Chapter Twenty Three
The next morning Roya was sticking to her guns so she enlisted Joe and Olivia to help her out in the gym. Just as she was finishing getting ready, Joshua walked into the living room to see her tying her sneakers.
"I still don't understand why you just didn't ask us to workout with you." he asked
"Because I "workout" with both of you enough and besides knowing you two the minute that we start working out you would start getting frisky." Roya laughed
"No lies detected." Jonathan commented as he walked into living room, "You most definitely should not bend over in front of me while wearing leggings."
"Pervert." Roya smirked
"Not even going to attempt to deny it." Jonathan stated
"Well I'm off and will be back later." she said as she kissed them bye
"We'll be waiting." Joshua said as they watched her leave.
Olivia and Joe were practicing in the ring when Roya arrived at the gym. She smiled as she watched Olivia knock Joe down to the mat. There was something so awesome about watching them wrestle. Olivia was a powerhouse; she was tall, strong and very aggressive.
"Well damn OG," Joe laughed as he slowly stood back up, "That's was great shoulder charge. Keep your shoulder tight just like that."
"I owe it to years of knocking bitches down." Olivia laughed, "What's up Ro?"
"Hey sweetie." Joe greeted, "You trying to get in on this?"
"Hell yeah! This girl has got some serious moves. Come on Roya." Olivia smiled
"Oh I know she does. When we were younger she put me in headlock a few times." Joe commented
"Fun times." Roya laughed
"Come on it would be a great way to exercise." Olivia said
"Well might as well make working out fun." Roya said
"Yes!" Olivia went over to grab some elbow and knee pads for her. Once Roya was geared up, she slid under the ropes and stood face to face with Joe.
"You're going down Reigns." Roya teased
"Oh shit, trash talking already?" Joe smirked
"Damn right." Roya stated
"Let's get it on!" Olivia said as she deemed herself the referee of the match. Things started really easy with them playing around for the most part, then Joe started showing Roya how to land on the mat properly. Olivia was once again impressed with Roya. You could tell if she took it seriously and trained that she would probably be a great wrestler. That was when an idea come to her. Roya was good at wrestling and she could tell that she enjoyed it. As Joe was picking her up for a sidewalk slam, he held her in place and talked her through everything. She caught on very quickly and was eager to get up and do it again.
"Good job Ro," Joe commented, "I forgot how good you were at this."
"Well I mean I have been training with you guys since I was a kid. It's all muscle memory. Can you show me how to do an armbar properly?" she asked
"Look at you. Yeah I can show you hun." he replied. They continued practicing for a few hours until Roya pretended to be Joe and howled right before she speared him. Olivia laughed as Joe sold her spear and pretended to be hurt. Roya quickly rolled him up for the three count and Olivia slid into place. After she counted, Roya jumped up and did a victory lap around the ring.
"Don't get cocky. We both know your 5 foot nothing self could never really spear me." Joe laughed
"Don't hate, congratulate." Roya teased as he stood up from the mat and laughed
"Well ladies it was great practicing with both of you but I need to meet up with Colby and Nick." Joe said. Olivia gave him a first bump and Roya reached up to hug him.
"You guys don't get into trouble." Roya stated
"Yes ma'am." Joe said
"Bye Joe." the two of them watched as he hopped out the ring.
"You done?" Olivia asked
"I'm actually really feeling this. Mind if we practice? This is really helping me clear my head. My body is probably going to regret it later though." Roya stated
"Sure. You never have to question if I want to wrestle." Olivia smiled as they continued where Joe left off. Olivia showed Roya various lock up moves and coached her on how to take a shoulder block. As time went by they decided to stop and take break. The two sat on the apron as they drank some water.
"I forgot how much I enjoyed this. Without being around the twins and Joe all the time I don't get to mess around like this." Roya said
"Well for someone who is just messing around, you're doing pretty damn good for yourself. Not most people can learn and correctly do some of the moves you know already." Olivia stated
"I'm okay. Definitely won't be picking anyone up for a back breaker anytime soon." Roya laughed
"I'm serious. You know me enough to know I don't bullshit. Especially when it comes to wrestling. If I thought you sucked I wouldn't feel comfortable doing some of those moves with you. There are wrestlers right now in NXT that I can honestly say I trust wrestling with you more than I do them. You have a natural talent. If you were to really train for this, you could be amazing." Olivia said
"Thanks O," Roya smiled, "You really love wrestling."
