It's A Hard Knock Life

Chapter 25

Tomorrow was Sam's birthday. He and Hayley had moved into the house but hadn't finished unpacking yet. There was still boxes around the house. It was the afternoon. Hayley was getting ready to go to physical therapy and Sam was getting ready to be a guest on "Oral Sessions With Renee Paquette" Sam was sitting at a desk in the living room.

"I'm leaving Sam." Hayley said coming into the living room.

"Come here." She went over to him and bent down. They kissed. "Have a good therapy session."

"I will." "Have a good interview."

"I will." "I love you."

"I love you too." "Bye."

"Bye."

Sam was having his interview with Renee. They talked about life before AEW, his career now and where he hoped it was heading.

"Can we talk about Hayley?" Renee asked.

"Sure."

"How is her recovery going?"

"Very well." "She's working her ass off to get back to the ring." "She misses it."

"Do you know when she'll be back?"

"Sometime this year for sure."

"You were watching a monitor when she got hurt right?"

"Yes."

"What was going through your mind?"

"Well when she first hit the move and I saw he grab her knee, I was hoping it was just a minor tweak." "Then when she tried to get back up and she couldn't I knew something was seriously wrong and I went into panic mode." "Seeing her lay there on that stretcher screaming. "Ow, ow!" "It just broke my heart." "I was so torn that night because my match immediately followed hers." "As they were getting ready to load her into the ambulance at the back of the arena, my music came on and I heard them announcing me." "During this while she's in pain she's telling me to go and I keeping refusing." "Finally she says." "You know damn well if the situation was reversed you'd be telling me the exact same thing, now go!" "She was right." "I still didn't want to but I went." "I know the fans were thinking." "It's been like two minutes, where the fuck is he?"

"What was your and Hayley's first date like?"

"Well I don't think we ever officially had one." "It's not like we started to like each other and I asked her out." "That day in the park we were there for completely separate reasons." "When I caught her the feeling to kiss her was completely on a whim." "I'm glad I did because it completely changed our lives." "When we decided to officially start dating, I mean, we went places but we never called it a date."

"Who said "I love you" first."

"I did." "It's funny because when I said it to her she was still fighting the idea of being together." "She wanted to she was just afraid." "She sighed like ok you win." "Then she said it."

"Were you expecting her to?"

"No."

"If someone would've told you you'd be dating Hayley one day, what would you have said?"

"No, not Hayley, that would be so weird, we're friends." "Now I couldn't imagine being without her."

"I see boxes in your living room."

"We just bought a house and we haven't unpacked everything yet."

"So you two are now officially living together?"

"Yes."

"Any plans for a wedding?"

He laughed. "I'll tell you the same thing we both tell everyone else." "We might, someday."

The next day Sam woke up on his birthday. There was a note for him on Hayley's pillow. It read.

Had some errands to run. Happy birthday. I love you. – Hayley

Sam decided to unpack some more boxes while he waited for Hayley to come home. She came back about an hour later.

"I'm home." She said.

"I'm in the kitchen." She went into the kitchen. "Hi."

"Hi." They kissed. "I have a surprise for you Sam."

"What?"

"I got a tattoo."

He laughed. "That's funny."

"Really."

"Who are you and where's my girlfriend?" He said jokingly. "You hate needles."

"Yeah." "See?" She held up her palm. It looked just like the one Sam had on his palm only hers had his name.

"Oh fuck, you really got one." He said shocked.

"Yeah."

"Did it hurt?"

"A lot." "What do you think?"

"I love it." They kissed.

Later that evening Hayley took Sam out to dinner for this birthday. They were at the table and she got a text. She smiled.

"What?" He asked.

"Your second surprise just got delivered to the house." She said happily.

On the way home she explained his surprise was in the backyard. When they got home she told him to close his eyes and led him to the backyard.

"Ok, open." She said excitedly. When he opened his eyes he couldn't believe there was a halfpipe in the backyard. "Happy birthday Sam."

He hugged her. "I know these cost a lot of money." "Thank you so much." "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"Upstairs."