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CECILIA'S POV
Four days ago, the night of RAW, was the night that wouldn't just leave my brain alone. How much can happen to one person in a single night: From finding out that my so-called boyfriend was fooling around behind my back with another woman, to kissing the person I've never thought I would kiss in my entire life, to evading the cops and, the main concern of that night, to kissing the guy I have gotten so close to over the past couple of weeks who happens to be entangled in a destructive relationship with a woman I absolutely despise. How stupid was it for me to think that this "second life" was going to be easier than the one I had before. Of course it wasn't; I mean, look who God decided to give the second chance to. None other than me - Cecilia Tarides. Terrible choice, God. Absolutely terrible.
I tried to get as comfortable as I could by rolling over on my side to the part of the bed closest to the window. Drowned in multiple blankets in the chilly air conditioned room, I pulled up the layers of thick sheets over my head as I felt a strong chill run through my body. A long, deep sigh escaped my lips as the frustration of not being able to sleep grew larger by each passing second. I threw myself onto my back forcefully with a groan and slammed the blanket from over my head down over my waist.
My eyes were only half open at this point from lack of sleep as I gazed upon the off-white paint of the ceiling. My head turned as my eyes were drawn towards the large windows which were spread out through the entire wall, easily displaying the whole east side of the city. Normally, I would have been able to see the sun rise with the sun's rays peeking through the valleys of the distant mountains but today was different. The sky was filled with dark grey clouds that covered the sun completely. Not a single ray of sunshine got through the heavy, rain-filled clouds causing darkness to fall upon the entire city. Out of nowhere, a sudden downpour started which drowned out the silence of the room. This was not the type of rain that made it easier to fall sleep; it was a rain storm with huge droplets that banged against the glass of the windows.
I slowly sat up in my bed and pivoted my body to have my legs dangling on the bedside. There was no point in trying to fall back to sleep at this point. One roll of my shoulders and neck to stretch them out and I was ready to get out of bed and start my day. Luckily, the hotel provided a tiny coffee machine in each room. It was one of those cheap ones that look like it would break after one touch but it got the job done if you're gentle enough. I started it up and made my way towards the window to gaze at the city below me.
Nothing major had happened from Tuesday to Thursday. Well, nothing happened to me at least. I spent most of my time holed up in my little hotel room, only coming out to get something to eat or to work out at the local gym. Even when I was out, I would try my best to avoid seeing people I knew whether it meant going on different paths to avoid the crowd or covering my face with my hoodie. All I really wanted for the past couple of days was time alone to think, especially since I was surrounded by people almost all the time. God knows I think way too much.
There came a few people who came knocking at my door in the past three days, including Zack, Randy and Phil, but they were all turned away with a simple "I'm busy" shout at the door. I turned away from the windows and reached down at my cellphone on the coffee table which had been turned off for the past few days. It was time to get reconnected with the world beyond my hotel room because, after all, it would be inevitable to avoid anyone tonight at Smackdown. I booted up the phone checking for missed calls and new text messages. There were calls from the usual suspects, Zack and Randy, but my full attention was soon focused on the missed calls from Cody and Mike. I didn't want to think about them too much today. All my energy had been spent thinking about the both of them on Tuesday and Wednesday. Quickly, I continued on to check my text messages' inbox which had only one message from an unknown number:
We've been meaning to talk to you. Where have you been?
It was impossible for this to be any of the guys I knew now because I had all their numbers saved onto my phone. It had to be somebody else. A person I knew from before the WWE? Maybe this guy had the wrong number. Who knows? I clicked a button on my phone to send a reply to the mysterious number.
Got into a bit of an accident about a month ago. Phone's data was wiped clean. Who is this?
I pressed the send button and put the phone down on the coffee table, awaiting a response from him or her. I was anxious to find out who it was but a part of me wanted to hold the rest of myself back from finding out. It was the strangest feeling but I was sure that I wanted to discover my former self. It couldn't have been that bad back then, could it?
