The next morning I was startled out of the land of slumber, where I had been dreaming nice thoughts about the cold British winter and how I'd hopefully never have to be that cold again, by my mobile phone bleeping loudly in my ear. Until my possessions were flown over, I'd decided the old phone would make do as an alarm clock. I reached to the bedside table and groggily pushed the button that would allow me five more minutes sleep and happily drifted off into the land of nod again... only to hear the incessant 'BEEP, BEEP, BEEP,' wake me up again just as I'd fallen asleep.
Begrudgingly, I pulled the covers off and sat up before turning the annoying sounds off, so I wouldn't be tempted to convince myself to sleep any longer. Today was important, I was going to report to FCW for the first time ever and officially start my life as a developmental Diva.
I threw my arms out and had my obligatory morning stretch as I looked around the room. It wasn't my room; which was just down the hall, it was Matt's. He had a few posters hanging up on the wall, showing a band and a couple of wrestlers he had obviously aspired to be when he was much younger. His clothes, as well as some of mine, were scattered unceremoniously all over the wooden floor and my suitcase was standing at the end of the king size bed with half its contents strewn out. There was a bra – one of mine – somehow on the lights, I noticed.
My gaze wandered over to the other side of the bed, and I was disappointed to see Matt wasn't there. Not that he had been in the first place, but I'd had a dream that he'd come in during the night and I'd had my wicked way with him and was half-hoping it had been real. It wasn't, I even smelled that half of the bed to check no one but me had been in there. No sexy man scent in the bed. Damn.
Matt, as it turns out, was actually a darling, goofy and immature fella. He'd offered me his bed instantly upon hearing my belongings were still to be shipped over from England, and being the greedy cow I am, I instantly accepted his invitation. He'd spent the night on the sofa and I'd heard him laughing his arse off into the early hours at Family Guy while I was attempting to get some beauty sleep. Eventually the TV had turned off in the other room and I'd been able to get to sleep at 2AM, but now woke at 8AM. Not enough sleep at all, and already I felt as if I needed to go to bed for another six hours.
Against my own will, I got up off the bed as I heard the doorbell ringing and almost skipped towards the bedroom door. I threw it open and happily trotted down the hall towards the door, but I saw that in Matt had got there before I could. He was closer, I guess. He didn't have a shirt on and my eyes slowly lowered down his impressive body...
Oh my actual God.
He was in some very, very tight black boxers, and as he turned towards me I could definitely see a very, very big bulge in them. I could feel my face getting hot as I blushed, and I quickly looked down at the floor, only to notice to my horror that I wasn't much more clothed than he was. My night clothes have consisted of a bra and panties ever since I was fourteen, and the ones I had chosen to wear last night weren't very 'respectable' by any means.
I looked back up at him and saw he was staring at me with wide eyes while trying to block me from the view of a woman with his arm and body. She was giggling, thinking it was one of his goofy games. It must have been his girlfriend, he'd told me she would be popping round early in the morning! I took the hint that this could have become very unnecessarily awkward and darted back towards Matt's bedroom, which in hindsight was probably the worst thing to have done.
You see, she managed to duck under Matt's arm, laughing at his games, just as I'd turned my back on him. I knew she'd spotted me, because the laughter stopped almost immediately.
"What the fuck, Matt?" I heard her say from behind me. I turned around tentatively to see a small Asian-looking woman glaring furiously between Matt and myself. Being the helpful girl I am, I said absolutely nothing and let Matt take it as I stood there stupidly, trying to cover my chest up a little better with my arms.
"Angela, it's really not what you think!" He said, his eyes even wider, terror obviously coursing through his veins as he mentally pleaded with his girlfriend to believe him. She should, it was true, it's not what she probably thought at all. I secretly wished it was true, but it wasn't. You can't blame a girl for having hormones.
"That's what they all say, you.. you pig!" she screamed deafeningly at him. I wasn't expecting what came next; she reared her hand back and quickly slapped him, just as loudly! From the look of shock that registered on his face as he staggered back, I don't think Matt was expecting it either. "I hope your night with that slut," she pointed at me and my mouth fell open, also in shock, "was worth it Matthew Korklan! We're over!"
She stormed out of our apartment, leaving behind an awkward crackle in the air. Matt shut the door with one hand on his slapped cheek and we both just stood in the hallway for a few moments, guilty trying not to look at one another as if we'd actually done something worthy of said guilt.
"Crap," he finally said. "I can't believe that just happened."
"I know!" I said angrily. "How very dare she call me a slut!"
