cannonball
Nov 10, 2016 20:18:07 GMT -5
Post by bmac on Nov 10, 2016 20:18:07 GMT -5
November 4th, 2016
*OFF CAMERA*
“Aaaaand, done!”
Molly dropped her arms to her side and began taking deep breaths as her friend Ashley set the bench press bar back on it’s rest. Molly rolled off the bench and sat down on it, breathing heavily as she tried to regain her energy.
“Damn I’ve never seen you bench so much,” Ashley said as she sat down across from Molly. “You never do upper body stuff.”
Molly looked around the room in her condo that she had turned into a personal gym. It wasn’t very big, but it had enough. Molly hadn’t found a gym she liked close enough to her condo in Philly, so she decided to just make her own small one. It turned out better than she expected, so she was pretty happy. “I know. I didn’t really care before because I don’t use a ton of upper body with my wrestling style. But honestly I just want to get stronger so that I can punch Envi in the face until it breaks.”
“Yeah you really don’t like that kid do you?” Ashley asked as she tossed Molly a towel, which she used to wipe some sweat from her face. “For good reason, I should add.”
Molly crunched her face as she thought about the past little bit of her wrestling career. While she still owned the Pride Championship, pretty much every single time she stepped into an FGA arena she was looking over her shoulder for Evan Envi. “You would too if he was costing you matches. Like I just don’t know what to do about it. I keep waiting for the higher-ups to do literally anything about it, but they seem pretty keen to just let him do whatever he wants. Kind of frustrating to be honest.” She wasn’t kidding about that last part. At first she didn’t think much of it. There wasn’t much they could do about Envi running down to the ring. And they did kick him out of her Pride title match. But then just last week he was down in her match as a guest commentator. Like nothing had happened.
“I don’t know, from my angle it looked like you were taking it easy on Annie at the end there,” Ashley teased with a smile, before it vanished with one stern look from Molly.
“Fuck that. No offense to Annie but she only won because I loosened my grip.” Molly said, angrily.
Ashley grinned again at hearing Molly say that. She wasn’t used to hearing Molly talk about her friend like that. “So you admit you loosened it on purpose?”
“Of course I did.” Molly said, again with anger clear in her voice. “I was about to let go of her and go get my belt back. Then she rolled me up before I could even process what was happening.” Molly shook her head. “I mean I’d have done the same thing if I were in her shoes and so hats off to her but yeah. No Evan, no escape for her. Guaranteed. But what can I do?”
Ashley look at her with a serious expression on her face, “Well maybe it’s time to start taking matters into your own hands, yeah?” she asked, rhetorically. “Can’t expect anyone to look out for you except yourself.”
Molly shook her head. “And do what? Start fucking around with his matches? Attack him backstage? I don’t want to sink to his level. I’ve moved past that stuff, maybe once upon a time it worked for me, but that’s not me anymore. I’ll do my talking in the ring.”
Ashley shrugged as she stood up and started walking towards the door. “Sometimes sinking to their level is the only thing you can do,” she said, matter-of-factly. “Or you can just wait for something that you and I both know is never going to happen.” With that, Ashley was out of the room in dramatic fashion.
November 10th, 2016
*ON CAMERA*
“Hey y’all! How’s everyone doing? Good I hope. I don’t have quite as much time as I’ve had in the past so I’m going to get right into things.”
“Fuck Evan Envi.”
“Fuck him. I don’t care if people don’t want me to say that or are upset or whatever. Fuck that guy more than anything in the whole world. I hate him. Last week I had our match won. I don’t want to take anything away from Annie but I had her locked in with that hold. She wasn’t getting out. The Envi saw that. And he can’t let me win anything can he? So he steals MY title belt. The belt that I earned after beating him. Of course I’m going to go after him. Of course I’m going to go get my title back. Kudos to Annie, she found herself in a hopeless situation before suddenly, hope appeared, and she took advantage. That’s why she’s wrestling for a chance at the world championship on Saturday. And I honestly believe that she’ll win. She just has that confidence about her lately, the ability to get past anything. So go Annie.”