I got up as I heard the ding of the coffee machine and hopped off the chair to get my finished coffee. My plan for today was to relax the rest of the day before getting myself together for tonight's show. Straight after the show, we'd be traveling out to the next location. I was just about to pull the hot pot of coffee from the machine until I heard somebody knocking continuously on my door. I pulled my hand away from the pot and cautiously walked to the door making sure that I didn't make any sounds. In any case, I could just keep quiet and pretend I was out somewhere else.
"Housekeeping," the voice said in a terribly executed high pitched tone with a couple more knocks as I reached the door. I tiptoed to look out the peephole but it was covered by a hand. Was it Zack? I'm pretty sure he would be the only guy that would be immature enough to make silly voices while visiting his friends. I really can't imagine it being anybody else.
"Who is it?" I shouted through the door. I know that I told myself to stay quiet but I couldn't help myself. Maybe my subconscious is dying for a little bit of social interaction.
"It is... Consuela from housekeeping. Open up please and let me clean your room. Squeaky clean, ma'am," the voice replied. It was clear that I was going to have to open the door if I wanted to find out who it was. Oh, fine – I have been wanting a bit of company anyways. I unlocked the door and dropped the door's chain to pull the heavy door open completely. On the other side of the door was not one, but two faces that I was glad to see - Zack's and Phil's. I stood aside from the door allowing them to enter my room. With smiling faces they entered as Zack ruffled my hair as he always did, and Phil nodded his head once toward me, as he always did. I closed the door behind them and walked to center of the room where they stopped. They both scanned the room until Zack's eyes met mine.
"No fair. I've been in the WWE way longer and they give YOU the nicer..." Zack was starting complain until he started eyeballing me up and down. Blushing, he looked away, focusing on the view outside.
"Jeez Cecilia," Zack said as he put a hand up to the side of his face to block his line of sight from me. "I'm pretty sure that when people come over, you're supposed to throw on some clothes." Phil looked over at me as soon as Zack called me out on it and also took notice of what I was wearing. He quickly brought his hand up to his face as well in one quick motion. I looked down at what I was wearing: a vintage cropped white t-shirt with a faded picture of Spiderman's face and black boy-shorts styled panties.
"Oh come on, guys - First off, you guys came up here uninvited. Secondly, I'm pretty sure that my wrestling outfit shows way more skin than what I'm showing now. Thirdly, don't act like you don't like it!"
Zack chuckled as he removed his hand from his eyes and scooped me off the ground for a hug. "Now this is the Cecilia I know and missed! And for the record, technically, you let us in so we were invited." I squeezed him back tighter than he did me as I giggled in the excitement of seeing them again. It has felt like years had passed that I haven't seen them. I opened my eyes as I spotted Phil with his hands on his hips, sporting a tiny smile on his face. Zack put me down and I sprinted over to Phil and quickly grabbed him for a hug. He was taken aback by how quickly I came to embrace him as he lost his balance and stumbled backwards. After regaining his balance, he raised his arms over his head as if he didn't want to touch me. I took note of it and looked up from his chest and pouted.
"Oh, are we on the 'no contact rule?' I mean, it's not like we haven't already kissed each other once before," I reminded him. In his eyes, I saw that he was thinking back to that very night as I heard Zack softly laughing in the background. "Lovebirds," Zack discretely mentioned through a fake cough. He sighed as he gently dropped his hands and hovered them over my back. Hesitantly, he gave me a couple of pats on the back as if that would be sufficient enough.
I shrugged. "Good enough for me," I stated as I released him from my hold.
I motioned for Phil and Zack to both take a seat on the couch while I fetched some coffee for them. With my back turned towards them, I heard them whispering to each other. As I turned around with two cups of coffee in hand, I noticed Phil nudge Zack on his leg in the middle of their conversation. Zack quieted down and turned towards me as I placed the cups down on the table.
"Well, go on Zack show her," Phil commanded. Zack thought for a second as if he was trying to remember something.
"Oh right!" Zack exclaimed after a moment of silence. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone, touching the screen multiple times in search of something. Phil smacked a hand against his forehead due to Zack's stupidity. "Sometimes, I wonder why I hang out with you," Phil mumbled under his breath.
