June 18, 2015

Nessa Wall stood in the hallway outside the hotel room she knew Matt Stone was staying in, staring down at the hideous paisley-patterned carpet on the floor. It hadn't taken much to bribe the horny twenty-something downstairs manning the check-in desk. One bat of her eyelashes, a flash of cleavage and a quickly scrawled autograph on one of the 8x10 glossies she carried around inside a Ziploc freezer bag inside her purse and she was equipped with a room key. Tapping it against her fingernail, she hesitated for a few more seconds, debating the best approach before taking those two steps forward to swipe it through the lock. As she pushed the door open, she briefly wondered if she'd find him alone. That thought hadn't even occurred to her until now. What if Valentina was here?

Shaking it off, she barged right in as though she belonged there. Fortunately, there wasn't a Latin Goddess to speak of, or any Goddess for that matter, as it was just Matt laying on his bed, chest down scrolling through pictures on his laptop with some 90's sitcom on the television. At first glance, it was either Seinfeld or Friends, probably the former. Either way it wasn't gaining his attention, and neither was his laptop once he heard the door open. He glanced up ready to start screaming but when he saw it was Nessa, his eyes widened and he slammed the laptop shut in front of him. "Nessa!..Hi...what's new?" He asked, clearly sounding surprised that she was now inside his room. He figured she would be off taking care of CWF business or whatever it is she normally did when he was away.

That surprise in his voice kinda threw her, but it was the slamming of his laptop that had been more suspicious. "I was in town," she replied, one perfectly-shaped eyebrow lifting as she studied him. "I thought I'd drop in and surprise you. I guess I succeeded there, didn't I?"

"You most certainly did, a nice surprise. Remind me to thank whomever gave you a key to my room for assisting in this wonderful surprise." He added as he got up off the bed to approach her. "What were you up to in this hell hole, if I may ask?"

She smiled but it didn't come anywhere near close to lighting up her eyes like it usually did when she looked at him. "I thought I'd catch FFW's Velocity. It's been so long since I've just been to a show as a fan without any actual responsibilities. I suppose that's partly why I'm here now. We need to talk."

"We do?" He asks, stopping his progress, feeling like going to hug her right now might not be the best idea. "What about? I figured we would strategize about the Midas Touch a little closer, but if you wanted to do that now, I suppose we could." He said, going over to pick up his phone off the table and see if he had any new messages, which he didn't. "Could have sent a text, by the way."

"Mmmhmm," she nodded sarcastically, "I could've sent a text but that seems a little too impersonal for what I'm feeling right now, Matthew. And strategize for the Midas Touch? Are you kidding me right now? We've barely exchanged two words since you tossed me out of our hotel room in Puerto Rico… and now you're going to act like the most pressing business I have is that stupid match I never even wanted to enter in the first place?"

He put his phone down and looked over at her again. "Never hurts to be too prepared, Nessa. And as for Puerto Rico...yeah, that might not have been the most rational thing for me to do, but come on, we both know it was your fault." He finished, glaring slightly at the center of her face where her normally cute nose lived.

"Right. We've established that. My fault. Just like what happened in Charlotte was very obviously my fault as well, right? I'm the mastermind behind this awful conspiracy to humiliate you on camera. Never mind the fact that I'm the one putting YOU above everything else in my life."

"No, that was not you, don't try and play it off like I'm some paranoid person here Ness, we were face to face, I saw it was you who...well you know." He trailed off, not wanting to even mention what had happened for fear it might again. "And you should be putting me above all else, isn't that what being in a relationship is?"

"I'd like to think so, yes. Actually, I'm glad you agree with me. That makes what I'm about to say a little bit easier. This, Matthew… this what we have right here, right now… this isn't…" she paused, sighing as she shook her head, "this isn't even remotely reciprocal. I watched you tonight in action, right up there on the big screen. I watched how you fawned over Valentina… I watched your face when you called her 'Goddess'. Quite frankly, it took every single ounce of my self-control to stay in that seat and not storm my way to the ring just to rip that smug little bitch's hair extensions out by the roots."

