Several months removed from the moment Tommy Wasley found out he was the lone heir of his great Aunt’s fortune, Thomas Joe “Tommy” Wasley found a whole new world of opportunities open before him. He wasn’t skint! He actually had money! For the first time in his adult life, he wasn’t counting the pennies, because ehe was able to chuck around the pounds! But it was a difficult transition for the portly member of Strong Style, because he was so used to scraping by, that he found it hard to adjust to not having to make every penny count. The fact that EMERGE had moved to the UK after two years based out of Canada was in some ways helpful to the new way of life but that also came with its own difficulties too, because he had to decide just how much time he was going to spend on either side of the Atlantic on top of adjusting to his new found fortune to go with his modest level of fame he now enjoyed.
It was no secret that Tommy Wasley was sweet on Kimberly Williams, a situation somewhat stranger than normal due to the circumstances surrounding his friend Tommy Cook’s relationship with her twin sister Marie Jones. But would he be better off making the move back to England where he was born and raised in order to continue his journey to becoming a household name? He already had a house in England after all, thanks to the same great Aunt leaving him her not so modest abode at the same time as her fortune, so he did have a place he could happily live in should he call time on his transatlantic journey… but what did he truly want? His head told him that moving back home was the smart decision to make, no jet lag or long flights between California and the UK, but head and heart don’t always feel the same way, do they?
Ya don’t even know if she’s into ya sunshine, ‘cause she never takes owt seriously. Tommy was staring at himself in the mirror, trimming a few errant hairs from his beard having spent the night at his new old house in Doncaster. EMERGE #34 was only a couple of days away and he was planning to take the train to the darker less appealing side of the Pennines the day before the show to check into his hotel. Home comforts make everything better, which wasn’t lost on him as he debated what he should do. Then again, it ain’t as if you’ve even flat out teld her how ya feel either, is it? A mean, ya’ve got more bottle than a milkman under normal circumstances, but wi’ her? Christ, that’s pathetic lad.
Wasley sighed. He put the scissors down and looked at himself in the mirror before turning to exit the bathroom. It was still weird to him to think that this was his house now, having spent so much time here as a kid, but he made his way along the hall to his room, quickly grabbing his track jacket. He planned to head out on a run… a jog, let’s be honest… but the weather wasn’t the warmest and there was a bit of a chill in the air when he opened the window to check what the weather was doing. He didn’t pay attention to his phone’s weather app anymore since it was saying that there was going to be a tornado in Sheffield a day or two earlier… evidently his phone was full of shit.
“Morning mate,” Johnny Taylor said when Tommy walked into the kitchen and made his way to the fridge to grab himself a bottle of water. He almost grabbed a beer, because some habits die hard, but he fixed the mistake before making it. “Off out?”
“Off for a jog,” the husky one told his younger friend and tag partner in Moustache Ride. “Wanna get one in before we pack up an’ bugger off.”
“Want me to come?” the Londoner asked but Tommy shook his head.
Twisting the cap from the bottle, he took a swig of the water before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Cheers pal, but a wanna do some thinkin’, ya know?”
“Stuff on your mind, mate?” Johnny enquired before taking another bite of the toast he was eating for breakfast.
“Ya could say summet like that, aye,” Tommy replied, as he zipped his jacket up and started looking for his bluetooth earphones. Something nice and heavy was on the cards for this one, even if he was only going for a jog rather than busting his arse in the gym. “Still tryin’ to decide whether a should call it quits in’t states an’ move back ‘ere permanently or not nar that EMERGE has moved ‘ere.”
“You really want to do that?” the Londoner asked, genuinely taken by surprise. Wasley had mentioned the idea when it was first announced that maybe they should think of making the move back home but it hadn’t been brought up since and Johnny had assumed that the big guy had simply made up his mind not to do so. “I mean, I know that we’ve been living out of a campervan on Cooky’s driveway and stuff, which ain’t ideal. But I figured you’d be looking to find a place out there now everythings gone through with the money and whatnot… like in Boston maybe?” he suggested, hinting heavily.