"'Cause you don't have any other friends, obviously," he snapped back as he continued looking for something on his phone.
Phil shrugged and thought quietly to himself for a minute. "Yeah, I need to meet somebody," Phil whispered quietly to himself.
"Found it!" Zack shouted with joy as he passed the phone to me. "Speaking of showing skin; Cecilia, you are the queen of it." Confused but curious, I took the phone from Zack as I looked at the tiny, bright screen. I hit the play button on the screen and I immediately knew what this was.
"NO!" I yelled out as I watched the disaster of Monday night replay on Zack's phone. On the video was me climbing on the hood of the limo as I made my way to the sunroof. As I crouched over the sunroof, Randy's arms came up and almost instantly pulled me inside with my legs still sticking out of the top. I wasn't thinking much of it at the time of the incident but I was wearing a dress. As clear as day, my dress was pulled up and my bottom half was exposed to the entire crowd. I threw the phone on the couch next to Zack when I couldn't bear to watch any more of it.
"How embarrassing!" I cried out as I placed a hand over my eyes. I wasn't crying but I did feel my cheeks getting red hot. I pulled my hands away from my face and looked at Zack and Phil, hoping that they would say something comforting.
"At least you were wearing underwear? A lot of other celebrities get caught on camera like this without any underwear on," Phil said hesitantly as he attempted to get rid of my embarrassment. The whole talk about underwear made me look at Zack. We both knew about his little underwear wearing situation.
Zack picked up his phone and looked down at it, still watching the video. He paused it seconds later, right at the moment Mike hopped into the back seat. "This is hilarious! Ah, good times guys, good times. I will cherish this video forever," he said as he leaned back on the couch while holding his phone over his heart with that famous "Zack grin." He was met with my glaring eyes.
"What?" he yelled out with his smile decreasing in size at Phil and I.
"I knew she was going to react like this," Phil smugly replied with his arms crossed. Now the grin was on his face instead of his goofy friend's. "Zack thought that you were going to laugh about it. Well, time to sit back and watch Zack's ass beating, while soaking in all the glory of being right," Phil said as he leaned back in his seat, waiting for something to happen.
I turned back all my attention to Zack. "Mister 'Long Island Iced Z.' Mister 'Internet Champion.' If you posted this video online on your little YouTube show I will make your life as uncomfortable as possible, got it?"
Zack grinned. "Don't worry, it's safe and sound on my phone. Its memories! Beautiful memories!"
"Good," I sighed with relief.
"Note to Zack: edit the episode you uploaded last night," Phil hinted. Zack's jaw dropped as he looked at Phil as if he didn't believe he just said that.
"Oh, was that supposed to be a secret?" Phil added with a devilish smile. Zack pounced on top of Phil without warning as I jumped on top of Zack after hearing Phil's statement. It was an all-out battle royale.
Later that night (45 minutes before Smackdown)
I walked through the backstage door with my duffel bag full of my gear after saying "Hi" to my favorite security guard, Jim. As always, he looks down at me and growls. He'll learn to like me; that was how Phil was like before he adored me!
Phil was leading the way through the corridors of the backstage area in this arena for tonight. Zack was trailing behind the both of us, stopping occasionally to wave to somebody. He was very popular and liked by everyone backstage. It was a mystery of why he chose to hang out around Phil the most.
We came to a complete stop in front of the break room where the WWE has provided a long table full of snacks, packed sandwiches, fruits and much, much more. Phil turned into this very room as Zack and I followed closely behind him.
"I thought you were bringing me to my locker room?" I questioned Phil. He ignored me as he scanned the entire table, deciding on what to eat. He made a tiny sound of joy as he spotted the chicken strips. There was a whole tray of them and Phil took a couple and stuffed them all into his mouth.
"This," he said wiggling another chicken strip in my face, "is probably the only reason I work in the WWE." He stuffed that one in his mouth as well. Zack walked up to the table and grabbed a couple of those crispy little strips and ate them. I figured that I would try one as well. I reached over to sample one but I was quickly slapped on the hand by Phil.
