The next two weeks went by extremely fast. I signed my contract, I put in my notice and it was now my last day at my dead end job before going to Orlando. It was Saturday night, and the bar was just packed to the hilt thanks to it being the holiday season. I kept up with the tickets, and I just lined up the drinks and made 6 at any given time. The people at the bar, were just watching sports, and I was working my ass off. It came to be midnight before it started to die down. I had to end up asking managers to bring out more alcohol instead of going to get it myself because it was so busy. I cleaned up the bar, and I cleaned the glasses. At one am, I was finally caught up, and I could actually take a break. That's when AJ came in again.
I took a long deep breath, and I looked at my tip jar. "Can I get change?" Sam asked.
"For what?" I asked.
"A hundred?" He asked.
I pulled out the cash out of my tip jar, and I made the change, and stuck the hundred in the jar.
"I was hoping you'd open your register." He said.
"There's no way I'm opening that register if I don't have to." I said.
"You've always been that way." He said.
"Yeah, well I'm the one who likes big bills. Everyone else likes tens and twenty's but I like bigger than that if I can get it." I said.
After that, Sam looked at my counter. "Man we went through a ton of alcohol." He said.
"Can you get me a box, so I can empty my counter and do my glassware?" I asked.
"Yeah, sure." He said.
"Thank you." I said.
I made a glass of water, and grabbed a menu for AJ. "Nope. I'm here for you." He said.
"My luggage is by my door at the house, and I'm not out of here for two more hours." I said.
"I figured you'd be ready to go." He said.
"Yeah. Well I can't wait to get out of here." I said.
"Well you know we've got a long drive ahead of us after this." He said.
"Yeah. I know, and I plan on sleeping for some of it." I said.
"I rented an SUV." He said.
"I figured as much." I said.
"We're gonna be out 3 months." He said.
I looked at him, and I had no answer. I then grabbed another glass and filled it with Diet Coke, and ice. "You sure you're not hungry?" I asked.
"Yeah. I'm sure." He said.
"Ok." I said. Got a preference of what you wanna watch?" I asked.
"No. Whatever you got." He said.
I turned one of the televisions to SportsCenter. I then finished cleaning up, and the night went by. I let him stay, and I locked up after everyone left at 2:15.
Sam came in and looked at him. "Why's he here?" Sam asked.
"He's not drinking alcohol, he's a professional athlete, and he's waiting on me." I added.
"Oh." Sam said.
"Thanks." I said, and I closed out AJ's by paying for him. I then did my tip jar. I then ran everything for the computer. I had to wait five full minutes for the reports. I filled out what I used for drinks, and what I had to put in for backups. Then I did the inventory quickly for the paperwork. My bar was already clean, and I was waiting on crap to get washed.
"Take the box Sam. It's been recorded." I said.
"yeah, thanks." He said.
When the dishes were done, I pulled them out, and stuck the next batch in. I grabbed the register, and the paperwork, and put it on the counter for him, and put everything under the register on top.
"Damn that's a ton of money." AJ said.
"It's been super busy all night." I said. I put everything else away, and Sam came back for the register. "That's yours now." I said.
I put the last batch of dishes in and washed them. "You're thorough." AJ said.
"Have to be." I said. That's when my bar stuff came back and I put it together quick. I put the bottles back in, and I cleaned the bar behind me, and I looked out and made sure everything else was done. The waitresses came in and tipped me out. Sam then gave me the percentage from the front register and I stuck it in my wallet. I handed everything back, and I was done. I clocked out, and I gave him my timecard.
"Want your last check now?" He asked.
"If the restaurant can afford it." I said.
He paid me my last check in cash, and wrote that they paid me my last check. "Need change? He asked.
"Nope. I'm done." I said. "Thank you." I said.
"Thanks." He said.
I walked out the bar door, and gave him my key. He then locked the door behind me. AJ was with me. "Done?" He asked.
"Yeah, and paid every dollar I was owed too." I said.
"Not bad." He said.
"Yeah, Thank god for that." I said. "Today was an end of a pay period." I said.
"Guess that makes it easier, huh?" He asked.
"Yeah. Ok, follow me home, and I'll drop my car off, and we'll get my luggage." I said.
"Wanna change and get comfortable? We've got time." He said.
"That would be nice." I said.
"No problem. I'll take care of your luggage, and you get comfortable." He said.
"Ok, then follow me." I said.
I drove home, and he parked next to me. I let him in, and he saw the luggage by the door. "Feel free to get a beverage if you need one. I have energy drinks, water, and soda in the fridge. If you need the bathroom, it's right here." I said, pointing it out.
"Thanks." He said.
I went in my bedroom, and I changed, and I washed my face to get a little more fresh and comfortable. I then ran my hands through my hair, and took it down. I felt better. I ended up in a pair of jeans, and my favorite shirt that I showed to Double J, and it happened to be that royal blue. I grabbed my leather jacket, because my wool one was already packed. Then I walked down stairs, and I looked at him.
"Ready?" He asked.
"Yeah. I'm ready. Thank you for waiting." I said.
