Jen meets Violet

“Uh… you guys go ahead…” Jen told her friends. Her eyes were still following Violet. “I think I’ll get us some drinks…”

Sam looked at her predisposed companion with a quirked eye but slowly nodded. “Alright then… I’ll take a diet coke.”

Sonya and Sam let Jen go and follow the trail of her alluring wrestling fanatic all the way to the refreshments. There was only one concession stand at the venue which meant that the lineup was going to be very long. This gave Jen some hope that she could muster up enough courage to actually talk to this Violet girl before they got up to order. She fast-walked towards the line, bobbing and weaving through traffic, skirting by couples and families lollygagging in the hallway and darting up to the back of the line before anyone could cut in between her and the subject of her attention.

Jennifer breathed a sigh of relief. She had made it without incident and was now within breathing distance of the woman she had been eyeing all night. Just staring at the silky black locks of her new crush was making Jen’s heart palpitate faster. She worried that the throbbing would be loud enough for others to hear because it was pounding in her ears. She felt a growing anxiety in her chest that threatened to shut her down before she could even talk to the girl. She wanted to speak with her but didn’t know how to start a conversation with an insanely attractive woman with the charisma to light up a room. Jen could already see a bunch of guys eyeing the promising young woman as well, talking amongst themselves to see who would have the nerve to start up a conversation with the radiant beauty.

Jen could feel her opportunity slipping away. If she didn’t say anything soon, she could lose the chance to forever! She sucked up her nerves and thought about Sonya and Sam. They would probably be able to talk to strangers with no problem. They were confident and easy to talk to. She just needed to find her own confidence. Like when she wrestled. Violet liked wrestlers. She could just tell her that she wrestles. But would Violet even believe her? Jen was starting to fret as her thoughts started circling into the drain of despair.

“Hey… are you here alone?” a guy asked Violet. “Because I could keep you company if you want…”

“She’s with someone!” Jen blurted out protectively. She knew Violet was with her dad and his friends, so she was actually just stating a fact, but the guy took it another way.

“Oh. You?” he said, surprised but chill about the idea. “OK, alright. Sorry about that!” he said, holding up his hands and backing off.

“Sorry,” Jen told Violet, after the guy left. “I know you… I mean, my friend knows you. She said you were with your dad. Umm… I know it sounds weird, we were uh, people watching and um… well, you know Samantha, right? Your babysitter? I mean, not your babysitter now, you’re way too old for a babysitter now, former babysitter…” Deep inside, Jen was cringing into a shriveled up prune. “Sorry, I saw you two talking earlier and she said you were with your dad… and…”

Violet laughed. “Heh heh…. OK! That’s an info dump! Yeah, Sam used to babysit me! She was cool and she seems to have cool friends! Thanks for looking out for me.” She smiled which made Jen’s belly flutter. “So, were you “volunteered” to get snacks too? I should have thought of getting someone to come with me to act as a buffer… and to help carry the food. Ha ha!” They shared a laugh.

“I bet it must happen a lot,” Jen said, “... you getting hit on by guys.”

“Sometimes,” Violet nodded slowly. “Usually I just tell them that I have a boyfriend.”

“Oh. You do?”

“Not currently, but it works,” she smiled and shared another laugh with the petite blonde. “Hey, want to pretend we’re hanging out so we don’t get hit on by other guys?”

“Uh, yeah! Of course!” Jen agreed, lighting up. She smiled expectantly, not knowing what people did when hanging out. She started to realize that outside her wrestling circle, she was not very social. She tried to think of conversations to start, then realized that Violet didn’t even know her name. “Oh! I’m Jen by the way!”

“Nice to meet you! I’m Violet, but you can call me Vi!” Violet replied. “So, what do you think of the show so far?”

“It’s been great! This is actually my first live show!” Jen revealed.

“Really? Wow! Well, congratulations on your first time!” Violet smiled. “Did Sam bring you out?”

“Yeah, she’s more into this than me,” Jen said.

“You’re not into wrestling?” Vi asked. Jen noticed the young woman’s eyes dim a bit.

“Oh! I am!” Jen compensated. “I’m more into the sports side of things though. I actually wrestle a bit, myself!”

“You do?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s why Sam thought I might be interested in this,” Jen said, then noticed the weird look Violet was giving her. “What? You can’t see a little pipsqueak like me wrestling?” Jen joked nervously. “Actually, I’m still kind of a beginner. I’ve been learning as I go, at the club at school.”

“Oh? What school do you go to?”

“Olympia. It’s got a high end wrestling gym!” Jen left out the part that she’s only used said gym once, for a submission match. She tried to change the subject to take the focus off her and her questionable wrestling history. “Have you thought about wrestling yourself? I couldn’t help noticing that you were really into things back there. At some points you were drawing more attention than the wrestlers! We’re sitting across from you so it was kind of easy to tell.”

“Oh!” Violet responded, covering her cheek. “I get away from myself sometimes. It’s a bad habit. My dad says that it’s good to hype up the crowd to get them into matches, but sometimes I’m afraid I’m stealing their spotlight. I hope I wasn’t being too distracting!”

“I couldn’t take my eyes off of you…” Jen uttered before quickly adding, “But you seem to have that magnetic personality. You’d probably shine in the ring!”

“Me? Noooo!” Violet gasped and gave off her melodic laugh that tugged at Jen’s heartstrings. “I mean, I guess I’ve thought about it, but was never that serious about it. That’s fantasy stuff. It’s ‘make believe’ story telling.”

“So you’d be more interested in real wrestling?” Jen’s hopes of getting Violet to try out WSW were rising.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I LOVE the storytelling! That’s like the whole reason I enjoy the shows! The athleticism is a nice added layer.” Jen’s hopes dropped.

“I guess not everyone’s into getting physical. Watching a match can be fun too,” Jen shrugged, letting out a quiet sigh.

“No, hey, I could get physical! I used to be on the cheer squad! We had to be very athletic for that! ” Violet countered.

“But you’re not interested in wrestling?”

“I mean, sometimes when I watch, I feel like I could be a part of it, but that’s silly. I’d need training and stuff to do that. I wouldn’t know where to start.”

Jen’s heart surged. She raised her hand like she was in class. “Me! I could teach you!” she said enthusiastically. “I mean, yeah I’m still learning, but I could teach you what I know!”

Violet pouted her lower lip and tapped her chin as she looked up in thought. “Ah right! You mentioned you wrestled. So, you do, like, amateur wrestling?”

“Well, it’s a different style than amateur, but that would be the foundation for what I do,” Jen clarified.

“Huh? I thought there was only Pro Wrestling and Amateur,” Violet said. “What is this? Some sort of secret martial art thing?” she chuckled.

“Sort of…?” Jen responded, not sure how she should come out with it.

Violet’s eyes brightened up a bit as she looked squarely at the petite blond. “Now I’d really love to see one of your shows!” she replied.

“Oh. Um… we don’t actually do shows…” Jen said. “I mean, there are shows… just not for me… I’m a rookie, so I do private matches… no crowds, no cameras…”

“Well, OK, I can get that. So, what are these shows called? Where can I find them?” Vi asked, pulling out her phone.

Jen started to get nervous. Violet was actually showing interest in her and she didn’t want to scare her off by exposing her to the freaky things they did in submission wrestling. She also didn’t want to lie to her. She thought frantically about how she should explain the whole WSW premise.