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“Harley I got your SOS text, are you okay? If it’s the Triangle I swear to god” Kris Statlander was still in her pajamas, having run from her hotel room to Harley’s.
It was late but thankfully she was still awake to see the text sent to her by her friend Harley Cameron. With Blood and Guts so close everyone was on edge, waiting for any surprises or sneak attacks.
“No! Everything is not alright! I am trying to get my beauty rest and I have been accosted by a spider! An insect! An arachnid! I need you to remove it immediately!” Harley took Kris by the shoulders and shook her as she spoke.
“A spider? Harley you scared the shit out of me I thought you were being attacked or something. Also, aren't you Australian? You’ve dealt with spiders bigger than your head, I doubt anything here rivals that”
Shit. Harley had forgotten about that. Well not about being Australian, she was Aussie through and through! Just the spider bit, seemed like a good enough excuse everyone was afraid of spiders. She could think fast though, she was quick on her feet. Like a cat! But this cat needed to land on her feet and trick her friend with good intentions!
“Yes but you see Kris…I have developed a recent fear! Due to the uh, well the scary Thekla of course! She has frightened me so deeply that whenever I see a spider, I am reminded of her backbending freaky shit. Please go kill it!” She lightly pushed Kris.
“Alright alright, where did you last see it?” Kris headed to the door as Harley got ready to open it for her.
“You’re a good gal Stat! By the window, happy hunting!” She opened the door and pushed Kris inside.
As soon as Statlander was in the room the door immediately shut behind her. Hearing the noise someone walked out of the bathroom.
“Harls is that you? I couldn’t find th-Kristen?” Willow Nightingale walked out to see Kris and froze.
“Willow what are…god damn it Harley”, Kris whirled around and headed to the door, rattling the knob but finding it wouldn’t open.
“Harley! Are you fucking parent trapping us?” Kris banged on the door.
“My friends I’m afraid I must! With the battle of the ages around the corner we must be cohesive and united! And to be honest you both have a really weird vibe so I’m afraid this is necessary” Harley’s voice was slightly muffled through the door. Kris had stopped trying to force it open and moved away as Willow moved to speak through the door.
“Harls? Look I know it’s been tough for you, having your friends not really get along. But are we sure this is the best course of action?”
“It is. I’ve discussed it with the rest of the team and we’re all in agreement. Jamie said, and I quote, ‘That sounds fuckin’ hilarious you have to do it’”, Harley mimed in an over the top British accent, “And Timeless Love Bombs asked if they could join and I said no. But worry not, for I shall be here every step of the way! Unless I need to eat. Or sleep. Or go to the bathroom. Actually I’m quite hungry, and this hallway is not comfortable. I’ll be back soon!”
Willow heard the faint noises of Harley scampering away and sighed, “Well she’s not coming back”.
“So, should we talk then?” Kris sat nervously on the edge of the bed, gripping the sheets.
Willow scoffed, “We have nothing to say to each other. We just need to tough it out for the night and whenever Harley remembers that we’re here, we’ll just tell her it’s all sorted out”.
“You really can’t expect her to believe that. Willow the weirdness is so obvious I think every single wrestler in the company has noticed. It’s like a giant neon sign above us that says, ‘Hello! Something happened here!’ We should at least try to talk shouldn’t we?”
Willow moved to stand in front of Kris and poke her in the chest, with the other sitting down Willow finally had some height on her, “Did you plan this? Did you and Harley concoct some weird scheme to get me to talk to you? Because if you did Kristen, that’s really not gonna help with me forgiving you”.
Kris winced at the use of her full name being used. Willow was really the only person who called her that, but it was only while she was angry. But for the past year or so, Kris’s mere presence made Willow angry.
“No, no this is not a scheme I promise here let me show you my…my phone is gone”, Statlander checked her pockets where her phone once was and seemed to have mysteriously disappeared.
“Damnit, that’s why Harley’s been practicing magic”, Kris muttered under her breath.
Willow checked her pockets and found her phone missing as well, “Well that rules out calling for help. And she took the room phone, jeez she thought everything through. Doesn’t matter!” she shook her head to refocus herself and looked down at Kris, “So let’s assume you had zero part in this. It doesn’t change anything. You and I are going to sit in silence for the rest of the night. No matter what Harley says in the morning, we’re over it and we’re moving on”. Willow moved to sit down on the chair in the corner.
Kris opened her mouth to respond and immediately closed her mouth again at the dirty look the other wrestler shot her.
