Set in Stone

Chapter 23

Grace had found her way to an empty office almost on autopilot, where she had sat down at a table and called Roman. While she waited for him to answer, she tried to come to terms with how she felt about what had happened in the meeting with Lucy Thorne.

The news that she was going to win the Royal Rumble match was as incredible as it was surprising. It had come totally out of left field. Thorne's commitment to the proposed babyface/heel angle could not be questioned. Indeed, she was turbocharging it. But in that fact also lay the problem.

The way the angle was being booked was more oriented around Grace than The Stone Roses as a team, which had Zelina feeling left out. Grace had to admit that she wouldn't have been happy if it was the other way around, so she could definitely understand where her partner was coming from.

"Hello?"

Roman's voice on the phone startled Grace, so lost had she been in her thoughts.

"Uh, hi, Rome," she stumbled.

"What's up?" he asked, some concern in his voice. In the background, Grace could hear some kind of children's cartoon show, reminding her that Roman had picked Layla up from school in order to see her for a few hours.

"I'm a bit all over the place," Grace said. "I just came out of a meeting with Lucy and Hunter. It didn't exactly go the way I thought it would."

"What happened?"

As you know, Lucy agreed to go with the idea of turning us face, with the intention that we would be booed. Zel was pissed off at me when I told her I had talked to Lucy about it without her, by the way."

"Damn, I should have thought of that at the time," Roman said, and Grace could hear a grimace in his words.

"Me too. I worked it out with Z though, we're good. We went into the meeting together and Lucy dropped a bomb. I'm going over in the rumble match."

"You are?" Roman exclaimed. "Grace, I'm so happy for you. That's amazing news. Wow, Lucy has gone all in with it. If anything was going to make sure the fans hated you, this is it."

"I agree. For the angle, it's great. And of course I can't wait to win the rumble, or to go on to a title match at Wrestlemania. But the problem we have is Z feels like she's being thrown under the bus. I get it. If I was her I would probably feel the same way. This thing was supposed to be about The Stone Roses as a team, not about me."

"Yeah, tough one," Roman said thoughtfully. "What did Z say in the meeting?"

"She voiced her concerns. We all know Lucy likes people to speak their minds. You could tell Z was pissed off, but she didn't step over any lines. Lucy gave her assurances that The Stone Roses won't be broken up, and that she's not going to be left behind. It placated her a bit."

"Where is she now?"

"She said she needed some time to herself. Again, understandable. She did make it clear she was okay with me, so she knows none of this came from me. I'm just worried, Rome," Grace said with a sigh. "I'm worried that, despite being okay now, I might lose her friendship over this thing in time, and that would put all of us in such an awful position."

"Babe, that's not going to happen," Roman said definitely. "I've known Zel a lot longer than you have. She's a Latina and a New Yorker. She can be fiery and temperamental, but you know what else she is? She's a loyal friend. You said yourself that you're feeling all over the place, she will be too. Give her some time to cool off, to have a chat with Seth, and she'll be alright."

"You're sure?" Grace asked, wanting to believe him.

"Trust me. Besides, I have no reason to doubt Lucy's word when she says she'll be keeping you guys as a team. One of the things people respect most about her is that she does exactly what she tells people she's going to do."