I was starting to hyperventilate. This was my first time on a plane and, to make matters worse, I was scared of heights...huh, imagine that, a high flyer that's afraid to get airborne. Stephen, who had decided to be my tour guide of sorts, fought to get me in the jet and pushed me towards our seats before I could protest.
"What seat are ya' in?"
"Uh...I don't-" I tried to dart around him towards the exit, "Let me off this death trap!"
"I don't think so, girly. Vince would have me arse if I let ya' off now." He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a seat.
"Hey! That's my seat!" A tall blonde yelled, running up beside me.
"Michelle, cool it. That's the new chick and Stephen put her there to keep her from freakin' out." A smaller blonde rested her hand on the other's shoulder. I knew who it was, I'd trained with her a few times. Her name was Nattie and her uncle was the Great beyond Greatness, Bret Hart. She smiled down at me and tugged Michelle off in the other direction. I let out a sigh and slumped back in my chair. Eventually everyone had made it on and the door was shut and secure. The pilot came over the loud speaker to inform us of conditions and the flight attendants showed us the proper safety procedures. Once during the "secure your own mask first." speech Stephen nudged me.
"Ya' know, if we ever really needed them, I'd put yer's on first."
"Uh...thanks...now I really feel better." I wrapped my arms around myself and concentrated on our destination: Portland, Oregon. My brother in law lived up there. Back when sis was still alive I lived with them and we'd watch wrestling together. He even taught me my first move. I was the only four year old on the block who could get one of the others in a Sharp Shooter. I let the memories wash over me and I slowly drifted into a shallow slumber.
I didn't know how long I was out, but I woke up to find everyone filing off the plane. I brought myself to my feet and tried to pull my tiny carry-on out of the overhead. As I've told you before, I'm clumsy, so when I stretched up onto my tip-toes I tumbled to the ground. As before, Stephen helped me up, shaking his head with a goofy grin plastered on his face. My cheeks reddened until I looked like a tomato. Snatching my bag from him, I pulled my jacket hood over my black childish pig-tails and dashed full speed off of the airplane.
I kept my head down as I entered the airport and searched for the nearest restroom. Every one of my coworkers seemed to be standing between me and the door. Great, I thought to myself, How in Hell am I supposed to get by them? I stood there for a full 30 seconds trying to figure out a plan to get me into the Ladies' Room unseen. Without warning I bolted through the group, knocking one of the Johns over on my way. I thought it was a victory when I waltzed into the bathroom and headed for the mirror...man was I wrong! Three women came in after me, Layla El, Nattie, and Maryse Ouellet. They were chatting amongst themselves, but when they saw me their conversation stopped.
"Hey, Andie is it?" Maryse inquired to which I nodded timidly...yet another of my flaws...I'm usually shy around people I don't know, especially other girls. "Well," She continued, "I'm Maryse, but you can call me Mari. It's nice to meet you."
"And I'm Layla! But call me Lay, please!" Layla interjected.
"Uh...it's nice to meet you guys, too."
"So, we totally saw what happened on the plane!" I turned red again, but Lay continued, "It's alright, though, Steve scares all of the rookies."
"I..I wasn't..a..scared."
"She was embarrassed." Nattie said from one of the mirrors. "She was the same way when Uncle Bret helped her out when she tried to do her first shooting star press."
"Ah! You're a flyer!" Mari exclaimed.
"Uh,...yeah."
"What's with all the shyness?"
"I dunno..."
"Well stop it! I mean, I'm not trying to be rude, but you can't get anywhere in this biz being all shy and wall flowerish."
"I'm not really shy...I just don't know you guys."
"Well you know me." Nattie said, "So there. And these girls are some of my best buds. No need to be shy around us. We won't bite, I promise."
"Although, the same can't be said about Randy...just don't go around him when we're drinking" Lay laughed. "Other than that, don't worry about anyone."
"Oh..Okay."
"You look like shit...here let me fix you up really quick." Mari pulled me to a mirror and flopped a giant make up bag on the counter. She made me take off my hoodie and told Lay to go get her luggage. While Lay disappeared Mari pulled my pig-tails down and straightened my long hair until it was stick straight. Nattie rummaged through the makeup and fixed my face until it looked flawless. My dark green eyes were accentuated by dark eyeliner, mascara, and glitter flecked shadow.
Nattie had just finished my red lips when Lay pushed the door open, hauling a large silver suitcase. "Here ya' go Mari." She dropped it on the floor in front of her. Mari bent down and started to rake through the contents. "Andie, what size do you wear?"
"In what?"
"Everything."
"Uh...pants are a size four petite; shirts, small...and size six shoes."
"Well...Lay, maybe we should've gotten your stuff instead...nothing in here is going to fit her."
"Well...I don't have size fours." Lay replied.
"Why can't I have my own luggage?" I asked.
"What's it look like?"
"White with green and pink polka dots."
"Oh...Steve's got that one...hold on, I'll go get it." Layla ran out the door again. Five minutes later she came back in complaining about how much it weighed. "What do you have in here? Rocks?"
"No...just my clothes and my lap top...and my shoes...and my X-Box...sorry."
"Well...that's...different... Here Mari, let's see what we can find in here." The girls started throwing my clothes all over the bathroom looking for the perfect combo. Finally they told me to strip off my clothes...so off came the polka dotted mini dress and black tights. They scrutinized me for a minute and then Mari checked the tags on my bra. Once again she rummaged through her stuff and then threw a red lacy bra at me, "Here put this on." So, I did what she told me to. The next thing I knew, I was wearing a tight long sleeved black shirt with a low cut squared off collar which made the new bra pretty easy to spot. The sleeves came down to my palms which felt just a little off. They put me in a pair of tight dark skinny jeans and the long black high heel boots I had stashed in the very bottom of my luggage case. They looked me over one more time and then tried to pull me to the door. I pushed my heels into the floor, refusing to move.
After a little coaxing, I ended up with Mari on my left side, Nattie on my right, and Lay in front leading me out the door and carrying the luggage. As we neared the main lobby where everyone was, Lay called for their attention "Hey! Hey! Attention RAW superstars! I'd like to introduce you to our newest Diva, Andie...wait, " she turned towards me, "What's your ring name?"
"Rhiannon."
"Oh, okay." She turned back to the crowd, "Rhiannon!" Nattie smiled sweetly and walked behind me. I'll give you three bucks if you can guess what happened next...yep, you've got it. She pushed me, and as always, I fell down hard on my knees. Several people started to laugh, and I felt the tears coming again. I pushed myself up off of the floor, shot Nattie a rude look and ran right out the front doors. I didn't notice that anyone had followed me, but just as I rounded the corner of the building, someone grabbed my hand.
"Hey," Matt pulled me towards him, "Why'd you run out?"
"I dunno? Maybe because that's the third time I've hit the floor in 24 hours?"
"So you run?"
"I'm a spaz, can you blame me? Didn't you hear them in there?"
"They laughed at you, so what? What's that say about how you're gonna' handle the fans?"
"I...uh...damn you!"
He laughed, "C'mon. We're all going out for something to eat before we head to the hotel." I followed him to a car that he'd rented...well I thought he had rented it. Turns out the Irishman had. John H., Mike and Matt hopped in the back leaving me to sit up front with Stephen. He smiled when I sat down and informed me that my luggage was in the trunk. I returned his smile, weakly, and curled up against the window. I refused to listen to the stupid conversation Mike was having with John so I pulled out my Mp3 player and popped in the ear buds. I listened to 30 Seconds to Mars all the way to the restaurant.