Post by CM on Dec 18, 2017 15:35:32 GMT -5
Well folks we welcome you to the home of Pride Pro Wrestling’s Christian Michaels! It is the holiday season and we all know what that means, right? If you guessed “Holiday parties” then you’re absolutely correct! The duo of CM and his beautiful girlfriend Kelsey Spencer have shared a string of great holidays this season. In fact, if you didn’t know, their relationship unofficially began with Kelsey visiting for the 4th of July. Since then they’ve also spent Halloween and Thanksgiving together too! So you could rest well assured that CM an Kelsey were going to spend some time together over the days and weeks leading up to Christmas. And they were damned sure gonna throw a Christmas party!
Now everybody knows that everybody is going to be spending the actual Christmas holiday with their loved ones and family. With that in mind, CM proposed to Kelsey that their party be held on Friday the 15th, and that was agreed upon. However Kelsey and Rebecca are always looking to challenge themselves and claw their way closer to being tag team masters! So they signed up for a tournament in Japan that necessitated the party being moved back. To when you ask? Monday the 18th. Today!!! So come on in and enjoy the festivities with us all.
It’s the early evening, about a quarter passed 7, as we join the party. Inside the home that CM had built some 15 years prior, the sounds of Christmas music playing softly can be heard. Although the music is barely audible over the sounds of party guests conversing and mingling amongst themselves. In the kitchen we find one half of our host couple: CM. The longtime vet of the business was standing around chatting with some of his friends from past companies. There’s Duke Andrews(picture AJ Styles), Jonathan Brooks(picture Jim Ross only in Tennessee orange) the former promoter of PWT, Tristan Wallace(picture Brandon Lee), and Holden Riser(picture Tommy Dreamer). The majority have their brewskis of choice in hand. CM though, sporting his ugly as hell Christmas sweater, clutches a bottle of Dr Pepper in his hand.
The group of former PWT stars seem to be telling a story about something from their days in Michigan. Apparently the story has reached its climax as everyone bursts into laughter. Its about this time that CM’s lovely girlfriend Kelsey comes into the kitchen. Upon seeing her, Christian’s face lights up even more than it already was. “Kelsey! Sweetheart, come here babe!”, Michaels beckoned for Kelsey to join him. When she walked up he slipped his left arm around her waist, allowing his hand to rest on her hip. “Babe these are some of the fellas I worked with in PWT. Ya already know Duke here. The round guy there is Jonathan, he was the boss….Tall, dark, and broody there is Tristan….And that plain lookin dude there is Holden. He’s so plain he worked under the name *That One Guy* at the start of his career.”, CM said with a laugh.
“Ah suck one Michaels!”, Holden replied. The rest of CM’s former coworkers took a moment to all introduce themselves to Kelsey.
Kelsey shied away for a second, slightly intimidated by the group of guys surrounding her. Eventually, she loosened up, greeting them with a warm smile… and even a subtle bow of the head. “It's nice to meet you all,” she greeted them. “I’ve heard so many stories about you.”
As the words left Kelsey’s mouth that she’d heard many stories about them all, a whole pack of eyes cut from the beauty to look at CM. His own eyes going between each of his former coworkers. He laughed, a slight bit nervously. “Uhh...Yeah...soooo! Kelsey here is more than just an amazingly beautiful young lady. She’s a damned fine wrestler in her own right. In fact she and her best friend Rebecca are tag champs in not one but TWO companies right now!”, CM said proudly of his girlfriend.
“Oh yeah?’, Brooks began; “Hearing things like that makes me miss being a promoter. I love good tag team wrestling, but it just wasn’t popular anymore during the hey-day of PWT.”
Tristan stroked his chin before speaking. “A strong bond like that makes for a strong team. My brother and I did the tag team seem for a number of years ourselves Kelsey”
“It's really great,” Kelsey spoke, blushing from her boyfriend’s praise. She’d never really received such a reaction from anyone so close to her on the great work she’d been doing. “I always thought I’d be a singles wrestler, but this past year… it's shown me that I enjoy being part of a tag team so much more.”
Proud of her accomplishments, she embraced her boyfriend.
