Post by chaos lite on Dec 2, 2012 13:02:16 GMT -4
”oh mother
tell your children
not to do what i have done
spend your lives in sin and misery
in the house of the rising sun...”
tell your children
not to do what i have done
spend your lives in sin and misery
in the house of the rising sun...”
dec.1.twelve 3:21pm
It was like 2003 all over again.
Maybe for Aubrey’s sake, I shouldn’t tell you some of the things she said about a lot of the people she worked with, and I shouldn’t tell you what was in the home made cigarettes we spent the next hour smoking in her backyard. I shouldn’t tell you many of the things that we did or talked about because it’s likely that I wouldn’t even remember them.
I could tell you about the thoughts that raced through my mind when I asked if she wanted to go to the Pleasanton Hometown Holiday Parade downtown. For shits and giggles, she asked if she could drive my car. It wasn’t even like it was anything special; a used Ford Fusion that had a few thousand miles on it when I bought it.
I let her and I caught myself staring at her, my eyes pausing on every naked part of her fair skin. Her neck. Her shoulder...
As I’ve told you, I’m not sure what other people think of Aubrey. I don’t know what they think they know about her, but she’ll always be that beautiful, challenging free spirit that inspired me to rebel without a cause when I was barely old enough to think.
My heart was pounding just looking at her. By this point we were at the Hometown Holiday Parade, and she was too busy cheering in a fit of nostalgia for the elves, dancing snowmen, and Santa Claus (which looked more authentic than my own rendition of him) to notice that I was staring.
Throughout the evening, she’d been asking me about myself, and I didn’t have much to tell her. What did I have to say that compared to a woman that was about to compete for the World Title? And now that I had a chance to ask her about herself, she was captivated by this parade. I had to get her attention, so I said what seemed logical.
”Why are you here?”
She looked at me out of the corner of her eye before smiling and turning toward me completely.
”What do you mean?”
”I haven’t seen you in like, five years... Why’d you come back?”
I didn’t get my answer there, and I was kind of grateful. It was loud and crowded. I could barely hear myself over the screaming women and children in the crowds. So in the following minutes, we moved away from the floats, and the chaos, and toward unoccupied benches outside of Nonni’s Bistro.
”Was I not supposed to come back?”
She smiled as my face grew red, unsure of what to say.
”It just seemed out of place. You travel the world and get paid to do so, and then you wander into the mall and decide to come see Santa-”
”I came to see you, Josh.”
”Ha. Why? Nobody’s really heard from you since you and your parents left. And you became... A big deal or whatever.”
Her smile never faded. It would’ve made me uncomfortable had she not been Aubrey, but she had always been a cocky bitch, ha. Always comfortable with herself.
”I really missed you. I missed all of you guys.”
I had nothing to say. It seemed genuine enough.
”I never really did a whole lot of important shit in high school. I know by the time I was a senior you were just starting out so you don’t remember how much of a loser my friends actually thought I was, haha. But over the past few days, this World Title match has got me thinking about a lot of things... A lot of things that made me want to come back home...”
”That still doesn’t explain why.”
She looked away and for the slightest second, there was a chink in her armor and the smile faded.
”I was never the best runner on the track team. I wasn’t the captain of the cheerleaders. I wasn’t valedictorian. I was always average. And in APW, I’m...
I mean-- in APW they gave me this shot on my first night on Asylum. That means something. I just wanted to win something and bring it back home, and be able to say that I was actually... Not a total loser in my hometown’s eyes?”
”You were never a ‘loser’. When I was a kid you were like, the most awesome thing-”
”Cassandra and I gave you pot. And we got you and your little friends drunk. That’s about all we did. You think that made us cool? Haha... Kid, please.”
“Kid.” That bothered me a little, but when I thought about it, the last time she had seen me, I had been seventeen. I was still in high school and she was at UCLA.
”I want to make you guys proud, and... I want to be a household name.”