“But again, if Envi is nowhere near that match, Annie doesn’t escape that hold. And does anyone really think Ruby would’ve beaten me later in the night? No, Evan basically cost me a chance to fight for the world championship on Saturday. That’s why I hate him. Because every chance I get, every opportunity I have, he’s trying to take it away from me. He refuses to let me have anything. He tried to do that with this Pride Championship, but he failed. So now he’s upping his game. Costing me a chance at the world championship. Well guess what Evan? You’ve got my attention now. I don’t need to focus on any world title aspirations now do I? All I need to care about is you. Fuck you. I’m going to kick your teeth down your damn throat. You beat me once and you seem to think you’re un-Molly Kick-able? Why don’t you step into the ring with me again Evan. Why don’t you let me show you just how un-kickable you really are? I don’t want to wait until our match. I want you to step into the ring with me right now. Then we’ll see what’s up.”
“But I’m sure you won’t. So until then, I’ll have to just deal with your bitch ass trying to ruin things for me as usual. Because lord know FGA won’t do anything about you. To Lenny T, to the other higher-ups in FGA, I don’t understand this. You’ve let Evan fuck around with me for months. I’m FGA’s Pride Champion. Currently that’s the highest championship in this company. And yet last week, not only did you do nothing, you invited Evan out to help with commentary. Like come on. I’m going to address this further on Saturday. So I hope you listen then FGA. Because this is getting frustrating.”
“Anyways, fuck Evan Envi but I’ve got another fish to fry this week. I’m stepping into the ring with former FGA World Champ Johnny Cannon. Certainly one of my biggest challenges to date here in FGA. Cannon is easily one of the top wrestlers in this company. Easily. Week in and week out he shows up and kicks ass. I admire him. I look up to him as a wrestler. Just like I did to Zero, just like I do to all the top stars in FGA and around the world. I have so much respect for Cannon’s in-ring ability. But that’s in the ring. Outside of it? Meh.”
“He’s been doing a lot of bitching lately, but honestly I can kind of understand it. He was the rightful FGA World Champion, something he fought hard for and earned. Then he got that triple threat match with Zero and Tony and lost when Tony was pinned. So he wasn’t pinned and he still lost his championship. That sucks, but it happens. But then he didn’t even get a rematch? That’s kinda shady. And then Zero walks out of the company, and instead of giving Cannon a straight-up opportunity to win, they have this big tournament to determine a new champion. I won’t lie, I loved it. It gave sixteen people the same chance of becoming world champion. Allowed people we wouldn’t have otherwise seen compete for it get a chance. But from Cannon’s perspective, it’s a big slap in the face. The last champion who wasn’t pinned and didn’t get his rematch has to go through the same path as everyone else to get the title back? It sucks, that’s for sure.”
“But look. That’s what happened. There’s nothing that bitching and whining would do to change that. So Cannon still had the chance to win his way to that title. But he didn’t. You had an easy path to get your title back, and yet you couldn’t overcome your partner-in-crime and his partner. Sure you had Kevin “I’m going to tear this company apart actually no I quit” Hardaway on your side. But Tony had Ryan Lecavalier. That’s pretty much a wash. You can’t blame your partner for not beating Tony in this match. That’s all you had to do and you’d be the one fighting for the title this Saturday, and I’d be fighting Tony instead. But you didn’t. You whined and whined and then couldn’t back anything up.”
“What I don’t understand Johnny, is why you carried Tony like you did. I know, I know, you guys are equal partners, you could never be torn apart, New Kings kill all. But you won the FGA World Championship. Not Tony. Then who cost you the title? Tony, when Zero pinned him. You didn’t need him Johnny, he just dragged you down and in the end, he cost you your title. And now? Saturday night he might be the one holding the world championship that you so believe should be yours. I just don’t get it. But hey, I’m not a part of the New Kings so maybe I’ll never get it. I’m just some generic run of the mill cookie cutter female wrestler right? We’re all the same right? But yet here I am as the Pride Champion. Here I am calling you a bitch for how you’ve been whining lately. You’re not the real FGA World Champion. If you were, you’d win this tournament. Zero beat you and now you’re looking for any excuse to justify not getting a chance to fight for the title.”