“Thought a’bart it, yeah,” Wasley admitted before shrugging. “But am not sure that’s f’ the best…”
“Wait, what?” Johnny said, confused and trying to catch up. “What ya mean it might not be for the best? Wait, you ain’t thinking about leaving just because-”
“Am thinkin’ a’bart what’s probably best for me career,” Wasley said, cutting his friend off. “Aside from the fact that we’d be payin’ to fly ‘ere an’ back every three weeks, which ain’t cheap, am startin’ to wonder if am better concentratin’ on EMERGE rather’n out else…”
“So you’re running away then?” Johnny stated, far more accurately than Wasley would care to admit. “And don’t try and deny it mate, because we both know it’s what you’d be doing if you decide to come back here…”
“So am a wrong’n for thinkin’ a’bart wrestlin’ instead’a… ya know…” Wasley asked, trying to sound righteous despite the fact that it was thinly papering over the cracks in his argument.
“If you’re doing it for other reasons then yeah, it is.” Johnny wasn’t fooled by Wasley’s half-baked explanation and he wasn’t going to let him off the hook easily. “Have you even spoken to her, eh? Told her how you feel and all that?”
“How many times pal, am not runnin’ away from talkin’ t’ Kim, alright? Am just thinkin’ that we might be better served movin’ ‘ere now that the company’s done the same!” He wasn’t convincing Johnny and he wasn’t convincing himself either, but Wasley was still trying.
“And I’d believe it if you’d shot your shot mate, but you ain’t! And until ya do, am not gonna see this as anything but you being a big pansy that runs away from stuff instead of giving it a crack!” Johnny told him flatly, sitting back in his chair with his arms folded across his chest.
Wasley opened his mouth to fire back at his friend but was struggling to answer. And that was probably telling, but so was the words that eventually came from his mouth when he did find his tongue. “Ah fuck off ya tit. A’ve not got time f’ this, am off for a jog. Try not to burn the place darn while am art, alright?”
And he left the kitchen before Johnny could say another word, running away from another discussion in somewhat ironic fashion. With everything swimming through his mind though, the irony there was fortunately lost on the rotund Yorkshireman and he spent the entirety of his workout and the next couple of hours afterwards dwelling more on the original discussion than anything else. Was he a coward? Would he be running away if he were to move back to England instead of continuing to live in the states? It wasn’t all that much of a stretch to see that argument… but he was lying to himself when he said he was going to concentrate on his career. He was a major part of the resistance in EMERGE after all, fighting against The Unforgiven with everything he had. Shouldn’t he be concentrating on that? He thought so.
“Knock knock.” Wasley looked up from the couch where he sat to see Johnny standing in the doorway to the living room, carrying his iPad with him. “Don’t mean to interrupt mate, but I’ve got someone who wants a word with ya…” Wasley was confused as Johnny walked over to the couch and held the iPad out to him. The Yorkshireman took it from his southern tag partner and suddenly it made sense: there on the screen, via the medium of a skype call, was none other than the reason for his fretting: Kimberly Williams.
“Hi,” the redhead said, smiling at Wasley as she gave him a half wave. Johnny slowly backed out of the room and Wasley turned to watch him back out, glaring at him before setting his features into a much softer look as he turned back to look at the tablet. “So Johnny tells me you’re being a, now what did he say. Oh, yeah, a ‘miserable bastard’. That true?”
Wasley tried not to show it, but he was already irked with Johnny and he inwardly sighed. “Reports of me mood ‘ave bin greatly exaggerated…”
“Then why do you look like you’re going to try and kick his ass as soon as this call is done?” Kimberly asked him, far more observant than Wasley would like. “I know I’ve not long since woken up, but I’m not so sleepy that I can’t read you like a book… so you’re thinking of moving, huh?”
“Fuck sake!” Wasley rolled his eyes as he set the iPad’s case up so that he could put it on the coffee table in front of him. “That southern cunt’s got a big gob, ya know that?! What else has he bin tellin’ ya?”
