Post by Kathleen Conway on Nov 27, 2012 22:09:33 GMT -6
The scene opens in the kitchen of the Conway family home in Las Vegas and Kathleen Conway is sat opposite her younger sister, Tiffany Jones buttering a piece of toast with a knife in the early morning as Tiffany observes that Kathy is silent and rather aggressive in her approach.
Kathy seems physically drained. and it is obvious to Tiffany that she had been crying last night.
Tiffany: Sis, you look like crap, you didn't sleep last night did you?
Kathy doesn't look up at her sister, but does shake her head to give her all the response she needed.
Tiffany: I can't believe she kissed him, you know...
Kathy: I know what I saw...
Tiffany: I honestly thought you'd changed him, Kay...I'm so sorry, but I guess men will always be men...they never know a good thing until its gone...
This got Kathy's attention and she looked rather offended by her sister's suggestion.
Kathy: Are you suggesting I throw away almost five years of marriage and two kids just because that hussy showed up at my doorstep and tried to shove her tongue down his throat?
Tiffany shrugged.
Tiffany: I don't know what you should do sis, all I know is at the end of the day we are talking about Jake Conway, and the Jake Conway I knew cheated on me, so who's to say, he's not grown bored of you too sis?
My heart wanted to believe that Jake had changed, that we had changed each other - together, but my head kept replaying the kiss over and over and over. We both had a past we weren't proud of, we both had secrets that had long been shared.
I remember telling him about my one night stand, at a time in my life when I was a single mother trapped in romantic limbo, convinced that Steve Evans didn't deserve me and Jake Conway didn't want me. I gave in to the only comforting voice I heard through the tangled mess of my love life, Steve's best friend.
I regretted it almost immediately, I flinched under his touch, I tensed up in his kiss, forcing myself to find something in the whole experience that could make me feel good, to distract me from the feeling of being trapped in a loveless relationship with Steve or sucking up my pride and facing the fact that the man I loved and had always loved since that fateful night in late January six years ago may not want to know me or accept his child into his life.
I remember telling Jake about it, and I remember him not batting an eyelid about it, I remember and remember quite vividly how he sat down after I told him of my mistake and how dirty it made me feel by the end of it. Then I remember his grin. I remember my confusion.
"Why the hell are you grinning, Jake?"
"Oh come on Kat, its not like I can hold it against you after my colourful past, can I?"
"Well, when you put it like that..."
"Besides it was a one nighter with Reckoning! Who the hell cares about that guy? Not me."
"Me either."
And that was about the best reaction I could have hoped for after bearing my soul to the man I had loved for so long, even then, he had taken it all in his stride.
"We all make mistakes baby, I know I could write a book on mine and how leaving you two years ago was the single biggest mistake I've ever made..."
"You didn't know I was pregnant with Soli, I don't blame you."
"That doesn't stop me blaming myself. It's no excuse and it never should have been."
Looking back on it now, I realise just how easily he had forgiven me for sleeping with another man, and yet here I was crying and doubting him over a kiss he not only didn't initiate but whole-heartedly admitted to even before he knew I had seen him in our window. Surely he deserved a little slack for that. He hid nothing from me anymore so why was I busting his balls over any of this?
Kathy took a bite out of her toast and eyed her sister curiously.
Kathy: Now I know what this is really about Tiff. You're still so jealous aren't you? Even after six years, it still stings that he picked me over you, doesn't it?
Tiffany: Well, can you blame me? You have the fairytale life sis, the devoted husband, the loving father, the stunning home, what do I have? Nothing. If it weren't for you and Jake putting me up here for several months and paying me generously to look after Soli and Min, I wouldn't be able to support myself. Do you know how often I've thought about just going home, moving back in with Mom and Dad and taking my rather thankless job as a bank clerk back?
Kathy: Then why haven't you?
Tiffany looks up and speaks rather softly.
Tiffany: Because of Caleb.
