Post by Evan De Parker on Jun 5, 2013 23:59:47 GMT -4
”I love Thursdays.
"I love being the Overdrive Champion-- I love Lady Overdrive. I love going out in front of a screaming crowd, love me or hate me, and doing what I was born to do. Since 2007, I’ve lived for nights like tomorrow and-- and I know that I should have cold feet going up against you, J-Reb. I know that I should have this sinking, painful feeling in the pit of my gut at the very IDEA of having to stand across the ring from you tomorrow night.
“But I don’t. I can’t.
“All I can think about is how I’ve been this huge Johnny Rebel fan for... What... Going on two years now? Like-- you’re the the best wrestler to have never held an APW World Championship. You-- you’ve got this attitude that I kind of tried to mimic when I first got here, and it didn’t work out for me, so I decided to be myself, y’know? And people didn’t like it too much. Hah.
“People labeled me as a prick and at first, yeah, I was a little bummed, but then I looked at you. I looked at Level One. I looked at Terry and I thought... Damn... These guys do whatever the hell they want, y;know, they say ‘hey, fuck what the fans think, I’m gonna do my own thing’ and THAT...
“...THAT is what everybody aspires to be. Everybody wants to be the trendy, hip guy that says they don’t care what anybody thinks of them, but like, I do, Reb. It does bother me when the same people that I’m spilling blood for on a weekly basis are the people that are booing me, and throwing trash at me. It does fuel a lot of the anger that you see on Thursday nights.
“Sometimes I like feeling the rush of the roaring crowd when I come out through those curtains, because it’s rare. I know what I do every week isn’t what people would approve of, but it’s what I think is right. When I joined Havok, Gooch, and Delikado to form The League of Extraordinary Wrestlers, I didn’t do it because I thought it would be the popular thing to do-- I did it because I thought forming a group with my four friends was right.
“Because I look at you, and I see someone that’s in a dark, desolate place. I see someone that’s completely and utterly alone in the world. I see somebody that could benefit... Benefit from being in the League-- and that’s not, some kind of invitation. It’s just the fact. I look at somebody that was all the way at the top, but hit rock bottom after a few bad business decisions, and it SCARES me to think that I could be on that road if I’m not careful.
“It scares me because it makes me think-- damn, what does that say about ME if I lose to somebody like that? And-- and it’s not a knock on your abilities, mkay? Like, I get that you’re one of the greatest Overdrive Champions that this company has ever seen. I get that you’ve been doing this for years upon years and you’ve probably accomplished more in one company than I have in my entire twenty-four years. Right? Okay? Don’t think I don’t know it.
“I also get that when our careers are both done, and they’re compared and analyzed under a magnifying glass, people are going to remember one thing. One thing that defines us.
“One thing that makes us different.
“Just... Just one thing that sets you and I apart from one another.
“And you wanna know what it is?”
Saturday, June 1st
Ocean City, MD
We blink into color.
Evan Envi is sitting in front of his cell phone, situated on the coffee table, sitting idly, silent-- silent. If you were to ask Evan Envi, he would tell you that it was deafening. If you were here before the cameras started rolling, you would think that Envi was crazy, or maybe even asleep, but this isn’t the case... Statuesque, Evan hovers over the phone with a matriarch-like vigilance, waiting.
Creak.
”Ah!”
Evan reaches for the phone, but quickly falters and frowns and disappointment when he realizes that the first sound that he’s heard in nearly an hour belongs not to the phone, but to the front door. His eyes dart toward the door as Jenny Knite makes her way inside, struggling to juggle several bags of groceries in her arms.
”Uhh... Help?”
Evan nervously casts a glance to his phone before pulling himself up and making his across the living room to Jenny Knite...
...Promptly grabbing the tiniest bag he can find from her, and pivoting, turning away, making his way into the kitchen.
”Did you get the cards? Is-- are these the cards?”
Frantically, Evan rips through the bag, but a look of disappointment falls across his face when he realizes that it’s nothing more than the day’s newspaper-- with the crosswords already completed. Bummer.
”Evan, I didn’t get cards, because you REFUSED to tell me what they were for.”
”It’s just important.”
Jenny, with a frustrated grunt, drops the groceries on the kitchen table and angles her head to Evan, who is already in the process of scrolling through his phone, looking for any and all missed alerts.
”Are you still waiting for Michelle to come crawling ba--?”
”She’s not gone, Jennifer. She’s just-- we’re taking a break.”
”Evan, she’s gone.”
”She’s-- you do NOT know that, and how dare you speak about my relationship, which you know absolutely nothing about?!”
Jenny looks at Envi, her mouth open, ready to retort, but a glimmer catches her eyes. A cryptic silence befalls the room before Jenny’s head swivels, her eyes wandering toward the platinum championship belt that sits, as if on a pedestal, on top of the television. The location is always different, but the eerie presence of “Lady Overdrive” is always the same. She’s always isolated, and featured prominently somewhere in the room. She’s never hard to miss.
