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Off Camera
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The tiny
café huddled despondent among the huge city buildings. Washed out under the
overcast Chicago skyline, it hunched in itself, fighting against the drizzle.
Hundreds of people rushed by it, outside on the crowded street. The half a
dozen customers glanced up as the door swung open, heralded by a blast of cold
wind. Unlike the outside, the interior of the café was warm and cheery, with
bright lights and colourful walls. The customers returned to their
conversations as the door swung closed behind the new entrant and the cold
breeze was forgotten.
This new
entrant is wearing an overcoat, her long
blonde hair hangs unrestrained to shoulder length. She is perched atop black high high heel
pumps and is wearing is a floral print black maxi skirt. She walks to the back of the café where she
spots a table that is occupied by another female figure. The other figure is a redhead, wearing denim
jeans, a red blouse, and a black leather jacket. The bllonde clears her throat to get her
attention. The redhead looks up and a
polite smile crosses her face.
“Glory...” Angelica looks at her wrist,
as if to check her watch, even though she is not wearing one, and chuckles
lightly to herself “you’re late, this isn’t
a good start for us.”
“Oh shut up, Angelica.” Glory remarks as
she sits down at the table, across from Angelica. “Traffic
was a bitch.”
“Order something alcoholic.” Angelica
mock toasts Glory with her glass of red wine. “It’ll sooth the nerves.”
“Not a chance.” The waitress stops by
with pen and notepad in hand. Glory looks at her and smiles pleasantly. “I’d like a glass of water please.”
“Sure thing, ma’am.” The waitress walks
off to fill the order. Angelica sighs
and shakes her head.
“You don’t know what you’re missing.”
“Oh I know full well what I’m missing; I’m
not a teetotaler, mate. I just don’t
want any right now.”
“Fair enough.” Angelica takes a sip of
her wine. “I got to admit, I was kind of
surprised you agreed to meet me.”
“I was surprised you wanted to meet. We haven’t exactly been on the best of terms,
lately. We’ve barely talked.”
“Yes, instead of talking we’re usually
fighting. At least that’s been the case
for the past few months.”
The waitress
returns with Glory’s glass of water.
Glory thanks the young girl and then hands her a couple of bills. The waitress walks off and Glory takes a
drink of her water. Braddock sighs and
places the glass of water back on the table.
She leans forward and stares into her cousin’s eyes.
“It goes deeper than that, Angelica. Think about it, our match at the GCW Draft
Show wasn’t the one and only time we’ve been at each other’s throats. And I don’t just mean Resurrection one week
prior. You beat the hell out of me in an
Empty Arena Match a few years earlier, which I guess you could say was a
receipt for the times I kicked your ass.
Hell, we’ve been battling and been trying to kill each other since…”
“Since you debuted.”
“Yeah…” Glory’s voice trails off
momentarily as she stops to think about it, then she nods her head “…yeah, you’re right.”
“I remember the night you debuted.”
Angelica sips her wine and then places the glass down. She too leans forward so that she is staring
right into Glory’s eyes. “You were part
of an eight person field; a tournament to crown a new GDW International
Champion. You were fresh out of the
famous Braddock Wrestling School. You
were a rookie in the truest of terms.”
“True, but in fairness I did have some
amateur background.”
“Yes, but a rookie is a rookie and you had a
professional match in your life until that night and they tell you that you’ll
be part of that tournament. I hated them
for doing that to you, Glory. You were thrilled with the prospect of potentially
winning it all and being champion but I hated them for putting you in that
position. Do you know why?”
Glory shakes
her head. “Because as good as you were at
the time, and you were talented for a rookie, but as good as you were you knew
nothing about the backstage politics of it all.
GDW didn’t put you in that match to give you an opportunity to win. They put you in to lose. They thought you might luck up and win your
quarter final match but that might be the most you’d get out of it. Rookie don’t have that kind of
endurance. They expected you to fold
under the pressure and lose the tournament.
Your role that night was to be a loser.
That was in your script.”
“I don’t follow scripts that well.”
“Clearly.” Angelica says with a light
chuckle. “You won the tournament that
night; you shocked the world and became GCW International Champion on your
debut night.”
“I lost the title that same night.”
Glory remarks with some bitterness in her voice as she sips her water. “The twat of an owner at the time made me
defend it that same night against some cockwomble they dredged up from the
sewer.”
“Right, he did that because you bucked the
system. You won the tournament and weren’t
supposed to win. I hated GDW for setting
you up like that, Glory, because I thought they were setting you up for
failure. But when you took them by storm
like that and won the title? I knew
making it in this business wouldn’t be your major problem.”
“I’ve heard this story before.” Glory
remarks after taking another sip of her water. “This was but the first of many instances where I one-upped the great
Angelica Jones, innit? At least, that’s
what you claim led you to costing me the GCW World Championship back at Civil
War. You said that I was constantly
trying to one-up you and that you needed to put me in my place. Honestly, it sounds like you are just like
that cockwomble running GDW in 2008.
You, like him, felt I needed to be put in my place.”
“You did.” Angelica answers calmly and
coldly.
“Why do you think that, mate? Is your ego so fragile that you feel
threatened by me shocking the world on my debut night in 2008? You were a ten time world champion by that
point, Angelica. You had held gold in
GDW, MWA, and MCW. You had nothing to
fear from me.”
“Is that so?” Angelica takes a sip of
her wine and chuckles. She sets the
glass back down and stares into Glory’s eyes with her icy cold stare.
“What’s that thing you like to say? You tell everyone that you’re The Best in the
World. And you also like to accurately
point out that to be the best you have to beat the best.” She points a
finger at Glory and then back at herself. “Your
arrival forced ME to up my game. I knew
from that night when you won the title that you were destined for great
things. And as much as it pains me to
admit it…”
There is a
long pause as Angelica sits there, waiting, not really wanting to say these next
words. But she knows she must say them.
