I've Never Been So Bitter

It was weird enough that Darcy was living with her trainer but to arrive at work in the same car was something Darcy never thought would happen.

It had been an unusual few days. She had been on her best behaviour the past few days, trying to avoid doing anything that might make Sara regret her new houseguest, and for Darcy that was a huge struggle.

"I'll see you after warm up," Sara said before they went their separate ways after walking into the building.

Darcy received a few strange looks but she didn't acknowledge them in the hopes that people would just assume it was a new car pooling arrangement. So far the only people who knew that she had moved out were Colby, Ashley, Saraya, Matt and, most likely, Jon. She was yet to hear from him and she had been expecting a phone call as soon as Colby told him but perhaps she had overestimated just how much he cared.

It was too early to be thinking of it, anyway. She had barely slept the night before despite being able to sleep in a proper bed.

The day started with their routine warm up jog and stretches and Jon was pushed from her mind – they were pushed far too hard to be able to focus on anything other than the exercises they had been given.

Darcy heard the door opening around the corner and she groaned. Saraya had already gone home so it was guaranteed that the person coming outside was someone she did not want to see.

She was exhaling when Bo Dallas walked around the corner; the sight of him caused her to inhale unexpectedly and she started to choke.

"You don't smoke," she said

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you."

Darcy sighed, dropping her cigarette to the ground and stamping it out, "What did I do now? I have a really bad memory and can't remember a lot of the small shit that happens so you're gonna have to remind me."

"You haven't been doing this long enough to be affected by memory problems."

"Not wrestling related," she said simply, pushing her hair back over her head. "So, what did I do?"

"Nothing that I know of," he told her with a slight smile. "I wanted to know if you were interested in a date."

Darcy's face contorted in a combination of confusion and mild horror. She looked at him with narrowed eyes, "This is a joke, right? Something you and the guys came up with just to fuck with me?"

"No?" he said, looking offended by the accusation. "If you wanna say no that's totally fine but I'm not trying to fuck with you."

Darcy remained silent, staring at him trying to work out if he was lying to her or not.

"If you and Ambrose have something–"

She cut him off, "Ambrose and I aren't anything." She folded her arms and waited for him to continue.

"I don't need an answer right now," he said uncertainly, backing away from her. She hadn't necessarily meant to look disinterested – maybe she had, but it wasn't a conscious decision – but as he turned to walk away she changed her mind.

"Bo," she said, stopping him in his tracks. "The Friday after the tapings, the 7th. Is that any good for you?"

He smiled and nodded, "Yeah, that's perfect."

"There's a rumour going around that you're going on a date with Bo Dallas."

"Those rumour mills come up with some crazy shit, huh?" Darcy asked, turning to Ashley. They were standing on the treadmills, puffing from their first run. Ashley rolled her eyes at the shit eating grin Darcy was wearing.

"So it's not true?"

"I didn't say that."

Darcy shrugged innocently when Ashley glared at her. She was being deliberately evasive because it was infuriating Ashley and because she wasn't sure if she wanted people to know – clearly Bo Dallas wasn't as shy about it.

They started their next run but it was obvious that Ashley was far from finished with the conversation. Darcy was beginning to regret her earlier cigarette as they started to get faster. Quitting smoking was definitely on her list of things to do.

Both girls jumped off the treadmills so that their feet were on the sides, Darcy hunched over the top of the machine and wheezed. Ashley was unsympathetic but still very interested that there was possibly a truth to the rumours.

"Are you really going on a date with Bo Dallas?" Ashley asked, hitting stop and stepping off her treadmill to stand in front of Darcy.

"Not the time," Darcy wheezed, barely lifting her head. Ashley reached forward to stop the machine and patted the blonde's hair sarcastically. "Fuck off." Darcy lifted her head violently enough to shrug off Ashley's hand but she was still very much leaning against the treadmill.

"Saraya's not half as bad as this."

"Saraya hasn't been smoking since she was eleven," Darcy groaned before she coughed loudly. "I'll quit, okay?"

Ashley shrugged, "That's up to you. And stop changing the subject! Are you or are you not going on a date?"

Darcy felt a slight blush rise to her cheeks so kept her head down, "You don't have to say it so loud, fuck."

