Not that bad // Rhea Ripley

74- Oh, Calamity !

 "Damn, it's such a shame that we built a wreck out of me"

All Time Low

I woke up first to go and get a shower. Once Demi woke up, I could feel the tension in her. Having your first match is not easy. But having it in a Mae Young tournament, or any kind of tournament for that matter seemed even worse. She barely spoke in the hotel room, and I decided to just speak up once we got in the car to head to training.

"Hey Dem's, you okay?" I asked softly.

"I think my nerves are getting the best of me right now, I'm sorry." She looked down.

"Oh no, no, don't be sorry, I've been there." I smiled as bright as I could, to try and lighten up her mood. "You'll be amazing girl, I know that. You're a hard worker, and you have an amazing in-ring presence. I don't doubt that you'll do amazing."

I looked away from her blushing face as I parked the car. Even though she's only a little younger than I am, I feel very inclined to protect her, and help her through whatever she needs. Maybe it's become we're both so far from home, or maybe I just want to give back all of the good Phil brought to me, I don't know.

"Hey, Roxanne?" Her voice got my out of my train of thoughts, and I hummed in response. "Thank you for being a great friend. I'm not the most social person out there, and I'm really glad I met you and Phil so early."

"Hey, are you trying to get me to cry?" I laughed and smacked her shoulder. "But I'm glad Phil introduced us, even if I wasn't at my best at the time, and I'm still sorry you had to witness that."

"It's still not you fault, he's a dickhead." She reassured me. "How are you doing with that, and the fact you have to see them a lot?" She asked as we made our way to the training rooms.

"I don't know, to be fair." I shrugged. "I don't feel anything, like I'm not really hurt anymore, I just feel pretty humiliated by the way he did things. I think I just don't want relationships anymore."

"Oh, really?" Her tone was a bit weird, but it was probably just the stress of tonight's event.

"Well, I would want to stay single a lot, but I have crushes easily, and I'm kind of a hopeless romantic, so I don't plan on it."

We continued chatting a bit, until Phil joined us, with April, his girlfriend. She was always smiley and bubbly around us, and it felt refreshing.

"Hey girls, how are you doing?" He asked as he sat next to us on the bench.

"Great, Demi's a bit stressed for her match though." I said simply.

"Ah, don't be, you'll crush it!" April responded. "I have to go, sorry, see you later!"

She planted a kiss on Phil's lips, and left to meet with other of her friends, probably to go train together.

"So, Roxy, I've got some news for you." He sighed. "Good and well, not so good news."

"Oh?" I frowned. "Go on, I'm listening."

"Our feud stops soon, but you already knew that right?" He asked and I nodded. "Good, so great news is, you can let your hair grow again, yay! Problem is, they can't make you wrestle in singles too soon, since the storyline just ended, so you'll probably be a week or two without wrestling appearances, maybe just storyline-ones, that is, if they find a new storyline for you."

I sat there, not knowing what to say. I knew I wouldn't take advantage of CM Punk's push forever, but I wasn't prepared for it to end so soon. What if I just don't get any opportunities anymore, and I end up being just a jobber for the rest of my career? I don't want to end up like that, I really don't, and I don't want my career to completely stop either.

"Hey, hey, I see you overthinking!" He grabbed my hands, and ran his thumb over them. "You're good, they will find you something alright? Don't worry too much, and just continue to prove them that you're the best, okay?"

I just nodded and bit my lip harshly. This was going to be hell, and I just knew it. The fact is that I have almost always competed in teams, and I didn't really know how worthy I was on my own. Phil soon had to leave for a meeting, and I tried to take my mind off of that by training with Demi. I was soon interrupted by an official coming to get me, and lead me to the booker's office.

"Oh hey Roxanne!" One of them smiled. "Come on take a seat, I'll try to make it quick, I promise." He chuckled lightly. "So, I guess Phil told you about our meeting this morning?" I nodded in response. "Okay, now I don't want you to take that as a punishment of some sorts alright? We actually discussed this in teams after our meeting with him, and we all think the best would be to send you back to NXT. Again, not a punishment, the women there are incredibly talented, and the fans are very committed. We want to see you solo a few times, and then we'll probably have you pair up with a talent from there, to have you compete for the women's tag team championships, okay? Once you've proven your point, and made your way into the fan's hearts, you're probably going to be solo, how does that sound to you?" He finally asked, and I wondered how could he not be out of breath.

"Yeah, I mean, I just want to wrestle, so of course that sounds great to me!" I smiled, relieved that I wouldn't really be out for weeks.

"Okay, that's great!" He wrote a few things down on a piece of paper. "There is probably going to be dome changed to your character, you know the drill, bla bla bla. Basically your new gimmick is that after Punk saved you, you decided to take your life into your hands, and become the best wrestler there is. Of course details will be added when you actually perform this gimmick, but we'll see about that. Thank you for your time, and for your almost systematic approval of my ideas, you make my job way easier." He laughed and got up to shake my hand.

I left the office feeling a gigantic relief, and ran back to Demi, who was still training, alone. She instantly smiled once she spotted me, and I proceeded to repeat all the booker said to me.

"Oh shit, that's amazing, I'm so glad for you!" She beamed. "And since you'll be on NXT, we'll see each other often, that's great!"

I reciprocated her smile, and we went back to training, until the evening of the show.