Dark Match
Beneath the hazy layers of firework smoke, built up over several hours, the crowd inside the Blue South Auditorium was building to a frenzy. Every smack of skin against skin and every echoing thud of bodies ricocheting off of the canvas mat pulled them deeper into the drama unfolding in front of them. Hundreds of phones captured the action in the ring, as the fans cheered or booed along with changing tides of back and forth action. This was a good sound. This was the sound that every artist of the squared circle bled for–broke their bodies for. This was music to the headlock sore ears of the women in the ring, and everyone backstage, save for one person.
“Nadi, would you please sit the fuck down and stop worrying,” yelled a blonde woman seated on a beat up metal chair in front of a cheap banquet table–multi-purpose tools of their trade. She was halfway between bored and irritated. She preferred boredom. Boredom was her zen. It kept the negativity demons at bay with their conspiracies of all the catastrophic ways a show might go wrong.
“She’s taking liberties, Lauren!” replied Nadii. She didn’t want to watch, but occasionally stole glances from underneath her dark purple tresses.
Lauren could deal with the normal hustle and bustle that accompanied showtimes–performers running back and forth, getting into their gear. Men and women doing stretches, squats, and push ups so their bodies rippled just a little more when it was time to go through the curtain, but Nadi’s jitters were an extra wrinkle that started to drive her batshit crazy. Lauren’s eye twitched with every smack of Nadi’s heavy boots as she paced back and forth in a barely contained panic.
“Rikki works stiff. You know this. You’ve been in there with her.”
“Bullshit. She’s doing it on purpose. She doesn’t like me and she’s taking it out on my sister”
Lauren let out a long exhale and rose from her seat. She knew she’d have to deal with Nadi before she could return to her blissful state of obliviousness. She took a long swig of coffee, and approached Nadi, who seemed close to hyperventilating.
“Jesus, Nadi. I’ve never seen you like this.” She placed her hands on the shorter girl’s shoulders and locked eyes. “Your sister spends her weekends doing roller derby. She torpedoes down interstates on a skateboard without any protective gear. She battles my niece for the right to eat food she found on the floor without questioning how long it’s been there, or why any sane person would eat mystery floor food. Hell, this isn’t even her first match. It’s just her first match here. She. Will. Be. Fine. And you know this.”
This almost brought Nadi to tears. “You’re right. She will. I do know that. Still, I can’t help but worry about her.”
“Then stop her from eating fucking mystery food!”
Nadi laughed, and Lauren returned to her seat. And in no time they heard the crowd sing along with the referee’s three count, followed by the bell and the ring announcer belting out the results.
She waited impatiently by the curtain that separated the spectators from backstage area for her sister, Natalie, to explode victoriously into the gorilla position. Not that she won. She definitely lost, as was the plan, but it would be a victory nonetheless. Instead she found herself eye to eye with Rikki Blackwood, who looked as though she could be Lauren’s younger, albeit far more cantankerous sister. Nadi restrained herself and did not, in fact, grab a tangle of blonde hair and slam her knee into the woman’s teeth, as she had fantasized about for the past fifteen minutes. Rikki gave her a rancid smirk before she walked away, which made Nadi regret that her imagination wasn’t more vicious.
Keep walking before you eat those fucking teeth, bitch,she thought to herself.
Seconds later Natalie jumped through the curtain beaming with her hands in the air.“Whoo! Let’s do it again!”
Nadi smothered her sweat drenched sister in her arms “Are you okay?”
“Off crash ahm fime,” was all she managed through the mouthful of her sister’s hair she inhaled. Nadi gave her space to talk.
“Of course I’m fine. You think ol’ Instagram ass bottle blonde could hurt me? It was like being punched by a cloud full of Care Bears, but without Wish Bear. I bet that fucker hits hard!”
“Natalie,” called Lauren.
“Yes, Auntie Gollum,” she answered with a wide grin.
If not for the background noise of the crowd everyone in the room would hear Lauren’s teeth grind together. Aunt Gollum was a nickname created by her problem child niece, Amaya, and adopted by Amaya’s best friend, Natalie.
“Wear all of your gear next time.”
Natalie’s face scrunched in confusion. “I am wearing my gear.”