"No problem." He replied.
I grabbed my charger, and put it in my purse, along with my phone. My house phone was on silent, and so was my cell phone. Everything was done, and everything was off. I locked everything tight, and I locked the door when we left.
He opened the door, and I got in. We went for a 8 hour drive to go to Orlando. He pulled up at the hotel, and people were already there. We grabbed our luggage out of the trunk, and he just put it on the cart. We got registered and the company had already paid for the room.
"Julianna Lombardi." The lady said.
"Yes ma'am." I said.
"You're not on here." She said.
"She's supposed to be." AJ said.
I picked up the phone and I called Double J. His real name is Jeff Jarrett, but everyone called him Double J.
"Jeff." He answered.
"Hey it's Julianna." I said.
"Hey woman, how are you?" He asked.
"I'm good, and I'm in Orlando, but the lady at the front desk doesn't have a room for me. Can you tell me what's up with that?" I asked.
"I'll be right down. I'll fix it." He said.
"Thank you." I said.
"Be right there." he said, and he hung up. He showed up a couple minutes later.
"They don't have a room for her Jeff." AJ said.
"it's supposed to be there, and connected to yours." He said to AJ. "Give these two connecting rooms, and run the same card I gave you when I got here." Jeff said.
"Yes sir." The girl said, and they gave us connecting rooms.
"Make sure they get whatever they want, whenever they want. They're superstars." He said.
I looked at Jeff. "Whatever I want?" I asked.
"Yeah, whatever you need, and whatever you want. You're gonna get treated like a queen." He said.
"Thank you." I said.
We got settled, and I was so tired. I just took off my coat, and I started putting stuff away, to make things easier. We were gonna be in Orlando for two weeks filming six episodes of Impact. Lucky for me, it wasn't that cold. I just opened my connecting door, and his was already open.
"Oh. Need something?" AJ asked.
"No. Just leaving it open." I said.
I was still putting stuff away. I had one bag that was empty, and I put a dress in it, along with a pair of heels. My ring gear was gonna go in it, if they had a set for me. He looked at her.
"Tired?" He asked.
"Exhausted is more like it, but I'm gonna try and stay up a while." I said.
"Wanna play a video game with me?" He asked.
"Got an extra controller?" I asked.
"Of course I do. I packed two of every controller." He said.
I smiled. "Then you got yourself a partner." I said.
He kissed my cheek, but I didn't make a move. I was afraid of Wendy. He was showing me in every way possible that he was kind of interested in me, but I was refusing to make a move because he was married.
My family is a very old school Italian family. We have family dinners, we don't go after men or women who are married, and we work our asses off to get what we want. We don't ever borrow from anybody, and if my parents would have their way I would have already been married to an Italian boy and had three kids by now, but my family loved the fact I was passionate about something. If my dad would have seen what I was doing he would have had my ass ten times over.
We ended up playing games for most of the day, and when it came to dinner, we ordered room service, and then went back to playing games. When we got tired, we both went to bed.
It came to be Monday morning, and I got dressed, and I had my bag ready to go. He had his X Division championship and I smiled a little. "Where's your NWA Championship?" He asked.
"I relinquished it like they asked me to." I said.
"Yeah, well they should have let you bring it." He said.
"Well they figured I got signed so they wanted it back." I said. The little part of me who was a huge AJ Styles fan was going insane, because I was spending time with him. I went with him to the Studio, and it was my first day.
He walked in, and that's when they gave me a problem. He took care of it, and then he extended his hand, with his palm up. I took his hand. He took me in and I didn't have a locker room.
I wasn't exactly pissed, considering everything was screwed around. I just put my stuff in his locker room for the time being, and I just went to go clean unless someone wanted me. I figured I was gonna earn my spot. AJ knew where to find me if he wanted me.
By the time the end of the day for taping came I was still working trying to earn my keep, and that's when Eric saw me. "You've cleaned the whole locker room?" He asked.
"Yeah." he asid.
"No wonder no one could find you." He said.
"Thank Dixie for that. She gave me jobs to do." I said, and I went and took a shower and changed again.
I came out, and grabbed my bag. "Where were you?" AJ asked.
"Ask Dixie. She kept giving me jobs to do." I said.
"No. Not tomorrow. Did you tell someone?" He asked.
"Eric asked and I told him the same thing." I replied.
"No. Tomorrow, you're gonna get in a dress, and you're gonna look pretty to be my valet. Period. Anyone tells you different, you come get me." He said.
"Yes sir." I said and I was ashamed. I walked away, and I went to the hotel. I dropped my bag off, and I just sat down and journaled for an hour. When I was done, I just walked out of my room, and went across the street to a restaurant, and had dinner. After that, I put in a workout for two full hours, and did a run on the treadmill for about half of it. I felt better, but I wasn't used to having a whole lot of free time.
AJ walked in through the connecting door, and I was flipping through channels while sitting on my bed. "You alright?" He asked as he sat on my bed.
"In regards to what?" I asked.
"Earlier?" He asked. "I probably came off a little harsh, and I'm sorry." He said.