“That he thinks you’re only considering moving because you’re running away from things. Well, what he actually said was running away from me, but I’m trying to be kind,” she told him, a little playfully though not with her usual cheerful self. “So it isn’t true then?”
There it was. Wasley’s opportunity to get out of this situation, presented to him on a silver platter by the woman he really didn’t want to be having this conversation with. What a gift. What good fortune. “Kinda.” Why the fuck did he just admit that?! “Fuck, that weren’t… a dint mean… bollocks!”
Kim chuckled. “Okay, calm down, dummy.” She rolled her eyes at him before shaking her head. “I’m not an idiot, Was. I know what’s going on, I’ve been waiting for this conversation to happen for a while to be honest, said as much to Marie.”
“You have?” Tommy was shocked by that. “Then why didn’t you bring it up?!”
“Because it’s your right to keep your mouth shut and skip the country if you don’t want to act like an adult?” she said playfully, smirking at him. “Okay, that’s mean, but it’s true. If you don’t want to be an adult and just tell me what’s going on in your big ol’ head then I’m not going to force you to do it. So… wanna talk about it?”
“No.” Wasley said, laughing weakly before sighing. “But a prob’ly should, eh?”
Kim nodded. “Probably. Might work out cheaper than moving to another country at least?”
“How so?” Tommy asked, curious.
“Well, not moving is always cheaper than moving, isn’t it?” she asked, as if it was the most obvious thing to say in the world, despite what different meanings that Wasley knew he could take from that. “Look, can we be serious for a minute?”
“Ya think it’s bin light hearted up to this point?!” Wasley asked incredulously, though he laughed when he said it. “Alrate, let’s be serious…”
“You shouldn’t leave…”
The words hit like a slap in the face, but not necessarily in a bad sense, more that Tommy found he was slightly gobsmacked to be hearing what Kim had just said. “Did ya just say-”
“I said you shouldn’t leave, yeah. And you shouldn’t,” the redhead confirmed. Reaffirmed even. “Look, I’m not going to make any promises, I’ll say that before we go any further, I can’t make any guarantees that it’ll be a happy ending, but… I don’t want you to leave, no. I Like you. You’re an idiot at times, and Johnny is right, you are a pussy… or a pansy I think he said… but I do like you, and the idea of you leaving the country for good, instead of just every few weeks sounds kind of crappy. I haven’t been in the best of places lately, but you do help me Tommy, even if you think everything has gone right over my head. That is what you think, right?”
“Kinda, aye…” Wasley admitted, looking away for a minute.
“I told you, I’m not an idiot. I know you’ve been as great as you have because you’re seriously into me, and who can blame you, I’m cool! But…” she paused, giving him a knowing look before continuing. “...I appreciate it and it helps me deal with a lot of stuff that you don’t understand. But maybe you should. Listen, I’ve not been up long and this is maybe a conversation for two people in the same room, not different sides of the world, so maybe we should talk when you come back, okay?”
“Yeah… yeah, a think maybe ya rate, love. Flying back tuesday, meant t’ be headin’ t’ California but how about a fly into wherever Bre’kdarn is instead?” He suggested and Kim nodded her head.
“Do that. We can talk properly, figure out what’s going on and maybe I let you into the shit that’s been going on in my head too. Hope you’re prepared for an interesting ride… don’t make the joke!” she warned, cutting Wasley off before he could say a thing. “We’ll talk when you’re back stateside okay? I’ll text you later or something.”
Wasley opened his mouth to say something but before he could, Kim blew him the quickest of kisses and the call was over. He sat there in silence, staring at the iPad for several seconds, unsure what to feel, to think. Had that just happened? Had he just had that conversation? And then it all hit him at once and he leapt from his seat to rush to the door. “Johnny! Johnny, where the fuck ya gone, ya twat! A’ve got news!”
[REC]
“Am not gonna lie lads an’ lasses, am feelin’ a bit dirty, sittin’ ‘ere knowin’ am gonna be headin’ to Lancashire later today. As a proud Yorkshireman, am duty-bound t’hate all things on’t wrong side’a the Pennines by default… but Lancashire… EMERGE is comin’ t’ knock y’ socks off!
