Chapter 20: Ruined by time
Airports.
I hate them. I think it’s something I share with the general public. One of the very very few things I share. Every step toward the exit makes me feel better. Knowing I’d be away from all these people. Travelling, moving fast, stressed. We are all the aame. And I suppose, that’s why I hate it. Under stress you see peoples true faces. Mothers yell at children, fathers groan and threaten. Single people act as selfish as you’d expect. Stress and travel, the great erqual;iser that reduces us all to base animals of anger and frustration.
It causes the masks to slip.
But, for some reason I don’t change. I guess that says more about me than anything else.
The one thing that made me smile was that I was going to see Finn, he was always there, to pick me up from the airport. I refused to stay with the rest of SCW, refused to stay there and suffer in a stupid tent. So, I went home. I flew all the way back and I was excited to see him. Admittedly, my skin crawled thinking about Emily. The little blonde bitch. It almost washed away, feeling the cool spring air.
I loved this time in New York, it was a welcome reprieve between the icy roads and snow of winter and the steamy boiling hot summer sidewalk.
Moving out od the terminal I looked over seeing Finn, leaning against the hood of his car my heart slightly lifted. He was alone. The little blond twit was nowhere to be seen. He grabbed my bag, tossing it into the boot before we went off. We talked the entire way back about the show, my victory and what was next. But quickly the conversation turned more personal in nature. To my nagging injuries I worked through and my own feelings about it. The usual really.
But as we got home, the conversation turned to something else. Something I had done my best to ignore heading into this time of year.
”So, Tasmin and Dickie were talking to me last week.” I gave a small nod, popping a piece of chicken into my mouth as Finn sat back at the kitchen bench. ”Tasmin reminded me your birthday was coming up in May…..I came up with the idea of a Birthday bach, but Tasmin very quickly shot it down…” I swallowed and sat back, my shoulders slumped. ”It occurred to me that last year we didn’t celebrate and you didn’t even mention it…”
I knew where this was going. I sighed heavily and shook my head sitting forward. ”I don’t really celebrate it. I haven’t for a very very long time…last time I remember enjoying it was when I was when I was seven…”. There was silence. Finn gave a small nod and waited patient;y for more. A reason why. A story. I needed a minute.
”If you don’t want to tell me why, you don’t have to.”
I laughed to myself and groaned as I sat forward. ”The day before my eighth birthday, it’s when Jax left.” I clasped my hands together, remembering that day, everything from what I had for breakfast to the smell of the burning fuel coming from the trucks that drove out of the dept near our home. ”Since then, I just….I don’t like to celebrate it….”
Finn leaned forward and tapped his fingers on the marble countertop. He looked up and smirked, that boyish grin of his that drove more women wild, and did certain things to me that would be X-rated if I were to mention them. ”So, why don’t we change the feeling you get? You had a bad experience, I get it, I really do. But what if we threw a party here. Food, drinks, people you like….” He paused a moment. ”....tolerated…”
I chuckled and shook my head pushing from the counter to my feet. ”I don’t like parties as it is. And to be honest, getting another year older and closer to death isn’t really worth celebrating…”
”It’s not about that, it’s about celebrating the life you’ve lived and letting those around you appreciate you…”
He trailed off, I knew what he was doing, and it was sweet. ”Let’s be honest here, I don’t think many people would want to appreciate me. And I’m cool with it. I am. I keep people at arms length for a reason.
Finn got up, moving around the counter to come face to face with me. Or atleast face to chest. Finn towered over me, his six foot four frame standing strong as his hands reached out, grabbing me by the shoulders as he forced me to look at him. ”Can’t you stop being a gloomy bitch?” I scoffed, he continued. ”Your sisters would do it, they appreciate you. Kallie likes you-”
”Kallie likes everyone, she’s like a fucking puppy…” I interrupted, Finn frowned and narrowed his eyes.
”Thats not exactly true and besides…” He took a deep breath, his arms dropped. ”I appreciate you. And I kind of would liike to celebrate the day you were born….” He smiled slowly. I looked down and away as tbhe silence became deafening.
I looked up through my long black hair and sighed. ”The last time you and I were at a party together didn’t go so well…did it?” He looked at me with a little bit of confusion in his eyes. I shrugged and stepped back. ”No parties Finn…please?” I opened my eyes wide, pleading witbh him. He took a deep breath and gave me a securing nod.
”Fine, no parties…I promise…”
I swallowed and smiled, a wave of relief washing over me as Finns phone went off, he picked it up and looked at me, I gave him a smile and turned as he picked up. I moved out of the kitchen, walking through the small archway before something caught my eye. Emily. ”The hell were you doing?”
She tutted and shook her head moving passed me into the kitchen to see Finn ”Nothing, nothing at all…”
She smiled at me, the look in her eye made my stomach turn, I felt uneasy and I had no idea why. I watched them for a moment, Emilys hand coming to rest on Finns back as he hung up the phone, she looked over his shoulder, seeing me staring. She leaned up and gave him a kiss, I couldn’t hide my resentment, I let the mask slip and ground my teeth together before storming off. I was now in a worse mood…
An aging legend.