"Hey!" I cried out. I stroked the spot where he had hit me. "Good reflexes but I want to try!"
Phil shook his head as he took one more strip. "Once you try," he said while chewing, "you'll want more. Zack and I wouldn't appreciate that."
I frowned and looked at the table again. "Fine, I didn't want that anyways. I'll just take a cupcake," I said as I grabbed a vanilla cupcake with pink frosting. I furrowed my eyebrows as I started to remember something. "Didn't you guys just eat… about 30 minutes ago?"
"Us men get hungry. Not like you girls. I don't get how you girls get salads and be full. It's not humanly possible. For us, that's like, ordering one piece of popcorn and saying we are so stuffed with food," Zack explained. I raised an eyebrow at Zack. "Oh not you though, Cecilia. You eat like an animal."
"You wanna talk about skinny? Talk about Kelly Kelly… or Alicia Fox," Phil mentioned as he shook his head.
We were in the break room stuffing our faces while arguing on what was considered skinny versus fit. That was until we heard someone enter the room from behind us. It was fellow superstar Dolph Ziggler dressed in full wrestling attire with his signature pink "Show-Off" t-shirt. He looked at us with confusion then looked at the table of food behind us, which was pretty much ransacked by us. I guess we took the sampling of food a bit too far.
"You do know that the show goes live in about," Dolph looked up at a wall clock, "7 minutes right?" As soon as we heard that, we quickly started gathering up all of our stuff that we had stacked up on one of the tables. "And Zack, Teddy needs to talk to you about something. I don't know what about though; I wasn't really paying attention," Dolph added.
"Thanks, I could always could on you," Zack sarcastically said. He ran out of the room with Dolph chasing behind him. I was still gathering my belongings when Dolph walked back into the break room. "No wait, there was something else I forgot to mention," he mumbled to himself. He grabbed his chin with his right hand and started stroking it softly. "Oh right," he exclaimed suddenly with a snap of his fingers and stuck out an index finger towards me. "Great ass," he smoothly said.
My jaw dropped as Dolph quickly made his way out of the room. Phil was dying of laughter behind me. I gathered up the rest of my stuff off of the table.
"So, I'm guessing he didn't take down the video. Come Phil, Zack is going to die," I said storming out of the room. I looked back to check if Phil was following behind me and he was. I also noticed that he was carrying the tray with the rest of the chicken strips. A tiny smile formed on my face as I raised an eyebrow.
"Gonna eat them in the comfort of my own room. Nothing else," Phil told me.
I chuckled as I felt a vibration come from my pants pocket. I dug my hand into the pocket and pulled out my cellphone. It was a text message from that same mysterious number from this morning. It read:
It's Jason. You know…your partner. Guessing that job didn't go so well, huh?
Partner? What kind of partner? This was all so foreign to me. I didn't have the time to answer him back so I threw my phone back into my pocket hoping that I wouldn't forget to answer him back later.
Smackdown
We were halfway into the show and the crowd was cheering on their favorite superstars and jeering at the more unpopular ones. It came to that point of the show where there was to be a diva's match. I was excited to actually be fighting this time and not just commentating. Commentary just wasn't my thing.
I walked out onto the walkway when my theme music came on. As soon as it did, the whole crowd went wild. I didn't expect such a response, especially towards someone who just made their debut a few days ago. Besides, who cares? I was loving all the support.
I ran towards the ring and slid in with ease. I nodded my head at Justin Roberts before climbing onto the turnbuckle and raising both arms up with a smile. The crowd's roar got louder and louder with each turnbuckle I climbed. At the last turnbuckle, I put my hands down at my waist and did the motion of the diva's title belt being around my waist. It was something I wanted. I'd prove a lot of people wrong with that belt on me, especially Maryse.
I looked up the walkway waiting for my opponent for tonight to enter the ring. Smackdown wasn't anything like Raw. Raw is very straight forward in what should be in the show. That's why we were giving scripts and instructions on what to do. Here on Smackdown, it's more improvising. They let you say and do close to anything just so long that it doesn't move to far away from the storyline. Tonight, I wasn't supposed to know who I was fight until now.
