I Am The Only Lonely Casualty
-December 17, 2013; Austin, Texas-
"If it isn't June Jacobs."
"Hey Punk," Tessa smiled warmly at CM Punk, her former trainer.
"Congratulations on being signed. I knew you had it in you."
"Yeah?" she asked with a laugh. "Even ten years ago when I was a 'weedy, unathletic beauty queen'?"
"I'm known to be wrong on occasion."
Tessa was sitting by herself in catering, out of everyone's way, and Punk was standing beside her table looking down at her. It was her first day on the road with the company and no one had taken the time to introduce themselves, not that she had gone out of her way either.
"This is all so insane you know? Who would have thought I'd ever get here?" The question was more rhetorical as she remembered the years of hard work and sacrifice that got her to the WWE.
"I don't know..." Punk said, his smile turning into something more sadistic. "Who would have thought that 'Little Miss Perfect' June Jacobs would become such a dirty little whore?" Tessa looked up at him and blinked slowly. "Nothing to say?"
"Nothing at all," Tessa responded in a quiet voice, looking around the room for anyone who could distract her from Punk's tormenting. "Is that all you wanted?"
"Just wondering what changed in those three and a bit years? I could have given you everything, June." He dropped his hand, pushing a lone strand of her hair behind her ear. She flinched quickly and noticeably. "I knew you had it in you." He patted the top of her head condescendingly and began to walk away. Tessa finally sucked in a breath, unaware she had been holding it. "Evening ladies."
"Evening." Tessa looked up again, quickly blinking back a few tears, to see the reasons Punk had left her alone. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Running into people I used to know is bringing back memories," she explained before promptly standing up with a flustered look on her face. "I'm so sorry. I'm Tessa!"
"Okay, calm down. I'm Brie and this is Nikki." Both Bella Twins shook Tessa's hand, amused smiles on their faces. "Can we sit?"
"By all means," Tessa gestured to the empty seats and sat back down. The food on her plate was much less appealing after her encounter with Punk.
"I can try and get John to talk to Punk if you want. You didn't look so comfortable with him around," Nikki suggested, patting Tessa's hand as it lay on the table.
"Just silly old memories being brought up, it's fine. Thank you, though." Tessa looked at Brie curiously and spoke hesitantly, "I'm not sure Bryan would want you hanging around with me."
"Good thing Bryan doesn't decide who I hang around with," Brie retorted with a stern expression. "You look like you need a friend and we're the self-appointed welcoming committee."
Tessa was thankful for the company and for the distraction. Brie and Nikki were talking about their match later in the evening and Tessa listened intently, wanting to know as much as possible about the running of the show before she stepped out in front of the large crowd.
"What's their plan for you?" Nikki asked, directing the attention back to the new Diva. "Nothing with us involved, clearly, or we'd have heard about it."
"No, I'm working with AJ actually." She stopped talking abruptly when she realised what she had just said and the implications it had.
"Title feud?" Brie asked as sweetly as she could.
"Yeah," Tessa sighed. "I didn't want to be that person who came in and got that right away but I'm not in any position to say no to Creative."
"Of course you aren't," Nikki said sincerely, patting Tessa's hand again. "There's nothing anyone can do about it, okay? Congratulations."
"Can I ask what was with the panicked introduction? We know who you are," Brie revealed. Tessa was visibly crestfallen, raking a hand through her loose hair, closing her eyes and pursing her lips.
"I've gone through so many promotions and it's courtesy; respect for those who have been in a company longer than you have."
"More people should be like you," Nikki commented, pushing her chair back and standing up. She motioned for Tessa to stand. "I like you. Follow me."
Tessa scrambled to her feet, leaving her food forgotten at the table. She hurried to keep up with the Twins who were unnaturally fast in their high heels. Tessa had no clue as to where she was being led but she chose not to question the veteran Divas. She walked past people she remembered from the independent scene – both the North American and Japan scenes. There weren't many of them but it was enough for her to stare firmly at the ground.
"Welcome to hell," Brie joked as she pushed open the door to a locker room. Tessa looked around the room and realised it was the Divas locker room. "No, I'm kidding. It's fine, for the most part. There are the usual levels of bitchiness you'd expect from having us together all the time."