“I hope you’re pissed off Johnny. I want to wrestle the most pissed-off, hate-fueled, rage-driven Johnny Cannon there is. Because I want you to be at your best when I kick you square in your jaw. I know you think I’m just some carbon copy of every female wrestler out there. An Annie Zellor wannabe. So keep thinking that. Just so you can see how damn wrong you are when you step into that ring with me. Cause when you feel my fist connect with your face for the first time, you’re going to realize you made a mistake. When you knock me to the ground only to see me get right back up and keep coming at you, you’re going to realize that I’m not just like any other wrestler. When you find yourself on your back because you underestimated Molly Reid.”
“You’re a phenomenal wrestler Cannon. I’ll never deny that and I’ll defend that against anyone. But so am I. And I’m sick and fucking tired of people treating me like some generic bitch. I’m done being nice about it. So sure, call me whatever you want. Underestimate me if you choose to. But Saturday night I’m bringing the fight to you. Hi, I’m Molly Reid. We’ve never met. But you’re about to get a real quick and real violent introduction on Saturday night. I hope you’re ready for it.”
October 31st, 2016
*OFF CAMERA*
“Like the shirt?”
Molly looked up from her phone and laughed as Ashley came out of her bedroom wearing a shirt that read ‘Lick me till ice cream’. Molly went back to looking at her phone to check out her hair and make sure it was still done up like she wanted. The two of them were going to a Halloween party later that night, with a sort-of 1950’s high school theme to it. So Molly was dressed in this tight pinstripe outfit that looked sort of like a principal, while Ashley had a tutu on with her shirt. They weren’t the greatest costumes, but they were good enough. “Love it.” she replied.
“You think people in the 50’s had these sex puns on their shirts?” she asked.
Molly laughed again. “I don’t people in the 50’s had anything on their shirts.” she said, “weren’t they all just plain colors or like plaid?”
“Fuck if I know,” Ashley shrugged as she pushed her tutu down a bit. “This thing is way too small, I’m about to flash everyone at this party all night.”
Molly rolled her eyes jokingly at that, making sure Ashley saw her. “Like you weren’t going to do that anyways.”
“Whatever Molly,” Ashley said in feigned dismissiveness. “Dom’s coming right?” she asked, looking back at Molly, who nodded. “Good. We gonna have some fun again?”
“Maybe you two can bang and I can just sit in the corner” Molly said, clearly not happy having to say that. She had made a bet with Annie that the loser of their match wasn’t allowed to have sex for a full week. So any halloween shenanigans with Dom and Ashley were off limits.
“Oh right, that stupid bet. Whatever, yeah, you can just watch. Get me water if I’m thirsty or something,” Ashley joked before ducking the incoming pillow that Molly launched at her. “It’s a joke Molly!”
“Whatever.” Now it was Molly’s turn to feign annoyance. Ashley sat down across from her and lifted her legs up to check out her nails. “I’m still surprised you came with me to be honest. You never come to Philly with me.”
“Yeah well I needed to get out of town for a few days for my own safet…” Ashley trailed off as she realized what she was saying.
“Sorry what was that?” Molly said, realizing she was finally catching Ashley slipping up. Ashley had been hiding something from Molly for a long time now. Every time Molly pushed her on it, Ashley would dismiss it, or change the subject. This time, Molly wasn’t going to let her off the hook.
“I..uh..just some things you know.” Ashley said, trying to end the discussion quickly.
Molly leaned over and grabbed Ashley’s shoulders and looked at her. She waited until Ashley met her gaze before talking. “Ashley. I’m not stupid. I know something’s going on. And you’re going to tell me right now.”
“Molly it just doesn’t really matter, it’s nothing.”
“Ashley. You need to tell me. If you’re going to keep living with me, you need to tell me what’s going on. No more secrets, ok?”
Ashley sat there for a few moments, clearly weighing her options. Finally she sighed. “Alright. Fine. But you can’t tell anyone ok? It’s got nothing to do with anyone but I just can’t have this getting out. Promise?”
“Of course Ashley,” Molly said. “I promise.”
“Alright. Well…” Ashley began, “I didn’t exactly come back to Los Angeles just to see you again.”
“Then why?”
Ashley took a deep breath again. “I came back to get revenge on Brandon Macdonald.”