Holla Holla. The crowd went even crazier for her then they did for me. Kelly Kelly posed just up the ramp and started to make her way towards the ring with that bounciness in every step. She walked up the steps and ducked under the second rope to step inside. Like me, she went to the turnbuckles and smiled out into the crowded passing an arm over the crowd before stepping down and focusing on me. I haven't talked to Kelly Kelly before but I hope she wasn't as bad as the guys backstage were saying she was.
We were face-to-face with each other as the referee stood between the both of us. She was glaring at me with those cold blue eyes. The bell ringed as we both went for each other's hair; it was the easiest part to grab. After a small struggle, she let go and I slammed her onto the ground. She recovered quickly though and ran towards me and speared me to the ground. She started to swing her arms at me as she wailed out annoyingly as the referee out-yell her to get off. So enough he started the count to five before a disqualification. She got off of me and dragged me up by my hair. She was about to strike me with her free hand but I blocked it and instead hit her. She fell back and crawled towards one of the turnbuckles. She turned her back towards me as she used the turnbuckles for support to get herself standing again. As she turned around I hit her with a clothesline, forcing her to drop down to the floor nearby. I quickly made my way onto the turnbuckle and prepared to hit a special move; a forward flip off the top rope finished off with a leg drop split over her chest. I pulled it off nicely, but it could have gone better if I didn't take so long to get my balance on the top rope. I lifted up Kelly Kelly's leg for the pin while my leg was still over her and got the win. The referee pulled me up and lifted my arm up as the victor as Kelly Kelly rolled out of the ring. I grinned for all the cameras rotating all around me and the roaring crowd. I could hear many people starting to boo me but you know what they say; You can't please everyone.
I headed to the ropes closest to the ramp to exit and I hopped down onto the soft mats below. I was halfway up the ramp when someone's music suddenly came up. The first word to the deafening music gave it away to who he was. There at the top of the ramp was Mike dressed in a dark navy blue suit and a light pink tie. He had that smug look on his face as he stared out at the crowd that was booing loudly. He raised the microphone slowly to his mouth to speak.
"How... dare you. Do you REALLY think that you're just going to get away with attacking my girlfriend and costing me my match without any consequence? You should have really thought twice about that," Mike shouted to the microphone before he dropped it down to his side and started to remove his blazer. I started to back away slowly towards the ring until he started to make his way towards me. It was in that point where I turned around and started running towards the commentary desk. I reached the desk and turned around to see Mike around the corner. Just then someone from the crowd had struck him right in the face. It was a hard blow that brought him quickly to the ground. Mike was holding his face in pain as the hooded man started to beat-down Mike. After delivering many blows before being pushed away by the referees that flooded in from backstage, the man turned around to face me. He walked towards me and it was clear that he was wearing a mask: a plastic mask, in fact. There was only one superstar who wore that.
Cody dropped his hood behind him as the crowd looked on with confusion. Some were cheering and some were jeering, but I could hear mostly cheers. He stretched out his hand waiting for me to take it. I didn't know whether I should take it or not. I looked around at the crowd at the many people who wanted me to take his hand. I looked back at Cody who had a straight face on and push his hand even closer to me.
"I'm not going to drop my hand till yours is in it," he told me.
I wasn't sure what to do but under all the pressure from the crowd and for the WWE television drama, I grabbed his hand. He smiled as he squeezed my hand tighter than ever. He let go and put an arm around me and kissed me on the forehead. I was confused. I was trying to push him away just a little bit but he kept pulling me closer to him. We both made our way towards the ramp while avoiding the area that Mike and the referees were at. Mike still had a hand covering his nose and mouth as he gave Cody the coldest stare possible. Cody waved goodbye to him as we reached the ramp. We were pretty much at the top of the ramp when I started to wonder if taking his hand was only for show or me forgiving him. Either way, as soon as we were out of sight from the crowd, we were going to have a discussion about us.
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