Post by Aiden Reynolds on May 19, 2021 17:47:50 GMT -5
Just Be Yourself
Early 2019
It was a date. That's what Aiden kept telling himself. He asked her out to dinner; she said yes. It was a date. So, why was he questioning it? He used to be good at this, the whole talking to women and having fun thing. But since they sat down, since they started looking over the menu, Aiden had been quiet. Florence smiled warmly and looked over the laminated page, her eyes darting across all of it. Aiden sighed and placed the menu down. He felt out of place. So, many around him stared, and not just at him: at Florence.
She was a tattoo artist. Based in New York, she had been very successful. She sat in a white sleeveless top, her tattooed sleeves showing. Of course, they were quality as well. Inspired by many horror movies, she told him that they were done by her mentor. Aiden smiled as she looked up with a smirk. Her ruby red lips curled around and up as her eyes flicked to him and back down to the menu. Aiden clasped his hands together, sure of what he wanted, since there was only one thing on the menu that looked like real food.
The waiter approached. He gave them a nod, but at the same time looked down his nose like he was disgusted. “What can I get for you?” Aiden cleared his throat and looked at Florence, she smiled and gave him a nod as Aiden turned.
“Yeah mate, I guess the..Royal Farms T-Bone looks good.” There was a pause. The waiter looked Aiden up and down, and Aiden just smiled politely.
“Sir, that is a two hundred and fifty dollar steak.”
Aiden tilted his head and looked down at the menu, he coughed and exclaimed loudly without thinking. “FUCK ME, THAT’S A COMMA” The restaurant seemed to stop. Everyone stared, even those who he didn’t think were. Aiden swallowed and looked over at Florence, who went to open her mouth and Aiden turned fast, thinking on his feet. “Uh, I guess the deluxe cobb salad or whatever. I like corn on the cob.”
The waiter had to hold back laughter as he shook his head. ”Sir, the cobb salad does not have corn, nor would it be on the cob.”
“Oh…”
As Aiden looked back down at the menu, Florence leaned forward, her hand reaching out to his. “Can we just go get a burger or something?” His heart sank deeper; he wanted to show he could have some class, and he failed miserably as he gave a small defeated nod and got to his feet.
As he moved past the waiter the older man sneered. “I’m sure you can get a burger for two dollars and fifty cents, and maybe a corn on the cob.” He laughed, a few of the patrons did too, Aiden stopped and ground his teeth together. Florence rolled her eyes and growled. But before she could say anything, Aiden gave a small pivot off his right foot and spun around.
“You’re right, mate, I probably could go get a burger for a couple of bucks. And I wouldn’t have to pay for the pleasure of your company...which seems pretty fuckin’ overpriced.”
There was an awkward silence. Until that is, Florence laughed, Aiden raised an eyebrow turning to see her, her face red as she held her free hand to her face. Aiden felt even lower. He had embarrassed her, that was clear. He sighed heavily and led Flo from the restaurant out onto the streets of New York. He stopped and looked down as they got hit in the face by the cool fall air. “I’m sorry, Flo...I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
Florence shook her head and leaned forward kissing his cheek. “Nah, you didn’t. I liked that you didn’t let him get one over on you. Fuck that guy….and fuck this restaurant.” She laughed and turned to pull Aiden down the sidewalk, Aiden raised an eyebrow as Florence laughed. “That guy will be fired by the end of the week anyway.”
“How do you know that?”
Florence laughed again and sighed. “The owner is a tattoo guy, I’ve done work on him and his son and a few friends he recommended.”
Aiden couldn’t help but smile as they moved down toward a standard burger stand, the smell hitting him and relaxing him. This was his kind of food. He swallowed hard and stopped. “Still...I’m sorry Flo, I’m not the kinda person who goes to places like that. I guess I just wanted to impress you.” She just turned and reached out, stroking his face lightly.
“Aiden, I like you just the way you are...you don’t have to change for me.” She smiled, it made his heart sing as he smiled back.
“Oi, you going to tell me who the fuck she is?
Aiden shook his head, snapping out of his thoughts and looking over at Dickie Watson. The currently suspended Project: Honor star had his arms folded over his chest, his wavy black hair swept to the side and away from his face. “Who the fuck who is?”
Dickie tilted his head, clearly annoyed with his friend and tag team partner. He threw his hands in the air and moved around the couch to sit down. Aiden raised an eyebrow as Dickie leaned forward, his elbows resting on his torn black jeans. “Don’t play dumb. For months, you’ve been staring down at your phone and you get this little...doofy ass smile. And then you try to hide it,” Dickie pointed his finger and narrowed his eyes. Aiden looked at his phone, then back up to Dickie.
