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“Get the fuck outta the way!”
The medical team and paramedics started to encircle them on the entrance ramp. From the edge of the ring, outside of the ropes, Bayley hoisted Sasha onto her back and she held onto Sasha’s legs at her sides. Sasha’s arms gripped around her friend’s neck, as she grimaced in pain from her left knee being flexed in the “piggyback” carry. Bayley continued yelling obscenities at the on-lookers, as the verbal onslaught was all she could do with Sasha on her back.
“It’s better if we get her on a wheelchair or a stretcher—” one of the trainers began.
“No! I’m fine, get away!” hissed Sasha, her right arm clung around Bayley’s neck while her left arm swung wildly at approaching staff. They backed away quickly to avoid the Boss’ wrath but did not stray too far in case they were needed quickly to help the injured woman. Even in the ring, after the match had concluded and Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler once again defeated the Golden Role Models, Sasha would not allow any of the medical staff to help her or touch her. She shoved several people away who crouched beside her. But she reached out for Bayley, with her arm outstretched and grabbing her friend’s wrestling tights. She wanted no one but Bayley.
Her Bayley.
Sasha pressed her lips to Bayley’s ear and whispered in an irate voice only audible to her friend: “Don’t let them fucking embarrass me like that! Don’t let me go, don’t let them put me in a wheelchair or stretcher!”
“Dude, I won’t!” Bayley groaned back, as she continued up the ramp while supporting Sasha’s full weight on her back.
In the medical exam room, the world seemed silent except for a loud ringing. The tinnitus Sasha experienced felt as if a bomb exploded in the room, the shrapnel and debris had settled, but a chaotic scene remained that she could not quite comprehend. The sounds were not connecting to her ear drums, as if they had been drowned by the “bomb.” Her brain was trapped in a fog. She finally agreed to allow the medical personnel attend to her and she noticed Bayley’s upset pacing around the room. Bayley was rubbing her fingers through her dark hair that was damp with sweat while she walked in circles, stalking around the staff. Sasha surveyed the scene.
The movements during the physical exam caused pain but it seemed that her left knee was still quite sturdy. Palpation of the patella, her kneecap, which crashed into the ring post that was covered in a digital display, was the most uncomfortable. She noted that it felt a little better to keep her knee slightly flexed. She watched Bayley confront the supervising doctor, and she could not make out any of the words. Bayley grabbed the doctor’s collar, and he looked bewildered as Bayley’s face, contorted with rage, said some words to him. A few referees stepped in to break up the impending beat-down, and another WWE official in a suit joined the fray to point a finger at Bayley. Sasha still could not hear anything, just a constant ringing, or maybe she was choosing not to hear. Choosing to remain in the fog, as if she stood outside of herself as a bystander.
“Sasha… Sasha!”
Her head jerked to the left as she realized one of the female trainers was close to her and calling for her.
“We should get some imaging, is that OK with you if we do that now?”
She exchanged looks with Bayley who was flanked by staff, and she nodded at the trainer.
Sasha finally sat down in bed, her left knee clad in a large, black immobilizer brace. Bayley supported most of her weight and helped her get into bed, then Bayley reached behind her to arrange a few pillows for her to rest her back on. She finally gave Sasha an ice pack. Bayley remained by her side during tonight’s ordeal, but she was unusually quiet. She stood with her arms crossed, like a sentinel as Sasha had x-rays completed in the radiology suite. She helped Sasha into their SUV, she would not allow any of the medical personnel to do this. She had a blank expression the entire car ride and remained silent. Now they were home, and her demeanor had not changed.
After giving Sasha the ice pack, Bayley turned around and went into her walk-in closet. When she emerged, she was holding a few duffle bags. She swiftly walked over to the dressers and started to throw clothes into the bag. She finally spoke to Sasha but her back was still turned.
“I’ll get going, I’ll get the rest of my stuff later. You want me to call Charlotte or Becky to help you?”
“What?” Sasha asked, thoroughly confused.
