Under The Mask

Clyde left AFW HQ after a nasty spat with his ex. Part of him felt bad for it, another part of him felt more amped than ever and despite being told to stay away, he just couldn't resist it, he had to head to the Friction Arena to see if he could find just one of them. Allison. Jocelyn. He had been thinking about what they did to Bonnie all day, all night. And maybe he'd keep his promise to his sister and not start a fight. But he wanted some answers.

After a short walk, he managed to reach the arena and with the flash of his ID he was able to slip backstage... Most of it. Of course he wasn't allowed anywhere near the expansive locker rooms but most of the backstage areas, along with the lounge and gorilla position, were at his disposal to mozy on about.

He didn't tell Mercy he was here looking for one of the girls, more so Allison, so this made his escapade a bit harder. So he sat down a nearby bunch in the middle of the hallway, slumping against the wall in his brown suit, slacks and cowboy boots. He liked to fish, he didn't like waiting, but he was no stranger to it.

Talia had just finished her chat with Lukretia regarding her match. It was settled. Finally, things were going to come to an end. After almost a year of constant fighting in the AFW, Talia was going to be in a pay per view match that would definite the rest of her career. Or lack of.

As she walked through the hallway, Talia noticed the cowboy just relaxing. At first she froze, ready to sprint away the moment Clyde jumped to his feet to attack her like all the other people who she crossed in her life. But he didn't. No mask, no assault. Talia played it cool and walked by Clyde trying to attract the least amount of attention possible.

That was the plan at least. "Hey," she said quietly to him as she was about to pass him. She wasn't quite sure why yet, but she felt like she needed to ask him something.

Sat and tapped his foot on the floor as he kept his eyes peeled for someone. Maybe he should ask the staff? It was better than just waiting out here like a dang fool. That being said, he could hear someone coming down the hall, his eyes trailed to the side just in time to see some fiery red hair coming down the hallway. His eyes lit up and he turned his head, but it wasn't who he thought it was, rather it was someone else.

"Howdy." He muttered plainly, slumping back in his seat as she looked like she was just passing by, saying Hi to be friendly maybe? He didn't recognize her but she looked a little familiar. He almost felt bad, he thought he was pretty good at remembering cute girls. Must be losing it.

Either way her tone felt weird to him. "Uh... I know ya from somewhere?" Just the way she brought up 'Hey' was like she was talking to someone she had met before. Maybe she just forward though.

Talia awkwardly stared at Clyde for a moment. "Yea...umm...I'm a friend of..." she was going to say Taylor but for obvious reasons stopped. She was suppose to meet Clyde one day at Cassie's apartment long...long ago. But she ditched before he even got there. The next time she saw him there was a mask preventing him from seeing her. Talia hesitated and stared a little further. So she decided to just lie as always.

"...Shauna O'Connor...do you know her by the way? I remember you saved her from that monster awhile back...did you two become friends after that?" The reality was that Talia knew exactly that the two had some kind of thing going on.

Clyde was chill against the wall behind him until Shauna got brought up. His eyes widened slightly. "Aw hell." he thought, this was really out of nowhere and question made him a bit uneasy.

"Uhh... Yeah.... Yeah, we became friends." At least that's what it seemed like for a bit. Clyde had a bad feeling that his past actions were going to comeback and bite him in the ass, never-mind being technically single and drunk at the time with a girl who May or May Not be a little loose.

"Why do ya' ask?"

Talia was hard pressed to think of a reason. She'd have to lie, no doubt. Even though it had become second nature, Talia was starting to lose track of what she said to who at times. "Just friends?" She asked with a tilt of her head. "I thought you two were...you know...a little more than that. Isn't that why you saved her that one time?"

Talia got out her phone. She suddenly remembered she had a picture of the two that proved his statement wrong. Sort of. "I saw this online picture of you two...in the ring together." Talia brought up the picture but didn't quite show Clyde just yet. She was kinda interested just how close the two were in his eyes.

"Yup." Clyde reaffirmed with a swift reply, only to falter at Talia's next couple of words that honestly made him a bit warm in the collar. "Well... No." He said plainly, it was a bit out of character for him to help people that didn't know, but he helped Shauna anyway.

He stared at the wall, he wanted to ditch this conversation before it fell into a more awkward subject... But then it did just that as when Shauna brought up an online picture. Those two words made Clyde's eyes shoot wide open before he blurted out loudly and interrupted Talia.

"Online Picture!?!?" He hollered as he turned to her in a panic. "As in... [size=150:35sw5rxc]ON the Internets!?" He yelled as he stood up and gazed at the phone in her hand, now he was freakin out.

Talia hesitantly showed Clyde the picture. It wasn't like the one that she took of Shauna and Johnny in the locker room. Whilst that one was blurry and blocked one person's facial expression, this one was blatantly obvious. Shauna was clearly giving head to Clyde. And the smile on his face was unmistakable. She jumped back when Clyde hollered in shock at what he was looking at. As if trying to calm him down, Talia put her phone away and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Hey, hey, chill..."

She suddenly realized there was no way out of this without confessing at least one thing. "And no...not online...just...just kinda on my phone. Don't worry...Shauna hasn't seen it...no one has. Just...just me." Talia reluctantly released Clyde and reached into her pocket to retrieve her phone once more. She brought up that revealing picture in her gallery and clicked the trash icon very clearly so Clyde could see her doing it. "There...there it's gone...Don't worry about it, alright?"

Clyde's jaw was hanging open, he couldnt believe what he was looking couldn't believe what he was looking at! Couldn't beliving he couldnt rmember such an awesome thing that was ultimately very very bad!! His eyes were glued wide, his fingers raking down his cheeks

"Aww Hell Mercy gon' kill my skinny ass. Ain't no 'splaining this, She gon' flip like a coin! She gon' roast me! She can even keep me on the mid-card till I die of liver failure! Puttin me in handicap matches againt heavy weight amazon manly bitches that like punching balls!! Gahdamn!Gahdamn!Gahdamn!Ga-" His visions of an apocalyptic future of a vengeful ex who was difficult to explain things to came to a halt when Talia grabbed him by the shoulders, he got quiet and nodded along with her.

Thankfully it wasn't online, just her phone. "Phew! Dang." He felt a weight leave his shoulders, nobody had seen it except for her and now this girl was deleting it. "...Thanks man." He replied bluntly as he watched the pic go into the trash, but as he looked at this girl, he felt he had just more questions pop up.

"...How you even get that picture?" He asked before his eyes narrowed at her suspiciously before crossing his arms. "And why would you keep that pic in your phone for so dang long?" His lips then curled into a devilish smirk. "You like lookin' at that picture every once and a good ol' while?" He asked with a purposely perverted grin just to mess with this chick who had a picture of Shauna blowing him.

He still couldn't believe he couldn't remember the damn thing.

Talia casually slipped the phone back into her jean pocket. "Oh...just got it from a friend...So I guess it paid off to save her, right?" She tilted her head and took a few steps away from Clyde. "I'm not judging you, don't worry, but...is that why you saved her?" Talia really had to know why Clyde saved Shauna that one time. What made the situations so different?

"Like...if you didn't really know her beforehand, what made you decide to run out like that?"