The Beginning

~august~
August Moon Rose. Yes, it's my real name, I promise. I know, I don't believe it either half the time. But my parents were hippies, so what are you going to do? My name was almost Star Flower Rose. Could you imagine? At least they had the decency to name me after a month, that's at least kind of normal. I knew a girl named June, and girls are names May and April all the time. But I've never met another August.
But enough about me.
So right about now I'm sitting in my dressing room (which is way nicer than anything I'm used to, I might add) with butterflies in my stomach. Which never happens to me. Ever. Not even before my first broadcast back in Seattle. But this, this was national. Everyone watches the WWE, even if they don't admit it. It's like one of those soap operas you just can't turn off. As I'm sitting there, freaking out, I heard a soft knock on my door. "Come in." I answered. When Alicia Fox opened the door for the first time I thought she was Rihanna. (I still think they're related.) They have the same gorgeous face and wild, red hair. She had a big smile and a bouquet of lilies.
"Hi," She said. "I'm Alicia." She extended the hand that wasn't holding flowers to me. I stood and shook her hand. "I'm one of the Divas, I thought I'd come by and wish you good luck on your first broadcast tonight." She offered the flowers.
"Thank you." I said, "They're beautiful, lilies are my favorite."
"Luck guess." She promised. "It's going to be so nice to hear a girls voice commentating. I'm getting really sick of Michel Cole's whiny voice." I chuckled.
"That makes two of us, and I've only been here for about an hour!" Alicia laughed.
"Oh, I love your dress!" She gushed. I looked down. It was one of the more professional looking things I had. It was supposed to look like a white shirt with horizontal black stripes and elbow length sleeves tucked into a black pencil skirt. I also had on black heels, so I hoped I looked kind of professional. Every time I watched WWE one of the commentators (Who I found out later is Michel Cole) always wore a suit, but the other one (Who I found out was Jerry Lawler) always wore a tee shirt and jeans, So I'd shot for the middle.
"Thanks." I said.
"Well, I better let you get ready, good luck!"
"Thanks again!" I called as she shut the door. "That was nice." I thought out loud as I walked around my dressing room looking for a vase. I still had an hour, but I was ready to go. We had sound check in a half hour. So when I didn't find a vase I decided to go hunting.
I stepped out of my dressing room into a thrall of techies and sound crew. I had left the flowers in my room, and was glad, because they would've been crushed. I managed to slither my way through to the other hallway. You could easily get lost back here. As I kept going the techies started to thin out. I suddenly found myself by what looked like a green room, but there was a sock tied around the door handle so I kept going. Right next to it was another dressing room. The door didn't say anything on it. But I knew I was lost, so I knocked, and was face to face with one of the most beautiful people I'd ever seen in my entire life. His eyes were so blue they almost didn't seem natural, and his short black was hair was messy, but intentionally messy, if that makes any sense. He was absolutely gorgeous.
"Can I help you?" He asked, smiling. I still could not get over how inhumanly stunning this guy was, but I somehow spoke.
"Um, My name is August Rose, I'm the new ringside commentator-" He smiled. God, even his teeth were flawless.
"So you're the new girl I've been hearing about. You're cuter then Vince told us." He extended his hand. "Cody Rhodes." I blushed and shook his hand. I recognized him now. This was Cody Rhodes, better known as 'The Dashing Cody Rhodes' I was speechless. He was way better looking in real life. "So what's up doll?" He said, leaning in the doorway. This was about the time I realized he was wearing a black suit, a bright blue shirt, and a black tie. He looked, well, dashing. I blinked a few times, just making sure he wasn't a mirage.
"Um, I was just trying to find a vase for some flowers Alicia Fox gave me, but then I got lost." Cody laughed.
"Well, vases would be in the green room but…" He gestured to the door handle tied with the sock. "Jack and his girlfriend have been going at it in there for almost a half hour now."
"Wait, Jack Swagger?" I asked.
"The one and only. Why do you think he always has that big stupid grin on his face when he goes out before a match?" Right on queue a muffled moan of 'OH JACK!' came out of the Green Room. Cody and I both chuckled. "I can show you to the other Green Room, come on."
"Oh you don't have to do that." I promised him. Cody smiled.