Bayley stopped for a moment and turned around to face her friend, her brows furrowed in annoyance. “Do you want me to call Naomi or Tamina instead? Sasha, you can’t walk and someone needs to help you.”
“Where the hell are you going?” Sasha asked, trying to keep her voice steady because Bayley’s mysterious behavior was already pissing her off.
“I’m leaving, that’s what you want right?” Bayley stated matter-of-factly as if this was obvious.
“When did I ever say that?” Sasha questioned, anger creeping into her voice.
Bayley chuckled and sighed, shaking her head slightly. “Are you really gonna play that game tonight? It’s pretty obvious what you want.”
Sasha did not respond, she stared perplexed at her friend.
At Sasha’s pause, Bayley continued in a glum tone: “Look… C’mon, I see all the signs. You’ve barely said anything to me unless we’re in front of the cameras, you ignore me at home and I’ve been sleeping on the couch for, I dunno, I’ve lost count of the days! I know you’re not happy with me and I’ll go. We don’t have to argue about it. Alright?”
Bayley sighed again at Sasha’s stony expression, and she turned back to angrily throwing her clothes into one of the bags.
Sasha finally regained the fortitude to speak. “Bayley, wait… Stop. Please stop. Let’s talk about this.”
“There’s nothing else to talk about,” Bayley mumbled, her back turned as she proceeded to fill the next bag haphazardly with clothes.
“Hey! Stop!” Sasha commanded, her voice ringing throughout the room.
Her tone startled Bayley who halted her movements. She turned around again to face her injured friend. “I have to get going, it’s late. And you should rest.”
Sasha glowered at Bayley, her voice shook with rage and hurt: “So you’re just gonna leave me like this? I can’t even walk and you’re just gonna walk out on me? At the time when I fucking need you the most?! I thought you were my best friend.”
“I am, Sasha! But what the hell are we doing here? Like I said, the way you’ve treated me recently… dude. I can’t do it anymore! Everything’s changed, everything’s fucked up. We lost every belt except for my belt,” Bayley said incredulously as if she could not even believe the words that flew from her lips. She pointed at the Smackdown Women’s Championship belt that was perched on the nearby loveseat: the blue and white leather, the gleaming gold trim, the jewel-encrusted W, the black side plates with “BAYLEY” in bold, gold lettering.
Sasha glanced at the blue belt and immediately looked back at Bayley, she stared at her determinedly. “Yeah, you’re right, we’ve hit rock bottom. And who’s fucking fault is that?”
“Are you serious?” Bayley stated in a sad, small voice.
Sasha said nothing but Bayley’s soft reaction did surprise her. She was waiting for a blow up, a fight. Her hands were tensed, shaking with anger and sadness. She did not trust her voice to be strong though, so she chose not to speak yet. Her breath was caught in her chest, and a tightness seemed to spread there.
“So… where do we go from here?” Bayley asked quietly, the duffle bag she held was now slumped at her side, some clothes threatening to expel from the open zipper.
Sasha looked away, because she did not know the answer. She shifted uneasily in the bed, and her left leg was starting to feel numb. To give herself something to do, she manipulated the ice pack around her knee, so that it could be moved to a different location. Bayley watched these movements glumly.
Bayley sighed again. “I think I know… We go our separate ways. I know what you’re thinking. You want to be a champion, and you’ve never held the blue belt before. You’ll be coming for me next—”
“Is that all you’re worried about right now?!” snapped Sasha in a heated voice, “Bayley, baby, I can’t fucking walk and you’re worried that I’ll challenge for your title? A title that I helped you keep for the past year?!”
Sasha wanted so dearly to chuck the ice pack at Bayley’s stunned face. But she gripped onto the bitter cold and the moisture, and did nothing but hold it over her knee while glaring at her best friend.
“Sash, I’m not dumb. You know what? You really do think I’m an idiot. All the sly jabs and tags on social media, and when you look at me… you don’t really look at me, I catch you watching the title like the title’s your best friend or something!” laughed Bayley. There was nothing humorous or friendly in her laugh though.