Lauren eyed her up and down. Her half black, half yellow plaid capri pants and Converse sneakers weren’t exactly standard wrestling gear. Only her yellow and black sports bra with ner name on it remotely qualified, but Lauren had seen odder attires in her time.
“Anywho, I’m gonna go shower the stank off. I’ll tell you all about how awesome I was on the car ride home.”
“Of course you will,” said Nadi. “I’m going to grab a coffee. I’ll be back before you’re ready.” She hugged Natalie again before they left.”
Lauren closed her eyes and welcomed the peace, then shoved it away. “Get me one too!,” she yelled after Nadi.
_
Nadi passed by the men’s locker room on her way out. The scents of aftershaves, lotions, and colognes assaulted her nostrils and put her nose hairs on retreat. She’d heard stories of the old days where the men’s locker room smelled like piss, tequila, blood, and probably cocaine, if it had a smell. They certainly tried to smell it. These days she was pretty sure the men’s locker room smelled more flowery than the women’s. A tap on her shoulder interrupted her introspection on the aroma of narcotics. She turned, saw nothing, then turned the other way and slammed into a man shaped wall.
“Fuck! What the hell, man?” She had to crane her neck to look into the eyes of the wall-man who stood almost a foot and a half above her wrapped in a towel.
His name was Tresten–a colleague, but on a more personal level–her ex-boyfriend. While she harbored no desire to rekindle their relationship, she could still appreciate the look of the man. And, indicative of her earlier internal commentary, he smelled fantastic. It was a comforting scent, because it was his–the scent of whiskey and sandalwood. Not that he smelled anything like whiskey, and who knew what the hell sandalwood smelled like. She didn’t really even know what that was. Was it wood or just called wood? She’d Google it later.
She snapped back to reality and cleared her throat.
“Sorry. I couldn’t help myself,” he said. “Still, you’ve gotta give me credit. I’m pretty stealthy for a big guy.”
“You’re lucky I didn’t punch you in the nose.”
“Because you couldn’t find a ladder quick enough?”
She narrowed her eyes. “....yes.”
“Sorry,” he said, throwing his hands up. “I just wanted to find out how Natalie’s tryout went.”
Nadi pursed her lips. “I almost made an ass out of myself, but for her it went well. I think it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Lauren was going to offer her a contract.”
“Well that’s great,” he said. Then he folded his giant arms across his chest and looked at her like a disapproving high school principal dealing the usual trouble maker. “So what did you do?”
She looked at her feet. “I almost force fed Rikki her boots.”
“Well she is a raging bitch most of the time. You wouldn’t be the first to think about it. Honestly, surprised no one has followed through.”
She expected him to say more, but he just stared at her with a knowing smile, a smile he gave when he thought something she did was cute. She hated and loved that smile.
“Okay, spill it. I know you’re going to mock me about something.”
“It’s just funny,” he said.“What?”
“It’s just that ninety percent of the time you act like you can’t stand Natalie, and I’m sure there are people out there who think you actually hate her. Hell, I’m pretty sure not even your mother knows for certain, but you’re a big ol’ softy for her.”
He tousled her hair with his large hand.
That asshole,she thought.He knows aggressive mockery is my love language.
“You son of a bitch,” she said playfully. “You take that back!” “She lobbed softball punches at his arm. It looked like pebbles hitting a redwood tree.
“It’s sweet,” he said, “Really. I know your sister is a lot. I mean, she’s a loooooot. But it’s great seeing how much you really care about her.”
“As long as you never tell her that I’ll never have to kill you, or at least make a futile attempt at it.”
They smiled at each other for a moment, then he grabbed her in a tight embrace.
“I’m really happy for both of you,” he said, giving her an extra tight squeeze.
She drank in his embrace and smiled bigger than she liked.
“Thank you. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m heading for a coffee.” She gave him a hard swat on his ass as she passed him to lighten mood, and resumed her march toward the exit.
“Get me one!” he yelled after her.
“Put some clothes on, ya freak,” she shouted back.
Once she reached the doors to the parking area, she pulled her car keys from her black leather purse and reached for the door, which opened before her hand met the handle.
“Oh, excuse me,” she said as she looked up.
Her eyes went wide, and her mouth dropped. Her keys slid from her hand and clinked on the ground at her feet. “Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me!”
