Just let it go, Finn. That’s all he had to do: just let it go and move on ; this would all blow over soon once he joined ship with the roster and bantered back and forth with one another again. Chips would fall right into their respective places and the picture would be crystal clear again.
He didn’t permit a second to pass by - right arm stretched out to grasp at the tender wrist he had come familiar with over the years, a clear indication that things weren’t finished. He might’ve been in the wrong but he’d be damned if he would let THIS be the final conclusion. Stepping back into the squared domain was just footsteps away, already feeling the lick of sweat that would soon accompany every move delivered to his opponents. Already was he looking forward to reconnecting with the faces that he held so dearly to…faces that were starting to become a blur.
And he refused to let Bayley become a mere afterthought because of his own blunder.
“Look at me.” A demand, perhaps, much unlike his usual persona. A sense of delicacy laced in his words. Almost…pleading for a second look after summoning enough nerve to face her. To face the HURT that he had produced with his own senseless message. Bayley became a casualty of his own recovery, the last person on the face of this planet that deserved that sort of kickback. She had only been there to help him through all of his troubles, the injuries that he carried throughout the yellow brand becoming less painful…and it was all because of her.
Because of BAYLEY, he believed in himself.
And he put the blame on himself for letting things within escalate.
Because a weakness had descended from all this.
“My FOCUS has always been in front o’ me.”
And there she was in all of her clumsy and successful glory.
IF NOT FOR THE HAND ON HER WRIST, she’d have walked right off, she swears it. Go find someone that wasn’t a complete stranger now and allow them to serve as a distraction for the way her heart ached. Or at least, that’s what Bayley had been telling herself just moments prior. She cursed herself for the hope that sprung from the pits of her stomach to her ribcage at his action; and more so, the way his voice took a turn for something tender. Vulnerable. Unlike anything he’d been allowing anyone to see as of late.
She gulped, gaze finally raising to look at him after a moment’s hesitation.
She could never say no to him, after all. Not after... everything.
If they’d stared any longer at each other, Bayley wouldn’t have been able to muster up anything else to say. It’d been too long since she’d even looked into Finn’s eyes, let alone had a proper conversation with him.
But his words... They hollowed her out the second they left his lips. She was frozen in place, tongue darting out to wet suddenly dry lips. “No...” An objection, despite how much she would have liked to agree with him. “Don’t say things like that when you know they’re not true.” Don’t get my hopes up if you’re just gonna let them fall again. Eyes stinging with what she could only pray weren’t tears, Bayley breathed out -- a shaky sigh that said more than she ever could. Though, that didn’t stop her from trying. “I’ve been...” Breathe. Don’t think, just say. “I’ve been hanging on to your every word. I’ve been trying so hard to get a hold of you and it’s like... It’s like you’re nowhere.” Her voice wavered close to the end and a free hand instinctively rose to wipe away tears that’d begun to fall. Damn it. “And I know you’re... injured and it just -- SUCKS. You have to focus on getting back in the ring better than ever, but I...”
She could feel it coming; that word on the tip of her tongue, mocking her... challenging her to just say it. Just this once, after all this time. “I love you.” A gulp, afterward -- her own body reacting to the words she never thought she’d say. “You know that.” Or at least he had to; no two people go through what they have gone through and come out of it unchanged.
“I just thought you would be... the last person to push me away like that.” Sniffling, she finally managed to compose herself, wiping away any tears she could feel. “I don’t know... Maybe I’m just being selfish.”
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