[Eiley]

OFF CAMERA
Location: Cuzco, Peru.
Date: Thursday, August 3, 2023.
 

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Eiley had been spending a lot of time with Oliver over the past month, since they disembarked from the cruise and he had taken her to his place in Barcelona, which had been every bit of surprising to her. She had not expected him to have shared such an intimate place with her and had been even slightly flattered that he had done so. She was still trying to fight off the nightmares that she had of Dean coming back more pissed than before and sometimes, in her dreams he was a zombie and it was even more frightening than when he wasn’t. She didn’t want to alarm Oliver with the screams that sometimes came with the nightmares, so she tried to sleep at opposite times or if she couldn’t avoid it, she’d pop a couple of sleeping pills to hope for a dreamless, restful sleep.

She sighs as she looks at her phone as she sits in a coffee shop in Cuzco, Peru. She was not sure what Oliver was doing but she looks nervous as she scrolls through her phone, looking to see if any bodies had washed up on the coast of California. It was something that plagued her and she was almost terrified to step back on U.S. ground in case his body had washed up. But so far, nothing had been found and there had not been any bodies washed up from the ocean. But that was not really why she was in the coffee shop at the moment. She had told Oliver she wanted to go for a walk when in reality she was meeting Kaleb. He kept harassing her phone, telling her that he wanted to see her and that he knew that she was going to be in Cuzco, Peru because he had done his research on SCW and where they had gone. She didn’t want to meet Kaleb as she was enjoying whatever it was with Oliver. But she also didn’t want him showing up at the hotel where they were staying, either, so she figured that it was best that they meet at a neutral ground. She glances up as Kaleb finally slides into the chair across from her and she gives him a slightly tense smile.

•EILEY•  “Hi Kaleb…”

Kaleb grins at her before winking as a waitress stops over to take their order. She feels a little fidgety as she watches him as he orders and then she just orders a muffin and a water with a lemon, not feeling like being even more jittery with the caffeine that the coffee would give her.

 ♣KALEB♣  “It’s been a long time, Eils. I was beginning to think that you were avoiding me…”

She masks the guilty feeling with a smile as she sets her phone face down on the table as she tries her best to focus on him.

•EILEY•  “It’s been really busy with the tour being over here in weird countries; I haven’t had the time to fly back to the United States.”

It wasn’t necessarily a lie because she didn’t feel like there was enough time to fly back and forth from the United States to the weird countries that SCW traveled. And she enjoyed the time she got to spend with Oliver.

 ♣KALEB♣  “It seems like it…Jordan, Peru, what’s next? Istanbul?”

He gives her a cheeky grin, letting her know that he was joking and she gives him a forced smile but doesn’t seem laugh. She was not entirely sure where the tour was all going to go and she didn’t really care, that much.

•EILEY•  “Maybe? I am not sure where the tour is going, honestly. But it’s definitely easier to fly from the countries over here than from the US to these smaller countries. And takes up less of my time; I’m not too fond of being trapped on a flying vessel.”

He laughs as if she’s said something hilarious and she just gives him a slightly timid look as the waitress brings over their orders. She grabs her water and takes a long sip from the straw before setting it back down.

 ♣KALEB♣  “And here I thought you were avoiding me…”

The feeling that fills her body is a sense of dread or uneasiness as she watches his face. She had been avoiding him because she knew that he wanted more from her and she wasn’t wanting to give anything more to him. She was wanting to actually ghost him but he was clearly not taking the hint.

•EILEY•  “Nope…just busy, I swear.”

She forces another smile on her face as she takes a piece of her muffin and pops it into her mouth. She looks around the coffee shop and watches a family with a baby before he makes some sort of noise with his throat, drawing her attention back to him.

 ♣KALEB♣  “Then why do I get the feeling that you’re not being entirely truthful with me, hm? I mean, after all the money that I’ve given you, I feel like you can at least be honest with me, Eiley.”

She could feel the hostility in his voice and she feels her blood run cold in her body. It was a tone that Dean had used with her quite often when she had been in his parents house as a foster child. She gives him another smile, trying to force the warmth of the smile to her eyes.

•EILEY•  “I’m not lying, honest. I’m just a little distracted. It’s been a busy, busy month. And I haven’t been able to fly back home since before the cruise, so I’m just kind of existing.”

At least that wasn’t far from the truth, either. For the most part, she was just trying to be alive and exist, not placing much effort into anything. She found if she did so, the panic attacks would come full force and if she were to go out on her own, she had a fear that Dean would be around every corner. So this time, being out and meeting with Kaleb was the first time she had gone out on her own, without Oliver with her. It had almost induced a panic attack when she had stepped out of the hotel on her own but she somehow managed to push past it and head to the coffee shop.

 ♣KALEB♣  “The cruise must have been good to you, Eils. You have that golden, sun kissed look about you. It suits you.”