Kathy: Jesus Christ Tiffany, if you feel that strongly about the guy, why don't you just tell him how you feel?
Tiffany: Probably for the same reason you haven't told Jake how you feel, in spite of him following you around trying to tell you exactly what happened ever since Mercedes stopped by last Thursday. Sometimes Kay, you're just too headstrong to listen to anyone, even the man who quite obviously still loves you...
Tiffany's voice drops noticeably.
Tiffany: Caleb Lockwood probably wouldn't notice me if I painted myself green...
Unseen to either of the sisters, Caleb enters the kitchen.
Tiffany: and shaved my head bald...
Caleb looks horrified at what he's just heard, however out of context it might be, he cannot help himself from interjecting and interjecting rather loudly.
Caleb: WHY IN THE BLUE HELL WOULD YOU BE SHAVING YOUR HEAD BALD?!
Tiffany looks over at Caleb, and smirks at him.
Tiffany: What's it to you, gnome?
Caleb: Oh nothing, it's just that I love your hair.
Tiffany's smirk dissolves into a genuine smile.
Tiffany: Oh really?
Kathy: Well if you'll exciuse me, I think I'll go check on Min, and leave you two alone...
Kathy winks at her baby sister, which Caleb completely misses.
Tiffany: So Caleb, what else do you love about me?
The scene transitions to Kathleen Conway sat in the trophy room of her house on a black steel chair, with her legs crossed, one over the other.
Isn't it funny how life works out sometimes? Mercedes Vargas and I go back quite a while now,when she first arrived in the company, she saw me as nothing more than a mentally handicapped little pussy cat that she could bully and intimidate in her usual condescending finger waving way. Then just this past Sunday, Mercedes found herself handicapped. Tragic irony? Poetic justice? Or just plain par for the course when it comes to our story? The story of Kathleen Conway and Mercedes Vargas? The story of Opportunity?
Luck, fate, chance, destiny or just plain coincidence threw us together into a match that ultimately became a handicap match when we won the Starlets Tag Team Championships from Mercedes Lewis after Alysson Gardner abandoned her? Do you remember that? Do you remember all the smart ass comments and the snide remarks we had to deal with back then? How people were so quick to dismiss us and judge us for taking every advantage and seizing every opportunity we were given that night. Opportunities they themselves would have taken without a second thought if they were in our position, but because they weren't, they all had to take the moral high ground and look down on us in disgust.
Everybody thought we were just lucky, a fluke, that as soon as we lost the titles we would inevitably implode. Did that bother you Mercy? Because it sure as hell bothered me. It bothered me so much that I went out of my way to keep the team together. I was determined to prove them all wrong, I was determined to show them that in you I had found not only a friend - but my best friend.
I was willing to put my ego aside for our mutual success, I was willing to do all that was necessary for the good of the team. I had a point to prove. No title, trophy or title shot would come between us, and thanks largely to my efforts it never has - even today.
At the time I thought it was because you were my friend. At the time I thought it was because you respected me and were capable of listening to reason, in short I thought our friendship actually meant something to you. That's why I ignored it when women like Rayne, Ayla and Freya were all telling me that I was wasting my time with you, that I was clearly the better, the stronger, the superior. That I was just carrying you, and that I was just being held back by you. I refused to believe it. I stood by your side and went to war with our critics more than once. I had your back Mercy, even whilst you were sharpening the knife behind mine.
As I cradled our youngest daughter Domino in my arms, Jake Conway stood sheepishly in the doorway of our master bedroom and watched me as I sat on the bed, only half slept in, rocking Domino gently as she drifted on the edge of a light sleep.
I wanted to look at him but I couldn't, not yet. Maybe Tiffany was right, maybe I was too headstrong, but it wasn't my fault. The last time I trusted somebody and gave them chance after chance, she turned up on my doorstep on Thanksgiving morning no less and tried to make out with the love of my life right under my very nose. So I think I can be forgiven for a bit of skepticism even if after nearly five years of marriage he probably didn't deserve it.
