Post by Andrew Jacobsen on Oct 20, 2012 1:18:33 GMT -6
”Mike Laszlo. The first guy to step up and talk trash about me. Wasn’t even minutes after I’d done what everyone thought was impossible, what would be explained away…or attempted to be explained away…by a deluge of excuses, insults and putdowns in the coming weeks…you opened your mouth and declared that you were better than me. That you’d win Road to the Gold and beat me for the World Championship. And here we are. The guy that talked trash ad nauseam, who got lucky when Will Washington got yanked and still almost lost to the backup…he got knocked out in the second round by Roberto Verona. Who, by the way, is my pick to win it all. Not because I don’t want to deal with Adam Knite, because I’ve pinned his ass to the canvas before. No, it’s because I know he’s got something that Adam doesn’t. He needs this.”
“Just like you probably thought you needed it, Mike. But instead, you started talking and talking, and your mouth started writing checks left and right. We found out your bank account wasn’t big enough for your ass to cash one of those, since you got bounced out of the tournament. Now, I get to find out if you can back up all you’ve been saying about me. See, I know I can beat you. I can beat anyone on this roster, so long as I don’t have a crazy cat lady hanging off of my ankle. But nothing I say is going to change you. Because that’s not how you are. That’s not the kind of man you are, and it never has been. You don’t care what I say about you. Hell, you don’t care about anything I say. Why would you? It’s not like I’m a real threat, not in your eyes.”
“Nope, I’m just a road bump, a goon that happens to be holding your rightful title…isn’t that it? That’s what the narrative inside your head is saying, and that’s what you’ll believe no matter what the facts are. See, Mike, if you’re right, and I’m really this nobody that has no business being champion…if you can beat me so handily, like you claim…then you have my congratulations. You beat a nobody. You beat a pissant, a joke, you beat up on the laughingstock of this company. But here’s…here’s where it all falls down. I’m not a nobody. I am not a joke. And I won’t let you try to diminish what I’ve done and who I am, you arrogant bastard.”
“Like it or not, belittle me or not…I have heard people try to diminish what I did so much and in so many ways, and the fact of the matter is that if Xander Famularo were truly better than me, then he would have been able to beat my ass. People rag on me having my teammates. Trent Helms loathed me. He was there to spite Kelly. Falcon was there to get back at Lex, nothing more. It started with me and Xander, it ended with me and Xander. I won because I did what only one man had done. And that man, Mikey? That other guy? He knocked you out of title contention…and I plastered him with the Lights Out and pinned him about a month and a half ago. So if he’s good enough to beat you, and I’m good enough to beat him…what makes you think your chances are good against me?”
“Mike, I’m not taking away from the fact that you’re a tremendous athlete. I know I’ll have to work hard for the win. But I also know that I can and absolutely should kick your ass. Why? Not just because you opened the floodgates to the legion of doubters, not just because every syllable out of your mouth oozes smarm. Hell, not even because you have the most atrocious facial hair I’ve seen on anyone in my entire life, and I had to sit through Will Washington’s embarrassing attempts to grow a beard. No, I’m going to beat you because, in short, I know I’m a better wrestler than you. I know you can’t match me as an athlete, a technician, or a fighter. I know I can beat you because I know I can beat either of the men that’re fighting to be the number-one contender to MY World Championship. I know that either one of them is an obstacle I can overcome. So Mike, you can do one of two things. You can step up and you can prove that you’re the elite athlete you claim you are…or you can sit down, shut up, and let me show you how it’s done.”
Open on Andrew and Danielle, sitting across a table in a coffee shop from each other. Andrew sips a cup of coffee, while Dani appears to be sticking with water. Andrew stirs a bit of sugar into the drink, taking another sip, and he looks back up to Danielle with a smile on his face.
”You could have ordered something. I was buying.”
Danielle shakes her head, frowning a bit as she sips her water and looks right back at Andrew.
”Nah, I’m good. Just…just wanted to get down to business.”
Andrew nods, running a hand through his hair, and grins at Danielle again, who seems unaffected by the attempts to pour on the charm. Andrew, noticing this, clears his throat hastily and continues.
”Anyway…so, you got what I sent you, and I’m pretty sure you’ve had time to look it over. Does my genius agent have any ideas as to how I can become a more effective representative of this company and a better wrestler to serve as their World Champion?”
Danielle nods, sipping her drink before setting it down and looking him in the eyes once again. Her gaze is cool, clinical, almost inhuman in its detached intensity, something which appears to rattle Andrew.
”Yes, and I can think of one question I need answered right away: what am I really to you, Andrew?”
He blinks, caught off guard by the question, and sets his own drink down, looking at Danielle with a confused expression written all over his face.
”I, uh, I’m sorry?”
Danielle keeps her gaze locked right on him, speaking quietly and forcefully as her stare drills right into him.