“Having the people you love cheer you on every night makes it even better!” she concluded.
“She’s right too! Every match I’ve had lately I’ve been able to spot my love in the crowd” CM leaned down and pressed his lips softly to Kelsey’s in a sweet kiss. They didn’t make it too big of a spectacle though. Though still CM’s ole pal Duke Andrews that Kelsey had already kind of met through twitter made a gagging sound. “Oh my god you two get a room! I’m gonna go check the meat before I lose my beer”, Andrews said before turning to head outside. Michaels laughed and chimed in with a “Don’t be jealous Dukey”.
After Duke had gone outside to check on the grill….What?! It’s a somewhat warmer winter than usual here in Tennessee. Besides even if it was 12 feet of snow outside Andrews would want to grill some of the wild game he hunts. “Man I still don’t know how you managed to land a babe like Kelsey here. Sweetie he ain’t holding you against your will are ya? Cause I’d kick his ass if ya wanted.” Holden said and flashed a grin Kelsey’s way.
“You couldn’t kick my ass if I helped”, Christian retorted back towards Holden. “But to answer your question, guess ya must’ve just felt sorry for me huh babe? Haha. I’m just kidding. Naw, actually I noticed Kelsey on twitter and started following her. She followed me back. Had some chats here and there and I developed a crush on her. Think she liked me too but neither of us realized bout the other til her buddy Rebecca pushed us into admitting it. And since then we’ve been sweeter than than the sugar in a glass of sweet tea. Wouldn’t ya say love?”
“Yup, that's pretty much how it went,” Kelsey confirmed his recounting of events. “I liked him too, but I was shy and kinda worried that if I said something, maybe he wouldn't like me back. But man, I’m so happy he did!”
Thoughts of Thanksgiving were still fresh in her mind. What Rebecca had told her - or rather, what she’d discovered - about her feelings toward Christian. The news that Rebecca had feelings for him before he and Kelsey started dating is what threw her off the most. But where most people would react in anger, Kelsey was incredibly understanding; she knows what it's like to have feelings you don't want or can't control. And with a bond the strength of theirs, when Rebecca said she’d never do anything to hurt Kelsey, she believed it. She had no reason not to.
It’s remained a secret between the two friends to this day. Even though that whole situation seems very much in the past, Kelsey can't help but keep it in the back of her mind.
“What was he like in the ring back in the day?” Kelsey asked Holden of her boyfriend, curious to get his opinion.
“That is sweet. I am happy for you….the both of you.”, Tristan said. “I wish things had worked out differently between myself and Terri. A double date would’ve been nice”, he added. Christian sat his Dr Pepper on the counter for a moment. He then reached his free hand over and clasped his friend on the shoulder. Tristan and CM had been friends for a long time and they shared a nod.
Holden meanwhile took a sip of his beer. “Well Kelsey if I’m being honest with ya….Shit much as I’d like to tell ya your boyfriend wasn’t for nothing, he was actually pretty awesome. Easily one of the best we had in the company. Ever. No doubt about it. And the fans in Grand Rapids ate up anything he ever did. Hell Duke out there is literally from the area and not even he could get a pop like ole CM there does!”, CM chuckled a bit. It was easy enough to boast about yourself, but it’s always even better if someone does it for ya. “Tell ya this, I was a good guy too. One night Chris here gets screwed over or something, I forget exactly what went down. Either way he’s pissed off, and here I come in as a sympathy case the fans took to. I try and pat him on the shoulder, tell him it’ll be alright, and WHAM! I eat a superkick and the place goes nuts!”, Holden recalls as CM smirks.
Michaels looked at Kelsey and shrugged. “What? I wasn’t so mature back in those days.”, he offered in defense of the latter half of Holden’s story.
“I had a feeling you’d tell me he was amazing,” Kelsey stated with a proud smile. She glanced over, taking his hand in hers and wrapping their fingers together. “He’s perfect.”
“Don't mind me folks, just passing through,” the entering Rebecca Saint declared, averting her eyes from the loving couple as she made her way to the kitchen sink. Just because she had promised she would not act on her feelings for Christian does not mean they have vanished. She turned on the tap to fill a glass, all the while keeping her attention away from Kelsey and CM. “I came here for a glass of water, that is all,” she explained her actions.
