Amber's POV
It was now Sunday, a week since I used one of Roman's moves as my own finishing move in my match against Sasha Banks. It was time for the next PPV, which happend to be Extreme Rules. I tried not to let the fact that I didn't have a match tonight bother me, but I had always been more of a pessimist than optimist.
My legs were crossed as I sat on my hotel bed, staring out at the early morning sun hesitantly. At leasr after Extreme Rules tonight, we wouldn't have to travel, du to the fact Raw would be held in the same city tomorrow night. It was a great relief and another reason to look forward to the monthly PPV. The weight of my phone in my right hand seemed to grow heavier by the second, trying to remind me of it's presence and I did my best to ignore it. The screen highlighted a certain name on my contact list, and was only seconds away from a call if i pressed a certain button.
Roman hadn't seemed to upset with me last Monday, he wouldn't really be upset if I called him now, would he? Surely not, it was nearing 6:30, and I knew from my time of traveling with Roman that he was always up before me. It was odd to think he was somewhere in this very hotel, doing his own thing and thinking his own thoughts. Maybe he was working out already. I bit my lip, knowing that I would never know unless I called him. With a resigned sigh, I clicked a button and heard it dialing. I almost hung up about five seconds into the call, until I heard a very deep voice.
"Hello?" The sound of it surprised me; it was the first time I had heard Roman's voice over the phone. It was so thick with a slight of growl to it, but smooth like velvet all at once. I cleared my throat before he could hang up.
"Roman?" I was suddenly conscious of my own voice and hoped I didn't sound to weird I hated the sound of my own voice. What if he didn't even know who I was?
"Amber?" His tone was colored in surprise, and it grew a bit more casual. "What do you want?"
"Um, well, I was going to go for a workout before going to the arena…and I was wondering if you wanted to join me?" My invitation was awkward, and I made a face in embarrassment. I wasn't quite sure how he was still on the phone with me.
"I'm sure Finn would love to go with you." He told me. Ouch.
"Was that an indirect way of turning my offer down? I'm a little dissapointed, Reigns, I thought after the workout we could use the ring before anyone else got to the arena and you could give me a few tips on that Superman Punch. You did promise."
"I don't make promises, you should know that by now." He disagreed hastily. "Promises are always lies. I'm sure a number of the guys would break their backs to go workout with you, or give you pointers in the ring, however, I like to work out alone." His words were close-ended, like he wanted to make me understand the situation wasn't open for a debate, but I spoke anyways.
"You spend too much time alone." Maybe it was better to be blunt with Roman. "You'll have plenty of years to be a grouchy and lonesome old man, but for now you`re almost barely in your thrirties. And there isn't anyone else in this business who can teach me your move better than you. I promise I won't be annoying."
"I don't think that this is possible.." he muttered before sighing. "Fine. Only you and I, not anyone else, got it? I`ll meet you in the gym in 5 minutes." I smiled in triumph.
"See you."
—
Roman's Pov
It was well past five minutes as I stood, waiting uncomfortably in the empty gym. It was quite spacious for one in a hotel, but I couldn't appreciate it when my emotions were so close to being annoyed. I couldn't understand why women couldn't ever be on time.
Finally I saw her, walking with a slight bounce in her step. She entered the room, her dark eyes searching, and found me instantly. It was almost surprise when she smiled at me, but it flatered when I didn't smile back.
"I said five minutes, not an hour." She rolled her eyes.
"I had to get all of this," She reached up to twirl a thick and long handful of dark hair with her short and very feminine fingers, "in a ponytail without it looking like a sloppy mess, and that is something you'll never understand." I frowned, although I was less irritated than before. It would be a different story if her face was caked in make-up and if she were wearing something other than an old t-shirt and tight capris with worn running shoes. Her face, from what I could tell, only had the lightest of make-up products, and her hair was up and effectively out of her face. I knew from that moment that she was at least serious about working out. She stared at me expectantly, waiting for my answer.
"Well, let's get ready, I suppose." She nodded and began to stretch. I followed her actions, doing some of my own stretching. Stretching and warming up was always a must.
I tried my best to pretend she wasn't there, but I couldn't stop my eyes from glancing every few moments. She was extremely flexible, and she stretched with visible ease.
"You must've have been a cheerleader." I assumed as I saw her in a straddle position with her face and upper body completely flat against the floor, with her arms reaching out. She sat up, letting out a laugh.
"I think you forgot I was the girl nobody paid attention to. I had social anxiety, if anything." She spoke lightly, her eyes growing distant. It brought out the curiosity in me, and I took the bait.
"What makes you say that?" She shrugged, not meeting my gaze.
"I can be a shy person; I was extremly shy in high school." I raised an eybrow and she noticed. "I know, I know what you're thinking, but out in the ring and on TV, it's different. I'm playing a character, and in the ring I can be the person that I always wanted to be. Fearless. Bold. Magnificent. Ever since I was young, I knew I needed to be in the ring, under the lights." Her dark eyes manbaged to be bright at the same time, and grew brighter as she spoke while flickering around the room. I couldn't deny that it was endearing to see her talk so enthusiastically of something, to see her speak of wrestling whith such love and admiration. Amber was definitely one of, if not the best Woman we had on the roster currently, how could she not be considering that amount of dedication she had.