Jake: Look, honey, if you're not going to talk to me, at least listen.
Kathy: If this is about how you didn't kiss her, and she kissed you -
Jake: Actually no, its not about that, I just wanted to wish you luck in your match at the Pay Per View, and to tell you that if you needed someone to help train you - somebody who isn't me I mean - I'm pretty sure I could find someone. Emma's just been on the phone, she's itching for something to do this week...
Kathy: Well I suppose she is a former Starlets World Champion, how can I say no to that?
Jake: Great, I'll set it up...
Kathy: As long as she's not just using it as an excuse to come down here and make out with you too...
Ordinarily, Jake Conway would respond with a smart ass comment, and I was so used to it now that I half-expected it, but what he actually said surprised me.
Jake: Of course not babe, Emma is not Mercedes, she's not jealous of you, of us, and all that we have. She is not envious of your life, of your husband and your kids like Mercy told me she was right before she slobbered all over me and I'm pretty sure Emma hates me.
That struck me. Tiffany had said almost the same thing to me downstairs a few moments ago, I never knew so many people around us were so envious of our love...and here was I all broken up about a kiss that Jake had tried repeatedly to assure me meant nothing.
As I saw him turn away, I looked up and called him.
Kathy: Jake...
He turned back around.
Kathy: Thanks for giving me my shot at Mercy...
Jake smiled.
Jake: Not a problem. It's the least I could do. Just promise me one thing, that you'll give her one for me - right in the kisser...
Kathy laughed, for the first time in days.
And there it was. That irresistible spark of wit that had drawn me to him in the first place six years ago, it is said that if you can make her laugh, you have a woman half way to bed, that was true, the other half for me had been some odd combination of red wine, sophisticated charm and the strength and passion of his character.
Kathy then tapped the bed next to her with her hand, and her husband took his opportunity and almost tripped over himself to get back to her side, almost as if he were afraid she'd change her mind again.
The scene returns to Kathleen sat in the trophy room again.
We've been through this once already haven't we Mercedes? The rumors of you sniffing around my milk bowl like the curious cat that you are started way back, over a year ago before last year's Road To The Gold - back then I put you on the shelf for months not simply for qualification into the tournament but to kill the rumors stone dead. If I was willing to go that far back then, over mere unsubstantiated rumor, can you imagine just how far I'll go this Sunday when I know the truth? I've seen it with my own eyes now Vargas, you've been feeding me lies for God knows how long, at least six months. I distinctly recall a conversation we had when you told me to my face that you weren't trying to steal Jake from me, that I should trust him, that after so long he should have earned at least that much from me.
You know what? You were right. He has earned that much from me, this is no longer about whether I can trust my husband to keep it in his pants, this is about whether I can trust you to keep your tongue in your own mouth and not have it wagging in either my husband's or other people's orifices. You're a sad little tramp Mercy, nobody likes you, I tried, oh how I tried, I even invited you into my home, let you see my kids, and this is how you repay me?
I hope that five second liplock with my husband was all worth it Mercy, because you've just burned your bridges and lost the only real friend you've ever had in that Starlets locker-room, now when they all make fun of you for your finger pointing and high strung attitude, I won't join them in condemning you, but I also wont defend you. So often when we were on the road together, you'd tell me that until I had your back, everything you'd ever earned in your career you'd achieved on your own, and I'd always hug you and reassure you that you didn't have to be alone anymore. How dare you abuse that kind of trust and friendship?
Now however we have come full circle haven't we Mercedes? It all began with a handicap match, and this past week the beginning of our end was marked with a handicap match. I've given you opportunity after opportunity after opportunity, now there will be no more. It's time I finally took a page out of my husband's playbook and had no mercy. For you this may be all about the win Vargas, but you've already lost so much more than simply pinning my shoulders to the mat for the three can get back for you.
