Post by Thunder on Nov 11, 2013 21:05:15 GMT -5
"Yeah, I thought you looked familiar," she said, her eyes staying on Michael in an almost unmoving and slightly unsettling glare. "My little brother used to watch wrestling years ago so I used to see it from time to time then. It must have been a while ago now. You do look older than the times I was seeing it."
Michael had a sneaking suspicion this would come up. It had all started with her looking at him in ways rust seemed a little odd to begin with. Then it became obvious that it was going to come up when she started with the "we must have met somewhere before, since I know I've seen you at some point" conversation. He had heard that plenty of times before, and ninety nine percent of the time it was someone who had seen him on TV. Given how rarely he went out, it was almost impossible that someone had really seen him out somewhere and remembered the meeting.
He hoped he would be able to steer the conversation away from this and move on to just more normal things to talk about. In his trek on the dating sites thus far this girl, Amanda had by far seemed like the most intelligent and interesting. Most of the others had obvious large flaws in many different ways, but he had given a large number or them a try with a date, just because it seemed to be worth a shot.
Those engagements had all ended poorly for a vast number of reasons. Sometimes it was vapid conversations, others in stark differences in personality that didn't mix, and sometimes the pictures really lied and there was not an ounce of attractiveness to be found. At first Michael wondered if it was something with him that caused these other dates to fail, but he did convince himself that this was a ridiculous assertion. Of course it wasn't him.
He was going to have to do his best to steer this one, since it otherwise seemed to have potential.
"Yeah, I was a wrestler back then, still am, he said. "I left for a while, but came back. Anyway, you were saying earlier that you wanted to--"
"Oh, you left and came back?"
"Yeah, I took time off but came back later on. But that's--"
"I can understand that. It must be tough having a stable relationship and family life if you're always away from home," she said.
Man, she really loved to talk and wasn't willing to get away from it. Michael felt himself against the ropes, unable to really put up a defense. Some people had a tendency to dominate a conversation, and she was apparently one of them. This wasn't even a conversation at this point. It was turning into more of an interview that he had no control over. There was no way to seize an opportunity and turn it around in any way.
"Being on the road can be a bit of a problem, for sure. My girlfriend at the time had issues with that."
"Is that what broke you two up?"
This was getting quite ridiculous for him. There was certainly a degree of a feeling out process in any first dates, where one tried to subtly gauge what a person was like and grill them in the nicest way possible. This wasn't even that nice at all at this point. Now she was just trying to dig into his past with Stacy, which he did not want to delve into. He told himself to be as diplomatic as possible and hope that she would get the hint to let it die.
"That wasn't really it at all, no."
"Hmm. What was it then, then?"
Alright, since she insisted, it was time to get awkward.
"She died."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said. That was pretty much the only response that was appropriate to hearing such a thing. At least Amanda had the sense to know that much about decency.
But without missing a beat, she kept going, making him wonder if she really did know anything about decency at all.
"It must be hard to move on from that and date. I wonder if anyone ever truly gets over something like that. What do you think?"
"I really keep going on with this. It's nothing against you personally but this is ridiculous," he said as he got up and threw more than enough money cover the meal on the table. Amanda, seemingly stunned, didn't even say anything as he headed out the door.
They had gone out to eat at a restaurant near Michael's place, so he started his walk back home on what was far too chilly of a night for this early in November. Snow was on the way very soon, which just seemed way too ridiculously early. The speed at which Christmas stuff had arrived was flat out criminal.
He was still fuming over what had just happened when a honking car horn got his attention. Looking up, he saw that it was Robin. He did the obligatory wave as she pulled over the curb. There was no intention in his mind to get in the car and stopped to chat, but his sister pushed the door open so he now really had no choice.
"Date's over already?" she asked as he got in the car.
"It could have gone better."
"What happened?"
"I had to leave. I just couldn't deal with it. Yeah, I know it's not right and I shouldn't have done it, but it was too much. I was practically being interrogated and it wouldn't stop. It was all this stuff about how hard it must be to be a wrestler, how I must not be over Stacy, and it just kept going and going."
"And you don't think any of that is valid?" she asked.
