New Recruits

Chapter 37

"Sonya, come here!" Mandy called out.

Sonya was in their bedroom, folding up and putting away some laundry. "I'm a bit busy, babe," she called back.

"I know. But you need to come here!"

Sighing, Sonya fought off her impatience as she put a t-shirt away in one of Mandy's drawers. With that done, she left the bedroom and walked down the hallway to their apartment's living area. She found Mandy standing in front of the TV, watching a news channel. The breaking news banner at the bottom of the screen referred to a fire at an Orlando apartment complex. Fire crews were shown spraying water onto the building in question. It was obvious that they were fighting a losing battle against the flames. Two thirds of the building was already burning.

"Waterside Apartments. Wasn't that where Tessa said she was going to moving to?" Mandy asked.

"Shit, I think it was," Sonya said, recalling the name now that Mandy had said it. "I guess she won't be now. Is anyone hurt?"

"They were just saying they think everyone has safely evacuated, thank god. But the building is going to be destroyed, looking at those pictures."

"You're right. I wonder if Tessa knows," Sonya said, moving over to the couch and sitting down. At the end of the night at their new teammate's victory celebration a week earlier, they had both gotten Tessa's number. Sonya decided to text her about the unfortunate news. Even though they had swapped numbers, she felt nervous about texting Tessa. It felt weird being friendly with arguably the biggest name in UFC history. But there was no getting away from the fact that Tessa had been so down to earth when they had met. She came across like she didn't view herself as anything special, which was pretty awesome, Sonya thought. Fuck it, just text her, she told herself.

Tessa, turn on the news. Unfortunately I think the apartment block you were going to move into is on fire.

"I wonder if WWE were finishing with sorting the purchase out for her," Mandy said as she sat down next to Sonya. "That is, if they're even helping her with it. It's not like she's going to be short of the money."

Sonya grunted a laugh at the understatement. WWE had recently instituted a scheme for helping new trainees to purchase a home in Orlando when they were recruited for the Performance Centre. "I can't see her getting involved in that program. But yeah, I hope she hasn't purchased the place yet. Imagine that? Buying an apartment and it burns down before you even move in."

"It's probably better than it burning down after you move in," Mandy pointed out.

"That's true."

Sonya's phone vibrated, indicating that a message had been received. She unlocked the phone and read it.

Tessa Blanchard: RIP! Yes, that is where I was going to move to. The purchase was meant to complete next week. Looks like I'll be pulling out now. I'll have to look for somewhere else, fast!

"She was about to complete the purchase next week," Sonya reported to Mandy. "Now she's a couple of weeks away from moving down here, with nowhere to move into. She'll probably end up having to live out of a hotel for a while."

"That'll get her used to working on the main roster," Mandy said with an ironic laugh. "Hey, we could ask her to stay with us," she suggested after a moment. "If you want to, I mean."

Sonya considered it. They did have a spare bedroom. It was currently set aside as a sex dungeon for when Daria, her alter ego, came out to play. But it could easily be made ready for use by a guest. "I'm not against inviting her," she said thoughtfully. "I don't know if she would want to move here, but at least the offer would be there. If she did accept, it would give us more time to get to know each other better."