The Deville You Know Ch13
Paige and Sonya flew out together Friday morning with extra luggage, since they were preparing for one of the busiest weeks of their whole year: Wrestlemania week. It meant a lot of interviews, media calls, plus photo shoots and autograph signings at Axxess, the Hall of Fame, and finally, Wrestlemania itself.
They did their best to hang out together as much as they can, but with the entire roster in town, plus lots of special guests, time for the two of them was not easy.
"I'm really sorry Sonya." Paige said to her on the phone late Saturday, after they gotten back to their hotel rooms after their live show. I know we were going to get a drink, but they called me to shoot these voiceovers for video packages to run for Mania, then there was this interview. It was crazy."
"It's ok. It's not like I was alone in the hotel bar, Mandy was there, Charlotte, Becky, Nia, Dean and Seth. We wouldn't have had any time to ourselves."
"You had a good night though?" Paige asked. Sonya appreciated the thoughtfulness of the question.
"Yeah, everyones hyped up, ready for everything, and it's our first Wrestlemania so Mandy and I are really excited."
"That doesn't go away. It's what helped me fight my way back, although I forgot how much work it is too."
"Well you're in a major match, it must come with the territory right?"
"It's my biggest match ever, I know, but I still feel like I'm ghosting you."
I told you, it's ok." Sonya replied genuinely.
"Thank you for being so good about it. If I'm not needed tomorrow after our match, how about we go somewhere?"
Sonya could tell Paige was trying to make an effort for her, and she couldn't help feeling good about it. "That would be great. If we can, we will, but I won't get my hopes up in case."
Sonya didn't have to worry about interviews, being a non ppv Sunday, there wasn't a huge amount of media around at a live event, but they were scheduled second to last on the card. Neither wanting to give up on spending time together, they changed quickly as soon as they were back in the locker room and headed out.
"So what do you want to do?" Sonya asked when they were leaving the arena.
"I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Didn't really have much for lunch and was too busy planning spots with Alexa earlier to have much to eat."
"That's fine, sure we can find something." Sonya said, but it proved to be famous last words as many restaurants in the area proved to have closed for the evening.
"I think you might have cursed us." Paige said playfully.
"I thought that the moment I said it." Sonya admitted, making them laugh a little. "No wait, look!" Sonya said with possibly more excitement than a sign for a 24 hour diner should bring out in a person.
They parked up and went inside, where they were greeted by a very friendly waitress, who sat them at a booth close to the door. The place wasn't full, but it wasn't doing bad business for that time of night.
"Menu looks good, I could go for something really unhealthy. Burger, fries, onion rings, milkshake, the works." Paige said, to a disbelieving look from Sonya.
"Really? During Mania week?" She asked, certain Paige wasn't serious.
"Yeah, I guess. But after Raw next week, I'm going to order a bulk of bad food and eat myself into a food coma."
"Great example from our new champion." Sonya mused.
"Hey, don't get ahead of yourself. They haven't agreed the finish yet, and Vince could change his mind two minutes before we go out if he wanted to."
The waitress returned and both of them ordered grilled chicken sandwiches and diet cokes. They were served their food in good time, and both got to eating .
"This is nice." Sonya said, as she swallowed a bite.
"Yeah, very good. We will have to try and remember this place next time we are in town." Paige agreed.
Sonya laughed, realising what she said. "The food is good, but I just mean, you know, this."
"What?"
"You and me, just stopping off, going to dinner together."
"Oh stop, we planned to do something tonight, didn't we?" Paige said.
"Well yeah, but this didn't take much planning, but it's still kinda nice, well I think it is."
Paige rolled her eyes, but kept her smile. "Are you trying to be cute or something?"
"No, but if it helps I will, this isn't exactly where I'd have picked for a date, so if I can make it more, I'd be willing to try."
"You're such a girl out of the ring you know." Paige said, taking a drink of her soda.
"Yeah? Well so are you, Miss 'Anti Diva'." Sonya copied Paige's drinking motion, taking a big mouthful, but when she saw two women approaching their table, she nearly spat it out.
"Sonya? Oh my god!"
"Ronnie? Erin? What are you doing here?" Sonya sat there in shock.
"We come down here all the time, New Orleans is our favourite place outside of Jersey." The woman now apparently known as 'Ronnie' responded.