“What?” Molly said, not sure if she was hearing Ashley right. “Like Brandon my trainer, my friend Brandon?”
“Yep. My ex-fiance Brandon.” Ashley replied. Molly had completely forgotten that Brandon and Ashley were engaged once. It was before Molly really knew either of them. “He’s not who he says he is Molly.”
“What do you mean?”
“You remember that whole Mexico fiasco? The undercover thing?”
“Of course,” Molly said. A few years ago Brandon had vanished, and later reports came out that he was murdered as part of a raid on a Mexican drug cartel. Then he reappeared a year later with the DEA saying he had been working undercover for them. Brandon used to be a SEAL so Molly didn’t think it was anything really out of the ordinary. Plus she always suspected that he still must have had some connections to Mexico.
“Yeah that was all bullshit.” Ashley said.
Molly looked at her. “What do you mean?”
“Brandon was never working undercover for them,” Ashley stated matter-of-factly. “Years ago when Brandon and I were engaged, he got caught up in this cartel because of his ex-wife dating a mob boss who had ties there. He needed the money, plus he was an adrenaline junkie, so he loved it. I tried to convince him otherwise but he wasn’t having any of it. That’s why I ended it. I didn’t want to be any bit involved in that. But I swore I’d never tell anyone. And we kept in contact. So I knew about everything. He vanished because they needed someone to go help run stuff. Then when he’s down there, he misses America. So he orchestrates a big set up with the DEA. He gives them a bunch of cartel leaders, and they get to say that he was working undercover the entire time. But in reality, he just wanted to get rid of anyone higher than him and any competition. Now he’s the one in charge and he’s living comfortably down in LA and nobody has any clue. Except me.”
Molly just stared at her for a few minutes, trying to process everything. “Ashley you know how ridiculous that sounds right?” she asked, clearly doubting most if not all of the story.
“Molly, I have never and will never lie to you. I’m telling the truth about this.” While still skeptical, Molly knew Ashley had never lied to her before. She would avoid telling her things, but she’d never actually straight-up lied to Molly.
“Ok. So let’s say this is all true. Why do you care? It’s not affecting you is it?” Molly asked.
“Because Brandon tried to have me killed.”
Silence.
“What?” Molly asked after what felt like a full minute of dead quiet.
“I knew the whole thing. So Brandon tried to take me out of the picture when he was gone. Lucky for me, I had enough money to pay the guy he hired more to help me fake my death. Moved to the east coast, started calling myself Ashley Matthews, and basically went about life there, planning how I was going to fix this.”
“So you came back because you finally figured it out?” Molly asked, still rightfully very skeptical of everything.
“Yep. I’m going to take Brandon down. Expose everything. Plans are already in motion. But clearly he found out about me being back and so getting out of town for a few days to rethink things seemed like the best plan.”
Molly didn’t want to be the one to tell Ashley that she was the one who told Brandon that Ashley was back. “And you brought me into this, why?”
Ashley looked at Molly with a sad look in her eyes. “I’m sorry Molly. But around you I thought I’d be safer because Brandon likes you. He wouldn’t try anything if you were involved.”
“So you used me?” Molly asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No!” Ashley said quickly. “I really did miss you Molly. You’re my best friend. You always will be. No matter what I was going to come back and see you. I just thought this way I could kill two birds with one stone.”
Molly shook her head as she continued to try to process this. This was all too much for her to handle. “Look Ashley, I trust you. But you’re asking me to believe something that I’d have a hard time taking seriously in a movie. Like, can you prove any of this?”
Ashley nodded. “I can. Give me a few days when we’re back in LA and I’ll show you I’m not lying about any of this.”
Molly nodded her head back. “Ok.” Molly sat for a few minutes, as her brain refused to process anything. She shook her head. “Dammit Ashley I can’t think now.”
“I’m sorry Molly. This is why I didn’t want to tell you.”
Molly sat for a few moments in silence. “Alright. Let’s just forget this happened and enjoy tonight. I can worry about this in the morning, yeah?”
“Works for me!” Ashley said, smiling. Molly smiled faintly back, as she stared at her friend. Was her best friend going crazy? The late night stuff, the police, and now this story. Molly was scared for Ashley. Whether she was telling the truth or not, she clearly believed it was the truth. And that scared Molly the most.