”Even-- even when I think about that Overdrive Title, you’ve got me calling ‘it’ a ‘she’ and it’s unhealthy, dude. She-- I mean, THAT-- is the reason Michelle left.”
”She’s...”
”GONE. Accept it. You already lost one chick, so... Just... Try not to lose both of them, alright? For both of our sakes.”
She stands there with her hands drumming against the edge of the tabletop for a few moments before she exits the kitchen and strides across the living room. Evan’s heartbeat rapidly increases as Jenny struts past him, toward the television, and snatches Lady Overdrive from the top, placing it around her shoulder without a moment’s notice.
”What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Jenny doesn’t answer, but she makes her way to the same coffee table that Evan has resumed an Indian-style stance in front of. She sits on the opposite side, placing the Overdrive Championship between them. Her eyes drift from the nameplate up to the champion himself, and a humbled smile crosses her face.
”You understand how many people love you, right?”
”Uhhh... Yeah, mom, I’m aware. But this isn’t a game-- give her to me.”
”Her. Her. Do you fucking hear yourself?”
”Jenny, I’m not in the mood. Give her--”
”The BELT.”
”That’s not what she is.”
”Yes it is. It’s a championship BELT, Evan. It’s a piece of leather, and platinum, and silver-- but it is not a she. It is an--”
”WATCH YOURSELF.”
”It.”
”She!”
”It.”
”She!”
”It!”
BZZZZZZZZZZZZ...
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...
Once again, the two are driven to silence. Evan’s eyes dart toward the phone, and though Jenny makes a mad dash for it, Evan’s determination leads him to the phone first. He snatches it from the table and his eyes flicker with excitement. He clicks “Answer” and presses the phone to his ear, nearly smashing it into the side of his face in his overzealous nature.
”Hello?!”
Jenny audibly groans. She folds her arms as she watches Evan, watching patiently as he pads the conversation with ”uh-huhs” and pointless nodding that the person on the other line will likely never see.
”Right... Yeah... Yeah, that’s totally fine. Head over whenever you want. Yeah-- alright. Seeya.”
Evan hangs up the phone and places it down on the table, a delighted smile crossing his face. Jenny’s eyes remain planted on that now-dark screen and she can feel the beginning of a frown threatening to creep across her face. Without realizing it, she clenches Lady Overdrive against her chest with white-knuckle intensity.
”Was that Michelle?”
Evan raises his eyes toward hers as if he was waiting for that question. He is unable-- and unwilling-- to hide the grin that creeps across his face, however, and pushes himself up to his feet, using the edge of the table, pushing himself up onto the sofa behind him.
”Yeah. She’s coming by in the morning.”
”Why?”
Evan frowns when he turns to Jenny, but she doesn’t catch his gaze. Her stare has been cast downward, with her eyes locked on the phone; the current source of all of her angst.
”What do you mean ‘why’? I thought you’d be happy...”
”I... I mean... I just don’t want you to get your hopes up and then have something completely crush you and then-- then you’re sitting on your ass a few minutes before a huge match with Johnny Rebel, thinking about this girl that might not even love you anymore, and-- I--”
Jenny’s voice begins to crack. She throws a hand over her mouth and clears her throat, loudly. Almost obnoxiously. She feels her cheeks growing hot and red with each passing second, intensified by the curious glare Evan bestows upon her.
”You what?”
”I don’t want you to lose both of them. That’s all. I don’t know if you could handle it.”
”...I can handle Johnny Rebel. I can handle my own life too, without your help.”
”Really? Michelle left you and you spent every moment at home sitting on the floor, staring at your phone, waiting for her to send you a call, or a text, and it’s fucking pathetic. That’s not the Evan Envi I signed on to manage. That’s not the relentless, hard-hitting Overdrive Champion that I’ve grown accustomed to over the past three months, and the fact that YOU are settling for that scares me a little.
“Just because you have ‘The League’ watching your back now doesn’t mean that your duties as a Megastar have changed. It doesn’t mean that you have less responsibility. I promise you-- Johnny Rebel doesn’t give a shit who you’ve got rooting for you in the back. He doesn’t give a shit about your LACK of relationship with Michelle. He cares about THAT.”
Jenny closes her eyes after her tirade, taking a deep breath, afraid to look past her lids at Evan’s reaction. In the silence that has become commonplace in this room, she’s certain that she can hear her heart beating.
”I’m sorry.”
She opens her eyes again, looking at Evan through tears that’ve formed and remained stagnant in the corners of her eyes. To her relief, Evan isn’t looking at her, but is looking toward his phone again with a thoughtful expression.
Without a word, Evan rises to his feet, not even bothering to reach for the Overdrive Championship again as he makes his way out of the room.