She continued on: “And besides, there were plenty of times when you were not around and I was alone, friendless - and I still got the job done. I won the title and I kept my title!”
… When you were not around.
I was alone.
Friendless.
My title.
Those words stung Sasha deeply. She knew what Bayley was referring to: her break from wrestling. And her media engagements for the past 8 months also removed her from the wrestling world, even just bits and pieces of time but she knew they impacted Bayley. She had a hip-hop album to complete, interviews to attend, movie roles to fulfill, and she unfortunately, could not be the constant at Bayley’s side. Bayley was not completely wrong here, she did have to stand alone at times and she stood tall with the glittering blue belt held aloft, over so many competitors. The entire Smackdown women’s roster was defeated by Bayley. Everyone. Except one wrestler. And she stared at the champion, immobile with watery eyes.
Their shaky alliance was built last year in early 2019 when they decided to join forces to enter the Elimination Chamber, to fight many other teams to be crowned the inaugural Women’s Tag Team Champions. Before entering the cage together, Sasha remembered gazing around at the raucous crowd, the fan signs of “Boss ’N’ Hug Connection” in various sizes and colors dominated the scene. Sasha and Bayley looked at each other and nodded with silent agreement of what had to be achieved tonight: differences had to be put aside, the past had to be forgotten - even just for one night.
Unity. And they became the first tag team champions. First is forever.
Weeks later, this dream world they had imagined and lived in was shattered at Wrestlemania when they lost their titles to the IIconics. They lived in a nightmare with no end in sight. Bayley held Sasha as they walked backstage, physically shielding her from the jeers of the crowd. The arena was so loud, but Sasha did not hear anything but her own sobs, and her own heartbeat. She focused on mechanically placing one foot in front of the other as she walked to safety with Bayley, allowing her friend to support her.
That collapse felt like eons ago, like it occurred in another lifetime. So many things had changed. The physical transformations that she and Bayley went through. The rekindling and repackaging of an often unsteady friendship. The creation, ascension and eventual destruction of Bayley Dos Straps and 2 Beltz Banks. The Rise and Fall of the Summer of Sasha.
Bayley was the first to speak, noticing Sasha’s expression, and her voice was softer and kinder. “Dude, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that… I’ll go, Sash…”
“No… Bayley, please,” Sasha whispered in a steady tone, the tears threatening to break free and she fought hard to keep them from falling shamefully down her face, “Please stay with me.”
The bag handle slipped from Bayley’s hand and slumped to the floor. Bayley slowly sauntered over to their bed, and sat down on the rug, leaning her back against the side of the bed that Sasha sat on. She buried her face in her hands. Sasha’s right hand reached over to touch her friend, her fingers spreading into Bayley’s scalp - these same movements she had performed millions of times.
If this would end, this is how it should end. She could not express how she felt but maybe these feelings could be transferred to Bayley through her touch. She savored this moment. The soft, silky feel of short tresses of black hair.
Maybe. This would be the last time.
“I know I shouldn’t of done those things on social media, but we have to keep people interested. It’s what they expected of the Boss,” explained Sasha, as she continued caressing Bayley’s dark, lustrous hair.
Her tone sounded practiced, and so Bayley was not invested in the statement.
“Or is it what you expected of the Boss?” asked Bayley in a muffled tone, her face still in her hands.
Sasha thought about this. Fans, critics, wrestlers - it felt like everyone said she was “spineless” and Bayley’s follower. Charlotte Flair, their consistent frenemy, even appeared on Smackdown in May to stir the pot in a special way that only she knew how. She called Sasha a “lackey” and asked her if she was content standing in Bayley’s shadow. Sasha had many clever retorts for this but Bayley continually interrupted her. The following week, Bayley banished the Queen from Smackdown with an O’Connor roll while holding the ropes. Sasha was absent from ringside because Bayley asked her to stay in the back, explaining that she was fearful of the sheep’s assumptions that she could not win without Sasha’s assistance.
