So I'm currently writing Chapter 9 and this story has gotten intense, lol.
Anyway, hope you enjoy Ch. 3! Reviews are always welcome! ;)
May 27: Atlanta, GA
Miz's POV
I arrive in Atlanta just before 5AM. Short drives for shows are my favorite. The hotel near the arena is where I'll be staying in tonight. I check in and get the room key. As I head up in the elevator, so many thoughts are flying in and out of my head. The first one is complete exhaustion—of course, I'm accustomed to it—the other one is getting the chance to see Paige again. I keep shaking the picture of me and her together away. I don't want it to be like that at all. Plus, she's only 21, too young for me taste. It's the magnetism again, I tell myself.
Make friends with her Miz, ONLY FRIENDS.
As I enter my room and close the door behind me, I let go of the bag handle, and plop forward into the clean cushioned mattress. Feels too nice.
I almost drift away at that moment...
Wait.
I turn on my back to access my phone in my front pocket. With my eyes closed I put up to my face to call Maryse.
"Hey...in Atlanta...I'm in my room right now..."
"Hey babe, you just woke me up."
"Glad you had a chance to sleep."
She laughs on the other line, "Okay then, you get your beauty sleep my little baby."
"I will and it will be, awesome."
"Text me later then. Bye babe."
"Bye babe."
End call.
Why am I always forgetting about calling or texting my own wife?
Before I can answer myself, the tiredness takes me away...
• 4 hours later •
My eyes creak open and the sun is shining through my window. I can feel my phone in hand. I raise it up to my face and it's almost 9AM.
Man, I wish I slept longer but the body clock is so used to short night sleeps nowadays. But that was one of the deepest 4 hour sleeps in the longest time. I almost forgot what I was doing or thinking about before I got into the room.
I rub my eyes with my palms and give a yawn.
"Morning Atlanta, home of WrestleMania 27. The most must see pay-per-view EVER."
Yes, I talk to myself. Who doesn't?
I groggily sit up on the edge of the queen sized bed and stare out the window. It's a beautiful day out.
I get up, grab a few things from my bag on the floor, and head to the bathroom to get myself ready.
Paige's POV
It's breakfast time as some of the WWE family are treating themselves to a free breakfast, including me. With a full plate in hand, I walk over to the table Emma's sitting at. She's on her phone as she takes a sip of coffee. I only had a few hours of sleep but it'll do.
"You know, I still don't believe any of the things Miz told you."
The mentioning of Miz just wakes me up a little more.
"It doesn't matter because I believe in them. When he's on-on, he seems like a dickhead, but the real Mike is the sweetest person in the world."
"Mike? You're calling him Mike now, huh?"
"Shut up..." I dig into a blueberry muffin.
"And what do you expect to learn from 'Mike'?" Her air quotations around his name were responded with an eye roll from me.
I chew and swallow before I reply.
"A lot of stuff! Promos are one and two, maybe more psychology. He's been in the WWE longer than the both of us combined, so he's full of information." I take another bite of the muffin.
"Okay, Saraya, you go ahead and have your fun. Just make sure you don't get too comfy with him, he is married y'know."
I almost choke on that bite, but manage to gulp some water to put it down.
"What makes you think I would even try anything like that with him?!"
"Don't like act you don't feel anything for him. I can see right through your blushing cheeks."
Damnit. But I still wouldn't, it'd be so wrong to approach him that way.
"That doesn't mean any of what you're thinking is my motive to learn from him. Of course not, I would NEVER."
"Whatever, it's your call. Speaking of, your teacher just walked out of the elevator behind you."
I swiftly turn to see him head toward the breakfast station.
"What? Are you gonna go up and talk to him?" Emma asks as I return forward.
"No, I'm not. It's just good to see he had some rest is all.."
I continue to eat my food, feeling not so hungry anymore. I'm sensing him watching, the energy is like he's looming over me but I'm pretty sure he already left.
