Why Would I Care If You Want Me?

The conversation with Matt had gone as well as she'd expected. That is to say, it hadn't gone fantastically and resulted in the first fight the two had ever had.

It was none of her business, he told her, whether or not he spoke to Saraya. He would when he worked out how to say what he wanted. Darcy had huffed and demanded he tell her what the hell was going through his mind.

The fight ended almost instantly, however, when Darcy told him in a quiet voice that he was being a cunt like just Jon. He had immediately asked for an explanation and upon getting it he promptly decided that he had to kick Jon's ass. Which is exactly what she didn't want.

It had been a few days since that conversation, though, and the NXT tapings had arrived which meant The Shield were in town. Darcy was, of course, excited to see Colby again and congratulate him on how well he was doing as part of the main roster but if that meant she had to be near Jon then it was going to have to wait.

"Need a stretching partner?"

Darcy lifted her head from the ground to look at Bo Dallas. She asked herself what the hell she was doing going on a date with him - to get over and/or piss off Jon.

"Sure," she agreed. She wasn't in a particularly closed off area so there wasn't every chance that Jon might see them.

It was then that she realised that most of her life had been about Jon and that her sarcastic question to Ashley a week prior had been the truth.

She had been the same when she started dating Harry - the whole time she was dating Harry, even, provided they were in the same vicinity - and the realisation scared her. It was partly because she didn't know how to be without a boyfriend and because of how Harry had changed. Arguably he had been terrible for her from the beginning - possessive but distant, helpful but condescending - but that worried her even more. She hadn't seen any of these things - not until Matt sat her down and explained it all to her, until that point, even after the incident, she assumed it was entirely out of character for him to act that way - and she was wondering whether it was the same with Jon. Should she be grateful for his reaction to their sleeping together? At least then she knew that he was far from perfect.

"You're thinking hard. What's on your mind?"

Darcy shook her head and shrugged lightly. It wasn't any of his business and, even if she felt inclined to tell him, she knew that he wouldn't like the answer.

Bo sat down in front of her and started his stretches. Darcy was already essentially finished but she sat with Bo while he stretched. The conversation wasn't particularly interesting – Darcy was learning that Bo wasn't a particularly interesting person – but she feigned interest for close to ten minutes before Emma found her and asked if they could go over their match one last time.

"I need to learn a really cool move," Darcy said abruptly as their match talk came to an end. "Something that I can pull out of my ass one week that makes people take note."

"You ever think about top rope stuff?" Emma asked. "If you can do a good moonsault people will remember it. Whip out a Shooting Star Press and you'll be hailed as God."

Darcy rubbed a hand over her face and laughed. Maybe having someone as happy-go-lucky as Emma around wouldn't be a bad thing. In small, moderated doses, of course.

"I haven't practiced at all," Darcy started, a deadly serious look spreading over her face, "but would you let me do a Shooting Star Press tonight?"

Emma burst into a fit of laughter and Darcy smiled.

After her second match of the night – she had lost to Emma but been able to defeat Audrey Marie – Darcy was sitting on a trainer's bed, rolling her left shoulder repeatedly. Ashley was standing in the doorway, shaking her head.

"I swear to God, if you try to pin this on me," Ashley said sternly.

"I fucked up," Darcy said slowly. She grimaced when every time her shoulder moved backwards. "Can't side bump either, apparently."

"We'll get Ambrose in here and he'll fix that in a heartbeat."

Darcy flipped her friend off with her free hand; the gesture was returned before Ashley left the room and left Heather to sort Darcy out.

"It looks fine," Heather assured the Diva. "I just think you've tweaked it a little. Some rest and taking tomorrow off should be enough to fix it."

Darcy groaned and made a comment about how she'd had more time off than actual time on in the past few weeks. It was made all the more worse when Heather suggested that the shoulder be taped up when she came back to work, just to be safe.

"I thought you said it was fine," Darcy grumbled.

"You can never be too safe."