Suddenly, Lady Overdrive feels as if she weighs tons on Jenny Knite’s shoulder without Evan in the room... Without Evan longing for her back, reaching for her with what Jenny had referred to before as a “matriarch-like vigilance.” As she pulls the championship off of her belt, allowing it to fall into her lap, it suddenly looks more malicious and unforgiving than she ever remembered it to be. It looks like... An enemy.
Sunday, June 2nd
Ocean City, MD
DING!
DONG!
Like a bat out of Hell, Evan Envi sprints to the front door of his condo, shamelessly sliding across the hardwood, roughly into the frame. After a small grunt of dissatisfaction, Evan tugs the door-- not even realizing that it’s locked in his fit of excitement.
One more try.
Creak.
And there she stands, radiating beauty, even with the look of indifference on her face: Michelle Weaver. Evan Envi couldn’t describe to you what the expression on his face was at that point in time, but it doesn’t elicit any visible motion from the five-foot-nine brunette that stands on his doorway.
”Hey.”
“Hey.” A lame, mundane greeting, and Evan feels the back of his neck growing hot as she continues to stare at him.
”Come in.”
Evan turns, taking a step into the house and Michelle, arms still folded defensively, steps in past him, casting a gaze around the house as if it were her first time entering it. Evan closes the door behind them and clears his throat, earning a glance in his direction.
”I came to get a few things.”
...And cue the clever stifling of disappointment.
”Y-- yeah. Yeah, I knew that. What do you need?”
”Just some shoes. A dress. Earrings. Small stuff I didn’t think to grab last week.”
”Yeah. That’s cool.”
Jenny shoots another look around the house as they make their way through.
”Your friend here?”
”Jenny?”
”...Yeah.”
Evan nods, pushing open the door to his room and stepping in, pivoting toward Michelle and gesturing toward the closet.
”She’s asleep in the guest room.”
Michelle scoffs at the response.
”How about your new girlfriend?”
Evan’s heart drops to the bottom of his stomach. He gives Michelle a confused glance, tensed-- but slowly stops, taking a deep breath when he realizes what she’s referring to.
”Is that what this is about?”
”No, I’m not here to belittle you or remind you how... Sick... Your fascination with an inanimate object is. I’m just here to get my stuff.”
”Why can’t we just talk?”
She laughs a little as she throws open the door of the closet, filtering through the pile of shoes, throwing each individual one that belongs to her out onto the floor.
”Because I don’t feel like becoming a segway for a conversation about your match with Johnny fucking Rebel.”
”We’re not! I didn’t even MENTION the match.”
”But you never change. Every time you talk, I know that in the back of your mind, you’re always thinking about your next match, or Lady Overdrive. You probably care more about the League than you care about your own sons.”
”I suggest you stop right there. That’s QUITE far enough.”
”No... I don’t think it is.”
”Excuse me?”
”When’s the last time you saw Delikado?”
”Last Thursday, but we’re meeting up in the morning to head over to Meltdown.”
”When’s the last time you saw Jenny?”
”Last night, I guess.”
”And how about your dad?”
Evan takes a deep breath and watches as Michelle turns away, going through the shoes again, speaking in a slightly softer tone.
”I’m doing you a favor. I’m just trying to talk about the shit that you wanna get off your chest anyway.”
Evan watches as she throws another shoe into the small pile that she’s made in the middle of the bedroom. He stands in an uncomfortable, staticky silence, and feels compelled to walk toward the television or the radio and switch one of them to “ON”, just for some sort of white noise in the background.
”It’s been so quiet in this house.”
The comment seems out of place, and prompts Michelle to turn, giving him an arched eyebrow.
”Right now my concern isn’t Johnny Rebel or Lady Overdrive. I just wanna talk.”
With that, Michelle Weaver slowly rises to her feet, turning completely to face Evan.
Blame it on the sun. Blame it on his ignorance. Blame it on anything, but at that moment, as Michelle climbed to her feet and the morning rays snuck through the blinds, striking her eyes-- Evan saw it-- he sees it, and sees now the red eyes, and the tears that have been gliding effortlessly down her face, like they didn’t belong there. Her tone, her posture doesn’t match what her eyes are saying, and Evan finds himself in stunned...
Stunned...
Silence.
”My dad passed away on Friday night.”
There are no words.
”...I...”
”I was there. I held his hand. I mean-- it wasn’t a huge surprise. Cystic fibrosis, y’know? But... It’s like... We went there to the hospital with him, for a fucking check-up. We just went for a fucking check-up and he wasn’t in the car when we left. We had--”
Her lip trembles and she clenches it, throwing a hand up to halt Evan as he comes closer with the clear intention of initating an embrace.
”And--” She laughs a little through what has become a flood of tears, using her sleeve to wipe her nose and her eyes. ”I was gonna invite you, because he liked you. And he didn’t like a lot of people. But he liked you. And I realized that it wouldn’t matter... Because you’ll be in Dallas for Overdrive, and you wouldn’t miss that for the world.”