*OFF CAMERA*
“Aaaaand, done!”
Molly dropped her arms to her side and began taking deep breaths as her friend Ashley set the bench press bar back on it’s rest. Molly rolled off the bench and sat down on it, breathing heavily as she tried to regain her energy.
“Damn I’ve never seen you bench so much,” Ashley said as she sat down across from Molly. “You never do upper body stuff.”
Molly looked around the room in her condo that she had turned into a personal gym. It wasn’t very big, but it had enough. Molly hadn’t found a gym she liked close enough to her condo in Philly, so she decided to just make her own small one. It turned out better than she expected, so she was pretty happy. “I know. I didn’t really care before because I don’t use a ton of upper body with my wrestling style. But honestly I just want to get stronger so that I can punch Envi in the face until it breaks.”
“Yeah you really don’t like that kid do you?” Ashley asked as she tossed Molly a towel, which she used to wipe some sweat from her face. “For good reason, I should add.”
Molly crunched her face as she thought about the past little bit of her wrestling career. While she still owned the Pride Championship, pretty much every single time she stepped into an FGA arena she was looking over her shoulder for Evan Envi. “You would too if he was costing you matches. Like I just don’t know what to do about it. I keep waiting for the higher-ups to do literally anything about it, but they seem pretty keen to just let him do whatever he wants. Kind of frustrating to be honest.” She wasn’t kidding about that last part. At first she didn’t think much of it. There wasn’t much they could do about Envi running down to the ring. And they did kick him out of her Pride title match. But then just last week he was down in her match as a guest commentator. Like nothing had happened.
“I don’t know, from my angle it looked like you were taking it easy on Annie at the end there,” Ashley teased with a smile, before it vanished with one stern look from Molly.
“Fuck that. No offense to Annie but she only won because I loosened my grip.” Molly said, angrily.
Ashley grinned again at hearing Molly say that. She wasn’t used to hearing Molly talk about her friend like that. “So you admit you loosened it on purpose?”
“Of course I did.” Molly said, again with anger clear in her voice. “I was about to let go of her and go get my belt back. Then she rolled me up before I could even process what was happening.” Molly shook her head. “I mean I’d have done the same thing if I were in her shoes and so hats off to her but yeah. No Evan, no escape for her. Guaranteed. But what can I do?”
Ashley look at her with a serious expression on her face, “Well maybe it’s time to start taking matters into your own hands, yeah?” she asked, rhetorically. “Can’t expect anyone to look out for you except yourself.”
Molly shook her head. “And do what? Start fucking around with his matches? Attack him backstage? I don’t want to sink to his level. I’ve moved past that stuff, maybe once upon a time it worked for me, but that’s not me anymore. I’ll do my talking in the ring.”
Ashley shrugged as she stood up and started walking towards the door. “Sometimes sinking to their level is the only thing you can do,” she said, matter-of-factly. “Or you can just wait for something that you and I both know is never going to happen.” With that, Ashley was out of the room in dramatic fashion.
November 10th, 2016
*ON CAMERA*
“Hey y’all! How’s everyone doing? Good I hope. I don’t have quite as much time as I’ve had in the past so I’m going to get right into things.”
“Fuck Evan Envi.”
“Fuck him. I don’t care if people don’t want me to say that or are upset or whatever. Fuck that guy more than anything in the whole world. I hate him. Last week I had our match won. I don’t want to take anything away from Annie but I had her locked in with that hold. She wasn’t getting out. The Envi saw that. And he can’t let me win anything can he? So he steals MY title belt. The belt that I earned after beating him. Of course I’m going to go after him. Of course I’m going to go get my title back. Kudos to Annie, she found herself in a hopeless situation before suddenly, hope appeared, and she took advantage. That’s why she’s wrestling for a chance at the world championship on Saturday. And I honestly believe that she’ll win. She just has that confidence about her lately, the ability to get past anything. So go Annie.”