Emma starts with plans for later, seeing as though neither of us know what's happening on Main Event or SmackDown.
She stops in the middle of a sentence and something's off...
"RamPaige!" That same jolt goes through my back again but this time I don't yell, instead I bury my face in my hands and laugh.
Miz grabs a chair from another lone table and sits himself to my left. I can see him munching on a blueberry muffin, like I was. How adorable is that?
"Good morning, ladies. How was your drive here?" He asks to the both of us.
"Smooth sailing! Got here 'round 5:30 or 6 without much stop." Emma responds. She's giving me a look even though she's not looking at me and I know what it reads.
"Good, same here. Ready for Friday night SmackDown?" He takes a bite from the muffin.
"Excuse me, Miz, I'm just gonna go over there and get more coffee."
She stands and begins to leave.
He waves her an 'it's no problem' gesture as he chews. His attention is only on me now.
"Yeah, it'll be great a show. Especially here in Atlanta."
"This city will always have a special place in my heart..."
At the exact moment, we both point to each other and exclaim: "WrestleMania 27!"
Miz gives me a high-five with his food-free hand and we sit there, laughing.
"Alright kid, what do ya say later on when we get to the arena, we train and work a little in the ring before the show starts?" He's on the edge of his seat now, leaning in towards me like he's telling a secret.
I can feel the heat again.
"Wow, I'd love to! That sounds awesome!"
"Then it's a date," he winks.
Please don't do this to me...
Emma returns and sits in her chair across from me so quickly I thought she ran over here.
"Here Miz, I got you a cup. Prepared the Aussie way!" She sets down a mug in front of him.
"Thanks Emma. Here's a toast," he lifts it up to the both of us.
"Here's to...um..."
"Blueberry muffins!" I hold up the remaining half of mine from the plate to him as he flashes a cheeky smile.
"To blueberry muffins!"
We clink our breakfasts together as he sips from the mug and I take another delicious bite.
Friday (Tuesday) Night SmackDown: Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena
Miz's POV
It's 4 hours from show time, 3 from when the doors open for the fans. After breakfast, I decided to get a workout in then take an hour long power nap. It's amazing how my body takes it all in, I feel refreshed. I get to the arena early to train with Paige and hopefully she's not too far from me. I walk in from the side of the stage and see the empty arena's glory. I'm in comfortable shorts and a performance tee instead of my gear, so the feeling is close but not the same. I walk to the ring which has already been set up. The crew is currently preparing the technicalities—lighting, cameras, and titantron work among other things.
As I walk closer, I see Paige already there outside the ring and stretching on the apron. She's in some short-shorts and a tight shirt with her hair up in a ponytail. I can say we're ready to work.
"Hey Paige! Ya ready?" I prop my legs up next hers to stretch.
"Always ready!" She smiles that sweet smile.
She slides into the ring and tests out the ropes while I do a couple more stretches so I'm limber. A few minutes later, I slide into the squared circle myself.
"Alright, you probably know a lot more than I do so I'll shut up and we'll just work. Sound good?"
"Yep, perfect."
"Lock up," I say as we circle each other. And then, we go.
About 20 minutes of random sequences and repeating drills, we were spent.
I haven't wrestled a girl in a while, the frame size was the biggest difference. Other than that, she flowed with an ease that most of the guys could use. I was very impressed, but not surprised. This girl's a gem.
So we lie there in the middle of the ring, catching our breaths. Our bodies were facing opposite directions as our heads were next to each other.
"Good work, Paige. That was top notch right there." I say looking up at the lights which were blinking on and off as it was still being set up.
"Thanks Miz, I appreciate it. You were too."
I turn my head and see the sweat coming from her face, while she's still trying to maintain a normal breathing pattern. She's such a beautiful girl...
Hold yourself there, Miz..
Paige turns her head too, eyes looking down at mine, while I look up at the smooth chocolate-brown orbs staring straight through me. Then, I show my teeth in a goofy smile and she laughs.