”Like Sally Talfourd?”
She smiled at me.
”Bigger.”
”I think you could.”
It was almost haunting, how similar her smile was to before. I still couldn’t detect what was behind those eyes. Never could.
”That means a lot to me, Josh.”
”How are you gonna do it?”
”Pardon?”
”How are you gonna beat Sally?”
”...I don’t have the answer to that. Guess it’ll be a little surprise for everybody.”
”But you have a plan, right?”
”There’s a plan.”
”What is it?”
”What else should it be? It’s to win.”
”You never did answer my questions seriously.”
”Josh, that’s a serious answer... Maybe not to you. You know we’d never fight. I couldn’t hurt you.”
She took my chin in her hand. I laughed a little, but I felt my cheeks growing hot because I felt like a fucking child. My laughter stopped after a few seconds as her grip seemed to tighten and the smile, though still there, didn’t have the same integrity it did a moment before.
”I could hurt Sally.”
She let go of me and leaned on her elbow on the tabletop. In a second, that nostalgia-inducing smile returned.
”So if she takes that seriously, ‘I’m going to win’ can be the most deadly and serious thing in the world. It’s not what you say, but who’s saying it...
Life lessons from Aubs.”
She winked at me and we both laughed at th--
I’m not explaining this. It’s an inside joke. You wouldn’t get it, outsider.
”Remember the record store?”
”Hahaha, ‘The House of the Rising Sun’. God. Yeah, what a stupid name.”
”It was the greatest place ever.”
”It brought in all the people from Oakland. Gross.”
”I thought it brought diversity! But that’s not the point. When you left, and you said you and your mom were opening the salon, and that you were going to be traveling with Evan who we only met like once... You joked about becoming a wrestler and a star and never coming back. And then you did it. And I guess it kind of sucked because we all thought that you might. We knew you might, that is...”
She smiled softly at me.
”Well, next time I leave, you have my word that I’m going to come back.”
”So even if you beat Sally Talfourd, you’re not going to go back to San Fran and pretend you’re too cool for us here?”
”You have my word.”
I took that for what it was.
It was a good day, that Saturday. We agreed to meet up again when she returned to town on Tuesday, but I remembered the last time she said something like that. It took five years for her to come through.
We parted ways with a hug, and she spared only one more look at me as she made her way toward her car... Some kind of Mercedes Benz from what I could tell in the darkness. Of course it was better than mine. Why not? But the worst part was when the tail lights vanished over the crest of the hill and she left again, before I could ask her and tell her so many things.
Teased.
dec.2.twelve 11:12am
[rec •]
In present-time, Aubrey J. Parker sits before us in a room that most wouldn’t be able to identify. Her hair is tied behind her shoulders in a ponytail and she is dressed in clothing befitting of someone that had just gone running. It looks like a single-family home and a Christmas tree towers behind her, but Aubrey fails to acknowledge the environment.
”In a week, I’m one half of the equation in a historical APW matchup. I get to compete in the first ever all-women World Heavyweight Title match and I get to do it against you, Sally Talfourd.
I’ll admit, I did nothing... Absolutely nothing to deserve this championship match over people that have been clawing for it since before I signed a contract here. I think that since I won the North American Title back on Meltdown, a lot of people have been talking about the potential behind AJP vs Sally Talfourd.
In fact, all I’ve been hearing since I won the North American Title is AJP vs Sally.
Ever since I got drafted to Asylum, AJP vs Sally.
And now, I get my first match, and not only does everybody get what they’ve been dying to see for months in Aubrey J. Parker versus Sally Talfourd but it has the added perk of being a World Heavyweight Title match. And not only that but if I do win this title, I don’t get left out at Christmas Chaos. I get to represent the Asylum brand in a huge way in the main event, but in order to do that, I HAVE to walk in as the World Champion. I have to do something that Anthony Bailey, Keaton Saint, Johnny Rebel, Michael Callahan, and even Phil Atken weren’t able to do and wrestle the championship away from YOU.
