A/N- Cara, I tried, unsuccessfully, to write this story to "Part of Your World". I tried, and tried, then tried again. I hope you're not too mad.
Merry Christmas!
XXX
You know how there is that one defining moment in your life? That one moment that opens your eyes and make you realize things you never even thought of before. For some people it's overcoming a disease that almost killed you, or surviving a wreck that left you for dead. Then for some people it happens when they least suspect it.
Such as on your way to the wrestling ring, to wrestle the biggest match of your career thus far.
"We have to go Jimmy," AJ said. "You go out first."
Tonight was his chance. His chance to prove that he was worth keeping on the TNA roster. Tonight he was going to leave the haters sitting in disbelief. He had a match against the reigning X-Division Champion, AJ Styles. AJ knew how much this match meant to Jimmy, and promised to put him over as much as he could.
The only problem was that Rave was entering the match as a heel. He wasn't the type of wrestler who feeds off the boo chants. He much preferred to be cheered. Still, it didn't surprise him when he walked through the curtain to the following reaction;
"BOOOO!" Followed by, "You suck Rave!"
"WE PREFER HOYT!"
"AJ! AJ! AJ!"
"YOU SUCK" Were just a few of the chants he heard while walking down the ramp. The "we prefer Hoyt" one was a different one though. He ignored the pang of jealously he felt when he heard it.
"At least they are reacting," He said to himself. "It's better than nothing."
He wasn't really sure if it was though. There was a part of him that wished they wouldn't say anything to him. A part of him wished that they would just smile at him as he walked the short ramp, maybe clapping for him, thanking him for his hard work of dedication.
It wasn't until he got to the steps that he first saw her. There she was, sitting in the first row, the only one in the entire building screaming "I LOVE YOU JIMMY". Needless to say, she caught his attention. It was her sign though that made him chuckle; "I'm brave enough to ride the Rave." He smiled when she flipped it over and it said "Save Rave!".
That was the first week he met his only fan.
XX
Jimmy sighed as he read the script for the night. He was jobbing again, this time to Sonjay Dutt. Last week it was AJ, this week Sonjay. Who was next? Sharkboy?
It says a lot for your career when you get booed against one of the most hated men in TNA.
Honestly, he couldn't figure out why all the fans hated him. The minute Hemme turned face, she was being cheered to no end. He shook his head as his music began playing. The first thing he did when he walked through the tunnel was ignore the automatic negative chants. The second he did was look around to see if maybe his fan from last week was here this week also.
She was.
Front row, just as last week. He noticed she had a new sign this time though. This week was a colorful sign saying "I crave Rave." He waited a second to see if she was going to turn it over; she did. On the back in big black letters it said "Gimme Jimmy."
He saw the Ref out of the corner of his eye, signaling for him to get in the ring. They were on a time limit and he knew it. He couldn't help it though, he was in awe of this woman. He snapped out of it when he heard Sonjay's music start.
He gave the woman in the first row a smile, that was directed to only her, then stepped into the ring.
That was week two of his encounter with his only fan.
XX
Week three of losing. Only this week Jarrett stepped it up and had him jobbing to Angle. His match this week was less than five minutes. It was a match set to make Kurt look dominate. Since Rave wasn't a member of the Frontline, there was no harm in having him cleanly job to The Main Event Mafia.
He didn't care though.
His favorite fan was in attendance again. Just about the same seat as the previous two weeks. He was anxious to read her sign this week. He liked that she wasn't shy about it, she wrote what she wanted him to see. Like this week it was; "Rave is greater than Dave....Batista." He had a hard time keeping his laugh to himself. How ironic that she was comparing him to one of the most popular wrestlers in WWE. She quickly flipped it over revealing the back of the poster. The back sported a simple "Jimmy equals TNA's future." He felt like he knew her from somewhere, like they had met before.
Before climbing into the ring, he walked over to her. He asked for a pen and she supplied him with one. He signed the bottom of the poster; 'My only fan. Love, Jimmy', he also scribbled down his number for her with a call me later after it.
She definitely would.
He had probably the greatest match of his career that night, wrestling Kurt Angle nonetheless.
XX
He refused to go out with some of the other guys. He couldn't take the chance. The chance that he'd miss her call. He felt ridiculous, he didn't even know her name. All he knew was that she had a gaze that captivated him and a smile that gave him hope. He ignored the looks he got from the boys when he said no to going out. It was odd, because he never passed up alcohol.
Yeah, he needed to meet her that badly.
He jumped slightly when his cell phone began ringing. He dropped his bag on the bench and quickly answered.
"Hello?" Jimmy hesitated slowly when answering. He was nervous. He's never been nervous over a woman before.
"This is a joke, right," He heard. "You're just messing with me."
He smiled saying nothing at first. It was her. He didn't know how he knew, he just did. "Meet me at Tanks. It's on Universal Avenue." Jimmy requested, he needed to meet her.
"Are you for real," She asked. "I don't like it when people play games with me."
"Be there in fifteen minutes." He instructed. "Last table in the back."
He didn't give her a chance to respond. He wasn't sure how he would handle her saying no.
It took him a whole ten minutes to reach Tanks, which was fairly empty, something he was grateful for. He sat there for over twenty minutes waiting on the mystery woman who captivated his soul. He became discouraged when she didn't appear after an hour.
She wasn't coming.
He should have suspected. He reached into him back pocket to pull out a twenty, to pay for his drink that wasn't even half empty.
"You shouldn't waste." Jimmy's head shot up to look at the unfamiliar...yet at the same time, familiar woman in front of him.
"I didn't think you were coming," He looked down at his watch. "You're an hour late." He half joked.
"I couldn't decide if you were being serious or not. I sat up front for an hour. I decided you looked discouraged, and came back to make sure it was because of me." She gave him a shy smile.
"I'll have you know that that wasn't the case. I was trying to determine if my glass was half empty," He held up his glass in demonstration. "Or half full."
"That was deep. But I like to look at it as half full."
"You should sit down and explain that interesting thought to me." Jimmy gestured to the seat across from him. She smiled at sat down, then just looked at him for a moment.
"Or you could tell me the real reason I am here?" She suggested.
"But to start off with, you could tell me your name." She eyed him up. He took note that he was bigger this close up than he was in the ring.
"Cara." She simply answered.
"Cara. I like that. I was expecting you to come off with Ralphina or something."
"Very funny Rave." Cara rolled her eyes.
"Guffey." Jimmy corrected.
"What?"
"My last name is Guffey, not Rave." He hated to be called Rave outside of the ring. It irritated him to no end.
"I guess I'm going to have to get creative with my next sign then." Cara laughed.
"You could go with 'Buffy Guffey." Jimmy offered.
"Or 'Muff Me Guff." Cara blushed as soon as she said that. She was too embarrassed to look at Jimmy.
"Hm...I think I like that one more than my idea."
It was three hours later when they left. Jimmy knew just about everything about her, just as she did him. He never just talked to a girl. It always ended in him taking them to his place, sleeping with each other, then parting ways. He didn't want Cara to be like that. He actually liked her. Driving the few minutes to his apartment, he smiled at the thought of the last words they exchanged with each other before agreeing to see each other again.
"Before I go, have we ever met before?" It was driving him crazy.
"Well...you did sign my boobs before at an autograph session." She laughed at his stunned face.
"Not exactly what I was expecting."
"You're not complaining are you?"
"I might have to do it again just to see if I should complain."
"Anytime."