He knocked on her door with their Chinese takeout late after training. They plopped on her couch and she flipped through channels before landing on some Bravo show about realtors. They ate their dinner, enjoying the silence and watching the dumb show. One of the cast members freaked out about something and Becky laughed, finishing her food. Chuckling, he rolled his neck, rubbing his shoulder.
"Ya alright?" she asked through a mouthful of lo mein.
"Yeah I'm fine, bad bump that's all."
"Here," she ran her hands onto his shoulders.
"Don't worry 'bout it-"
"Shirt off, now."
He sighed and did as she asked, scooting up so she could slide behind him, her legs on either side of his.
"You're really tense." She started working her fingers into the tough muscles.
"Yeah."
Becky rolled her eyes and kept going, pushing into his muscle and waiting for him to give into it. He'd get in these moods from time to time, he was usually so in control of his emotions that when he was having a tough time, sometimes he'd just shut off entirely. It wasn't until she felt his muscles relax underneath her and felt like he had well and truly melted in her lap that she tried again.
"Ya alright?"
"I told you, just a bad bump." He tensed up again.
"Finn, talk to me, what's wrong?"
"Listen, I'm just workin' really hard to get down the style they're lookin' for and it's not goin' well, so I can' really do this right now"
"This? As in get a back massage?" she said sharply, "sorry for the inconvenience."
"No, Bex, I-I jus' meant you don't have to do things like that."
She slid around from behind him, shaking her head. "Okay."
"I appreciate it," he said quietly, feeling sorry, "but you don't need to. I don't want you to feel like you need to."
"That's not why I offered."
He kissed her on the lips, "I'm sorry, I'm in a mood. Don' worry 'bout it."
She caught his bottom lip in between her teeth. "Well now I'm cross, so."
"Oh you're cross are ya?"
"I am, actually," she teased, a smirk on her face.
"Let me make it up to you."
XXX
Becky watched from behind the counter of Sami's kitchen as Cass, Finn, and Enzo sat on the couch playing Mario Kart. She sipped on her beer, leaning on her elbows and smiling. Finn was settling into the NXT locker room quickly, it made her happy to see him feeling at home.
"Hey, having fun?" Sami asked as he wandered in to open another beer.
"Yeah, definitely, we haven' done this in a while."
"Mhmm," he took a swig of his beer. "I know Mario Kart's not really your thing."
"That's alright, those guys are havin' fun." She smiled again, watching Finn jump up and throw his hands in the air as he finished first. He looked back and her, grinning, and she laughed again.
"Careful," Sami said in a low voice when Finn sat back down. "You two keep it up and people will start think you're together."
"Sorry?"
"Laughing, blushing, sneaking off together… he's always leaning in and whispering in your ear."
"I uh-" her cheeks were red. They had been pretty obvious recently, not really thinking about it.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." He chuckled. "Sorry, I'm not trying to give you a hard time."
"Sami…"
"No, no, really, I'm not. You don't owe me an explanation."
"I'm sorry-"
"Don't be, y'know, that's life," he shrugged, "it just kinda sucks to realize that when you said you didn't want to be in a relationship, you meant with me."
She was speechless.
"I need some air, enjoy the rest of your night," he nodded at her walking out.
"Sami, wait," she followed him out to his patio. "Sami, stop, I'm sorry."
"Becky, don't, it's fine. You and me, we had a little fun on a tour. Whatever, it was great, I am not about to deny that,"
"It was, it was a great time,"
"And now you're with him," he shrugged, "and I won't fault you for that but hey, if you're asking how I feel about it, Bex,"
"I-"
"It doesn't feel very good, no." his voice was raised now, and it stung. They had moved on from their little hook up pretty well until this point. They were friends, he mattered to her.
"Sami," she shook her head, tearing up.
"Sami? Becky?" Finn's voice came, his head was popping out from the sliding glass door.
He walked over to her, his hand gripping her shoulder. "Is everythin' alright?"
Sami shook his head, "it's nothing, it doesn't matter. Sorry if I upset you."
"What's happenin' here?
"It's okay," Becky said, "it's no big deal."
Sami nodded at her and walked back to the house.
"What just happened?" He rubbed her shoulder.
"He's just-"
"Angry about us? 'Cause that's what it sounded like."