"Yeah, we just came from the amazing place, tried a cocktail they called a 'Hurricane'. Sooooo good." Erin chimed in, slurring her words a little.
"Yeah, we may have had a few of them, but didn't eat, that's why we came here, and clearly that was fate. We were just leaving, and here you are." Ronnie said. "Now don't I get a hug?"
"Oh, yeah, of course." Sonya got up and hugged each of the women in turn.
"Are you here for the cocktails too?" Erin asked.
"No, we're here for Wrestlemania, it's our biggest event of the year."
"Oh yeah, I heard someone talking about it, Mardi Gras for wrestling fans. Might be a good idea we are leaving tomorrow after all."
"You never were much of a fan when I decided to go into it." Sonya said. "But it's working out."
"Well good, you always did land on your feet. And speaking of which, look at this!" Ronnie said as she noticed Paige was still sitting in the booth, letting Sonya catch up with her friends. "She is an absolute stunner. I never liked that Chloe bitch you were seeing anyway. So, does this new girlfriend of yours have a name?"
"This is Paige." Sonya said, getting a shocked look from Paige, but it didn't register as Paige got up to be polite and greet Sonya's friends. Before she could say a word, Paige found herself enveloped in a huge hug.
"Paige, this is Erin, and the vice grip you're in belongs to her wife, Veronica." Sonya made the introductions as best she could.
"Oh please, call me Ronnie, all my friends do, and you're practically family at this point." The over excited, inebriated woman said loudly into Paige's ear.
"So, Sonya, where have you been hiding this hottie?" Erin asked. "She's really quite stunning, if I wasn't a married woman, you know."
"Hey!" Ronnie released Paige from her long hug. "I'm standing right here. Besides, she's Sonya's girl."
" I'm only kidding." Erin gave her wife an over the top kiss that turned a few heads their way. "I wouldn't do that to you, or them, I've got a good feeling about them. We had better be invited to the wedding Sonya."
Sonya laughed and went red, while Paige went pale, although Sonya didn't notice. "Erin stop, you're embarrassing me."
"You telling me you haven't thought about it? You two are so cute together, I can't stand it. Stand together for a photo." Erin got her phone out.
"Sonya, stop them." Paige said as quietly as she could, but her tone was dead serious.
"I don't think I can." Sonya responded, not grasping the situation. "Just humour them." Sonya put her arm around Paige and the photo was taken.
"Oh, not much of a smile Paige. Never mind, it still looks great. What's your Instagram? I'll tag you." Erin asked.
"No!" Paige shouted, getting looks from all three. She composed herself. "Sorry."
"Erin, please keep the photo between us, Ok?" Sonya said, realising why Paige didn't like the idea.
"She will, I better get her home to bed." Ronnie said, getting a smirk from her wife.
"Yeah, you should to. It was good to meet you Paige, you're got a good one here, better marry her while you can, all right?" Erin hugged Paige, but there was little reciprocation, barely enough to be polite.
"Come on you. Sonya, call me when you're next in the North East, we have to meet up properly."
"I'd like that." Sonya said, hugging Ronnie, who then put her arm around Erin and they left.
"They aren't always like that, I promise. They're a great couple." Sonya said as she sat down, but she then realised the look she was getting. "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" Paige said in disbelief. "What's wrong is you made no effort to put them right. They embarrassed me, made me feel uncomfortable, and nearly exposed me to the world. That photo could have been my new nightmare, after everything."
"Paige, calm down. She won't post it. She might have been drunk, but you can trust her. I trust her." Sonya did her best to be reassuring, but it wasn't working.
"Did you hear what she said to me? She practically had me at the altar in a giant white dress!"
"She was kidding, again, she was tanked up." Sonya said, smiling, which was unfortunately noticed.
"You find this funny? Did you not understand anything I've told you? I thought you did, but now I don't know anymore."
"Honey, you're freaking out. Take a deep breath, it's all ok."
"Don't call me honey. I don't want to be married off two minutes after I start spending time with someone."
"I get that. But I have to ask you something. What do you want?" Sonya asked, stopping Paige in her tracks.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I understand you aren't looking to marry me right now, and trust me when I say I have no intent of buying you a diamond ring anytime soon, but I'd like to think that it's not an impossibility."
"You think about marrying me? We aren't even in a relationship... officially." Paige blurted out, regretting her choice of words enough to add the extra one.
