Post by Jackson Hart on Dec 14, 2020 11:45:31 GMT -6
As the scene fades in we hear the unmistakable sound of jingling keys and then a loud thud.
"See this is why I need one of those finger print door knobs. Then I'd never have to worry about which key it is." Jackson Hart says as he fumbles through his small key ring trying to find the key that opens his apartment's door.
"Come on Jackson, I can't wait a minute longer. I have to have you." A woman whose face is obscured by the camera's angle.
"That's sweet. Pretty sure it's this one." Jackson says as he reaches forward with the key and inserts it into the lock. He turns the 90 degrees to the right and pushes the door open.
Both Jackson and the woman walk into the apartment however the woman is rattled by something as evidence by her auditory gasps which come just as Jackson shuts the door behind them. The woman takes a step or two backwards but doesn't say a word.
"What's wrong?" Jackson asks.
"There's someone in your apartment." The woman says as she points over towards the silhouette of a person sitting on the couch watching tv.
Jackson starts walking towards the couch but does so by taking an angle that would have him approaching the person from the flake. Clearly Jackson has been playing way too much Call of Duty lately.
"Whose there and why are you sitting on my couch?"
"It's me you cunt."
"Noah?"
"Who else?"
Jackson flips a switch on the wall illuminating the whole room and we now see Noah Jackson sitting Indian style on Jackon's couch with an empty box of pizza in front of him and about a dozen crushed beer cans randomly tossed throughout the room. You'd probably assume it's Foster's but any real Australian will tell you that Fosters is shit beer. The cans are actually Bud Light.
Jackson takes a few seconds to alternate his gaze between Noah and the TV with an occasional glance over towards the as yet unidentified woman that he brought home with him before taking a few steps forward towards Noah.
"What are you doing here? And how did you drink all of that beer? I've only been gone like two hours."
"I'm watching The Notebook you uncultured Cunt."
"The what? What the fuck is going on Noah? Are you crying? You are. Oh my God you are. What fresh Hell is this?"
"Should I leave?" Jackson's "date" interrupts.
"Yes." Noah shouts at the woman without actually taking his eyes off the tv screen in front of him.
"No babe why don't you go make yourself comfortable in the bedroom over there. I'll bring some wine in in a minute. I just need to handle this situation here for a minute."
"Oh that's all I am to you Jackson? A situation?"
"Are you sure?" The woman asks.
"Yes I am. Do you prefer Red or White?" Jax asks.
"White." The woman responds before turning around and heading into the bedroom making sure to shut the door behind her.
Jackson turns his attention back to the interloper on the couch.
"What are you doing here Noah?"
"What does it look like Cunt? Watching The Notebook."
"Yeah that much I got. But why here? In the dark. And how did you even get in?"
"I told you before the American education system is a joke. While you assholes are learning about how France bailed you out in the Revolutionary War we learn useful shit like how to pick locks."
"Wonderful. You still haven't answered why you're here and not at your own place watching The Notebook on your own tv."
"Because..." Noah tries to continue but has to pause to collect his thoughts. It takes him a few seconds before he reaches down to a tissue sitting on the couch next to him and with two tissues wipes his nose. "Because Vita broke up with me."
"Who?"
"You know. Vita. Vita Valenteen. My girlfriend."
"Ex."
"Right ex girlfriend. She broke up with me."
"Sorry to hear that. But why come here? Why not go see Shawn?"
"He's busy with James. Look let me move in with you. Not forever just a few days until I find a new place. I can't stay in that place anymore. Everything in it reminds me of her."
"Absolutely not. I don't have a spare room."
"I'll sleep on the couch."
"No you won't."
"Well fuck you too then."
"No. Sorry. What I mean is, you won't sleep on the couch because I have a better idea. A much better idea actually."
"What's that Cunt?"
"Well you know how I told you I'm kinda tired of Toronto? Just not my kind of city you know? Coming from LA and Vegas, Toronto is too slow for me. I've been thinking about moving for a few weeks and now that you are basically homeless this might be the perfect opportunity to make it happen."
"Really? You wanna be my roommate?" Noah asks in between sobs.
"I mean you don't have to make it sound so queer but yeah. Why not?"
"Where we gonna go? Back to Australia?"
"Ahhhh no. I'm not dealing with those long ass flights every time I have to come back to the states for a match. I honestly can't think of any place in Canada that would be better than this place and I can't stay here. What about Vegas?"
"I'm banned."
"From one of the casinos?"
"From all of the casinos."
"Really? What did you do?"
"Long story. Another time maybe."
"Ok Vegas is out. LA?"
"Too many fake people."
"Fair enough. New York?"
"Can we buy an abandoned firehouse with a fireman's pole?"
"Obviously."
"Thanks Jax. You just made me day. When do we leave?"