When Darcy did look up, Ashley was still grinning at her. Darcy rolled her eyes – she was under the impression that Ashley was only okay with the idea of her dating Jon – and stepped off the treadmill, taking her water bottle with her and downing the lot of it.

"You already told everyone, huh?" Darcy asked when she saw that Bo Dallas was waiting out the front of the building. "Not keen on a little mystery?"

"Was I not supposed to tell anyone?" He asked cautiously. The rise and fall of her chest was steady and rhythmic. What use was there in getting angry?

"It's up to you, I suppose," she shrugged. "I like to keep a certain number of things a secret but that's just me."

"By a certain number do you mean almost everything?"

"I do what I have to do, Bo," she said slowly. "If I told everyone everything about me they'd have things to use against me – I get that enough from certain family members already."

He nodded, backtracking a little, "If we're going on a date you can call me Taylor."

"Bo will do for now."

Two sets of eyes followed the car that was moving towards the door and Darcy took her bag off her shoulder, getting ready to put it in the car.

"You like to keep your cards close to your chest, huh?"

"Life's easier that way."

She opened the passenger's side door and waved half–heartedly at Bo as she sat down and closed it. He smiled in response.

"You and Bo Dallas?"

"You guys literally do just sit in your offices and gossip, don't you?" Darcy asked, being sure to maintain a hint of a joking tone.

"It's our duty to know this stuff," Sara stated, Darcy scoffed like a teenager. "Honestly, it's better if we know what's happening so that if drama is going down we can at least try to prevent it."

Darcy didn't respond. To a certain extent it was like having a conversation with her mother – at least she assumed that's what it would be like, she had nothing to compare it to – and it made her uncomfortable but on the other hand, the one that knew so few people genuinely cared about her, she relished in the attention she was receiving.

"It isn't anything," Darcy continued. She wasn't sure where the conversation was supposed to go, she was just hoping that it didn't stop.

"It doesn't have to be. There's nothing wrong with going on a few dates to test the waters. I'm surprised, though, I could have sworn you and Ambrose–"

"That really isn't anything," Darcy interjected quickly. "He's barely going to be around, anyway. I've been there, done that and paid for the hospital bills."

Sara said nothing – Darcy wasn't only one who didn't know how to react to any mention of Harry or his actions, most people went silent – and the car trip was quiet the rest of the way.

The cheesy early Naughties song on the radio made Darcy's skin crawl. Most music of the era was related to bad experiences that ranged from school hallways to bad trips.

The next song she had played at her own private funeral for her father: he'd left her no money to hold a proper one, his parents had died long before and her uncle outright refused to foot the bill. In an attempt at saying goodbye, Darcy and her best friend Q – she went to her actual funeral less than 3 years later – sat in the latter's bedroom and played as many sad songs as they could get their hands on.

Sadness hadn't been what she'd felt, though. There were no tears, no difficulty breathing, just an emptiness that could never been replaced.

12 years old, orphaned, addicted to cigarettes, severely overweight and embarking on a path that should surely have ended prematurely.

Darcy lurched forward and turned off the radio. Sara asked for no explanation.

After the thoughts she'd had that afternoon, Darcy was in no mood for sleep but at 12.30am she wished she had been because her phone rang and Moxley appeared on the screen.

She wasn't bothered by the sudden ringing of her phone – sleep was eluding her like it always did – but she was still bothered by his timing. It was inconsiderate, wasn't it? Unless he expected her to be asleep so that she couldn't answer. So, that he could say he called her?

With that thought in mind she answered the call. She didn't think to say anything; she just held the phone to her ear as she stared at the ceiling. She could hear him breathing on the other end. They stayed silent for nearly a minute.

"You moved out," Jon said eventually. His voice was rougher than she remembered; maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe he was smoking more or maybe she was starting to forget.

"I did."

"Why didn't you say something? Just up and leave without a word?"

"Imagine someone doing that," Darcy deadpanned, closing her eyes. "Is that all you wanted?"

He hesitated and Darcy could hear his breathing become more drawn out, almost like he was trying to calm himself down.

"Ambrose? Is that all you wanted?"

"We're back on the surname thing, are we? Not even actual surnames, my ring name."

"I need to go to sleep-"

"Don't give me that shit."

"-so I'm going to do that now."

She waited 5 seconds, which was plenty of time, she thought, for him to say something she was interested in hearing but when he didn't say anything she pulled the phone away from her ear and ended the call.