Hazel
Around 3am arrived at the hotel for the show in Dallas tomorrow. I knew I’d be paying for it in the morning but after two weeks non-stop on the road, I needed a few days off to just be with the family and get some much needed sleep in my own bed.
Pulling the rental into the parking lot, I grabbed my luggage and walked to the front desk where an employee waited with a smile.
“Hi, i’m Hazel. I called earlier about my flight arriving late.” I said, sitting my carry on bag up on its wheels and resting my duffle on the floor so i could pull my wallet out from the pocket of my Hoodie.
“Ahh, Ms. Decker. My manager told me you’d be coming late. No worries, I’ll just need an ID and a card on file.” He said, typing my name into their computer.
I nodded, handing over my ID along with a card. While he entered in my information, I took out my phone, looking for any emails from Stephanie regarding tomorrow’s staff meeting. Before each show, corporate liked to bring everyone in for a meeting to make sure we knew our time slots and allotted times for practice before letting us go to catering and maybe hit the gym. Apparently today/tomorrow’s would be at 8am.
“Fuck me.” I muttered under my breath.
It was already 3:30 and if I was lucky, I’d get 4 hours before I had to be up and ready.
“Is there anywhere I can get a beer before bed?” I asked him as he handed me my cards back.
“I’m afraid not at this time, ma’am, but there is a stocked mini-fridge in your room with a few other liquors. You’ll be in room 402.” He said, handing me a room key.
“Thanks.” I nodded, throwing my bag over my shoulder and pulling my carry on into the elevators down the hall.
“Hold the doors!” I heard from the hallway, followed by hurried footsteps just as I pushed the button for my floor.
“Shit.” I said, putting my arm in between the doors to hold them from closing all the way.
The footsteps got closer until Seth jumped through them. With a sweat-soaked workout tank and basketball shorts, he inattentively thanked me as he pushed the already lit button to the fourth floor.
“Oh, shit!” He said when he finally noticed me. “Hey, you just getting in?”
“Yeah.” I nodded towards my things. “Took a late flight out. Just wanted to spend some time in my own bed. Hadn’t been home in a few weeks.”
“I get that.” He chuckled.
“Why are you up this late anyway?” I asked as the doors opened to my floor, the both of us stepping out.
“Got in a workout, couldn’t sleep. You on this floor too?” He asked, walking with me down the hallway.
I nodded, looking at my keycard. “Room 402.”
“You’re next door to me.” He laughed. “I’m 404. You heading straight to bed?”
“Probably. I’m going to be living off caffeine tomorrow as it is.” I laughed, unlocking my door.
“Alright, have a good night, Haz.”
“Night, Seth.”
—
“47…48…49…50! That’s a wrap!” My trainer yelled out. “50 handsprings then we’ll jump in the ring for a quick set of aerials.”
I came down from my handstand. My arms and shoulders feeling the pain from push ups in that position, but it was well deserved since I had skipped all the hard workouts on my mini-break.
After a sip of my water, I wiped the sweat off my forehead with the hem of my tank-top and started on my handsprings from one end of the room to the other. Although I was told my workouts are unconventional, I had been a trained gymnast since I was three. This type of training worked for me. Plus nobody in the ring could compare to my speed and stamina because of it. It was reason I was a crowd pleaser before anyone even knew I was Lita’s niece.
The doors opened but I couldn’t let myself lose focus. Only 15 more and I could take a break before aerials in the ring. Then breakfast.
Eggs. Bacon. Maybe some fruit of any had been left behind. Mm and some coffee.
Goddammit, I was fantasizing about food again!
“50! Good job!” Tara clapped, tossing me a towel and my water bottle.
“Damn, that was pretty impressive Haz.” A familiar voice sounded behind me again and I turned to see Seth adjusting his weights for squats.
Never before had Seth and I ran into each other this much. Even when we were both in Florida we each had our own programming and our schedules never meshed, now lately it seemed like I was running into him everywhere.
“Thanks.” I managed to say between heaving breaths, stopping only to take a drink from my bottle.
I could tell my face was red as a beet and I hated the fact that this is how he caught me but I couldn’t do anything about that. The work of keeping up your physique, especially in this business, wasn’t pretty.
“Alright, no time for chats, in the ring Decker!” Tara yelled again.
Seth
I watched her slowly pick herself up from the floor, her chest still rapidly moving up and down from her last workout but she took another sip of her water and climbed into the ring.
“Alright,” her trainer yelled out, tossing a dummy on the mat. “top rope, give me a triple full from the front, land on your stomach.”
