Waiting All Night

Fourth of July celebrations had kicked off by mid afternoon, Brad Maddox and Rick Victor had opened up their backyard for the developmental talent and almost everyone had accepted the invitation. Everyone was being patriotic and sporting something with the American flag on it.

Darcy had initially decided against going, knowing full well that she was either going to be extremely bored and grouchy or Drunk Darcy was going to make an appearance for the second time in two weeks. Ashley and Saraya had been able to twist her arm and convince her to show up; both with the intention of having Darcy drink plenty.

"No skirt today?"

"One time," she groaned. "I wore a skirt one time."

"You looked good in a skirt," Matt shrugged, sitting down beside her on the grass. "What're you drinkin'?"

"No idea. Ray gave it to me when I walked in. Tastes like vodka, I suppose."

"Ray, huh? Making friends?" Darcy rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses and fell backwards, looking up at the sky with the glass in her hand resting on ground beside her. "Are you going to have fun today? Or sit around and brood?"

"I was happy at home on the couch getting drunk, to be honest. I don't get giggly and shit when I'm by myself."

She sat up slightly and took a sip of her drink, deducing that it was some variation of vodka and lemonade, before reclining and staring at the sky again. She was more than happy to stay in the same position all afternoon and throughout the evening while the party happened around her. Large groups of people weren't here thing, anyway. If she just sat down and pretended she was alone, maybe everyone would else as well.

Matt stood up and walked away when he realised that she wasn't going to engage him in a conversation and Darcy closed her eyes, the idea of sleep suddenly becoming very appealing. She had to take the opportunities when they came, she just wished they would come during the middle of the night when she'd already been lying awake for 3 and a half hours.

"She's been down there for nearly an hour and that drink's just as full as it was when she sat down."

"She fall asleep?"

"Darcy doesn't sleep."

"Then she's dead?"

"I was sleeping. If you two whores weren't so loud I would still be," Darcy grumbled, pushing herself up onto her elbow, her other hand bringing the glass up to her lips. She opened her eyes and realised that Ashley and Ray were standing directly above her, wearing almost identical confused expressions. "What do you want?"

Ashley responded, being used to Darcy's attitude, "You can eat or stay down there."

Darcy groaned and downed the rest of her drink before standing up. It was clear that the majority of people had taken to the pool and given that the temperature hadn't been any lower than 80 since early morning, Darcy couldn't blame them. Though she wasn't likely to be joining them.

She sat down in a plastic seat and reached across the table for a plate but her fingers barely brushed against the plastic.

"You're so tiny, it's fantastic."

"I'm not drunk enough to deal with you when you've been drinking," she groaned when Mox sat down beside her and placed a plate before her. He then proceeded to fill it up with food, knowing that she would face the same problems.

"Fuck you're grouchy."

"I was sleeping."

"It's 4th of July and you were having a nap?" he asked her incredulously, pulling a horrified face. "I'm gonna call the feds. You could probably be arrested for that."

"I didn't miss anything important," she defended herself. "If I'd missed the fireworks then, yeah, you can get angry at me but all I missed was you fucktards pushing each other into a pool."

"I'm not sure you were really asleep." He cracked a smile and started getting food for himself. She noticed the beer he had placed down in front of him and swiped at it, drinking it as fast as she could. "Good," he said with a nod, laughing a little as beer dribbled down her chin and onto her shirt. "Get on this level."

It was in her every intention to get as drunk as he was – probably even drunker – given that everyone around her was about the same. Being the lone sober person was the last thing she wanted to do, it came lower on the list than even Drunk Darcy.

Slamming the bottle onto the wooden table, Darcy wiped at her chin and let her head flop onto the chair's back. It didn't take long at all for the beer to combine with the vodka and she felt herself becoming lightheaded. Good, she thought to herself.

The alcohol roaring through her veins gave her the much needed courage to speak to Leighla. It had been so long, over a month, that Darcy had almost entirely forgotten what had gone down, not that she'd known in the beginning.

"Uh, hey," she said slowly as she sat down in a chair beside Leighla. Leighla looked to Darcy with a small smile. "So, um, I want to apologise... I couldn't tell you exactly what I'm saying sorry for and that probably makes this seem really insincere, but I just don't want to let this drag on any longer. I didn't mean to do whatever I did – I don't know what it was so I wasn't doing it on purpose – but I'm sorry for it and the fights that it caused you and Colb. You are one of my best friends and I don't have too many of them." Darcy wasn't looking at Leighla, it was weird enough that she was apologising – making eye contact would have made it weirder.

"I know you didn't mean it," Leighla sighed. "I guess it's just hard, you know? He's already around you girls so much and you're all so pretty... Having you live with us – and the fact that you don't like to cover up – was just something I couldn't get used to."