Willow, satisfied that Stat knew better than to cross her, she closed her eyes and resolved to at least try and get some rest.
It became an increasingly difficult task though. Because Kristen
Wouldn’t
Stop
Moving
As Willow tried to rest, Kris stood up and moved around, trying to find a way out. It was like an escape room! Right? So the window wouldn’t budge, phones were gone, someone seemed to have tampered with the emergency button in the bathroom, the door was still stuck, nothing seemed to work, but Kris could figure it out! She also hoped that Harley would be the one footing the bill for the room damages because she couldn’t deal with any more stress.
The bed creaked and Willow opened one eye to see Kris fiddling with the air conditioner. The last bit of patience left her body as she snapped, “Kristen! Sit still! For once!”
Statlander flinched again at the use of the full name, but quickly took her hands off the AC unit and sat on the bed, looking down at her hands as if she were a kicked puppy.
This time Willow took notice of the flinch in response to her full name, and in a deep, dark part of herself that she only went to for the most violent of matches, Willow felt a seed of satisfaction bloom. She made Kris Statlander, the world champion, the peak of the division, and the woman who had hurt her so deeply, flinch. Just by using her name.
And as soon as she felt that feeling bloom the rest of her mind moved to stomp that feeling away. She shouldn’t be feeling any joy at seeing Stat hurt, yes the alien wrestler had hurt her, but they hurt each other. And it wouldn’t do her any good to wound the other further, it was clear that the cold shoulder was already doing enough damage.
Feeling some internal need to make it right, Willow sighed and opened her eyes, “If we were to talk, emphasis on if, Kris I really feel like there’s nothing else to say. You’ve apologized, you said you were going to move on, that you’re a big strong independent girl who doesn’t need anyone, and now we’re back to the beginning of you apologizing. So what else is there to say?”.
Kris looked up at Willow as she spoke, a small spark of hope in her eyes. And as Willow finished she sat quietly for a few moments, trying to find the best way to respond.
“I lied”
“You lied? About apologizing?”
“No, about the other thing. About being independent and not needing anyone. I…I lied. Do you know how lonely I was?” Kris moved forward a bit, as if pulled in magnetically to the other wrestler.
The sudden earnestness coming from Statlander made Willow sit up a little straighter, and look at the alien in soft surprise.
“Ever since the Chicago Street Fight, and until Harley befriended me, I was alone. That was about a year I think. Wrestling is not a lonely sport, just about everyone here has someone, A friend, someone to watch their back, a shoulder to lean on, even the fucking crazy evil ones. You had the Conglomeration and like half of the women’s locker room to watch your back. Everyone in this company has someone to turn to, and I didn’t”, Kris crossed her arms and tightly gripped her elbow, as if trying to fold in on herself.
“I was so fucking lonely, and so I tried to convince myself I didn’t need anyone else, that I was okay being alone. The galaxy is vast and desolate, I could survive that, I could survive a wrestling company. So I told the world I was moving on and didn’t need anyone, in a desperate attempt to convince myself it was true”, as she spoke Kris seemed to spiral more and more, as if lapsing back into that lonely time.
Willow felt her gut twist in sympathy for her former friend, and moved to sit on the bed near the spiraling alien.
Kris looked up at the movement on the bed, seeing the look of concern on Willow’s face, and quickly looking away again, “Look I’m not saying this for pity or anything I’m just trying to”. She moved her hands like she was trying to grab something in the air, as if the words would materialize and she could show Willow her intent, “I don’t know, explain where my head was at afterwards. It’s not an excuse it’s just, trying to give you all the facts so you can make a decision from there. I’m not expecting forgiveness tonight,” she let out a hollow huff of laughter, “I’m not expecting forgiveness ever. I just need you to know everything”.
Kris felt a streak of courage and lifted her head up, looking Willow in the eyes and reaching out to hold the other’s arms, “When the Death Riders were doing…whatever the fuck they were doing, trying to court me or something, I was tempted. I was tempted because they were the only people in that locker room acknowledging me, looking me in the eye, treating me like a person and not a ghost. The other times I felt real were when I was wrestling, because I could make you see me. The only thing that kept me from joining in the beginning,”
Stat felt her voice die a bit in her throat, "was the image of Mox wiping you out that one night. You were so still, and I was so scared. I couldn’t check on you because I know I would just make it worse, but I couldn’t forgive him for doing that to you. And as soon as I befriended Harley I knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to do that to her. I almost said yes. So many times. But I couldn’t”.
