Post by Samantha Tolson on Jun 12, 2016 2:05:15 GMT
(OFF-CAMERA)
The Chase family limo pulled up along the curb in the 8200 block of Santa Monica Boulevard, deep in the heart of West Hollywood, near the hot LA eatery Norah’s. Samantha Tolson, along with her girlfriend Ashley Marie Chase, stepped out of the limo’s driver-opened door, and stepped onto the curb. Both women were dressed casually, neither of them wearing anything that could be considered haute couture, but rather something simple, and most likely fairly easy to slip into. The pair walked into the restaurant hand-in-hand, smiling, looking very much like the in-love couple they were.
The hostess smiled at them as they stopped to acknowledge their reservation, and then she showed them to their table, one somewhat secluded toward the back of the place. The girls opened their menus, looking over the cocktail menu. When the server came over shortly after, Samantha chose a Jerez Zombie, while Ashley decided upon an Oaxaca Flaka Flame. While waiting for their drinks, the pair chit-chatted a little while looking over their appetizer choices.
She sat on the couch of their apartment, the one they shared together. The one she’d been in previously, snooping around their boudoir and finding things that, frankly, had shocked her senses. That shock was real, and jarring, but it was not a deterrent for her. If anything, it simply made her more determined than ever before to reclaim what it was she knew she should have never given away so easily.
She stretched out her hands, running them slowly over the soft brown cushions, wondering what secrets this seemingly unassuming piece of furniture could hold, thinking about the tales that it might be able to tell were it able to speak to her.
It was in that moment that she cursed herself, allowed herself, if for only a few moments, to wallow in her own self-pity, to allow herself to let her self-anger boil to the surface. Why did she ever let go? This was the day of cellular phones, the Internet. A day when the traditional long-distance relationship was no more than a couple of mouse clicks and a webcam away from being in the same room.
She began to cry slowly, then as the memories of their past relationship flooded her mind, the crying gave way to sobbing, and finally into a full-blown breakdown. She never imagined that the patience she’d been asked to show would be this difficult, that the prize was worth all of her waiting. But the wait was slowly eating away at her, slowly beginning to send her mind to places that, given the plan, it need not go.
She sobbed heavily one more time, using the bottom of her shirt to wipe the tears from her face, and then closed her eyes to take a deep breath and collect herself.
Samantha picked up the last morsel of her cast iron cornbread, popping it into her mouth and savoring the taste of a classic down-home dish done right, while Ashley put the finishing touches on a small plate of oysters on a bed of green apple and scallion kimchi.
“So, honey….I wanted to talk to you about something.” Samantha forwarded the question to her lover, hoping for at least a generic response.
“Sure, Sammy. What do you want to talk about?”
“Well, these last few months have been great, of course, and I love you more and more with every passing day. But I want to know what you see for us in the future?”
Ashley took a sip from the water glass in front of her. “The future?”
“Yes, Ash, the future. I know that we’ve had a lot of fun, and that we’re now living together and everything. I just want to know that our relationship is about more than….well...more than just the physical aspect.”
“You mean are we about more than sex, Sammy?”
Samantha swallowed hard, not realizing that perhaps, Ashley had thought about the topic herself during the few moments they hadn’t spent together over the past few months. “Yeah...is this just something purely physical, or are we going somewhere with this?”
Ashley looked at Samantha, trying to figure out exactly what her girlfriend meant. “I’d like to think so.”
“Think so, what?”
“Think that this is more than just what happens when I get you naked.” Ashley smiled, and took Samantha’s hand from across the table. “I love our sex life, Sammy. Absolutely and totally love it, and I love how free we are when we’re together. I’ve, frankly, been a bit shocked at how easily you’ve taken to all this, and I wouldn’t change a bit of it.”
Samantha’s grip tightened on Ashley’s hand just a touch. “I sense a but coming….”
Ashley grinned. “But...I am in love with you, Samantha Tolson. The physical part, honey, believe me, I can get that whenever and with whomever I want….”
“That’s reassuring….” Samantha grinned and winked.