“Hey, Rebecca!” Kelsey called out, her hand still firmly grasping her boyfriend’s. “Come hang out with us! Meet some of Christian’s friends!”
Rebecca seemed disinterested, so Kelsey persisted.
“This is Tristan, and this is Holden,” she introduced them, pointing around the room. “Guys, this is my best buddy and tag team partner, Rebecca!”
Not particularly interested, though not wanting to be rude, Rebecca turned around and gave a subtle wave to Christian’s friends as she leaned her butt against the kitchen counter.
Now while Rebecca just made a bunch of folks jealous of a kitchen counter, CM was beaming with pride as his former coworkers pleasantly greeted Rebecca. Right now was the kind of moments in life a bunch of folks only dream about. But for him? Its reality. Christian has a beautiful, wonderful girlfriend in Kelsey, her best friend Rebecca has become one of his closest friends now, his teenage daughter loves Kelsey to pieces and idolizes Rebecca, and now even his old friends are getting along with the new people in his life. This moment was as perfect as life could be.
“Pleasure to meet you”, Tristan greeted Rebecca. He then returned to his beer and Holden moved a lil closer to Rebecca. He was clearly eyeing the beauty up and down. “Well hello there honey, so you and Chris’ cutie are tag champs huh? You wanna go a lil one on one sometime just lemme know”, Holden said and winked. CM looked at the ground and shook his head for a moment. He wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed at Holden trying to hit on Rebecca like that or worried for the man’s safety. Though honestly it was leaning more towards the second option. So Michaels cleared his throat in an attempt to save his friend’s life by drawing attention away. “Great to see ya haven’t broken anybody’s hand yet Rebecca. How’s it going out there?”, Christian asked in reference to gathering of folks in the huge living room. “Oh! Ya know we have a whole fridge worth of drinks over here. Ya don’t have to settle for water”, he added.
“I would rather remain sober for the duration of this party,” Rebecca responded, rather repulsed by Holden’s advances, or perhaps just the smell of beer on his breath.
“There’s also a bunch of sodie pops?” Kelsey offered an alternative.
“I am not interested in getting diabetes either.” Rebecca may come across as bitchy, though that can be attributed to her discomfort in this situation. And as for Holden he could tell by the look he saw in Rebecca’s eyes that he was barking up the wrong tree there. So he took his beer and scooted away. “Think I’ll go see how things are with Duke out there at the grill”, he called before heading outside.
A few moments after Holden headed outside, Jonathan Brooks returned to the kitchen. He’d just excused himself to the bathroom prior to Rebecca coming in. Upon his return her noticed her and offered her a friendly southern smile. “I heard diabetes, who called my name?”, Brooks joked. He extended a hand towards Rebecca “How ya doin ma’am. Jonathan Brooks, I used to be Chris’ boss in PWT. You must be Kelsey’s partner Rebecca? Sure wish I’d had a team like yawl two when I was running shows”, Brooks added.
“Rebecca Saint,” she formally introduced herself, shaking his hand. “Pleasure to meet you. And thank you for the kind words.” She looked over at Christian and Kelsey whispering sweet nothings into each other’s ears, paying no attention to the rest of the room. Though she had promised not to act on her emotions, it was still uncomfortable watching the pair.
Rebecca set her half empty glass of water on the counter and proceeded to excuse herself, moving across the house to find somewhere a little quieter. Wouldn't you know, as luck may have it, she would bump into CM’s daughter Gabby.
The teenaged daughter of Christian was herself seated at the top of a flight of stairs that led to the upper floor of the house. She found herself bored this evening. All the friends and family invited to this thing and not another teenager was to be found. She let out an audible sigh as the thought occurred to her again. A moment or two later and she heard someone coming. Gabby pulled her nose out of her iPhone long enough to see Rebecca enter into her area.
She slid her phone into her pocket and watched Rebecca for a second. It looked almost as if her idol had made a hurried escape from a rough situation. Gabby waited until it looked like Rebecca had gotten her wits about her. From her seat atop the stairs Gabby called down; “Hi Miss Rebecca. Are you ok?”. When Rebecca looked up her way, Gabby waved softly
“Just Rebecca is fine,” she told her as she sat beside her. “And yes I am fine. Needed a break from the love fest in there. What about yourself?”