"Well first I gotta bring some wine to my lady friend in there. Then I have to fulfill her every want and desire. So sometime after that. We'll leave tomorrow morning. Get some sleep. We've got a busy day tomorrow."
"Will do."
Jackson walks over to the cabinet and pulls down two white wine glasses, which for the uncultured means the glasses are taller and thinner than the standard red wine glass. Jackson carefully places the two glasses on the cabinet and then pulls down an unopened bottle of white wine from the shelf. He uncorks the bottle and then pours two healthy servings of wine in each glass before picking both glasses up and heading towards the bathroom.
"By the way there's some ice cream in the freezer if you're looking for some desert."
"No there isn't." Noah says as he holds up the empty pint of Ben and Jerrys.
Jackson doesn't even bother to turn around instead he opens the bedroom door, steps inside and then closes it behind him leaving Noah to empty pizza boxes and The Notebook.
The once dark living room has been overcome by the quickly rising sun. Still laying on the couch, now in nothing but his boxers and socks is Noah Jackson. Off in the kitchen making enough noise to wake his uninvited house guest without being too obvious as to the fact that he's doing it on purpose is Jackson Hart. Jackson unlike Noah is fully clothed and appears ready to go about his day.
"What the fuck Cunt? I'm trying to sleep." Noah says with a somewhat froggy voice as he slowly sits up on the couch, one of his nuts hanging out from his boxers which will obviously have to be edited out in post production...
"Wakey wakey my foul mouthed friend. Today is a big day. I already let James know we were heading out of town. I booked us two first class seats on the next flight from Toronto to NYC, using our Legacy card."
"We have our own credit card now?"
"Well it's a joint account. I have a card, James has a card. Your father has a card..."
"I don't have a card."
"Yeah...apparently you can't be trusted with a credit card."
"That's fucked Jax. It's completely fair but it's fucked nonetheless. How am I going to buy food in NYC or pay for a cab?"
"I'll figure something out don't sweat the small stuff man. Now hurry up, get dressed. I made a couple of protein heavy smoothies for us to drink on the way to the airport. We don't want to miss our flight the seats are non refundable."
"What happened to your date?"
"She's still asleep in the bedroom."
"You're just gonna leave her here without saying anything?"
"Only if she is still asleep when we leave. Which seems to be how this is going to play out."
"Cold blooded Jax. I like it. Alright give me 15 minutes and we'll be out of here. Leave the smoothie though. Those things are for soccer moms. I'll grab something at the airport."
"Suit yourself."
As Noah disappears into the bathroom Jackson takes a sip of his banana and peanut butter smoothie before looking directly into the camera.
"I know a lot of people have been wondering why you haven't heard from me since James and I lost our tag team titles a few weeks back. James has been off spreading Legacy cheer with Shawn in Project Honor, Noah has apparently been flushing a relationship down the toilet but me I've been silent and not because I've been sulking or anything like that. The truth is James and I did what we wanted to do with those tag team titles. We brought legitimacy to the GCWA's tag team division. We forced John Burrows to go out and scour the globe trying to find talent that could equal what James and I brought to the table. John had to go out and beg retired teams to show up in hopes of giving us a fair fight and yeah we may have eventually lost the titles but so what? What else did we really need to accomplish by successfully defending them again? The truth is Sins of the Father needed those titles to try and revitalize their careers. For James and I they had become a chore. Something we were contractually obligated but no longer motivated to defend. Sins of the Father may have walked out of that event with the titles but they didn't win them, they didn't earn them. They were simply gifted them by champions who no longer felt the need to be weighted down by them.
We rebuilt the GCWA tag team division and now we've moved on to bigger and better things. James is now the GCWA's top dog. Shawn is still the North American Champion, Noah is doing his thing and me? I've got my eyes set on another prize but before I get to that let's talk a little bit about the Righteous Rumble that I am entered into along with Noah and Shawn. I'm sure all of you arm chair quarterbacks are wondering why the three of us would enter into an event where the prize is a shot at the very title James now proudly wears around his waist and well the answer is really simple. Because why not? I won't speak for Noah or Shawn. They have their reasons but for me personally it's about planting my seeds for the next stage of my career. I have no desire to win this rumble. That's not why I am entering it and I'm sure as shit not there to try and protect James from any particular opponent winning their shot at him. James doesn't need my protection or anyone else's for that matter. He is the G.O.A.T. after all. No I am entering this event because I have some receipts to hand out and some challenges to lay down and I am going to use this rumble as way to kill a few birds with two fists. When the rumble is over you will all know who and what my agenda for the next few months will be so pay attention."
"Alright Cunt you ready to go?"
"Yep." Jackson walks over to the table and grabs two black duffle bags. One he tosses to Noah and the other he puts over his shoulder.
"What's this?"
"I'll tell you about it on the way to the airport."
Jackson and Noah walk out of the apartment, bags in hand. The door slams shut behind them which results in some rustling in the bedroom as the scene fades to black.
