"Hi, Hunter. You asked to see us?" Sonya said as she led the Golden Gloves trio into the boss's office. Although Hunter had just invited them to enter, Sonya saw that he wasn't alone in the room. He was standing in front of his desk, talking with a short, extremely attractive woman dressed in a very expensive-looking black business suit. She had her blonde hair up, perfectly arranged, but Sonya could see pink dye at the ends of it. The woman was holding a leather briefcase.
"Ah, come in, ladies," Hunter said to the new arrivals. "Allow me to introduce Alexa Bliss. She's Lucy Thorne's PA."
Handshakes were exchanged, with Hunter introducing each of the wrestlers in turn.
"You guys are the ones who debuted tonight," Bliss commented when the formalities were over with.
"That's right," Mandy smiled.
"Well, good luck. I'm sure Ms Thorne will be paying attention to how you get on."
Now it was Sonya's turn to smile, recalling her chance encounter with WWE's owner roughly a year earlier. Lucy Thorne had mentioned having high hopes for Sonya, and that was still something she thought about often. "I'm sure she will," she replied.
Bliss turned her attention back to Hunter. "Anyway, I think we're done here, Hunter. I'll let you get on. Always a pleasure to see you."
Hunter nodded politely. "You too. Have a good night."
"Nice to meet you all," Bliss said to the women on her way to the door.
Once Bliss had closed the door, Sonya had an irrational urge to ask what the meeting had been about, but of course it was none of her business. She was there to work for NXT, not to run the place.
"Sorry, I can't help myself asking, more call ups?" Zelina asked, stealing the thunder that Sonya wouldn't have dared to do anything with anyway.
Hunter raised his eyebrows, looking more intrigued by the question than annoyed by it.
Feeling obliged to fill the moment of silence, Zelina explained herself. "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry. It's just that everyone in the locker rooms knows Ms Bliss comes around shortly before calls ups happen."
'Everyone' hadn't included Sonya and Mandy, until now at least. Somehow they had never happened across that piece of supposed locker room lore.
"I can neither confirm nor deny," Hunter said, which sounded suspiciously like a yes to Sonya. "Now, to business." He walked around behind his desk and sat down, hitting the enter key on his laptop to wake it up from sleep mode. "Gather around," he instructed them.
Following Mandy around behind the desk, Sonya wondered what they were going to be asked to look at. She didn't have to wait long to find out because as soon as she was able to see the laptop screen, she saw four different logos on it. All four were the words Golden Gloves written in stylish gold lettering on black backgrounds.
"I need you guys to make some choices for your stable," Hunter said. "First, we need to select a logo, and when we've done that, it'll be time to choose your theme music."
"Yes! I've been waiting for that!" Mandy said excitedly, while Sonya and Zelina smiled in anticipation.
"So, these are the four logos I'd like you to choose from," Hunter said.
Personally, Sonya didn't have much of a preference. All of the logos looked good to her. "Maybe rule out the third one," was her only suggestion. "I don't think the writing is particularly easy to read in that one."
"I agree," Zelina said. She and Mandy discussed it for a couple of minutes, before finding common ground on logo number two.
"Sonya?" Mandy asked.
"Number two works for me," she said with a nod of approval.
"Number two it is," Hunter said, making a note on his notepad.
"Would you be able to get me a copy of that, please?" Sonya asked him. "I want to get some new gloves made. I'm thinking gold ones, maybe with a black rectangle for the gold writing to go on."
"Not a problem, I'll get that sorted out for you," Hunter said, making another note. With that done, he closed down the picture of the four logos and pulled up a folder with three mp3 files in it. "Now, let's choose your entrance music. I have three options for you, so have a listen and see which one you like."
Sonya stood and listened while Hunter played all three pieces of music. The sound quality was surprisingly good from a laptop. All three tracks were similar in style: fast-paced rock music with no lyrics, ideal for a team to come to the ring looking like they were going to wreck whoever dared to oppose them. The third and final piece was the one Sonya liked the most. Even though Golden Gloves were heels, Sonya could imagine the fans rocking out to that track while they entered.
"Number three for me," Zelina said once it stopped playing.
"Yeah, I thought the same," Sonya said.
"Three sounds good," Mandy added.
"Sure you don't want to hear them again?" Hunter asked.
The women replied that they didn't, so Hunter noted down their selection. "Okay, ladies, that's all for now. My expectation right now is that we'll debut Golden Gloves at some point during the next set of tapings. Great job in the battle royal tonight."
"Thanks, Hunter. It means a lot," Sonya said, feeling herself filling with pride.
"Yeah, thank you," Mandy added.
"You're welcome. Have a good night," Hunter said, with a hand gesture towards the door, signifying the end of the meeting.
"Thanks, Hunter," Zelina said, leading the group to the door.
Once they were outside, the first thing on Sonya's mind was the appearance of Lucy Thorne's assistant, and the implications it might have. "Z, what was all that stuff you said about that Alexa woman?"
"Yeah, you said it was well known in the locker room that she comes around before call ups happen. I've never heard that," Mandy said as they headed back to the locker room.
"I might have been exaggerating a bit," Zelina said mischievously. "It's more like something Shayna and I were talking about, rather than something that's well known. But Hunter didn't know that, and his reaction pretty much confirmed it for me. I'd make a bet we're going to see some call ups after Takeover."
Walking along in silence, Sonya felt mixed emotions about that. If any of the women were called up, of course she would be pleased for them. But on the other hand, she didn't want to lose any of the women she was used to sharing the locker room with. They were all great people, and so easy to get along with. Even Banks wasn't as bad as she first appeared once you got used to her.
"Takeover is only a few weeks away," Mandy said. "I bet the calls ups will happen after that. Watch them take Bayley away from us."