“Ya sure? Dad’s pretty big on respect and always tells me to call everyone Miss or Mister”, Gabby said with a roll of her eyes. It wasn’t so much at her dad insisting she be respectful to adults as it was her level of boredom. Gabby absolutely hated being bored. It was one of the traits she inherited from her dad. “The lovefest? Ya must mean dad and Kelsey. Yeah they’re in like an in person rom-com. Meanwhile I’m bored to death. Like usual I’m the only ki-er, teenager, so I’m left out of most of the conversations.”.
“You and I can talk,” Rebecca offered an alternative. Though not in the same vein, she certainly identified with how Gabby was feeling. Speaking with Christian and/or Kelsey was becoming more and more difficult when the pair shared a room.
“Really? That’d be cool!”, Gabby exclaimed, unable to hold back the glee in her voice. She was usually the cool, calm, and collected type of teenager. However she had come to idolize Rebecca since discovering her through her dad’s twitter interactions with Kelsey and Rebecca.
“Then let’s talk. What do you want for Christmas?”
“Ohmygosh!!! I neeeed the new iPhone X! Mine is like soooo obsolete now. Like this thing should probably classify itself as obsolete and fade away or something”, Gabby says. “Oh and I need to go to more T-Swift concerts. Ugh! But dad’s too embarrassed to take me often. And I’d really like a later curfew, but I think there’s a better chance of pigs flying than me getting that one”, she added with a laugh
Rebecca nodded her head with a confused look on her face as she tried to keep up with Gabby’s Christmas wishlist. “I see,” she stated in response. “Perhaps you may get what you want. Only if you have avoided Santa’s naughty list.”
“Hey I’m thirteen, I know its really just dad sneaking down in the middle of the night to put the presents out. Besides, ya think he can deny this face?”, Gabby asks and then puts on the most innocent and sweet looks that you’ll ever see a kid wear.
“That is a good one,” Rebecca praised the face, before reflecting for a moment on how she never had a Christmas back when she was young. It was only in recent years that she had started celebrating the holiday. “I hope you get what you want. And I hope it is a wonderful Christmas,” she concludes.
“I’m sure it will be.”, Gabby said and nodded. She then tilted her head to the side and studied Rebecca for a moment. “So you’re a world famous wrestler, even a double champion right now. What’s someone as awesome as you want under your tree?”, the curious lil teenager asked of her idol
“I am not sure what I want. These past few months have been so chaotic that I have not had much time to think of what I may like to see.”
Gabby gets this lil impish grin on her face. Ya know, that kind of look ya get when ya just know you’re starting something. “What about a boyfriend? Then you and him could out-sweet my dad and Kelsey. That’d be so funny! I’d totally be Lol’n for days”
Rebecca fakes a smile and brings a hand to her jaw, resting her head on it. “The likelihood of that happening is slim, I am afraid.”
“I guess even grown up boys are stupid too huh?”, Gabby asked of Rebecca. However before there was any time for the girl talk to continue, there was the sound of someone else exiting from the kitchen. Gabby looked towards the door and smiled as she saw her potential step-mommy to be come into the hallway area. “Oh hi Kelsey!” Gabby said with a smile.
“Hey, Gab!” Kelsey smiled as she entered, before she turned her attention to Rebecca. “What're you guys talking about?”
“We were discussing what we would each like for Christmas,” Rebecca responded, a little startled by Kelsey’s sudden arrival. “What tears you away from your boyfriend like this?”
“Heh, funny you should ask…” Kelsey ran her fingers through her hair with a cheesy grin on her face. “Christian asked if Gabby could help me find the star for the Christmas tree! It's up in the attic. He said something about putting it on there as a family?”
“As a family? Sounds like things are getting very serious.”
Kelsey sensed hurt in Rebecca’s words, but she tried to ignore it and move forward. It’s still too awkward to talk about.
“So, Gabby? You think maybe you could help me out?”