It sounds easy when you say it, but then you think about what you’ve been through...
You’ve survived an Elimination Chamber before One Night in Hell, but last time, you won it. You beat five other men for the championship... On the same night that I beat six other men in a Last Person Standing Elimination Match.
Sure, the caliber of talent might’ve been slightly different. You had to compete with people that were used to consistently being in the main event, but we don’t know where my ceiling was that night.
We don’t know what would’ve happened if... instead of Keaton Saint being in the Elimination Chamber, I was that sixth member. Maybe you wouldn’t be the World Heavy Champion. Ha. Maybe you wouldn’t even be competing in the Title picture.”
Aubrey shrugs but maintains a neutral smile of sorts.
”But that didn’t happen so instead of thinking about what could’ve been, let’s look toward a very possible future.
Even if you do lose the title next Sunday on Asylum, you get your rematch at Christmas Chaos on a triple threat against myself and Phil Atken. I don’t get that luxury. If I don’t beat you on Sunday, then I don’t have any guarantee of getting another shot at the World Heavyweight Title and I don’t even get promised a spot on the show.
No matter what, you get that second chance. I don’t consider losing an option this week, but it’s unfortunate because... The last time I was in a match like this, I lost. The special referee decided that the last thing she wanted was to see me as the winner. And when the official makes a decision like that, the odds become nearly impossible to overcome.
With that in mind, I can’t imagine that Phil Atken is going to want to have to beat two people at Christmas Chaos to get his World Heavyweight Title.”
Aubrey looks annoyed at the realization and pauses for a few seconds.
”I think it’s clever that Reginald has decided to appoint you guys as the referees for each others’ matches, but it leaves me at a very vulnerable place. Because if Phil decides that if he wants to take Sally on one-on-one then guess who’s shit out of luck?
Me. I dislike the idea.
On the same token, Phil could decide that he’d like to see his two opponents wear each other down so he can sneak in and pick up the victory while nobody’s expecting it at Christmas Chaos. I find that idea more logical, but... Ha, maybe I’m just a little biased toward it because that scenario ends with me as the champion.
Either way, there’s a lot of opportunity for this match to be tainted and that’s not how I want to remember our first meeting. A match with this kind of history and this kind of impact deserves to be wrestled with fairness. And respect.”
Despite the words, Aubrey’s eyes don’t seem to match what the words imply. There isn’t a lot of emotional warmth to accompany the speech.
”But understand though that no matter what Phil Atken has planned and no matter what I have to do, I’m hellbent on leaving Cleveland as the new APW World Heavyweight Champion. I’ll shake your hand at the beginning of that match, but as soon as the first shot is thrown, the gloves come off and I’ll become the most dangerous opponent you’ve ever encountered on Asylum. And sometimes in big matches like this, accidents happen. Sometimes people get hurt.
Only sometimes.”
She shrugs once more and starts to continue but stops as something crosses her mind. AJP leans forward.
”I think that regardless of who's involved, whatever we do out there in the ring is going to overshadow any stipulation. Any extra person-- and even when they have the power and importance that someone like Phil Atken does, sometimes that only means you have to work twice as hard to make sure that it's YOUR name that's in people's minds. Not the guest referee, and not even the favorite.
A shot like this doesn't rear its head often so it's only fitting that I shock everybody on the last Asylum of the year... and I end 2012 as your new APW World Heavyweight Champion.
I accept the fact that I'm an underdog and that I might not be expected to win, but that doesn't change anything, Sally. It’s going to be a match they talk about for years.
The Makeover vs The Makeunder.
Similar wrestlers, similar moves, similar results.
Do you want to know the difference between the two?”
Aubrey backs away from the camera a little and offers a smile that looks legitimate and genuine enough to pass as friendly.
”Mine’s faster.”
fin.