”Michelle, I’m so--”
”And I hope that you find whatever you’re looking for in Dallas.”
”It’s not like that.”
”I just want you to think about... Things.”
Her eyes fall toward Evan’s chest, unable to meet his eyes anymore. She pivots once more and reaches the closet, retrieving the dress she’d mentioned-- a long, sleek, black dress. Its significance slaps Evan across the face almost immediately.
”Think about what it’s like to lose something.”
He opens his mouth to speak, but the words just never seem to roll out. He closes it again, clenching his jaw.
”And I don’t mean that as some sort of reference to your fucking title match with Johnny.”
She shoves past him, out the door of the bedroom. Evan turns and starts to follow her, but freezes as he sees the guest door’s bedroom open-- and out walks Jenny Knite, Lady Overdrive still held against her chest.
The two women seem to stare at each other for a moment with time coming to a halt. Everything is frozen, and Evan doesn’t have the time to feel worry, or guilt, or suspense, or any of the typical emotions. He just knows that Michelle seems to make her way down the stairs and through the front hall with all of her belongings in rapid time. He could swear that he sees her pause at the doorway for a moment, lingering, tempted to turn back and shoot one fleeting glance at the man she spent the past year with... But it doesn’t happen, and Evan is unable to confirm whether it was a bleak reality, or an even more pathetic vision fabricated in his head.
”She alright?”
Evan doesn’t seem to hear Jenny. He recognizes that she’s said something, and a tinge of guilt reminds him that he should’ve paid attention-- that it’s directed at him.
”Are YOU alright?”
He finally turns away from the door, realizing that it’s not going to fly back open... Realizing that there will be no more Michelle Weaver this morning.
”Give her to me.”
Evan doesn’t turn to look at Jenny, and Jenny doesn’t argue the specifics. After a slight pause, Jenny moves forward, looking down at Lady Overdrive, handling it over to Evan in the manner that a mother may hand her baby to a stranger. Evan gazes down into the platinum, looking at his blurred reflection in the face of the championship.
”I know you don’t like her.”
”...Evan, I have no problem with Michelle. She’s a sweet girl. I just don’t think she’s what you need. I think what you need is-- is focus.”
”Lady Overdrive. I know you don’t like her. I’ve SEEN how you look at her.”
”It’s not true.”
”I know that everyone wants to take her away, for one reason or another.”
”And, Evan, I’m here to help stop that. I won’t let them take her. I won’t. Rebel has no idea--”
”A month ago, I might’ve believed that. You were on board. you were there for me.”
”I’m still there for you.”
”Nate’s there for me. Buck. Deli. The League is there. The Lady is there.”
”And I’m there.”
Evan looks away from Jenny, back toward the door. Back toward reality. Jenny follows his gaze, and she sighs, swaying over to Evan, hesitantly pulling him into a half-embrace. Evan doesn’t resist, but continues to stare downward, waiting. Waiting.
Waiting.
”I’ve lost matches. I’ve lost championships. I’ve lost friends... Girlfriends...
“But, Johnny, I won’t lose the Lady.
“I ended John Dionysus’ career just to get a chance-- just to be able to reach out and touch her, and caress her, just once. And I loved it, so I hurt Mark Mania to HAVE her, and I drove him out of this company. I tore through Shadow... Amy Zing... I beat the World Champion and Xtreme Champion on the same night just to prove that the Lady meant everything.
“I did it because I owe it to her.
“People like you, Biggs, Delikado, Terry Marvin, Mark Mania-- the list goes on and on, and every name seems to be twice as intimidating as the one before it. Every name is impressive, and you are probably one of the most lethal competitors in the ring. I idolized you. I looked up to you. And when I saw that you were the one trying to wrestle my baby away from me this Thursday, I was timid. I was a little afraid.
“...And then some things were put into perspective, even if I wasn’t supposed to interpret them the way I did. I thought about going to the arena on Thursday night with the Overdrive Championship wrapped around my waist, and then-- then I thought about having to leave there, empty-handed, looking to my right, LOOKING on that passenger seat and not seeing... Not seeing the Lady that I came to Dallas with, but instead seeing the jeering faces of the Overdrive Champions before me.
“And you.
“And it drove me to this place that I didn’t know existed. It made me realize, Johnny, that if I’m ever going to be able to TOUCH a legacy like yours, then I have to build one from the ground-up that dwarfs yours in comparison.
“When people go back and they look at our careers, years after both of our best days are behind us, there’s going to be one thing...
“One thing that makes us different.
“Just... Just one thing that sets you and I apart from one another.
“And you wanna know what it is?
“I beat you.
"So while everyone gears up for Test for the Best, and I sit on the sidelines for the second year in a row, I know that I have to prepare for my own test. Tomorrow night, I face the best.
"Tomorrow night, I become the best. That's what makes us different.