So many miscues. So many words were left unsaid the past few months. Their friendship was often nuanced, bordering in the realms of rivalry, deep caring, and sometimes love. But never true understanding. It was as if they were afraid if their true feelings were revealed, then their friendship would end once again. Everything was made better with gold, right? They painted their world and the entire world itself, gold, and that solved everything, right? But now the gold is almost all gone and what now?
“I have a legacy to protect, and so do you. It doesn’t matter how much you deny it or can’t see it, but our legacies are intertwined,” Sasha remarked, definitively.
Bayley lifted her head from her hands, finally resting her hands on her knees. She did not look at Sasha, instead opting to stare at the wall. “OK, Boss. So what does this mean for our friendship?”
“We move forward.”
Maybe it was too cryptic. Maybe she should have mused this answer a bit more.
Bayley sighed, progressively getting irritated. She back away from Sasha’s touch and turned around to gaze at her friend intensely.
“Together? As friends? Or separately? As enemies?” Bayley shot back.
Sasha stared at her intently. She could see the fear in Bayley’s soft brown eyes. The fear that she noticed weeks ago when they challenged the eccentric Asuka. The fear that Bayley hid in her voice, in her demeanor. But was steadily building as time went on, as a golden belt went missing one by one, like sand slipping through their fingers.
“I can’t… um…” Sasha began, looking away to search for the correct words, anxiety welling in her voice. Their life was so much easier when they held all the championships and they could ignore the problems between them, ignore the cracks in their friendship that could not be sealed by gold.
Bayley sighed at these words, and at Sasha’s loss for words. She rested her hands on the bed, looking down at the rug and closed her eyes while her lips were pursed shut. Sasha placed a hand over Bayley’s, surprisingly, Bayley recoiled from her touch.
“I can’t imagine being without you,” Sasha said softly, “Let’s stay together.”
Bayley opened her eyes, and a tear slipped down her face. Sasha, shocked, reached up instinctively but Bayley moved out of her reach. Bayley shook her head and wiped the tear away with the back of her hand.
“I don’t believe you…” she whispered to Sasha, attempting to keep her voice calm, attempting to keep the sobs at bay.
And she had good reason not to believe Sasha. Sasha, who had betrayed her friend on numerous occasions while Bayley remained loyal. Sasha, who was becoming progressively frustrated with Bayley’s inability to actually help her retain the Raw Women’s Championship and frustrated with Bayley giving up while in Shayna’s submission hold. Sasha, who was annoyed with Bayley’s growing ego. An ego that Sasha unfortunately bolstered with evil intentions.
Sasha. Who did covet the blue belt if all other belts were truly out of reach.
Sasha Banks. The Legit Boss. Who only thought of herself.
But, no.
That’s not true.
Things were different. She was a good friend to Bayley recently, and set aside her selfishness. The lust for gold, for power, this was something they shared together as friends and she vowed that she would not let it get in the way of their friendship.
Gold, power… Not even romantic feelings, that were repressed repeatedly, would get in the way of their connection.
More tears fell down Bayley’s face and her breathing was becoming haggard. She looked around frantically, her hands trying but failing to halt the watery flow of sadness. Her eyes stopped at the blue belt and she thought, briefly in a moment of sheer panic, maybe she should grab the title and run now. Maybe Sasha was lying about her injury, lying about not being able to walk… Maybe this was all a sick joke, a trick to stab her again in the back. Because the only championship belt in the room was all that mattered, not their crumbling friendship.
“Bayley, please come here,” beckoned Sasha, while outstretching her arm.
Bayley shook her head vehemently at this and collapsed on the floor by the loveseat. Her fingers reaching out for her title.
“I worshipped you, Sasha… I did everything… everything you asked from me!” Bayley managed to choke out while sobbing breathlessly. She knocked over the title accidentally in her frenzy, the crystallized display now fallen over and only the gray strap of the belt could be seen.
Her voice.
Her pain.
