Post by chaos lite on Nov 21, 2012 22:00:02 GMT -4
"no days off."
nov.19.twelve11:16pm
I almost didn’t want to get too close.
Aubrey was sitting, docile and cross-legged with her back against the wall but would you get too close to a tiger even if it looked like it was sleeping?
We were still backstage in whatever Salem, Massachusetts arena we’d been in for most of the day now. The hallways smelled of chlorine and I didn’t enjoy it much. Most of the talent had already filed out of the arena and a janitor was beginning to make his rounds along the floor with sun-bright yellow mop and bucket. Admittedly, I shuddered at the thought of Aubrey sitting in all of that festering bacteria.
But it was the look that really made me hesitate. She didn’t really look like she was there.
Though she’d changed out of her wrestling gear and was now in a pair of black yoga pants and a pink UCLA sweatshirt, she didn’t look like she was ready to just grab her bag, stand up and go. At that point, I didn’t think she had accepted the loss... So what I said next didn’t help.
You’ll figure out why.
”Get up. It’s not like you were going to be the champion forever anyw-”
”Shut your fucking mouth, Cass. Just shut up.”
You know how people kinda blindly use the term “stunned silence”? Well, that’s totally me right now. I bet my mouth looks hilarious.
”You have no idea, okay? You don’t get what just happened. I...”
Aubrey pushed herself up and stepped close to me. I actually thought she was gonna swing on me, that bitch.
”I went through hell to get that title. I nearly got killed by six other guys in a match that I didn’t even wanna be in. I put up with people hitting on me and undressing me with their beady little fucking eyes every week, and I wore the title proudly with my head held high, and an impressive, nearly flawless record to my credit.
I had that taken away.
So please... do not... try to tell me what I should be doing. Don’t act like you have any idea what it’s like in these halls every night. Don’t act like you know how it feels to have people want to hurt you and having nobody to depend on. Except yourself.”
”You have-”
”Nobody, except yourself.”
”Alright. Okay.”
I looked into her eyes and I must’ve had a half-smile on my face or something because with each second, she looked more upset with me.
”...I just don’t think you should be acting like this is the end of the world.”
She gave me a really hollow look then. She shifted a bit and her gaze ripped right through me. It was natural that I turned slightly to avoid her stare.
”I hate to break it to you, but we both know you can’t play the ‘lone wolf’ card for too long. Mmm?”
I met her eyes again but only because I knew I had her, right by the chin. I was talking wrestling-- and she was interested.
”You have to trust three other guys this week, even if it’s only for a few moments. And I know how you feel about Evan, and maybe Delikado after what they did-”
”Cass?”
I stopped.
”Don’t... act like you care.”
My shoulders slumped a bit. I nodded, a little taken aback by her words but not really shocked. I threw my hands up in defeat.
”Kay. I’m really sorry that I'm such a bad friend."
She studied me for a few seconds before she spoke up again.
"They've got awards for what you do, right? They praise you for outstanding achievements in the world of accounting... Don't they?"
I had a little bashful smile on my face methinks. What a pleasant change of pace, talking about me for once. Don't you judge me. When your best friend of twenty years is as much of an attention whore as Aubs, you take these moments and appreciate them.
”Yeah, they do. I guess any job in any field has them.”
”Like what?”
I smiled. Now I was hooked. I could write a book about myself. But I don’t, because I’m not interesting enough. That’s why I narrate my best friend’s life. She’s the one with the awesome job.
”Like the Deloitte Wildman Medal Award. It praises practical research. It goes beyond sitting behind a desk and managing numbers. It’s... It’s like an outstanding achievement award for research and methods and-”
”Remember Bella Albertoli from UCLA?”
I groaned. Boy did I remember Bella Albertoli. She was one of the few students in high school that had a GPA higher than my own; a trend which continued once we went to the University of Los Angeles. She had studied abroad while in school, something I always wanted to do. She made me look like an idiot at every turn.
Karma hadn’t done its job yet though. She’s an accountant for Def Jam music now. That bitch doesn’t even like hip-hop.
”Yeah. I remember her.”
”What if you won that award, and then she came up, snatched it right out of your hands, and handed it to someone else?”
”Well-”
”Not just anyone else. Your friend. One of your best friends, the guy you’ve shared almost every secret with and spent countless days at a time in countless countries with. What if Bella Albertoli took the award you’ve worked YEARS to get and handed it to me?”
”I’d... I’d kill you.”
I regretted saying that.
”But I wouldn’t let it cloud my judgment. I wouldn’t let it hold me back from bigger, and better things.”
”Nothing can ever come easy.”
She sounds bitter, but she looks like she could cry at any second. She was fragile and it was a state that I hated seeing her in, but as bad as it sounds, I felt like it was easier to talk to her this way. When she was doubting herself and beating herself up, she didn’t have as easy of a time jumping down my throat.