"You really think I want to hear," He imitated Jack's girlfriend, "Oh Jack! OH GOD! OH MY GOD JACK! YOU BEAST! YOU BRUTE! OH JACK! While I'm trying to get ready?" I laughed at his impression.
"Good point." He put his hand on my shoulder.
"Come on." He said. As we were walking he asked me all sorts of questions. Where was I from? Did I like it here? What did my family think of my new job? My answer to that surprised him.
"They actually don't approve of me working here." Cody looked shocked.
"Why's that?"
"My parents are hippies, you know, Down with the man! Stop killing Mother Earth! Go Vegan! So they hate the Idea of a bunch of people crammed into a "concrete tumor" to watch people fight each other.
"They do realize it's all acting right?"
"Yep. They still hate it." I answered.
"Do they watch movies? It's just like a movie or, more like a play I guess."
"They hate anything that isn't 100% organic. They kind of disowned me anyways when I said I didn't want to be a vegan anymore."
"How long did they make you be a vegan?"
"Eighteen years. I got really sick of pine nuts." Cody chuckled at my pathetic joke. When we finally got to the other Green Room I was a little sad. I'd liked spending time with Cody, even though I had gotten my share of dirty looks from some of the Divas. But Cody didn't act like he was leaving so I turned to him. "You're not going back to your dressing room?"
"Are you trying to get rid of me?" He joked. "I've learned the hard way that Jack and his girlfriend can be in there for inhuman amounts of time. Besides, I'm not even wrestling tonight."
"Then why are you dressed up like you are?"
"I like to look nice. Besides. I came to watch your first broadcast. It's just not the same on a television screen in Cleveland." I blushed again.
"You came to watch me?" I asked, dumbfounded.
"Of course. You're going to be the first female ringside commentator. I came to see history."
"Well consider me flattered."
"You're welcome, now let's find you a vase." As Cody walked into the Green Room he bumped into someone.
"Watch it pretty boy." The man said.
"Sorry Mike. My bad." Cody apologized. Then the guy looked past Cody and saw me.
This is how I met The Miz.
"Rhodes, you've been holding out on me." The man walked over to me. His eyes were the same bright blue as Cody's, but there was a glint of something in them, and I didn't like it. His dirty blonde hair was gelled into a fohawk and he was wearing a little wrestling Speedo with a black shirt with a giant name tag printed on it that said 'hello, I'm Awesome!'
"Hello my dear." He said walking over to me. "So what's your name?"
"Leave her alone Mike." Cody warned.
"I'll do whatever the hell I want, thank you very much Cody. This isn't even your show, what are you doing here?" Cody put his hand on my shoulder.
"This is the new commentator, I came to watch her first show." Cody answered. The guy, Mike, looked back at me.
"Thank God. I thought you were going out with that loser." He pointed at Cody, then looked intensely at me. "You are much prettier then Vince said." He promised me. The turned his head back to the Green Room. "Alex, come here!" Within seconds a second guy walked out and stood behind Mike. His eyes were blue too, but they looked sad. His brown hair was spiked up and he was wearing a wrestling Speedo and the same shirt as Mike too. "This is our new ringside commentator. Miss…" He looked at me. "I'm sorry, what's your name?"
"August Rose." I answered.
"Nice Ring name! But seriously, what's your name?" Mike asked.
"That's my real name." I promised him.
"Oh yeah, and my real name is actually The Miz." I looked at the man, Alex, behind Mike. He didn't seem amused at Mikes joke, in fact, he seemed almost embarrassed to be seen with the guy. Mike turned to him. "Alex, will you go get my championship? I don't trust it alone in my dressing room." As Alex left Mike called after him. "You know the one with the giant star on it?" Cody sighed.
"I can't wait until John kicks your ass and gets that championship back." Mikes face got red and he walked up to Cody, they were the exact same height, but Mikes hair made him look taller.
"You better watch your mouth pretty boy or something might just happen to that perfect little face." Mike threatened.
"I'm so scared." Cody said sarcastically. "You can't do anything without your little boyfriend."
"Alex is my protégé. We have a business relationship!"
"Like Vicki and Dolf?"
"I'm going to beat that cocky little grin off your face one of these days Rhodes." Mike threatened.
