A new girl in town
Chapter 13
Sammy/Taker
"How do you like Kayla?" Sammy asked once they were on the road.
"I think she's a pain in the ass." Taker replied.
"Why would you think that?" Sammy asked.
"Because she's everywhere getting into people's shit." Taker said. "Did I tell you she was discussing illegal drugs with Kane."
"No but he's a adult." Sammy said. "And you've said yourself that he's be way to sheltered from the real world."
"Yeah but Drugs. She doesn't even know him and she's telling him about drugs." Taker said sounding a bit pissed.
"He probably asked." Sammy said.
"That's what she said. But it's no excuse." Taker replied.
"Taker he's an adult if he were anyone else he'd already know this stuff." Sammy said. "But he's not he's your brother."
Taker growled in aggravation.
"That's the problem isn't it?" Sammy suddenly said. "You only remember him as a little kid. You're trying to protect him."
"NO." Taker said. Then he turned on the radio loud.
I guess he doesn't want to talk about it anymore. Sammy thought.
Kayla/J.J./Kane
Kayla sat silently in the back of the SUV. The conversation they'd been having had come to a natural conclusion some time ago and now she was officially bored.
She hated being stuck back here. Closed vehicles didn't move like her bike. She couldn't feel their power purring beneath her; she couldn't feel the wind as it roared all around her and whipped through her clothing.
This vehicle made her feel like she was moving in quick sand.
She sighed and tried to curl in to her hoody but it didn't make her feel any better.
She loathed silence. How had Kane been able to stand it for so long? She wondered.
This traveling thing was all Cassie, not her. She loved New York City. Thinking about being stuck in the back of endless vehicles just like this one or airplanes made her want to scream.
Fuck it; my bike is still here. She thought. I could jump out right this second, jump on it and just drive off in to the sunset or whatever. Nothing is compelling me to stick this out. No one has a gun to my head screaming orders at me to stay.
But she knew that she wouldn't leave. She'd never been a quitter. Just because Kane's brother hated her, no one knew that she was trans, Kane and J.J. had just found out in the most awkward way possible that she was poly. . .
She lost her train of thought mid - stream. She tried to grab ahold of the threads again but they slipped through her mental fingertips like soap bubbles on the air.
Fuck everything. She thought. Leaning back against the seat, she closed her eyes and wished for sleep.
Kane watched her in the rearview for a while.
She seems restless. He thought. Maybe we should pull over and let her stretch her legs. But how do I let J.J. know without telling Kayla too?
Kane touched J.J.'s leg then nodded backward indicating Kayla and made a walking motion with his fingers. He saw understanding flood J.J.'s eyes and brief smile.
J.J. pulled off at the next exit and into a rest area.
"What's up, J.J.?" Kayla asked as she felt the SUV stop. She opened her eyes and looked around but there was nothing distinctive about where they were.
"Nothing we just wanted to stretch our legs and switch drivers." J.J. said glancing at Kane as she handed him the keys.
Kane began stretching a bit trying to work the kinks out of his back and legs.
Even in an SUV I feel squished in. Kane thought.
"No problem." J.J. said.
Kane headed to the back after stretching to check the straps on the bike.
Still good. He thought there shouldn't be any problem.
Kayla got out of the SUV and stretched. Her back popped audibly and she gave a slight wince. Then she walked a fair distance from the car, pulling out her lighter and cigarrettes as she moved. She had barely come to a stop before she was lighting up and taking the first puff.
She paced as she smoked.
May as well move while I can. She thought. God knows I won't be able to when I'm back in hell.
Her boots helped fill the oppressive silence but this did not lift` her mood.
As she began to smoke her fourth cigarette, Kayla realized that this wasn't working.
What the fuck? She thought and smoked faster. But it was no use. It looked like even the vice she'd had since she was 15 years old couldn't even help her now.
What's it going to take, huh? She wondered in frustration.
Am I going to have to be fucked up, super fucked up or best of all words can't describe it fucked up - otherwise known as 'I can no longer function' fucked up?
I am beyond fucked. She thought. Out of habit, she smoked the cigarette down to the filter, and then she hastily butted it out beneath a boot and headed back to the SUV and hours more of hell.
J.J. and Kane headed back when she did.
J.J. laughed as Kane moved the seat back before he got in.
"Oh you remembered and here I was hoping to see you try to squish in." J.J. laughed.
"It's not funny." Kane said laughing.
"Oh yeah it is." J.J. said.
Kayla let the antics of the couple in front of her wash over her but she didn't obsorve any of their good natured teasing. Instead she returned to her thoughts.
Fuck, I need drugs. Lots and lots of drugs. She thought.
Maybe I should give E another shot. She thought. I wonder if Cena knows anyone who deals it.
Stranger shit has happened. She said to herself. Hell, he surprised me last night when he offered to smoke up with me any time I wanted.
If I can't find any E, shrooms aren't a bad substitute. She decided. Hell, why not just down all of those Vicodin I got last night? That could be one good party.
Yeah, if you want`` to end up dead.
The thought dragged her out of her preoccupation with drugs.
That's exactly what you need, girl: a drug problem to add to the shit show that's become your life.
How does Tye do it? She wondered.
When he's playing in Europe, Amsterdam's just a plane ride away and he can definitely afford it. Instead, he's clean - practically a boy scout.
As her thoughts wandered to her brother, the familiar feeling of homesickness gripped her. She hadn't seen him in months and he was still only about halfway through the season. The earliest she could hope to see him was sometime in April. She sighed and her feeling of loneliness grew.
J.J. looked into the back seat and watched the play of emotions on Kayla's face.