Sonya was hurt by what she heard, and something gave way inside her. "Well I want to be. Paige, I didn't get to tell you what I wanted the other night, it was frustrating, but I let it go. It's not even complicated though, I want you. I want to be there for you in anyway you need me to be. I want to be someone who you can lean on, talk to, and always count on. But the only way that can be is if you want to be there for me too. I already care about you, a lot. I truly believe that this could be something really amazing. There's a connection between us. Something that could last forever. Yes I think that way, I have nearly since I met you. I want a real relationship, a partnership, you and me. Surely you want that too, or what are we doing here?"
Paige was struck silent as Sonya poured her feelings out, finally able to do so. She struggled for something to say for a while. Sonya knew she had to wait.
"I don't know what I'm doing." Paige finally said quietly. "I haven't been much of a date for you. I've gone on and on about my problems and made more excuses. That's not right. And it's clearly not what you want. We aren't in the same place here. I think I should go." Paige stood up. Sonya hadn't expected that, and tried to grab her arm.
"No. Don't go, just talk to me, let's figure this out together." She said bluntly.
"I don't want you to be let down. You're kind and caring, but I've just been selfish. None of this has been right. I'm sorry, and I just hope you don't hate me." Paige turned and practically ran out and down the road.
Sonya stood in the diner in disbelief, trying to hold it together. After a few seconds she went into her purse, retrieved some money, putting it on the table. She then left without daring to look at how many people were staring at her. Luckily it wasn't many.
"I blew it Mand." Sonya said despondently. As soon as she arrived back at her hotel room, she texted her best friend, who was there in a flash.
Mandy passed her a tissue. "You didn't blow it. She will come around, she needs time to process it all."
"I didn't need to blurt all out. She's been through emotional hell and needed me to be understanding, and instead I went off. I gave her an ultimatum practically. No wonder she dumped me."
"Nobody got dumped." Mandy said. "You we're entitled to tell her what you are feeling, just like she did. Yes, Paige is far more complicated than you are right now. I can't pretend to know how she's feeling, with what happened, and now having feelings for another woman. Her brain must feel like it's been stuck in a spin dryer for months. But all you did was tell her what you wanted. She could have stayed and talked, but she didn't. She bailed on you."
"I should have handled it differently. Taken it slower. That's what she said she needed, and in the moment I forgot that. I got aggressive in trying to get her to be with me. I scared her away. This is all my fault Mand."
Mandy sat down on the bed next to Sonya. "Listen, you're my best friend. If you want me to tell you you screwed up, I will. If you want me to tell you she's a bitch, I'll do that. If you want me to go talk to her, then I will. But I won't let you beat yourself up over trying to do what will make you happy."
"She's not a bitch."
"I know she's not. But that doesn't mean it's your fault either." As Mandy said this, Sonya's phone bleeped on the desk near them. Mandy was nearest, when she saw the alerts, her eyes went wide. "Uh, Sonya, it's from Paige." Sonya's head snapped round.
"I don't think I can open it right now. You read it." Sonya said, her head falling back down, breathing more heavily.
"It says 'Sonya, can we talk?' Huh, she wants to talk now? She didn't before."
"Mandy, stop." Sonya chastised her friends tone. "We are still all going to have to work together after this. I'm the one she is breaking things off with, and at least we are going to be able to do it like adults, so nobody gets hurt."
"Yeah, I'm not buying that for a second. You're hurting now, how are you going to be after seeing her?"
" I don't know. But I can't avoid her, so I won't try."
"It's really late, maybe wait till tomorrow?" Mandy suggested.
"No, I just want to get it over with, like a band aid, then sleep it off, if I can sleep that is." Sonya took her phone and replied to Paige, with her room number and saying to come in ten minutes.
"Do you want me to stay?" Mandy asked.
Sonya shook her head. "No, this is going to be hard enough. I don't need witnesses."
"Ok" Mandy gave Sonya a gentle hug. "But you better text me after."
"I will. I promise. Sonya said, and Mandy returned to her own room.
Sonya spent the next several minutes pacing, waiting for that inevitable knock that was coming, yet it still startled her when it finally came. Sonya took a deep breath and opened the door to find Paige looking very nervous as well. Her eyes were red and she was breathing heavy.