"That's the one thing."
"I love being the Overdrive Champion-- I love Lady Overdrive. I love going out in front of a screaming crowd, love me or hate me, and doing what I was born to do. Since 2007, I’ve lived for nights like tomorrow and-- and I know that I should have cold feet going up against you, J-Reb. I know that I should have this sinking, painful feeling in the pit of my gut at the very IDEA of having to stand across the ring from you tomorrow night.
“But I don’t. I can’t.
“All I can think about is how I’ve been this huge Johnny Rebel fan for... What... Going on two years now? Like-- you’re the the best wrestler to have never held an APW World Championship. You-- you’ve got this attitude that I kind of tried to mimic when I first got here, and it didn’t work out for me, so I decided to be myself, y’know? And people didn’t like it too much. Hah.
“People labeled me as a prick and at first, yeah, I was a little bummed, but then I looked at you. I looked at Level One. I looked at Terry and I thought... Damn... These guys do whatever the hell they want, y;know, they say ‘hey, fuck what the fans think, I’m gonna do my own thing’ and THAT...
“...THAT is what everybody aspires to be. Everybody wants to be the trendy, hip guy that says they don’t care what anybody thinks of them, but like, I do, Reb. It does bother me when the same people that I’m spilling blood for on a weekly basis are the people that are booing me, and throwing trash at me. It does fuel a lot of the anger that you see on Thursday nights.
“Sometimes I like feeling the rush of the roaring crowd when I come out through those curtains, because it’s rare. I know what I do every week isn’t what people would approve of, but it’s what I think is right. When I joined Havok, Gooch, and Delikado to form The League of Extraordinary Wrestlers, I didn’t do it because I thought it would be the popular thing to do-- I did it because I thought forming a group with my four friends was right.
“Because I look at you, and I see someone that’s in a dark, desolate place. I see someone that’s completely and utterly alone in the world. I see somebody that could benefit... Benefit from being in the League-- and that’s not, some kind of invitation. It’s just the fact. I look at somebody that was all the way at the top, but hit rock bottom after a few bad business decisions, and it SCARES me to think that I could be on that road if I’m not careful.
“It scares me because it makes me think-- damn, what does that say about ME if I lose to somebody like that? And-- and it’s not a knock on your abilities, mkay? Like, I get that you’re one of the greatest Overdrive Champions that this company has ever seen. I get that you’ve been doing this for years upon years and you’ve probably accomplished more in one company than I have in my entire twenty-four years. Right? Okay? Don’t think I don’t know it.
“I also get that when our careers are both done, and they’re compared and analyzed under a magnifying glass, people are going to remember one thing. One thing that defines us.
“One thing that makes us different.
“Just... Just one thing that sets you and I apart from one another.
“And you wanna know what it is?”
------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, June 1st
Ocean City, MD
We blink into color.
Evan Envi is sitting in front of his cell phone, situated on the coffee table, sitting idly, silent-- silent. If you were to ask Evan Envi, he would tell you that it was deafening. If you were here before the cameras started rolling, you would think that Envi was crazy, or maybe even asleep, but this isn’t the case... Statuesque, Evan hovers over the phone with a matriarch-like vigilance, waiting.
Creak.
”Ah!”
Evan reaches for the phone, but quickly falters and frowns and disappointment when he realizes that the first sound that he’s heard in nearly an hour belongs not to the phone, but to the front door. His eyes dart toward the door as Jenny Knite makes her way inside, struggling to juggle several bags of groceries in her arms.
”Uhh... Help?”
Evan nervously casts a glance to his phone before pulling himself up and making his across the living room to Jenny Knite...
...Promptly grabbing the tiniest bag he can find from her, and pivoting, turning away, making his way into the kitchen.
”Did you get the cards? Is-- are these the cards?”
Frantically, Evan rips through the bag, but a look of disappointment falls across his face when he realizes that it’s nothing more than the day’s newspaper-- with the crosswords already completed. Bummer.
”Evan, I didn’t get cards, because you REFUSED to tell me what they were for.”
”It’s just important.”
Jenny, with a frustrated grunt, drops the groceries on the kitchen table and angles her head to Evan, who is already in the process of scrolling through his phone, looking for any and all missed alerts.
”Are you still waiting for Michelle to come crawling ba--?”
”She’s not gone, Jennifer. She’s just-- we’re taking a break.”
”Evan, she’s gone.”
”She’s-- you do NOT know that, and how dare you speak about my relationship, which you know absolutely nothing about?!”
Jenny looks at Envi, her mouth open, ready to retort, but a glimmer catches her eyes. A cryptic silence befalls the room before Jenny’s head swivels, her eyes wandering toward the platinum championship belt that sits, as if on a pedestal, on top of the television. The location is always different, but the eerie presence of “Lady Overdrive” is always the same. She’s always isolated, and featured prominently somewhere in the room. She’s never hard to miss.