She gives him an appreciative smile.

•EILEY•  “Thank you…the cruise was good; I spent most of my time in a bikini.”

 ♣KALEB♣  “I bet everybody was staring at you.”

He hadn’t even missed a beat and she looks at him, her eyebrows sort of furrowing together at his words. She was not sure that she liked what he was saying or insinuating but she tries to push it down. This was different behavior from Kaleb that she had not experienced before she left for the cruise and she could not tell where the conversation was headed. But she didn’t like the gross feeling it was giving her.

•EILEY•  “I’m not too friendly with my co-workers, actually.”

She gives him a little shrug as she takes another drink of her water. It wasn’t exactly a lie either but she didn’t feel the need to tell him about Oliver. That was something only for them, not for Kaleb or anybody else to really know about.

 ♣KALEB♣  “That’s a shame, you’re a blast to get to know.”

She once again forces a smile on her face as she watches him take a drink from his coffee, his eyes still on her. She could feel something brewing but she didn’t exactly know where it was headed or what he was trying to get at. Or maybe she was crazy and thought everybody but Oliver was the bad guy now. She takes a deep breath and tries to still the panicky feeling inside of her as she shakes her leg a little under the table, feeling the need to slip back to the hotel room and out of the public’s eye. But she also did not want to bring that type of attention to herself nor give Kaleb the excuse to follow her back.

•EILEY•  “I’m glad you think so.”

It felt different between her and Kaleb and she wasn’t entirely sure why. Before Summer XXXtreme, they had been really close and had gotten along well. But now, it seemed like something had shifted in her absence with him and she didn’t know what it was. It was almost as if he had a secret he was keeping from her and he was wanting her to guess.

 ♣KALEB♣  “Well, we always had fun, didn’t we? On my boat, in my limousine, at the Vegas Knights game…”

He wasn’t wrong because at the time, she had had fun with him and had enjoyed spending time with him. But that was before Dean and before she had killed Dean by pushing him over the railing of the cruise ship. A secret that only she and Oliver knew and she couldn’t tell anybody or let anybody close enough that she’d want to tell.

•EILEY•  “You’re right, that was fun.”

Another forced smile as she agrees with him, not wanting to set off any alarm bells in his head. She watches as he leans back in his chair and looks at her, studying her for a minute before a smile crosses his face.

 ♣KALEB♣  “Is something wrong, Eiley? You seem…different.”

She shakes her head no as she lifts her glass and takes another drink out of the straw. She curses herself quietly in her head as she was aware she had brought attention to herself without wanting to do so.

•EILEY•  “No, not all. Just…thinking, I suppose. I have a match on Sunday and my head is kind of all over the place.”

She wasn’t really worried about facing Mercedes Vargas, figuring that the match would be okay and that she’d come out okay whether she won or lost as the match was not an important one but a throw away one. But Kaleb didn’t really need to know her thoughts about that at the moment. She just needed to keep him focused on anything but her weird behavior.

 ♣KALEB♣  “Ah…for some reason, I always forget that you’re a wrestler.”

He says it with a slight distaste to it as if it was not something that Eiley should be proud of. She lets the annoyance show on her face as she picks at her muffin, her golden eyes looking down at it as he sits across from her.

•EILEY•  “It doesn’t sound like you approve.”

He raises an eyebrow at her words as he taps his fingers on the handle of his coffee mug. She watches him, that uneasiness settling back in the pit of her stomach as he slowly takes a drink from his cup.

 ♣KALEB♣  “It’s not a job that I thought you’d have, honestly.”

She watches him, trying to brace herself for whatever it was he was getting at. She knew that when they had met she was essentially an escort but they had developed some sort of friendship after that for a couple of weeks but now, it seemed like it had fizzled out and it reminded her of why she usually never did repeat customers.

•EILEY•  “What kind of job did you think I’d have?”

He smirks as he looks at her before pulling his phone out for a moment. She watches as he thumbs through something on his phone before he lies it face down on the table.

 ♣KALEB♣  “You and I both know what kind of job you really have, Eiley. Let’s not play dumb because I know that you’re not dumb.”

She just looks at him, feeling annoyed with the words that were coming out of his mouth. She honestly didn’t feel like she should have to deal with whatever crap he was going spew out of his mouth.

•EILEY•  “You’re right, I’m not dumb. But maybe you are because you’re the one that willingly gave me the money. So, what do you really want, Kaleb?”

He chuckles as he turns the phone over and shows her a picture of Oliver that she had tweeted. It was not obvious to everybody that she was the one in the picture with him but Kaleb seemed to know.

 ♣KALEB♣  “Is this who you’re spending all of your time with now, Eiley? Some fuckboy who isn’t going to give two shits about you in a few weeks?”

