Raquel had one of her big, infectious smiles on her face when she came out of the locker room. WWE presented her on-screen as a mean-faced savage who often destroyed her opponents with powerful moves that the other women could only dream of being able to perform. But in reality, Raquel was a kind, funny person to be around. The difference was stark, which made Jay admire the ability with which she played her character.
"Hi, Jay," she said happily. "I had a look around for you earlier. How are you doing?"
"Doing really good," Jay said with a smile of his own, and he wasn't exaggerating. "Wanted to ask you about something. Coffee?"
"Sure. But before we do that, can we find somewhere with a bit of space, and can you take some pictures of me? I just got this new ring attire yesterday and I want some pics for my Insta."
After his talk with Erin over breakfast, during which they had begun to get to know each, Jay had decided to spend time on his flight out to the show looking up tips for forming relationships with people. He knew full well that he needed big time help with that. He had felt so awkward trying to talk to Erin that he had been left wondering what was wrong with him. The truth was, Erin had done most of the meaningful talking, raising no objection to his lack of conversational skills now that she knew reason behind the problem. Or at least, the basics of it.
The big take away he had gotten from his reading was that asking people questions and showing interest in what they had to say was a great way to connect with them. It wasn't going to be easy for him to do that, but he figured there was going to be no better time to start. He realised that although he had become friends with Raquel, he knew pretty much nothing about her outside of wrestling and her relationship with Zelina. They hadn't talked about much else. He wanted to change that.
He would have been in the same situation with Erin, barely knowing anything about her, if she hadn't spent time over breakfast telling him about her rather bizarre childhood, growing up in a mansion with a nanny, a housekeeper, a dad who was hardly ever there, and when he was he'd had wrestlers at the house as guests. The whole thing had sounded crazy and not too pleasant, but it was nowhere near as bad as his own childhood, as she now knew.
"So, what do you think?" Raquel asked, handing Jay her phone to take the pictures and giving him a twirl to show off her ring attire.
He shrugged off his thoughts and paid attention to his friend. She was wearing a sleeveless black top with silver detailing that left most of her back exposed. With it she had on matching black pants, also with silver detailing. The look suited her, and being sleeveless left her muscular arms on show. Her height and power made her stand out compared to the other women, so in his opinion she was right to show off what she had.
"It is good attire. The style suits you, and I like the black and silver," he said, hoping he didn't sound as awkward as he felt. Compliments didn't come naturally to him either.
"Thank you," Raquel said cheerfully. "Just get a couple of pictures, front and back. Then we can go get that coffee and you can ask me whatever you wanted to ask me. Hey, you're good, right?" she asked with sudden concern.
"I'm great," he assured her. It was the right word to use, too. Actually, he couldn't remember the last time he had felt so happy and positive about the future, at least outside of his wrestling career. In the past, that had been the only thing he lived for. Now he saw that he might have other reasons.
"That's good. Take a picture before the phone locks itself."
"Shit," Jay muttered, checking that the phone's camera was still on. It was. He raised it as Raquel posed, standing with her hands on her hips and a fearsome look on her face, now in-character.
"Badass," he said as he took the picture.
Raquel turned around and raised both her arms, clenching her biceps as well as her traps and lats.
"What a beat," he said, taking the second photo. Then he realised that might not exactly be seen as a compliment by a woman. "I mean, you're in amazing shape."
She laughed at him as she took her phone back. "I know what you meant. And anyway, I like being a beast in the ring. I'll post those photos later, thanks. So, coffee?"
"Let's do it. But can we find somewhere private? I don't want to have this conversation with all the background chatter and people trying to sit at our table every two minutes."
"I hear you. I'm sure we can find an empty room somewhere."
Five minutes later, they had done exactly that.
"This will do," Jay said after opening a door to a small dressing room that no one was using. They went in and sat down next to each other on a couple of steel folding chairs that had been left in there.
"Right then, what's up?" Raquel asked once they were settled in.
"I, uh, need to tell you something in confidence," he began.
"Of course. I won't say anything to anyone. This about you and Erin?"
Jay took a sip of his hot coffee, for confidence as much as anything else. "Yeah, it is. We, uh... It looks like we might be giving a relationship a shot. She was about to break things off because she thought I wasn't serious about her, but then I told her something very personal about my childhood. Talking about it upset me, and she reacted well to that. She realised I would only talk about that to someone I was very serious about, and that what she thought was a lack of interest was actually me being unused to having meaningful conversations with people. The fact that I told her what I told her seemed to mean a lot to her."
