eyebrow curiously, but knew he'd have to wait until they reached the diner.
XXXXX
Rami took a bite of his pizza. Olivia was negotiating her chicken salad on to her fork. "I still think you should've gone for the burger," he said between mouthfuls. "Surely the fries negate the salad?" Olivia had agonized over her meal selection, declaring that she'd love a cheeseburger, but eventually settled on a chicken salad. With a side of fries. It was one of the most pointless things Rami had seen. "Hey, I worked my ass off at testing, I deserve some fries," Olivia said with mock protest. He chuckled; she deserves the burger too. "Plus, I don't have the metabolism of a Diva. If I had the burger it would still be showing on my gut by the time the match rolls around." I hope she doesn't get caught up in comparing herself to the other girls. She'll have enough on her mind without thy complicating things.
"Anyway," Olivia said, her tone changing. "I wanted to ask you a few things about what I have to do to get ready." She looked across at him. "Well, what do you want to know?" he asked, reaching across to steal a fry from her basket. She glared at him, cheekily, before continuing. "I've asked myself a thousand questions since this morning. But there's two main ones I think should be settled before anything else." He nodded to show he was all ears. "First," she said, digging around in her salad, "what should my finisher be? And second, what on earth will my ring name be?" Hmmmm... Rami froze for a moment. He'd not considered a name. He'd thought of ideas for a finisher for her as he'd worked with her in the ring, but he'd not even begun to think of what name she could go by. "No way do I want to use Olivia," she added. "I want to make it as hard as possible for this to be linked to my refereeing career. So, something completely different."
As they ate, Rami watched her. Would I make her a heel or a face? Or does it even matter if it's just a one off? She didn't look like a natural heel; she wasn't strong, didn't have a dark, edgy look. She looked like a face, with her dirty blonde hair and deep brown eyes. He could see a girl next door look in her, if they pushed it. "What are you thinking?" he asked inquisitively. She shrugged her shoulders. "It's only been a few hours. I've not given it much thought at all." She dipped a few fries into the ketchup. "Actually!" she said with her mouth full. She finished before completing the sentence. "I know they've done away with gimmicky type names, but back when I'd mess around with the boys at home, my name was always Miss Vixen." She laughed at the memory, sipping at her soda. "You know," Rami began, "that's actually not bad for an Attitude Era name." They both giggled. "So you were a heel then? Miss Vixen sounds punishing." Olivia closed her eyes softly and suppressed a laugh. "I wasn't really either, I was just there. The boys were Rock and Stone Cold, or Triple H and Shawn Michaels. I only got the late call up once in a while, when I wasn't pretending to referee. And it usually ended with me crying."
After discussing potential finishers, conversation moved back to a ring name. "The most important thing with a name is it's something which resonates with you," Rami said. "Take Sami Zayn. Sami is an Arabic name, my mom legitimately almost called me Sami. And because I don't look Arabic, I wanted my name to be a nod to my background. And Sami was perfect because it isn't foreign enough to scare off a Western audience." Olivia had her elbow on the table, resting her chin on her hand, listening. "The thing is," he continued, "I had ten years to think that over. You have less than twenty days." Whoops, he thought as he watched her baulk at the thought of how close that was. "So let's go over the basics. What's your mom's name? Or your middle name? Or grandma?" Olivia shook her head. "Mom's name is Mae, and I don't want to look like I'm comparing myself to Mae Young. And grandma is Veronica. She's the sweetest but….I just don't think it's got the... Marketability. Not that I want to be marketable, but you know what I mean." Rami nodded. Veronica is not appropriate. Olivia sucked her lips in, thinking. "My middle name is Michaela, and I kind of feel the same way about that." Michaela. "Traditional spelling?" Rami asked. She nodded in response. "I could see Michaela working, if you changed up the spelling. Freshen it up somehow, maybe."
He called over a waitress and asked for her pen. Grabbing a napkin, he began scrawling different potential spellings of the name. Olivia leaned over table to offer suggestions. "Wait, that's it!" she said, grabbing the pen out of his hand. He watched her circle one spelling; Mikayla. Funky, he thought. Different. Olivia then scribbled out the first two letters, and sat back to assess. "Kayla," she said, pushing the napkin back across the table at him. He read it, in handwriting much neater than his own, and said it out loud. "Kayla. Kayla." Not bad. It's definitely got a face feel to it. "I think you could make Kayla work," he said, looking at her, trying to re-imagine her as Kayla. "It sounds….nice. Kayla sounds like a nice girl." Olivia tried to hold in the mouthful of soda she'd just taken in."Oh really? I was kinda thinking Killer Kayla had a nice ring to it." She laughed, and it reached her eyes. For the first time today, she had seemed excited about something. If she wants to be Killer Kayla, I won't fight it. It's good to see her excited about something to do with competing.
"Right then," Rami began. "Let me be the first to welcome Kayla into the world by shouting her dinner." Olivia raised a hand. "Oh no, no, no. If anyone owes anyone a meal here, it's me. After everything you've done for me… I insist." She rummaged around in her bag, and got to her feet. "Nope," Rami protested, "I won't have it." He gently pushed Olivia back down on her seat. "We're celebrating, albeit it a diner, but we're celebrating nonetheless. My shout." She stared at him with mock disapproval on her face, and he felt a slight wave of something rise in his stomach. I'm glad we did this, time away from the PC. Even though we still talked shop most of the time.
Outside, Rami walked Olivia to her car. "There's one more thing, actually," Olivia said, pulling out her phone. He watched as she navigated through to a photo. "This," she started, holding her phone out to him, "this is my master plan. I've plotted out where I want to be in a year, and how I'm going to get there. What I need to be ticking off." He was looking at a wall chart covered in colourful post-it notes. The writing on them was too small to make any sense at that size. That looks intense. That looks serious. "Can I send it to you?" she asked with a hurried excitement. "I'd really appreciate you looking over it and letting me know if you think it's achievable." She looked at him hopefully. "Please," she added, as an afterthought. "Of course," Rami said. "I don't mind at all." She asked for his phone number, and entered it into her phone. "Awesome, thanks Rami. I really appreciate all your help," she said, and he could feel the authenticity of the statement. "I hope you know that." He felt a slight heat rise in his cheeks. "Yeah, I do. And don't worry about it, I'm happy to help." She smiled softly at him, before saying goodnight and getting into her car.
XXXXX
Rami threw his keys down on the kitchen counter. He had felt his phone vibrate in his pocket on the drive home, and wasn't surprised to see a picture message from an unknown number; he knew it would be Olivia. I must save that number. There was also a message from Kerrie, asking if he wanted to go to her place for dinner tomorrow night. Rami felt guilty. He'd not thought of Kerrie all day. I should probably call her. As he dialled her number, he found himself searching for an excuse to turn down the invitation. I might have to train Olivia tomorrow night. We've got to work on a finisher.