“You know what I mean! Seriously, though, sex is something I’ve never had to worry about having. I can have sex with any number of people. I can call any one of at least fifteen people on my phone, and within two hours, I can be in bed with any of them. Sweetheart, despite that, I’ve fallen in love with one person, though, and that’s you. Deeply and truly, and I cannot fathom my life without you being in it.”
Samantha’s heart nearly came crashing out of her chest as it swelled with her feelings. She clutched Ashley’s hand tightly, smiling wide as a single tear streaked down her left cheek.
She walked around their apartment, taking it all in, making mental notes of different places where the crooks and crannies of either the walls themselves, or ones created by how the furnishings were placed, would work for the next steps in her plan.
Tonight, though, tonight wasn’t about the all-out blitz that would be designed to send her running back into her arms. No, tonight was about the opening salvo against that slut she was living with.
Tonight was all about planting that small seed of doubt in her mind, the one that she would water and care for as if it were in a garden of her own, cultivating it and, when the time was right, harvesting the results.
Then, and only then, would she belong to her, and her alone, once again.
Never mind the night she found her with that stranger, her face buried in his lap as he sat on the edge of her bed, stark naked. That was an aberration, a poor decision driven by stress and made possible by the application of too much alcohol. No, that was not her. That was not the woman she had caught herself falling for, the woman who, with that single indiscretion, had forced her to face that fact and own it.
The woman who had the touch she missed, the lips she longed to kiss, and the body she longed to have lying beside her once again.
So she continued to walk around, making her way into their bathroom, and again her mind wandered to the things the walls could say if they could talk. The things that happened in that jetted, jacuzzi-style tub, or against the glass walls of the shower with the rainfall head hanging over the middle of it. As she tried to process it all, the anger began to filter its way back into her mind, and for a brief moment, she looked around for something to break. But the soothing voice of her benefactor overcame the red waves, and instead, she took a pink lipstick on the double vanity, and drew a small heart in the lower left corner of the massive mirror, then left the bathroom.
After more conversation, and with their second course now finished, their server brought in the main and final course selections. Ashley had picked the market vegetable plate, while Samantha, ever the midwestern girl, had gone with the heritage pork chop in all its finery. The girls ate in a marked silence, both of them thoroughly enjoying their meals, smiling at each other over sips of wine.
Ashley had noticed, however, that Samantha kept putting her right hand under the table, as if adjusting something, then going back to her meal. “What are you doing, Sammy?”
Samantha knew she was caught, but played coy. “Nothing, hon.”
“Oh, yes you are....you keep putting your hand under the table, shifting in your chair, and then back to your plate. No secrets, Sammy-Poo!” Samantha quickly cut a big bite off her pork chop, shoving it into her mouth to avoid speaking. Ashley noticed, and gave Samantha a playful glare. “Fess up, or I’ll get under there and find out for myself.”
Samantha swallowed the hunk of meat, and gently tossed her cloth napkin up onto the table. “OK, fine. I was going to wait until later on, but, since I’m caught red handed….” She stood up and reached into the right pocket of her denim capris, holding something in her hand as she walked around to Ashley’s side of the table, pulling out the chair and sitting down.
Ashley’s eyes grew as big as the plates from which they ate. “Sammy?”
Samantha took Ashley’s left hand and held it, smiling at her. “Ashley Marie, you know that I’m just a country girl at heart, and that sometimes, I can get old-fashioned and, as you like to say, all midwestern-y on you. Well, sweetheart, this is going to be one of those moments.”
“Ahh...OK….” Ashley swallowed hard, unable to say much else as her hand rested in Samantha’s.
Samantha continued, holding a small diamond ring between her fingers. Ashley’s gasp did not go unnoticed by those around them, as the room grew quiet, with a number of people beginning to watch. “Ashley, I love you. I love you more and more with every day we spend together, and when we are apart, I find my heart aching for you to return to me. And I know that we’ve only been together for a few months now, but I can’t picture my life without you in it. So….” Samantha held up the ring. “...what this is, honey, is what we call back home a promise ring. In many cases, this is something that boys use to tell a girl that they want to begin the process of getting engaged, and, eventually, married. Clearly, I am no boy, Ash, but I want to give you this ring as a promise.”