Eiley just blinks as she looks at him then at his phone, looking at the picture of Oliver and her before looking at Kaleb. He was jealous and now she could read it on his face. It was why his behavior was off and he was not acting like he had before she had gone on the cruise.

•EILEY•  “I do not believe that that is any of your business, Kaleb.”

He just shakes his head before pocketing his phone and looks at her.

 ♣KALEB♣  “Do you think he can provide you the life that I can, Eiley? It doesn’t even look like he’s interested in you like I am. You should be thinking about your future and how it can look if you stick with me. I can show you the finer things in life.”

A frown crosses her face as she realizes where he was going with this and she didn’t like where he was heading with it. She didn’t think it was fair that he was trying to compare himself to Oliver when he didn’t even know Oliver. And she had never once expressed any sort of feelings to Kaleb of wanting to be with him, exclusively.

•EILEY•  “I…uh…what?”

She didn’t know how to respond to him and she stumbled over the words as she looks at him with a bamboozled sort of look on her face. She had never once said anything in his presence that should have made him think that she wanted some sort of future with him. If anything, the only thing she had wanted with him was the fun and the money he provided her. But she didn’t have feelings for him and she didn’t want to be with him long-term.

 ♣KALEB♣  “I thought we both agreed that you are not dumb, Eiley?”

He shakes his head as he looks at her.

 ♣KALEB♣  “This kid that you’ve been hanging around can’t give you the life you want. So I don’t know why you’re wasting your time with him. You should be with me, sticking with me because I can provide you with anything that you want and more. And you can quit this silly job as a wrestler and just do whatever you want at all time.”

She blinks again as if the words he was saying were jumbled up and she didn’t understand where he was coming from. She sighs before finishing her water and setting the glass down, not wanting to come unglued or unhinged in front of him because that would only lead to another fiasco.

•EILEY•  “I don’t think you understand, Kaleb…”

She started off slow, not wanting to set his alarm bells off as she wants to take her time in spelling it out for him.

•EILEY•  “You and I? We weren’t exclusive, I never said that I wanted to be your girlfriend or that I saw a future with you. And even if I did or had, I wouldn’t quit my job as a wrestler because it is something that I enjoy. And you don’t get to take my joy away from me; I’ve had plenty of other horrible people do that.”

She stands up and adjusts her leopard print skirt that she had paired with a black tank top. Kaleb frowns a little bit.

•EILEY•  “And you don’t get to talk to me about him because you don’t know him. And you don’t know what he wants or how he feels. You do not even know his name.”

She goes to say something but he stops her by holding a hand up.

 ♣KALEB♣  “Oliver Zahn. That’s his name.”

She is speechless for a moment but she’s quick to recover as she looks at him. She can see the look of amusement on his face.

•EILEY•  “Okay, so you know his name. But that doesn’t mean that you know him. And you know nothing about the life that I want for myself and I hate people telling me that they know what I want when I do not even know what I want. So go back home, Kaleb…”

She throws some money on the table, giving him a slightly icy look.

•EILEY•  “Because whatever this is?”

She gestures between the two of them with her right hand and gives him a disgusted look.

•EILEY•  “Is done and over with. Because I will not continue to be around somebody who only views me as a trophy or something pretty to look at.”

She doesn’t give him any time to respond as she walks out of the coffee shop. She freezes momentarily, remembering that she was not in her normal bubble and has to think for a moment. She hesitates before turning to the left to head back to the hotel where she and Oliver were staying. She shakes her head, mumbling to herself about the audacity that Kaleb had and she doesn’t seem to care if he watches her leave or takes note of where she was going. She just wanted to get back to her hotel room and be able to breathe without that panicky feeling setlting in the pit of her stomach. She wanted to go back to her little land of normal.

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ON CAMERA
Location: Cuzco, Peru.
Date: Friday, August 4, 2023

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“Before we get this started, I am just going to say that I cannot wait to go back to normal where the locations are not in some weird corner of the world. Normalcy has never been something I craved but after going to weird countries with weird rules, normalcy seems a bit nice. Compared to the last country I competed in with the weird laws, Las Vegas seems like heaven.

But this is not what we’re here for. We’re here because I’m booked in a match against SCW’s oldest dinosaur, Mercedes Vargas. Some people might view her as a relic, but I personally much prefer the comparison to a dinosaur because how long has it been since she actually won a match that really matters? Not that this match matters for anything, anyways. Win or lose, I really do not care. But it’s one more match closer to the end of this silly tour.

Mercedes has done so much in this company that it’s hard to encompass exactly what she is to this company but I feel like she’s highly overrated. She hasn’t a clue that nobody really cares that she’s around anymore because she’s too old and stale and she’s taking up valuable space on the roster. I am pretty sure the fans use her little spots on the show as a bathroom break and her matches as a food break as well.

