After Party

Body painting is for as artistic as it is, is also a very technical thing. You have to know how certain things work and how they react. In addition to knowing how to make things flow on the body, you also have to know where the skin creases, where the most oil is produce, how the muscles move under the skin and how it would distort the image.

This attention to detail doesn’t just go away, when you stop painting. I noticed it all the time, watching Fergal in the ring, watching him sip his coffee, while he was asleep, the way his muscles rippled and skin stretched. By this point no one knew Fergal’s body better than me, so when I saw him hit the barricade, I knew something was wrong.

“Oh shit!” I swore, watching Fergal popping his shoulder in place.

“What?” Bayley asked.

“He dislocated his shoulder.”

“What?”

“His shoulder just popped out.”

“How can you tell?”

“Bayley, I spend more time examining that man’s body in more detail than anyone else. Trust me.”

She scrunched her nose up. “Ew.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Well it looks like he’s going to keep going, so it can’t be too bad,” she said, trying to soothe me.

I didn’t say anything. I just watched on, worrying. He was performing well, but every once in a while I would catch him wince. He powered through and though it felt like an eternity to me, he finally hit the coup de grace, and pinned Rollins.

One. Two. Three.

I let out a sigh of relief. He made it. Now I didn’t have to worry about him making anything worse.

Bayley shot up out of her seat and started jumping up and down, squealing with excitement. She pulled me up and into a hug. “Lucy,” she said. “Your boyfriend just won the WWE universal title. Be happy. Be excited. The last thing he wants is to come back here and for you to be all gloom and doom.”

Bayle was right. The last thing I wanted to be was Debbie Downer.

“I’m just nervous.”

“You can be nervous later. Be happy now.”

I allowed her to drag me to gorilla. We lined up with Enzo, Cass, Kevin and Sami, who were all waiting to greet the new champ.

Seth came through first and was commended on his performance. A few minutes later, Fergal walked through the curtain and we all applauded.

He was smiling, teeth sticking out against the black paint. I felt myself swell with pride and joy. He had earned this. He deserved this. This was everything that he had ever wanted.

Hunter greeted him first, congratulating him and posing for the obligatory pictures. Vince was next and Hunter came down to where the rest of us were standing. “Your boy did good,” he said.

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, he did.”

“And he looked good too. You do amazing work.”

“Thank you. That means a lot.”

“The paint must really do something,” Vince said to Fergal. “You were unbelievable out there. Good work, son. Congratulations.”

“Thank you, sir. The paint brings out the best in me,” Fergal replied, glancing at me.

He was congratulated by Kevin, then Sami, then Zo and Cass. Bayley gave him a hug, not caring about the pain, and then finally he stood in front of me.

“Hey, Champ?” I asked.

“Been a while since you called me that,” he said with a soft chuckle.

“It has,” I agreed. “How’s it feel?”

“Fucking amazing.”

I shook my head and smiled, before pulling him down to my level to kiss him.

“Congratulations, Champ,” I whispered after we parted.

He gave me a one arm hug, still shouldering the title and pressed his lips to my temple.

“Go be a champ, Champ. I’ll meet back up with you later.”

With one last squeeze, he released me.

I met back up with Bayley and we dug a package of makeup wipes out of my kit to clean ourselves up. Once that was done, I went to finish packing everything up.

“I hope everything’s okay,” Bayley said, before leaving.

Once everything was packed up and tossed in the back of my rental, I headed to the trainer’s room, where sure enough, Fergal was sitting arm in a sling.

“So how bad is it?” I asked.

“Which one of them told you?” he asked.

I snorted. “No one had to tell me. In case you’ve forgotten, I’m quite fond of your body, and I like to think that no one knows it better than me.”

“Oh I haven’t forgotten.”

I smirked.

He had showered, but there were still some spot of paint that he had obviously missed. I was still toting around makeup wipes, since this was a regular occurrence. I pulled one out and gently wiped away at one of the spots.

“We don’t know how bad it is yet. We have to go to the hospital for a MRI.”

“Are we going now?”

He nodded. “Doc’s getting everything that we need together.”

“Do you want me to pack up your stuff?” I asked.

I had no problem marching into the men’s locker room. I didn’t care.

“A step ahead of you, Lucy,” Sami said, wheeling Fergal’s bag into the room.

“Thanks, man.”

“No problem,” he said. “I hope it’s nothing.”

No doubt Sami was having flashbacks to his own injury.

“Me too.”

Sami took his leave and I kept cleaning off paint.

“I hope it’s nothing too.”

“But what if it’s not?” He picked up the belt. “I’ve worked my arse off for years to get here. I’m finally on top. It can’t be over, before it begins.”

“We don’t know if it’s over,” I said.

“You would, if you could feel this right now.”

I had been standing between his legs, which were dangling off the edge of the cot. I held his face, forcing him to look at me. “If you’re gonna be out, you’re gonna be out. We can’t change that now. It just means that you’re gonna have to work a little hard for a little while longer. This is not the end of the world. You get fixed up, rehab it, and once your back in peak demon form, you win that title back.”

“And on the bright side, while this is the worst possible timing, it’s also the best possible timing,” I continued. “You have your parent’s here to help out now, and you have me every step of the way.

Fergal took the makeup wipe out of my hands, and set it down beside him. Using his good arm, he pulled me close, wrapping that arm around my waist and brought his lips down to mine.

“Thank you, Cin.”

“Anything for you, Ferg.”

“You’re just happy we don’t have to go to the after party,” he teased.

I rolled my eyes. I had been complaining about the after party, since I realized that I as his girlfriend and a WWE employee had some obligation to go. It was well established that it wasn’t my scene, and that I much preferred to do something low key. However, given the circumstances I would’ve much rather put up with a bunch of obnoxious drunk people.

“Then again, the hotel doesn’t make milkshakes.”

“I’m sure I can figure something out,” I said, knowing damn well that there was a convenience store connected to the hotel lobby. “Once you’re checked out, we can have our own after party. I can eat a milkshake and you can be sleeping soundly thanks to whatever they dope you up with.”

“A real wild pair we are.”