"I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at Dixie." I said.
"Why?" He asked.
"Because of the way she treated me." I said. "Last person who treated me like that, was Mike." I said.
"And you knocked him out cold." AJ said.
"I can't do that to Dixie. She pays the paychecks." I said.
"She treated you pretty bad today, huh?" He asked.
"It was like I was a janitor, and I have a contract. She was never happy." I answered him.
"You probably had dinner already." He said.
"That and a two hour workout. I didn't get anything when we went to work." I said.
"She made you work all day and didn't feed you?" He asked.
"Right." I said.
"I'm gonna kill her." He said. "She can't treat you like that." He added. He sighed, and he turned off my television, and he got off the bed, and he held out both his hands. "Come with me. We're telling the right guys of management, right now." He said.
I got off the bed, and I put on my shoes. I had my key by the door, and I grabbed it. We left our connecting doors open, and we went up a few floors. AJ grabbed my hand, and held it the whole time. He walked with me down the hall, and he knocked on Eric's door.
He opened it. "What do you guys want?" Eric asked.
"A meeting with management. Now." AJ said.
"What's this about?" Eric asked.
"It's about what Dixie did to her today. I'm not having it. I had her signed because she can wrestle, not be a freakin janitor." AJ replied, and he was pissed off. I let go of his hand and I didn't say anything.
"I didn't know that's what Dixie made you do Julianna." Eric said.
"You watched me mop floors all day, and you did nothing about it." I said.
"I want all of management. Now." AJ said.
Jeff heard the yelling, and came over. That's when Hogan and Dixie followed. "I guess we got our wish." I said, as they walked in the door.
"She signed a contract, two weeks ago. She was supposed to have a dressing room, and she didn't. Then she gets told to be a janitor all day. This isn't acceptable." AJ said to all of them.
"But isnt' that what I'm paying you for?" Dixie asked.
"NO. You're paying me to wrestle. I have an NWA women's championship and four NCAA Division one titles. What more do you want? A WWE Women's championship?" I asked.
"No." Jeff said. "You've got plenty of credentials to wrestle." He added.
"Then why was she a janitor, with no dressing room?" AJ yelled at Dixie.
"Because that's her job." Dixie said.
"No. Her job is to wrestle and make you money." Hogan said.
I crossed my arms at that point. I was pissed beyond belief. They continued arguing, and I knew that the whole entire hotel was TNA talent. I looked at them, and I took a seat on a chair, because I was tired of standing. After about 45 minutes of them arguing, they had finally come to the conclusion that I was indeed good enough to wrestle. The only one being a jackass was Dixie.
"Ok Dixie..We're overriding you again. She gets a dressing room, and she's gonna wrestle." Hogan said.
"I'm the one paying the checks." Dixie said.
"Yeah, and if you don't abide by her contract again, I'll kick your ass." Jeff said. "We made a deal. You let me handle the talent, and you let us, worry about who gets what. You just sit back and pay the checks." He added.
After they settled everything I was hungry again, because arguing, and not eating all day was a huge downfall.
"Will she have a dressing room tomorrow or does she need to use mine?" AJ asked.
"We'll have her use yours, and then we'll fix it after this taping." Jeff said. "You don't mind, do you AJ?" Jeff asked.
"No I don't mind." AJ answered.
"Good. That's settled. I'll have this fixed by the end of the day tomorrow." Jeff said.
Sting walked up and saw the door was still open. "Everything alright in here?" He asked, and then he saw me. "Hey." He said, and it was the first time I saw him all day.
"Hi." I said quietly. I wasn't nervous by any measure, but I was overwhelmed at that point.
"Nervous?" He asked.
"No, it's more like overwhelmed." I answered.
He looked at me. "You alright?" He asked.
"I will be." I said.
He hugged me. "You need anything, just knock. Ok?" He asked.
"Thanks Steve." I said, using Sting's real first name.
After that was over, AJ was hungry. "Think you could eat more, or did you just wanna stay?" He asked me.
"I'll go if you want company." I replied.
"It's up to you sugar." He said. That was the first time someone used that term of endearment on me in a while.
"I'll go." I said. "It's a little colder than Georgia, so I'd like another layer if you don't mind." I added.
"Yeah everywhere is colder than Georgia unless you're in Arizona or on the other side of the world." He said. "Speaking of that, do you have a passport?" He asked.
"Yeah, I do." I said.
"We're headed out of the country soon, but we'll be home before we go." He said.
"Ok." I said.
After that, we went to a restaurant that had cleaner options. It wasn't easy being on the road, and eating clean. I knew that, but he did too. So he fasted a bunch. I just ate what I could, and worked out like crazy, because of how young I was.
After we ate, we went for a walk on the beach. The beach he chose was empty, and he just took my hand. "I just wanna say thank you for what you did earlier with management. No one has ever stood up for me like that." I said.
"Yeah, well I brought you here, you should get treated as good as I do." He said.
"But you've been here for eight years." I said.
"Yeah, and it still doesn't change the fact that they get to treat women like that." He said.