Field Trip

She wasn't going to tell anyone, but Shelley Silver had gone into her match with Adrianna Salvatore against Nostalgia Ultra knowing that they were going to lose. Well, officially. In the books, it would read that Adrianna was pinned by Futura Soli, but they had to pull a dirty prank to do it. She knew that they were going to, and she tried to warn Adrianna ahead of time, but... Adrianna's feelings for Mia Hayashi are just too damn strong. Shelley knew how that was. She'd been through it before. During her first couple of years in EWC, she foolishly pined after Mark Storm. He initiated her into his stable, Project: CHAOS, but then he ended up leading her astray and using her when he needed to make a name for himself again after disappearing for months. After everything that Shelley had been through, it was a surprise that she wasn't currently living in a loony bin. Professional wrestling hadn't been kind to her, but she found her way.

She had done her best to reassure Adrianna that she did not blame her for the loss before slipping out of Alabama and making a little trip up North to New York City to visit a friend. When Shelley had been strung out before, Ruthann Park-Hunter had been a beacon for her. She served as a secondary mother figure for Shelley while they were on the road and the rookie was feeling a little lost. Years had gone by, and Shelley was feeling a little lost again.

She found that the most calming thing for her was to head back to where it all began for her. Ruth had trained her after she had been signed to Extreme Wrestling Corporation. She had been hired for her many black belts and world mixed martial arts championships and she actually took to wrestling quite quickly. All of the students knew who Shelley was, and they were always willing to spar with her. Sure, it meant taking a beating, but there was always a lesson that went with it. If not a story from Shelley's past. For hours she worked with the students until it was closing time, but Shelley wasn't finished yet. She locked up behind the last student and made her way over to one of the long bags. She made sure the tape on her hands was secure before she began dispensing all of her feelings through her fists. Before she realized it, the bag was broken and Shelley froze, noticing her knuckles were raw and bleeding.

"Oh fuck me," she groaned, taking a few deep breaths.

"Don't worry, I got it!" the familiar voice of a young man came up to her, holding a broom and shovel.

"Jason..." Shelley heaved a sigh, looking up to see Kimi's ex-husband before her, cleaning up the sand from inside the bag that she had just damaged.

She was about to lay into him, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun around, ready to attack, but she quickly relaxed once she saw Ruth now in front of her. "Hey mama..." she addressed the older woman sheepishly.

"Seems one Miss Lara Blackheart may be your biggest foe yet," Ruth gave Shelley a sympathetic smile.

"You're telling me," Shelley grumbled as Ruth lead her away to sit down while she tended to Shelley's wounds.

Ruth nodded as she carefully untaped Shelley's hands, making sure not to take off any loose skin as she did so. "You're starting to think that this has been a game all along," she looked to her young protege whom she had treated like a daughter ever since they first met. "That her little public display in the locker room in the middle of a show was just to lead you astray."

Shelley felt her breath catch in the back of her throat, "you... saw that?"

Ruthann chuckled as she opened a fresh water bottle and poured it over the back of Shelley's hands, cleaning off the blood. "I keep up with all of my girls, Shell. Any good mentor does. That girl tried to play you, but she didn't even bother telling you her real name."

"And I fell for it!" Shelley began to clench one of her fists but hissed in pain.

"Not completely," Ruth offered her young friend a smile. "Sure, you broke down and made a video admitting that you loved her, but you also called her out on her immature bullshit at the same time. Plus, I've noticed that when you're not ring ready, you've started wearing your engagement ring again."

"As soon as I saw how quickly Lara moved onto that Penelope skank after I said 'no' to Valentine's Day, I was done with all of that. Sure, things haven't been the best between Eric and me, but I know that it's mostly due to us both being too busy to talk. But I think that in my heart, I always knew," Shelley smiled as Ruth finished cleaning up her knuckles. "I was just playing along with Lara to possibly spare her feelings and let her down gently. But now I realize..." she took a deep breath as Jason walked over to him. "Lara Blackheart doesn't actually want to be happy, despite her claims to it while she was trying to ensnare me into her trap. She's basically going out of her way to prove to not only everyone else, but herself, that she actually can live up to the title of heir to the Dominion of Pain. Like, I get that it was her late father's legacy, but...it's just not Lara, and she needs to realize that it's OK that she's not that type of girl."

"She will eventually," Jason chimed in timidly.

Shelley looked over to Jason, "you're not wrong and don't worry... I'm not looking to harm you. I'm sure you know what you did and you know that you've lost her for good."

Jason nodded slowly, "but she's OK, right?"

"Not only is she OK, but she is working on moving on. N*FW is her new home and she's settling in better there than she did in her final run in EWC," Shelley offered a small smile. "I just hope that you can move on, as well."