”Nothing’s supposed to.”
I walked closer to her and looked down at the floor. I was considering sitting down. The thought of bacteria was preventing me for now.
”Think about it. What could you bitch about if you were handed everything? It’s so much more fun when you’re pissed off. You do so well.”
I laughed, but I was partially forcing myself to because now I was sliding down that wall, sitting in the filth. Fuck. Me.
”I know it’s not easy out there. I don’t fight dudes for a living. I won’t tell you how to do your job... I’m not your boss. I’m not even your tag team partner, so if you ever catch me doing that, please feel free to punch me right in my face.”
”Noted.”
She smiled a little bit at me through her anger, but I could tell she was trying to hide it.
”I am your friend though. So I will be the nosy bitch that oversteps her boundaries and tells you how to live your life.”
”Mmmmm, how joyous. Life lessons from my accountant.”
”From your best friend.”
She looked at me and I could see in her eyes that she was racing through her own mind to find some witty retort, but I grinned and spoke before she had the chance.
”You’re in a match Thursday where, if you win, you wrestle A-NOTH-ER MATCH. Speaking PURELY as a friend, do you think it’s smart to beat yourself up about something as miniscule as the North American Title when you could win the Battle Royal on Thursday and become the Suicidal, or Tap-Out, or World Heavyweight Champion?”
She took offense at the word “miniscule”, and admittedly I thought it was a little harsh myself, but who had time to look back on that in the grand scheme of things?
”I think you were ready to let the title go. I think you’re ready to let Meltdown go. Would they have put you in this match if you weren’t?”
Dry laughter from Aubs.
”They put Krunk in it, didn’t they? And I knocked him every week for a solid month...”
”Exactly! If he’s ready, you HAVE to be.”
Alright, so maybe she wasn’t laughing alongside me or singing any pop songs with me quite yet, but the frown was gone. The smile wasn’t there yet, but the corners of her mouth teased one. It was enough to make me feel a little less upset about sitting on the floor in a public hallway.
”It just sucks.”
”I know.”
”Cass, I don’t like losing. Ha... I kinda forgot what it felt like.”
”Trust me, I know.”
”I don’t wanna be a fuck-up.”
I turned to look at her, but she had already brought her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them.
”You’re not going to be.”
”I’ve seen what Meltdown does to people.”
She pulled her head up and looked at me.
”Carmen Rivera hasn’t been seen since she lost that title. She never got OFF of Meltdown. Michael Lively hasn’t been since since he lost the title. HE never really made it off of Meltdown. It killed him before he made it, and it was bad...
And it turned Evan Envi into a psychopath. And I have to team with that this week. I have to put up with him and Delikado.”
She bit her tongue, and I knew exactly why. She partially blamed Envikado for her loss on Monday. It was partially their fault that she didn’t have a few pounds of gold around her waist anymore, but it would be counterproductive to even bring it up. She abandoned the words before they even came out of her mouth.
”But I don’t want to become that. I want people to remember me for being the best Megastar out there because I know I can be. I don’t need to be remembered for my body, or for the wet dreams of the little boys on the roster.
I don’t think I need to be compared to Sally Talfourd in order to be taken seriously in this place, Cass. I want to make a name for myself. I don’t want to be another Meltdown hopeful that got called up and then became a huge disappointment. I can wrestle, and I do it better than most of the guys in APW. How am I supposed to prove it when I couldn’t even hold onto the title that you and so many other people call ‘miniscule’?
I couldn’t hold onto the North American Title. I fucked up. And now you think that just by focusing a little more that I can beat Azrael Goeren...”
She had it! She had such confidence until the end, and then it just all kind of fell flat and went to shit. She got up and took her bags with her, while I was left seated looking up at her in awe. She was already walking down the hall at a pace that I had to work overtime to match as I threw myself to my feet and followed.
”What the hell? We were doing so good. You ALMOST managed to stop taking a shit on yourself. What gives?”
”Fuck, Cassandra. I don’t know. WHAT gives? Reality?”
”I thought we agreed that if you keep dwelling on the past, you can’t do better in the future.”
”I’m not dwelling on the past. I’m learning from my mistakes.”
”He’s not unbeatable. Nobody is ever unbeatable.”
”Yeah? Well, I haven’t seen a single fucking person beat him.”
”Well, before this, we never saw anybody beat you either.”
She stopped and I had to maneuver myself around to her side to avoid running right into her.
”And Logan found a way to beat you. So you do that.”
She shook her head and ran a hand through her hair, biting her lower lip.
”It wasn’t that simple...”
”Then don’t make it simple. Do what you need to do. Cheat if you have to, because I bet he’d do it if the opportunity came up. Shadow, Buckson Gooch, Krunk. Any of them would do the same thing. This isn’t really about who can do the best job of playing by the rules, baby. It’s about winning.”
