NaNoWriMo Story Snippets

46. Excerpt from "Knot in Love"

Probably a one-shot about some (obviously fictional) interactions between Becky and Seth at various Hall of Fame ceremonies. This part is from the 2017 HoF. Subject to editing, etc.

Go figure. Sarah had practically been on Seth's arm for most of WrestleMania weekend when he wasn't acting in some official capacity, and now that he definitely needed an extra set of hands, she wasn't there. "How long does it take to find tape?" he thought as he wrenched his tie out of his shirt collar yet again and tried to start over. He had tried tying the cursed thing five times now, sometimes in front of the mirror, once watching a video tutorial in Sarah's laptop, but he just couldn't get it to work. When he was younger, his mother had always done it for him, mostly because he made of a mess of it. As an adult, he tried to dress up as little as possible, but the Hall of Fame ceremony was a special event, and he didn't want to seem disrespectful.

"Fuck this," he muttered, tugged the tie free again and heading for the door. Most of the other wrestlers were staying on the same floor of the hotel, so he would just go and ask someone. Let them laugh if they want to. He hoped Sarah would get back quickly as well, since most of the chauffeured cars were already lining up.

Then he spotted a familiar streak of red and breathed a sigh of relief. "Becks!" he called out, holding his daunting tie in one hand like evidence of a crime. "Can you give me a hand?"

Smiling, Becky lifted her dress a bit with one hand and hurried over. "Sure. I was all ready to go with Luke and Rusev and Lana, but I realized I forgot my phone. What's up?" When he shook the tie, she frowned. "Doesn't Sarah know how to tie it?"

Seth thought he detected a small pause before his girlfriend's name, but he couldn't fault Becky for that. He and Sarah had only been dating for a few months and given his relationship history, he knew a lot of people were expecting it not to last. "Probably," he allowed, "but she had to go get some sort of tape for her dress."

Becky nodded knowingly. "Boob tape, probably. I'm better acquainted with it than I'd like to be."

"Why?" When Becky's eyebrows rose, Seth tried to backpedal. "Not that... you know. I mean, I know you have boobs. Obviously. But you don't need tape for that dress, do you?" It was pretty plain by Becky's normal standards: a long, bright white dress. He wasn't sure if it would have been called a sheath dress or not. Becky did a quick turn, which exposed her mostly bare back. "Oh. Okay. So... can you help me?"

"Sure." Becky set her purse down by their feet and took the tie from him, smoothing it out. "I'm not an expert or anything," she warned. "I don't know all the knots."

"Any knot will do. I want to get one of the cars before we're stuck sharing with someone annoying." Seth squared his shoulders and tried to stand straight as Becky went on tiptoe; even in her heels, she was still considerably shorter than he was. "Thanks, Becks. I appreciate it."

Laughing, Becky looped the tie under his collar and brought it back around. "Don't thank me yet. You should check it in a mirror before you go to make sure it's okay." She hummed softly as she flipped the two ends of the tie this way and that. Seth looked down and tried to make sense of what her hands were doing, but her fingers were moving too fast for him to follow. "Do you have a tie clip or anything?"

Seth gave her a look. "Just how often do you think I wear a suit, Becks?"

"Fair enough." She tugged on the tie a little bit and then pushed the knot up towards his collar. "Is that too tight?"

Rolling his neck to check his range of motion, Seth shook his head. "No, that feels good."

"Good." Becky smoothed the tie down his chest and gave it a pat before stepping back. "There. You look perfect. Fine. Perfectly fine," she stammered. "No one will suspect you'd rather be in shorts and a t-shirt."

Seth held out a hand as she bent to retrieve her purse in case she needed help straightening up. "You do too, don't lie."

Tottering back on her heels, Becky gave a small shrug. "I don't mind dressing up once in a while. It's fun. Like pretending to be a different person—"