JoJo entered the Performance Center, her mind flooded with the memory of Eva's outburst yesterday still replaying in her mind. JoJo had gone through plenty of emotions regarding the incident throughout the short 24 hours. She had currently landed on a sort of artificial numbness. The girl had decided to just push it behind her, especially now when she was about to meet up with Seth. She had to be at her best, or as best as she could, to keep up with him. Plus it was only for a couple of hours; then she could go back to anxiously thinking about her current life events.
JoJo made a B-line for the women's locker room, hoping nobody would be inside and luckily for her no one was. It was the afternoon, an odd time for any wrestler to be working out, but Seth had insisted on the afternoons since they'd both be free by then. She was sure it just had something to do with his constant need to do media calls and the like. Either way, it usually meant things were quiet around the Performance Center which JoJo honestly didn't mind.
She placed her bag down on a bench and quickly got to changing, putting on her usual training attire of an oversized T-shirt, leggings and tennis shoes. She wrapped her hair up in a bun using an elastic and grabbed a wristband. She didn't usually train with any on but she had to cover up the bruise somehow. She didn't know if Seth would ask about it, but she didn't want to risk it at all.
JoJo walked out of the locker room, looking around for Seth but not finding him anywhere. Her brown eyes scanned the room in front of her as she walked closer to the rings set up before feeling a pair of hands fall onto her shoulder behind her. JoJo jumped as a yelp escaped her before hearing a raspy laugh. Turning around she spotted Seth holding his sides as he let out a hearty laugh.
"Did I scare you?" He asked, his hand going up to wipe at a tear that wasn't there.
"Yeah you did." JoJo said, swatting at his arm as he started to laugh again.
"O-Okay! Let's get to training!" Seth exclaimed happily through chuckles as he clapped his hands together. He guided JoJo to the ring, entering it and waiting for her to join him. He was a clear contrast of her current mood. Where he was bouncing around on the balls of his feet full of energy, she was running on the knowledge that she just had to make it through a few hours.
Seth instantly started her up on some warm ups. It was simple things such as running the ropes by herself and lifting her legs up while she held on the ropes where the turnbuckles meet. JoJo had stumbled some when they moved on to basic submission holds that she had down only days ago. Her frustrations were getting the best of her the more she stumbled and she figured Seth had caught on because he decided to try something else.
"Let's run the ropes again." He said, watching her as she got up from her position on the mat. Her eyes never met his and a word wasn't uttered out of her as she got herself ready on the ropes. Seth just watched as she ran from one side to the next. She didn't pay attention to that though, her mind wandered elsewhere as she kept on with her strides.
Run.
Pause.
Run.
Pause.
Run.
Pause.
Run.
Smack. JoJo collided full on with something, causing her to fall over. Upon quick investigation she looked up to see Seth looking worriedly down at her.
"Oh shit, are you okay?" He asked, sticking a hand out towards her.
"Yeah, I'm sorry." She muttered as she stuck a hand out towards him.
"Nah, I should've been paying attention seeing as you clearly were out of it." He commented, wrapping his fingers around her wrist causing JoJo to flinch and instinctively pull it back to her sides. This all but shocked Seth as his eyebrows rose.
Shit. JoJo scrambled up, looking up at him. "I-I'm sorry I got hurt there recently and- " JoJo was cut off by Seth taking her arm in his hands and moving the wristband up. She tried to pull her hand away but he had a tight grip as he exclaimed it.
"What happened? It looks like someone bruised you." He said, looking at her now. His eyes looked so worried and she didn't want to lie to him. But she wasn't going to tell him the truth either. This would hurt their friendship or general friendliness to each other if it wasn't the former. She bit her bottom lip before responding.
"I got it at a taping." She lied, looking down at the bruise so she didn't have to look at him. "It was on accident."
Seth examined it a bit more before finally letting her arm free. JoJo quickly pulled the wristband down to cover it.
"Is that why you're acting like this?" Seth asked before pointing at her bruise. "Because that wasn't your fault you know. Stuff like that happens and you're in pre-developmental. A lot of dumb injuries are going to come from there. It's just how it goes; you guys are still learning the ropes. Whoever did this now knows that they need to loosen their grip. Who did it?"
JoJo frantically tried to think of something. "Uh…Kendall. I had a match with her and she was doing this submission hold on me and she was pulling my arm back by my wrist. Her grip was too tight as she pulled back…" JoJo explained lamely. She didn't know what she was talking about but Seth seemed to have bought it as he simply nodded. He crossed his arms as he simply looked at her. JoJo wasn't too sure she liked him just looking at her all the time, like he was sizing her up or something. He finally made a move as he motioned behind him by tilting his head.
"Why don't we call it a day?" He asked, catching JoJo by surprise.
