This is my first fanfic story so take it easy on me! I hope you enjoy it.
For the sake of simplicity, everybody is referred to by their on-screen name not real name.
I stood in my hotel room mirror, giving myself a pep talk.
Come on Kelsey, you can do this. You need to do this. You can face him again. You look great, you are doing great, This is going to go great.
I was trying to be fearless but I couldn't crush the nervousness. I did look great, my new little black dress, offset my tan and long blonde hair perfectly while showing off my natural curves, including my 34DD's. Usually, I would be oozing confidence, but today, I felt anxious and uneasy. I was going to have to fake it. I looked over at my hotel room clock. Damn, I was running late, AGAIN. This was a basically a daily occurrence. I grabbed my purse and a folder off of my bed and rushed out the door.
After a relatively short drive, I found myself pulling my rental car into an arena parking garage in Atlanta, Georgia. I could feel my legs shaking as I entered the arena. Never in a million years did I think that I would be here at a WWE event, especially under these circumstances. I waited in line, and fought my way through the crowded entrance until I reached the ticket window. I reluctantly dug into my wallet to pay the box office attendant for my ticket. I sighed, this wasn't where I wanted to be. It wasn't that I didn't like wrestling that was the issue. In fact, my own father tried to break into the business when he was in his 20's. When he was unable to make it to the big leagues he decided to do the next best thing, open a wrestling training gym. Wrestling had always been in my life, whether it was watching my dad wrestle, train, or run his business. My brothers and I spent half our lives in that gym and nothing made our Dad happier than seeing us get into the ring when we practiced wrestling each other. After I graduated from college with a business degree I took over the office business of the gym for my Dad so he could concentrate on the training.
"Miss? Here's your ticket…Miss?," said the attendant impatiently. I snapped out of my thoughts and grabbed the ticket. Once again I pushed through the crowds in order to try and find my seat, my knee high boot clacking against the hard floors. 20 minutes later I finally found my seat. Unfortunately, I have a terrible sense of direction but it caused me to miss out on the first match.
I spent the next two hours watching superstars and divas tear each other apart while the audience, cheered, booed, and chanted. It was hard not to get sucked in by the energy and soon enough I was absorbed into the action. I found myself surprisingly disappointed when the Raw Supershow ended. Anxiety began to overtake me as I remembered what I was here for.
I began to walk towards the wrestlers locker rooms when I was unsurprisingly stopped by security guards.
"Miss, you are not cleared to enter this area. I can't let you through", said the burly security guard.
"I know I don't have a pass but I need to get back there." The guards looked at each other and chuckled.
"I know everybody wants an autograph from these guys but that isn't really a legitimate reason to-"
"I don't want a fucking autograph, I need these signed." I interjected and showed him my folder of documents. They exchanged glances and shrugged.
"I guess you can go ahead then. Good luck Miss."
"Thank you!" I huffed impatiently as I stomped off, tossing my long platinum blonde hair back behind my shoulder. Surprisingly my attitude didn't get me into trouble this time.
I began my trek around the backstage area is search of a particular dressing room. There were so many doors and people, it was hard to figure out where to go but as usual, my stubbornness interfered with the notion of asking for directions. But I was determined to accomplish my goal.
Finally, I found the door I was looking for and my heart immediately sped up. I took a couple of deep breaths, suddenly not ready to go through with this. I mustered up the courage to knock on the door. It opened and I woman in a small silk rope appeared.
"Hello?" She bitchily greeted me.
"Hi, who the fuck are you and why are you here?" I said returning her tone.
"My name is Eve and this is my boyfriends dressing room. Who the fuck are you?" A rational adult probably would have simply answered the question. I was not one of these rational adults, I am a hot head so I punched her in the face. She bent over and I grabbed her hair and used it to throw her into the hallway where this altercation quickly turned into a brawl. The people occupying the hallway crowded around to see all of the action.
I started in control, straddling her waist while delivering punches to her head. She managed to roll over top of me and returned the favor. I managed to kick her off of me and begin to stand up. I was about to lunge at her again when I felt arms wrap around my waist, trapping me. A guy I recognized as Ted Dibiase detained Eve. Of course this didn't stop us from trying to break out of their holds to get at each other again.
"Kelsey?" I heard a familiar voice question. Shit. Shit. Shit. This wasn't my greatest moment. I stopped resisting the hold on me and adjusted my dress and hair which was a mess by now. I looked up to face the voice in the doorway.
"Yeah," I replied meekly.
"Wait! You know her?" said the guy still wrapped around me.
"Yeah, just let her go Cody." He sighed, "Kelsey, please just go wait in my room while I check on Eve." Cody released his grip and put me down.
"Okay Zack," I said defeated as picked up my purse and tried to confidently walk into his room even though I felt like a child on timeout.
I can't believe that I really just made such a fool of myself in front of so many people. This wasn't what I came here for, it just wasn't exactly what I was expected when I knocked on the door. I felt like an idiot and Zack was probably furious and confused. After what felt like forever, he entered the room and closed the door behind him.
"Is she going to be okay?" I asked tentatively.
"Yeah, she's just a little banged up but she will be okay."
"I'm really sorry about that, Zach. I didn't mean to-"
"Why are you here Kelsey? We haven't seen each other in four years. FOUR YEARS. Then, out of the blue show up. And THEN you assaulted my girlfriend, humiliating her in front of our friends and colleagues."