“A...a promise?”
“Yes. A promise. Specifically, my promise to you. My promise that I will be faithful to you, that I love you and I want to be with you, now and for the rest of my life. My promise that I will walk down life’s road together with you toward one goal, and that goal being to make you my wife someday. That I will seek out your heart and yours alone, and my promise that you alone have all of my love and affection.”
Ashley smiled, tears streaming down both cheeks.
Samantha continued. “But you have to accept that promise, Ashley, because with that promise comes the responsibility that you, as well, promise me the same. I asked you earlier if, essentially, we were in a serious relationship, and together we decided that we are. This ring, baby, lets the world know that as well. So, Ashley Marie Chase...will you accept this ring, and the promise that comes with it?”
Ashley could only nod in the affirmative, and Samantha slipped the tiny diamond over her finger, watching as Ashley covered her mouth to keep from squealing. “I love you, Ashley Marie Chase.”
Ashley returned in a bit of a happy blubber, “I love you too, Samantha Michelle Tolson.” She stood up, almost throwing herself at Samantha, who opened her arms and pulled her in close, holding her tight as the watching crowd clapped and cheered.
She looked at the time on her cell phone, figuring that her little soiree in their abode needed to come to an end. She pulled the small, folded manilla envelope from her back pocket, then went to her purse and pulled out a CD. With a red Sharpie, also retrieved from the purse, she wrote “Play Me” on the CD, then slipped it into the envelope, sealing it up with both the metal prongs and a kiss. She then turned it to the front, and again with the Sharpie, wrote something else, then dropped the envelope down on the coffee table before gathering her purse and leaving through the front door….
“For My Samantha”
-----------------------------------------
(ON-CAMERA)
"I don't know what Ana has against you, Kate, but for some reason or another, we're facing off again, aren't we?"
"After all, it was just at the last TNT that you and I faced off, along with someone who hasn't been heard from since."
"This time, though, we're in a ladder match."
"I'll tell you flat out, Kate, that I've never been in a ladder match before. But also, I'll flat out tell you that I have absolutely NO fear of it. None whatsoever."
"The way I see it, this is our rubber match, all with something in a case hanging above the ring. I have no idea what's in that case, Kate, but I do know this."
"It'll be something worth getting."
"Whether it's a title shot, money, or even something I can use to beat you over the head with, it'll be something useful."
"Which means, of course, that I'm going to have to make it up the ladder before you. Which also means, of course, that's what I'll do. I'm not stupid. I mean, I know you're going to think the same thing, say the same thing, blah blah blah."
"And I'm sure you'll say something about that time you beat me. That time you made me pass out, because I was too damn stubborn to tap out. I'm sure you'll bring up all the things I say on Twitter, and everything else. I'm sure you'll try and tell the whole world anything you can, because deep down, you know something just as well as I do."
"After that first match, I've got your number."
"You had your chances to beat me in that three-way, you had chances to beat both of us. But somehow, someway, I perservered. I kept going, kept kicking out when both of you tried to beat me. And in the end, I put Scarlet down for the three, making you a loser in that match as well."
"Now, you get the chance to prove that first win wasn't a fluke. And I'm going to show the whole world that it was."
"Because Sarah Twilight or Crystal Hilton be damned, that All-Star Championship belongs on my waist. If that means I have to mow through you, and then mow through the rest of the Defiance Tournament to prove it, well, that's what is going to happen. But you, Kate?"
"You are little more than a speed bump on my road to destiny."
"You like to say all the time on social media....blue hair don't care?"
"By the time this match is over, Kate, I'll be shocked if you even remember what hair color you have without looking in a mirror. Because I'm going to use that ladder to hurt you, to break you, and then I'm going to stand it up over your broken, bloody carcass, and use it to climb up and snag whatever it is they put above the ring."