"A bit."
"So he's the once or twice, huh?"
"Yeah, once or twice."
"You shoulda told me that."
"You didn' wanna talk about exes, remember?"
"Best friends are an exception."
She rolled her eyes, "well now you know, he'll get over it." She started to walk away be he caught her by the arm.
"Ya know yoou can go ahead if ya want to."
"Go ahead an…" she asked suspiciously, surely he wasn't saying...
He shrugged, "what do I care?"
"You don' care if I sleep with Sami?" She stepped closer to him, her eyes narrowed.
"Isn' that what we agreed to? What you suggested? We can do whatever we like when we're not together."
"That's not what I- I don' want to be with him again, Finn. I don' want anyone but you."
"Yeah, I noticed, but-"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Jus' go ahead, live your life. I'm not interested in stoppin' ya."
"I said, I don' want to,"
"Well that's not gonna make me love you!"
"WHAT?" she pulled her arm out of his grip. "What did you just say to me?"
"Look, Bex, darlin', when we started this, I knew there would be a bit of an imbalance."
"An imbalance?"
"I know how long you've been waitin' for this to happen,"
"Don't."
"An' lately it feels like you keep doin' everythin' ya can to please me so that I'll-"
"I do not need ya to love me Finn, I am not that little girl who walked into your wrestlin' school years ago. If I do somethin' nice for ya, it's 'cause I'm tryin' be nice. An' if I'm seein' only you, it's because I don' need anyone else."
"Alright," he threw up his hands.
"No, it's not alright. If you really feel so suffocated-"
"I never said-"
"If ya really feel this way than what are we even doin'?"
"Simple. Remember? It was your idea. The thing is I feel like you're holdin' on to another deal that I didn't agree to, and now all I can do is let ya down. I don' want to let ya down, Becky."
"You're not lettin' me down because I'm not tryin' make ya love me. Alright? There's nothin' to hold up, this was supposed to be easy and casual, and right now it's neither of those things."
"Becky," he said, he voice horse even though he never raised it.
"Jus' drop it Finn, yeah? I don' need to be with you, if that's what ya think. Okay? I'm not blinded by love for you, and I am certainly not afraid to be the one to walk away."
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah, me too," she turned on her heels and walked back into the house.
Finn didn't even come in to say goodbye, he went around the house and got a cab. He texted her he was home fine, that made her smile at least. He thought of everything. The party started to trickle out, one by one, until Enzo was the last to leave before Becky.
"You want one more round?" Sami asked, offering her a controller.
"Yeah alright," she took it from him, "but I'm rubbish at this game."
"Don't worry about it." He sat down next to her on the couch and started a new game. "Hey, I'm really sorry about earlier, I lost my temper and it was stupid."
"It's alright. I didn' know you guys were close when it happened, I didn' do it to hurt you."
"I know, I was out of line."
"Well, thanks then." She smiled at him and focused on the television screen where she was already behind in the race.
"Are you guys alright? He left pretty suddenly…"
"Yeah, no, we um, I guess you could say we broke up."
"Really? Dammit, now I feel like shit."
"It wasn't that."
"I'll talk to him tomorrow, tell him it was my fault." He put his controller on his lap, looking at her intently as the little figures zoomed past him on the screen.
"Sami, this isn't somethin' you can fix."
"I caused it so I can fix it."
"No, you didn'. An' no, you can't."
"Are you sure this wasn't about us at all?"
"Okay I mean, a little bit."
"See,"
"He was cross that I didn't tell him 'bout it and then he said he wouldn' care if I went ahead and slept with you again so,"
"Ouch,"
"Yeah."
"That' doesn't sound like him."
Becky moved a little uncomfortably in her seat. It wasn't really the full story, but the full story was long and complicated and that was the last thing she needed.
"People say stupid things when they're upset." She pursed her lips.
"I'm sorry. Do you, uh, do you want another drink?"
"Sure, thanks,"
He smiled, brown eyes lighting up a bit, and brought them two open bottles. For a while they sat there in silence, drinking and watching the end screen of the game. Eventually he found the courage to open his mouth again.
"You wanna talk about it?" he asked, looking over at her.
"Sami,"
"I just wanna help, how can I help?"
