Finn stormed into the locker room Monday morning, knowing who he'd find there.
"Oy." His voice was measured, but it betrayed a little bit of annoyance.
Sami looked over his shoulder, "hey."
"Is there something ya wanna tell me, Sami?"
"Nothing springs to mind," he dismissed, bringing up his foot to the bench to tie his shoe.
"Really? Nothin' about a certain red-head?"
"If you have something to say, man, just say it. The two of you, god," Sami shook his head "you deserve each other."
"Sounded like she told ya exactly what she was thinkin' the other night."
"Not really. Oh don't give me that look."
"I got my heart broken an' you got laid."
"Oh I got used." He spun towards Finn, his voice strained. "I got used and I liked it, is that what you wanna hear?"
Finn sighed and sat down next to him on the bench. "Yeah, I guess that's not really fair to you."
"I don't blame her. Maybe I should, but I don't. I knew who I was dealing with. She's electric, you know?"
He chuckled, "I know. It was still kinda a shit thing to d-"
"Oh come off it!"
"You sorta stole my girl, mate,"
"Well if you wanna get technical here,"
"Alright, alright."
"And also, in case you forgot, over the last ten years, you've swooped in and picked up countless others from me."
"It's really not my fault it takes ya forever to ask to by someone a drink."
"If I had the abs to pull the 'oh it's hot in here, let me use my shirt as a face towel' move, trust me, I would!"
"We are not havin' this conversation."
"Look, I wanted Bex last night and she wanted me. We had a really, really fun night-"
"Hard pass on the details."
"But I don't really see us going anywhere anytime soon. If that's what you're worried about."
"I'm not worried."
"If you say so…"
"I'm not worried, mate. C'mon, we should go."
XXX
They entered the strength and conditioning room to warm up, and Finn caught his breath as he saw Becky on the rowing machine. She caught hers to as she saw the two of them talking together as they walked towards her. Finn nodded, stretching out on the floor behind her. Sami was a little friendlier, hoping on the machine next to her and chatting away. If he was mad, he was hiding it well. The clock hit 5 minutes to 9 and Finn walked off to the training room without waiting for them to finish wiping down their equipment.
"Listen, Sami,"
"It's alright, Bex, really."
"At least let me say I'm sorry."
"Okay, you're sorry. C'mon, we'll be late," he nodded towards the door and they started following the trickle of wrestlers.
"I didn' do it because of what ya mean to him," she said in a low voice now that others were around.
"He thinks you did."
"I know he does,"
"I tend to agree with him."
"But it's not true. I did it because you're you. Ya make me smile when I don' wanna."
Sami chuckled looking down at her. "Yeah well I hope you enjoyed it, because I'm backing off."
"Really?"
"I'm not getting in the middle of that mess, no way."
"Alright."
She smiled at him and joined the other women at their ring for the advanced women's class. Sasha and Bayley were sat on the apron, arguing because one of them had watched Game of Thrones with out the other.
"Hey Bex, you alright?" Charlotte asked as she walked up.
"Yeah, just a rough weekend."
Sasha tilted her head.
"Party at Sami's, too many beers."
XXX
They kept their distance for the rest of the week, she let him have his space, knowing that pushing would only make him angry. She knew it was hurtful, what she had done with Sami that night, but it wasn't like he was innocent too. He'd been a jerk, thinking he ran her universe and acting like if that was even true, which it wasn't but if it was, that somehow that was an unbearable burden for him. Finn broke her heart, she just got laid. Those were not on the same plane.
At the performance center, she sat on one of the couches in the lounge, eating her breakfast before class. Her computer played some tape from the last show, she'd watched it a million times over. She rewound it and played it again, popping a spoonful of Greek yogurt into her mouth. Footsteps came up the stairs, it was still early.
"Oh, hey," Finn flushed when he saw her, "you're here early."
"You're speakin' to me?"
He put his smoothie down on the counter and looked at her.
"Don' do that. Okay?" Don' get pissy with me for tryin' be cordial."
"Jus' sayin' you haven't in about a week."
"Fine. Then we don' have to."
"Fine."
She took another spoonful of her breakfast as the tape played. He sat down at one of the high stools and tried to preoccupy himself. But he was a trainer first, and he couldn't help himself.
"You can get more height on the drop kick," he said quietly.
Her head turned quickly at him. "Sorry?"
"Back it up," he sighed and moved next to her. "There, ya can get higher on the drop kick, I've seen it. Your arc is shorter than it needs to be, if ya push off like you're goin' for a flip, ya can carry your momentum higher."