That would be awful, Sonya thought. Everyone loved Bayley, but as the longest-serving member of the women's NXT roster, she had to be a prime candidate to move up to the main roster.
"Time will tell," Zelina said.
There was nothing Sonya could add to that. Time would indeed tell if Lucy Thorne had decided it was time for one or more of the women to make the move up to the main roster.
Now that they had graduated to the NXT roster, the workload on Sonya and Mandy was actually reduced. They were no longer obliged to report for training six days a week, although they were encouraged to spend as much time at the Performance Centre as possible when they were not on the road for live events.
The change in schedule had proven to be beneficial for them in their search for an apartment to buy. As predicted, they had found no trouble in being approved for a sizeable mortgage, given their stable and not insubstantial incomes, and the fact that between them they had a decent sum to put down for a deposit. That had left them with the task of finding somewhere that they actually wanted to buy.
Two weeks into the search, Sonya and Mandy were starting to get frustrated. Nothing they had viewed had ticked all of the boxes for them. They didn't have the time or interest to invest in a renovation project, and they had decided to be firm on moving to one of a few select areas of Orlando. Location was key for them, but they had found that sellers in those locations were all too aware of that, and were over-pricing their apartments as a result. Mandy had insisted that they were not going to overpay, so they had passed up more than one place that they might otherwise have gone for.
Standing outside of the latest place they were going to view, Sonya was in two minds about letting herself get her hopes up. The real estate agent, who had introduced herself as Maggie, was running them through the particulars once more before taking them into the gated community where the apartment in question was.
Listening to Maggie telling her everything she already knew, Sonya thought that it sounded good on paper. Gated community, guaranteeing safety and privacy. Three bedrooms – a master and two smaller bedrooms, larger kitchen than they currently had, spacious living room, and an outside deck and small garden for their exclusive use. The price, too, seemed reasonable, for once, due to the fact that the current owner apparently needed a quick sale.
"Okay, let's go take a look inside," Maggie suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Mandy said with a smile.
Walking hand in hand, they followed Maggie to the apartment they were there to see. Looking around at the surrounding apartments, Sonya liked what she saw. They were all well maintained, and the few cars that were parked outside in the middle afternoon were recent models, indicating that the people here were well off, probably business types who worked in downtown Orlando. They were the ideal kinds of neighbours for Sonya and Mandy: people who kept themselves to themselves and caused no disruption.
Maggie unlocked the front door and led them inside. They walked into an entrance hallway that was a few feet long. In front of them was the door to the living area, standing open. There was another door off the right side of the hallway, which Sonya soon learned led to the kitchen. The units in there looked fairly new, and were good quality without being overtly expensive.
"That doesn't look too bad, Mand," she said, standing in the doorway.
"No, I like it," Mandy opined. "Newly-decorated, too, by the look of it."
"The whole apartment has recently been painted," Maggie offered, standing just inside the living room. The smell of paint in the air confirmed what she was saying.
Walking into the living room, Sonya found it empty of furniture. Whoever had painted the place was going to get no points for originality, having gone for a light magnolia colour throughout. Walls could be easily repainted, though. What mattered was that the room was a nice space, with French doors that led out to the deck and garden. Light streamed in, as there were no curtains up.
"It gets plenty of light in the afternoon, as you can see," Maggie said.
"It's a nice size for a living room," Sonya said to Mandy. "We could put a TV on the wall over there," she said, pointing. "Couch there, with a coffee table and maybe a couple of chairs."
Mandy smiled, liking the image that was coming to mind. "Yes, and over here we could have a dining table. What a change that would be from having to eat off our laps all the time."
"Definitely. That's the worst thing about our place," Sonya said.
Maggie had made her way to the far end of the living room, where there was a door on the right side in the corner. "The bedrooms and bathroom are through here," she said.
Sonya and Mandy looked at first the sizeable master bedroom, followed by one of the smaller bedrooms.
"This is the smallest of the three," Maggie said. "An ideal office space for a professional couple."
"Office or storage," Sonya suggested to Mandy.
They walked across the hallway into the third bedroom, which looked to be just about big enough to fit a double bed and some furniture.
"This could be Daria's room," Sonya said.
Mandy started blushing at the mention of Daria in front of the real estate agent, although Maggie obviously had no idea who Daria was. Her assumption would probably be that one of them had a daughter or something.
"An ideal guest room," Maggie suggested.
"That's what we were thinking," Mandy said, doing her best not to sound awkward.
They completed the tour by looking at the bathroom, then going out onto the deck and looking at the garden. By that point, Sonya was convinced that this was the place for her. Maggie tactfully made herself scarce so that they could talk in private.
"What do you think, Son?" Mandy asked.
"I love it," Sonya said. "I think it's one of the best we've seen. Spacious inside, nice location, and it would be great to have a garden."
"The price is reasonable, too," Mandy said, excitement written all over her face. "Do you think maybe we can go for this one?"
A broad smile spread across Sonya's face. "Yeah, I think we can. I'm in favour of buying it. If you are too, I say we put an offer in today. It's reduced price for a quick sale, so we need to get on it before someone else does if we want it."
"I agree. So, we're going to buy it?" Mandy said, almost squealing in delight.
"I think we are," Sonya replied, leaning in for a kiss.
They kissed each other softly on the lips a couple of times, then walked back inside hand in hand. Upon seeing their faces, Maggie smiled. "Those are happy faces," she observed.
"Yes, they are," Sonya grinned. "Maggie, we'd like to make an offer."
A/N: Many thanks to those who left a review last time.
Sonya and Mandy are moving forward with purchasing themselves an apartment, and with developing their Golden Gloves stable. What did you think of the place they viewed?
Do you think Lucy Thorne is going to call up any of the women? If so, who do you think it will be? Leave your answers in a review!