"Hi." She said quietly.
"Hi." Was all Sonya could respond with, resulting in a long silence.
"Can I come in?" Paige asked. It wasn't in response to the silence, she was genuinely asking. Sonya hadn't moved to let her pass, and only now did she realise it.
"Of course." Sonya said, no longer blocking the doorway, mentally chastising herself, quickly closing the door and following Paige into the room. She sat on the bed, but Paige kept moving around, unable to get settled.
"You wanted to talk, so let's talk." Sonya said to try and force conversation, bracing herself for the worst. Paige still wasn't talking, but Sonya could tell she wasn't staying quiet on purpose. "Come on Paige, I know you want to say something, and I'm pretty sure what it is, so say it."
"I'm so sorry Sonya." Paige sighed. Sonya closed her eyes, not wanted to show how upset she was. But then she heard Paige continue talking. "I shouldn't have walked out on you. Back at the diner. That was cowardly, and I swore that wasn't going to be me anymore."
"It's ok. I mean, I wish you hadn't too, but it's ok." Sonya said.
"It isn't. But I want it to be. I'm sorry if I was rude to your friends, they were nice, but they, well, you know."
"Yeah, the drink wasn't helping them. If you meet them and they're sober, they aren't so bad."
"I hope I do." Paige said, which surprised Sonya.
"You do?"
"Yeah, but they need to not talk about marriage for a while."
"That's fine, I told you, I'm not trying to rush you down the aisle, I never was."
"I know that. But do you really think you could take things as slowly as I would need you to?"
Sonya stood up and walked over to the still quite unglued woman and took her hand. Paige made no attempt to resist and they looked at each other while hand in hand. Sonya then led her over to the bed and made her sit down. She kept the eye contact, but now used both hands to hold Paige's.
"Yes, I do. I told you at that bar, I understand how confusing this is. I wasn't able to make sense of it overnight. I'm not going to force you into anything. Not into bed, not to go on tv and come out like I did, and not to start picking your wedding dress." This got a small laugh from Paige. "All I need is to know, is you want to be with me as much as I want to be with you. I just want a girlfriend."
Paige closed her eyes for a second. She took a breath and looked back at Sonya with a shy smile. She nodded. "If you want me, you got me." She said, barely above a whisper.
"Really?" Sonya said, holding back her emotion as best she could.
Paige nodded again. "When I was back in my room, I figured we weren't going to be going out again. When I thought that, it hurt, more than nearly anything else that's happened. I started to hate myself, it made me do a lot of thinking and it all became clear to me. I realised I had to come and talk to you. Find out if you meant all you'd said. You're willing to do so much for me, you clearly care about me, and, although I still don't understand all of it, I really care about you."
Sonya felt a weight lifting off her. "I do care about you. I have since we met, and it's only growing with everything we are going through.
"I think I did too. I hate it took all these months for me to accept this truth about who I am. That was the scariest part. That barman was the last straw. I have no interest in men anymore."
Sonya was surprised to hear that admission. "So you're saying you're..."
"I guess I'm into girls, all I know for sure is I'm into you." Paige said, making Sonya blush. "I was attracted to you right away. Can't think why else i was so quick to kiss you to get those guys off your case. But when we shared that dance on our date, that's when I really fell for you."
Sonya was ready to explode with happiness. "That was special to me too. I wanted to kiss you so bad."
"I wish I had. I got nervous with all those people around. I still am. It's why I'm not ready to come out to people yet. I need time."
"Take as long as you need. Telling people you're a lesbian is the hardest thing you'll ever do. We need to make sure they hear it from you, so I'll keep this secret as long as you want to, help you tell people when you're ready." Sonya stopped and bit her lip as Paige continued to look into her eyes. "You know, there's no one else here right now..."
Sonya shuffled over a little and leaned towards Paige, who did the same and their lips met in a gentle kiss that lasted a couple of seconds. When they parted, they looked at each other, each with a big grin. Sonya put her hand around her new girlfriends head and stroked her cheek with her thumb. She then moved in and kissed her once more. This time she tried to deepen this kiss, running her tongue over Paige's lips. A scare went through her, that it might have been forward, but she felt Paige open her mouth and reciprocate the move. The two moved into a passionate kiss that went on for much longer than the first. When it ended, Paige suddenly threw her arms around Sonya and locked her in vice like hug. Sonya knew this was her way of letting her emotions out and held her just as tightly.
