Marina Barnes and the Authority. You either love them together or are like a dad and his oldest daughter. If you see them together, you want them separated immediately. Marina and The Authority, something the fans are forced to watch every week. Mar...
Marina arrived in Cincinnati at 12 am. Smackdown Tapings were later that night and she was told to meet Stephanie and Hunter in their office before the show. She decided to rest for a few hours after she got situated in her hotel room. After getting everything situated in her room, she flopped herself onto the bed and dozed off. She woke up to an Instagram notification.
3:43am// @wwerollins started following you.
She furrowed her eyebrows. It was her understanding that the two had already followed each other on social media, but she was incorrect. Her phone was tossed to the side as she groaned, not wanting to deal with it in that moment. The realization of her hotel room hit when she got up to stretch and was able to look around. It was bigger than she initially thought. Marina took her hair down and walked over to the kitchenette. She ran her hands down her face when she realized that there was no food.
"Okay," she sighed, nodding as she walked over to her bags, "gym it is."
She tied her hair up into a top knot as she crouched down, pulling out a black sports bra and tribal patterned blue leggings. Once she had changed into her workout gear, she grabbed a water bottle and shrugged on an old tank top. After she put her dirty clothes in a smaller bag that she kept in her suitcase, she ran over and grabbed her phone. Without checking it, she slipped it in the waistband of her leggings. She pulled her purple and black Nike's out of her bag and slipped them on. Her headphones were the last thing she grabbed before exiting her room.
"And the day begins," she whispered to herself as she headed down the empty hallway.
She was hoping that no one would be in the gym this early in the morning. The elevator and stairs now stood in front of her, providing a new decision for her brain to make this early in the morning. She opted for the stairs. When she reached the ground floor, the lady at the front desk smiled at her as Marina walked past. Marina opened the gym door, stopping in her tracks. The one thing she didn't plan out was how she was going to work out.
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@wwebarnes empty hotel gym + 4 am workout = a satisfied Marina
Marina put in her headphones on, shuffling through her music until she landed on a new song, St. Patrick by PVRIS. She smiled as she turned off her phone and hopped on the treadmill. Her volume wasn't very loud for how much she adored listening to music as she worked out. That doesn't mean it was quiet enough to hear the door to the gym open. She stopped the treadmill after 15 minutes and sat in front of it for a minute, taking a drink of water.
"You can only blame your problems on the world for so long, before it all becomes the same old song," the lyrics to The (Shipped) Gold Standard played in her head.
After her rest, she stood up and turned around. Seth Rollins stood in front of a weight rack and looked at her through the mirror. Marina sighed as she grabbed her things and walked over to stand next to him. He snuck glances as she removed her headphones and placed her things off to the side. His head shook as she drummed her fingers against her thigh. That meeting she had later in the day was something that he knew about. The struggle he was currently facing was whether or not he should tell her what to expect.
"You took that RKO really well," he complimented as he turned away from her, cringing at his conversation starter.
"You really know how to swing a chair into someone's back," she retorted, earning a chuckle from him.
They turned to face each other. Her eyes wandered his body as she searched for changes in his demeanor. She knew the time was right for one of them to split from the group. Part of her was worried about how he would change because of it. It perplexed her why she worried about him so much, considering that they maintained a business relationship over a real friendship. Marina wasn't worried about being liked by him, she just didn't think they clicked.
"You're up early," she shook herself out of her trance, fixing her hair as she walked over to grab a couple of weights.
"Couldn't sleep," he sighed as he scratched his ear and walked over to the pull-up bar, "you?"
She started doing lunges while staring at herself in the mirror, "I passed out for a few hours, couldn't fall back asleep, ended up down here," she shrugged as she peered over to watch him do chin-ups, "you know how it is."
"Do I ever," he grunted as he spoke.
They continued their separate work outs. Occasionally, they would catch each other looking over at the other person. It wasn't necessarily awkward in the room, just still. Seth watched her as he rested. His mind flooded with thoughts of her. Nothing inappropriate or wrong, just fascination. It was as if he was staring at her through a different lens. Marina was down in a squat and she got stuck. He noticed her struggling, immediately standing up to help her. She felt his presence behind her as he spotted her. Slowly, she stood back up and returned the bar to its original spot.
"Holy shit," she walked over to grab her water before sprawling out on the floor.
Seth chuckled as he walked over to her. He sat on the ground next to her as she relaxed her body. Marina closed her eyes as he fixed his hair. His attention remained on her as her chest rose and fell. Her eyes opened and she turned to him.
"You good?"
She nodded, reaching over to touch his knee, "thank you."
"No problem at all," he nodded as she smiled at him.
<<<
Once their work out was over, Seth offered to walk Marina back to her room and she accepted. They approached the elevator and he pressed the button. She turned to him and noticed that he had a hair that fell out of place. Instinctively, she reached up to tuck the stray hair behind his ear. Her brothers would do that with her throughout her life and she adopted that caring nature for herself. As his attention turned to her, her's turned to the opening elevator door. That was the moment when he decided that he wanted a better relationship with her. Marina pushed the button to her floor as he entered the elevator.
"I wouldn't mind working out with you again," he admitted as he watched the numbers increase.
"I will keep that in mind," she nodded as the door opened.
He allowed her to walk ahead of him as they exited out into the hallway. Marina stopped walking when she reached her room. They faced each other as they leaned against the wall outside her door. She pulled her phone out, opening Instagram. His eyes followed the loopy design on the carpet as his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled out his phone to check what the notification was. His eyes met hers after reading that she followed him back.
"See you tonight, Colby," she unlocked her door before winking at him and entering her room.
He smiled before turning around and heading back to his own hotel room.
