Rainy Day | Rhea Ripley

Chapter 25

A/N:Trigger warning for overexercising in an unhealthy way 

Her skin feels unholy, but I'm still drawn

The morals I'm holding, you know they're gone 

- bad decisions by Bad Omens

Walking into the venue the next day, I felt uneasy.

I hadn't forgotten about the last time I had been at one of these shows, and even though there was no chance of Xav appearing here tonight it had left an impression.

Apart from that, Demi was still avoiding me.

It was still morning when we got there, the show wasn't due to start for hours but there were some meetings Demi and the guys had to go to in preparation for the evening.

While they disappeared to meet up with whoever they were meeting I wandered around the backstage area.

"Hey, you're Alex right?" Cathy Kelley had appeared next to me.

"Yes, and you are Cathy" I determined.

"Where's your entourage" She grinned, the question making me laugh.

"I think I would consider myself to be their entourage but they're meeting with someone and I'm just waiting for them to return" I explained.

"Want to hang out with me? I saw the videos you make for the judgment day and I would love to be able to convince you to make a tiktok account for them as a group" Her facial expression had turned slightly devious, I had heard stories about how insistent she had been for Demi to make an account on there until she finally did.

She linked our arms and gave me a tour of tonight's venue, making light conversation the whole time.

It was relaxing to just talk to someone about random things, without any tension.

That was until she perked up, seeing something going on behind me.

"Look, there are the others, hey Demi, how are you?"

Demi quickly strode past her, just holding her hand up to signal she didn't want to be spoken to.

"Oh, my bad, is she in character already?" Cathy asked, a lot less weirded out than I was.

"No, she's just being a bitch" I said through my teeth, excused myself, and followed after the angry Australian.

Before I could catch up though, Dominik had appeared behind me, holding me back by my arm. "Dom, what the hell happened in that meeting?" He looked just as confused as I felt.

"They didn't approve of her wardrobe choice for the night"

"Her wardrobe choice?" I repeated in disbelief.

"What the hell did they want her to wear?" It had to be bad otherwise she wouldn't react like that.

"The same thing she always does"

"And that is an issue because?"He looked at me, more serious than I had seen him in a while.

"It's not my place to tell, Alex. I'm really sorry"I let out an exasperated sigh.

"Then what did you want to say?"

"Just keep an eye on her, please. Something is wrong"

"You don't say" He rolled his eyes at that comment, and I remembered that he had done absolutely nothing wrong here.

"I'm sorry Dom, I guess her mood has kind of been rubbing off on me, I shouldn't have snapped at you. But there's this thing with Buddy and technically it's not like she would be in the wrong because we aren't even in an official relationship at least I don't think we are I never asked her but the point is it would still kind of hurt if she did that and didn't tell me even though she has absolutely every..." 

I realized too late that I am rambling.

"Woah, woah, woah, WHAT?" Dominik interrupted.

"What did Buddy do to her?" 

I could feel my face turning white at that question. The last thing I needed was to put any rumors about Buddy out in the world.

"Nothing" I hurried to clarify.

"But she's been so distant to me and there are all these comments online saying how good the two of them look together and I don't know if there's something between them. I couldn't even blame her but..." I was once again interrupted by Dom, this time because he burst out laughing.

"Which part of that is funny to you?" I asked, slightly offended.

"The part where you think she would ever even look at someone except you. I get that the way she's acting towards you is unsettling but this is the way she treats everyone she cares about when she's worried that they might find out something about her she doesn't want them to know. I have never seen her look at anyone the way she looks at you, no Buddy in the world will change that" by the end of his sentence his voice wasn't accompanied by laughter anymore. 

He was serious. 

And that took more weight off my shoulders than I would've thought.

"Um, guys" There was an unsure voice from the door that lead to the hallway of the gym. 

I knew that the guy it belonged to was also a wrestler, but I couldn't remember his name.

"You might want to tell Rhea to lay off a little bit, what she's doing really doesn't look that healthy to me" He started to walk away before he had even fully finished the sentence.

Dom and I looked at each other and made our way to the gym.

Demi was standing in a corner of the room doing barbell squats while looking at herself in the mirror.

At first glance, it was a perfectly normal sight but something was different than usual.

Her whole body was shaking, her legs didn't seem to be supporting her, and her wrists were bent more than they should be.

Whatever the weight was that she currently had on her back, it was way too heavy.

We both rushed over to her, Dom reached over to the barbell with the intention of taking it off of her.

"Dom I swear to god, if you take this I will make sure that you have to go back to tagging with your dad" Her voice was barely there, just as shaky as her body.

"Then I will do that but I am not watching while you work yourself into an early grave"

With the most perfect timing to ever exist, Priest entered the gym and I waved him over, signaling that it was urgent.

"What's going on here... Woah Dems that's enough don't you think?" Demi didn't respond, her gaze was fixed on her mirror image but her eyes were starting to get weirdly glassy.

Dom and Damian looked at each other, communicating without words.

Both of them grabbed the barbell and slowly and carefully lifted it up, taking it away from her.

She didn't even get to complain because the second the weight is gone she collapsed, luckily, even with everything that was happening I was alert enough to catch her and slowly lower her to the ground.

"Someone call a fucking medic" Damian screamed while all I could do was sit with her head in my lap, staring at the unconscious body of the woman that I love.