Hey, just because I keep thinking smutty thoughts about her boyfriend – well, ex now – doesn't mean I am a slut. I was about to go on a rant about her words towards me, when I noticed the hurt puppy look on Matt's face and my heart instantly melted and went out to him. God, I'm insensitive sometimes, I really must learn to change that someday. Tentatively, I approached him and rested my hand on his bare back (ooh, shivers!) and rubbed his skin soothingly.
"I'm sorry," I muttered, not knowing what else to say. He nodded and smiled weakly but briefly, then removed himself from my touch and walked away towards the kitchen. I followed him and made myself some cereal – the pinnacle of my cooking abilities – and sat down opposite him and watching him as he absent-mindedly moved his cereal around in his bowl.
After a few silent minutes, penetrated only by the crunching sounds I made when chewing my own cereal, I spoke up again. "You want to call her, tell her the truth?" He shook his head sadly. "You gonna call her later then? Give her time to cool off?" He nodded, still sadly. "You want me to move out?" I asked tentatively. Please don't. He shook his head furiously and put a spoon full of cereal into his mouth and began chewing. We stayed silent for a few seconds. "Do you want your room back?" He shook his head again. "Wanna smile?"
He looked up at me and gave me the briefest of smiles. "Come on," I said playfully. "Smile for momma Hope, she loves it when you smile." Again it was brief but his face broke into the goofy grin I had already grown accustomed to, suddenly, I felt much better. He threw his head back and put his hands either side of his bowl on the table and groaned in frustration.
I leant forward and took his hands in mine for comfort. "It's gonna be okay honey, just wait and see. Tonight you'll both be on the couch laughing your heads off at the whole situation." He looked at me and smiled weakly, I don't think he believed what I was saying, but I carried on. "And you're going to tell her you'd never cheat on her, and she's going to fall in love with you all over again."
He nodded absently as he stared at me, his smile growing in strength as his eyes drifted downwards towards my cleavage and I only just remembered we were both extremely close to naked. I stood up quickly and sheepishly made to leave the room; I had to shower and get ready to report to FCW anyway.
His hands landed on my waist and stopped me as I reached the door, and he turned me around to face him. I gulped as I felt his hand slowly and gently running up the side of my body towards my breasts. My skin was tingling with desire for his touch, it felt far better than it should have. I looked down to his face, to see a nervous lust in his eyes. Pleasure ran through my body as his hand brushed against my semi-erect nipple through my bra and just when things were getting interesting he... picked up a Cheerio that was stuck to my breast and popped it in his mouth. Damn my sloppy eating habits, making me look like an idiot for him. But it was worth it just to see his grin permanently on his face as he went back to eating his own cereal. Damn him, too. And damn his sexy grin.
.&.&.&.
I felt pretty bad as I walked towards the FCW building, bag full of clothes and wrestling attire. No, actually I felt really bad. Already Matt had made me feel so welcomed in America and his home, showing me around my new town, Tampa, the previous day (without a shirt for the whole day, it was agony in a completely good way) and then taking me back to his home. Not only did he give me his room and bed but he also stayed up until almost midnight chatting away with me until I had decided it was a fair time to hit the hay. I already thought of him as a friend.
And now, in less than a day of being in the country, I'd already potentially ruined his relationship. Luckily, I'd discovered there was a small glimmer of hope that I could also potentially save his relationship. His girlfriend was apparently a fellow developmental diva called Angela Fong, or Miss Angela. The thing I was dreading, however, was the fact that I knew I was taking part in a taping today and I was in a tag match against Angela. If I didn't sort this out before our match, the results could be pretty lethal.
I arrived at the FCW 'arena' (actually just a building with a ring and some chairs) to find a ring being set up in front of the building, which made my eyebrows shoot up in shock. I'd never heard of people actually wrestling outside, except for in people's back gardens and when WWE does open-ceiling events like WrestleMania 24. Never had I seen a ring actually being set up outside with chairs being set up around it as a make-shift 'arena'. I think I liked the idea of wrestling out in the beautiful Floridian spring-time sun.
I entered my new permanent 'arena' and was greeted almost instantly by Steve Keirn, who happily showed me around, introduced me to various staff members I would be working with (trainers, production crew and various wrestlers). It seemed like a fairly nice place to be working. I had a quick meeting with the person who was in charge of creative in the developmental promotion and had a read-over of the script.
Then he showed me to the women's locker room, told me to wait around after my match, wished me good luck and left me to my own devices. I entered the changing room, not even bothering to look at the other women in there. There was only a few of us there, I counted two other women. I could hear them muttering to one another furiously, which to be honest I was rather used to. Women can be incredibly catty when there's a new girl around, especially in the wrestling business. They always think the new girl is there to replace them, because they're younger, more talented or better looking. Sometimes its stupid, and others its fully justified.