Darcy jumped off the bench and walked towards the door with a huff. It was a silly mistake; she'd essentially tripped over her own feet. It hadn't caused her too much trouble, though, and she'd been able to finish the match with no problem. Her sit out jawbreaker was going over well with the crowds and she was grateful for it. The dirt sheets complimented her choice, saying that her small stature made the move even more believable in that her opponent was drawn down even further and the effect would, if wrestling were a legitimate fight, be devastating.

The internet wasn't a regular thing she ventured on to; the comments after her first match were enough to make her stay away for a couple of months. She felt more confident as time passed, though, and had started frequenting them more often. It was to see where the fans thought she could improve. They, of course, weren't expects and it was far more beneficial to speak with the trainers but there was something about an outsider's perspective that kept Darcy going back for more.

"I know you don't want to but I really think the cheerleading thing – the stunts, the flexibility, the height – would make you so much better."

"Yeah, well, not all of us can risk life and limb whenever we set foot in a ring."

The sudden appearance of Colby set Darcy into a momentary state of panic but she showed no signs of it. Her mind had immediately connected Colby to Jon and she was not ready to be seeing Jon.

"A date with Bo Dallas," Colby mused, walking to stand beside Darcy. His arm dropped over her shoulder and she squirmed beneath it. He didn't move it. "Can't say that's something I ever expected."

Darcy shrugged, trying to act nonchalant, "What can I say? I'm full of surprises."

"Jon still won't say what went down between you two."

"He's good for something then, isn't he?" she said with a tight-lipped smile. "Just let it go," she said, moving her hand up to signify something flying away. "I let it go and I have a date tomorrow."

"Did you really let it go?" Colby questioned. "If I took you to see him right now and told him that you were going on a date, on his birthday, would you be okay with that?"

"If you do that," Darcy snarled, "I will kill you in your sleep."

"Yeah," Colby nodded, retracting his arm, "I can tell that you've let it go."

She had made it the entire day. It had taken a fair bit of effort – she hadn't had a cigarette in however many hours in case he was having one as well, she had made many sudden changes in direction and she had spent hardly any time with anyone because they were all talking with the newest call ups.

She was one of the last people still at the venue – the trainers were often the last to leave, and seeing that her ride was with one of them she had to wait around – and when she saw Saraya approaching her she pulled a confused face.

"You spoke to him."

"Him who? Jon? No I didn't, I actually managed to stay very clear."

"Not Jon. Fucking Matt."

Darcy mouthed an 'oh' and quickly held her hands up in defence.

"He fucked up. What was I supposed to do?" she asked innocently, taking note of the frustrated look on Saraya's face.

"Leave it be, is what you were supposed to do!"

"You don't need to yell at me."

"You don't listen, Darcy!" Saraya told her, her cheeks getting redder and redder. "You can't go around and muddle with people's lives like that. Especially when you get super angry at anyone who does it for you. Yeah, sure, you were trying to help but some things don't need to be helped. How would you like it if I went and found Jon? You'd be livid if I did that to you."

Darcy pulled her mouth into a thin line and stared at Saraya blankly. She opened her mouth to say something but promptly closed it and looked down at her hands that were folded in her lap.

"I love you, Darcy, I really do but fuck me are you a frustrating person to be around." Saraya sighed and pulled up a seat beside the blonde.

Darcy couldn't do anything but nod. She wasn't going to argue, especially not when she knew everything being said was the absolute truth.

"I don't know if you care or not but we're friends," Saraya stated. "Me and Matt, that is. And, yeah, it's still really fucking weird."

Darcy looked at Saraya with a small smile and nodded again.

"Sex makes things weird," Darcy said, repeating what Saraya had told her the first time they'd discussed the topic. "I'm a fuck up, aren't I?" she asked suddenly. "Can't do guys, can't do friends, can't do wrestling, only thing I could ever actually do was cheer and I fucked that up to do the wrestling thing that I can't do."

"You can do the wrestling thing fine," Saraya assured her with a laugh. "You can also do the friend thing fine – believe me when I say that I've had worse – and as for the guy thing... Who needs 'em? That's why they invented vibrators, right?"