“I just keep getting sent memes is all.”
“Memes?”
Aiden cleared his throat trying to act confident. “Yeah, it makes me chuckle, eh.”
Dickie sat back, his arms folding over his chest as he studied Aiden. He laughed to himself and shook his head. “Memes from who? I’m one of the only people that fucking texts you.”
Shit. Dickie had him there. His eyes darted side to side, his hands moved around as he kicked his legs down from over the side of the chair. “My...uh...mum.”
There was an awkward silence, Dickie blinked a few times, not sure of what he just heard. “Your mother?” Aiden gave a small nod, at this point hoping and praying Dickie would just accept it and shut up. “Your mother, who, and this isn’t a criticism it’s just the truth, who has the sense of humor of a Tudor era priest, is sending you memes that make you laugh?”
“Uh, yeah.” Aiden shrugged. He stayed silent as Dickie just stared ahead, not sure of what Aiden was doing or the games he was playing.
Dickie stood up suddenly throwing his hands up again. “All right, fuck ya; don’t tell me who the mystery chick is.” Aiden let out a relieved sigh and reached up scratching the back of his head. Dickie moved around before suddenly jumping sideways, snatching Aiden’s phone off the table.
“OI CUNT! WHAT THE SHIT?!”
Before Aiden could stop him Dickie had jumped over the couch and quickly entered Aiden’s passcode. He suddenly stopped and turned to him with a smirk. Aiden sighed and shook his head. “Really?” He gave a nod and Dickie shrugged, handing him back his phone. “Wasn’t sure you liked blondes, mate...but good for you.”
“Yeah, thanks, early stages, let's not make a big deal out of it?”
“Sure man.” Dickie smiled and put his hands up in a defensive manner, he nodded slowly, as if he was genuinely happy for his friend and what was going on. Aiden slumped back in his chair and clasped his hands together before grabbing his water. Dickie chuckled and backed towards the door. “So uh...is Willow gonna hold the rings or...?” Dickie opened the door and quickly slipped back.
The water bottle flew through the air, hitting the door as Aiden yelled. “OI FUCK OFF!!”
Quoth the Raven-The sequel. (A better Raven)
“Man this fuckin, sucks.”
Aiden sighed and shook his head. The Project: Honor star seemed down and his bright blue eyes stared ahead.
“What does?”
The voice of Dickie Watson from off-camera rings out. Aiden sighed again and swallowed hard, he looked up and his finger suddenly shot up.
“Oi, oi, oi no..what are you doin’ mate?”
“I’m coming around to the other side of the phone? ...to talk to you?”
Aiden shook his head.
“You can’t fuckin’ be in my promo, bruh.”
“What? ...why not?!?”
Aiden tilts his head to the side with a look of disbelief on his face.
“You’re suspended, mate. I can’t have someone suspended out in my promo. The company might get fuckin’ shitty.”
“....I was in your last one!”
“Shit, you were too….”
“And the one before that! And I was “suspended” that whole time.”
Aiden blinks and sits back.
“All right, get in here then…”
There’s a pause, Aiden just stares at his friend. We hear a thud.
“Maybe I don’t want to now…”
Aiden groans and rolls his eyes before continuing. His voice is a little deeper as he adds bass to it.
“So, the next round of this tournament and one step closer to facin Myojin again. Ahh, wait, sorry. I didn’t put enough emphasis on it. Let me try that again.”
He clears his throat.
“After beating Emmanuelle, I am one step closer to facing MYOJIN again.”
He nods slowly and smiles. Nailed it. There’s a large sigh from behind the phone as Dickie is quite obviously, once again, totally done with Aiden’s shit.
“All I have to do is get past James fuckin’ Raven. And all MYOJIN has to do is get past Scott Oasis. And, I do find it pretty weird that Emmanuelle gets a shot at Lance Williams and the Warrior Rising championship...I mean I beat her an-”
“Uh, Aiden…”
“Mate, you’re messing up my flow...what?”
“Scott Oasis is the Warrior Rising champion and Lance is facing MYO.”
Aiden stares ahead and blinks a few times.
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
Aiden flicks through his phone, looking at two different pictures.
“It’s...it’s the same picture. Not that I’m sayin’ all white guys look alike. Settle down virtue signalling cancel soldiers…”
“AIDEN!”