"I have my mind set on making women's wrestling be taken be seriously. I want to main event Raw, have a wrestlemania moment, be the second ever female intercontinental champion, put all my male competition on notice. Destroy gender barriers and prove we are worth it. We work just as hard as any male wrestler so why can't we be on that level?"
"You will. I know you well enough to know you are a one woman wrecking machine. You will break every barrier." Roya commented
"Growing up I made a lot of stupid decisions and didn't have a manual to unfuck my life. My family was big on wrestling, it was pretty much the only thing we did as a family. Without role models at home I looked to the people I watched on the tv screen. At first I felt like I had to be this pretty blonde with great tits but then I saw Chyna. A massive dark haired wrestler who made me feel like it was okay I was bigger than the other girls, it was okay I could beat up the boys, it was okay I wanted more than just to be acknowledged for my looks. She stepped out of the box, said fuck your norms I am going to enter into your all boys club and fuck it up. So one day I just said I am GOING to do this." Olivia said
"I love your passion about wrestling. Hell your passion about life in general." Roya stated. She really wished that she could be like Olivia. Free and passionate about what she loved.
"It took me awhile to get to this point, I was lost for a while. Went down many bad roads but here I am now. And that's why I can say I see it in you. In some ways you remind me of myself. You're determined and amazing you just haven't realized it yet. For all we know we could be the first ever WWE Women's tag team champions. You just have to dream big." Olivia smiled
"You're right." Roya sighed
"Maybe you should think about wrestling. I know it's an out there thought but what else have you got going on for you right now? The happiness I see from you in that ring is the same happiness I see when you look at Josh or Jon. So I know deep down a part of you may really want this." Olivia stated.
"Truth is when we were kids, I wanted to be a wrestler with Joe and the twins. I was always watching wrestling with them and messing around as they trained. I'm one hundred percent sure Rikishi was always annoyed with me, I asked him so many questions and bugged him about wrestling. Since I didn't have a dad, I just kind of looked at him as a father. He always included me in everything he did with the twins. It got to a point my mom and him would butt heads because she was scared I would get hurt. Funny thing is Jon used to come home with more bruises than me. His clumsy ass." Roya said
"I take it that your mom is the reason you never took wrestling more seriously?" Olivia asked
"...Yeah; the idea of me being a wrestler drove her nuts, all she had to do was say "no daughter of mine is going to be body slammed in a ring for a career," and then my training days were over. But sometimes I wonder what if? What if I continued training? How far could I make it?" Roya replied
"Well stop wondering. If you really want to do this, I can help. You're in the perfect place to learn at the performance center here. Think about it Ro. I mean I could always use a tag team partner." Olivia smiled
"...I'll think about it." Roya said
"Good. Now I think we should call it a day. If you want I will be in the gym again tomorrow morning." Olivia commented
"That works for me." Roya said as they packed up their stuff and left the gym.
When Roya reached back to the house she found the twins on FaceTime with someone.
"Aye welcome home. He was just asking about you." Jonathan greeted as she walked into the kitchen. He was about to kiss her but caught himself.
"Is that my Teineitiiti?" Roya smiled as she heard Rikishi's voice, he was the only person that called her that. From since she was a baby she was his "little girl" and even as a grown woman he still called her that.
"Yes it's your little girl," she replied as she walked over to face the phone, "Hey Kishi."
"You are to this day the only one who can call me that." he laughed, "But look at you. You look good; you look happy most importantly."
