"Taya Lana Angel, get your ass out here. I did not take a day off work to drive you to your contract signing just so you could be late and screw it up." My best friend Nikki yelled from the living room of my apartment.
"I'm coming, I just want to make sure that I look alright." I poked my head around the corner.
"With abs like that you could wear a bean bag chair and look killer." She laughed, "I just don't want hit traffic."
"Traffic!" I raised an eyebrow, "this from the girl who's led foot could get me anywhere in the country in less than 30 minutes."
"Smartass let's go"
28 mins later
"I have a meeting with Jim Russo and Vince McMahon." I said as I signed in to the front desk of the WWE headquarters in Stamford.
"Take the elevator to the top floor, take a left off the elevator, go to the end of the hallway and tell the secretary that you're here." The 20-something receptionist managed to say without looking up from her Vogue.
"Hey I'll meet you up there I really have to pee!" Nikki said heading toward the bathroom.
As I waited for the elevator I saw a familiar face walk up to the front desk and all at once the 20-something receptionist sprang to attention twirling her hair and batting her eyelashes like some sex-crazed psychopath.
"Hello, Jeff" she shrieked, that fake smile plastered from ear to ear.
"Hey Clarissa." He said politely, looking already annoyed with her. He started to walk toward the elevator.
"Have a good day Jeff." She shouted after him. He rolled his eyes, waved and just kept walking.
We waited for that elevator for what seemed like the longest minute and a half of my life.
"What floor?" He asked with that sexy southern boy drawl as the doors closed behind us.
"Top" I replied with a smile.
He hit the button looked at me then cocked his head to the side, "you must be the new girl."
"What makes you say that?" I grinned
"Your muscle tone, most girls don't have that kind of muscle tone in there arms," he paused his face breaking into a smile and his cheeks turning bright red. "Not that I was checking you out or anything I . . . I mean . . . I just noticed that . . ."
"I know what you mean." I said in a giggle.
"You are here to see Vince right, cause if not I just made a complete ass out of myself in front of you for no reason" He bit his lower lip waiting for me to answer.
I stuck out my hand, "Taya Angel, the new girl."
"Jeff Hardy," He shook my hand, "relieved"
When we got to the secretary Jeff walked right up to her.
"Hello Jeffery Vince said he wanted to see all the wrestlers in the conference room and you must be Taya Vince would like to see you in his office before the meeting." She was a sweet elderly woman, but a woman that that could take care of herself no doubt.
"Thanks Sarah" Jeff said sweetly.
"Vince's office is right down here just after the conference room." He pointed down the hallway.
As I stood in front of Vince's office I looked back down the hallway to see my best friend Nikki sitting in the waited area by Sarah's desk. She gave me the thumbs up, which calmed me down. I knocked and heard a voice tell me to come in.
"Ah Taya it's good to see you again, please sit down and we will get these things signed." He slid a stack of papers in front of me. "Now I know it looks thick but it's just what we discussed on the phone the other night.
I took a deep breath and sighed, "Where do I sign?"
"That's the spirit!" Vince laughed.
Signing my name on that paper felt like the most natural thing in the world and made me think back on the last 8 years of my life, all of which had been leading up to this moment.
Vince smiled and shook my hand. "Well Taya Angel welcome to the WWE."
I was smiling ear to ear when we walked into the conference room. I looked around and I saw faces that I once admired as a fan and now respected as a co-worker. As Vince took his sit at the head of the table he motioned for me to sit. Sitting on the far side of the table were Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Victoria. I turned my head to see Jeff and I took a seat between him and Johnny Nitro, who was seated next to Melina.
"We're just waiting for a couple of people to show up and then we'll get started."
Looking around I still felt a little in awe of all of these people that I had watched for years and now here I was in a room with them.
"So you must be Taya." Hunter said from across the table as he stuck out his hand.
"That would be me."
We all turned around when we heard the door slam when John Cena and Adam Copeland (Edge) walked in.
"Ok now that we're all here we can begin" Steph announced.
"First and foremost," Vince started, "I would like to introduce the newest member of the WWE roster Taya Angel, her character name will be Angel, one word, like Madonna. Second we are going to make this meeting very short I know we all have lives, and jobs to get back to."
Just then Steph stood up and started to hand out a packet of paper that looked to be just as thick as the contract I had just signed. "This, as most of you know is the script and outline for the next month." She looked at me, "Taya just so you know we hand out scripts and outlines about a month at a time." I nodded, she continued. "Ok so let me give you a brief overview, you can find all the details in there. We will continue the feud with DX and Rated RKO the crowd loves it and the merchandise is selling like crazy. Adam will you fill Randy in on all this after his autograph signing?"
"Yeah no problem" he answered taking the packet from Stephanie.
"And as for you Taya," Vince leaned back in his chair, "we were very impressed with the tape that your trainer sent us and were even more impressed when we saw you in person. So we want to bring you in as more or less to help revive the women's division. Now I'm not saying any thing bad towards Victoria or Melina but I have seen very few women that wrestle like you and we want to get that on the air as soon as possible. Is that ok with you?"
I nodded, "Of course"
"Ok then on Monday we will introduce you as a good friend of Maria's and you'll have a little tiff with Victoria and you will have your first match that night. Your wrestling style will catch the eye of Jeff and you too start a friendship and then a feud with Johnny Nitro and Melina. Which will last until the first ever inter-gender tag team ladder match?"