She takes in a sharp breath, inhaling as she looks around at the general public. Standing on the bank of the river themes as London Bridge sits ominously and proud in the background. The breeze bhits her face as she closes her eyes and takes in the air.
”Home…”
Kayla smiles, an English native she was back in her home country. She smiled and shook her bead before turning back to the camera.
”I grew up a two and a half hour drive away. You head on the M11 and head North and get to Norwich and there you are. But, I remember being a kid, I’d come into London with my older sister Amber, we would take the train and walk around before coming home late only to get yelled at for being out after dark. But nine years ago, at the age of 18 I left, I followed my dreams. But now, being back here, feeling that air and seeing all the people. Well…”
“It made me realize just how lucky I am to have gotten out of this shithole of a country…”
“Seriously. The weather, the food the lack of any real social decorum. It’s amazing to me how the Americans think we’re all so civilized and polite. But really, being in London makes me miss New York. However, I am being forced to be here. Forced to compete in my home country. Punished even. And why? Well, it’s simple, a few weeks ago I had my rematch for the Internet championship. And I have to be honest…I didn’t want it.”
“I didn’t want the rematch or the title.”
She pauses and slides her hands into the front pockets of her blackcraft hoodie.
”See, I wanted to move on, to leave the Internet title and division in my rear view and go on to bigger and better things. But there was a question hanging in the air. Would Melissa have been the champion if it wasn’t for that idiot Ariana Angelos. It was a question Melissa herself wanted answers for. aSee, if there is one thing about her I respect it’s that Melissa wants to know who the best is and wants to prove it’s her. She hated the unanswered question.”
“The “what if”, so we answered it. And unfortunately for her, the answer was, no. She wouldn’t have been the Internet champion if Ariana wasn’t there. So, my reign ended and I moved on, but now, here I am, back with the championship that I made mean something. And I am expected to do it again.”
“And I can already hear some of you. Wanting to ask, if I don’t want the title why don’t I simply hand it back?”
“Well, first off, that’s fucking stupid. And second, since most of you are dense I’ll spell it out for you. In my world, where I came from, and no I don’t mean England, you have to earn things. I’m not about to vacate the title and let someone swoop in and taker it without going through hell against me first. I worked gtoo long and too hard to make the title mean something for that to happen. Shit I took this title all the way to the main event of Climax control…”
She throws up her hands and scoffs.
”And if Laura Phoenix wants this, she damn sure better earn it. Cause honey, riding your name and legacy like you did Nick Madisons dick ain’t gonna cut it in SCW. See, for those who don’t know, for those of you living under a rock or still living in that world of “if it didn’t happen in SCW it doesn’t matter” crew, Laura Phoenix is a legend in the wrestling business. A former champion and a woman who has helped train some of the biggest stars in wrestling today. Including her daughter Bella.”
“She also has the respect, admiration and love of the Lukas sisters….”
“That alone should get all your attention. She is someone who had her fingerprints all over SCW before actually having a match here and joining for the blast from the past.”
“Hell, I had a match with Bella and I congratulated her for the effort, and trust me Laura, your darling daughter did you proud. But in the end she couldn’t beat me. So now it’s your turn. After washing out of the Blast from the past, and in the process costing Mac Bane a shot at redemption, you were able to win a match against Georgie Robertson and Seleana Zdunich to earn a match with me for the Internet title…”
“Congratulations…”
She takes her hands out of her pockets and folds them over her chest with a slow shake of her head.
”Don’t take this the wrong way Laura but, this is bullshit.”
“See, I lost my title, I didn’t even get pinned for it and the woman who got pinned in the triple threat match got handed a damn title shot at Roxi on a silver platter, meanwhile I’m here having to face you. A woman who only got this far because she beat some no name wannabe in Georgie and a washout choke artist wbho hasn’t been relevant in SCW since she stop slurping on Crystals clam…”
“Regardless of how I personally feel about it, you are in this match and you have a shot at my title. And make no mistake, this is MY title. I took it from being passed around like a bong at a house party and it being an afterthought to it mattering and being a real prize.”
“I already let one aging “;egend” past her use by date beat me for this once Laura. You really think I want that to happen again?”
“You think I will LET that happen again?”
“I can respect what you have done for the business and the impast you made, shit I will even go a step further and state the obvious for those in the back, you still have “it” That intangible quality that makes us all special. You still have that and the fire to compete and you can still do it at a high level. You proved it, the only problem is…that you can’t compete on my level. And it’s not an age thing, in your prime, forty, fifty years ago, you still couldn’t beat me or keep up with me.”
Kayla shrugs and laughs to herself before clearing her throat.
”Into the void, I will defend the Internet title. I will build it back up and I will keep it as long as I can and make damn sure whoever takes it from me will earn it. And you Laura, well, I question if you can or will earn it. As good as you are, as talented as you are and as much of an impact as you have made on wrestling…the truth is, the wrestling world has passed you by…and Kayla Richards is the present and future…”