”You heard me. I want to know what I mean to you and what you see me as. Am I a friend? Am I a business associate? Or am I just a plaything, something for you to toy around with while you’re off doing God knows what with God knows who? Y’see, I ask because unlike you, who seems to have forgotten about how we were when we first met, I still remember. I remember looking over at night and seeing you beside me, and every single time I have to look at you I get reminded that all you see those nights as is a phase, you trying to fit a mold. I was just a phase for you, and it’s like you’re twisting the knife every time we meet. I see you with women, I see you with…with her, with your so-called best friend…and I can’t take it anymore. So, just answer me that question: what am I? Because I don’t think I can stand being second fiddle anymore.”
Andrew blinks, rubbing his eyes, and tries to pull himself together. He takes a deep breath, exhaling before leaning back. Andrew scratches the nape of his neck, looking away, and when he speaks it’s the rattled voice of a man who clearly didn’t want to be in the position he is now.
”…I never forgot. But I knew that what I was doing, it was…it was me giving in to a dark, base part of me that just wasn’t who I really am. I care about you, Danielle. You’re my friend, and you always will be. I know what happened between us, what we were to each other. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss you being there some nights…okay, most nights. But the fact of the matter is…I can’t be the man you want me to be. I don’t think of you that way. You’re more than your body, you’re a friend and you’re important to me. I hate that what happened is doing this to us, but…I can’t change the past, and I don’t want either of us to live a lie. Emma’s my best friend, nothing more. I couldn’t think of her that way if I wanted to, and one delirious and probably drunken assault notwithstanding, I’m pretty sure she feels the same way. I’m sorry if it feels like I’ve pushed you aside, but…if what you want me to be is your man…I can’t be the man you want me to, plain and simple. I’m sorry…but it’s true.”
Danielle nods, taking a deep breath, and holds her head up high, looking down at Andrew over her glasses. The cold glare she shoots him is a withering reminder that she wasn’t always the smiley, normally well-humored person we’ve come to know over the last year-plus. She stands, taking her purse in hand.
”Well, I’m sorry about that. But unfortunately, I…I just can’t serve as your advisor anymore. You’ll have to make the calls from here on out, Andrew. I’ll be sure to watch, but…unless I come to some big personal revelation or you do, I don’t think I can safely maintain our business relationship. I’m going to have to step back as your official consultant, suspending all financial transactions between the two of us. Yes, I’m aware you kept paying. And no, I won’t stop you. Frankly, I think you need this. I think you need to walk on your own again…you need to grow up, Andrew. And if this doesn’t do it, then maybe losing to Mike Laszlo will be enough of a wake=up call. Goodbye.”
With that she turns and walks away, Andrew watching her go. He’s numbly stunned, only able to watch as Danielle walks to her car, gets in, and starts the ignition, pulling out of the parking lot and driving away from her former employer. Andrew looks back at his drink, staring for a few seconds that seem to feel like an eternity. Finally, he stands up, looking thoroughly downcast, and he walks away, leaving both of their drinks on the table. We fade out on the image of the coffee steam curling through the air, framing Andrew as he walks away, shell-shocked.
“Just like you probably thought you needed it, Mike. But instead, you started talking and talking, and your mouth started writing checks left and right. We found out your bank account wasn’t big enough for your ass to cash one of those, since you got bounced out of the tournament. Now, I get to find out if you can back up all you’ve been saying about me. See, I know I can beat you. I can beat anyone on this roster, so long as I don’t have a crazy cat lady hanging off of my ankle. But nothing I say is going to change you. Because that’s not how you are. That’s not the kind of man you are, and it never has been. You don’t care what I say about you. Hell, you don’t care about anything I say. Why would you? It’s not like I’m a real threat, not in your eyes.”
“Nope, I’m just a road bump, a goon that happens to be holding your rightful title…isn’t that it? That’s what the narrative inside your head is saying, and that’s what you’ll believe no matter what the facts are. See, Mike, if you’re right, and I’m really this nobody that has no business being champion…if you can beat me so handily, like you claim…then you have my congratulations. You beat a nobody. You beat a pissant, a joke, you beat up on the laughingstock of this company. But here’s…here’s where it all falls down. I’m not a nobody. I am not a joke. And I won’t let you try to diminish what I’ve done and who I am, you arrogant bastard.”
“Like it or not, belittle me or not…I have heard people try to diminish what I did so much and in so many ways, and the fact of the matter is that if Xander Famularo were truly better than me, then he would have been able to beat my ass. People rag on me having my teammates. Trent Helms loathed me. He was there to spite Kelly. Falcon was there to get back at Lex, nothing more. It started with me and Xander, it ended with me and Xander. I won because I did what only one man had done. And that man, Mikey? That other guy? He knocked you out of title contention…and I plastered him with the Lights Out and pinned him about a month and a half ago. So if he’s good enough to beat you, and I’m good enough to beat him…what makes you think your chances are good against me?”