Gabby had forgotten that the other day when putting up the Christmas tree that she an her dad had waited on the star. But the moment Kelsey mentioned it the whole conversation came flooding back to her. They’d thought about going ahead with it, but both decided they’d wanted to wait until Kelsey was able to be here and be a part of things. So she hopped up from her spot and nodded. “You bet Kelsey! Come on I’ll show ya the way”, Gabby said and held out a hand for Kelsey as she came around and up the stairs.
As the pair entered the dark, dusty attic, Kelsey glanced around at the junk stuffed in around them. “How do you know where to find anything up here?” she questioned, moments before letting out a cough after inhaling kicked-up dust. Gabby was ducking and weaving around and under the clutterings of junk stored in the attic. She paused though hearing Kelsey coughing from the dust Gabby was kicking up. The teenager looking sympathetic as Kelsey tried to get over the coughing fit. “Sorry. I guess I’m just used to it by now. Why don’t ya use the flashlight on your phone? Then you can see better.” Gabby suggested and then turned to look and see if she could see the box containing the star.
“Great idea!” A quick pat-down of her pockets soon revealed that her phone was missing. “Darn, I musta left it in the kitchen… You keep looking, Gab, I’ll be right back!”
With a spring in her step, Kelsey headed back downstairs to retrieve her phone.
Meanwhile, back at the Legion of Doom!....er I mean as Kelsey and Gabby were headed upstairs...
While his daughter Gabby, and girlfriend Kelsey were up in the attic to grab the star for the Michaels family Christmas tree, CM himself was headed back towards the large living room. Along the way he was mingling a bit with the various guests. There were so many longtime and new friends. The man was truly happy right now. This was a place in life that Christian hadn’t felt himself in well over a decade.
After a quick handshake and exchange with his brother, CM looked up to see Rebecca standing in the doorway of the living room. He looked up and noticed that she was standing under the mistletoe that’d been hung. A chuckle escaped the Tennessee native. He then started towards his girl’s bestie and tag team partner. Christian gently placing a hand on Rebecca’s shoulder as he stepped up beside her. “Ya might be wanna be careful where you’re standing Rebecca..”, he said and gave a nod up towards the mistletoe hanging above them. “Holden seemed pretty into ya and if he catches ya under that mistletoe…”, he continued on abit, leaving the lovely Rebecca Saint to draw the conclusion of what he’s suggesting.
“So that is what that thing is,” she realised, gazing up from her Twitter feed at the decoration above their heads. “I suppose I had heard of a mistletoe, never knew what it was. I found it odd that you would put something up on its own, but it makes sense now.”
Even with her limited understanding of this tradition, she was able to figure out that due to meeting under the mistletoe, the two of them were supposed to kiss. She decided it was best to make an escape before anyone saw them.
“Thank you for looking out for me,” she said as she gave Christian a friendly pat on the chest, relieved that she wouldn't have to kiss his friend Holden.
A laugh escaped from CM as Rebecca patted him on the chest and thanked him for looking out for her. It would appear that Holden had fully made an ass of himself to Rebecca. “What are friends for huh?”, Christian replied to her. He too was about to head in another direction when Tristan came walking by. He noticed where the duo stood and gave his ole buddy CM a smirk. Christian noticed it and shook his head. “Nope. Don’t even start noping Tris. I’m simply warning Rebecca before Holden finds her again”, Michaels confessed.
A nod from Tristan. “I believe you Chris. You’re not the scoundrel I first met all those years ago. Though..”, and with that word, Tristan began to address the both of them, “...with the tradition of kissing under the miseltoe, it is believed to bring bad luck if two people should meet and not share a kiss.” he finished and walked away.
Slowly Christian looked up at the miseltoe and then back at Rebecca. He offered her a soft smile. “Well there’s a part of the tradition I didn’t know about. Guess we...uh...can’t just walk away now huh?”, he asked her.
Rebecca's heart started racing a mile a minute at the very concept. Her eyes darted around the room, in search of Kelsey. Although her best friend was nowhere in sight, she still had her reservations. “We can't…” she groaned as her eyes met his.
