The gated three-story contemporary mansion standing in Charlotte, North Carolina looked exactly like the kind of home an aging millionaire would take residence in with his fourth wife. But still, the sheer presence of such a visually stunning home made Becky's jaw drop. The outside was painted a shade of white that screamed "I'm important, look at me!" Not to mention the six or seven sports cars in the circular driveway, the neatly-trimmed hedges, and manicured lawn showed that whoever lived here was made, perhaps literally, from money.
"Holy shite..." Becky muttered, staring slack-jawed at the towering home.
"I know," Charlotte said with an eye roll. "It's over the top, but that's Ric. He had more cars but he had to sell a few of them to pay off his legal team."
Becky picked her chin back up from the floor. "Is yer dad made of gold?"
Charlotte chuckled. "Ric likes to think so. Come on. I'll show you around."
Returning to her childhood home felt a little bittersweet to Charlotte. She hadn't visited since before she initially left North Carolina to attend college in Stamford. During the holidays, she visited her mom since Ric was usually too busy with work to host. Charlotte didn't mind not going back after deciding that keeping her distance from the "Flair Palace" was probably the best thing she could do for her own sanity.
Instead of knocking, Charlotte pushed against the solid wood front door into the foyer. Instead of a butler, as Becky expected, Charlotte took her jacket and hung it up in the front closet.
"What do you think so far?" Charlotte asked, standing underneath a crystal chandelier.
Becky looked around the front room. It was anything like she'd seen before, and the BPO house was already one of the biggest on campus. The glistening chandelier dangling over her girlfriend's head just added to the grand impression the house had made on the redhead.
"It's..."
"A lot. I know," Charlotte sighed, looking back and forth between the room to her left and right. "I think Nora might be making lunch."
No more than a moment she said that, Nora made her appearance from the room to Charlotte's right. Wearing an apron over her clothes, the black-haired older woman bore a bright smile as she lightly embraced her stepdaughter.
"Oh, it's always good to see you, honey," Nora told Charlotte, softly holding her chin in her hands. "Your father is just so excited to see you."
"Is that my daughter?" Ric called out with a laugh, shuffling across the polished floor into the front foyer. "Aha! I missed ya, kid."
"I missed you too, dad," Charlotte embraced her father, wrapping her arms around his shoulders like it was the first time she'd seen him in years. With the year they'd both been having, it may have well been a decade.
The open affection shared between father and daughter sent a beam of joy to Becky's heart. Watching Charlotte fall apart over the course of several months because of the trial was more than Becky could stand, but seeing the two reunite after the long year they had was showing that circumstances were better and things were looking up for both of them.
Charlotte noticed her girlfriend patiently standing to the side and cleared her throat. "Uh, dad, you remember Becky, right?"
Ric turned his focus to the grinning redhead. "Oh, yes! I've heard so much about you! You've been such a great friend to my little girl!"
Becky accepted Ric's hug with a skeptical look over Ric's shoulder aimed at her girlfriend. Charlotte furrowed her brow but didn't let her smile dim.
"Are you good friends with Roman?" Ric asked Becky, keeping an arm around her. "I'm disappointed he couldn't come. But I am glad my daughter found such a great boyfriend."
"Erm, wha-"
"Ric, why don't you go into the living room while I get the girls settled?" Nora said, leading Ric away from the two girls.
Charlotte and Becky shared a worried look. "What the hell?" Becky whispered, but Charlotte shrugged since she didn't know what Ric was doing either.
Nora hurried back into the front foyer. "Ok, sorry about that! You know how Ric gets if he's tired."
Charlotte slowly shook her head. "Uh, no. I've never seen Ric forget stuff like that. He knows Becky and I are together now."
Nora smiled softly. "Right. I'll explain it more after you two get settled. I promise. Charlotte, your room is exactly how you left it. Becky, I arranged the guest room for you at the end of the hall."
Charlotte cut in. "No, I think Becky can stay with me while we're here."
Nora sighed heavily. She checked over her shoulder for Ric, then turned back to the conversation when she saw he wasn't within earshot. "Ric is very... he's in a stressful state of mind right now. I don't think it's in his best interest to... I think it isn't wise to practice your, um, lifestyle in front of him at risk of confusing him."