”Even-- even when I think about that Overdrive Title, you’ve got me calling ‘it’ a ‘she’ and it’s unhealthy, dude. She-- I mean, THAT-- is the reason Michelle left.”
”She’s...”
”GONE. Accept it. You already lost one chick, so... Just... Try not to lose both of them, alright? For both of our sakes.”
She stands there with her hands drumming against the edge of the tabletop for a few moments before she exits the kitchen and strides across the living room. Evan’s heartbeat rapidly increases as Jenny struts past him, toward the television, and snatches Lady Overdrive from the top, placing it around her shoulder without a moment’s notice.
”What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Jenny doesn’t answer, but she makes her way to the same coffee table that Evan has resumed an Indian-style stance in front of. She sits on the opposite side, placing the Overdrive Championship between them. Her eyes drift from the nameplate up to the champion himself, and a humbled smile crosses her face.
”You understand how many people love you, right?”
”Uhhh... Yeah, mom, I’m aware. But this isn’t a game-- give her to me.”
”Her. Her. Do you fucking hear yourself?”
”Jenny, I’m not in the mood. Give her--”
”The BELT.”
”That’s not what she is.”
”Yes it is. It’s a championship BELT, Evan. It’s a piece of leather, and platinum, and silver-- but it is not a she. It is an--”
”WATCH YOURSELF.”
”It.”
”She!”
”It.”
”She!”
”It!”
BZZZZZZZZZZZZ...
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...
Once again, the two are driven to silence. Evan’s eyes dart toward the phone, and though Jenny makes a mad dash for it, Evan’s determination leads him to the phone first. He snatches it from the table and his eyes flicker with excitement. He clicks “Answer” and presses the phone to his ear, nearly smashing it into the side of his face in his overzealous nature.
”Hello?!”
Jenny audibly groans. She folds her arms as she watches Evan, watching patiently as he pads the conversation with ”uh-huhs” and pointless nodding that the person on the other line will likely never see.
”Right... Yeah... Yeah, that’s totally fine. Head over whenever you want. Yeah-- alright. Seeya.”
Evan hangs up the phone and places it down on the table, a delighted smile crossing his face. Jenny’s eyes remain planted on that now-dark screen and she can feel the beginning of a frown threatening to creep across her face. Without realizing it, she clenches Lady Overdrive against her chest with white-knuckle intensity.
”Was that Michelle?”
Evan raises his eyes toward hers as if he was waiting for that question. He is unable-- and unwilling-- to hide the grin that creeps across his face, however, and pushes himself up to his feet, using the edge of the table, pushing himself up onto the sofa behind him.
”Yeah. She’s coming by in the morning.”
”Why?”
Evan frowns when he turns to Jenny, but she doesn’t catch his gaze. Her stare has been cast downward, with her eyes locked on the phone; the current source of all of her angst.
”What do you mean ‘why’? I thought you’d be happy...”
”I... I mean... I just don’t want you to get your hopes up and then have something completely crush you and then-- then you’re sitting on your ass a few minutes before a huge match with Johnny Rebel, thinking about this girl that might not even love you anymore, and-- I--”
Jenny’s voice begins to crack. She throws a hand over her mouth and clears her throat, loudly. Almost obnoxiously. She feels her cheeks growing hot and red with each passing second, intensified by the curious glare Evan bestows upon her.
”You what?”
”I don’t want you to lose both of them. That’s all. I don’t know if you could handle it.”
”...I can handle Johnny Rebel. I can handle my own life too, without your help.”
”Really? Michelle left you and you spent every moment at home sitting on the floor, staring at your phone, waiting for her to send you a call, or a text, and it’s fucking pathetic. That’s not the Evan Envi I signed on to manage. That’s not the relentless, hard-hitting Overdrive Champion that I’ve grown accustomed to over the past three months, and the fact that YOU are settling for that scares me a little.
“Just because you have ‘The League’ watching your back now doesn’t mean that your duties as a Megastar have changed. It doesn’t mean that you have less responsibility. I promise you-- Johnny Rebel doesn’t give a shit who you’ve got rooting for you in the back. He doesn’t give a shit about your LACK of relationship with Michelle. He cares about THAT.”
Jenny closes her eyes after her tirade, taking a deep breath, afraid to look past her lids at Evan’s reaction. In the silence that has become commonplace in this room, she’s certain that she can hear her heart beating.
”I’m sorry.”
She opens her eyes again, looking at Evan through tears that’ve formed and remained stagnant in the corners of her eyes. To her relief, Evan isn’t looking at her, but is looking toward his phone again with a thoughtful expression.
Without a word, Evan rises to his feet, not even bothering to reach for the Overdrive Championship again as he makes his way out of the room.
