Flames

Valentine's Day, part 1

Valentine's Day. It was looming and Becky hated it. She'd never been fond of the holiday at the best of times, but after getting the news about her dad around Christmas, she found it harder to care about going out on dates—which was probably reflected in her recently single status. She couldn't even hang out with Charlotte, Bayley, or Sasha, because they would all be with their significant others. Oh well, Becky thought as she left the locker room. At least chocolate will be half-off soon.

When she heard someone call her name, Becky decided not to stop. She had just gone through the charade of debating whether to apologize to the McMahons, fielding advice from various superstars backstage, only have to have Vince shoehorn Charlotte in again. She'd suspected it would happen, but just then, she wasn't looking for sympathy or anyone else's opinion.

"Irish! Wait up!"

The voice was louder and closer this time, more insistent, and there weren't many people who called her Irish. Becky turned and felt her heart skip a bit as Seth jogged to catch up with her. Ever since the Royal Rumble, she'd been thinking about their chat—and when Seth had been pressed against her. It made no sense: she had known him for years and probably hugged him more times than she could count. So why was she just now starting to notice things like how incredible his eyes were? The stupid insidious Valentine's Day marketing must have been getting to her. Squaring her shoulders, Becky tried to smile, but she knew it was lopsided. "Hey. What's up?"

"Hey." Was she imagining things, or was his smile a bit softer than it used to be? It was hard to tell, because his gaze hadn't budged from her face and it was distracting. "You know about my Deadboys Fitness thing, yeah? With my friend Josh?" When Becky nodded, Seth continued, gaze dropping for only a second before meeting hers again. "Think you'd be interested in doing some videos with us? I know you did those Celtic Warrior ones with Sheamus," he added quickly, "and Josh and I were thinking it would be nice to have more women featured in ours too. I'm going to ask Bayley and Sasha too. . . ."

Was that relief lowering her shoulders or disappointment? Becky wasn't sure. It shouldn't have been disappointment, she told herself; what was she expecting Seth to ask her? "Sure. Yeah, sounds cool. Um, yeah, just . . . text me or whatever and we'll make schedules work."

"Cool. Cool, thanks. Should be fun." Seth rocked back on his heels but otherwise made no move to leave. "Anyway, so what are you doing for Valentine's Day? Not . . . not the actual day; I know there's a show. Just. . . ." He made a vague motion with his hands before jamming them in his pockets.

"Val—" Becky stopped herself before she could echo the whole word. If he was asking what she thought he was asking, she had no idea how to reply; if she was wrong, she was going to feel like an utter fool. "Not much," she managed. "Normally whoever's single in the Four will hang out, but the others are all partnered up at the moment, so. . . ."

Seth nodded slowly, shifting slightly from foot to foot. "Yeah, it's my first solo V-Day in a while too." This time when their eyes locked again, his gaze was both soft and smoldering. "So . . . you wanna hang out? We could try to find a quiet coffee place or something."

"Yeah. Yeah, sure." Becky could feel her cheeks twitching as she tried to suppress her smile. "Yeah, I'd like that. Um, what days are you booked?"

Seth finally came closer, bumping shoulders with her as he gestured for them to walk and talk. The brief contact didn't leave her quite as flustered as it had at the Rumble, but she also noticed that he was walking close enough that their arms brushed more often than not.

Maybe Valentine's Day wouldn't be so horrible this year after all.