”...As my friend, shouldn’t you be telling me that it’s not about winning or losing but about how I-”
”No. I’m telling you to win. Because I don’t think second place is gonna be enough for you.”
----------------------
”Ha... So this is what it feels like to be on the wrong end of a three count.
It was a weird feeling at first and maybe I was spared the lesson in humility because I wasn’t conscious for it.
I don’t know... But I learned my lesson. I learned that I wasn’t invincible even though I was always told that I was. I learned that I wasn’t the best even though that’s what I’ve perceived myself as.
Last night, I lost the APW North American Championship. To the people that I have to face and team with on Thursday night, that’s nothing. That’s shit to what they’ve lost. We’ve got former champions, and we’ve got young stars that are making their way up the ladder just like I’m doing, but they’re not doing it as well as I am.
They didn’t lose a title, but they lost a step and that’s much worse than anything I have done so far because some of these guys lost a step before they even got past the starting line.
It’s true though... I can confidently say I’m better than a lot of people that are going to be standing across the ring from me on Overdrive. I don’t think anything is inaccurate about that statement. But it doesn’t take away... that stinging sensation I’m feeling when I realize that I’m going to have to march down to that ring and I’m not going to have my North American Title.
On Thursday, I need to redeem myself.
I have to redeem myself.”
nov.20.twelve6:30pm
It was a good time for great news.
We were at Sabra Nikolayev’s house in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was a gorgeous little home, but you’re going to have to forgive me for not penciling in every detail. It wasn’t about anything quite so material.
It wasn’t about the gorgeous ensemble that Aubrey was wearing, preparing for a night on the town, although I had made a mental note to tell everybody how amazing her legs looked in that skirt. And it wasn’t even about the beautiful black dress Sabra was wearing in preparation for the same activities. None of that.
It was about the scream that we heard at 6:30 on the dot: The APW draft picks had been posted. I knew it, and it was swimming around in the back of my mind, but I was nothing but alarmed when I heard her scream. Although it was Ms. Sabra Nikolayev that jumped and bolted for the guest room where Aubrey was located first, I ran just as hurriedly, and with more panic, because it wasn’t my house.
I never entirely trust any of Aubrey’s friends. Some people call it jealousy, but all of her friends are so weird, and so violent, and then this screaming shit on top of it? No. I reserve my right to be a skeptic.
”Aubrey!”
Sabra was the first to call out and shove open the door of the room. We both stepped inside, expecting anything bad, but instead the girl jumps onto us and pulls us both into a tight hug.
”Why’d you scream?”
”Are you okay? Did something happen?”
She didn’t answer. I remember just watching her stand there and make all these arm movements and squeal in apparent delight. Eventually, my eyes moved past the blank, beige walls of the guest room and toward the open laptop on the bed. I leaned forward and saw it, clear as day, but Sabra announced it first, reading it over my shoulder.
”Aubrey J. Parker... Drafted to Aslym.”
”Yes!”
”Wow!”
I might’ve been more shocked than Aubrey was. What dumb luck! I had been preaching about bigger, better things coming her way just a day before and look at her now... Call me Ms. Cleo. Go ahead.
”Congratulations! Holy shit!”
”Aw, congrats. Now maybe you can finally get away from that... That traitorous tag team partner of yours.”
That one stung me and I’m not even sure how I feel about Logan. It was only seconds later that Aubrey and Sabra went on chatting, as if Sabra had never said it, but it shocked me. I didn’t hear her stick up for him like she normally did. She and Sabra were on an entirely new subject now, as if she hadn’t just completely belittled Aubrey’s tag team partner.
”Ummm, Aubs...? Could I-?”
”Cass, are you coming out with us tonight?”
By her tone, and her look, I could tell she was judging based on my attire. I was in jeans and a tank top. Nothing nearly as fancy as their apparell.
”Oh... Um... No. You guys go ahead. I was just gonna catch up on some reading.”
Aubrey laughed and turned to Sabra, leading them out of the room. I heard her say ”Gotta love Cass... Travels across the country to Las Vegas and decides she wants to find the nearest library.” The two laughed at it, and the conversation changed again as they disappeared down the hall... And I dropped down, sitting on the bed, reading through the draft picks with a feeling of uneasiness.
Sabra was right. Logan wasn’t listed. Aubrey was going to Asylum on her own.
I closed the laptop and lied down on the bed, shutting my eyes.
Hopefully, when I open them, everything will stop changing so damn quickly.
nov.21.twelve8:59pm
The scene opens on the face of Aubrey J. Parker who is recording herself through a video phone. The picture quality is superb but the feed is choppy. We can see by our surroundings that she’s situated on a plane. We don’t have every piece and detail that would tell us much more than that, but we can assume she’s alone.
