Selective deception
Have you ever had a piece of news that you’ve wanted to share with everyone? A monumental moment in your life that is so important that you just want to scream it from the rooftops? Now, imagine if that moment was exactly like that but due to trauma from your past of things that have happened you question whether or not you should share it. The question is if your friends and family will accept it or if they will reject it.
That is the situation that Alicia found herself in. The week before Austin had asked her if she would marry him. And Alicia said yes. Knowing that she was in a place in her life where she just wanted to be happy and knowing that Austin would be the man to do that. But, due to everything that has happened in her life in the past, the long list of failed relationships that lay in her wake. She was questioning whether or not it would be a good idea to tell everyone yet or if they should wait. Of course, Austin was accommodating, as always. He knew what it was to have doubts about the reactions of people and knew that it had to be on Alicia‘s time to make sure she could accept it and to make sure she felt comfortable.
And for the last week, Austin and Alicia tried to act as if everything was normal. Arriving at the gym, going about their workouts as well as helping others. As always they would spend some time together, but those moments of tranquility where they would sit together and smile and laugh felt different now. They had gone from simply dating, and living together to being in the kind of committed relationship that they both needed and wanted.
But, were they going to be able to hide it for much longer?
She took a deep breath, walking away from the grappling mats with sweat pouring from her brow. Her long blonde hair tied back in a high bun as she put her hands on her hips taking in deep breaths to calm herself down. It had been a great workout, taking on every single one of the female Trainees. One after another in a gauntlet of grappling. She was able to submit all of them and now she stood there wearing a pink long-sleeved grappling shirt and black shorts a small smile on her lips as she looked over at Austin.
”Glad to see you two are still going strong.” Alicia snapped out of it, turning and seeing Alex walking towards her. His long black hair tied back in a ponytail, he folded his arm over his chest and tilted his head looking at one of the key members of Wolfslair. ”But you both need to stop looking at each other like lovesick teenagers”
Alicia on the other hand rolled her eyes and turned sitting down on one of the benches grabbing a bottle of water. She took a couple of sips and Alex walked over to join her. They both sat there looking out at the grappling mats and the practice ring. Alex laughed to himself and shook his head as Alicia raised an eyebrow. ”What's funny?” Alex shrugged, leaning back against the wall and folding his arms over his chest.
”Just thinking. When I first started this I honestly had no idea that it was going to grow into what it has become. A large part of what it has become has been because of you and Austin. You and he were the first 2 to sign up and make a name for yourselves and wave the flag of this place.” He smiled again looking over at Alicia who just looked back at him with a small smile curling on her lips ”I guess it’s just fate that you and Austin ended up together.”
Alicia had no idea what to say. A comment like that made her want to tell Alex exactly what was going on but instead, she stayed silent. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes a moment of trepidation that wasn’t unnoticed by Alex. ”Yeah…I guess so.”
Alex tilted his head realising that there was definitely something up with Alicia ”Something changed…”
”What?…”
Alex narrowed his eyes and leaned closer studying Alicia ”Yep, something changed. Your body language, your breathing, the way you look at Austin. What’s going on?”
”Nothing..I.. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Alicia swallowed hard, blinking a few times and trying to get her breathing under control. But Alex stared at her, his eyes piercing straight through her. She realized there was no hiding it. ”Shit….Austin proposed. And I said yes. We’re engaged.” She took a deep breath and smiled, part of her was happy that she was able to finally tell someone but at the same time she still didn’t want everyone to know. Or to judge. ”Keep it quiet for now, please. We don’t want everyone to know.”
”Okay…but…Why?”
Alicia took a deep breath in, she exhaled sharply, and nodded her head slowly realizing that it might be a good idea to confide in Alex ”With my past, I just want to keep it quiet for now. Shit, this is the fourth time I’ve been engaged and it will be the third time I get married. I know how that looks and I just want to be happy.”
Alex nodded slowly before laughing to himself as Alicia raised an eyebrow looking at her friend and wondering why. ”You know… I’ve had just as many relationships and marriages as you. I get it. But everyone here has your back. This gym, the people here, we’re not just co-workers or teammates. We’re family. I can understand wanting to hold it back but don’t wait too long. People are gonna want to celebrate you and Austin finding happiness. So let them.”
Alex gave a small smile and a nod, adding a leash on the shoulder. He got to his feet and left her alone to think. She took a deep breath looking at everyone smiling and working out together before her eyes settled on Austin. He was explaining something in the sun and his eyes met hers for a moment and he smiled. Alicia couldn’t help but smile back. She wanted to tell everyone. She wanted to celebrate it. But could she?
A spin of the wheel
”I am far from finished”
Alicia slightly smiles, a confident smirk curling across her bright red-painted lips. Her bright blue eyes shone and were made to look even bigger by her black eyeliner.
”I finished last year how I want to start this year, as a winner You see on the final climax control of 2024. I stepped into the ring with Alexandra Calaway. A woman who has been the roulette champion and has just tapped on the glass ceiling above her head a few times to let the real stars of this company know that she’s there. But you see, I’ve been there. I’ve been to the top of this business. Multiple companies, multiple world championship opportunities and title reigns”
“I have been viewed as the best. I’ve been viewed as unstoppable. I took this company and its bombshell division to New Heights. I attracted the kind of names and stars that this company needed to have to flourish. You see, people forget when I first stepped foot in this company the bombshells division was looked at as a joke.”
“It was not anywhere near the main event Powerhouse that it is today.”