Tuesday, 7:32 pm
The Chase family limo pulled up along the curb in the 8200 block of Santa Monica Boulevard, deep in the heart of West Hollywood, near the hot LA eatery Norah’s. Samantha Tolson, along with her girlfriend Ashley Marie Chase, stepped out of the limo’s driver-opened door, and stepped onto the curb. Both women were dressed casually, neither of them wearing anything that could be considered haute couture, but rather something simple, and most likely fairly easy to slip into. The pair walked into the restaurant hand-in-hand, smiling, looking very much like the in-love couple they were.
The hostess smiled at them as they stopped to acknowledge their reservation, and then she showed them to their table, one somewhat secluded toward the back of the place. The girls opened their menus, looking over the cocktail menu. When the server came over shortly after, Samantha chose a Jerez Zombie, while Ashley decided upon an Oaxaca Flaka Flame. While waiting for their drinks, the pair chit-chatted a little while looking over their appetizer choices.
Tuesday, 7:47 pm
She sat on the couch of their apartment, the one they shared together. The one she’d been in previously, snooping around their boudoir and finding things that, frankly, had shocked her senses. That shock was real, and jarring, but it was not a deterrent for her. If anything, it simply made her more determined than ever before to reclaim what it was she knew she should have never given away so easily.
She stretched out her hands, running them slowly over the soft brown cushions, wondering what secrets this seemingly unassuming piece of furniture could hold, thinking about the tales that it might be able to tell were it able to speak to her.
It was in that moment that she cursed herself, allowed herself, if for only a few moments, to wallow in her own self-pity, to allow herself to let her self-anger boil to the surface. Why did she ever let go? This was the day of cellular phones, the Internet. A day when the traditional long-distance relationship was no more than a couple of mouse clicks and a webcam away from being in the same room.
She began to cry slowly, then as the memories of their past relationship flooded her mind, the crying gave way to sobbing, and finally into a full-blown breakdown. She never imagined that the patience she’d been asked to show would be this difficult, that the prize was worth all of her waiting. But the wait was slowly eating away at her, slowly beginning to send her mind to places that, given the plan, it need not go.
She sobbed heavily one more time, using the bottom of her shirt to wipe the tears from her face, and then closed her eyes to take a deep breath and collect herself.
Tuesday, 8:21 pm
Samantha picked up the last morsel of her cast iron cornbread, popping it into her mouth and savoring the taste of a classic down-home dish done right, while Ashley put the finishing touches on a small plate of oysters on a bed of green apple and scallion kimchi.
“So, honey….I wanted to talk to you about something.” Samantha forwarded the question to her lover, hoping for at least a generic response.
“Sure, Sammy. What do you want to talk about?”
“Well, these last few months have been great, of course, and I love you more and more with every passing day. But I want to know what you see for us in the future?”
Ashley took a sip from the water glass in front of her. “The future?”
“Yes, Ash, the future. I know that we’ve had a lot of fun, and that we’re now living together and everything. I just want to know that our relationship is about more than….well...more than just the physical aspect.”
“You mean are we about more than sex, Sammy?”
Samantha swallowed hard, not realizing that perhaps, Ashley had thought about the topic herself during the few moments they hadn’t spent together over the past few months. “Yeah...is this just something purely physical, or are we going somewhere with this?”
Ashley looked at Samantha, trying to figure out exactly what her girlfriend meant. “I’d like to think so.”
“Think so, what?”
“Think that this is more than just what happens when I get you naked.” Ashley smiled, and took Samantha’s hand from across the table. “I love our sex life, Sammy. Absolutely and totally love it, and I love how free we are when we’re together. I’ve, frankly, been a bit shocked at how easily you’ve taken to all this, and I wouldn’t change a bit of it.”
Samantha’s grip tightened on Ashley’s hand just a touch. “I sense a but coming….”
Ashley grinned. “But...I am in love with you, Samantha Tolson. The physical part, honey, believe me, I can get that whenever and with whomever I want….”
“That’s reassuring….” Samantha grinned and winked.