"What do you mean by that?"
"What I mean is that there may be some validity to what she was saying about not being over Stacy."
"Are you serious about that?"
"A hundred percent. Look at your track record. You've seriously been with what, one person, since she died all those years ago? And even that one didn't last long at all. Now you're actively trying to date again, and you're almost making it a goal to find something wrong with all of them. Let's be honest here. Do you really think all of that was all their problems and nothing to do with you?" she asked. For the second time in just a few minutes, he was on the receiving end of a conversation where he couldn't get a word in edge-wise.
"Well I . . ."
"Look, you've done a great job so far with trying to change the path of your career. You came back wanting to change the way you had been and what you had done, and it's starting to be successful. That's great and I'm really happy for you. But you're not fully committing to really changing your personal life and unless you made some realizations, you're not going to. Like I said, that girl wasn't off base. You've got to look within yourself and see what has to change. You need to find out what you lack."
He slumped back in his seat.
"I've got some things to think about," he said.
"I wonder if everyone is starting to believe what I'm capable of now. Maybe they're starting to believe that I'm going to compete at a high level again. But if you're not one of those believers yet, don't worry, there's still time to get on the bandwagon. I would get moving on it, though, because things are picking up big time.
"I'm just one step away from fulfilling my renaissance at Scars and Stripes. If all goes according to plan, that show will be one of the finest moments in my career. There's just one person in my way right now, and that person is Ace Andrews.
"You could say I'm a little lucky in that regard. Don't get me wrong, Ace Andrews looked good on the last show and deservedly made it to this point in the tournament. But does anyone really think he's as good as he says he is? He's hyped himself up way beyond his means. I am, when you get down to it, his toughest challenge yet, and it's also his biggest match yet. Ace, if you're as good as you say you are, we'll all find out when you step into the ring with me.
"But I already know what's going to happen. You are just the final obstacle in the way of my renaissance. Once I'm past you, the whole world is ahead of me at Scars and Stripes. That's when there will be no question left as to where my abilities are at. I will walk out of Scars and Stripes not only as the International Champion, but as the number one contender after winning the WFWF Rumble. There's only one person stopping me.
I'm sorry, Ace, but you're in my way. I'm going to have to ask you to move."
Michael had a sneaking suspicion this would come up. It had all started with her looking at him in ways rust seemed a little odd to begin with. Then it became obvious that it was going to come up when she started with the "we must have met somewhere before, since I know I've seen you at some point" conversation. He had heard that plenty of times before, and ninety nine percent of the time it was someone who had seen him on TV. Given how rarely he went out, it was almost impossible that someone had really seen him out somewhere and remembered the meeting.
He hoped he would be able to steer the conversation away from this and move on to just more normal things to talk about. In his trek on the dating sites thus far this girl, Amanda had by far seemed like the most intelligent and interesting. Most of the others had obvious large flaws in many different ways, but he had given a large number or them a try with a date, just because it seemed to be worth a shot.
Those engagements had all ended poorly for a vast number of reasons. Sometimes it was vapid conversations, others in stark differences in personality that didn't mix, and sometimes the pictures really lied and there was not an ounce of attractiveness to be found. At first Michael wondered if it was something with him that caused these other dates to fail, but he did convince himself that this was a ridiculous assertion. Of course it wasn't him.
He was going to have to do his best to steer this one, since it otherwise seemed to have potential.
"Yeah, I was a wrestler back then, still am, he said. "I left for a while, but came back. Anyway, you were saying earlier that you wanted to--"
"Oh, you left and came back?"
"Yeah, I took time off but came back later on. But that's--"
"I can understand that. It must be tough having a stable relationship and family life if you're always away from home," she said.
Man, she really loved to talk and wasn't willing to get away from it. Michael felt himself against the ropes, unable to really put up a defense. Some people had a tendency to dominate a conversation, and she was apparently one of them. This wasn't even a conversation at this point. It was turning into more of an interview that he had no control over. There was no way to seize an opportunity and turn it around in any way.
"Being on the road can be a bit of a problem, for sure. My girlfriend at the time had issues with that."
"Is that what broke you two up?"