”I just had Thanksgiving dinner with my parents, grandparents, and brother a day early... Because on Thanksgiving, I’m going to be wrestling in an eight-person tag team match against four guys. Three of them, I know better than anybody else on my team... And one of them wants to turn me into some type of spectacle. That’s how Aubrey J. Parker spends her holidays.
No days off.”
She laughs a little and it’s evident in her giggle that she’s exhausted.
”I got drafted from Meltdown to Asylum yesterday, but first, I make my debut on Overdrive. It’s my first real test off of the Meltdown brand and I’m not sure if my chances are the best. I can’t look at anybody, really, and say that I have the experience that can lead my team or even myself to victory because I don’t.
I’ve been wrestling for two years. I didn’t grow up dreaming of wrestling rings like people like Buckson Gooch. I wasn’t supposed to end up here, and I damn sure wasn’t supposed to end up being one of the most discussed names in wrestling today. I became a wrestler because I was sick of being bullied, picked on, and assaulted because I was a part of the business.
I went from running a barber salon to ruling Monday Night Meltdown. It felt really good, and I’ve had some people try to take me down a peg ever since I signed a contract. Somebody that I’ve done battle with a few times is Krunk. I know I downplay Krunk’s skills a lot, and it’s easy to trick yourself into thinking I’ve forgotten how good of a wrestler he is, but NO ONE in this company is more aware of Krunk’s skills that I am.
Everybody can say that he’s one of the best high-flyers we’ve ever seen, but when I say it, that means something.
Everybody could talk about knowing how to beat Krunk, but when I say it, it means so much more because I did over and over again. In order for anybody on my selfish team to win this match, we have to beat every single person on the other team, and I’m saying with confidence that if Krunk and I end up in that ring together anytime between those bells, he will be eliminated from this match.
Shadow, Gooch, Goeren, you’ll all be down a man, and your chances of making it to the Battle Royal at the end of the night get that much slimmer.
In fact... I’m willing to say that I could do the same thing if Shadow is the person that I end up in the ring against, because unlike a lot of the other people on Overdrive, I know exactly what it takes to bring the big man to his knees. I did it in spectacular and violent fashion at One Night in Hell, but as we’ve seen, all I really have to do is show a little skin, and Shadow becomes a nine year old boy experiencing his first nocturnal emission.
The last time Shadow and I faced, much like Krunk, he spent most of the time before his match ‘preparing’ by sitting in front of a computer screen, typing ‘Aubrey J. Parker’, and busting out a bottle of lube. He didn’t see what I was capable of and it cost him. He lost his shot at the North American Title and when he came back to Overdrive, his return was lackluster, met with a lukewarm reaction, because the people wanted the best.
That’s not Shadow.
That’s not Krunk.
That’s me. I’m the best wrestler to ever come out of Meltdown, and it’s because I’m going to be the first one to make it. Buckson Gooch is another guy that thinks he has the ability to do that, but when it comes down to it, Buckson Gooch hasn’t proven himself when he’s not being overshadowed by his tag team partner, Mac Bane.
Sad to say, Bane isn’t gonna be a part of our happy tag team match this Thanksgiving, and Gooch is going to have to trust three people that he’d probably never even MET before, much less partnered with, so it’s going to be a real treat seeing how he adapts. And sure, from what we’ve seen, Buckson Gooch is one of the scariest, most imposing men in this match, but we have a former Xtreme Champion, a former Overdrive Champion, myself, and the behemoth that we call Yarmouth on our side. We’re not hurting for artillery. There’s nothing Buckson can bring to the table that I haven’t already seen, and if he does, I’ll be damned. We’ll lose this match and I’ll know I never deserved to make it to the battle royal in the first place.
But it’s not these guys. It’s not my fellow former Meltdown Megastars or Krunk, or Evan Envi, or Delikado, or Yarmouth that wants to hold be back, but it’s you, Azrael.
You’ve made the point that you and I are completely opposite. You're everything that this company hates and you are the lethal injection that wrestling has been avoiding for decades. You're pompous, self-righteous, and you're a good wrestler. Everybody knows it, but nobody is more aware of it and more vocal about it than you are.
You've made it your mission and your personal duty to stomp my face in and completely spit in the face of this company because according to YOU, I represent everything that's soft, and good, and wholesome about the place. So let's test that theory...
Let's see how soft and wholesome you think I am when the complete opposite happens. Not only will you be the one laid out in the ring tomorrow, Azrael, but I'll win. I'll win the entire match. That'll be more shocking than anything I could ever do to you physically. It'll mean more, and it'll shake this company to its roots.
It'll be awesome. And I'm going to do it whether I've got one teammate, three teammates, or just myself."
fin.
edited at 9:02 for coding[/i]