“You know what I mean! Seriously, though, sex is something I’ve never had to worry about having. I can have sex with any number of people. I can call any one of at least fifteen people on my phone, and within two hours, I can be in bed with any of them. Sweetheart, despite that, I’ve fallen in love with one person, though, and that’s you. Deeply and truly, and I cannot fathom my life without you being in it.”
Samantha’s heart nearly came crashing out of her chest as it swelled with her feelings. She clutched Ashley’s hand tightly, smiling wide as a single tear streaked down her left cheek.
Tuesday, 8:58 pm
She walked around their apartment, taking it all in, making mental notes of different places where the crooks and crannies of either the walls themselves, or ones created by how the furnishings were placed, would work for the next steps in her plan.
Tonight, though, tonight wasn’t about the all-out blitz that would be designed to send her running back into her arms. No, tonight was about the opening salvo against that slut she was living with.
Tonight was all about planting that small seed of doubt in her mind, the one that she would water and care for as if it were in a garden of her own, cultivating it and, when the time was right, harvesting the results.
Then, and only then, would she belong to her, and her alone, once again.
Never mind the night she found her with that stranger, her face buried in his lap as he sat on the edge of her bed, stark naked. That was an aberration, a poor decision driven by stress and made possible by the application of too much alcohol. No, that was not her. That was not the woman she had caught herself falling for, the woman who, with that single indiscretion, had forced her to face that fact and own it.
The woman who had the touch she missed, the lips she longed to kiss, and the body she longed to have lying beside her once again.
So she continued to walk around, making her way into their bathroom, and again her mind wandered to the things the walls could say if they could talk. The things that happened in that jetted, jacuzzi-style tub, or against the glass walls of the shower with the rainfall head hanging over the middle of it. As she tried to process it all, the anger began to filter its way back into her mind, and for a brief moment, she looked around for something to break. But the soothing voice of her benefactor overcame the red waves, and instead, she took a pink lipstick on the double vanity, and drew a small heart in the lower left corner of the massive mirror, then left the bathroom.
Tuesday, 9:38 pm
After more conversation, and with their second course now finished, their server brought in the main and final course selections. Ashley had picked the market vegetable plate, while Samantha, ever the midwestern girl, had gone with the heritage pork chop in all its finery. The girls ate in a marked silence, both of them thoroughly enjoying their meals, smiling at each other over sips of wine.
Ashley had noticed, however, that Samantha kept putting her right hand under the table, as if adjusting something, then going back to her meal. “What are you doing, Sammy?”
Samantha knew she was caught, but played coy. “Nothing, hon.”
“Oh, yes you are....you keep putting your hand under the table, shifting in your chair, and then back to your plate. No secrets, Sammy-Poo!” Samantha quickly cut a big bite off her pork chop, shoving it into her mouth to avoid speaking. Ashley noticed, and gave Samantha a playful glare. “Fess up, or I’ll get under there and find out for myself.”
Samantha swallowed the hunk of meat, and gently tossed her cloth napkin up onto the table. “OK, fine. I was going to wait until later on, but, since I’m caught red handed….” She stood up and reached into the right pocket of her denim capris, holding something in her hand as she walked around to Ashley’s side of the table, pulling out the chair and sitting down.
Ashley’s eyes grew as big as the plates from which they ate. “Sammy?”
Samantha took Ashley’s left hand and held it, smiling at her. “Ashley Marie, you know that I’m just a country girl at heart, and that sometimes, I can get old-fashioned and, as you like to say, all midwestern-y on you. Well, sweetheart, this is going to be one of those moments.”
“Ahh...OK….” Ashley swallowed hard, unable to say much else as her hand rested in Samantha’s.
Samantha continued, holding a small diamond ring between her fingers. Ashley’s gasp did not go unnoticed by those around them, as the room grew quiet, with a number of people beginning to watch. “Ashley, I love you. I love you more and more with every day we spend together, and when we are apart, I find my heart aching for you to return to me. And I know that we’ve only been together for a few months now, but I can’t picture my life without you in it. So….” Samantha held up the ring. “...what this is, honey, is what we call back home a promise ring. In many cases, this is something that boys use to tell a girl that they want to begin the process of getting engaged, and, eventually, married. Clearly, I am no boy, Ash, but I want to give you this ring as a promise.”
