New Recruits

Chapter 28

The first Christmas morning in their own apartment had been a special one for Sonya and Mandy. Some weeks earlier they had considered traveling to spend the holidays with one of their families, but since they had been unable to agree on which family it should be, they had decided to stay home. It was a decision that they were now grateful for.

Not having to get up stupidly early had been the first bonus. It had been past 8am when they had eventually risen, enjoying being able to get the day going at their own pace.

Before breakfast, gifts had been exchanged. They had promised each other that they would not go crazy with the amount they spent on each other. In a funny twist, it had turned out that they had both chosen to buy a necklace. Both necklaces were silver, with the pendants being the only real difference.

Sonya had taken a long time to find the necklace she had chosen for Mandy. Eventually, she had been able to acquire the exact design she had wanted. The pendant was quartz, formed into a cross. It looked just like the one Sonya had tattooed on her side. The intention was that the necklace would always remind Mandy of Sonya, especially if they ever happened to be apart for a period of time.

The thinking behind Mandy's choice of necklace was not dissimilar. She had chosen one with a red heart-shaped diamond. When Sonya had first examined it, Mandy had said that the colour was intended to be rose, to remind Sonya of her.

"And to remind you that my heart belongs to you," Mandy had added, almost moving Sonya to tears.

"I love you, Mandy Rose," she had replied.

Later that day, the responsibility of cooking their Christmas dinner, which they were actually going to eat at lunch time, had fallen to Mandy. Not only was she a tremendous cook, no one would probably have dared to eat whatever Sonya might have prepared if she had been given the task.

Busy in the kitchen, Mandy had left Sonya relaxing in front of the TV in the living room, or so she thought.

"Mand!" Sonya called through to the kitchen, her tone conveying a request for Mandy to go in there.

"I'm a bit busy, honey!" Mandy called back.

"I know! But there's something I need you to see!"

Mandy tried not to let herself be irritated, despite how much she disliked being interrupted while she was cooking. She made sure nothing was going to be ruined if she walked away for a few minutes, and walked through to the living room. She found Sonya sitting on the couch, still wearing the Santa hat that she'd had on all day. There was some kind of large scrapbook on her lap.

Sonya greeted her girlfriend with a smile and held out the scrapbook. "I got you one more thing."

"What is it?" Mandy asked, a pleasantly confused expression on her face as she walked over.

"Have a look," Sonya encouraged.

Taking the scrapbook, Mandy saw that Sonya had drawn a title on the front in artistic gold lettering: 'Golden Gloves: The Story So Far!'

"Son, what is this?" Mandy cried, opening the cover.

"Something I made. I hope you like it."

Mandy was taken totally by surprise by the wonderful gift. Looking through the pages, she saw glossy print outs of photographs of herself and Sonya. Some had been taken at their old apartment. Some had been taken at the Performance Centre. Others were fan's photos from NXT live events. Towards the middle off the scrapbook there was a selfie-style picture of everyone who had been at their housewarming when they had moved in the new apartment. And lastly, there were shots from the NXT Takeover pre-show where Mandy had made her debut, and some from a more recent TV taping, where it had been Sonya's turn to wrestle on TV for the first time. The back half of the book was currently empty.