"You really wanna help?" Becky asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Uh oh, I know that look."
She laughed, tipping her head back.
"I think that's probably a bad idea, Bex,"
"Probably," she shrugged and scooted closer, "But honestly, I could use a little irresponsibleness tonight"
He chuckled, pulling her towards him and positioning her on his lap.
"I know you're upset about what he said,"
"An' you haven't gotten laid in three weeks," she smiled smugly.
"I don't want to know how you know that, but I'm-"
She giggled and twirled his auburn curls in his hair and he sighed, leaning back on the couch.
"Yeah yeah, you know my weakness,"
"Y'know I do," she leaned into his lips and he wrapped his arms around her. "So we're doing this?"
"Yeah, we're doing this."
He put a hand on one of her legs and pulled her to straddle his lap. She tangled her fingers in his curls and his wandered up under her camisole. His hands were soft and timid, but she didn't mind the change of pace. They kissed for a while, groping and rolling against each other, waiting for the other one to green light taking it further. Eventually she'd had enough and pushed him down onto the couch, moving on top of him slowly.
"Bex, you sure you wanna do this?"
"I need this right now, please?"
"Okay," his hands snapped the button of her shorts and slipped them down as she lifted his shirt over his head.
He blushed seeing her again, it had been a while since that tour that had left them in a mess of blankets in a hotel room, giggling and running their hands over each other.
"You're beautiful," he said, kissing her lips.
"You're always too good to me,"
"I'm sleeping with my best friend's ex-girlfriend five seconds after they broke up, I'm really not."
She sighed, "well here's to mistakes."
He chuckled, pulling her down to meet him. "To mistakes."
XXX
Becky was supremely hung over the next morning, rolling her neck as she drank her coffee out of a mug that said "Catfinated" and featured a cartoon cat. She flipped around channels looking for something dumb to keep her mind off of it. Luckily, Sundays were Bride Day on TLC this time of year.
Settling in, she sighed. They'd both known that hooking up like that was a mistake, but in the moment, they just didn't care. It'd be fine, Sami had already texted her saying he had a great time but thought they should probably not do it again. He was a good guy, quick to admit when he was wrong. But they were both in the wrong last night, and she had to admit that.
A knock came at the front door. She groaned, hoping it was just a package, but the knock continued. When she pulled herself off the couch and answered the door, Finn was standing there, with a sheepish smile on his face, and a bouquet of flowers in his hand.
"Finn! What are ya-"
"I acted like a real jerk last night, I'm sorry. Can I come in?"
"Yeah, yeah I guess,"
She opened the door for him and he walked into the kitchen.
"Ya got a vase for these?"
"Uh you might havta improvise," she shifted uncomfortably. "Finn I-"
"Bex, stop, we both said things we're not proud of, things we didn' mean. Let's just split the blame and move on, yeah?
"Okay but-"
"I never meant to make ya feel small, like you're still a fifteen year old chasin' after her trainer. That wasn' my intention and I thought I was fixin' somethin'. I was wrong"
"It's alright it's jus'-"
"You're a strong woman, any fool can see it. Ya don't need me to be your knight in shinin' armor anymore. I've got to start trustin' ya to take care of yourself, I see-"
"FINN!"
He stopped, taken aback by her shouting.
"I slept with Sami. Last night."
"What?"
"After our fight, when everyone left."
"He came on to you?"
"Uh, not really."
"You-" he looked away, slamming the flowers onto her counter. "Un-believable."
"It was just a dumb little mistake, we both knew it."
"Mistake? Mistake. You sleepin' with my best friend is a dumb little mistake?"
"I thought ya didn' care if I when ahead and, what was it? Live my life?"
"Well obviously, I do!"
"That is not my fault."
"We broke things off and you waited what, an hour?"
"We were never even exclusive Finn, remember?"
"Okay, okay, fine. But ya didn' have to pick him of all people."
"We have a lotta history."
"No, WE have a lotta history, him and me. Don' lie to yourself Bex, this was revenge."
"It doesn' matter, it's over. Okay? What were you saying about movin' on?"
"Honestly? I think maybe a break isn't such a bad idea after all."
"Yeah, maybe not."
"I'll see ya at work."
It wasn't until the door slammed behind him that she looked over at the crushed flowers and finally began to cry.