She looked over at him, unsure of what to say and he met her gaze sheepishly.
"Ya are capable of great things, don't you forget it." He nudged her arm and she shook her head, snapping her laptop closed and standing up. "Sorry, did I offend ya?"
"You're not my trainer anymore, Finn."
"I'll always be your trainer, Bex."
"Don' pull this,"
"Pull what?"
"You know full well that when ya do that it makes me feel like…like-"
"Like what?"
"Like I'm some fifteen year old chasin' after you," she spat the words out.
"Okay I'm gettin' real sick of this. How in the hell is that supposed to be my fault that ya used to-"
"Don't."
"If ya don' want my help, that is fine by me." He got up and stormed out of the lounge.
Becky ran her fingers through her hair. Sami poked his head out of the men's locker room.
"You alright?"
"Yeah. Yeah I'm just peachy."
"I could hear the two of you screaming from in there. You really should be more careful or the whole locker room is gonna know that-"
"Know what?" she snapped.
"Forget it," he said, opening the fridge. "I was just trying to help. Hey is this Enzo's almond milk in here? You think he'll mind?"
She sat at the counter, leaning on her elbows. "Mine's the soy, you can use it."
"Thanks." He picked up the one with her name on it and reached up to a box of cereal.
"What're you doing here so early?"
Sami shrugged, "My developmental deal is shit like everyone else's," he took the seat next to her. "This is a nicer kitchen and a nicer shower, frankly."
"Yeah I feel that."
"So I take it you two haven't kissed and made up?"
"No."
"Sorry."
"What about you?"
"No, I think he's a ways off from forgiving me for that."
"You'll kiss and make up."
"Haha, yeah, in I'm sure. Honestly Bex," he sighed, "I've been thinking about it, and maybe I should just get used to being Finn's sidekick."
"Sam,"
"It's not your fault. I'd probably pick him too."
"Don't say that."
"Why do you think I did what I did the other night? Pulled you onto my lap like we were back in that hotel in Tampa?"
"Because ya hadn't gotten laid in 3 weeks?"
"Actually it was 2, thank you very much. No, it was because apparently I'm a jerk who wanted to know what it would feel like to get the girl for once. So much so that I didn't care that you were using me."
"I didn'-"
"Oh just own in Bex. You wanted to prove to yourself that you don't need him. That you could replace him."
She looked down at the empty yogurt container, "that obvious huh?"
"Let's call it a wash shall we?"
"Deal."
Footsteps started coming up the stairs, it was half past 8, when most of the wrestlers arrived to start their day. Sasha smiled at them as she walked by.
"Heard you had one crazy party this weekend, Sami."
"Ha, I'm not responsible for this one," he looked over at her nervously. "She can handle herself."
XXX
Finn walked into the strength and conditioning room to start warming up when he spotted a brunette ponytail on the elliptical. He set up on the one next to her and she grinned at him, taking down her headphones.
"Hey Finn!"
"How's it goin' Bayley?"
"Really good," she grinned at him, her whole face lighting up. "Hey I've been meaning to ask you,"
"Yeah?"
"Becky's always talking about how much she learned from you. Do you think you could find some time to run through a few moves with me?"
" 'Course I can. What're you doin' tomorrow?"
"Cardio in the morning, but then I'm free."
"Alright, I'll meet ya at 1:00."
"Really? Thanks, I really appreciate it."
He flashed her a toothy smile and focused on his warm up until his watch beeped to tell him it was 5 minutes to.
"We should get goin'," he stepped off the elliptical, nodding for her to walk with him.
"How're you getting along?" she asked, grabbing her water bottle and tightening her ponytail.
"I love it, everyone's been great here," he waved to Cass. "There's alotta camaraderie, I've never really seen that before."
"Must be nice, having Becky around again."
"Yeah, yeah that's nice." He opened the door to the training room for her. "I mean, it's not like we were really friends."
"Oh she just had all these stories about those times..."
"Yeah well, we had a strong relationship, I really cared for her. But it was professional, mentor-mentee sort of thing."
"Oh sure,"
"Made sure we never crossed that line."
"Yeah, of course."
"I jus', you know, don't want people thinkin'…"
"Oh I don't think that Finn. Hitting on teenagers doesn't sound like you."
"Okay," he smiled, "Tomorrow at one?"
"Yeah I'll see you then."