Eventually Paige let go, but lent her head on Sonya's shoulder. Sonya swung her legs onto the bed and helped Paige stay in that position while she joined her on the bed as well. They got more comfortable and got more wrapped up in each other's arms, neither saying anything for a long time.
Eventually Sonya caught a glimpse of her phone. "It's midnight. Do you want to stay here tonight?" She asked quietly.
Paige immediately let go and rolled off the bed. "Sonya, no. I told you I'm still trying to get my head round this, and I'm not going to rush into sex again."
"Whoa whoa whoa." Sonya cut Paige off, holding her hands up. "I wasn't trying to have sex with you. I promised you that I wasn't rushing you into anything. That happens when we're both ready."
"So, you just want me to sleep over?" Paige asked, hoping.
"Yeah. We've gotten through so many things that could have stopped us being together, and I'm not ready to be apart from you yet. I just want to hold you tonight, no funny business."
Paige got back on the bed and kissed Sonya once more, getting both Sonya's hands on the sides of her face when she did. "I'd like that too." She said when she broke the kiss.
Sonya grinned and pulled her back down so they were lying together again.
"And you're really ok not going further?" Paige asked.
"I told you, yes." Sonya said. "You have to stop worrying. We're going to be ok. No matter what, I'm here for you. It's you and me now right?"
Paige nodded, her smile getting bigger while her face got redder. She didn't know what to say so she looked down, making her hair fall in front of her.
She brushed the hair off her face tenderly. "You've got nothing to worry about with me Paige. I want us to be happy. I care about you so much, and I will never make you regret taking this chance."
Paige's face changed and Sonya could see her words had meant something. She was receiving a look of real emotion, and a smile that was making her melt. Paige leaned in for another kiss, and they made out for a while.
"I'm glad you enjoy kissing as much as me, but maybe we should sleep." Sonya said with reluctance.
"Oh hell, I don't have anything to sleep in. I should grab something from my room." Paige realised.
"No, don't go anywhere." Sonya pouted.
"I'm never going to sleep in skinny jeans, and I'm not just wearing my underwear." Paige said with a raised eyebrow, but a joking tone.
Sonya opened her case and rummaged in it. "How about this?" She said, tossing a long baggy t-shirt over to Paige, who held it up against her.
"Yeah, I can work with this." Paige said, although she still wasn't sure, but didn't want to give any more resistance to Sonya on an important night for them both. She stepped into the bathroom for a moment to change. Sonya took the time to change into a vest top and shorts to sleep in, thinking Paige might have been embarrassed if either of them got undressed in front of the other. She pulled the covers away and got into bed.
Paige emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, she'd fixed her hair as best possible and was dressed in the T-shirt, which covered her up as she wanted it to. Sonya didn't care about that, and was doing her best not to stare at her legs, or any part of her for that matter. She still looked sexy, even if there wasn't going to be any attempt by Sonya to act on that.
"Do I look all right?" Paige asked, feeling a little insecure and exposed.
Sonya sensed that from her stance, and was happy to be able to answer honestly. "You're beautiful. T-shirt, jeans, whatever. Now come here." She said, patting the other side of the bed. Paige did just that and laid down on her side, laying facing Sonya, who then laid down on her back, pulling the covers over them both.
Sonya switched off the light by the bed and laid back again. She felt on top of the world. When Paige slid over, put her head on Sonya's shoulder and an arm over her, holding her close, she felt even better. She put an arm around Paige and pulled her into her body.
"What a day huh? Start of a big week, especially for you. Big match Sunday, and you've got your first girlfriend. You feeling ok?" Sonya asked, aiming for small talk. She looked over and could just make out in the darkness that Paige was staring at her. Paige lent up and placed a tender kiss on Sonya's cheek. That said more than words could have done.
A.N.: Quite an evening for our girls. Paige needed the fear of losing Sonya after all of this to finally give her the courage she needed to be honest with herself.
Thank you for reading. And thank you to those who left reviews on the last chapter. They really spurred me on with this, and brought it to the fifty review marker, which means so much to me.
We will pick things up the next morning. See how they feel after the night before, and look to the week ahead. Also Sonya forgot to do something, and will have to deal with a slightly upset friend! I hope to see you then.