“A...a promise?”
“Yes. A promise. Specifically, my promise to you. My promise that I will be faithful to you, that I love you and I want to be with you, now and for the rest of my life. My promise that I will walk down life’s road together with you toward one goal, and that goal being to make you my wife someday. That I will seek out your heart and yours alone, and my promise that you alone have all of my love and affection.”
Ashley smiled, tears streaming down both cheeks.
Samantha continued. “But you have to accept that promise, Ashley, because with that promise comes the responsibility that you, as well, promise me the same. I asked you earlier if, essentially, we were in a serious relationship, and together we decided that we are. This ring, baby, lets the world know that as well. So, Ashley Marie Chase...will you accept this ring, and the promise that comes with it?”
Ashley could only nod in the affirmative, and Samantha slipped the tiny diamond over her finger, watching as Ashley covered her mouth to keep from squealing. “I love you, Ashley Marie Chase.”
Ashley returned in a bit of a happy blubber, “I love you too, Samantha Michelle Tolson.” She stood up, almost throwing herself at Samantha, who opened her arms and pulled her in close, holding her tight as the watching crowd clapped and cheered.
Tuesday, 9:59 pm
She looked at the time on her cell phone, figuring that her little soiree in their abode needed to come to an end. She pulled the small, folded manilla envelope from her back pocket, then went to her purse and pulled out a CD. With a red Sharpie, also retrieved from the purse, she wrote “Play Me” on the CD, then slipped it into the envelope, sealing it up with both the metal prongs and a kiss. She then turned it to the front, and again with the Sharpie, wrote something else, then dropped the envelope down on the coffee table before gathering her purse and leaving through the front door….
“For My Samantha”
-----------------------------------------
(ON-CAMERA)
"I don't know what Ana has against you, Kate, but for some reason or another, we're facing off again, aren't we?"
"After all, it was just at the last TNT that you and I faced off, along with someone who hasn't been heard from since."
"This time, though, we're in a ladder match."
"I'll tell you flat out, Kate, that I've never been in a ladder match before. But also, I'll flat out tell you that I have absolutely NO fear of it. None whatsoever."
"The way I see it, this is our rubber match, all with something in a case hanging above the ring. I have no idea what's in that case, Kate, but I do know this."
"It'll be something worth getting."
"Whether it's a title shot, money, or even something I can use to beat you over the head with, it'll be something useful."
"Which means, of course, that I'm going to have to make it up the ladder before you. Which also means, of course, that's what I'll do. I'm not stupid. I mean, I know you're going to think the same thing, say the same thing, blah blah blah."
"And I'm sure you'll say something about that time you beat me. That time you made me pass out, because I was too damn stubborn to tap out. I'm sure you'll bring up all the things I say on Twitter, and everything else. I'm sure you'll try and tell the whole world anything you can, because deep down, you know something just as well as I do."
"After that first match, I've got your number."
"You had your chances to beat me in that three-way, you had chances to beat both of us. But somehow, someway, I perservered. I kept going, kept kicking out when both of you tried to beat me. And in the end, I put Scarlet down for the three, making you a loser in that match as well."
"Now, you get the chance to prove that first win wasn't a fluke. And I'm going to show the whole world that it was."
"Because Sarah Twilight or Crystal Hilton be damned, that All-Star Championship belongs on my waist. If that means I have to mow through you, and then mow through the rest of the Defiance Tournament to prove it, well, that's what is going to happen. But you, Kate?"
"You are little more than a speed bump on my road to destiny."
"You like to say all the time on social media....blue hair don't care?"
"By the time this match is over, Kate, I'll be shocked if you even remember what hair color you have without looking in a mirror. Because I'm going to use that ladder to hurt you, to break you, and then I'm going to stand it up over your broken, bloody carcass, and use it to climb up and snag whatever it is they put above the ring."