Threaded Mode | Linear Mode

Drew Archyle · (09-16-2021)

Casa De Main

"When I was growing up I never dreamed about making my living as a professional wrestler. In truth I never really thought about the future much at all. I don't really know why that is. Maybe it's because my father was a drunk who beat on my mom whenever his mood inclined him to do so. Or maybe it was because my mom, despite all her efforts and best intentions couldn't help but fail at almost everything she tried. I don't know if it was because my father beat her down mentally and emotionally as well as physically and so she just accepted that she was all the things my father told her she was or if it's just who she was at her core but no matter how hard she tried to give me what I needed to succeed she couldn't. So at the end of the day I never really thought about my future because I didn't expect to have one.

I learned sometime around my 12th birthday that my father died in a car accident somewhere in California. A few years after he had split on my mom and I. He was drunk of course and instead of just crashing into a telephone pole or a wall and killing himself he had to crash into a car with a mother and her daughter, killing them both and extending his web of destruction and devastation beyond just his own torched family but that of another.

A few years later I came home from school to find my mother dead on the couch. A brain aneurysm is what I was told. At 14 years old I was without a mother and without a father. The one comfort I could take away from all that is that my mother's final moments were peaceful, the exact opposite of the life she lived for the entirety of my mine.

I was very literally an orphan. My family no longer existed. If not for the charity of others, specifically the Main's I would have likely lived out the rest of my youth in a group home, or if I was really lucky, bouncing around foster homes until I was legally an adult. But that's not how things shook out.

Instead the Main's took me in. Not legally. It wasn't necessary. Robert's father Dewey knew powerful people and took care of everything behind the scenes. The family I was born into was gone, instead I now had a family that had chosen me. A best friend who for all intents and purposes was now like a brother. While I never officially addressed Robert's parents as mom and dad they knew how I felt about them and I knew how they felt about me.

What could have been a story of tragedy ended up being anything but. However that story isn't over just yet. I've spent the last several years in a romantic relationship with Robert's sister Kayla. Robert and I have never talked about it beyond just acknowledging that it's a thing. Robert knows where my heart lies and where his sister's heart lies. There is really no need for him and I to talk about it, or how the relationship has evolved into something more than just doing the vertical tango in his guest house.

Someone I do need to speak with about the evolution of this relationship is Kayla and Robert's father Dewey, who just so happens to be sitting in his Robert's kitchen waiting for his son to finish his workout in the home's detached gym. I guess now is as good a time as any to have the awkward conversation."

Drew walks over to his dresser. He opens the top left drawer, moves around some clothes and pulls out a small squarish box and closes his hand around it. Drew then haphazardly moves the clothes in the drawer around before gently closing it and then exiting the room via a sliding glass door. Drew traverses the expansive backyard. Past the pool and past the grill and into the main house of Robert's property where as expected Dewey main is seated at the kitchen table drinking a coffee and reviewing some documents. He looks up when he hears the door shut to see Drew standing there.

"Hello son how are you?" Dewey asks as he puts places the papers in his hand down on the table in front of him.

"I'm doing well Dewey how about you and Mrs.Main?"

"We're doing well. The wife is out food shopping for tonight's dinner. You're gonna be there right? Robert spoke to you about it I hope."

"He did and I will."

"Great." Dewey says as he takes a sip of his coffee.

"Actually I'm glad I ran into you here. You have a minute or two to talk. There is something I wanted to run by you." Drew asks as he approaches the kitchen table.

"Of course son. Take a seat." Dewey says as he points to the seat directly across from him.

Drew pulls out the wooden chair from under the table and takes a seat across from Dewey. The small rectangular box still hidden in his right hand.

"Well Dewey as you know Kayla and I have been together for a few years now. Outside of Robert she is the best friend I've ever had. She understands me in a way that I don't think anyone else does. I know I'm a bit of an odd guy but I hope you know me to be an honest, dependable, loyal and most of all deeply in love with your daughter."

"Is this going where I think it's going?"

"Probably."

"Then I have a comment and a question. My question is, have you spoken to Robert yet about this?"

"I have not. I wanted....I felt it was necessary that I speak with you first and so I am but I will speak to him next depending on what you say here."

"Well Drew I have to be honest, you are a bit odd that's undeniable, but you are also all of those other things too. You know I've always treated you like a son anyway so making you one officially isn't that much of a difference as far as how this family operates. You will always be part of this family, you know that. So long as you promise to always treat my daughter the way she deserves then you have my blessing. As long you have Roberts as well because I don't see how this could possibly work without it."