If you beat me on Sunday, sure you can crow about it, you can have the bragging rights, you can sing about it loud and proud just like you did about beating Sydney, but ultimately it will mean nothing. Just like that kiss you gave Jake...
Kathy seems physically drained. and it is obvious to Tiffany that she had been crying last night.
Tiffany: Sis, you look like crap, you didn't sleep last night did you?
Kathy doesn't look up at her sister, but does shake her head to give her all the response she needed.
Tiffany: I can't believe she kissed him, you know...
Kathy: I know what I saw...
Tiffany: I honestly thought you'd changed him, Kay...I'm so sorry, but I guess men will always be men...they never know a good thing until its gone...
This got Kathy's attention and she looked rather offended by her sister's suggestion.
Kathy: Are you suggesting I throw away almost five years of marriage and two kids just because that hussy showed up at my doorstep and tried to shove her tongue down his throat?
Tiffany shrugged.
Tiffany: I don't know what you should do sis, all I know is at the end of the day we are talking about Jake Conway, and the Jake Conway I knew cheated on me, so who's to say, he's not grown bored of you too sis?
My heart wanted to believe that Jake had changed, that we had changed each other - together, but my head kept replaying the kiss over and over and over. We both had a past we weren't proud of, we both had secrets that had long been shared.
I remember telling him about my one night stand, at a time in my life when I was a single mother trapped in romantic limbo, convinced that Steve Evans didn't deserve me and Jake Conway didn't want me. I gave in to the only comforting voice I heard through the tangled mess of my love life, Steve's best friend.
I regretted it almost immediately, I flinched under his touch, I tensed up in his kiss, forcing myself to find something in the whole experience that could make me feel good, to distract me from the feeling of being trapped in a loveless relationship with Steve or sucking up my pride and facing the fact that the man I loved and had always loved since that fateful night in late January six years ago may not want to know me or accept his child into his life.
I remember telling Jake about it, and I remember him not batting an eyelid about it, I remember and remember quite vividly how he sat down after I told him of my mistake and how dirty it made me feel by the end of it. Then I remember his grin. I remember my confusion.
"Why the hell are you grinning, Jake?"
"Oh come on Kat, its not like I can hold it against you after my colourful past, can I?"
"Well, when you put it like that..."
"Besides it was a one nighter with Reckoning! Who the hell cares about that guy? Not me."
"Me either."
And that was about the best reaction I could have hoped for after bearing my soul to the man I had loved for so long, even then, he had taken it all in his stride.
"We all make mistakes baby, I know I could write a book on mine and how leaving you two years ago was the single biggest mistake I've ever made..."
"You didn't know I was pregnant with Soli, I don't blame you."
"That doesn't stop me blaming myself. It's no excuse and it never should have been."
Looking back on it now, I realise just how easily he had forgiven me for sleeping with another man, and yet here I was crying and doubting him over a kiss he not only didn't initiate but whole-heartedly admitted to even before he knew I had seen him in our window. Surely he deserved a little slack for that. He hid nothing from me anymore so why was I busting his balls over any of this?
Kathy took a bite out of her toast and eyed her sister curiously.
Kathy: Now I know what this is really about Tiff. You're still so jealous aren't you? Even after six years, it still stings that he picked me over you, doesn't it?
Tiffany: Well, can you blame me? You have the fairytale life sis, the devoted husband, the loving father, the stunning home, what do I have? Nothing. If it weren't for you and Jake putting me up here for several months and paying me generously to look after Soli and Min, I wouldn't be able to support myself. Do you know how often I've thought about just going home, moving back in with Mom and Dad and taking my rather thankless job as a bank clerk back?
Kathy: Then why haven't you?
Tiffany looks up and speaks rather softly.
Tiffany: Because of Caleb.
Kathy: Jesus Christ Tiffany, if you feel that strongly about the guy, why don't you just tell him how you feel?