CM was looking down into Rebecca’s pretty eyes as she groaned out that they couldn’t. She was right, too. They couldn’t….but then again having bad luck would really suck. And hey it’d just be a quick, harmless peck of a kiss and then they’d move on. Heh. It’d mean nothing to them. They’d laugh about it down the road as an inside joke shared between two pals. “Right….We really shouldn’t...But, the bad luck…”, CM found himself back to that point. He was the type that could be superstitous at times.
“What if we just do a quick lil peck. So quick no one has time to notice?”, he offered, knowing the window of chance for that outcome was closing quickly. Whatever they did had to happen soon..
“I don't know…” Rebecca still had her reservations. She knew it wasn’t right, but at the same time it would just be an innocent platonic kiss. Except what if it wasn’t? What if it was more than that, and it would stir up the feelings she had suppressed? As much as she’d like to turn and run there was no way out… They were surrounded by Christian’s friends, all pushing for them to go through with it. She deliberated internally for a while, incapable of coming to a decision.
The pressure was mounting. Eyes were starting to turn their way. He could already hear folks egging it on. And that’s when Christian said to himself *”Screw it. This is a harmless lil tradition”*. His left hand went to Rebecca’s right side, with his right hand Christian reached under Rebecca’s chin as she’d looked down while internally debating. Michaels gently led her to tilt her head back, to look up at him again. It was like the world was suddenly engulfed in slow motion as CM leaned down towards Rebecca lips. In reality things were moving in normal speed. It was barely a moment before Christian’s and Rebecca’s lips came together in what was intended to be a harmless lil kiss. One necessitated by the tradition of miseltoe.
It couldn’t have lasted more than a handful of seconds, but for Rebecca, it felt like an eternity. His touch was firm, yet gentle. The world around the pair of them practically vanished as she gave herself to the kiss, even pulling him into it. It was everything she had pictured it would be, and yet so much more.
As the pair pulled out of the kiss, they turned to see Kelsey standing at the bottom of the stairs, staring at them with her jaw wide open. Rebecca’s euphoria soon turned to tremendous guilt as she caught a glimpse of her best friend standing a few feet away from them. “Oh my god, Kelsey…” she muttered to herself.
The party fell silent. Nobody spoke a word. You could hear a pin drop as everyone looked between Christian, Rebecca and Kelsey with nervous anticipation. Kelsey’s bottom lip began to quiver as she took a few steps towards them, her attention focused squarely on Rebecca for the time being.
“How could you do this..?” Kelsey whispered as she swallowed the lump in her throat. Before Rebecca can offer up an explanation, Kelsey erupts into a rage. “You’re supposed to be my best friend! And I leave the room for what, half a minute? And you’re kissing my boyfriend! You promised me you’d never do anything about your feelings for him!”
Rebecca’s eyes widened like saucers, darting back to Christian. The secret was out… Now, everyone within earshot knows how she feels. Devastated and faced with a heartbroken best friend, Rebecca desperately tries to explain what has transpired here… However, Kelsey is having none of it. On the verge of tears, she glances at Christian, then back to Rebecca, before turning and running out the front door.
Words failed to describe the level of self hatred that Christian immediately felt towards himself. He...He didn’t know that apparently Rebecca was harboring some kind of secretive feelings towards him that were romantic in nature. God if he had known then he never would’ve insisted at all on following that stupid tradition. Nope! Would’ve just warned Rebecca and went about his merry way. Yet instead here CM stood now in his home, every one of his friends looking at him in shock. Hell his own mouth hung open in shock. Shock at being caught in what was meant to be a meaningless lil kiss. Shock at learning Rebecca cares for him as more than a friend and hid that from him. Shock that Kelsey’s heart had just been shattered into a million pieces.
Michaels reached up and stroked his face for a second, his mind still trying to process everything. He turned to look at Rebecca. As bad as he felt, she looked like she felt a million times worse right now. “Wh...What just….happened?”, he asked, still looking for some semblance of knowing what was going on here.
“I…” Rebecca failed to find the words. Now was not the time to attempt to justify what she had done, as there were far more important things to take care of. “I’ve got to go and find her,” she declared. “I need to fix this…”
With that, Rebecca rushed out the same door Kelsey left through moments ago.
To be Continued...
