Set in Stone

Chapter 41

A good night's sleep had worked wonders for both Roman and Grace. Yes, her back was sore from the kendo stick shots she had taken, but it was not too bad. What mattered was that she felt mentally and physically refreshed, as did Roman. They had hit the gym, then gone to the hotel's restaurant for breakfast.

Once they had their food trays fixed, it was time to find somewhere to sit. Grace looked around, seeing Zelina and a very hungover-looking Seth sitting at a table with Billie Kay and Peyton Royce.

"Let's sit with Bay and Daga," Roman said, pointing them out over on the far side of the restaurant.

"Oh, yeah, I didn't see them," Grace said brightly, following him across the room. They stopped briefly to say hello to Zelina and Seth before approaching Bayley and Elena's table.

"Morning, guys," Roman said, putting his tray down next to Bayley. "How was your night last night?"

Grace put her tray down next to Elena and sat down.

"I drank a bit too much," Bayley grumbled. "I can't keep up with Daga when we're on the wine."

"Of course not, I'm Italian," Elena laughed.

Grace smiled while eating her first mouthful of food.

"Your heel turn was unreal, Bay," Roman said. "I have to admit, I couldn't imagine you ever playing that kind of character. But you know what? It actually suits you."

"Thank you," Bayley smiled over the cup of coffee that she was sipping from. "I've got the new hairstyle, plenty of sets of new ring attire, but what I don't have is a new look for when I appear not wearing ring attire. That's something I need to sort out today."

"I can't help you with that. Women's fashion isn't one of my strong points," Roman chuckled, hungrily digging into his breakfast.

"No, but I can. Daga can. I'm sure Z will come with us too," Grace said.

"That would be nice," Bayley said. "I'm struggling to make a decision on what my new look should be."

"I have ideas. I'm not sure what would be best on TV," Elena said.

"Relax, guys, we'll sort it out," Grace promised. "Bay, I think you should look slick, you should have swag about you. It should be your attitude that mostly tells people you're a piece of shit."

"I like that," Bayley said thoughtfully. "That last part I definitely agree with. I have to get away from any thoughts of hugs, smiles, high fives or any of that stuff. Bayley needs to be a horrible piece of work."

"I like that more than a piece of shit," Elena said.

Grace made a point of focusing on eating her breakfast. She could tell that Elena wasn't coming to terms with the idea of seeing her girlfriend acting like a bitch on TV. It was certainly a long way removed from the real Bayley, who closely resembled her previous character.

"Remember what we talked about?" Bayley said gently to her lover. "This is going to be good for my career. Being hated by fans is part of the business. Look at the abuse Grace gets all the time."

"Yes, but I don't love Grace," Elena said sullenly.

Grace knew that the language barrier was the reason the sentence had come out awkwardly, and for that reason she decided to make a joke of it. "Just when I was starting to think we were friends."

Understanding the humour, Elena responded with a weak smile. "Hopefully I'll get used to it," was the best she could come up with.

By the time the shopping trip was over later that day, Elena was feeling better about things. A fairly long talk with Zelina seemed to have gotten through to her that there was no reason to be bothered about seeing act like a reprehensible human being on TV. It seemed like she had needed to hear what Bayley had already told her from someone else also before she could feel sure she wasn't simply being told what she wanted to hear.