This broke Sasha. Bayley’s devotion never went unnoticed, never. And it was heartbreaking that she thought it did. Regardless of the recent lows, the highs were magical. But their memories were not enough sometimes and Sasha’s mood soured, to the point where she would not even look at Bayley in the face sometimes unless it was required by a camera crew. She stonewalled the Role Model, but she did not fully realize the implications of this. She thought Bayley’s ego would subsist, would keep Bayley warm at night on the couch without Sasha’s welcoming touch.
But she did not know… How much she harmed her friend.
She watched Bayley’s valiant refusal to meet her eyes, her sobs and heavy breaths. Her arm stretched on the loveseat, her fingers still vainly grasping at the leather championship belt.
“I’m not going to hurt you!” Sasha shouted, louder than she wanted to but this was frustrating and sad, she did not know how to help her friend. She attempted to move, using her left hand to push the heavy knee brace towards the edge of the bed - if she had to crawl to Bayley to show her that she meant the world to her, than she would have to do it.
Because what the hell did her injury truly mean, if she could not protect her world. She sacrificed herself tonight to try to win, but she was winning for the wrong reasons. Winning to appease the monster inside of her who lusted for gold. And this monster corrupted her entire world: her friend.
Her Bayley.
Bayley stared at Sasha in disbelief and then swiftly arrived at the edge of the bed to keep Sasha’s legs from falling off the edge.
“Sash, don’t move! Don’t try to get up, they said to keep off this leg, remember,” explained Bayley, as she held onto Sasha to prevent her from moving.
Even in her despair, even when Sasha hurts her so many times, Bayley’s main priority was always the well-being of her best friend.
Bayley’s body wash smelled so sweetly of crisp lavender. Even when she denied it silently to herself, this was Sasha’s favorite scent. Sasha finally reached up to her friend’s tear-stained face, looking into her red, watery eyes. Her thumb brushed some tears away.
“Thanks, Bay. I know,” said Sasha in a low voice.
Bayley chuckled ruefully. “Then why were you trying to get up?”
Sasha opened her mouth, but paused.
They could dance around this conversation all night, as they did on so many occasions, and the truth would never be revealed from either of their lips. They could continue to court danger, to tell whoever would listen that the tag team titles represented their friendship… when that was not always true. When that was merely a convenient truth.
Their relationship was built upon gold and loyalty, but mostly, lies.
She had to tell her friend the truth.
“I love you, and I don’t want to see you hurt. I’ve always loved you,” she murmured, resting her hand on Bayley’s neck.
Bayley gave her a wet smile and sat down on the bed. Sasha waited for her to respond but they continued watching each other silently.
When the silence became too uncomfortable, Sasha looked away, angry at herself. In a moment of vulnerability, she decided to say what was on her mind for so long. But now, Bayley had no answer for her. Her knee was injured, she could not walk. They lost twice in a row to a dysfunctional, make-shift tag team. They lost all the gold but Bayley’s blue belt. Everything was destroyed. And now their friendship, the last thing they had together, was also destroyed with her words.
Sasha could feel hot tears filling her eyes as she refused to look at Bayley. She also noticed that her knee ached more without the ice pack, and she chose to focus on her physical pain compared to her mental anguish. She destroyed the Hugger. She destroyed the Role Model. She destroyed their tag team. Why did she have to destroy everything? And why was Bayley so bad at helping to rebuild things?
Sasha shut her eyes, hoping this would hold back the tears. She prayed silently that she would not cry in front of Bayley. Maybe it was not that serious. Maybe it did not matter. Maybe Bayley was right and they should go their separate ways because this was not working, and nothing ever worked out in their favor.
Bayley leaned into Sasha and kissed her lips. Bayley’s lips were unusually soft, gentle and warm.
Sasha’s heart rate quickened and she opened her eyes, stunned at what her lips had just experienced. Her best friend just kissed her. Or was she imagining things? Could her own pain and anguish of tonight have caused so much dysregulation in her brain that she was imagining that Bayley kissed her?
That Bayley would want to kiss her?