"Everyone meet Tessa," Nikki called out. Everyone stopped pretending they weren't listening to Brie and greeted the newcomer.
The reaction given by Natalya was enough for Tessa to hold her breath again. The blonde was evidently shocked to see Tessa standing in the door. She raised an eyebrow in question, a silent sign that Tessa should stay away.
"I see you made friends," AJ Lee said, almost skipping towards Tessa and the Bella Twins.
"Um," Tessa was brought back from her thoughts. "Yes, I did."
"That's good." The sarcasm in her voice couldn't be missed. Everyone in the room knew. "I figured after what went down in ROH those would be hard to come by."
"Watch it, Mendez," Nikki snarled, stepping between Tessa and the Divas Champion. "Just because you like to follow your boyfriend like the sheep you are doesn't mean the rest of us are going to follow. Keep your bratty thoughts to yourself."
AJ smiled up at Nikki with the same sadistic smile her boyfriend had given Tessa less than half an hour before.
"Don't pay attention to her," Naomi walked towards Tessa with home arms. "The title's gone to her head."
"Punk's gone to her head," Nikki muttered under breath causing Tessa to laugh breathlessly.
"I'm Trinity. Happy to have you aboard." Tessa hugged Trinity and smiled thankfully. "The Total Divas got your back." Tessa was positive Natalya wouldn't agree to that.
The backstage process had always fascinated Tessa. No matter how many shows she went to she was always intrigued. The spectacle kept her entertained while the Divas had their moment in the ring.
"You look new."
"I am," Tessa responded distractedly, watching everything happen.
"What brings you to the WWE? Creative? Pyrotechnics?" She pulled her eyes away from everything around her and turned her head.
"Screw you, Mox." Tessa looked away from him and crossed her arms. "You shouldn't be talking to me."
"Why's that?"
"Colby will have a fit." Jon laughed almost manically.
"What Rollins doesn't know won't hurt him," Jon told her, patting her back. "Well done, Jacobs."
"Thanks, Mox."
"I go by Ambrose now, FYI."
He stalked away shortly after, again leaving her by herself.
When the Divas walked past her after their segment only The Twins and Naomi stopped to speak to her. Natalya outright ignored her and AJ sent her a death glare.
She followed the girls back to the locker room and waited while they showered and change, discussing the business with her.
Her years of experience in different promotions left her with many stories that the girls were all excited to listen to.
She'd trained under CM Punk at ROH when she was only 18 and been subjected to endless torture because he didn't want her to get by on her looks.
She hadn't even thought of pursuing a career in wrestling until her brother convinced her to come along to an IWA Mid-South show. She'd spent the entire night backstage and as a 16 year old girl she was hooked on everything from the backstage atmosphere to the fitness and athletics. The good looking boys with their shirts off did no harm, either.
"I kind of wish I'd gone through the indies... It always sounds like so much fun to travel around like that." Brie said, dropping down onto an empty seat beside Tessa.
"You guys do enough travelling... The indies is the same except the crowds are smaller and the pay's not as good." Tessa was bluffing, there were many more differences but she didn't have enough time to list them all.
"But the crowds are the same every show, that's wicked."
"Yeah," Tessa said fondly. "You get a lot of the same people. They become as much a part of the family as everyone backstage."
"We have sign guy!" Trinity exclaimed to the amusement of everyone who was listening.
Tessa found herself standing beside her suitcase in the parking lot of Frank Erwin Center with no way to get back to the hotel she was staying in. The show had been over for roughly an hour and most personnel were on their way out if not already gone.
"You look lonely, you okay?" Tessa startled when she heard Brie talking to her. She had stopped beside Tessa, her fiancé a few steps ahead.
"Yeah," Tessa said with a small sigh. "I'm fine. Just have to wait for a taxi, I guess."
"Where are you staying?"
"Hyatt Regency, it's just around the corner. The taxi ride will cost next to nothing," Tessa shrugged.
"We're staying there, too. Come on, you can ride with us," Brie offered, taking a step towards Bryan.