Suddenly, Lady Overdrive feels as if she weighs tons on Jenny Knite’s shoulder without Evan in the room... Without Evan longing for her back, reaching for her with what Jenny had referred to before as a “matriarch-like vigilance.” As she pulls the championship off of her belt, allowing it to fall into her lap, it suddenly looks more malicious and unforgiving than she ever remembered it to be. It looks like... An enemy.
------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, June 2nd
Ocean City, MD
DING!
DONG!
Like a bat out of Hell, Evan Envi sprints to the front door of his condo, shamelessly sliding across the hardwood, roughly into the frame. After a small grunt of dissatisfaction, Evan tugs the door-- not even realizing that it’s locked in his fit of excitement.
One more try.
Creak.
And there she stands, radiating beauty, even with the look of indifference on her face: Michelle Weaver. Evan Envi couldn’t describe to you what the expression on his face was at that point in time, but it doesn’t elicit any visible motion from the five-foot-nine brunette that stands on his doorway.
”Hey.”
“Hey.” A lame, mundane greeting, and Evan feels the back of his neck growing hot as she continues to stare at him.
”Come in.”
Evan turns, taking a step into the house and Michelle, arms still folded defensively, steps in past him, casting a gaze around the house as if it were her first time entering it. Evan closes the door behind them and clears his throat, earning a glance in his direction.
”I came to get a few things.”
...And cue the clever stifling of disappointment.
”Y-- yeah. Yeah, I knew that. What do you need?”
”Just some shoes. A dress. Earrings. Small stuff I didn’t think to grab last week.”
”Yeah. That’s cool.”
Jenny shoots another look around the house as they make their way through.
”Your friend here?”
”Jenny?”
”...Yeah.”
Evan nods, pushing open the door to his room and stepping in, pivoting toward Michelle and gesturing toward the closet.
”She’s asleep in the guest room.”
Michelle scoffs at the response.
”How about your new girlfriend?”
Evan’s heart drops to the bottom of his stomach. He gives Michelle a confused glance, tensed-- but slowly stops, taking a deep breath when he realizes what she’s referring to.
”Is that what this is about?”
”No, I’m not here to belittle you or remind you how... Sick... Your fascination with an inanimate object is. I’m just here to get my stuff.”
”Why can’t we just talk?”
She laughs a little as she throws open the door of the closet, filtering through the pile of shoes, throwing each individual one that belongs to her out onto the floor.
”Because I don’t feel like becoming a segway for a conversation about your match with Johnny fucking Rebel.”
”We’re not! I didn’t even MENTION the match.”
”But you never change. Every time you talk, I know that in the back of your mind, you’re always thinking about your next match, or Lady Overdrive. You probably care more about the League than you care about your own sons.”
”I suggest you stop right there. That’s QUITE far enough.”
”No... I don’t think it is.”
”Excuse me?”
”When’s the last time you saw Delikado?”
”Last Thursday, but we’re meeting up in the morning to head over to Meltdown.”
”When’s the last time you saw Jenny?”
”Last night, I guess.”
”And how about your dad?”
Evan takes a deep breath and watches as Michelle turns away, going through the shoes again, speaking in a slightly softer tone.
”I’m doing you a favor. I’m just trying to talk about the shit that you wanna get off your chest anyway.”
Evan watches as she throws another shoe into the small pile that she’s made in the middle of the bedroom. He stands in an uncomfortable, staticky silence, and feels compelled to walk toward the television or the radio and switch one of them to “ON”, just for some sort of white noise in the background.
”It’s been so quiet in this house.”
The comment seems out of place, and prompts Michelle to turn, giving him an arched eyebrow.
”Right now my concern isn’t Johnny Rebel or Lady Overdrive. I just wanna talk.”
With that, Michelle Weaver slowly rises to her feet, turning completely to face Evan.
Blame it on the sun. Blame it on his ignorance. Blame it on anything, but at that moment, as Michelle climbed to her feet and the morning rays snuck through the blinds, striking her eyes-- Evan saw it-- he sees it, and sees now the red eyes, and the tears that have been gliding effortlessly down her face, like they didn’t belong there. Her tone, her posture doesn’t match what her eyes are saying, and Evan finds himself in stunned...
Stunned...
Silence.
”My dad passed away on Friday night.”
There are no words.
”...I...”
”I was there. I held his hand. I mean-- it wasn’t a huge surprise. Cystic fibrosis, y’know? But... It’s like... We went there to the hospital with him, for a fucking check-up. We just went for a fucking check-up and he wasn’t in the car when we left. We had--”
Her lip trembles and she clenches it, throwing a hand up to halt Evan as he comes closer with the clear intention of initating an embrace.
”And--” She laughs a little through what has become a flood of tears, using her sleeve to wipe her nose and her eyes. ”I was gonna invite you, because he liked you. And he didn’t like a lot of people. But he liked you. And I realized that it wouldn’t matter... Because you’ll be in Dallas for Overdrive, and you wouldn’t miss that for the world.”