“But again, if Envi is nowhere near that match, Annie doesn’t escape that hold. And does anyone really think Ruby would’ve beaten me later in the night? No, Evan basically cost me a chance to fight for the world championship on Saturday. That’s why I hate him. Because every chance I get, every opportunity I have, he’s trying to take it away from me. He refuses to let me have anything. He tried to do that with this Pride Championship, but he failed. So now he’s upping his game. Costing me a chance at the world championship. Well guess what Evan? You’ve got my attention now. I don’t need to focus on any world title aspirations now do I? All I need to care about is you. Fuck you. I’m going to kick your teeth down your damn throat. You beat me once and you seem to think you’re un-Molly Kick-able? Why don’t you step into the ring with me again Evan. Why don’t you let me show you just how un-kickable you really are? I don’t want to wait until our match. I want you to step into the ring with me right now. Then we’ll see what’s up.”
“But I’m sure you won’t. So until then, I’ll have to just deal with your bitch ass trying to ruin things for me as usual. Because lord know FGA won’t do anything about you. To Lenny T, to the other higher-ups in FGA, I don’t understand this. You’ve let Evan fuck around with me for months. I’m FGA’s Pride Champion. Currently that’s the highest championship in this company. And yet last week, not only did you do nothing, you invited Evan out to help with commentary. Like come on. I’m going to address this further on Saturday. So I hope you listen then FGA. Because this is getting frustrating.”
“Anyways, fuck Evan Envi but I’ve got another fish to fry this week. I’m stepping into the ring with former FGA World Champ Johnny Cannon. Certainly one of my biggest challenges to date here in FGA. Cannon is easily one of the top wrestlers in this company. Easily. Week in and week out he shows up and kicks ass. I admire him. I look up to him as a wrestler. Just like I did to Zero, just like I do to all the top stars in FGA and around the world. I have so much respect for Cannon’s in-ring ability. But that’s in the ring. Outside of it? Meh.”
“He’s been doing a lot of bitching lately, but honestly I can kind of understand it. He was the rightful FGA World Champion, something he fought hard for and earned. Then he got that triple threat match with Zero and Tony and lost when Tony was pinned. So he wasn’t pinned and he still lost his championship. That sucks, but it happens. But then he didn’t even get a rematch? That’s kinda shady. And then Zero walks out of the company, and instead of giving Cannon a straight-up opportunity to win, they have this big tournament to determine a new champion. I won’t lie, I loved it. It gave sixteen people the same chance of becoming world champion. Allowed people we wouldn’t have otherwise seen compete for it get a chance. But from Cannon’s perspective, it’s a big slap in the face. The last champion who wasn’t pinned and didn’t get his rematch has to go through the same path as everyone else to get the title back? It sucks, that’s for sure.”
“But look. That’s what happened. There’s nothing that bitching and whining would do to change that. So Cannon still had the chance to win his way to that title. But he didn’t. You had an easy path to get your title back, and yet you couldn’t overcome your partner-in-crime and his partner. Sure you had Kevin “I’m going to tear this company apart actually no I quit” Hardaway on your side. But Tony had Ryan Lecavalier. That’s pretty much a wash. You can’t blame your partner for not beating Tony in this match. That’s all you had to do and you’d be the one fighting for the title this Saturday, and I’d be fighting Tony instead. But you didn’t. You whined and whined and then couldn’t back anything up.”
“What I don’t understand Johnny, is why you carried Tony like you did. I know, I know, you guys are equal partners, you could never be torn apart, New Kings kill all. But you won the FGA World Championship. Not Tony. Then who cost you the title? Tony, when Zero pinned him. You didn’t need him Johnny, he just dragged you down and in the end, he cost you your title. And now? Saturday night he might be the one holding the world championship that you so believe should be yours. I just don’t get it. But hey, I’m not a part of the New Kings so maybe I’ll never get it. I’m just some generic run of the mill cookie cutter female wrestler right? We’re all the same right? But yet here I am as the Pride Champion. Here I am calling you a bitch for how you’ve been whining lately. You’re not the real FGA World Champion. If you were, you’d win this tournament. Zero beat you and now you’re looking for any excuse to justify not getting a chance to fight for the title.”
