Best for Business

“Where should we go?” Seth asks. His hand pushes his hair out of his face.

“This is one of my first times in Maine. I don’t really know what’s here. We can go to my hotel and get some room service and a movie?” I suggest.

He nods, telling me it’s a great idea. We walk outside together and get a taxi. It’s quiet on the cab ride over. Sort of awkward, too. I don’t know what to say, but I feel the need to say something. “You sounded great out there.”

He offers me a smile smile. “Thanks. It’s weird to be out there and just speak. I only really enjoy doing it when I get a match out of it.” I nod like I understand, but I don’t. I’ve never been in that situation.

Luckily, it’s a relatively short drive to my hotel. We didn’t say anything else to each other, aside from that. Once we’re at the hotel, I pay the driver and we slip out. We walk up to my hotel room.

Once inside, I silently cringe at the mess before us. I have clothes scattered all around the room. I’m not sharing a room with anybody else today, so when I got ready for the show, I got messy choosing the clothes I wanted to wear. I didn’t bother picking up the mess because I assumed I’d be coming back alone. I immediately apologize to Seth. I walk over to my mess of clothes and pick it all up. I blush as I stuff the clothes into one of my suitcases. “I didn’t realize I was coming back with someone today. I’m so sorry,” I say again.

He sets his duffle down by the bed. Once I clear my things off the bed, he hops on it. He shrugs, offering me a smile. “It’s no big deal. Things happen.”

After a few minutes, my mess is cleaned up. I take a seat next to Seth on the bed. It’s quiet. I don’t know what to say to make things better because I’ve never been in this situation before. “Do you want to get a pizza?” He asks.

“Yeah, sure.” I lean over and grab the hotel’s room service menu. I look it over briefly before handing it to Seth. “What do you want on it?” We debate about it, but eventually decide on a sausage and spinach pizza. I call in the order. The voice on the other end of the call informs me that the pizza will take about twenty minutes, and I relay the message to Seth.

I try to prevent any awkward silences from happening, so I also ask Seth where he’s from, even though I’ve heard Lillian say it on Raw many times before. “Iowa,” He says, grinning. It’s the first time I’ve seen him smile like that all night. “How about you?”

“Chicago,” I answer.

“Chicago’s nice. Did you train there? They have some great schools.”

I shake my head, causing Seth to raise his eyebrows in response. “Florida. Primarily with NXT. I did a little bit up in Chicago, at the beginning. But they didn’t really believe in me up there.”

Seth nods, his smile faltering a little. “I trained a lot in Florida too, but I never stayed in one place for too long.”

“Why’s that?” I ask. I look over at him. He looks somewhat unhappy, but focused.

“The same reason you were in Florida, I guess. I wasn’t really accepted by everybody. Some places tried to push me in a direction that didn’t seem fit. But I also kept improving, so I was getting moved on to bigger and better things.” He speaks slowly, like he’s thinking about his words before saying them. “The longest business relationship I’ve had is with the WWE. It’s everything to me.”

“And look at you now. You’re excelling.” I grin over at him.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” He laughs. There’s a knock on the door. He gets up to get the door. We both know it’s the pizza, so there is no stress about who answers the door. I watch as he opens the door, grabs the pizza from the hotel employee, and thanks him. He shuts the door and turns around, holding the pizza up.

He sets it down on the bed between us. We don’t have any plates, so we eat straight from the box. “Speaking of excelling, you’re not doing too bad yourself.”

I swallow my bite of pizza and shrug. “Yeah, I’ve won all my matches so far, but I’m still new. It could just be luck.”

Seth talks between his bites of pizza.“It could be, but it probably isn’t. No other Diva started and remains undefeated week three. Most of the locker room lost their first match here. It’s very uncommon to win the first three matches, so I say you’re off to a great start. I’ve seen your matches, too. You have moves no Diva here has.”

I blush at his kind words. “You’ve seen my matches?”

“Of course,” He nods. “Why wouldn’t I?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. You just don’t seem as interested in the Divas division, from what I’ve heard. It just comes off as a shock.”

He offers me a slight frown. “I’ve heard the women’s locker room is a lot of gossip. I just try to avoid that. But that doesn’t mean I don’t watch the matches.”

I nod and tell him that makes sense. It really does. I’ve witnessed the drama of the Divas locker room. I know exactly what he’s talking about when he says there is a lot of gossip. The men in this business talk, but they are able to keep it professional. Sometimes, the lines between professional and personal cross in the Divas division.

“Do you talk to any of the women here?” I don’t know what prompts my question. I spoke before really thinking about what I was saying. Slightly embarrassed, I apologize for asking.

“No big deal, Shay,” Seth laughs. “No, I don’t really talk to any of the women.”

“Is there a reason for that? Like, is it just the gossip you’re worried about?”

Seth lets out a sigh. He pushes his hair out of his face, and for one of the first times since we’ve been here, doesn’t look at me. He thinks for a minute before speaking. “I don’t have many friends in this business recently, aside from the bosses. I have a negative, arrogant persona in the WWE. It was the character I was assigned; I can’t help that. It’s just hard because the fans hate it, but also, the locker room believes I’m that character. I haven’t had the same respect from any of the guys since my character evolved. I don’t see a point in really reaching out to any of the women because they look at me weird too.” He sighs, looking back over to me. “I just need a change.”

I can’t help but feel terrible for him. I didn’t expect that to be his answer. Instead of showing him pity, I just grab his hand and offer him a smile. “Well, you have me now.”

“Thanks, Shay,” He chuckles. We finish our pizza. We continue talking, mostly about professional things, like our background, for example. As the night progresses, I become far more comfortable around him. He really isn’t the negative soul I thought he was - he’s really just guarded and misunderstood.

Eventually, we check the time. It’s just after ten PM. “Should we call it a night?” I ask. Honestly, I don’t want to. I’d like to talk to him longer, but I know we both have a busy weekend.

“Yeah, we probably should. I’ll see you Monday?” We both get up from the bed. I grab the empty pizza box and toss it in the trash.

We both walk to the door. I give him a quick, friendly hug and offer him a smile. “I’ll see you Monday. It was nice to officially meet you.”

He smiles, hands lingering on my back. “Yeah, it wasn’t so bad. I’ll see you around, Shay.” He opens the door and leaves, shutting it behind him. I’m left standing by the door, absolutely pleased with how this night has gone.

I know understand this whole situation. I understand Seth more than I thought I would, too. He’s been dealt the bad end of the deal. While he’s champion, and his career is exactly where he’s ever hoped, his personal relationships are really taking a toll. The balance between a successful career and personal life is essential to be happy, and I really hope I can help him with that.

I’m distracted by the vibration of my phone and brought back to real life. I can’t help but smile as I read all of the concerned texts from Brie, hoping my night has been satisfactory. I have a newfound excitement for Monday. I can’t wait to relay all this new information to her, but also give a new beginning to Seth.