“Mike, I’m not taking away from the fact that you’re a tremendous athlete. I know I’ll have to work hard for the win. But I also know that I can and absolutely should kick your ass. Why? Not just because you opened the floodgates to the legion of doubters, not just because every syllable out of your mouth oozes smarm. Hell, not even because you have the most atrocious facial hair I’ve seen on anyone in my entire life, and I had to sit through Will Washington’s embarrassing attempts to grow a beard. No, I’m going to beat you because, in short, I know I’m a better wrestler than you. I know you can’t match me as an athlete, a technician, or a fighter. I know I can beat you because I know I can beat either of the men that’re fighting to be the number-one contender to MY World Championship. I know that either one of them is an obstacle I can overcome. So Mike, you can do one of two things. You can step up and you can prove that you’re the elite athlete you claim you are…or you can sit down, shut up, and let me show you how it’s done.”
Open on Andrew and Danielle, sitting across a table in a coffee shop from each other. Andrew sips a cup of coffee, while Dani appears to be sticking with water. Andrew stirs a bit of sugar into the drink, taking another sip, and he looks back up to Danielle with a smile on his face.
”You could have ordered something. I was buying.”
Danielle shakes her head, frowning a bit as she sips her water and looks right back at Andrew.
”Nah, I’m good. Just…just wanted to get down to business.”
Andrew nods, running a hand through his hair, and grins at Danielle again, who seems unaffected by the attempts to pour on the charm. Andrew, noticing this, clears his throat hastily and continues.
”Anyway…so, you got what I sent you, and I’m pretty sure you’ve had time to look it over. Does my genius agent have any ideas as to how I can become a more effective representative of this company and a better wrestler to serve as their World Champion?”
Danielle nods, sipping her drink before setting it down and looking him in the eyes once again. Her gaze is cool, clinical, almost inhuman in its detached intensity, something which appears to rattle Andrew.
”Yes, and I can think of one question I need answered right away: what am I really to you, Andrew?”
He blinks, caught off guard by the question, and sets his own drink down, looking at Danielle with a confused expression written all over his face.
”I, uh, I’m sorry?”
Danielle keeps her gaze locked right on him, speaking quietly and forcefully as her stare drills right into him.
”You heard me. I want to know what I mean to you and what you see me as. Am I a friend? Am I a business associate? Or am I just a plaything, something for you to toy around with while you’re off doing God knows what with God knows who? Y’see, I ask because unlike you, who seems to have forgotten about how we were when we first met, I still remember. I remember looking over at night and seeing you beside me, and every single time I have to look at you I get reminded that all you see those nights as is a phase, you trying to fit a mold. I was just a phase for you, and it’s like you’re twisting the knife every time we meet. I see you with women, I see you with…with her, with your so-called best friend…and I can’t take it anymore. So, just answer me that question: what am I? Because I don’t think I can stand being second fiddle anymore.”
Andrew blinks, rubbing his eyes, and tries to pull himself together. He takes a deep breath, exhaling before leaning back. Andrew scratches the nape of his neck, looking away, and when he speaks it’s the rattled voice of a man who clearly didn’t want to be in the position he is now.
”…I never forgot. But I knew that what I was doing, it was…it was me giving in to a dark, base part of me that just wasn’t who I really am. I care about you, Danielle. You’re my friend, and you always will be. I know what happened between us, what we were to each other. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss you being there some nights…okay, most nights. But the fact of the matter is…I can’t be the man you want me to be. I don’t think of you that way. You’re more than your body, you’re a friend and you’re important to me. I hate that what happened is doing this to us, but…I can’t change the past, and I don’t want either of us to live a lie. Emma’s my best friend, nothing more. I couldn’t think of her that way if I wanted to, and one delirious and probably drunken assault notwithstanding, I’m pretty sure she feels the same way. I’m sorry if it feels like I’ve pushed you aside, but…if what you want me to be is your man…I can’t be the man you want me to, plain and simple. I’m sorry…but it’s true.”
Danielle nods, taking a deep breath, and holds her head up high, looking down at Andrew over her glasses. The cold glare she shoots him is a withering reminder that she wasn’t always the smiley, normally well-humored person we’ve come to know over the last year-plus. She stands, taking her purse in hand.
”Well, I’m sorry about that. But unfortunately, I…I just can’t serve as your advisor anymore. You’ll have to make the calls from here on out, Andrew. I’ll be sure to watch, but…unless I come to some big personal revelation or you do, I don’t think I can safely maintain our business relationship. I’m going to have to step back as your official consultant, suspending all financial transactions between the two of us. Yes, I’m aware you kept paying. And no, I won’t stop you. Frankly, I think you need this. I think you need to walk on your own again…you need to grow up, Andrew. And if this doesn’t do it, then maybe losing to Mike Laszlo will be enough of a wake=up call. Goodbye.”
With that she turns and walks away, Andrew watching her go. He’s numbly stunned, only able to watch as Danielle walks to her car, gets in, and starts the ignition, pulling out of the parking lot and driving away from her former employer. Andrew looks back at his drink, staring for a few seconds that seem to feel like an eternity. Finally, he stands up, looking thoroughly downcast, and he walks away, leaving both of their drinks on the table. We fade out on the image of the coffee steam curling through the air, framing Andrew as he walks away, shell-shocked.