"I'll be waiting." Cody said. With that Mike stalked by Cody and started to walk away, but he stopped in front of me, that glint of something returning to his blue eyes.
"Whenever you want to hang out with a champ, my dressing room door is open to you." He said and made an obnoxious little kissy face at me, then walked away.
"Who was that?" I asked.
"Mike Mizanin, better known as The Miz." Cody answered. "Biggest little prick in the business."
"I don't like him." I answered matter of factly.
"That makes two of us." Cody answered. Just then, Mike's protégé Alex walked up to us, carrying Miz's championship. "What do you want?" Cody demanded.
"Which way did he go?" Alex asked. He sounded tired. Cody and I pointed to the left. "Thanks, and I'm sorry."
"Alex." Alex stopped and turned to Cody. Cody continued. "Why do you work for him? He's an ass." Alex sighed.
"True, but he's the ass that saved my career. I owe him a lot." Alex replied.
"He treats you like shit." Cody informed Alex. "You don't owe him anything worthy of that."
"I know." Alex said, his blue eyes looking even sadder than before.
"ALEX! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!" We heard Mike holler. Alex looked back at Cody and I.
"Sorry, again." And then he scurried away. "I'm coming Mike hold on!" Cody and I watched him go. Cody let out a long sigh.
"Poor guy. I could never work with that idiot." He said.
"Yeah." I agreed. Just then a techie ran up to me.
"Miss Rose! We need you for a sound check! Come on!" She hollered at me.
"Sorry!" As I was being whisked away I looked back at Cody. "It was nice to meet you!"
"You too!" He called.
The techie walked me out into the stadium and I felt my knees go weak. This place was huge! She walked me down the ramp and around the ring over to the ringside table. A small man who looked like a gopher and another guy who reminded me of my dad were already there, talking to each other. The guy who reminded me of my dad was wearing an Ed Hardy tee and jeans. The gopher guy was wearing a suit. When they saw me the gopher guy frowned, but the other guy smiled warmly. "You must be Miss Rose." He said. He extended his hand to me. "Jerry Lawler." Jerry looked at the gopher guy. "Are you going to say hello Cole?" The gopher guy looked at me and shook my hand.
"Michel Cole." He said. Jerry smiled at me.
"It's wonderful to meet you." Jerry told me. "You're much prettier then Vince told us."
"Thank you." I said. The techie girl walked back over to me and sat me down on the end of the table next to Jerry then she walked away and came back with a big headset and placed it on my head.
"Can you speak into the mike for me please?" She asked.
"Test, test, test." I said. This I was used to. Except on the news I had had a small little mike clipped to my dress. This thing weighed almost ten pounds. When the techie girl was satisfied she looked back at me.
"Do you need anything?" She asked. "Diet Coke? Tea? Coffee?"
"Could I just get a bottle of water?" I asked. She smiled at me.
"Of course Miss Rose." The techie girl said. After she left Jerry looked over at me.
"You're going to love it here Miss Rose." He promised. "It's like narrating a soap opera."
"Thanks," I said, "And please, call me August." Jerry smiled again.
"So have you met anyone yet?" He asked.
"I did, I met Alicia Fox, she was really nice."
"Of course she was." Cole muttered. Jerry kicked him under the table. "Ow." He whined.
"I also met Cody Rhodes, The Miz, and Alex Riley."
"And what did you think?" Jerry asked.
"Well, Cody was really sweet."
"Of course." Cole muttered again. Jerry kicked him again.
"The Miz seemed a little arrogant, and Alex seemed kind of sad." Jerry looked at me.
"Hmm." Was all he said. "Well, there are lots of wonderful people here, so just keep your eyes open and stay out of the Miz's way and everything should be good."
Just then the techie girl came back with a bottle of water for me. "Thank you. What's your name?" I asked. She looked taken aback.
"Maria." She said. She was really pretty, with bright green eyes and auburn hair tied into a messy bun.
"Thank you Maria." I said. She smiled and walked away. Just about that time I noticed that people had been filing to their seat and now the stadium was filled. Maria came back over and looked at all three of us from behind the camera.
"And we are live in five-"
Here came the butterflies.
"four"
"You'll be fine." Jerry promised.
"Three."
Michel grunted an agreement.
Maria held up two fingers.
This was it.
She pointed to us and we were live.