"My what?" Becky shot back.
"As I said, I will explain more after you get settled," Nora put on a smile once again. "I'll speak to both of you again soon. Please, make yourself at home. Lunch will be ready soon."
Charlotte blinked rapidly, her head spinning fast from the whirlwind of information that just been dumped on her. Becky wasn't sure which was worse: Ric's odd behavior or the fact that her and Charlotte's relationship wasn't welcome in the Flair household.
By this point, it felt like Zack and Bayley had been to the OB/GYN more times than they'd been to class this year. The young married couple was nearing their due date. Michael and Minerva's scheduled appearance was December twelfth, but Bayley wondered if her babies might arrive as early as next week if her mom's prediction was right.
While Bayley was bouncing in her seat reading a parenting book, Zack was still pondering the idea of becoming a dad. He still had so much left to do with school but two people were about to join the world that he and his loving wife created. Juggling school and football was hard enough, along with keeping his relationship healthy, but now he was going to be a dad. It made Zack's head spin whenever he tried to think about where he'd be now without the woman sitting next to him.
Bayley softly hummed to herself, carefully reading each paragraph with close precision.
Zack smiled to himself. Tomorrow was their last Thanksgiving without kids. They invited over their friends who were stuck at SU because of the football game on Saturday. The number of people coming to their house didn't really worry him; Zack's biggest fear was trying to remember if he took the turkey out of the freezer to let thaw so it wasn't frozen tomorrow morning when he needed to cook it.
"Hey, babe?" Zack asked, taking his wife's attention from her book. "Who's all coming tomorrow?"
Bayley scrunched her face, thinking the list of names over in her head. "Um... Alexa is bringing mashed potatoes. She's bringing Nikki with her. Roman, I think is bringing a dessert. Sasha is bringing a pie. Braun and Sarah are bringing a casserole. Uh, I think Asuka said she was coming over. I think that's what she told me. It was a lot of loud yelling. And then Toni and Seth are bringing a veggie platter! That's it. Oh! Dana said she might stop by before going to her dad's."
Seth...
"Fuck," Zack thought. He really didn't want to have to interact with Seth tomorrow, or any day more than he had to. Seeing him during practice was enough, but he didn't want to be rude to Toni and tell them they were uninvited.
Ever since Bayley admitted in the leaked video that she kissed Seth, Zack was trying to piece together just when and where that happened. Bayley said Zack was her first kiss, so it couldn't have been before they got together. But they'd been inseparable since their first date, which means Bayley kissed Seth while they were together. Zack hated to think it, but did his wife cheat on him with Seth at some point? Bayley was the farthest thing from the type of girl who would be unfaithful to her boyfriend, but Zack wouldn't put it past Seth given his reputation.
Still, it bothered Zack whenever his teammate came up in conversation. He kept it in and didn't let it show to Bayley, but he figured it was going to need to be discussed at some point. It wasn't a big enough deal to end his marriage with Bayley... unless there was more to it than a kiss.
Zack shook his head. He was Bayley's first in everything. There was no way she did more than kiss Seth. But knowing that she did, Zack had the sudden urge to gargle turpentine until his teeth fell off.
A nurse walked into the waiting room. "Bayley?"
The very pregnant young woman pulled herself to her feet with her husband's aid. Bayley was giddy with excitement, as was her husband but Zack just hoped hearing his son and daughter's heartbeats would pull him out of his mental funk.
Greek Row may have lost some of its life force, but Roadies was as alive as ever. Most of the students staying back during Thanksgiving break didn't have much else to do with the four-day weekend other than drink until it was time to go back to class.
For the SU Titans, it was another day taking over the bar during game week. The atmosphere lay thick with anticipation for that Saturday's game with the added pressure of it being "make or break": if the Titans didn't win in Hawaii, they weren't going to the national championship playoffs. They could still qualify for a bowl game, but Tostitos or the Rose Bowl wasn't as sweet as winning two national titles in a row.
Far from worried about Saturday, Roman Reigns threw back a shot of something that burned his throat as it trickled down into his stomach. Seth was right, as much as Roman hated to admit it, he really needed a few shots and a couple of beers to help him forget about the total bullshit lie that was his relationship with... the hell was her name again?
