face your demons // finn bálor

Chapter 2

May 26th, 2016, Atlanta, GA

Carlos insisted on a road trip down to Florida. We could have easily afforded plane tickets, but he REALLY wanted it to be a vacation. I don't mind, though. They didn't make me drive much and I didn't have to chip in for gas.

But man, it is a long way away from home. Especially in a car with Dumb & Dumber. We drove for at LEAST 20 hours straight, between the three of us. I could tell my brother was exhausted, and a rain storm stopped us from making it a non-stop trip. We're SO close now, but we all agreed on spending the night at a hotel in Georgia.

Which brings us to right now. I'm minding my own business, scrolling through Twitter. Aiden is in the shower, so it's just me and Carlos.

"Hey. I uhm..." He sits down next to me. "I texted Colby that we got signed." Wow, cool, amazing. I don't care.

"Okay...?"

"You don't care, right? We're looking into getting mentored by him for a while since, ya know...he's the only one in the business we know."

Colby, as in Seth Rollins, is one of those reasons that I gave up on wrestling. He's an ex of mine. Actually, THE ex. You know, the one who breaks your heart and forces you to shelter yourself from any future relationships.

We dated each other for almost 6 years, starting pretty much right when I graduated high school.

I was head over heels. Absolutely blinded by love. Then he cheated and it broke me. I'm still hurt by it.

He's made it big now in the WWE. I'm not salty about that, or anything. I'm actually pretty proud. I was there for almost every single fight he's had since his "Tyler Black" days, up until when we broke up. Even some WWE matches.

I still don't know why he did it, and it's been 2 and a half years. We were planning on getting married in the near future, looking to buy a house, everything was perfect. Then I came home from work one night, saw an unfamiliar car parked on the street, and walked in on him with someone else. I moved out the same week, and we haven't talked much since then.

Carlos is still pretty close to him. Which is cool. He's been friends with Colby since before we even got together.

Aiden is still holding a small grudge over it. He wanted to kill the guy when I came to his house that night, crying. I don't know if they actually fought over it though.

"That's a good idea. But are you sure that's 'we'? Or did you make the decision without Ace?"

"Well, it's still up for discussion...I was more worried what you would think of it."

"Your friend, not mine."

My brother walks out, in a towel. SHIELD YOUR EYES. Just kidding. But seriously, shield them.

"What friend?" He asks. I smirk at Carlos, knowing that he's going to have to be the one to explain his plans to him.

"You guys have some business to discuss. I'm going to jump in the shower."

---x---

We hit the road early the next morning, stopping for breakfast halfway from Atlanta to Orlando.

An couple hours later, we finally get to the hotel and I CAN SEE DISNEY WORLD. That's how close we are. I've always wanted to go there.

No time today. Aiden and Carlos have to be at the performance center in an hour. I tried to convince them to let me stay back at the hotel, but they already told whoever they were meeting there that I was coming with.

"Are you nervous?" I ask my brother, who hasn't stopped shaking his leg since we checked into our room.

"Of course I am. I've never been more nervous in my life. But I'll be okay." The two of us look toward the other room. Carlos is speaking Spanish over the phone. Probably to his parents.

"Mom and Dad would be so proud of you right now."

"Yeah. I hope they are."

Our parents died 5 years ago. They were in a car accident on the freeway, coming home from visiting our older sister, Rachael, in Wisconsin. She's since passed too. Fought breast cancer for 3 years. So my brother and I are all that each other have right now. Our grandparents (both maternal and paternal), and aunt on our dad's side are the only ones that live in the same state. All of them live in Des Moines, which is still a half hour drive from Ames.

"We have to go now if we're going to make it on time. You ready?" Carlos walks back into the main room.

"Do I really have to go?" I whine. It would be a cool experience, but I lost interest years ago.

"Yes. At least act like you're having fun, okay? Maybe you'll see some familiar faces." My brother chimes in. That's exactly what I don't want to do.

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a/n

we're just gonna pretend that IRL relationships weren't a thing tbh. it's called fan-FICTION, amiright? also sorry for the shortish chapter. the next one should make up for it.