Just as she was told, she did a triple front flip from the top rope, getting more air than anyone I’d seen before, landing full force on the dummy. How had I never watched this woman perform before? If Divas matches were anything like this, I’d watch way more often.
She looked my way and I averted my eyes to the ground, getting back to my squats when she looked over at me, but through my peripherals, I could still see her, red faced and fine as hell as she climbed the rope again to do the same backwards.
“Alright, 3 more and you can get stretched.” Her trainer said.
It was a workout in it’s own keeping my eyes to myself after that. Between the moaning and grunting of her hitting the mat and then the stretches of her legs in splits the arches in her back, I was just surprised I was able to keep from blowing in my pants.
“How was breakfast?” She finally turned to me, patting the sweat on her chest with a towel.
“I – uh – I” I stuttered momentarily, clearing my throat before answering. “I haven’t gone yet. Had a few things to take care of after our morning meeting, figured I’d hit the gym while it was still empty. I’m surprised to see you here though. Didn’t think you’d even make it to the meeting.”
She laughed, throwing the towel around the back of her neck and holding it. “Yeah, I got into the few of the nips in the mini-fridge just to get some sleep, figured I’d work all the alcohol out of my system before the show.”
With a chuckle, I nodded in understanding. “I’ve been there.”
“You almost done with your workout? I’m sure there’s still some food left in catering if you want to join me. Besides, didn’t you already work out this morning when I got to the hotel?”
“Yeah!” I said way more excitedly than I should’ve. I’d been wanting some one on one time with this woman for weeks now and she always had something better to do. “Yeah, I could eat.”
“Alright, I’m going to jump in for a quick shower. Meet me at catering in like 20?” She asked, walking backwards towards the locker room doors.
“I’ll be there.” I promised, not passing up the chance.
Just as soon as I finished my last rep, I jumped in the shower before heading up to the catering hall. At this point only one or two people were still in the but a few trays were still out with food. Hazel was nowhere in sight yet though.
I decided to grab a plate of food already, some runny eggs and whatever bacon was left before taking a seat at one of the empty tables. Not that I minded eating alone, but breakfast with a very beautiful, very flexible woman would’ve been better.
“Hey!” Her cheerful voice eased my anxiety.
“Bout time you showed.” I said with a smirk. “I was starting to this is I’d been stood up!”
“Ah.” She waved me off, filling her plate. “I’m sure someone would’ve taken my place in no time.”
Cocking a brow, I looked up at her as she took a seat next to me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Come on, if it wasn’t me it’d be one of the other girls. You’re like a total babe. The girls around here love you.” she answered nonchalantly, taking a bite from a piece of bacon.
She wasn’t wrong. The Divas were always somehow near me but Hazel barely gave me a second look most days.
“Whatever, I can’t be that popular if you barely even hang out with me.”
“You have a point there. I am pretty cool.” She said jokingly.
“Yeah yeah.” I laughed. “Are you going to the bar with everyone tonight?”
“Yep.”
“Good, then maybe you’ll hang out with me.”
Her phone rang before she could reply and she answered with a mouth full of food. “Hello… yup… be right there.”
Damn, she literally just got here.
“Champs gotta go get ready.” she said, finishing a second strip of bacon before looking at me as she stood. “I’ll be sure to hangout with you tonight. Promise.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” I replied as she gave an adorable half smile and walked out.
—
After a successful match between the shield and the Wyatt family, I hung around to watch Hazel’s match with Paige. It was obvious to see that the company favored Hazel over their Paige who was a longtime favorite. Lately it was starting to seem like it was just one PR mess after another with her, but to see a company so coldly turn their back on someone like that was cautioning.
The women’s match was intense. Aside from a near tap out on Hazel’s end, Paige couldn’t keep up with her. Between Hazel flying off the ropes to her hits, it was clear she wasn’t going for a submission, she wanted a knockout pin.
That’s exactly what she got after using one of Lita’s classic finishers, the DDT followed by a beautiful corkscrew jump off the top rope onto Paige.
“That girl is an absolute maniac in the ring.” Roman said, breaking our silence from the intense match.
“Crazier than me?” Dean asked and we rolled our eyes.
“Crazier than any of the women we’ve seen so far. Think about it, Lita was the last one to pull of stunts like that. You should’ve seen her in the gym this morning.”
“I see her all the time man.” Dean said. “She’s usually in the late at night when it’s empty.”
“Probably because she needs all that room for her flips and shit.” Roman laughed.
“You ain’t wrong.” I replied. “She’s coming out with everyone tonight.”
“You think Renee’s gonna be there?” Dean asked, trying to sound casual.
“Probably.” I laughed.