Bolton… a place known f’ Bolton Wanderers an’ Peter Kay shows like ‘Phoenix Nights’… an’ am sure there’s prob’ly more’n that too, but off’a top of me head, am strugglin’ but the important part is that this Monday is comin’ t’ the Bolton arena! An’ ya know what, Lancashire?
Am willin’ to look past the war’a the roses f’ that!”
Wasley chuckles to himself before pushing on.
“But this ain’t a’bart a centuries-old war, nah lads an’ lasses, this is a’bart a series’a skirmishes, battles an’ even a war inside’a that ring, ain’t it?! See, am not exactly chuffed at the shit that went darn three week’s ago in Newcastle.
Donovan Street, well ‘im bein’ a bit’a a dick ain’t nowt new, is it? An’ ‘im bein’ a dick did me a favour in’t long run, dint it? ‘Cause it’s gone an’ got me a title shot, but al get t’ that in a minute. ‘Cause a can’t help but think a need t’ fest welcome a certain twat t’ EMERGE, as it were… a mean, he introduced himself t’ me three weeks back, an’ obviously am always lookin’ t’ add more shite onto me plate at any one time, what wi’ the war against The Unforgiven rumblin’ along nicely an’ all… but welcome t’ EMERGE John Blair, comin’ ‘ere from GCW where ya already subservient t’ one member’a the Frost family, so why not come ‘ere an’ do the same wi’ the other Frost brother, eh?!
Am sure we’ll get t’ ‘ave a few words at some point though mate, just as me an’ Johnny did wi’ ya kid when she were around… but am not gonna spend too much time dwellin’ on any’a that bollocks, save for me little welcome, ‘cause we all know am ‘ere f’ an entirely different reason don’t we?
Jen. Kiddo. Wanna start by bein’ ‘onest wi’ ya. As much as ad love t’ think’a me sen as the next Rush champion, the fest singles title’a me career if am bein’ totally honest wi’ all’a you lot for a minute… a’ve gotta admit that it leaves summet of a bad taste in me gob that it’s you a’ve gotta be facin’.
‘Cause between us, tha’s gotta be one’a the bravest lasses a’ve ad the pleasure’a meetin’ in me life, not just ‘cause’a what ya’ve bin through in life, both in’t past an’ recently an’ all… but seein’ someone so young as you stand up t’ The Unforgiven wi’ the rest’a us? That teks bottle. A lot’a it. An’ am hopin’ that whatever ‘appens this comin’ Monday ain’t gonna change the fact that we’re gonna need t’ stand side bi side whenever the next skirmish teks place… but summet tells me that y’ not gonna be the type’a lass that let’s a competitive match get in’t way’a doin’ what’s rate anyway, so am choosin’ not t’ worry a’bart that.”
Wasley shakes his head.
“Am gonna choose t’ think a’bart this as showin’ these wondeful UK fans an’ them further affield watchin’ online that this company is capable’a some incredible fuckin’ wrestlin’, wi’art everythin’ turnin’ into a pissin’ contest or slangin’ match. An’ a know that ya’ve had problem’s wi’ me mucka Cooky in’t past, but hopefully ya know that me an’ ‘im don’t always see eye to eye wi’ the shit he says at times, an’ let’s be honest love, we’ve all got that one mate that’s a bit of a twat, ain’t we? An’ folks, lemme tell ya, if ya dunt know who that mate is then chances are it’s you, so maybe think a bit a’bart what ya say an’ do, in future. But I ain’t Tommy Cook, I’m Tommy Wasley. I ain’t got a grudge wi’ ya parents Jen, I ain’t got an ‘arsh word t’ say a’bout thee, ya mates, ya family, or anyone. All a’ve got is respect, kiddo. Fo’ thee, for this company, an’ fo’ that belt ya carryin’. So let’s gi’ these fans summet to cheer a’bart, eh? Jenni Helms versus Tommy Wasley. Young lass versus a… not so young bloke. Best’a luck lass, an’ in advance, in case a can’t say it after. It’s an honour.”[/REC]