”Michelle, I’m so--”
”And I hope that you find whatever you’re looking for in Dallas.”
”It’s not like that.”
”I just want you to think about... Things.”
Her eyes fall toward Evan’s chest, unable to meet his eyes anymore. She pivots once more and reaches the closet, retrieving the dress she’d mentioned-- a long, sleek, black dress. Its significance slaps Evan across the face almost immediately.
”Think about what it’s like to lose something.”
He opens his mouth to speak, but the words just never seem to roll out. He closes it again, clenching his jaw.
”And I don’t mean that as some sort of reference to your fucking title match with Johnny.”
She shoves past him, out the door of the bedroom. Evan turns and starts to follow her, but freezes as he sees the guest door’s bedroom open-- and out walks Jenny Knite, Lady Overdrive still held against her chest.
The two women seem to stare at each other for a moment with time coming to a halt. Everything is frozen, and Evan doesn’t have the time to feel worry, or guilt, or suspense, or any of the typical emotions. He just knows that Michelle seems to make her way down the stairs and through the front hall with all of her belongings in rapid time. He could swear that he sees her pause at the doorway for a moment, lingering, tempted to turn back and shoot one fleeting glance at the man she spent the past year with... But it doesn’t happen, and Evan is unable to confirm whether it was a bleak reality, or an even more pathetic vision fabricated in his head.
”She alright?”
Evan doesn’t seem to hear Jenny. He recognizes that she’s said something, and a tinge of guilt reminds him that he should’ve paid attention-- that it’s directed at him.
”Are YOU alright?”
He finally turns away from the door, realizing that it’s not going to fly back open... Realizing that there will be no more Michelle Weaver this morning.
”Give her to me.”
Evan doesn’t turn to look at Jenny, and Jenny doesn’t argue the specifics. After a slight pause, Jenny moves forward, looking down at Lady Overdrive, handling it over to Evan in the manner that a mother may hand her baby to a stranger. Evan gazes down into the platinum, looking at his blurred reflection in the face of the championship.
”I know you don’t like her.”
”...Evan, I have no problem with Michelle. She’s a sweet girl. I just don’t think she’s what you need. I think what you need is-- is focus.”
”Lady Overdrive. I know you don’t like her. I’ve SEEN how you look at her.”
”It’s not true.”
”I know that everyone wants to take her away, for one reason or another.”
”And, Evan, I’m here to help stop that. I won’t let them take her. I won’t. Rebel has no idea--”
”A month ago, I might’ve believed that. You were on board. you were there for me.”
”I’m still there for you.”
”Nate’s there for me. Buck. Deli. The League is there. The Lady is there.”
”And I’m there.”
Evan looks away from Jenny, back toward the door. Back toward reality. Jenny follows his gaze, and she sighs, swaying over to Evan, hesitantly pulling him into a half-embrace. Evan doesn’t resist, but continues to stare downward, waiting. Waiting.
Waiting.
------------------------------------------------------------
”I’ve lost matches. I’ve lost championships. I’ve lost friends... Girlfriends...
“But, Johnny, I won’t lose the Lady.
“I ended John Dionysus’ career just to get a chance-- just to be able to reach out and touch her, and caress her, just once. And I loved it, so I hurt Mark Mania to HAVE her, and I drove him out of this company. I tore through Shadow... Amy Zing... I beat the World Champion and Xtreme Champion on the same night just to prove that the Lady meant everything.
“I did it because I owe it to her.
“People like you, Biggs, Delikado, Terry Marvin, Mark Mania-- the list goes on and on, and every name seems to be twice as intimidating as the one before it. Every name is impressive, and you are probably one of the most lethal competitors in the ring. I idolized you. I looked up to you. And when I saw that you were the one trying to wrestle my baby away from me this Thursday, I was timid. I was a little afraid.
“...And then some things were put into perspective, even if I wasn’t supposed to interpret them the way I did. I thought about going to the arena on Thursday night with the Overdrive Championship wrapped around my waist, and then-- then I thought about having to leave there, empty-handed, looking to my right, LOOKING on that passenger seat and not seeing... Not seeing the Lady that I came to Dallas with, but instead seeing the jeering faces of the Overdrive Champions before me.
“And you.
“And it drove me to this place that I didn’t know existed. It made me realize, Johnny, that if I’m ever going to be able to TOUCH a legacy like yours, then I have to build one from the ground-up that dwarfs yours in comparison.
“When people go back and they look at our careers, years after both of our best days are behind us, there’s going to be one thing...
“One thing that makes us different.
“Just... Just one thing that sets you and I apart from one another.
“And you wanna know what it is?
“I beat you.
"So while everyone gears up for Test for the Best, and I sit on the sidelines for the second year in a row, I know that I have to prepare for my own test. Tomorrow night, I face the best.
"Tomorrow night, I become the best. That's what makes us different.
"That's the one thing."