Tiffany: Probably for the same reason you haven't told Jake how you feel, in spite of him following you around trying to tell you exactly what happened ever since Mercedes stopped by last Thursday. Sometimes Kay, you're just too headstrong to listen to anyone, even the man who quite obviously still loves you...
Tiffany's voice drops noticeably.
Tiffany: Caleb Lockwood probably wouldn't notice me if I painted myself green...
Unseen to either of the sisters, Caleb enters the kitchen.
Tiffany: and shaved my head bald...
Caleb looks horrified at what he's just heard, however out of context it might be, he cannot help himself from interjecting and interjecting rather loudly.
Caleb: WHY IN THE BLUE HELL WOULD YOU BE SHAVING YOUR HEAD BALD?!
Tiffany looks over at Caleb, and smirks at him.
Tiffany: What's it to you, gnome?
Caleb: Oh nothing, it's just that I love your hair.
Tiffany's smirk dissolves into a genuine smile.
Tiffany: Oh really?
Kathy: Well if you'll exciuse me, I think I'll go check on Min, and leave you two alone...
Kathy winks at her baby sister, which Caleb completely misses.
Tiffany: So Caleb, what else do you love about me?
The scene transitions to Kathleen Conway sat in the trophy room of her house on a black steel chair, with her legs crossed, one over the other.
Isn't it funny how life works out sometimes? Mercedes Vargas and I go back quite a while now,when she first arrived in the company, she saw me as nothing more than a mentally handicapped little pussy cat that she could bully and intimidate in her usual condescending finger waving way. Then just this past Sunday, Mercedes found herself handicapped. Tragic irony? Poetic justice? Or just plain par for the course when it comes to our story? The story of Kathleen Conway and Mercedes Vargas? The story of Opportunity?
Luck, fate, chance, destiny or just plain coincidence threw us together into a match that ultimately became a handicap match when we won the Starlets Tag Team Championships from Mercedes Lewis after Alysson Gardner abandoned her? Do you remember that? Do you remember all the smart ass comments and the snide remarks we had to deal with back then? How people were so quick to dismiss us and judge us for taking every advantage and seizing every opportunity we were given that night. Opportunities they themselves would have taken without a second thought if they were in our position, but because they weren't, they all had to take the moral high ground and look down on us in disgust.
Everybody thought we were just lucky, a fluke, that as soon as we lost the titles we would inevitably implode. Did that bother you Mercy? Because it sure as hell bothered me. It bothered me so much that I went out of my way to keep the team together. I was determined to prove them all wrong, I was determined to show them that in you I had found not only a friend - but my best friend.
I was willing to put my ego aside for our mutual success, I was willing to do all that was necessary for the good of the team. I had a point to prove. No title, trophy or title shot would come between us, and thanks largely to my efforts it never has - even today.
At the time I thought it was because you were my friend. At the time I thought it was because you respected me and were capable of listening to reason, in short I thought our friendship actually meant something to you. That's why I ignored it when women like Rayne, Ayla and Freya were all telling me that I was wasting my time with you, that I was clearly the better, the stronger, the superior. That I was just carrying you, and that I was just being held back by you. I refused to believe it. I stood by your side and went to war with our critics more than once. I had your back Mercy, even whilst you were sharpening the knife behind mine.
As I cradled our youngest daughter Domino in my arms, Jake Conway stood sheepishly in the doorway of our master bedroom and watched me as I sat on the bed, only half slept in, rocking Domino gently as she drifted on the edge of a light sleep.
I wanted to look at him but I couldn't, not yet. Maybe Tiffany was right, maybe I was too headstrong, but it wasn't my fault. The last time I trusted somebody and gave them chance after chance, she turned up on my doorstep on Thanksgiving morning no less and tried to make out with the love of my life right under my very nose. So I think I can be forgiven for a bit of skepticism even if after nearly five years of marriage he probably didn't deserve it.
Jake: Look, honey, if you're not going to talk to me, at least listen.