"In case you forgot, Zack, I wasn't the one who left. You made that choice, so don't put that on me. I was the one left heart broken back home while you ran off to god knows where!" I said scathing. His face grew increasingly infuriated.
"If I am so awful and at fault and you are so angry and bitter about it, why are you even here? If you are here just to yell at me and fuck up my life here with the WWE, with Eve, then why don't you just go?" he said motioning towards the door.
"If that's what you want, fine! I'll go!" I got up and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind me. I began to walk down the hallway, only making it a handful of steps before I looked down at my purse and saw the folder. SHIT! The reason I was here in the first place. Fuck it, I thought, I have to much pride to go back in there now. I was better off going back to the hotel to lick my wounds.
I was about to begin walking again when I was tapped on the shoulder.
"Excuse me but are you the woman involved in the brawl in the hallway?" I turned to face the mysterious voice.
"Yeah, that was me," I said wincing. As I looked up I realized who I was speaking to, Vince McMahon. My stomach dropped. I automatically assumed that I was in trouble for attacking one of his divas.
"Vince McMahon." He said firmly extending his hand.
"Kelsey Crawford," I said shaking his hand.
"I'd like to have a word with you in my office, immediately." His voice dominant and gritty.
"uh okay, sure." I said as he lead me towards his office. I wasn't sure what was going to happen but one thing was for sure, tonight wasn't going to plan.
I nervously entered Vince's office, it was intimidating to say the least. I was in Vince McMahon's office, the man who ran one of the best wrestling organizations ever, he was simply iconic.
"Take a seat," I nodded and sat in the grey cushioned chair.
"Am I in trouble? I really didn't intend on getting into a fight with that girl. I mean she's incredibly unpleasant but I was just here to-" I rambled before getting interrupted.
"Stop right there. You aren't in trouble, Ms. Crawford." I felt relief wash over me immediately. "Somebody brought your brawl to my attention so I watched the security tapes. I have to say I'm impressed, although I don't condone people attacking my superstars or divas." I smiled. "I really want to know, are you apart of any developmental territory or signed to any other organization? Because to be honest, I have never heard of you."
"I'm not a wrestler anywhere, sir. Although my dad runs a small training gym, so I have received informal training I guess. I have been wrestling in his gym for fun with my brothers for ages. I run the gym's office but that's it." He chuckled.
"Well, I'm going to cut to the chase, I'm sure you have things to do and I'm a busy man. I don't know how often you watch WWE programming but our Diva division is in trouble. We have made a lot of mistakes in creative, in hiring, everything. In order to help restore the Divas division we are trying to find some talented wrestlers for our company. What I saw on that tape, passion, aggression, we need that." My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe I was having this conversation.
"What are you asking me Mr. McMahon?"
"I want to sign you to the WWE."
"I already told you, I'm not really a wrestler. I am simply a woman with a temper." He smiled.
"You may not think you are a wrestler, but deep down you have exactly what it takes. If you can bring to the ring what I saw in that hallway, you will go far here."
"I really don't know. This is a huge decision. I hadn't really thought of being a wrestler professionally before…."
"How about we sign you for a year and then if you hate it, you can leave. I don't think you will but you could." My heart was beating a million times a minute, my mind was racing.
"What the hell! I will give it a shot." Vince's face broke out into a big smile.
"Fantastic. I knew you were a smart woman. You won't regret this Ms. Crawford. Leave your contact information with me and I will let you know when the contract is drawn up." I wrote down my information and shook his hand.
"I'll see you soon, Mr. McMahon." I smiled as I left his office and closed the door.
A day that started out rather horrible turned into quite a wonderful day. This was such a huge opportunity. I continued my walk down the gray corridor. I couldn't help but smile as I strutted down the hallway. Soon enough I was passing through the locker rooms again.
"Kelsey, What are you still doing here?" It was Zack, of course.
"You'll see soon enough." I chuckled.
"No, tell me! I'll get security Kelsey. You shouldn't be here."
"Don't threaten me, Zack. I don't owe you any explanations."
"You are so impossible."
"You know it!" I said mocking his catch phrase. I began to walk away.
"Kels! You're just going to leave?"
"I'll be seeing you soon enough!" I held my head up high and couldn't help but smirk.
The next month of my life was hectic. I signed my WWE contract and was sent to brush up on my skills. Finally, I was ready.
I got a call from the creative department to come in to discuss the story line they had come up with for me. As much as I was excited to begin my stint as a WWE Diva I was also nervous. What happens if my story line tanks and I fail at my only shot at this. My father was so proud that I was able to have a shot that he was never able to get. I couldn't bear disappointing them.
I once again found my legs shaking as I entered a WWE related situation. I was surprisingly on time for once and so I was immediately ushered into a conference room.
"Hello Everybody! I'm Kelsey Crawford," I said smiling nervously.
"Why don't you take a seat and we can get down to business," Vince said with a smile.
"So it came to our attention during your training that you have a personal relation to one of the wrestlers on our roster…" I swear in that moment my heart stopped. Crap.
"uh…yeah. That is true Sir."
"Well we would like to use that relationship as a part of your storyline." I took a long deep breath.
"Okay, how does Zack feel about that?"
"Well…we haven't told him yet. We were just checking with you first." I nodded half heartedly." They handed me the script for the following week and I was on my way.
As I walked down the corridor, I couldn't help but think about next week. I had a bad feeling about this story and I hadn't even read the script yet. Not to mention Zack was going to be furious. He didn't know I was signed and now we have to work with one another. But I guess it could be worse, these days women have been given much worse to work with.