“I hope you’re pissed off Johnny. I want to wrestle the most pissed-off, hate-fueled, rage-driven Johnny Cannon there is. Because I want you to be at your best when I kick you square in your jaw. I know you think I’m just some carbon copy of every female wrestler out there. An Annie Zellor wannabe. So keep thinking that. Just so you can see how damn wrong you are when you step into that ring with me. Cause when you feel my fist connect with your face for the first time, you’re going to realize you made a mistake. When you knock me to the ground only to see me get right back up and keep coming at you, you’re going to realize that I’m not just like any other wrestler. When you find yourself on your back because you underestimated Molly Reid.”
“You’re a phenomenal wrestler Cannon. I’ll never deny that and I’ll defend that against anyone. But so am I. And I’m sick and fucking tired of people treating me like some generic bitch. I’m done being nice about it. So sure, call me whatever you want. Underestimate me if you choose to. But Saturday night I’m bringing the fight to you. Hi, I’m Molly Reid. We’ve never met. But you’re about to get a real quick and real violent introduction on Saturday night. I hope you’re ready for it.”
October 31st, 2016
*OFF CAMERA*
“Like the shirt?”
Molly looked up from her phone and laughed as Ashley came out of her bedroom wearing a shirt that read ‘Lick me till ice cream’. Molly went back to looking at her phone to check out her hair and make sure it was still done up like she wanted. The two of them were going to a Halloween party later that night, with a sort-of 1950’s high school theme to it. So Molly was dressed in this tight pinstripe outfit that looked sort of like a principal, while Ashley had a tutu on with her shirt. They weren’t the greatest costumes, but they were good enough. “Love it.” she replied.
“You think people in the 50’s had these sex puns on their shirts?” she asked.
Molly laughed again. “I don’t people in the 50’s had anything on their shirts.” she said, “weren’t they all just plain colors or like plaid?”
“Fuck if I know,” Ashley shrugged as she pushed her tutu down a bit. “This thing is way too small, I’m about to flash everyone at this party all night.”
Molly rolled her eyes jokingly at that, making sure Ashley saw her. “Like you weren’t going to do that anyways.”
“Whatever Molly,” Ashley said in feigned dismissiveness. “Dom’s coming right?” she asked, looking back at Molly, who nodded. “Good. We gonna have some fun again?”
“Maybe you two can bang and I can just sit in the corner” Molly said, clearly not happy having to say that. She had made a bet with Annie that the loser of their match wasn’t allowed to have sex for a full week. So any halloween shenanigans with Dom and Ashley were off limits.
“Oh right, that stupid bet. Whatever, yeah, you can just watch. Get me water if I’m thirsty or something,” Ashley joked before ducking the incoming pillow that Molly launched at her. “It’s a joke Molly!”
“Whatever.” Now it was Molly’s turn to feign annoyance. Ashley sat down across from her and lifted her legs up to check out her nails. “I’m still surprised you came with me to be honest. You never come to Philly with me.”
“Yeah well I needed to get out of town for a few days for my own safet…” Ashley trailed off as she realized what she was saying.
“Sorry what was that?” Molly said, realizing she was finally catching Ashley slipping up. Ashley had been hiding something from Molly for a long time now. Every time Molly pushed her on it, Ashley would dismiss it, or change the subject. This time, Molly wasn’t going to let her off the hook.
“I..uh..just some things you know.” Ashley said, trying to end the discussion quickly.
Molly leaned over and grabbed Ashley’s shoulders and looked at her. She waited until Ashley met her gaze before talking. “Ashley. I’m not stupid. I know something’s going on. And you’re going to tell me right now.”
“Molly it just doesn’t really matter, it’s nothing.”
“Ashley. You need to tell me. If you’re going to keep living with me, you need to tell me what’s going on. No more secrets, ok?”
Ashley sat there for a few moments, clearly weighing her options. Finally she sighed. “Alright. Fine. But you can’t tell anyone ok? It’s got nothing to do with anyone but I just can’t have this getting out. Promise?”
“Of course Ashley,” Molly said. “I promise.”
“Alright. Well…” Ashley began, “I didn’t exactly come back to Los Angeles just to see you again.”
“Then why?”
Ashley took a deep breath again. “I came back to get revenge on Brandon Macdonald.”
“What?” Molly said, not sure if she was hearing Ashley right. “Like Brandon my trainer, my friend Brandon?”
