November 9, 2013

The table beside the bed in her hotel room held two dirty plastic spoons and a very precarious tower of empty Ben & Jerry’s pints, all from today. The cleaning lady would be by in the morning to clear up after her, to change her sheets and replace the damp towels. It was nice to be living out of a hotel, following along while her best friend wrestled for Femme Fatale Wrestling. The truth was, she had nothing else to do. She’d abruptly quit her media job with FTW and she split the duties with Kevin Clark in PCW so there was nothing going on at all this week for poor Nessa Wall.

Glancing down at her cell phone, she brought up Twitter, wondering what Mika was doing. Was she training with Leona? Watching tapes for her match against Freya Kane? Already sleeping? The fact is, the Red Star was dangerously quiet. As if she wasn’t online.

Biting her lip, she sent out a vague message, hoping against hope that Mikaela would see it and reply.



On her end, Mikaela looked idly at website, with a Twitter client open, as windows popped up and down showing people’s stream of thoughts, to which Mika had absolutely no interest in following at all. That is, until her best friend’s face popped up. From idleness, Mikaela fell into sheer sadness, knowing that her best friend was sad.

‘What has he done to you?’ Mika thought, pouting as she shot Nessa a simple response.



Nessa reached over and turned off iTunes on her computer, sick of the playlist that was conspiring to keep her wallowing in misery. When her phone buzzed, she looked down with a smile, seeing her best friend’s cyber hug displaying on the screen, highlighted in yellow.

Smiling through her tears, she typed out a reply, sending it before she lost her nerve.



The answer came quickly from Mikaela, who didn’t miss a single beat:



Nessa was out of bed the second the words appeared on her screen, throwing the covers aside. Running her fingers through her hair, she quickly threw it up into a messy ponytail and grabbed the pair of pants she’d worn to the grocery store earlier. A few seconds later she was out the door, looking dishevelled but still beautiful. It didn’t take her long to reach the door to the room Mika was staying in— it was just down the hall, after all. She shifted from one foot to the other, realizing that she was barefoot on what was probably the grossest carpet in the universe even as she lifted her fist to knock gently on the door. It didn’t take long for Mikaela to come out and welcome her, opening the door for her best friend to come in. And unlike Nessa, Mika hadn’t wasted a single moment changing into better clothes… Even though one would question that even in her pajamas, the Russian young adult still looked stunning. “Took you too long.”

“I was in bed,” Nessa replied as she stepped inside the suite that was almost identical to her own, albeit slightly less messy. “So you know… I kinda had to put something on other than a t-shirt and panties.” The words held a certain sort of sarcasm, but her eyes sparkled with more life than she’d shown even when Mika had opened the door. It was uncanny— all she had to do was see her best friend’s smiling face, and she instantly felt better.

And Mikaela’s nonchalant humour, perhaps, made it even better - “I wouldn’t object to that,” said the Red Star, before dragging Nessa in a TIGHT, loving hug.”Oh, Ness… what have they done to you, girl?”

“Think it’s mostly self-inflicted at this point. I keep wanting to delete him and block him and all that but every time I do, I end up looking back at all the things he said to me and…” she shook her head, hugging Mika back as tightly as she could. “It’s my fault. I know it is. I did something wrong and I turned him into this… this monster.”

“No, no, no! You didn’t do anything wrong!” Mika said assertively, hugging her friend even tighter now. “I… I saw how you gave up your life for him. I saw how you stood by him through hell and high water and…” Mika sighs in deeply, with a hint - or a hammer impact - of sadness. “You did so much for him and he just… He just… Gah!” she grunted, stomping a foot once against the floor in some kind of anger.

“Worst of all,” Nessa continued, “I let you down. I mean, I know you have Natalya when she’s around and Leona…. but I’ve been the worst sort of fair-weather friend. All because of that…” she trailed off, a little spark of anger in her own eyes. “God, I hate him so much.”

Mika grimaced. “Don’t lie,” she said; “I can see it in your eyes you don’t hate him. You’re crying your heart out because of him. I…” And then the Red Star broke the hug for a moment, looking down. “You know I never wanted to be a bother to your happiness. You deserve to be happy, I never wanted to… To cause any kind of discomfort… That’s why I never…”

“Hey,” Nessa lifted a finger and placed it against Mika’s lips, “enough of that, okay? You have never, ever done anything to upset me. You’re my rock, Mika… I don’t know how else to put it. You…” she paused, biting her lip, “you’re my best friend and I love you so much.”

Mika smiled tenderly and put her hands softly over Nesa’s cheeks. “I love you too. You’re one of the few friends I have… you’re the best. I couldn’t…” She sighed, rolling her eyes, failing to find the best words. “You know what, I’ll just say that I’ll be here for you… Whatever you need.”