“What? Oh, right. The tournament. Look, even though Indy annoys me a little he made that X-Factor title mean something. He made it a prize and now that prize is dangling at the end of a rope in front of four competitors. MYOJIN and Scott-”
“Lance!”
“Right! Sorry, MYOJIN and Lance are on one side. And as good as MYOJIN is, he might have some trouble with big boi Lance. I mean have you seen the size of the guy? He probably eats more than me. I kind of want to ask what kind of juice he drinks, but that might be weird. And the fucked up part? I like Lance, but I want MYOJIN to win, so I can face that fucker in the final and beat him there for the title. I want to be able to go toe-to-toe with him and actually bring the fire that seemed to be missing. Cause lets face it, I went soft on lil MYOJIN.”
“But, that's looking a little too far ahead. Cause, to get to that match I have to face someone who is not only a champion in Project: Honor but someone who, I believe, is underrated. And not just in a small way. See, something all of you people need to understand is that James Raven is World Champion material.”
“James has a similar problem I do. See, Legacy have been dominant as a tag team but while James has been trapped and not used to his full potential, Shawn has been in high profile matches. Facing Elena DeDraca, being in the Tyrant match. No one questions how good Shawn Warstein is, but people sleep on James. I’m not stupid enough to make that mistake.”
Aiden holds his finger up and stares ahead. This isn’t the usual happy-go-lucky Aiden. This Aiden Reynolds is focused. He carried the same look in his eye before heading into the Legacy chamber.
“I’m not going to use the same tired arguments that have been used on me and use them on you. I’m not going to sit here and say you’re riding Warstein’s coattails. that’s just stupid. I’m not going to pretend all you are is a tag team wrestler or that I’m somehow better than you. Cause the truth is James, I have no idea if I’m better than you. We’ve never gone toe to toe.We’ve never had the chance to. And most of the time when I’m going into a match, I have a laugh, I look for flaws and I question if someone should be in the ring with me. I did it with Ozymandis, I did it with Emmanuelle. I have done it with a lot of different opponents, including our chicken shit Grand Champion.”
“But with you? I can’t mate. I can’t joke around and act overconfident. Cause you’re not that type of opponent for me.”
“You could beat me. You could go on and beat the winner of Lance and MYOJIN. You have that ability just like I do.”
“The sad truth is, James, that the company will not book this match the way it should be or promote it like it should be. This is looked at as just a tournament match between one of the tag team champions and a choke artist. They would rather have a match between a joke who you have beaten and the chicken shit Grand Champion, for the top title on the brand as the main event instead of a match between me, someone who has been one of the best in this company day in day out and you, an underrated star who has been a top guy in every single company he’s been in except this one because they don’t have the respect, the knowledge or the balls to fucking pull the trigger.”
Aiden seems to get heated getting to his feet. Dickie stays silent but picks up the phone to follow him, as a bit of a comedic reprieve we can see Aidens toilet door in the background still painted like a green TARDIS. There’s your “HAHA” bitches.
“This company has started going down a slippery slope. Warstein going against Elena is a good start to recovery. And I suppose this is a great opportunity, but with all respect to the X-Factor title, and to Lance Williams, three of the names left would have made a better opponent for Mark Hunter. And I honestly have no idea what we can do about it, James. See, you and I will put up a great fight, an even fight where the winner will be up in the air. I know that, everyone knows that. It’ll be an even match between two great professional wrestlers.”
“And coming out of it, the winner moves on and the loser? Who knows, mate? Who know what they’ll do. The loser could go on to fight for another movie role, or a commercial for fucking twinkies. I don’t fucking know.”
“You see how the top talents are treated in this place and it makes me question a lot of things. I want to succeed, I want to be the best and I want the company to do well. But, I see you getting treated like shit, I see Dickie being suspended and pushed around, I see Kasey Winterborn over on Fallout being the butt of a joke and facing the guy in charge and wonder: are we all just wasting our time here? This company should be about competition and entertainment. But the entertainment side is failing when everything is geared towards emotionally stunted man children...and the competition?”
“I have one of the best records here, but I’m just the funny guy. The HAHA guy. Look, I love having fun, I have a great sense of humor. But something people are forgetting is that I am a fucking fighter. I am a wrestler who has travelled around the world and has sacrificed everything for this. So, I’m going to remind them. And I’m going to do it with you James. Cause an opponent of your calibre? It doesn’t come around often. So, I’m going to thank you in advance, James. Thank you for the fight, thank you for the match. And thank you for being one of the best professionals in the world in a company that has lost the meaning of the word…”