This was getting quite ridiculous for him. There was certainly a degree of a feeling out process in any first dates, where one tried to subtly gauge what a person was like and grill them in the nicest way possible. This wasn't even that nice at all at this point. Now she was just trying to dig into his past with Stacy, which he did not want to delve into. He told himself to be as diplomatic as possible and hope that she would get the hint to let it die.
"That wasn't really it at all, no."
"Hmm. What was it then, then?"
Alright, since she insisted, it was time to get awkward.
"She died."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said. That was pretty much the only response that was appropriate to hearing such a thing. At least Amanda had the sense to know that much about decency.
But without missing a beat, she kept going, making him wonder if she really did know anything about decency at all.
"It must be hard to move on from that and date. I wonder if anyone ever truly gets over something like that. What do you think?"
"I really keep going on with this. It's nothing against you personally but this is ridiculous," he said as he got up and threw more than enough money cover the meal on the table. Amanda, seemingly stunned, didn't even say anything as he headed out the door.
They had gone out to eat at a restaurant near Michael's place, so he started his walk back home on what was far too chilly of a night for this early in November. Snow was on the way very soon, which just seemed way too ridiculously early. The speed at which Christmas stuff had arrived was flat out criminal.
He was still fuming over what had just happened when a honking car horn got his attention. Looking up, he saw that it was Robin. He did the obligatory wave as she pulled over the curb. There was no intention in his mind to get in the car and stopped to chat, but his sister pushed the door open so he now really had no choice.
"Date's over already?" she asked as he got in the car.
"It could have gone better."
"What happened?"
"I had to leave. I just couldn't deal with it. Yeah, I know it's not right and I shouldn't have done it, but it was too much. I was practically being interrogated and it wouldn't stop. It was all this stuff about how hard it must be to be a wrestler, how I must not be over Stacy, and it just kept going and going."
"And you don't think any of that is valid?" she asked.
"What do you mean by that?"
"What I mean is that there may be some validity to what she was saying about not being over Stacy."
"Are you serious about that?"
"A hundred percent. Look at your track record. You've seriously been with what, one person, since she died all those years ago? And even that one didn't last long at all. Now you're actively trying to date again, and you're almost making it a goal to find something wrong with all of them. Let's be honest here. Do you really think all of that was all their problems and nothing to do with you?" she asked. For the second time in just a few minutes, he was on the receiving end of a conversation where he couldn't get a word in edge-wise.
"Well I . . ."
"Look, you've done a great job so far with trying to change the path of your career. You came back wanting to change the way you had been and what you had done, and it's starting to be successful. That's great and I'm really happy for you. But you're not fully committing to really changing your personal life and unless you made some realizations, you're not going to. Like I said, that girl wasn't off base. You've got to look within yourself and see what has to change. You need to find out what you lack."
He slumped back in his seat.
"I've got some things to think about," he said.
~ ~
"I wonder if everyone is starting to believe what I'm capable of now. Maybe they're starting to believe that I'm going to compete at a high level again. But if you're not one of those believers yet, don't worry, there's still time to get on the bandwagon. I would get moving on it, though, because things are picking up big time.
"I'm just one step away from fulfilling my renaissance at Scars and Stripes. If all goes according to plan, that show will be one of the finest moments in my career. There's just one person in my way right now, and that person is Ace Andrews.
"You could say I'm a little lucky in that regard. Don't get me wrong, Ace Andrews looked good on the last show and deservedly made it to this point in the tournament. But does anyone really think he's as good as he says he is? He's hyped himself up way beyond his means. I am, when you get down to it, his toughest challenge yet, and it's also his biggest match yet. Ace, if you're as good as you say you are, we'll all find out when you step into the ring with me.
"But I already know what's going to happen. You are just the final obstacle in the way of my renaissance. Once I'm past you, the whole world is ahead of me at Scars and Stripes. That's when there will be no question left as to where my abilities are at. I will walk out of Scars and Stripes not only as the International Champion, but as the number one contender after winning the WFWF Rumble. There's only one person stopping me.
I'm sorry, Ace, but you're in my way. I'm going to have to ask you to move."