XXX
Finn had found that Saturdays were his favorite. They were quieter, people made their own schedules, with some sticking around after lunch to keep working, and some calling it a day so that they could run errands and have their lives. By 1pm, the training room was nearly empty, they'd close in an hour. Finn was running ropes and working on jumps when Matt wandered over.
"Hey man, you need anything?"
"Nah I'm good," he bounced off a rope into a roll and leaned onto the opposite side. "I'm supposed to be meetin' Bayley soon."
"You guys want help?"
"That's alright, I got it covered."
"Am I any use to you anymore?" Matt teased.
"Don' ya have some rookies to be wranglin'?"
"Yeah yeah. I'll be in my office if you need anything. See ya later, know-it-all."
Finn chuckled and waved as he saw Bayley come through the door.
"How's your cardio trainin'?"
"It's good, I've been trying to build up my stamina. Hopefully there are a few big matches in the near future."
"That's fantastic. What did you want help with?
"Finishers."
"Ah my favorite."
"Everyone's favorite."
"Whatcha got right now?"
"Belly to Belly Suplex. It feels a little simplistic."
"Alright, let's run through it and we'll see."
She rolled under the bottom rope and told him where to stand in the middle of the ring. As she ran towards him, he bent his knees to help her get air as she wrapped her arms around him and slammed him to ground.
"Oof!" she said.
"Sorry, I weigh more than ya used to, huh?"
"Just a little," she laughed. She pulled herself to her feet and offered him a hand. "Here."
"Thanks. So I'm guessin' you normally get a bit more height?"
"Yeah, usually."
"Alright, so I see what ya sayin' about it being simple." He leaned up against the ropes. Looking around he realized they were the last.
"Right?"
"But, simple isn't a bad thing. Ya want it to be somethin' you can execute perfectly ev'ry time ya do it."
"It needs more though,"
"Yeah, I think ya can be more ambitious with the way you swing them up. If ya work with the girls on the sell, you can have them swing their legs too. Like, here, swing your legs up on the lift."
"Okay," she got in place for him to run towards her, and she swung her legs as he lifted her up with a bigger arc. He slammed her to the ground, trying to go easy.
"See what I mean?"
"Yeah, I think I got it. Again?"
"Your turn," he helped her up.
"Ready?" She asked, he nodded and she ran at him again, trying to lift him up higher this time while he swung his legs out. "Better?" she asked as his back hit the mat.
"Yeah loads better. You wanna go again?"
"Most definitely."
"Haha, I see why you and Bex get along so well. Never stop 'till ya get it right?"
She grinned and they ran through it a few more times. His back would be aching tomorrow but it was all a part of the game. Eventually, he made her agree to just one more, it was getting late. But the exhaustion was slowly getting to her. When she grabbed hold of him and lifted him up, she lost her footing and they crashed into the mat. They laughed as they tumbled down.
"Oh-sorry!"
"Haha that's alright," he blinked as he saw stars.
"You okay?" she asked through a laugh, looking down at him, wiggling her arm out behind him.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he smiled up at her and though she tried to hide it, he was pretty certain she was blushing.
Someone cleared their throat from the floor. Finn scrambled up, seeing Becky with an offended look on her face standing in front of the ring. Bayley shook out her arms as she rolled onto her feet.
"Hey guys…" Becky said, her voice suspicious. Looking from one to the other.
"Hey Bex, I was helping Bayely out with her finisher."
"Oh yeah?" her voice was strained, Bayely didn't seem to notice, but Finn did.
"You're right, he's good at what he does," she smiled, rolling out of the ring.
"Don' I know it," her eyes narrowed on Finn and he felt a smug smile come across his face. "Anyway, I'm about to leave, Bay, did you want a ride home?"
"Yep let me just grab my stuff."
"Alright, I'll be here."
"Thanks again, Finn."
"Anytime. You have my number."
Bayley waved at left for the locker room, Becky fixed her eyes on Finn.
"Classy."
"What?" the smirk was painted across his face, he knew it. "You didn' want my help, remember?"
"Yeah but that doesn' mean-"
"That I can' give advice to anyone else?"
"Oh advice, that's what you're tryin' give her?" she scoffed.
"C'mon now, don' be petty."
"I am not petty."
"What about jealous?" he bit his lip lightly. Her face flushed and she looked away, trying to not give it away, but he knew her to well.
"I jus' don' want you usin' my friends to get back at me."
"Like you used Sami?" he crossed his arms.
"That is not the same!"
"Relax, alright? We were trainin' and she slipped. Ask her yourself."
"She's waitin' for me," Becky said, turning on her heel.
"Bye," he called after her, though she didn't respond.