NaNoWriMo Story Snippets

16. Excerpt from HOUSE RULES 2

I probably won't finish this in July because my ideas are really scattered, but hopefully it'll have a little more plot than the first one. Warning: F/M sexual content.

Home. Most of the older wrestlers owned at least one, but if they were competing actively, they never got to spend much time there. Becky was at that stage of her career now, but with an extra complication: she and Seth were living together. Sort of. He didn't want to give up his place in Davenport because his mom was there, plus his coffee shop and the wrestling school he ran with his best friend—and, if he were honest, he liked the possibility of going to Chicago Bears games, even if it didn't happen often. And Becky wasn't quite willing to give up on Los Angeles, that hustle and bustle of a dream she'd had since she was a kid. Rather than argue about it, though, they tried to see it as a bonus: this way, they had a place to stay on both sides of the country and they still had their independence. In some ways, it wasn't much different than when they were hooking up, except now they officially had keys and they saved money on the road by only booking one room.

It shouldn't feel this easy, Becky thought as she let herself into Seth's house. She still thought of it as his, just like the place in Los Angeles was still hers. But now she knew all the mundane little things, like where he kept the spare toilet paper and how he folded his sheets and what buttons were almost worn off the remote control because he used them the most. Seth was teaching at Black and Brave and his ex had taken Kevin for a weekend of hiking, so the house was strangely silent, which wasn't a bad thing. She had a video interview scheduled for the afternoon and those were always easier if Seth wasn't yelling about how much he hated football.

Before she shut the door, though, she noticed a box tucked just out of sight and grabbed it. When she saw the logo of her favourite lingerie store—their favourite, more correctly—Becky smiled and brought it inside, tucking it under the entry table and resisting the urge to open it. Seth hadn't mentioned any parcels or plans, but he must have wanted it to be a surprise. If he wanted to keep something from her, he usually had it sent to the wrestling school, but she could see where a box of lingerie might raise eyebrows. Humming to herself, she went to the kitchen to start the coffee pot and then headed for her room to get it ready for the interview.

In each place, they had a room of their own, a place where they could retreat if the other had plans or if they just needed some space. Seth's room in Los Angeles wasn't grand, but he didn't seem to mind; if they were fighting, Becky was more likely to go out on the balcony or take a shower anyway, giving him the run of the rest of the place. In Davenport, Becky had a lovely guest suite and since she was doing more video interviews now, she had purposefully kept one corner as bare and clean as possible. There were already rumours and fan theories about their relationship, but they hadn't made anything official yet and she didn't want to give something away by having a keen-eyed fan spot some piece of Seth's furniture in the background of one of her videos.

Becky was just testing the connection when she heard the front door open. "Becks?" Seth called out, followed by two solid thumps.

"Be right out!" Becky gave her computer desk one last look, put the laptop in sleep mode, and headed back to the living room. God, he's gorgeous, she thought as she turned the corner and saw him. Now that they were together, she let those kinds of thoughts roam freely through her head, even though she knew they would likely get the pair of them into trouble some day. He had clearly showered at Black and Brave—his hair was too wet to just be sweaty—but hadn't bothered putting a shirt back on; he had shrugged into a zip-up hoodie, but it was half open, and Becky was quite happy to finish the job as she went over and kissed him. "Hey. Good class?"

"Yeah." Seth wrapped his arms around her and shuffled her backwards until they were in front of the couch. Then he sat and pulled her down on his lap, sliding his hands under her shirt. "One guy dropped out, but the rest are getting really good. Ruth is going to be amazing once she gains more confidence."