I know, I know, what do I know? I’m new to the scene, not even a full year into SCW and I don’t have as many matches under my belt but I do believe that I will know when it’s my time to retire and hang my boots up. But I don’t think Mercedes has any of that figured out. And sure, she’s somewhat important to the company as a person who is good at getting news out and promoting events but, do they really need such a dinosaur in the ring?

And I know that Mercedes will have some sort of comparison about me and Mikah and I’m sure it won’t be a pleasant one and it won’t be something that I haven’t heard before. Because that’s all my opponents ever have to say about me. That I’m not going to be as good as she was or that she’s not a person that I should want to be. Or as Sam Marlowe had said something about how I shouldn’t want to be compared to her. But you know what’s funny? I am not Courtney Pierce. I don’t think being compared to Mikah is a bad thing because she is considered to be one of the best Bombshells of all time in this company.

But I know that she never really receives the respect she deserves, so let’s not dwell on Mikah because she’s thousands and thousands of miles away and she’s not the person I am booked against. But she will be something that Mercedes talks about repetitively and drones on and on about it. And some other facts that nobody really gives a shit about anymore. Stuff about her record and maybe something about how she was a part of the Mean Girls stable. And blah, blah, blah.

I really do not know why she is so…well talked about in this company. Because I try my hardest to pay attention to anything she says but it’s so boring that I just fall asleep and sometimes, the nap is better than whatever’s coming out of her mouth. It’s not something I’m proud of but I just want to be able to fast forward in real time to get through her shit because I just do not like being bored to death.

But enough about how boring she is or how many times she will mention her record or how many times she will compare me to Mikah. That stuff isn’t going to be what helps me win on Sunday or to be well prepared for the match. Because I know that she is a force to be reckoned with in the ring and that she knows her way around the six-sided ring. I am not trying to take away what she can do in the ring because her record shows that she can show up in the ring when she wants to. But I’m not going to take away my own ability in the ring, either. I might be new and not as experienced in the ring as she is, but I am half of the mixed tag team champions and that has to count for something. Actually, I’m going to state that it counts for more than something because it means I at least have a championship currently. That’s not something that Mercedes Vargas can say.

People have already started to discredit Oz and I’s championship reign and have already put the stirrings out there that we are just transitional champions until we face Ben and Sam at Violent Conduct. Everybody is already saying that they’re going to win and I’m pretty sure they’ve already started rolling out the merchandise to support the two. And I can say that people are already trying to discredit me as a competitor because I’m new to the scene but I only have one true loss if you do not count the Blast From the Past match. And while I am still relatively new to SCW, I still have a lot more already going for me than some of the others who have been here longer.

Mercedes is a dinosaur and she should have been retired ages ago. And I’m going to prove just that on Sunday because I’m young and agile, ready to go. And I’m trained by the one Bombshell that she has never beat one on one. It will almost be as if she’s losing another match to her on Sunday.

I wish I had better things to say and wish that I could say that I am looking forward to Sunday, but this match is nothing. It means absolutely nothing and is just a filler match that they used to put on the card. But I guess I’ll show up and do my job because that’s what I am supposed to do. But this match receives no feelings on my end. I do not care about it nor do I care about Mercedes Vargas, the SCW dinosaur. What I do care about is my championship that I have with Oliver Zahn; that’s what’s important to me, nothing more, nothing less. And once this match with Mercedes is done, I can focus on how Oliver and I need to work together as a team to continue on our winning streak and to prove to everybody else that we are not just transitional champions and that we are here to stay.

And even if I lose on Sunday, it does not matter. Because losing to SCW’s dinosaur means absolutely nothing because nobody thinks about Mercedes that much. She’s struggling to stay relevant, grasping at straws to make her name be out there more. And while she is SCW’s walking record book, she does have my record wrong. I have only lost one mixed tag team match and that was the Blast From the Past match in the opening round. And I lost to that one chick that I don’t give a fuck about in a singles match. But I have not lost two mixed tag matches since signing my SCW contract. So, the dinosaur did get something wrong in her little facts she likes to spout off about. That is something everybody should be surprised about because she is known not to be wrong but I know the matches I’ve lost and I know that I have only lost one mixed tag match, not two like she claims.

But then again, as many times as her face and head have been slammed into the mat, I cannot blame her for forgetting some facts. Concussions and amnesia often go hand in hand and definitely effect the brain in ways even doctors cannot understand.

But there’s not much time left before Sunday when we meet in that six sided ring. And whatever we say isn’t going to matter. But I’m bound and determined to prove that you are just a dinosaur that is not as agile in the ring as you once were, Mercedes. So you better come prepared and you better take all of your vitamins from now until Sunday so that you don’t break a bone or pull a muscle, because you’re going to have to learn how to keep up with somebody who’s a lot younger than you.

See you Sunday.

Ciao.”

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