“…I knew from that moment that you would
surpass me. I knew from that moment when
you won that tournament and became GDW International Champion that with your
arrival in this business that I would never be the best.”
Glory looks
on in wide-eyed shock and awe. She isn’t
quite sure what to make of the words that just came out of her cousin’s
mouth. She eventually regains her
composure and attempts to answer it.
“Angelica, mate, that’s bloody ridiculous…”
“No it’s not, it’s fact. Honestly, Glory, I had no chance. You have the natural talent, you have the
pedigree and background of being Glenn Braddock’s daughter. In a straight up wrestling match, no one can
touch you. You want to know why I went
after you? You were already better than
me, and yet you constantly rubbed it in.
Consciously or subconsciously you still rubbed it in by topping
everything I did. I won thirteen world
title, you won fourteen. You did it in
more companies than I did. You’ve
successfully managed careers and companies yourself. I came back to this sport because of
you. I felt my legacy threatened by your
legacy. I wanted to protect my
legacy. I tried protecting it with more
gold but that didn’t ease my mind.”
“Did beating my ass at the GCW Draft Show
ease your mind, love?”
“I think you already know the answer to that
question is no…” Angelica says with a half-grin.
“You’re still being bloody ridiculous and I’ll
tell you why. It isn’t just because you
beat me straight up in a WRESTLING MATCH at the Draft Show, though that is the
biggest piece of evidence I got for you, love.
To be the best you got to beat the best, right? Well you beat the best in the world. That should tell you something. Besides, you’re absolutely right about the
fact that I had the advantage of being a daughter of Glenn Braddock. But you…” she points a finger at Angelica
“…you have had every disadvantage that
life could possibly throw at you. Your
mother raped and murdered while you were being
forced to watch. Your father
abandoned you. Your sister missing. You fought through all of that and you even
fought through serious mental issues. You survived the mental issues, you put
your family back together, AND you went on to become a thirteen time world
champion. You did all of that while I
was being pampered like hell.”
Glory
Braddock shakes her head. “No, I am not
The Best in the World. You are The Best
in the World, Angelica.”
“Hold on!
I need to get to my camera so I can record you saying this!”
The two
women share a laugh, which does ease the tension slightly. Glory takes a sip of her water and Angelica
sips her wine. They set their drink
glasses back down simultaneously before the conversation begins again with
Angelica speaking.
“Thank you, Glory. I do appreciate that.”
“You’re welcome, you crazy bint, but we’re
not done yet. I need to know, are you
going to drop this bloody obsession you have with your legacy?”
“It’s not an obsession, Glory, and I can’t
just drop it.” She shakes her head. “I
have a point to prove.”
“Who?
To whom do you have to prove a bloody thing?! You won thirteen world titles! You are in four halls of fame! What else is there?!”
“You know what else…” Angelica says, her
icy stare returning.
“It’s about the GCW Global Championship, and
one more will tie you with me, but it isn’t about matching me any longer, is
it? This is about Jazmyn Rain herself.”
“Jazmyn has admittedly had a great deal of
success in GCW. Don’t get me wrong, I
recognize her talent and greatness; but that success has blinded her, it has
made her think she is better than she actually is. Jazmyn needs to be reminded
as to who in the hell I am.”
“In other words she needs to be put in her
place, right?” Glory asks, growing frustrated with her redheaded cousin. “Don’t you see where this is all leading to,
Angelica? This is the same damn problem
you had with me, only this time it’s even more ridiculous because you legit
have nothing to fear from her. Your legacy
goes beyond just GCW, Angelica. Your
legacy and her legacy can coexist.”
Glory
reaches out across the table and grabs hold of her cousin’s hands and squeezes
them tight.
“You and I took this rivalry farther than we
should have, Angelica. We could have
ended each other’s careers and we are lucky we didn’t. You and Jazmyn are going to have one hell of
a match at Purgatory and I look forward to watching it. You and Jazmyn is a dream match that GCW fans
have been itching for. And if you win,
we’ll get treated to a second match.
Just don’t make the mistake we made.
Don’t turn this into a war.”
“I appreciate your concern, but you know
damn well that I cannot make that promise.
I’ve already taken this too far. If
I lose to Jazmyn at Purgatory, I don’t get a title shot for a year. So yes, I know I’ve already taken this fight
with Jazmyn way too far, but there’s no turning back now. I have to see this through to whatever conclusion
fate has in store for me.”
“Fate?” Glory arches her brow curiously.
“Glory, I know I can beat Jazmyn Rain. I know I have the skills necessary to beat
her one on one straight up. Having
Apocalypse to back me up is just an insurance policy. I should feel invincible. But Jazmyn Rain has overcome worse odds than
that in her GCW tenure. That hasn’t gone
unnoticed. I am confident, but is there
lingering doubt…especially with that clause about me not getting a title shot
for a year if I lose…yes, there is some lingering doubt.”
Angelica
stands up from her seat. “But I have to see it through.”
“I understand.” Glory stands up as well.
“Just be careful. Don’t lose yourself to this obsession.”
“I’ll try not to.”
The ladies
embrace in a tight cousinly (because they’re cousins not sisters) hug. After breaking the embrace both women seem to
have tears forming their eyes as they smile at one another.
“So no more fighting?” Angelica asks.
“No more fighting. Unless we’re booked against each other, but I
think after tonight we can have a nice, professional match, give the fans a
hell of a match, and leave it at that.
What do you think?”
“Definitely.”
Angelica and
Glory walk out of the café together, having finally buried the hatchet (and not
in each other’s skull).
