Years in the Making

Chapter 7

SmackDown would always feel like home to Becky. It was the place where she was given the chance to shine on her own, where she had worked tirelessly with the other women to build up the division so their matches weren't just bathroom break material. Being the first SmackDown Women's Champion had been an honour, but also the result of a lot of work. Now that she had chosen to face Ronda at WrestleMania, however, it meant that she would be moving to RAW if—When, she told herself, WHEN—she won. A change of scenery could be a good thing and it was always nice to have new feuds to build, but being around Seth that often was going to be difficult. He had been nothing but kind to her since she had kissed him and the whole moment fell flat, but it didn't make her feel any less awkward.

She was taking a break from packing for RAW when she saw the tweet. She didn't even follow Sarah, but since she had an alert set up for Seth—and her other wrestler friends, she would vehemently insist—it somehow made its way onto her feed. We have ended our journey together WWERollins & I. We have nothing but mutual respect & love for one another. More than anything what we have taken from one another will guide us on our journey in life. Here's to living life & happiness. All the best my dear.

"Shit." Becky glanced up at her calendar. Normally she didn't bother with wall calendars anymore, but it had been a gift from her mother and the pictures—scenery of Ireland, of course—were a nice reminder of home. February 16, just a few days after Valentine's Day. Becky hadn't done anything for the day, so she hadn't paid much attention. Now Bayley's words rang in her head: They agreed to post about it after Valentine's Day unless one of them finds someone they want to date before then. "So which is it?" Becky muttered to herself, making the cardinal mistake of reading the comments. It was technically after Valentine's Day, so maybe it was just a formality. But maybe he's found someone he's interested in....

Becky closed Twitter and shoved her phone away. Seth didn't owe her an explanation. It didn't matter if he was interested in someone else or not; if he wasn't interested in her, that was that. Simple. Except it didn't feel that way at all. "Took a perfectly good friendship and gave it drama," she berated herself as she stood, glaring at her phone. When it rang, the sound startled her enough that she jumped back, but she quickly recognized the ringtone. "Hey, Cesaro." He was just about the last person she wanted to talk to at the moment—the very last would be Seth—but she could hope that he hadn't read the tweet yet.

"Have you been on Twitter this afternoon?" he asked.

"Hello to you too," Becky grumbled, flopping back in a chair. "You didn't even ask what kind of coffee I had today. What's wrong with you?"

"Rebecca." Cesaro sounded eerily like her father when he used her full name. "I know you already had coffee. Answer the question."

"Fine." She knew she could duck and evade for a few more minutes, but there was little point. It would only draw out the inevitable and make her even more irritable in the process. "Yes, I saw the tweet Sarah sent out."

"And?"

"And what? Their break-up is official now, that's all." Becky tried to keep her voice as level as possible. Cesaro was just trying to look out for his friends and she knew that, but it was still hard not to snap back.

"And when are you going to tell him about how you feel? You know you're going to be on RAW full-time soon," Cesaro added, "which means you'll be around Seth more often, so you either have to do something or—"

Becky sighed. She really didn't want to talk about the ill-fated kiss with anyone, but she supposed Cesaro had already heard about it from Seth. "I already did." Before Cesaro could ask, she added, "I kissed him."

"You...?" Cesaro took a moment to collect his thoughts. "Well, that's doing a little more something than I would have advised, but I guess it's... direct. When was this? What did he do?"

"At Royal Rumble." Then Becky paused. "You... didn't know? I figured he would have told you."

"No. He didn't say anything to me," Cesaro insisted. "But judging from your tone, I'm guessing things didn't go the way you would have liked."

Shutting her eyes, Becky took a deep breath. If Seth truly hadn't told Cesaro—and if he hadn't told Cesaro, he probably hadn't told anyone, not even Dean or Roman—that meant she could try to spin the story so she didn't look as pathetic, but she also didn't want to lie. "It didn't, no. But that's okay. He has his reasons and... I mean, they make sense. I have my doubts too, so I can't be mad at him for having concerns, right?"

"I'm sorry, Becks. I know what it meant to you to try. For what it's worth," Cesaro added, "You know I think you'd be a good couple. I just think he's—"

"It's okay," Becky interrupted gently. "If he's not interested, he's not interested. Now I know." She could feel tears of frustration building up and she didn't want to start crying when she was on the phone. "I should really go, though. I was in the middle of packing for RAW and I don't want to forget anything."

Cesaro cleared his throat. "If you want, I can talk with him and ask—"

"No." The mortification almost seared her tears away, but the pressure was still there. "Really, Cesaro, it's fine. Just... just let me deal with it, okay? I'll be fine. But thank you for the offer. It's very sweet of you."

"You two are two of my best friends," Cesaro continued, almost as if Becky hadn't spoken. "I'd hate for this to spoil your friendship."

"It won't. I promise. But I really do need to go...." Becky's head was throbbing and she wanted nothing more than to scream.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry." Cesaro's contrition was soft and comforting, but Becky still didn't want to hear it. "I shouldn't have pushed you—"

"Claudio." If he could deploy her real name, she could return the favour. "You didn't make me do anything. You certainly didn't tell me to kiss him. All of that's on me. And I'm fine with that. I just... I don't want to talk about it right now, okay? Please."

Cesaro sighed. "Of course. I understand. Next time you're on SmackDown, coffee's my treat."

That made her laugh, at least. "You almost always pay for coffee."

"I figure it's only fair since I always make you guys go out of the way to more expensive cafes," he replied. "So... coffee on Friday?"

It's a date. She had said that to Cesaro dozens of times before, but now it felt like she couldn't. Now that she had made a move on Seth, it was going to strain her relationships with so many of the other wrestlers, even if they never knew what happened. She knew and Seth knew—and now Cesaro—and she would always feel like she was being scrutinized. "Sounds good," she said instead, keeping her voice level and bland. "See you then."

"Have a good week, Becks."

After Cesaro disconnected, the first thing Becky did was turn off her notification for mentions of Seth. Finding out about the official break-up was awkward enough; she certainly didn't want to see the inevitable first picture of him and his eventual new girlfriend.