"I am. I just came from practicing in the ring with Joe and my friend Olivia. We were practicing for hours" Roya said
"That's awesome! Don't worry I won't tell your mom." Rikishi teased
"Well I might have to tell her myself. After talking with Olivia I think I might want to train,... for real this time." Roya explained
"Seriously?" Joshua asked
"Yeah. I didn't realize how much I missed being in the ring and the decision to not take it seriously was my mom not me. If I had it my way I probably would have done it years ago." she replied
"Look hun, I always believed you would make a great wrestler if you put your mind to it. Look what you can do without even focusing on it. Imagine what you could do if you took it seriously. I know your mom is a worrier; she's been that way since we were kids and with everything that happened to her I understand why she is protective of you. But she can't rule your life for you. So I'm one hundred percent behind you if this is what you want to do." Rikishi stated
"Thanks Kishi." Roya smiled
"And you know we will help you." Jonathan stated
"Yessir." Joshua added
"I love seeing the three of you like this. I honestly always wished one of these knuckleheads would have officially made you my daughter but no matter what I love you like my daughter Roya." Roya felt her heart skip.
"I love you too Kishi." she said
"Trust me we're not knuckleheads dad." Joshua said
"That's not how I see it. Good woman like Roya and neither of your are smart enough to be with her. Instead you bring home women like Jennifer, Vicki, Nicole, Lola..." Rikishi started
"Can we not bring up my mistakes every time there is a discussion about women? Damn! Can't let nothing go." Jonathan interrupted as they all laughed
"I call it how it is. Maybe one day one of you will wise up," Rikishi said as they all exchanged looks with each other, "But I have some things I need to finish. Catch up with you all later. Oute alofa ia oe (love you)."
"Oute alofa fo'i ia oe (love you too)." the three of them replied as he hung up
"So you're really considering training?" Jonathan asked
"Yeah. It's not set in stone but I enjoyed practicing so much today. Hours went by and I loved every moment of it. It was like freedom. I was in control of myself. Tomorrow morning I am going to practice with Olivia again. I'm definitely going to be thinking about it these next few days." Roya replied
"I say go for it. And like I said we would back you one hundred percent." Jonathan said. They noticed that Joshua was lost in his thoughts.
"You okay Josh?" Roya asked
"...You think we would ever be able to tell any of them that we are in a relationship?" Joshua asked as the question was the dark cloud hovering over all their heads. Not many people knew they were in a relationship and they knew that their parents would never understand. It was taboo and her mom would kill her.
"Dad would kill us. Like he would legit bury both of us in the ring." Jonathan said
"My mom would destroy me. Like on some worldstar moment shit." Roya sighed
"It felt weird keeping secrets from him." Joshua said
"I don't like lying to Kishi and if he ever had a face to face with me I wouldn't be able to lie to him. But I know he would freak." Roya commented
"All the more reason we don't tell them a damn thing about it. At least not right now. I don't intend on keeping this from them forever but right now is not the time." Jonathan stated
"Agreed." Roya said, "I'm going to take a shower."
"When you get out dinner will be ready." Joshua said
"You cooked dinner?" Roya asked surprised
"Jon cook dinner." Joshua replied. Roya's eyes nearly popped out of her head
"How?" she asked as she looked at him
"Don't try to downplay my cooking skills. I can cook I just don't want to. Big difference. Besides you cook better than us so why have a Chef Boyardee meal when you can eat streak." Jonathan replied
"Aww you made dinner." Roya smiled as she walked over and kissed him.
"Your smart ass got jokes. I shouldn't feed you." Jonathan laughed
"I'm sorry. I can't wait to eat whatever you made." she said
"You're lucky I love you." Jonathan replied, "Now go wash your funky ass up." Roya laughed before heading to the guest room to get cleaned up.
"I think it would great if she really went through with this. Having Roya as a wrestler on the road with us would be amazing." Joshua stated
"Sure would. But we'll just have to see what happens. It's a big decision and her mom isn't going to like it." Jonathan commented as he stood up and started to fix the table.
"Yeah that's definitely going to be the struggle. But man, she would be right by a performance center. We could train her and she could stay here. Have our own little happy home." Joshua said as he stood up and helped him set some plates and glasses
"One can dream." Jonathan smiled. He would love to share a home with Roya; wake up to her every morning, see her smiling face, sleep next to her every night, share laughs with her, just be happy with her. But first she had to decide her future for herself. As much as he and Joshua would love for her to stay and train. If they forced her into it, they would be no better than her mom. She needed to do this for herself not because it was something that they wanted. But either way they would stand with her decision and be there for her.