Darcy snorted, "The absolute last person you need to worry about is me. No, I get where you're coming from and yeah, I probably should have thought about the clothing thing, but I'm not into Colby. Colby is into you, I'm the last person he'd be interested in."

"A lot of guys would be interested in you if you gave them the chance," Leighla laughed. "Honestly, good thing you have a boyfriend because you're attitude prevents anyone else getting close. I forgive you, though."

The sun was setting over the backyard and the pool was filled with NXT wrestlers, all play fighting in the water. Darcy was sitting on a towel on the tiling surrounding the pool, watching with a barely there smile. Multiple people had tried to get her into the pool but she stood her ground.

"I am not going near that pool when all you have been in there!" She exclaimed, her inner diva shining through. "I know that you've all dreamt about me wet but today is not the day!"

"You gonna cut a promo on us, Darcy?" Matt asked, swimming over to the edge and snatching at her ankle. She was able to move away before he caught it.

"In your dreams Graves," she growled as he pushed his hands onto the edge of the pull and hauled himself up before grabbing at her ankle again. Her middle finger came up in front of her, aimed at the now smirking man.

Before she had any chance to ask him just what he was smirking about, she felt a rush of water pouring down over her head. She spluttered the water from her mouth before screaming loudly and turning around with a stomp.

"Looks like today is the day, Quinn." The laugh in Mike Dalton's voice disappeared when he saw the growing scowl on Darcy's face. He pointed off in no particular direction and said, "I'm going to go that way," before heading off the opposite way.

Moxley was standing not far in front of her, a large, empty bucket hanging from his left hand. He was shrugging at her, acting as though he hadn't done anything. He didn't care that Darcy was snarling at him, he had come to know that she wasn't as scary as she came across. That and she was pretty much pocket sized.

"You do have a death wish, right?" she asked him slowly, stepping towards him with daunting care. Her shirt was clinging to her skin and water was running down over her face.

He dropped the bucket onto the ground and in two steps was directly in front of her. He reached around her waist and easily hoisted her up over his shoulder. Darcy was helpless. She was whacking his back as hard as she could, but it did nothing at all to deter him.

"So, you want to go in, huh?" he asked her. It was clearly a rhetorical question but Darcy was quick to shout out her protests.

Looking at the ground, she noticed that they were nearing the water and she decided that desperate times called for desperate measures. She pulled back her elbow before hitting him right on the back of the head, causing him to loosen his grip on her waist and allow her enough room to squirm away from him.

"Ow, what the fuck?" Moxley grumbled, rubbing the back of his head. Darcy was already halfway across the yard, breathing heavily.

"I don't do pools."

She made her way out to the front yard, but not before finding her bag and grabbing her cigarettes and a lighter. The plan was to sit out the front until someone shouted that it was time for fireworks.

"They're just having fun."

"I'm all for fun. Fun is good," Darcy said unenthusiastically, watching Ashley sit down beside her on the grass. "Fun is not me being thrown into pools." She stated as she started to wring the water from her shirt.

"Hey, what's it like when Jon's away and you have the place to yourself?"

"Not much different?" Darcy asked, unsure of how she was supposed to answer. "He only ever does one dark match at a time, so he's gone one night."

"You ever sleep in his bed? Just to have a bed to sleep in?"

"That's weird, Ash. Stop being weird," Darcy groaned, exhaling smoke. Ashley waved the smoke away from her, but said nothing about the bad habit.

"Honestly Darc, do you not wish you had a bed?"

"Not really? I'm used to sleeping on couches."

"That's depressing as fuck," Ashley said with a sad laugh. "Christ, babe, you're gonna have back problems and wrestling isn't gonna help with that."

Darcy shrugged, "Nothing a massage can't fix. Seriously, it's nothing to worry about."

Before they knew it, fireworks were being sent into the sky. The two girls jumped to their feet and raced towards the clamouring people. Matt and Rick were standing at the far end of the pool, sending fireworks into the darkness.

"Hold on!"

Darcy heard Moxley's voice, but she couldn't see him. She felt her knees give out as something pushed against them, and something pushing between her thighs. She gasped and gripped onto a head of hair as she was pushed into the air.

She raised her hands above her head, not caring that Moxley didn't have a hold of her legs – she'd been a cheerleader long enough to feel safe in such situations – and bounced up and down on his shoulders when more fireworks were set off. Her shirt and shorts were still drenched and sticking to her body, and her legs were hooked underneath his arms and her feet dug into his back keeping her steady.

The smile on her face and the laugh leaving her mouth did not go unnoticed by everyone around her. Darcy Quinn was having fun. She wasn't trying to hide it from anyone.