“Yep. My ex-fiance Brandon.” Ashley replied. Molly had completely forgotten that Brandon and Ashley were engaged once. It was before Molly really knew either of them. “He’s not who he says he is Molly.”
“What do you mean?”
“You remember that whole Mexico fiasco? The undercover thing?”
“Of course,” Molly said. A few years ago Brandon had vanished, and later reports came out that he was murdered as part of a raid on a Mexican drug cartel. Then he reappeared a year later with the DEA saying he had been working undercover for them. Brandon used to be a SEAL so Molly didn’t think it was anything really out of the ordinary. Plus she always suspected that he still must have had some connections to Mexico.
“Yeah that was all bullshit.” Ashley said.
Molly looked at her. “What do you mean?”
“Brandon was never working undercover for them,” Ashley stated matter-of-factly. “Years ago when Brandon and I were engaged, he got caught up in this cartel because of his ex-wife dating a mob boss who had ties there. He needed the money, plus he was an adrenaline junkie, so he loved it. I tried to convince him otherwise but he wasn’t having any of it. That’s why I ended it. I didn’t want to be any bit involved in that. But I swore I’d never tell anyone. And we kept in contact. So I knew about everything. He vanished because they needed someone to go help run stuff. Then when he’s down there, he misses America. So he orchestrates a big set up with the DEA. He gives them a bunch of cartel leaders, and they get to say that he was working undercover the entire time. But in reality, he just wanted to get rid of anyone higher than him and any competition. Now he’s the one in charge and he’s living comfortably down in LA and nobody has any clue. Except me.”
Molly just stared at her for a few minutes, trying to process everything. “Ashley you know how ridiculous that sounds right?” she asked, clearly doubting most if not all of the story.
“Molly, I have never and will never lie to you. I’m telling the truth about this.” While still skeptical, Molly knew Ashley had never lied to her before. She would avoid telling her things, but she’d never actually straight-up lied to Molly.
“Ok. So let’s say this is all true. Why do you care? It’s not affecting you is it?” Molly asked.
“Because Brandon tried to have me killed.”
Silence.
“What?” Molly asked after what felt like a full minute of dead quiet.
“I knew the whole thing. So Brandon tried to take me out of the picture when he was gone. Lucky for me, I had enough money to pay the guy he hired more to help me fake my death. Moved to the east coast, started calling myself Ashley Matthews, and basically went about life there, planning how I was going to fix this.”
“So you came back because you finally figured it out?” Molly asked, still rightfully very skeptical of everything.
“Yep. I’m going to take Brandon down. Expose everything. Plans are already in motion. But clearly he found out about me being back and so getting out of town for a few days to rethink things seemed like the best plan.”
Molly didn’t want to be the one to tell Ashley that she was the one who told Brandon that Ashley was back. “And you brought me into this, why?”
Ashley looked at Molly with a sad look in her eyes. “I’m sorry Molly. But around you I thought I’d be safer because Brandon likes you. He wouldn’t try anything if you were involved.”
“So you used me?” Molly asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No!” Ashley said quickly. “I really did miss you Molly. You’re my best friend. You always will be. No matter what I was going to come back and see you. I just thought this way I could kill two birds with one stone.”
Molly shook her head as she continued to try to process this. This was all too much for her to handle. “Look Ashley, I trust you. But you’re asking me to believe something that I’d have a hard time taking seriously in a movie. Like, can you prove any of this?”
Ashley nodded. “I can. Give me a few days when we’re back in LA and I’ll show you I’m not lying about any of this.”
Molly nodded her head back. “Ok.” Molly sat for a few minutes, as her brain refused to process anything. She shook her head. “Dammit Ashley I can’t think now.”
“I’m sorry Molly. This is why I didn’t want to tell you.”
Molly sat for a few moments in silence. “Alright. Let’s just forget this happened and enjoy tonight. I can worry about this in the morning, yeah?”
“Works for me!” Ashley said, smiling. Molly smiled faintly back, as she stared at her friend. Was her best friend going crazy? The late night stuff, the police, and now this story. Molly was scared for Ashley. Whether she was telling the truth or not, she clearly believed it was the truth. And that scared Molly the most.