Kathy: If this is about how you didn't kiss her, and she kissed you -
Jake: Actually no, its not about that, I just wanted to wish you luck in your match at the Pay Per View, and to tell you that if you needed someone to help train you - somebody who isn't me I mean - I'm pretty sure I could find someone. Emma's just been on the phone, she's itching for something to do this week...
Kathy: Well I suppose she is a former Starlets World Champion, how can I say no to that?
Jake: Great, I'll set it up...
Kathy: As long as she's not just using it as an excuse to come down here and make out with you too...
Ordinarily, Jake Conway would respond with a smart ass comment, and I was so used to it now that I half-expected it, but what he actually said surprised me.
Jake: Of course not babe, Emma is not Mercedes, she's not jealous of you, of us, and all that we have. She is not envious of your life, of your husband and your kids like Mercy told me she was right before she slobbered all over me and I'm pretty sure Emma hates me.
That struck me. Tiffany had said almost the same thing to me downstairs a few moments ago, I never knew so many people around us were so envious of our love...and here was I all broken up about a kiss that Jake had tried repeatedly to assure me meant nothing.
As I saw him turn away, I looked up and called him.
Kathy: Jake...
He turned back around.
Kathy: Thanks for giving me my shot at Mercy...
Jake smiled.
Jake: Not a problem. It's the least I could do. Just promise me one thing, that you'll give her one for me - right in the kisser...
Kathy laughed, for the first time in days.
And there it was. That irresistible spark of wit that had drawn me to him in the first place six years ago, it is said that if you can make her laugh, you have a woman half way to bed, that was true, the other half for me had been some odd combination of red wine, sophisticated charm and the strength and passion of his character.
Kathy then tapped the bed next to her with her hand, and her husband took his opportunity and almost tripped over himself to get back to her side, almost as if he were afraid she'd change her mind again.
The scene returns to Kathleen sat in the trophy room again.
We've been through this once already haven't we Mercedes? The rumors of you sniffing around my milk bowl like the curious cat that you are started way back, over a year ago before last year's Road To The Gold - back then I put you on the shelf for months not simply for qualification into the tournament but to kill the rumors stone dead. If I was willing to go that far back then, over mere unsubstantiated rumor, can you imagine just how far I'll go this Sunday when I know the truth? I've seen it with my own eyes now Vargas, you've been feeding me lies for God knows how long, at least six months. I distinctly recall a conversation we had when you told me to my face that you weren't trying to steal Jake from me, that I should trust him, that after so long he should have earned at least that much from me.
You know what? You were right. He has earned that much from me, this is no longer about whether I can trust my husband to keep it in his pants, this is about whether I can trust you to keep your tongue in your own mouth and not have it wagging in either my husband's or other people's orifices. You're a sad little tramp Mercy, nobody likes you, I tried, oh how I tried, I even invited you into my home, let you see my kids, and this is how you repay me?
I hope that five second liplock with my husband was all worth it Mercy, because you've just burned your bridges and lost the only real friend you've ever had in that Starlets locker-room, now when they all make fun of you for your finger pointing and high strung attitude, I won't join them in condemning you, but I also wont defend you. So often when we were on the road together, you'd tell me that until I had your back, everything you'd ever earned in your career you'd achieved on your own, and I'd always hug you and reassure you that you didn't have to be alone anymore. How dare you abuse that kind of trust and friendship?
Now however we have come full circle haven't we Mercedes? It all began with a handicap match, and this past week the beginning of our end was marked with a handicap match. I've given you opportunity after opportunity after opportunity, now there will be no more. It's time I finally took a page out of my husband's playbook and had no mercy. For you this may be all about the win Vargas, but you've already lost so much more than simply pinning my shoulders to the mat for the three can get back for you.
If you beat me on Sunday, sure you can crow about it, you can have the bragging rights, you can sing about it loud and proud just like you did about beating Sydney, but ultimately it will mean nothing. Just like that kiss you gave Jake...