"Tandy? Terry?" Roman muttered to himself, picturing his ex in his mind vividly but the swarm of booze coating his brain chased her name from his mind.
Around their teammates, Seth and Toni acted as if they weren't a few months into a relationship. They drank, talked shit, and joked with everyone as teammates should. But what no one saw was the subtle looks and light grazes the young couple shared to show affection while trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.
"I'm getting Graves a fucking national title," Cutler told his brothers as they surrounded a high table. "Do or die, man. I gotta get this one for him. He coulda started that Cole pussy over me and he didn't. I owe him that much."
Adam, who was probably the soberest of the bunch, stepped back from the huddle in favor of his own group of friends. Seth caught a side glance from him when he reached for the beer pitcher and whispered something salacious to Toni, which motivated Seth to shake the haze from his eyes and act more professional in the presence of the teammates he wasn't currently sleeping with.
Sasha wasn't downing shots like her friends on the football team. She would've been off doing her own thing with the volleyball players, but most of them were out of town visiting family. Instead, she was nursing a Jack and Coke while making small talk with Roman when he wasn't trying to drown his demons in hard liquor.
"Poor guy," Sasha thought to herself when Roman threw back another shot but laughed on the surface like she was in full support of him.
Braun, Tucker, and Luke Gallows stood on either side of Roman. A lot of the BPO members were there as well. Since BPO was shut down and surely under close surveillance, drinking in the house wasn't the best idea. But Roadies would always be there when they needed it.
Then there was Alexa, Nikki, and about a dozen ZBZ sisters trying to find enough comfort to enjoy a night out without thinking they will be busted by the dean of students. Alexa answered as many questions as she had answers for. It was the least she could do as the president of a sorority that wasn't allowed to host parties or hold special events like it used to.
"What are we supposed to do?" Pledge Gigi Dolin asked Alexa, standing in a group of girls with the same matching confused expression on their faces.
Alexa sighed. "I really don't know. We can't have a party and we can't host any events. I asked about setting up in the quad, but Ms. McMahon threatened to suspend ZBZ. So I don't think we're even allowed to have a lemonade stand right now."
"But you have a plan, right?" Pledge Raquel Gonzalez asked.
Alexa stared blankly at the towering woman, trying to think of something motivating or uplifting to keep everyone's spirits up. "I do. I think the best thing we can do is keep hanging around the house and keep coming to meetings. We can't do anything big just yet, but we can still be a sisterhood. Nobody from Student Affairs is going to stop you from being a part of ZBZ. I promise."
That seemed to do the trick. The gathering of young women seemed to relax a little with a collective sigh of relief. Alexa sipped anxiously from her cup of beer and spun on her stool to face into the bar again.
Nikki, who'd been watching on silently the whole time, offered her friend a light back rub. "Yer doin' great, 'Lexa. They believe in you as a leader. We all do."
Alexa nodded, fiddling with the ring on her left hand. "I know, hon. It's just... heh, very freaking frustrating."
"You'll think of somethin'," Nikki assured with a smile. "You always do. Yer Alexa freakin' Bliss!"
Alexa smiled at the compliment but her mind was firing off in all directions at once. Sometimes she regretted taking the reigns from Trish at the beginning of the year, but she also never dreamed of giving up ZBZ in a million years. Maybe Nikki was right - maybe Alexa's big breakthrough was right around the corner.
But, for now, she had a pitcher of beer to finish off before anything else spun out of control.
Wearing a track into her carpet probably wasn't the best idea to deal with the problem at hand, but Charlotte didn't know how to process what was going on at the moment: Ric was being weird, and not in his normal Ric way, and Nora was being rather stiff about her relationship with Becky.
Charlotte paced back and forth in her childhood bedroom, biting at her thumbnail as she tried to process her day since arriving at her dad's. Becky sat at the foot of Charlotte's bed, her head resting in the palms of her hands.
"Ok, ok, ok," Charlotte thought out loud. "Maybe they're just fucking with us? Ric was perfectly ok with us dating when I told him after the trial. Nora's never been... I don't think she's been homophobic before? I don't really know."
Becky looked up at her girlfriend. "I love you."
