Things That Were, Things That Are

November 5
Orlando, Florida

“...and then there was the time Chase walked into the room and we dropped that bucket of vodka straight on his head!”

Nearly spitting out the mouthful of beer he had just ingested, Lachlan bent over at the waist in uproarious laughter, his forehead almost touching the surface of the table he sat at. “Oh man, I almost forgot about that! The whole dorm stunk like alcohol for weeks after, no matter how much we scrubbed! And I thought Chase was gonna kill us!”

Across the table, Lachlan’s old friend Eddy grinned as he raised up his own glass to his lips and took a drink. “Ah, those were the days, man. Just a bunch of young fools full of piss and vinegar, looking to leave their mark on the world.”

The two friends were out in the backyard of Lachlan’s Orlando home, catching up and reminiscing on the good old days, as they called them. Eddy had been in the city for the last little while, and all he would tell Lachlan was that it was “for work”. Nevertheless, it was like no time had passed between them as they had gotten together at every available moment to chat and hang out. Most times it was either at the Wolfslair facility where Lachlan had extended an open invitation for Eddy to come work out at any time, or at the local pubs and bars of downtown Orlando. This night, however, Lachlan had invited Eddy to his home to meet his family. And now, after a raucous and rowdy family dinner, the two friends were relaxing at the poolside bar in the backyard.

“Hey, we may be a bit older, but I don’t think we’ll ever stop chasing the glory. Or acting foolish.”

Eddy glanced across at him, a wry glint in his hazel-green eyes. “Well, I don’t know about that…”

Lachlan gave his friend a puzzled look, tilting his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“Well, after you left Japan, I just kind of…fizzled out.” He glanced down into his drink, a slight frown turning down the corners of his lips. “Just didn’t feel the same anymore. So I packed up, went back home to Wales and started working a 9 to 5. Something to keep a roof over my head and food on the table.” He gave a little shrug of his shoulders, and Lachlan was about to reach over and rest his hand on the other man’s shoulder, but then Eddy looked up from his drink with a bright smile on his face. “That’s not to say I haven’t been following your stellar rise over here in the States. You’ve done incredibly well for yourself, mate. I’m real proud of you.”

Lachlan closed his mouth as he stared down into his own drink, a frown overtaking his face and his eyebrows furrowing. “Yeah…but I never really stopped wondering just what could have been if I had stayed…”

—----

2015
Tokyo, Japan

The two men burst through the curtains at the top of the entrance stage, breathing heavily and covered in sweat but grinning from ear to ear. They had just competed in their first tag team match together, and it had been an uproarious success. They could still hear the cheers of the Japanese crowd as they made their way through the halls towards their locker room, whooping and clapping each other on the back.

“Mate, that was amazing!” Eddy cheered as he pushed open the door to the locker room. “That top rope moonsault to the floor was a thing of beauty!”

Lachlan grinned as he mock-bowed. “Nah, that was nothing compared to that incredible short-arm clothesline into that package piledriver you pulled off!”

Now it was Eddy’s turn to grin smugly. “Been working on that one for a while. Hard to get the timing just right, but when it did…magic.” He started unraveling the tape from around his wrists. “Hey, I know this was just a one-off match, but I think maybe you and I could have something here. Your speed and agility, my power…we could run this tag division.”

Lachlan glanced over from where he was sitting on the bench untying his shoes, an eyebrow raised over one blue eye. “You really think so?”

“Totally. We were dynamite out there. Just think what we could do on a full-time basis!”

Before Lachlan had the chance to reply, a soft knock came at the door that they almost didn’t hear. But Lachlan heard the gentle tapping and stood up to answer the door. When it swung inwards, his eyes immediately hardened and a sneer came across his face. “What the hell do you want?”

Eddy turned around to see Lili standing awkwardly in the doorframe, nervously twisting her fingers together. She was dressed in her gear and looked like she was on her way to the ring. “I just wanted to stop by and say congratulations to you two,” she said, her voice wavering slightly. Her blue eyes stared up at Lachlan through her false lashes. “Um, that and…I was hoping that maybe we could talk after the show.”

“I have nothing more to say to you,” he stated coldly before shutting the door right in her face. He marched past Eddy and aggressively started to rip the tape off his own wrists and shoving his belongings into his bag.

Taking a few tentative steps towards his friend, Eddy gave him a concerned look. “Lach, everything OK?” He didn’t know the Irishman to have much of a temper, so that little outburst seemed a bit out of character for him. All he did know was that there had been some kind of falling out between Lili and him the previous week, and for the past couple of days he had been somewhat on edge, though he tried to hide it behind his good-natured humour.

“Fine,” Lachlan said through gritted teeth. He pulled on a pair of sweatpants over his ring gear and a hoodie to cover his bare chest.  “Look, I know we said we were all gonna go out tonight, but I’m not really feeling it right now. Tell the other guys I said sorry.”

And before Eddy could get a word of protest in, Lachlan had slung his bag over his shoulder and stalked out of the room, letting the locker room door slam shut behind him with an echoing thud.

—----

Present Day
Orlando, Florida

Sitting out in the backyard of his “personal paradise” - as he had dubbed it - Lachlan Kane looked relaxed and at ease in a lounging chair next to the stone fire pit, where a merry blaze was crackling away. His legs were crossed at the ankles and his hands rested casually across his stomach. He glanced up towards the camera lens with a wry smirk across his face.

“I gotta say, Charlie Jones has a real twisted sense of humour, doesn’t she?” Lachlan laughed slightly and shook his head. “I mean, on paper it looks dynamic - pair each champion with their respective challenger and throw the teams into the ring for an all-out chaotic slugfest and watch the ratings spike higher than they’ve ever been. From a business standpoint, it’s a bold move. I guess we’ll have to see if it all pays off come Tuesday night.”

“Out of all the teams in this match, I’m fairly certain that while there’s a certain level of animosity on all sides, I get the feeling that Angel and I are the odds-on-favourite to explode in spectacular fashion halfway through. And in all honesty, I don’t blame anyone for thinking that. Looking back at the history between Angel and I, it’s not exactly a well-kept secret that she and I despise each other. Hell, we did everything but straight-out murder each other back at Magnificence last year. The two of us just seem to…have that effect on each other.” His eyes narrowed as he stared into the flickering flames of the fire pit, flashes of the hell that he and Angel put each other through superimposing themselves onto the screen in quick succession before fading away.

But soon, the aggressive look faded away along with the images and was replaced with something a bit more subdued, but no less intense. His mouth flattened into a thin line as his blue eyes sparkled in the firelight. “But above everything else, I am a professional. I love this business like no other, and I will do everything I can to see PWE succeed and grow. So if that means having to team up with the personification of ass rash, then I’ll grin and bear it to put on an amazing show for the fans.”

His relaxed body language was gone in an instant, as he straightened up in the chair and leaned forward slightly, his eyes glaring daggers into the camera lens. “But once that bell rings to end the match, there’s no telling what kind of mindset I might be in. Maybe I’ll just simply leave the ring and bide my time until I finally get my opportunity at the Victory title in a few weeks’ time. Maybe I’ll be the one to start playing the mind games, throw you off-balance before then.” A sinister smirk appeared on his face. “Or maybe I’ll let the intrusive thoughts win and beat you from pillar to post just like I did at Magnificence. You know, just as a reminder of what I’m capable of. Although this time around, there won’t be any dark passenger along for the ride. It’ll be 100% Irish Scrapper, through and through.”

He sat back in his chair again, assuming the same relaxed pose he started with. “Guess you’ll just have to wait and see come Tuesday night. Until then…”