"Oh, no, I don't want to bother you," Tessa shook her head slowly, glancing quickly at Bryan. The last thing she wanted was sit in the car with a man she knew didn't think very highly of her.
"You're not bothering us," Brie said turning to Bryan. "Right?"
"The more the merrier," Bryan all but deadpanned, walking towards their rental car.
Tessa wasn't given a chance to rebut again. She gathered up her bags and followed the couple. Bryan silently helped her fit her things into the trunk and Tessa thanked him quietly before sliding into the backseat of the car.
"Have you got any plans for Christmas?" Brie asked, looking over her shoulder.
"I'm flying home tomorrow but I've got no plans," Tessa told her. She watched Brie's face contort in confusion.
"You don't want to spend it with your family?" Brie frowned when Tessa shook her head. Tessa didn't seem at all fazed and Brie was alarmed. "It's Christmas and you're going to spend it alone?"
"It's been that way for five years now," Tessa revealed. "It gets easier every year. I spent the last two with Yujiro in Japan but over there they eat KFC and it's really a romantic holiday," Tessa hesitated slightly. "It's not really the same."
"Who, sorry?" Brie asked in confusion, Tessa had been speaking quicker than normal.
"Yujiro, I went out with him for about two years. He's Alex Shelley's tag team partner."
"The TNA guy? I thought Sabin was his partner," Brie was becoming more and more confused with every word Tessa spoke. Tessa couldn't help but laugh.
"The Machine Guns split up last year when Alex didn't re-sign with TNA; he's working New Japan Pro with Yujiro Kushida... Well he was, he hurt his back pretty bad back in September and we weren't really sure if he'd come back from it... But he's set on coming back at the beginning of next month."
"You still speak to him?" Bryan asked, suddenly joining into the conversation.
"Alex?"
"Either of them, I suppose."
"Well, I haven't spoken to Yujiro since we broke up... But I check in on Alex when I can."
The car went silent as the car ride ended; it had taken less than ten minutes. Bryan pulled their bags from the car before he got back in to park it. Tessa and Brie walked into the lobby but before Tessa could go to the lift and get up to her room, Brie stopped her.
"Are you sure you're okay with not doing anything for Christmas?" she asked quietly, holding Tessa's hands. "You can come have Christmas with me and Bryan, it'll be great."
"I'm fine," Tessa assured her. "I appreciate it, I really do. The fact that I've known you for a few hours and you're already treating me like family means so much to me, but I don't want to do that. Your first Christmas engaged, I can't interrupt that."
"You're a sweetheart," Brie pulled Tessa into a hug. "Give me your phone; I'll give you my number so you can call if you change your mind."
The girls exchanged numbers and Brie hugged her new friend once more.
"Merry Christmas," Tessa smiled.
"I'll see you on the 30th, making your big debut," Brie winked at Tessa. "Merry Christmas!"
Tessa turned her back on Brie who quickly became distracted when Bryan walked back into the foyer. Tessa walked to the elevators, wanting to ride up to her floor alone. She leant against the wall, her foot absent-mindedly tapping against the side of her suitcase as she watched the numbers light up when she past the floors.
The doors opened and just as Tessa took a step out, she noticed another person starting to walk in. She took a deep breath and walked past without saying anything, keeping to her promise of staying out of Colby's way.
Tessa felt his eyes on her as she walked away from him; she knew he was staring at her as he waited for the doors to close. She resisted the urge to turn back. In the past if that situation had arisen – Colby getting into the lift as Tessa exited – she would have kissed him quickly before running off down the hall with a smile on her face.
How times had changed.
When she finally got into her hotel room, she frowned at the king size bed in the room. She was sick of such large beds when she was alone; they only made her feel worse.
She went about her routine, taking off her make-up, brushing her teeth, tying up her hair and changing into her pyjamas before sliding into bed and staring up at the ceiling.
Her dream of making it to the WWE had come true but she didn't feel as happy about it as she thought she would.
a/n So the response to the first chapter was great! I'm really glad that people seem really interested!
Shout outs to jaydiebelladonna, nmoxracha, DizzyUpTheGirl01, Livin on the Edge, deanambooty, UntilNeverDawns, Imagineer1392 and the guest for leaving their reviews!