Nessa nodded, her eyes bright with tears that she tried to will away as she tilted her head back and looked up at the ceiling. “I don’t know how I managed to find a friend like you… but I’m so grateful,” her voice broke as she finally looked back at Mikaela, a single tear breaking loose and falling down her cheek. “I swear, tomorrow I’m gonna find a way to stop crying over this. I wasn’t this bad when things ended with Alex, was I?”

“... maybe a tiny li’l bit,” Mika said, hiding a ‘yes, you were’, chuckling nervously. “But I wouldn’t know how it feels. Single for life, apparently.”

“It’s a good philosophy, honey,” Nessa assured her, taking a step back before grabbing her hand and pulling her friend towards the bed. “This hurts way more than simply being lonely does, trust me. And if there’s anything I want for you in this world… it’s to never see you cry.”

“You’re not doing a good job,” Mika said, playfully yet with another hint of sadness, sitting on the edge of the bed with Nessa. “I don’t want to see YOU cry. Not because of an asshole that’s so out of touch with reality he never looked at you.” She sighed. “I don’t know, I… I don’t understand how relationships go, I’ve never been in one, I… I don’t know.”

Nessa leaned towards Mika, resting her head on her shoulder as she wrapped an arm around her waist. “You know more than you think you do. This… this right here is what I wish I could’ve had with any of them— easy conversation. No stress. No tapdancing around and waiting to be noticed. When I talk, you hear me… you know what I mean?” Wrapping her other arm around Mikaela, Nessa hugged her hard, “someday you’re going to find the one you’re meant to be with, and it’ll be amazing… it’ll be perfect and you’ll be so happy that you never had to deal with all these others that were just dress rehearsals for the real thing.”

“Are you saying we’d hit off as girlfriends?”

Dramatic beat.

As Nessa shot a weird look up at Mika, the two blondes giggled vividly. “Okay, seriously now,” Mika continued, stroking Nessa’s hair. “This ‘finding the right person’, I don’t know. People keep telling me I have to change my attitude and junk; I don’t know. I… I’m not expecting it to happen anytime soon. I guess this is what’s better for me, you know? Being here with my friends… with you. I don’t think I’m ever gonna hit off with any guy.”

Nessa let out a soft laugh, “if I was a boy, I’d have wifed you by now.”

“Pity you aren’t,” Mika answered and giggled, hugging Nessa tightly and planting a kiss on her head. “You’re such a sweetie.”

“And could you just imagine how hot our kids would be?” The smile on her lips was genuine as she looked up at The Red Star, “they’d be superstar actor-slash-models at the age of two!”

“The sexiest kids in the world,” Mika answered. “Golden hair, blue eyes, and DAMN, they’d have a smile that would make any girl mellllllllt,” she said, slowly slinking down onto the bed, laughing to herself.

Nessa followed her, “you know, it’s a good thing nobody else is here right now. Could you just imagine the field-day the tabloids would have with this?”

Mika blinked. Twice. She then sat up, using her arms to support herself. “Oh, wow. That’s true. People are dying for a gossip! What if… What if people thought we were ACTUAL girlfriends?!” she asked with a silly smirk.

Nessa’s lips curved in that devilish smirk of hers, “oh my God… could you imagine how bad that would make Matt feel? Could completely emasculate him with a single… innocent…” she leaned towards Mika, whispering the word, “kiss.”

Mika grinned right back. “All big and buffed, running after gold like a dog… And left behind for another woman. Oooooh,” she whispered right back, “I bet that bites.”

“I’m almost tempted to do it, just for the revenge,” she laughed again before sobering slightly, “but that’s really not very fair to you, now is it?”

“... unfair?” Mika asked. “I don’t see anything wrong, except for the fact that neither of us are into other women,” she said, less playfully but still with a friendly, sober tone. “But if we were? I don’t see how it’s wrong or unfair.”

Nessa sighed, flopping back on the bed, “why do you always have to be the reasonable one?” And just like that, the weird sexual tension faded— was it ever really there to begin with? Had she imagined it? Probably. “Seriously… I feel like I could sleep for a thousand years… and why is your bed softer than the one in my room?”

“... because you’re resting on my breasts,” Mika said playfully.

Nessa burst out laughing, hugging her best friend tight. “And this… this is why I love you.”

“Because I’m the reasonable one or because of my breasts?” Mika asked jokingly, prompting Nessa to laugh again. As the two women shuffled on bed, again they met eye to eye, as Mikaela smiled tenderly down at her friend. “You said you wanted to hug me all night long, I’m still waiting for it.”

“You’re getting it, sweetie. I need it.” Nessa settled against the mattress resting her head against Mikaela’s chest as she wrapped an arm around her. There was nothing sexual about the embrace… it was just a cuddle. It was something both women needed more than anything.

“You know,” Mika said softly into Nessa’s ear, a bit nervously, but still as friendly and lovingly as she could. “I wouldn’t oppose doing something crazy… If you really wanted it.”

Nessa’s eyes go kind of wide.