"Of course it did," Raquel said, her tone compassionate after his mention of childhood problems. He supposed it didn't take much to figure out the kind of thing he meant, and she didn't push for information. "Sounds like you opened up your heart to her. I'd be worried if that didn't mean a lot to her. I'm glad you were able to do that, and I hope things develop for you guys. You're both good people."
"Thank you. That means a lot to me," he said honestly. People saying kind things to him made him feel weird, like he didn't deserve it somehow. "I hope we can make it work too. I definitely want to. What I wanted to ask you about is something I'm struggling with. What's my next step? I mean, how do I move things forward? Because, like I said, I'm so bad at anything to do with interacting with people. On the way down here I was reading tips on how to build relationships for God's sake."
Raquel drank some of her coffee while considering that. "Absolutely continue with the personal growth reading. There's no shame in trying to better yourself. There are some really good books you can buy on that subject. If you like, we can look through some online later. But as far as your question? My advice is do not overthink it. That's the worst thing you can do. Don't try to plan what you're going to say and do ahead of time. Just spend time with Erin, as much time as you can. Take her on dates. Go to the movies. Walk on a beach. Sit by a fire and talk. Sit on the couch in each other's arms. Do whatever makes you both happy. And most importantly, when you spend time with her make sure you be yourself, always."
Her words put wonderful images and imaginary scenarios into Jay's head. But as ever, his mind conjured up a problem straight away. "What if I be myself and she doesn't like me?"
"Then she's not the one for you," Raquel said simply.
"That's it? That's all the advice?"
"You asked what the next step should be. That's what I think it should be. Invite her to your place next week or something."
Jay felt horrified. "My place? I can't invite Erin Voight to my apartment. It's a nice place any everything, I just haven't looked after it all that well. And, well, imagine what her house must be like."
"So clean it up. If you're going to date her, she's going to expect to go to where you live."
"I guess you're right," he admitted. "I'll take your advice. Thanks, Raquel. It's a big help to have someone to talk to."
"No problem. Let me know how it goes."
Jay downed some of his coffee. He figured it was time to change subject and try out the whole asking questions thing. "Will do. So, I was thinking earlier that I don't know much about you yet, outside of this place anyway. What did you do before WWE?"
She leaned back on her chair and smiled at him, probably understanding that the question came because of the reading he had been doing earlier. "You picked a good question, man. I was an army combat diver."
That surprised him to say the least. "You were a what?"
"An army combat diver."
"What does one of those do? I mean, apart from diving obviously."
"Anything from ship repairs to covert ops. I can't talk about anything specific."
"But you've killed people?" he asked hesitantly.
"What do you think?" Her face was expressionless all of a sudden.
Jay pictured Raquel coming out of the water at him, armed with a big combat knife and intent on taking him out. She didn't just look like a badass, she genuinely was one. However there was one thing he didn't understand.
"How am I only finding out about this now? Hank loves to tell the audience when people in WWE have served. Thank you for your service by the way."
She nodded in acceptance of his gratitude. "I asked him not to, ever. Those days are in the past, and that's where they can stay. I want my wrestling career to stand on its own merits."
Jay liked that answer. "Good for you. So how did you get into wrestling?"
They talked for about fifteen minutes as Raquel told him all about her journey from the end of her army career to WWE's main roster. Jay thought he did pretty well at engaging, by his standards at least.
"Right, I'm going to get back to the locker room," Raquel said, getting up. "Still need to go over my match with Hailey Upton. Thanks for this talk though, Jay. I enjoyed it."
"Me too," he said, also standing. "I'll look forward to the next one. And when I see Erin on Sunday at the Royal Rumble, I'll keep your advice in mind. Be myself."
Raquel nodded, confirming the message. "Be yourself. And next time we do this, I want to know your story about how you got into wrestling."
"Right," he replied, although inside the thought of talking the way Raquel had just done, even about wrestling, worried him greatly. And that wasn't the toughest thing that lay ahead of him.
Being himself, his true self, around Erin was not going to be easy. Not at all. But for her, he would do his best. She was worth the effort.
A/N: The friendship between Jay and Raquel grows every time they talk. What did you make of her advice to him? And what did you make of her background?
How do you think Jay will handle his next encounter with Erin? And what do you think will happen in the Royal Rumble match that she is featuring in?