"We've only been here for an hour…" She said though Seth merely nodded.
"I know but you don't seem up to it and it's not good to train when you don't want to. It becomes something negative in your mind, you know?" JoJo nodded. "How about we go out for lunch instead?"
JoJo's face must've been one of shock as Seth let out a chuckle. "What? Is lunch too much?" He asked.
She blushed for the first time today, shaking her head. "N-No, I just didn't expect that."
"I know we don't usually do this but you look like you need something to cheer you up and I don't want to tote my own horn here but I'm pretty good at cheering people up." Seth smiled, placing a hand on JoJo's shoulder as he led her out of the ring. "Just get ready and I'll wait for you, capeesh?"
"Capeesh." She answered back before watching as Seth entered the male's locker room.
She walked into the women's locker room with a belly full of butterflies. She hadn't expected Seth to want to go out to lunch with her; in fact she had never thought Seth would want to do anything outside of the Performance Center with her at all. It was nice though, that he wanted to cheer her up. JoJo didn't think he'd notice her sour mood but he had, then again JoJo was never good at hiding her true emotions after all.
She shifted through her gym bag when she had a thought. She had to find a way to de-funk herself. Seth had said he wanted to cheer her up but she didn't want to go out with him too bummed. She needed something to help her not think about Eva and her wicked plans right now while she got ready.
Music.
JoJo quickly flipped through the music selection she had in her phone, which was a lot. JoJo tend to stick to more of the urban style but she really had all types of music in there. Deciding that she just didn't know what to play, she clicked on shuffle and placed her iPhone down on the bench.
"Amarte como te amo es complicado, pensar cómo te pienso es un pecado…" JoJo sang as she slipped out of her workout clothes and into her regular outfit. She took the elastic out of her hair and let it fall around her wrist. "Yo sólo quiero darte un beso y regalarte mis mañanas, cantar para calmar tus miedos, quiero que no te falte nada." She continued to sing.
She checked herself in the mirror her voice going into a hum as she put some chapstick around her mouth before continuing to sing again. She loved singing. It was her escape from reality. Wrestling was her love but singing was her first one and it had gotten her through many of things. The melody and lyrics told a story that JoJo loved to hear. Music was a way of expression and JoJo had tons to express; whether it be happiness, sadness, anger, anything she knew there would be something out there for her to sing her heart out to. It brought a pure feeling of joy in her heart and right now it was doing just the thing to make her forget her problems.
She grabbed the phone, letting the song play as she sang the final lyrics. "Yo sólo quiero, Eh eh eh, yo sólo quiero darte, quiero que no te falte nada." She opened the door to find Seth leaning forward, clearly indicating that he was trying to listen which instantly made JoJo nervous. She usually didn't mind other's listening but something about Seth listening made her cheeks burn and her stomach flop over.
"He-hey!" Seth greeted scratching the back of his head as a sheepish grin grew on his face. "Sorry, I was just listening to you sing…you've got a beautiful voice." He complimented.
JoJo's face merely grew redder at his words. "Thanks." Was all she could let out as she shyly smiled at him.
He moved his hand back to his sides. "What were you singing?"
"Darte Un Beso by Prince Royce." She answered. Seth nodded though she knew he didn't know the song. "It's a Spanish song. It's about like, this guy in a kind of complicated relationship where he wants to kiss the girl but she's kind of being difficult. So he's asked if he has to do things like learn to speak French or pull down the moon to her feet and stuff just so he can get that one kiss."
Seth let out a scoff. "I get him, man. Sometimes girls can be difficult." He said, gaining a laugh from JoJo.
"We're not difficult! We just want to make sure we're making the right choices." She said, pulling her duffle bag strap further up her arm.
"So let's say if I wanted to kiss you, you'd be just like the girl in the song?" He asked. JoJo blushed at the thought of Seth wanting to kiss her. Oh that…that would've been something JoJo wouldn't mind at all. But this had to be a hypothetical question; he wouldn't have asked it if he wanted to right?
"We-well…" She started, playing with the strap on her duffle. "…Since I've known you for some time now I wouldn't be so against it because well I…had time to know you and stuff."
Seth smiled, nodding. "Good to know."
"What do you mean?" She asked, watching as Seth turned around to walk towards the exit of the Performance Center. He didn't turn around to answer.
"Se-Seth! What does that mean?" She called out now, trying to catch up with him.
"Do you want Chipotle or something else?" He asked, not answered her question at all. She let out a sigh, not wanting to think too much on it.
"Chipotle."
A/N: Wow two updates back to back! You guys are sure being treated! Lol. I just wanted to get this chapter out of the way also to help soothe some of the pain from last chapter. Here's some JoJo/Seth for you guys to relinquish and love lol. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! Please review? ^.^