March 2011
The Red Wings were having a good game, and therefore Bobby was having a good night. He was posted up at the bar in his favorite position - a beer in one hand, a beer already in the gut - feeling fine since he hadn't wrestled in a few days. TNA wasn't always sweetness and light to him, but he did appreciate the frequent breaks to heal up, and even better he was still making money off meet and greets. As James would say, wrestling is fun but nothing beats making cash and getting trashed. He said this line out loud and grinned to himself. A woman flashed him an approving smile from the other end of the bar and he quickly looked back at the screen and frowned. He wasn't in the mood for flirting with strangers tonight.
He checked his phone for the 50th time. No new messages. He scrolled back to his last text from AJ and read it...again. In the last week or so Bobby had tentatively began to talk with AJ. He was still conscious of his talks with Eric and James, but he figured a little conversation couldn't hurt, as long as they kept it to innocent topics like kids and sports. Damn shame AJ wasn't into hockey.
"meet n greet in south dakota lol. bet 4 people show up" read the text. Bobby had texted back that it was more like 25, thank you very much. That was a pretty good showing for TNA, considering their idea of advertising was posting a tweet about it two days before it happened. Never mind all that now, he was off, the Red Wings were winning, and he was -
Another text. From AJ.
"25 for real? good turnout man. how many of them called you the other guy?"
Smartass. He typed back with a flourish. "none of them shithead. we had signs"
A minute later - "that's the only way they know you"
"oh you're mean today. ajay kick you in the knee again?"
"yeah I am feeling mean. kids r driving me crazy today. one of them dropped oatmeal on the floor and tracked it all over the house. had two beers already. where r u?"
"at the bar, watching the wings kick some ass"
"nice man. we should go to a game some time. how am I supposed to get into hockey if u won't help?"
Bobby's heart gave a tiny flutter and he stared hard at the TV screen, reminding himself to be cool. "would have to take u soon season is winding down. playoffs are coming up. can't waste a playoff game on a rookie"
"u don't wanna break me in?"
Bobby started to type a fresh text, then stopped. This was heading into some dicey territory and he wasn't sure whether AJ was being flirty out of drunkeness (on two beers?) or setting landmines in his path. He watched a shift change while he considered his next move, and then he wrote "lol you are being so funny tonight"
"well I know I can talk to you any old kind of way because you're cool"
Oh. Oh, well. He knew then his hopes had gotten up too high.
"that's true"
"no modesty on your end tonight bobby"
"no point in being modest when it's true. I'm awesome"
"no doubt. got girls yelling your name at the arenas now"
"I've had them yelling since I was 15"
"lol"
"like you didn't know"
"ain't never been there to supervise"
"you should have been there, I would have taught you plenty"
"I don't have anything to learn from a canadian. I'm from the south remember? we invented this"
"the only thing you guys invented was kissing your sister and your cousin at the same time"
"yeah right. I kissed your sister and your cousin when you were kissing posters in your room"
"you're lucky you're my friend or I would punch you for bringing up my sister"
"my bad man"
"it's okay AJ we both know your kissing skills are weak anyway"
"see here you go. you don't know shit yet bobby"
"yet huh?"
"shit"
And just like that, silence. Yet Bobby felt a little lighter in his heart. AJ sure sounded like he was lightening up a little bit. Maybe it was like James said - keep sprinkling sugar on them and they gots to get sweet. Maybe he was just being hopeful and silly because he had a crush he couldn't admit to. Maybe drunk words were sober thoughts. Maybe...eh, fuck it.
Another beep from his phone.
"going to bed see you soon"
Yeah.
Sure.