Charlotte stopped her march. Her heart melted seeing those soft baby browns staring up at her. She smiled softly, then leaned into her lover for a quick kiss.
"I love you too," Charlotte promised, adding a kiss between Becky's eyes. "That's not changing. Worst case scenario, we book a room at Motel Six for the weekend and take off after dinner tomorrow."
Becky managed a chuckle, but her lips stayed in a tight frown. "Yer sure Ric knows we're together?"
Charlotte nodded. "Yes, I'm certain. You were in the room with me when I was telling him."
Becky didn't know what to say. Ric suddenly forgetting Charlotte had broken up with Roman was beyond strange, but she couldn't figure out why he would do that.
"Maybe he forgot?"
Charlotte sighed. "That's a pretty big thing to forget, Bex."
Becky stood. "I'm just sayin', love. I don' want t'is weekend to be stressful."
Charlotte chuckled dryly, leaning into Becky with her strong arms pulling the blonde into a tight embrace. "It already is, Bex... but you make it better. Thank you for being here."
Becky placed a few light kisses on Charlotte's cheek. Charlotte sighed through her nose, trying not to let the tickling sensation make her laugh. Becky noticed her girlfriend's smile and kissed her lips.
"We'll be alright," Becky assured with a soft grin.
A sudden sharp "ahem" came from the doorway, making Charlotte take a step back and break the embrace. Nora, a tight-lipped frown on her face, made her way into the room.
"Lunch is ready," Nora informed, keeping her eyes soft but her facial expression told the opposite.
Charlotte crossed her arms against her chest. "What's going on with Ric?" she demanded. The sight of her stepmother was starting to get under Charlotte's skin more than it usually would.
Nora looked between both girls, then sighed. "Your father... is showing early stages of dementia. I didn't want to tell you this soon, but I thought he was doing better. We went and saw a specialist last week and it appeared that he'd been improving. But he isn't. He forgets a lot of new information, but he can tell me all about his kids and how proud he is of Stamford's football team."
Charlotte sat on her bed, letting her shoulders drop and her head hang. She knew this day was coming but didn't think it was going to be so soon. Clifford, Ric's father, also had dementia and Alzheimers when Ric was in his twenties. Charlotte had anticipated this for a long time, but living her life made her forget in a somewhat comedically ironic way.
"Is he ok?" Becky asked.
Nora nodded. "He spends most of his free time watching college football. Whenever the paparazzi leave us alone, we go for walks and he talks about his kids and can recall some things, but..."
Becky looked at Charlotte for her take, but she was still trying to process everything.
"Then why aren't Charlotte an' I allowed ta share a room?" Becky asked.
Nora sighed. "I don't think it's in Ric's best interest to confuse him. I know you already told him about your, um, relationship but he thinks Roman is coming over soon."
Becky, reading into Nora's pauses and emphasis on certain words like a first-grade children's book, stepped back and swallowed a scream for the sake of Charlotte.
"Right..." Becky muttered.
Nora continued. "I'm not upset with either of you. It's perfectly normal for some women to experiment-"
"Excuse you!"
Charlotte finally took a stand, stepping between Becky and her stepmother. "Please! Please? Not right now, ok? We don't need to argue about this right now."
Becky, jaw clenched and her fingernails digging into her palms, threw Nora a dirty look as she turned away.
Charlotte looked at her step-mom. "Can you give us a minute, please? We'll be right down."
Nora nodded. "Of course. Please keep the door open when you two are in the same room."
Becky threw her hands in the air. Nora left the room without another word to further upset either girl.
Charlotte slid her fingers through Becky's. "Babe? Bex..."
Becky cleared her throat but didn't say anything.
"Are you crying?" Charlotte asked.
Becky wiped away a few tears from her reddening eyes. "Nah. I don' cry."
"Baby..."
"It's fine, Char," Becky tutted her tongue. "I wanted them ta like me so bad this weekend, an' yer step-mom is judgin' me before she even knows me."
Charlotte leaned her forehead against Becky's. "Who's opinion do you think I care about more? Yours or Nora's?"
Becky shrugged. "Dunno. It is 'er house."