"So Soon?" I heard Nitro pipe up beside me.
"Yes, I've seen her wrestle and I think with a little help from Jeff I think she'll do great" Vince cocked an eyebrow at Johnny, "why, do you have a problem with the way I run things?"
"No, sir." he said sheepishly.
"John," He continued, "we will continue with the angle between you and Umaga."
"Cool" he gave a cocky smile that was filled with more confidence than arrogance.
"Ok then you all have your scripts and we've given you the overview so that means that this meeting is adjourned." Vince got up and walked out of the room.
I leaned into Jeff, "Are all of these meetings this short?"
"Most of the time, you hungry?"
"What?"
"Are you hungry," he paused, "you do eat don't you?"
"Yeah"
"Ok, then why don't we get something to eat and we can discuss the agenda for the next month, Vince asked me to make sure you had every thing in order." He held the door open for me as we left the conference room.
"In order?" I asked confused.
"You know your plane tickets, hotel reservations, and passport. Well you probably won't need the passport for a while but it wouldn't hurt to make sure you have it."
"Thanks, and maybe tomorrow you could start helping with that whole ladder match thing." I laughed.
"You nervous about the match?"
"Yeah, I mean I've never done a full ladder match before. I messed around with some ladder stuff in training but never had to do it in front of tens of thousands of people."
"Well as someone who has done his fair share of ladder matches I'm gonna help you and I promise you'll do great, we've all seen your tapes and I think you'll fit right in this type of match." He smiled.
"Thanks that mean a lot." I look toward the ground.
"And if it's any consolation Vince wouldn't have ok'ed that kind of match for you if he really didn't think you could handle it." I nodded "So where did you want to eat?"
"Can you hold on one sec I need to check with my friend Nikki."
"Friend, I didn't see you come in with anyone."
"Nikki was in the bathroom when you met me at the elevator"
Just then I felt a huge arm anchor around my neck.
"Hey Angel, I'm John Cena. Welcome to Raw" John said looking around.
"You looking for someone?" Jeff asked John.
"No, more like looking at someone." I saw him staring in Nikki's direction. I smiled and walked toward her. "Where is she going?" John nudged Jeff.
"Come on" Jeff walked ahead with John close behind him.
"Hey girl, how did it go?" Nikki got up from the chair and came over to give me a hug.
"You're hugging the newest diva on the Raw roster!" I said letting her go and turning toward Jeff and John. "Nikki I'd like you to meet Jeff Hardy and John Cena."
"Nice to meet you." Jeff greeting, shaking her hand.
John walked right up to her, "Hey girl, what's your sign?"
My jaw dropped, I couldn't believe he just said that.
"You've got to be fucking kidding, you did not just try that tired line with me." Nikki laughed, "You know, your People interview was right, you really don't have any game with the ladies."
"Damn you know just how to hit a guy below the belt, but I did make you laugh so that's gotta count for somethin'." John flashed a smile that lit up Nikki's face.
"Hey I've got an idea," Jeff buzzed in, "we were just about to go out to eat, why don't you guys join us?" He looked at me making sure that it was ok.
"Yeah that would be awesome."
We went out to eat at a restaurant around the corner and John and Nikki seemed to be hitting it off they were lost in there own conversation all afternoon. As for Jeff and I we made our way to the bar on the other side of the restaurant.
"Well now that we have your plane tickets out of the way, tell me something about yourself that no one else knows." He grinned slyly.
"Well that might be hard to do considering that I think Nikki knows everything about me."
"Yeah, what's up with you two, you're roommates right?" He said taking a sip of his beer.
"Well you see it's way more than that." I looked down running a finger around the rim of my martini glass.
"Care to elaborate?"
"Nikki and I met when we were in middle school and we both loved wrestling so we were drawn to each other. We've been best friends ever since."
"So you're best friends and roommates."
"Well it's a little more complicated then that. You see I started training for the WWE when I was a freshman in high school. My parents thought that my training was a phase and that I'd grow out of it and go to college and become a lawyer or a doctor. But when I told them that I wanted to be a wrestler they freaked because it meant that I wasn't going to school full time. Which wouldn't have been so bad but in their house you either went to school full time or you moved out?" I stopped and took a drink.
"So you moved out of the house?"
I let out a small laugh, "I'll do you one better, I moved out of the state. They pretty much cut off all ties when I moved because they wanted this perfect life but I just didn't fit in to there plan. So when I told Nikki that I was moving out here to train she was just as excited as I was. So she moved out here with me and told me she could get a nursing job anywhere. She has been my rock, every time I wanted to give up she yelled at me to get back in the ring, when I would get hurt she would tell me that I would be fine and she would take care of me. She is my best friend she is my rock and she is my sister. She is everything to me and I wouldn't be where I am or who I am without her." I looked at him and let out another laugh, "sorry to get so deep."
"So she is to you what my mom is to me." I looked at him a little confused. "I believe that everyone has a guardian angel and I believe that my mom is mine just as Nikki is yours"
"I never thought of it that way," I smiled. "Nikki is my guardian angel."
We sat for a minute in silence.
"I love the song Have I Told You Lately That I Love You by Michael Bolton"
"What? Jeff looked at me like I was nuts.
"You asked me to tell you something that know one else knew, and if you tell anyone that I'll kill you."
"Your secret is safe with me" He smiled and ordered us another round.