After everything that has happened?
She stared at Bayley with her mouth open, a blank expression etched on her face.
“I’m sorry, Sasha, I guess I shouldn’t of done th-that,” Bayley stammered, glancing away in an embarrassed fashion.
Without thinking, Sasha grasped into Bayley’s tank top and leaned forward to kiss her deeply. Their kissing quickly became chaotic, as if this was a moment they had waited for, for years. Bayley held Sasha’s lower back while Sasha cupped Bayley’s face.
They pulled away briefly for a breath before resuming another deep kiss. Bayley was addicting, she invaded all of Sasha’s senses just with her lips and tongue. Sasha could feel the heat in her mouth rising until it spread quickly like a wildfire, reaching every pore in her body. Even in her state of immobility, she tried with all her might to get closer to Bayley’s muscular body.
“I love you too, Sasha. I’ve always loved you too,” murmured Bayley, when they pulled away again to hold each other.
“I’m sorry I’ve never said it before, I was afraid of…” Bayley continued, and trailed off, tenderly looking into Sasha’s warm gaze.
“It’s OK, baby, I was afraid too. Afraid, we’d lose each other if we ever talked about this. It was easier just living in the moment, just chasing the gold,” said Sasha, sadly.
Bayley giggled, the same laughter that popularized Bayley Dos Straps in their reign. “Yeah, and we managed to get all the gold! No one will ever forget our Power Trip, something for the girls and women out there to look up too, right Boss?”
“We did that!” Sasha exclaimed, and her fingers drummed Bayley’s chest to emphasize her point.
It did not matter what happened at the past pay-per-views, or what happened tonight, Sasha and Bayley cemented their place in wrestling history, a place that no other women were able to reach. They helped each other ascend an unknown mountain. Their loyalty and friendship brought them there. So what would something new, like romance, bring them?
Possibly something transcendent, more than gold.
“But we all know what’s coming, right? Everyone will want it to be me versus you for the Smackdown title,” Bayley mumbled, suddenly serious.
Sasha mused on this before answering thoughtfully. “At some point, yes, we knew it was coming since your challengers fell short. And when it happens, we’ll be in the ring as two great competitors and not as enemies.”
Bayley smiled at these words but there was a nagging thought in the deep regions of her mind, the other reason why she did not dare make a “more-than-friends” move on Sasha until now: “What’s everyone going to think about us now? Our co-workers… fans… your publicist and team… if they found out that we’re together—”
“I don’t care, I’ve stopped caring about them and you should too, Bay. We can’t change what they think, we can only do what’s best for each other.”
Bayley nodded appreciatively, holding Sasha’s hand in the pause in conversation. That dread seemed to subside a little but there will always be the question of: what will tomorrow bring? But they have supported each other for so long, and stuck beside each other for so long, the real question should be: what or who could stop them from finally being together as a couple?
“You’re right, Boss. How’s the knee?” Bayley motioned her head to the side, as she looked down at Sasha’s left knee that was encased in a knee brace.
Sasha scoffed a bit. “Pain’s not too bad. They think it might be just a strain or bruise, and we’ll see what the MRI says tomorrow.”
“I’ll go with you, anything you need,” Bayley responded quickly, gripping her hand tightly.
Sasha smiled at Bayley’s eager, gentle face. “Anything?”
Bayley chuckled. “Yes, anything.”
“Why don’t you go and pour Mamacita a glass of red wine, and then let’s get some sleep,” Sasha laughed. Bayley smiled sheepishly at the use of the Spanish slang she would often use to refer to Sasha.
“Of course… and sleep… together?” Bayley asked uncertainly, in a shy, quiet voice.
“Together,” Sasha affirmed, nodding and grinning at her love.
Bayley squeezed her hand and kissed her briefly before exiting the room to retrieve her wine.
The blue belt, the only semblance of gold that remained between the two women, lay abandoned on the cushions, its decorations and jewels hidden since it was toppled over, appeared so plain: just a gray strap of leather.