"Thank you Dewey. For everything. And I agree. Robert and I need to have the talk that I think we've been avoiding for a long time."

"Well then how about you and Robert go have that talk so you can give Kayla that ring that your holding onto in your hand for dear life."

"How did you know?"

"Because I was you once. A bit less odd but I had the same conversation with the Misses father that you are having with me now. I knew the second you walked in here what was about to happen. The truth is I've been waiting for this moment for a while and I'm glad it's finally here and I suspect your next conversation while a bit more awkward will be just as positive."

"Thanks Dewey. Thanks for making this not awkward."

Dewey doesn't say anything. Instead he politely nods and then goes back to the papers he was reading a few moments ago. Drew gets up from the table and heads back out of the house and to the right of the pool where a small-semi detached section of the home is located. Drew opens the door and inside of unit running on the treadmill is the aforementioned Robert Main.

Robert's eyes are fixated on the television in front of him so he doesn't even see that Drew has entered the gym area. Drew the ever considerate friend slowly walks up towards Rob and takes a seat on the workout bench across from Rob so as to not startle him. Rob sees Drew and continues his run for a few more minutes before tapping a button on the treadmill and then slowly stepping off it. Rob reaches down onto a small table and grabs a towel which he then uses to remove copious amounts of sweat off of his face.

"What's up Drew? You here for a workout too?"

"No sir. You know me. I do my workouts before breakfast."

"I don't know how you do that Drew I really don't. I can barely function first thing in the morning but you somehow can wake up and go straight into a full workout as easily as you breath."

"The body is a pretty nifty thing Robert. It can do pretty much anything if you condition it to. Anyway I wanted to talk to you about something if you got a minute."

"Of course I do. You ready for your match with Ned? I don't know what is up with that boy I really don't."

"I guess everyone breaks bad at some point don't they? You were in a tag team with Chris Page for like an entire year. Chris Page. The guy that tried to end me. Not once but twice. And you were his tag team partner."

"That was different and you know it."

"From your point of view maybe. Just like you eventually saw the light so to will he. Ned is clearly twisted up by something or because of someone. I don't really know the particulars but I think I know Ned pretty well and this isn't the Ned that you and I fought alongside. This isn't the Ned you took under your wing, That Ned is still in there. Somewhere. I truly believe that and this match is about bringing him back into the light. One way or the other."

"And how do you plan on accomplishing that Drew? A seance?"

"What? No that's crazy. But to answer your question I have no idea to be honest. Do I look like the kind of a guy that has a plan?"

"Fair point. So you said you wanted to talk about something? I'm guessing this match isn't it."

"No it isn't. This was." Drew says as he unclenches his damn near white fist and with an outstretched hand holds the small black box out in front of Robert.

"What is this?"

"Open it."

Robert does as Drew asks and opens the box revealing a modest gold ring with a small diamond in the middle of it.

"Are you proposing to me? After all these years you've finally worked up the courage to ask me to marry you? It's about damn time Andrew Archibald Archyle."

"That's not my middle name."

"What is your middle name?" Robert asks as he closes the lid of the box and hands it back to Drew.

"I actually have no idea."

"You should probably figure that out. In the meantime I'm sure Kayla will love the ring. Did you talk to dad yet?"

"I did. He gave me the ok but said that I had to speak with you as well. I figured that was more of a formality since you did build a guest house for me after you got tired of hearing me and your baby sis doing the nasty. You had to know this was coming."

"You didn't have to go there Drew but yes this day was not unexpected. And I'd certainly rather my sister with you than some untrustworthy piece of shit like Chris Page."

"Hey he's your ex best friend. Not mine."

"He was never my best friend Drew."

"Yeah that's what I'd say too if the guy ended up hiring someone to try and break my skull into 100 pieces. But it's ok Rob, you know I'd never pay anyone to do that to you. Especially since I'd probably have to use your paypal account to do it and there would be an obvious paper trail."

"Thank you I think. Anyway was that all you wanted to talk about? If so I need to get in the shower and clean up before dinner. You're gonna be there right?"

"Of course I am. I'm cooking the main course."

"Which is what by the way?"

"A surprise."

With that Robert walks out of the gym and towards the main house while Drew remains in place as the camera fades out.

Threaded Mode \| Linear Mode Evolution
Author	Message