La Arquitecta

Chapter 49

By the time Seth and Zelina reached the women's locker room, she had finally managed to stop herself crying. Some equipment cases had been left in the hallway, not far from the locker room door. Zelina hopped up to sit on one of them and said, "I need a minute before I go in there. I have such a headache right now, Seth. This is all too much for me. I'm the WWE Women's Champion." There was disbelief in her voice, as if she still didn't quite think it was all real.

"Yeah, you are," Seth said proudly. He sat down on the case next to hers.

Zelina sat there, shaking her head slightly. "When we got off the bus earlier, the best I hoped for was that Bayley or Ronda would win. I wanted one of my friends to get it. I didn't even consider the possibility of me winning. I thought I was there to make up the numbers and maybe get a couple of cool spots in. I really can't believe it. And the way Hunter was with me earlier, not bothered if I stayed in character. It's all so crazy."

Seth was about to say that he could shed some light on that, but he didn't get the chance. The other women who had been involved in the championship scramble began to come walking along the hallway.

Bayley was the first to arrive. She came jogging along the hallway, tears flowing down her cheeks. Zelina dropped back down off the equipment case to embrace her. As they hugged, she felt herself tearing up yet again. The fact that Bayley was so happy for her had gotten her right in the feels.

"Oh, Zel, that was such an incredible thing to watch," Bayley was saying. "I saw the whole thing on the screen. Just seeing what it meant to you, I really have no words. I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks, Bay. I have no words, either."

"I'll try and persuade Daga not to kill you, since she was all set on me getting the belt," Bayley said with a laugh.

Zelina laughed too. "Oh, God. Straight into my first defense when we get on the bus. I have a feeling Daga would work stiff, too."

They pulled apart then because the other women had started to arrive. Ronda was the next one to hug Zelina. "Congratulations, girl. I'm so pleased for you."

"Thanks, Ronda," Zelina said, squeezing her tightly. "I really thought it would be you tonight, not me."

"Don't worry about me, this is your night. Enjoy it."

"Thank you," Zelina said as they parted.

She spent a couple of minutes hugging and thanking everyone else who had shared the ring with her on her memorable night. They all had kind words to say, and Zelina felt a closer connection to each of them than she had before.

When she had hugged each of the competitors, she turned around to go back to Seth. She found him standing there with Sonya Deville, her closest friend in WWE, standing beside him.

"Oh, Sonya," she breathed, walking into the offered embrace.

"I heard you guys out here. I'm so proud of you, Zel," Sonya said, holding her tight for a moment as the other women started to make their way into the locker room. "You were amazing out there. If anyone watched that with dry eyes, I'll be damned if I know how."

Zelina chuckled. "Not what I was really supposed to do, but Hunter was fine with it, for some reason."

"Sis, haven't you figured it out? They're turning you face."

Zelina stepped back slightly, a quizzical look on her face. "What?"

"They're turning you face," Sonya repeated. "It's obvious. They had Renee putting you over on commentary. They had you out there crying your eyes out, and it was obviously all real emotion. What better way to get people on your side than that? And they just showed you and Seth in Gorilla on the post-Summerslam show. Twitter is blowing the fuck up about you right now, and most of it is positive."