It's going from wistful about something to is that loneliness? Wow we need to get her talking. J.J. thought.
"So tell me some more about your friends." J.J. said. Then she wished she hadn't when she saw the loneliness get worse for a moment.
She's homesick. J.J. realized.
Kayla looked at J.J.
"Uh, what else do you want to know?" she asked.
"V's a medical secretary; I think I forgot to mention that," she said.
"She works for Wade's psychiatrist," she added.
"Oh." J.J. said. Wade has a psychiatrist? J.J. thought. I wonder if Kayla does too knowing the things I know about her. She must have had it tough.
"Anything you want to tell us about them you look like you're a little homesick and I thought it might help if you told us about them." J.J. said. "But you don't have to if it is going to make you upset." J.J. added.
"It's not just that," Kayla admitted.
How much should I tell them? She wondered.
I know I joke that I have no secrets but this shit is still so ridiculously hard to talk about.
"It's my brother, too," she continued.
"I haven't seen him since September and I probably won't see him again until sometime in April at the earliest," she said.
Then, before she could lose her nerve, she said.
"I guess it's being here too. I keep asking myself what the fuck I'm doing here."
"I feel like no one is ever going to get me or try to understand where I'm coming from."
"I get that some of it is out of the norm like the poly thing, but. . .fuck, I don't know, you guys!" she finished, sounding like she was right on the edge of losing it completely.
"All of that can be stressful hun. Of course you miss them all. You haven't been here that long. You'll get to know people and it won't be so hard. Hell the only reason I know anyone besides Kane and Taker is because I hid out as ring crew and a gofer for nearly three months getting the lay of the land so I could get candid shots." J.J. said. "Then there is the photographers we're a strange bunch always seeing things through a lens."
"Kane, your brother already thinks I'm the devil. If he finds out, he'll make sure I can't get anywhere near y. . .and maybe he's right.
Kayla nodded.
"I'm patience deficient," Kayla said.
The girls and Wade are always joking that if they measured my patience against that of a saint, I'd be the devil," she added.
Might as well lay it all out. there. She thought.
"Kane, your brother already thinks I'm the devil. If he finds out, he'll make sure I can't get anywhere near y. . .and maybe he's right.
"I've been an awful influence on you and we just met. If you give me enough time, god only knows what's going to happen.
I'm an idiot and I can't stop fucking up and just fuck, I'm so fucking sorry, okay?" Kayla whimpered as hot, salty tears ran down her face.
"It's ok Kayla you're not a fuck up. Taker's just being Taker." J.J. said. "He's well he'.. " J.J. said trailing off.
"Kayla," Kane said from behind the wheel. "You're going to be fine. You'll get used to being on the road and you're not a bad influence."
"I am literally the worst god damn person ever," Kayla groaned, not believing a word that Kane was saying.
"You're just nice. Too damn nice. Of course you'd say that," she added.
"But your brother clearly knows what kind of awful person I am and he's right," she finished as her tears continued to flow and her shoulders shook.
"Kayla I don't say things I don't mean." Kane said seriously. "I keep my mouth shut or I tell the truth."
"Kayla. You are a good person. You'll get used to us and to the road. I did." Kane said.
Hehe, no worries.
Kayla shrugged.
"If you say so, master Jedi," she quipped.
"God, that was fucking terrible. Wade would mock me in to next week for how awful that was and for how off my game I am," she added.
"Kayla I was raised in a basement with no contact with the outside world. I never thought I'd leave. Then I was brought on the road. I never thought I'd get used to all the people and traveling. I was culture shocked you might say. I had father but he really wasn't any help. I had to deal with it all alone. If I can do it you can." Kane said.
Wow I've never realized how shocking it was to him to come out on the road with Paul. J.J. thought.
"And what exactly is a Jedi?" Kane asked.
Kane's words jerked Kayla out of her self-pity.
For a moment, she didn't say anything.
T. . .makes so much sense," she said musingly.
"I don't mean to make you feel like I'm. . .I don't know, studying you or something. But I think I get it now and I'm sorry if I've, you know, pushed you to hard out of your comfort zone or been an asshole or whatever," she added.
"You're not an 'Asshole' that's Hunter." Kane said.
"But really what's a Jedi?" Kane asked intentionally trying to break her mood.
He's trying to make her laugh. J.J. realized.
"Uh. it's another Star Wars thing," Kayla said.
If he won't let me beat myself up any more than I guess I'll play along. She thought.
"Jedi are the good guys who train kids to fill that role. They work with something called the light side of the force. It gives them pretty ridiculous powers, especially the bad guys.
"The bad guys are the Sith. They, naturally use the dark side of the force. Quite a few of them can shoot lightning out of their hands; it's pretty neat to watch," Kayla said, hoping that she hadn't missed anything.
"If I'm a Jedi master that would make you my student." Kane laughed. "Since we are trying to teach you the ropes."
"Yeah." J.J. said laughing. "Don't go to the dark side."
"I guess that would make Taker a Sith because he can shoot lightning bolts out his of his hands." Kane continued.
"If you're fucking with me right now it is so on." Kayla said laughing.
"He's got that ability yes." Kane said. "Just as i have the ability to call fire."
"NO." Kane said. "It is true."
"He used to light the ring posts up on his own. But they wanted a bigger explosion so they added pyro but Kane sets it off." J.J. said. "Taker hasn't really done the lightening thing for a little while but yes he can do it."
"Oh my god. Comic book," Kayla said. "But I'm missing a kick ass outfit," she added.
"Am I right to assume a comic book is a book written about people with special abilities?" Kane asked.
"Yeah, you got it," Kayla said with a smile.
"Good." Kane said.