She had almost forgotten about that, when Moxley had slammed her head against the mat and her neck issues flared up again. She hadn’t realized Kris had seen it, no wonder the alien had steered clear of her those few weeks.
“Look, Krist-Kris. That sounds terrible. Genuinely, I’m so sorry you have to go through that,” Willow put a hand on Kris’s, still holding her arm, “I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone. And I know you’ve changed, I’ve seen it. Kris you are good. You’re a good person and a good wrestler. You’ve been spending the past few months trying to protect everyone from those Triangle weirdos and whatever Ford and Bayne call themselves. And you’re not doing it to prove something to me, you’re doing it because you care.” Willow poked Kris in the chest to punctuate the last two words.
“Me moving on,” Willow sighed, “it honestly has nothing to do with you now. It’s just something stupid that I keep holding on to”.
Statlander looked outraged at the idea and stood up quickly, startling the other wrestler, “It’s not stupid. If you’re having trouble moving on then it’s not stupid. What can I do to help? Do you want to hit me? You can hit me.” Kris closed her eyes and braced for impact.
Only to feel a gentle hand on her arm, opening her eyes to see Willow with a soft smile on her face.
“Like I said Stat, it has nothing to do with you. And you think too much like a wrestler, not everything is solved with violence”, she gave a quiet chuckle and pulled Kris to sit back down on the bed with her.
“I can’t move on because-”
“You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to I mean”
“I do, I want to tell you. Me not telling you is hurting you and…I don’t want to hurt you anymore. Just, let me get it all out there before you say anything?”
Kris nodded in agreement.
“When you were evil, you were evil for like a few months, and only to me. Yeah you were a bit more of a bully in the ring, but you only went out of your way to hurt me, and no one else. ANd you did this for so little time, in comparison to how long people in this business are usually at each other’s throats for. And when you weren’t evil you just…stopped. It was such a quick turn around I feel like I got whiplash from it.” Willow rubbed the back of her neck for emphasis.
“So here we are, over a year later, and everyone seems to have forgotten you were evil. I mean why wouldn’t they? You didn’t do anything to them and it was so little time. So for four months, my best friend tormented me, and immediately afterwards apologized and tried to move on. And the world did. The world kept turning and I was stuck there in my hurt. And I’m still stuck there. I’m stuck because I feel like if I keep going and the world keeps turning, that what you did to me disappears and doesn’t matter anymore. And that terrifies me, Kris.” Willow gripped the hem of Stat’s oversized shirt that had a picture of a flying saucer and the words, ‘Probe Me’, on it.
Sensing Willow was done, Kris put her hands over Willow’s, “It won’t ever disappear, I promise. It always lives with me. It’s a mistake I will never make again. It’s a choice I made that I will never even consider again”.
“Why was it even a choice in the first place?”
“...Stokely-”
“Oh my god, him? Him? You know I begged Tony for an intergender match so I could kick his ass. As much as I didn’t like you Stat, I don’t think I’ve ever hated someone as much as I hate Stokely Hathaway”
Kris chuckled, “I would give so much money to see you fight Stokely. And I would put every cent I own on you winning”.
“You better! The only person who would ever bet against me in that fight is me, so I could lose and win a giant pot”
“You would be able to buy AEW at that point I think. And look, I know he’s a slimeball and kind of an idiot. But something about having him behind me filled me with more confidence than I ever had in my entire life. Looking back it was definitely unearned and my ego was out of control, but the concept that someone’s whole job is to be there and make sure you succeed, for no other reason but because they believe you can, it was intoxicating”
Willow nodded in understanding, she could see how that could get to someone’s head.
“And one night he told me to imagine my heroes. The best wrestlers I could think of at their absolute peak, and who they had at their side. And the answer was no one. The adage is true, it is lonely at the top. And at that moment there were two thoughts in my head. The first, was that to get to the top I needed to be alone. And the second, was that you were on your way to the top, how long would it take till you realized you didn’t need me anymore?” Kris’s voice cracked at the last word.
“So I thought I had to hurt you before you hurt me, to protect myself. And because…” Statlander hesitated to say it. The words that she and Willow had been dancing around for over a year now. It was unspoken between them, they knew the other knew, but saying it aloud made it real, and it was the scariest thing they could think of.
