Flames

Cover Girl, part 1

"You know what doesn't make any sense?" Becky didn't even bother looking up from her stretch. If she and Seth were in the same room, his gaze gravitated to her no matter what she was doing. Part of her thought he did only kept doing it because it bugged her, but she was gradually starting to like it. People could make fun of it all they liked—she had too, for a while—but when you had someone look at you like you were the only thing they ever wanted to see, you couldn't help but feel better. "Creative keeps giving us spots where you stop me from hitting Lacey. In what universe would you do that?"

Seth finished lacing up his left boot before answering. "One where I don't want you to lose matches because you're distracted?"

"I'll be so happy when we're done with Corbin and the plank." Sighing, Becky flopped down beside him on the bench. "I mean, I know we still have to do house shows with them, but I'm bored. I want something new to do." When Seth raised an eyebrow, she laughed and bumped her shoulder against his. "Present company excluded, of course. You can stay around for a while."

"I can, can I?" Abandoning his right boot, Seth slung an arm around her shoulders and kissed her. "It's because I have a wrestling ring, isn't it?"

Blushing a bit, Becky ducked her head against her shoulder as some wrestlers walked past. Knowing they wouldn't be able to sneak their gorilla press past Creative, they had done it at a house show, and while it hadn't gone exactly to plan, it was a bright spot of fun in a rivalry that was dragging on far too long for her liking. "Yep. Totally. That's the only reason. You better be careful, because Finn has one too. And I think Tyler Breeze is affiliated with a wrestling school now." Becky started counting names off on her fingers until Seth grabbed her hands.

He started to whisper something in her ear when he saw Andrade and Zelina approaching. "You're still sure?" Andrade asked, watching Becky carefully.

The spot called for Andrade to be running at Seth and for Becky to pull Seth out of the way, getting hit in the process. So far, Andrade had been an utter gentleman about it, and Becky wasn't sure how much of that stemmed from him himself and how much came from Charlotte angsting over having her best friend in a match against her boyfriend. "Yeah, I'm cool," she assured him. "We've got our timing down. It'll all be fine." He had even insisted on practicing when the arena was empty.

Andrade nodded slowly. "My only worry is all of the cords and equipment at ringside. There's no telling where it will be. It wouldn't take much for something to go wrong. And with that concussion you had last year. . . ."

"It'll all be fine. You're both pros," Seth added, "and she's tougher than she looks." He shot Becky a wink and quickly got out of striking distance. "Honestly, it's not that bad of a bump. Everything will be fine. We're really looking forward to the match." He put his other boot on quickly and handed his bracelets to Becky. He far preferred what she could do with them in a more private setting, but he always teased that having her tie the laces brought him luck.

"Same." Zelina focused on Becky. "I wish I'd got a shot at the SmackDown belt when you had it. I think we could have had a good feud."

Becky nodded. "Still can. We've got the Wild Card thing going on," she pointed out, trying not to roll her eyes. She wasn't a fan of the concept on the whole, mostly because it was taking opportunities away from underutilized wrestlers on both brands. "And with SmackDown moving in the fall, who knows where anyone will end up?"

Zelina nudged Andrade in the side. "Well, we could have been on RAW if not for someone's girlfriend. . . ."

As if on cue, Charlotte strolled in. She wasn't scheduled to compete or even appear, but much as Seth had come along to some of Becky's SmackDown appearances during their early days of dating, she was there just to spend time with Andrade. "Hey, Becks." She sat on the other side of Becky and hugged her. "It's been a while since we hung out." She glanced around Becky's shoulders to look at Seth. "I'm going to steal my girl for a bit before the show's done." In typical Charlotte style, she told people what she was going to do rather than ask permission to do it.