Charlotte thumbed a few tears from Becky's cheeks. "Well, she doesn't know me like you do. You're the one who knows how to make me laugh when I feel like shit and you know what makes me feel good. I don't just mean Mr. Pokey either."
"Charlotte Flair!" Becky exclaimed, baiting a giggle from the taller of the two.
Charlotte continued. "You know I'm right. You're mine, Bex. You're me forever."
"Oh, am I?" Becky tried to play off the comment like it wasn't making her heart thud against her chest a million miles an hour.
Charlotte chuckled. "Maybe. You put up with my bullshit a lot better than most people can."
"Yer step-mom's too."
Charlotte looked at the door. "I don't care what she has to say. You're sleeping with me tonight, ok? If that's a problem..."
"Motel Six and Netflix," Becky quipped with a sigh.
Charlotte pecked Becky on the tip of her nose, then brought her in for a tightly-knit hug. Sick dad and out-of-touch step-mom weren't going to cause a rift between Charlotte and the one person she loved more than anything else.
Roman's investment in Roadies' liquor supply should've gotten him a partnership with Road Dogg by now. The young man, putting away shot after shot, mindlessly added to his tab with each swig of beer and pull of burning booze. Still, each hit was chasing away the memory of the bullshit that was his brief relationship with Tessa.
Being the person he was felt more like a curse than an admirable personality trait. Roman fell in love easily and fast, most likely thanks to his insecurity growing up and not having much attention from girls until high school. That, on top of Sika raising him to treat all women with respect, made Roman the perfect guy for a relationship. Evidently, also the easiest to manipulate.
To his friends, it just looked like Roman was letting loose after his rough Halloween. He'd been hitting the gym hard and barely spoke to anyone since that night, so it really seemed like he was back to his old ways of drinking and hanging out with the team.
"Everything's just fucking bullshit, man," Roman commented, slurring his words as he knocked back another shot and a few beers. "Like, I get women are a fuckin' mystery, but why lead me on like that, ya know? Why tell me the things she did if all she wanted to do was fuck with Charlotte? You get what I mean, right?"
The bartender, whom Roman was speaking to, stared blankly at the drunken Samoan. "Uh, no bro, I don't. How about I get you a few waters until you settle down?"
Roman rolled his eyes but nodded. The bartender took the empty beer pitcher and filled it with ice water. Reigns greedily drank straight from the pitcher, swallowing down several sips of cool water until his stomach settled after his unbelievable intake of alcohol.
Gallows slapped a hand over Roman's shoulder. "The girls sent me over to check on you. You gonna live?"
Roman nodded. "I am. Bitches from Carolina ain't shit."
"Dude, you need to get laid, BAD," Gallows looked around the room. "I'll point you in the direction if I see someone, but you gotta let Tessa go. I get she was a bitch, but it's not like she mattered that much. Right? You know I'm right, good buddy."
Roman nodded again, considering Gallows' opinion. "Yeah, you're right. But I don't do hookups."
"You are tonight," Gallows cackled. "Seriously. I ain't leavin' you alone until you leave with someone."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Luke Harper stood opposite of Gallows next to Roman. "Get out there. That's an order."
Roman furrowed his brow. "You don't run BPO," he told Harper.
"I know. But Gallows and I will kick your ass if you don't."
Roman chuckled once, giving off the impression that he was going to do as told and making the two older men leave him to himself again.
Across the room, Sasha Banks had finished dancing with a few of her ZBZ sisters to some hit pop song. She took a moment to quench her thirst with a sip of beer, her eyes scanning the room.
Beyond her ZBZ sisters and the drunken chatter of the football team was Roman Reigns, still sitting at the bar drinking water straight from the pitcher. Sasha frowned, feeling bad for her friend and his abrupt breakup with Tessa. She felt bad for Roman having to deal with liking someone so much then having his heart broken, but she felt worse for not giving Tessa another slap upside her head for playing Roman.
"He's a sweet guy that didn't deserve that shit," Sasha thought to herself, taking another drink of beer.
Roman signaled over the bartender. He placed in a food order, hoping the greasy fryer oil would help with his hangover in the morning.
Sasha filled her drinking cup with more beer, then made her way to the bar. Just because her friend was heartbroken, didn't mean he deserved to drink alone.