"Whoa there." He said, then paused for a second as if he was picturing what she had described. "I don't think that's necessary, what I do with Valentina, it's strictly business, Nessa. As her manager, it's my job to make sure she's as confident as she can be out in that ring, and it just so happens that her confidence is predicated on compliments and flattery. I would be a pretty bad manager if I didn't do anything and everything in my power to ensure she gets what she needs. As for us? What do you mean it's not reciprocal? You think simply because I'm upset with you it overshadows the months previous? How does that work?"

Hands on her hips, Nessa faced him down. "You're upset with me because your priorities are completely skewed. What's the most important thing to you right now, Matthew? Answer me honestly. What's the first thing you think about when you get up in the morning. Is it that belt? Is it how you can get ahead in your career today? Is it how you can help poor Valentina realize her next goal in FFW? Or is it how I might be feeling?"

"The first thing I think about is where my phone is, and when I click it open, guess what the first thing I see is. Go on, guess, or better yet, go check, it's right there." He dared her, nodding his head to the phone.

"Fine!" She had to follow through on it now since he'd called her bluff, "I will." She grabbed the phone up from where he'd left it, touching his screen only to find that she was staring at a picture of herself holding a microphone as his lock screen wallpaper. Looking up at him, she bit her lip the same way she was in that photograph, looking unsure now. "I… but you…" she sighed, setting the phone back down. "You didn't even check up on me. Something awful could have happened in San Juan and you'd have never even known."

"Something awful? Like what, exactly? You're Nessa Wall, you've been looking after yourself for years, I trust you alone more than I would trust myself in a foreign country. Plus, and I feel like I need to stress this again, I was upset with you. You didn't try and contact me either, I may add, something that would be just as easy for you as it would be for me. But if you think that a few days of silence equates to me being more interested in another woman than you, there might be something wrong with your perception of me, not my priorities." He said, trying to to turn it around on her as that was generally easier than simply apologizing.

"Wait…" she stared at him in stupefaction, "are you… you threw me out, Matthew! Did you seriously think I was going to grovel and beg for forgiveness… publicly? Is that what you wanted? Is that why you put it out there that you were going to start looking for a new interviewer… to shame me into crawling in here to bow down… kiss your feet… and ask for everything to be forgiven? It's pretty clear that's not going to happen. It's probably never going to happen and the last thing I want to do is be with someone who wants to hold that over my head for the rest of my life."

"I would never ask you to kiss my feet, that's not my thing." He said quickly before realizing what she was saying. "That's not exactly what I meant, I just meant that you could have given me a update on how you were doing. Alright, look, I probably didn't react to the situation the way I should have, but to do…that right as we were talking about it, just seemed like you deliberately did it to make fun of me."

"I would never," she paused, stabbing a finger in his direction vehemently, "ever make fun of you, Matthew. I love you… and that means that you are the one person out there I would never throw under the bus. Upset or not… embarrassed or not… I would never do to you what you did to me. So, if you want to know why I'm here? Why I dragged myself to this godforsaken city just to watch a show for a company I couldn't care less about… it's because I wanted to see your face when I ask you this one question: are you even remotely interested in fixing what's broken here?"

Matt was backing up as Nessa was prodding her finger into his chest, stopping at the bed and sitting down, looking up at her as she spoke. "Well...yeah, of course...I didn't know there was something broken here.." He stammered out, not expecting this sort of forcefulness from Nessa.

"Well there is." She said firmly, stopping the poking only to place her hand gently on his shoulder instead. "And despite what people beyond this room think, even if I did walk in to find you surfing photos of other women… you're the best thing that ever happened to me. I'd never have won the Pride Championship if it hadn't been for your support all along the way. I don't want to lose that sweet, caring side of you, Matthew. And I certainly don't want to have to be miserable 24/7."

"Well good." He said, nodding his head, glad that, at least for now, she seemed to be less furious. "I don't want to lose any part of you. I worked far too hard to get you to around to my worldly charms, I don't want to throw that away over a couple of silly misunderstandings. Plus, as I found out, apparently it can happen to anyone." He added, though the look on his face showed signs of anger still thinking back to Aggression.