"I guess I never really thought I'd end up here, like my dad and granddad, but I suppose we always end up where we're supposed to end up, right?" I said and her gaze settled on mine, making me tense and feel almost vulnerable until she gave a slight nod of her head and stood up, heading towards one of the machines. I rose to my feet and headed to the machines on the opposite side of the room, focusing my mind on my workout and forgetting Amber was in the room.
It was working until, nearly an hour later, I stood facing one of the mirrors and saw her walk out of the bathroom, her face lightly glistening. I continued my reps, watching her as she placed her hands on her hips, looking around the room. Her eyes landed on mine and we maintained eye contact through the mirror. I expected her to look away, but she didn't. Instead, a slow grin stretched upon her face. Her smile was contagious, and I looked down, trying to stifle my own smile.
"You ready to go to the arena?" She asked, approaching me. I put the dumbbells away and gave a nod, following her out of the gym and heading to our respective rooms to grab our things.
—–
"I look like a mess." Amber groaned once we were in my car, staring into the mirror above the seat. I chuckled.
"You look fine." Without thinking, I kept speaking. "You look prettier with less make-up on anyways." I felt like I had said too much already and stopped talking. She didn't say anything, and when we stopped at a red light, I glanced over at her to see her watching me. She smiled a little and looked straight ahead again.
"You're facing Finn tonight, right?" She asked once we were driving again.
"Yeah, for the title."
"You going over?" It was something I wasn't even sure myself; the creative team was completely undecided on whether they wanted me to win the title or not.
"I don't know for sure yet, honestly. Will you be at ringside?" I asked her. She shrugged, crossing her leg.
"Most likely; I don't have a match so I assume that's what I'll be doing." She didn't sound particularly pleased, and I was sure she would rather be wrestling than being a valet; she wasn't meant to be a valet even if she was good at it. The crowd loved to see her, and I always got double the amount of cheers when she was with me.
"You'll have your title match soon, I'm sure." I encouraged her as I parked the car. She sighed, shrugging, and unstrapping her seat-belt.
"Maybe." She still sounded unconvinced as she got her bag out of the car and headed in towards the arena. I grabbed my own bag and hurried after her.
—-
Amber's POV
I sat on the turnbuckle, across the empty ring from Roman. A few backstage crew members were setting up equipemnt on the stage and ramp, and the titantron switched screens frequently, but we ignored them as good as we could.
"You know, I'm impressed with you." He told me. I tilted my head, feeling my ponytail brush my shoulder.
"Why is that?" I asked curiously. Roman stalked closer.
"From what I've seen, you never use the same pattern of moves in all your matches. You're fresh, and you keep the crowd guessing." I hopped off the turnbuckle, highly interested in his observations.
"I want to keep my matches unpredictable." He nodded, his blue eyes glittering.
"You were extremely unpredictable last Monday. Nobody was expecting that Superman Punch." I smiled.
"Yes, now why don't you help me with that so I can do it again, but this time, better." I said, watching as he smirked.
"Just remember, you won't ever do it better than me. Now listen closely, it's all about timing." His eyes were suddenly stern and his voice was serious, so I nodded my head in understanding. "Mainly, you have to make sure you know where you're putting your hands. Why don't you just try it." I took a deep breath to steady myself, before reaching out to grab his hand and throw him to the ropes. He bounced off of them and once he got closer again, I jumped up and reached for his head to hit the Superman Punch.
"Better than Monday?" I asked as we sat up. He stood up, reaching down to offer me his hand.
"About the same as Monday. Make sure you really focus to get the timing, you'll miss it if you don't do it at the right second." I nodded intently, and Irish whipped him once more. This time, my eyes never left his body and I reached for him a second faster than I had the time before. I knew I had done it perfectly as soon as he fell towards the mat. Roman sat up immediately his eyes shining and his lips slightly upturned on the corners.
"Excellent." His praise sent a smile to my face and it grew bigger when I noticed Roman was in a good mood today, finally after having so many fights and arguments between us. The sound of clapping interrupted my thoughts, and I looked up towards the ramp, thinking it was one of the Crew members clapping. Instead, it was Vince, and the smile on his face was one of happiness, like a child on Christmas morning.
"That was amazing, Amber! Brilliant." He called from where he stood. Roman rose to his feet and I mimicked his actions, throwing a polite smile towards Vince. "I'm actually glad to run into you, Amber. As you surely know, there originally wasn't a womens Match on the card tonight, but after Monday, I decided otherwise." He paused for a minute, and a spark of hope turned my heart warmer. "Tonight, you'll be up against Sasha for the tile in a Lumberjack match." He stopped, the beginning of a proud smirk growing on his face. "You'll be going over."
"Oh…my gosh." My hands flew up to cover my mouth in shock. "Thank you, so much, Mr. McMahon." I said once I was even able to speak. I was completely caught off guard, and I wasn't sure if I even heard Vince correctly at all. Did he really say I had a title match, and that I would be the one going over?
"I told you that you would be at the top in no time," Vince said, turning to go backstage again. I turned to Roman, still a bit in shock and feeling dazed. He smiled a bit, placing a large hand on my shoulder and give me a pat.
"Told you you'd have that title match soon." He said, hiding a smile. I broke out into a full smile, feeling joy flood through my veins. My entire view on the PPV tonight had changed, and I was beyond ready to become the new Women's Champion.