“Because I was in love with you. I was so helplessly and deeply in love with you and I was scared of what that meant. That it was a distraction, a-a weakness that I had. And if anyone knew how hopelessly in love with you I was they would find a way to use it against me. And I know the logic of me hurting you so no one would hurt you to get to me is deeply, deeply flawed, but clearly I was not in my right mind then”
Willow let in a sharp intake of breath when Kris said love. Her mind reeled while Stat finished her rambling confession, trying to piece the others perspective with her own.
“Stat I-”
“And I know it’s too late and I don’t expect you to f-”
“Girl you have got to stop interrupting me, I might shock you and be vulnerable!” Willow teased as Kris closed her mouth and let the other finish.
“Stat…I felt the same way. Then. I did, and that’s part of why it hurt so much for you to turn on me. It felt like the strongest rejection in the world, that you didn’t feel the same”
Willow couldn’t bring herself to say the L-word. Well she could say lesbian all the time, what a fun word to say. But not the big 4 letter word that seemed to seep into all the songs, art, and story plot devices across time.
But even while she couldn’t bring herself to truly admit how much was reciprocated, Statlander seemed shocked that any feeling was returned at all.
“You, you did?”
Willow laughed at the look of disbelief on Kris’s face, “Yeah I did Stat. You’re very charming you know. I mean Toni has been after you for years now, even after you beat her twice for the belt”.
“She has?”
“I forgot how oblivious you are. Yeah Stat, like half the women’s locker room would climb you like a tree if given the chance”
Statlander knew that people found her attractive but the wrestlers that made comments about it, like Toni, talked about everyone like that. It was a locker room full of sickos (affectionate).
“I guess I hadn’t really thought about it. I thought that after I was evil for a bit no one would want to touch me with a ten foot pole”
“Well in their defense, you were pretty bad at being evil”
Kris felt a strange sense of defensiveness, “Hey I wasn’t that bad! I beat you up in a street fight!”.
“Yeah and you turned on me after I lost the gold! You’re supposed to betray your friend when they win the gold, that's evil wrestler 101!” Willow couldn’t help the smile breaking out on her face as she bantered with her old friend again. And while Kris huffed in annoyance, Willow could see the smile that tugged on the edges of her lips, threatening to break free.
“Alright why don’t you do it then! If it’s so easy to be evil!”
“Maybe I will, it’s been a while since I’ve had a title shot. Maybe I’ll just have to…snatch-” Willow used the lull to spring into action and half-tackle Statlander so that she was laying flat on the bed with Willow hovering over her, “that gold from you”.
Statlander looked up at Willow in wonder, hair falling around her like a halo, as she grinned down at the alien, arms on either side of Kris’s head.
“If you asked I’d give it to you. I’d win every championship in the world just to give it up for you. I’d go into Blood and Guts alone and win if you asked. I’d fight the world, I’d give up fighting forever if you wanted. Did you know there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on Earth? I’d count every single one for you. I know you don’t want any of that, I know you’d never ask, but I want you to know that I would”
Willow shifted her weight so she was kneeling on the bed next to Stat, and had her arms free so she could gently cup the other’s cheek.
“You’re right, I wouldn’t ask. I will get a title shot, but it’s because I did it the right way. And besides, Harley and I have a different kind of gold on our minds. I do appreciate the speech though.” Willow kissed Kris’s forehead and while they were still close murmured, “It was very romantic”.
Kris pushed herself up to her elbows as Willow pulled back, so their faces were still close.
“Is it too late? For us? I know so much has changed. I know I’ve changed, for better or for worse. But do you think we could? In time?”
“I don’t think it’s too late babe,” Willow moved her thumb across Statlander’s cheek as if wiping away an imaginary tear, “I think last time it was just too early”.
“DID IT WORK? PLEASE TELL ME MY FLAWLESS PLAN WORKED!”
Harley broke the door open and shouted as she entered, praying that she wouldn’t find blood or clothes on the ground.
The sight she was instead greeted with was the heads of her best friends in the whole wide galaxy, sleepily glaring at her from the bed. It seemed that sometime in the night they had tangled up in each other to form some sort of Gordian Knot that could be confused for cuddling.
“Ha ha! It worked! Lindsay Lohan, you have never steered me wrong!” Harley belly flopped onto the bed and wiggled her way between Statlander and Willow.
“Please please please tell me we’re all friends again. One big happy threesome!”
Kris cringed as Willow put a hand on Harley’s shoulder and said, “Please never say that again. And yeah Harls, we’re friends again. I believe I’m owed a cat on my face”.