I sit myself up and look behind me as she's still lying down. Quickly, I scramble for the cover.
I hook both her legs and shout, "ONE! TWO! THR-" then she kicks out.
She gets to her feet and grabs both of my legs, forming them around her right one, then rolls me over to my stomach. I'm selling the hell out of this move for her, yelling and trying to wriggle out but she has me.
She has me.
Paige hooks both of my elbows and tries to lift my chest from the mat but I'm too heavy for it. Instead, she releases the hold and falls backwards, laughing. Then I stand to grab her legs into a Figure 4 Leg Lock.
"WOOOO!" I yell, moving around like the Nature Boy Ric Flair. Now she's not even trying to fight me because she's laughing too hard.
I put her in the hold and wrench. She sells it for me for a few seconds, mixing her laughter and with shrieks of pain. Realizing how ridiculous she sounds, she taps out.
"DING DING DING! Ring the bell! And your NEWWWW DIVAS CHAMPION, THE MIIIIZZZ!" I stand and announce myself the winner.
As I'm celebrating, all I hear is Paige rolling around in laughter.
"Right here, baby! New Divas Champ! The CHAMP..IS..HERE!" I say to quote an old rival of mine.
Still on the mat, I drop to my knees beside her laughing just as hard as she is.
After we calm down and subside as best as we could, we were back to looking at each other again.
Damn near silence. It wasn't tension, it was anticipation of what we wanted to do next...
STOP. Diverge right now, Miz.
I hold my hand out and let her sit up.
"Alright, the wrestling's good. Now I wanted to focus on your in-ring confidence." I cross my legs, she does the same in front of me, like a student.
"I could use a lot of that."
"Now, wrestling for the WWE is different, as you may know. There's a lot to think about in this ring that doesn't necessarily apply to the Indies style. For example, you can show confidence by slowing down the match and taking control. Well, this is from a heel standpoint but as a face, you can also slow it down by selling the move to where the crowd and everyone watching FEELS your pain before moving on to the next sell..."
I continue my lesson as Paige is sitting with every last bit of attention, solely concentrated on my words.
I let out everything I know about the ins and outs of the performance.
I can tell she's taking mental notes and really understanding it with the questions she was asking.
By the time I finish, they're rushing us back to the locker room to get ready for the show that starts in an hour and a half.
Time flies when you're having fun.
We get to the back and everyone's ready in their gear while we look like a couple of rookies in training. We begin walking to the dressing room area.
"Miz, I just wanted to thank you for this today. I learned a lot that I'm definitely gonna use in the ring."
"It was my pleasure, Paige. Anytime. The next lesson is gonna be all about cutting the perfect promo!"
"Awesome. I can't wait." She smiles again with a sparkle in her eyes.
The locker rooms for Divas and Superstars are right across from each other so we're left standing right in the middle of the hall.
As she's about to open the door, I turn her around and grab her into a safe hug. My arms form around her shoulders and chin resting on the top of her head. I can feel her face dig into my chest as her elbows curl under my arms.
"You're awesome, kid. Keep working hard and keep getting better. I believe in you," I say into her ear.
We part away a few inches as I let her look up at me.
"I will, thanks to you."
The world around us is moving so fast, but Paige is the only one I'm focused on in this moment. Looking down at her angelic face is so tempting, tempting to just take and connect lips right there...but I can't. We both know I can't, no matter how much I want to.
"You've thanked me enough times, I know how much this means to you," I say.
"No Miz, you don't. I'm gonna prove it you. I'm grateful for everything."
I say nothing else after that and just smile in gratitude. As we realize we're still in each other's arms, it's weird but I could really care less if anyone saw or thought otherwise.
I give one more tight hug and decide to land a kiss on her forehead before letting her enter the Divas locker room. Her cheeks flush red.
I sigh a deep sigh and enter the Superstars locker room to get ready for the show.
That feeling? I know what it is now.
I'm in love.
Expect Ch. 4 on Friday/Saturday :)