Randy’s companion, a raven-haired beauty and card-carrying fag hag
named Debbie Jacobs, munched on her popcorn. “I can’t see what attracts
you to the guy. If you ask me, he’s got a hot body, but that’s about
it. He’s got the brains of a split pea.”
“You haven’t even met him yet,” Randy replied, the tension in his
stomach mounting to Huge Fucking Butterfly levels. He’d been worried
that Debbie would be skeptical about his blossoming romance with a
professional wrestler, but he’d hoped she wouldn’t start off with quite
such an openly negative attitude.
“He just got hit by a chair. Twice. And he let the guy do it.
Believe me, he’s got the brains of a split pea, and that’s being
insulting to split peas. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure this Kyle guy is
fine for a quick fling, but you’ve been acting like he’s The One, and I
just can’t see that.”
“He’s sweet,” Randy replied. “He’s just a really nice guy, and he treats me like I’m Einstein.”
“Compared to him, you are.”
“I admit, at first it was his hot bod that attracted me, but it’s developed beyond that. I’m really falling for the guy.”
“Seems like you might fall quite literally. I’m betting he’ll want
to body slam you before sex or something like that. He looks like he’s
got that gorilla mentality.” Debbie chewed more popcorn. “How on earth
did you ever meet up with this guy? Didn’t you say he was a closet
case? You didn’t meet up at a club, then. And I’m pretty sure he isn’t
a customer at your bookstore. That guy never progressed beyond Hop on Pop.” She found a kernel that hadn’t popped and spit it back into the bag.
“Would you give him a chance?” Randy pleaded. “I really like this guy, Debbie. I want the two of you to get along.”
An older gentleman near them was staring not at the ring but at
Debbie, or more precisely at Debbie’s chest. She caught him and flashed
the guy an angry glare. “Hey, Gomer, the action is down there in the
ring.” The man flushed and shifted his gaze back to the middle of the
gym.
In the ring, the tide of events had turned. Kyle Temple had
managed to kick El Toro in the genitals without the referee catching
him. After several punches to El Toro’s face that would, in a real
fight, have resulted in the Hispanic boy suddenly sporting at the very
least a bloody nose but instead simply gave El Toro a stunned look,
Kyle leaped up and dropkicked the handsome kid right out of the ring.
“So violent,” Debbie muttered.
“It’s not real,” Randy reminded her.
“Well, duh. That poor little bastard would have been wheeled out
of here on a cart minutes ago if these blows were actually landing full
force.”
“It’s like playacting,” Randy continued, picking up on Debbie’s
condescending attitude toward his new beau’s chosen profession.
“They’re enjoying themselves and entertaining the crowd. What’s wrong
with that?”
A grimy teen seated in front of Randy turned around, a sneer on
his pimpled face. “You can’t fake that shit, dude. Say that any louder
and Kyle Temple will come up here and pound the fuck out of you.”
Randy shrugged. “He pounded the fuck out of me pretty good last night, actually.”
Debbie laughed, nearly choking on her popcorn.
The teen frowned in confusion before turning back to watch the action in the ring.
Sweat was making Kyle’s long light-brown hair stick to his face
and neck. He took a second to pull some strands out of his eyes before
hoisting El Toro over his shoulders for the Torture Rack finisher. El
Toro screamed his submission, and the referee quickly called for the
bell to ring.
“I don’t suppose he did that last night,” Debbie said as Kyle unceremoniously dumped his opponent’s body onto the canvas.
“Can’t say he did. But then, I wasn’t putting up much of a fight, either.”
The referee held up Kyle’s hand in triumph as the crowd booed
loudly. El Toro was lying at Kyle’s feet, curled up in a fetal
position. For good measure, Kyle kicked the beaten wrestler in the
stomach before climbing out of the ring.
Debbie shook her head. “I don’t get it. He won. Why is everyone booing?”
“Kyle’s the heel. He’s the bad guy. The crowd is supposed to hate
him. If they cheered he’d actually be upset, since that would mean he
wasn’t presenting his character correctly.”
Narrowing her eyes at Randy, Debbie said, “It worries me that you
know all this. This is a side of you I’ve never seen before. You didn’t
grow up putting your friends in headlocks and half nelsons, did you?”
Randy helped himself to a small handful of her popcorn. “Kyle’s
been explaining it all to me. It’s really quite fascinating. It’s a
world unto its own, kind of like a circus in a way. And yes, I grew up
putting my friends in headlocks and half nelsons. It was the only way I
knew to get some body contact with them.”
The announcer climbed into the ring as Kyle and, more slowly, El
Toro made their way out of the gym. With the usual announcer gusto, he
introduced the next bout. Two more wrestlers entered the ring, climbing
in at their appropriate corners.
“I see what you mean,” Debbie said, staring forward. “About it being like the circus. Oh. My. God. They’re midgets.”
Randy’s cheeks reddened. “Yeah, I guess they are. Although isn’t
the current politically correct term vertically challenged individuals?”
“They’re midget wrestlers.”
“I’m sure they—”
“Your new boyfriend works with midgets. Midgets who wrestle. Do you see what I’m saying here?”
“Debbie,” Randy said, giving her his best puppy dog look, “I
really want you to like Kyle. I want you guys to get along. It’s
important to me.”
Debbie’s glare melted somewhat. “I’ll try,” she promised, “but
it’s not going to be easy. I mean, look at the people watching this
shit. That kid”—she indicated the dirt-streaked teen in front of
Randy—“hasn’t had a bath this century, and the last book he cracked
open had things pop back up at him.”
The kid in question turned. “Hey, fuck you, lady. I had a bath last week.”
The look Debbie returned was stony. “I stand corrected.”
Randy grabbed her elbow. “Come on. We don’t have to stick around
for the rest of the show. We can go find Kyle and go out and get
something to eat.” Randy wasn’t actually eager to get his best friend
and his new boyfriend face to face, but he knew Debbie’s penchant for
picking fights, and he wanted to get her away from the teenager as
quickly as possible.
Debbie stood, brushing popcorn remains off her blouse. “I guess we
can get something to eat. This Kyle does eat something other than
squirrel, doesn’t he?”
As they passed the teen on their way down the bleachers, he looked
at Randy challengingly. “Hey, mister. Were you serious? Is Kyle Temple
a fag? Did he really fuck you last night?”
Randy stopped in his tracks. He hadn’t actually paid much
attention to what he’d been saying, having spent most of his life
blurting out whatever was on his mind regardless of who was present.
Remembering Kyle’s closeted status, he looked around to make sure no
one but the kid could hear his reply. “Yeah. Yeah he is, and yeah, he
did.”
The teen looked thoughtful. “Next time he plows your ass,” he said, “can you ask him for an autograph for me?”
Being an avid WWE fan (and yes I have a humongous crush on Jean-Paul Le'Vesque - Triple H to you uneducated people out there), I cannot wait to read this book. Thank you for sharing with us Stephen and I wish you many sales! I know you've sold me!