"Absolutely. So obviously now you know I didn't do it on purpose. And at least I didn't douse you in sparkling wine-— it's only truly called champagne when it's from France, sweetie. And that garbage was from California." She smirked, feeling the need to lord that knowledge over him even as her tone shifted from from the last hints of anger to playful. "Now, with all that nonsense aside… I missed you. Terribly."

"I missed you too." He said sincerely, still looking up at her, despite the correction. "Everything just drags into futility without you around. I'm sorry I haven't been treating you like the princess you are, I hope you can forgive me." He said, looking up at her with puppy eyes.

"Of course," she nodded, falling for those sad eyes like she always did. "I'm sorry I came barging in here like a bull in a china shop. You're right. I should have just texted days ago before I let it get to me so much. I just… I can barely function when you're not around."

"Well I'm around now, so you shan't have any more issues with functionality. I should have texted you as soon as you walked out the door and asked you to come back, I just didn't appreciate you comparing me to that human trash bag and then, well, you know….but still, it was wrong." He confirmed, patting the bed beside him as she was still standing over him.

She sat down, immediately leaning against him and resting her head on his shoulder with a sigh. "I've been so stupid… thinking the worst of you. I'm so very sorry. Forgive me?"

"Of course, sweetie. Neither one of us was too smart about how we handled things, I think we can both agree. The important thing? We came back to each other, right?"

"Right. Absolutely." She closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a gentle squeeze.

Matt leaned down and kissed her forehead, just enjoying her embrace. With all his talking and bravado, he really enjoyed being held by her. "Any plans in the next couple of days?"

"None whatsoever," she murmured, a smile crossing her lips, "I dropped everything to come here… for you."

"Well, since we don't have any immediate plans, maybe we should take a few days away from everything and everyone and just spend time together?"

"Oh yes," she paused for a moment, feeling a tickle in her sinuses. Maybe it was something in his cologne or the sheets on the bed, but she could definitely feel a sneeze coming on. Lifting her hand, she rubbed a finger under her nose. "Oh no. Not… now."

Matt turned towards her and saw what was happening, getting off the bed. "Hold that thought, Ness." He said, scurrying over to his bag to retrieve something for Nessa in her hour of need.

"Hmm?" She looked up, eyes watering a little as she tried to hold it back.

"You see," he started, opening the zipper to his bag and beginning to move things around. "I know how you have this...tendency to do this sort of thing, and rather than get upset about it, I went out and got something especially for you."

"You did? You got me a gift?" She only heard the last part, fixating on that. She loved nothing more than getting little tokens of his appreciation, after all.

"I did," he said, pulling out a gift bag and heading over to Nessa, though trying to stay out of the line of fire, as it were, for safety. He took his seat beside her and opened up the bag, pulling out a Montreal Canadiens baseball cap with a thin plastic sheet attached to the brim, dropping down about a foot below.

Her smile turned to one of disbelief, then dismay before she forced herself back to cheerful. "Oh… it's… really nice."

"Here, try it on, quick," he urged, forcing the hat into her hands before something bad happened.

She took it from his hands, begrudgingly settling it on her head. The smell of plastic from the sheet made her nose wrinkle and then the sneeze burst forth, sending the sheet rippling like a curtain in a breeze.

Matt watched on, inching away ever so carefully just to be safe, but when he saw the hat get on her, he was a bit more relieved. Nessa's sneeze exploded into the sheet, but it stood attached, putting a smile on his face. "It worked!" He exclaimed, rather than the usual 'bless you.'

He seemed so excited, she didn't have the heart to tell him that she hated it. "It did, if that's what you were going for."

"Yeah, now you can wear that for all of my interviews, nothing could possibly go wrong now." He said, smiling as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a longish black box, handing it to her. "And for being such a great sport, I got you this, too." He handed it to her with a little flourish.

She took the box from his hands, hers shaking as she opened the lid to find the most gorgeous necklace inside— a teardrop-shaped jade pendant. The smile on her face was genuine now as she looked up, grinning from ear to ear. "Oh, Matthew. It's lovely! Thank you so much!"

"That way, no matter where you are, you'll always have at least one Stone with you," he said with a smile, leaning in to kiss her only for remember she still had the guard on. He took the hat off her and leaned in, planting his lips to hers as they fell back on the bed.