“So, with Me at the head of this company, I was able to attract some of the biggest names outside of SCW and bring them here. Not just that form of legends returned because they wanted to face me. However, Alexandra was showing me the proper level of respect while also not fully understanding what I’ve been through. She went the complete opposite way as everyone else. So many others have said that I’m a has been that I’m worthless while she focused on the fact that I was clearly still dangerous. And she was right too. The only problem is? I’m good enough that I don’t let that kind of talk influence me.”
Alicia shrugs, her long blonde hair flowing down her shoulders and back as she leans against a wall behind her. Her leather biker jacket over her midriff cut top branching the logo of the American deathcore band Whitechapel.
”I don’t need others to talk me up when I can do it myself. So in closing out last year with a win, I’m ready to hit the ground running in 2025. But he’s the problem. We all are. I can’t sit here and say that I’m special and that my causes are any more worthy than anyone else in this company. Everyone wants to be the best and everyone wants to earn their opportunities. Whether that is an opportunity for the Internet championship, the Roulette championship, or the world championship. Or hell they can find themselves a partner and go after the mixed tag-team championships. No matter how you slice it everyone is doing their best to try and earn their shots in this company and everyone wants to have a great start of the year.”
Alicia Smalls and shakes her head, sliding her hands into the pockets of her tight black skinny jeans.
”But, the start of this year is going to be extremely unpredictable. You see this company has decided to get three women and throw them in a match with the roulette rules. They are going to spin that roulette wheel and come up with some God-awful stipulation for the match that we’re going to be in. It could be anything, from a triple threat submission match or a no-rules street fight to a pillow fight or a mashed potato and gravy match. The truth is, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“And I, much like many others in this company despise the roulette rules idea. I wouldn’t dislike it if it was all serious matches but we have amazing talented human beings being put in ridiculous stipulations. All the stupid amusement of fans who have no idea what’s going on and men in charge who are way behind the times.”
“However, an opportunity is an opportunity.”
“Even if that opportunity is in a match against people that I have no respect for, nor am I afraid of. And I think it’s pretty telling that someone like Me is going to say that. Because normally I try and look on the bright side of everything. I try and find things to say about people that are going to uplift them so when I do beat them it at least seems like I’ve accomplished something but Harper Mason and Bea Barnhart? Give me a fucking break.”
Alicia can’t help it roll her eyes and stays leaning against the wall and pushing one of her knees up so her foot is flat against the wall. She tilts her head and takes a deep breath before continuing.
”The last time I was in the ring with Harper Mason I’d like to think that I proved my point against her. But as with everything I think I’ll have to remind Harper what happened because she seems to be one of these women who has selective memories about her past and never learns a goddamn thing. So Harper, do you remember what happened last time you and I were in the ring against each other? Do you remember where it was? Because I do.”
“Summer xxxtreme 2024”
“One of the first big matches that I had since I came back to the company. And here I was all excited to face someone who was going to push me to my limits. Also, I thought. But then you went and decided to run your mouth about how I was irrelevant. About how I was apparently jealous of you. It’s funny, people still look at me as a champion and they still talk about me like I’m one of the best in the business but people also still say the same things about you, Harper. That you are arrogant, self-righteous, and you shouldn’t be in this company.”
“And I have to ask, do you remember how that match ended? You and Me on the cruise ship? Because I do. I verbally destroyed you the two weeks leading up to the match and then when we got into the ring, you looked like a scared child who had no idea what was going on and I made you tap out like a bitch. And since then you haven’t done anything. Hell, at the same event that I picked up a win in the final climax control you lost. You had an opportunity at the Internet championship and you let it slip through your fingers.”
“Cassie Wolfe kicked your ass”
“I’d like to think that you would’ve learned something from it but the truth is that you won’t. You are gonna come into this match against myself and Barnhard you are going to run your mouth and you’re gonna say the same bullshit that you always talk about. But here’s the thing Harper, part of Me wants to see you change and succeed. You aren’t without talent. In fact, I have faith that you could be something special if you pulled your head out of your ass and tried. The problem is part of Me doesn’t believe you can.”
“And on the first shelf of the year, you have a chance to prove me wrong. Interesting isn’t it?”
She scuffs, shaking her head again with another roll of her eyes as you can see the arrogance building in her.
” At least Harper does have some kind of upside to who she is and her career. I can’t say that about the third woman in this match. You see, I don’t even want to talk about this woman. I don’t want to give her airtime. I don’t want to sit here and verbally run her down or mention her name because it will give The quite frankly wrong opinion that I care about her in any way shape or form.”
“But in this business, you kind of have to. So I don’t have a choice.”
“Bea Barnhart. Just the name alone elicits a wide range of emotions. Laughter, frustration, better anger, and hatred. It runs the whole gambit of emotions from one to the other. Now, don’t get it twisted. No one is angry at you because they think you are any good Bea. In fact the exact opposite. We all look at you and wonder why there are so many talented young professional wrestlers out there on the independence scene or in companies that don’t appreciate them and you are the one who has a roster spot.”
“You are the one who keeps on getting booked in this company to turn up on climax controls and pay-per-view and waste our time. And that would be a perfect description of you. A time waster. A spot waster.”
“You and your idiot husband should leave. Get released, retire, and do anything and everything except being in the professional wrestling business. People like myself people like Austin people like all of the top names in this business deserve to be here. And while not everyone can be at the top of the business anyone who is willing to improve and try and scrape and claw and get there will end up earning more respect. Hell Harper Mason could possibly be something if she pulled her head out of her arse as I already mentioned, but you? You can’t be anything. You can’t be anything except for a punchline. I hate everything about you. From your stupid face to your pathetic actions in the ring to your stupid husband and your stupid bulldog. Everything about you makes me sick. And on climax control, I’m gonna look to break you in half so you can’t disrespect this business anymore with your piss poor attitude and stupidity.”