I was there to replace no one, however, in my stupidity I didn't realize that maybe they were being discreetly hostile for a completely different reason.
It wasn't long before I was shoved sideways by one of the girls obviously bumping into me. I looked up to see Angela sneering at me. Oh crap. The other girl, who had been the one to shove me, I recognised as Tiffany from ECW. She, too, was sneering at me in almost as much disgust as Angela was.
Quickly, I stood my ground and proudly thrust my chest out. "See," Angela said to her cohort, "I told you she's a slut."
With that, they both left me with my mouth agape. Oh no she di'n't just call me a slut again! Bitch is gonna pay in that ring tonight. I don't care if I get fired, bitch is gonna get her ass kicked. The war is on!
Furious, I looked around the room and noticed that she'd left her clothing. With an evil smirk, I made my way over to her belongings and pulled her clothes out onto the bench. She hadn't changed into her ring gear yet, it was all still here. I sniggered as I lifted her bra-top and quickly dug my long nails in, ripping it up and dismantling it with ease. I did the same with the pants and used the locker room sink to make a large wet patch on the clothing at the groin, so just in case she decided she couldn't wear any other outfit, she'd look like she'd made a big mistake in her panties.
I was surprised to hear an evil cackle explode out of my mouth as I worked on destroying her boots. Then I quickly put everything back where I'd found it and acted completely innocent as I started to change out of my street clothes and into my ring attire. I really hoped she couldn't borrow someone else's outfit. Bitch needed to suffer for calling me a slut. I knew Matt would hate me if he found out what I did, because it just made things look much more suspicious than it already did, but I honestly didn't care. We could make up and laugh about it when he sees Angela as the bitch she is and we laugh about it all. I hoped.
Girls came and went in the locker room, and soon I was in the locker room with my two partners for the night. They were both on the main roster, one was called Milena but had the ring name 'Rosa Mendes'. The other was a woman I'd faced in the past, and a fellow countrywoman, Katie Burchill!
"Hello, love," she said to me with a big smile as she entered the locker room. "Ready for our match?" she asked as she threw her bag down onto the bench next to me.
"Yeah," I replied with a wicked smile at the thoughts of my plans for the match. Bitch was gonna pay.
Unlike the rest of the FCW divas, I'd sorted out my clothing, make-up and hair almost immediately after coming into the locker room (I had some vandalism to do first and foremost). Therefore, I escaped the rush Milena seemed to be going through. She looked like a hot tranny mess, with her make up all smudged to make her look like a clown, her hair half wild and untamed and half straightened and her pants on the completely wrong way.
Katie smiled back at me, she probably thought my own smile was out of nervous curtsey or something. She walked over to a mirror to check her make up and hair, which she seemed to have come with ready-made to avoid the rush Milena and the other divas would all be experiencing very soon. The show was to start in just under thirty minutes, and so far I was the only diva who was fully ready. We were the second match on the card, so we only had forty-five minutes, tops, until we had to be ring-ready.
"You look beautiful," I remarked. She really did, too, slightly gothic but not enough to pass off as one or take away from her natural beauty.
"Thank you," she said with a smirk, I think she'd been thinking the same thing, too. She quickly set about squeezing into her leather ring gear as I deposited my belongings in one of the lockers (I didn't want Angela taking any opportunity to get some revenge on me) and I sat down on the bench again as I watched Milena running around the room like a psycho chicken, looking for her mascara.
Angela returned five minutes after Katie had arrived, with Tiffany in tow. I smirked at her, and she just turned her gaze away in disgust. Before she could get to her bags, I darted out of the room. I was halfway down the hall when I heard a furious screeching coming from the diva's locker room, and I cackled evilly once more over my revenge. It felt good. I just hoped Matt didn't find out and hate me. Crap, I should have thought it through before being so petty. Oh well, I laughed, can't change what's happened.
.&.&.&.
Forty minutes later, I was in the middle of the ring with the Floridian sun beating down on my skin and I loved it. Katie's usual ring music was playing over the speakers, and with Rosa we had entered the ring as a solid unit and team. There's no time for individuality in quick six diva tag matches. Rosa and myself stood either side of Katie, conversing with her over 'strategies'. In reality, the script had most of the match planned out anyway as it was so short. I was to be in the ring thirty seconds, and only hit one simple move, as they had yet to evaluate my skills and abilities in the ring and the other girls weren't used to taking moves from me yet. Whatever. I just know I got roughly 10 seconds with Angela in the ring, and I got to hit my single move on her, so I was happy.
The other team's music started up and the announcer stood before us in the ring. "Introducing their opponents, Miss Angela," the fans popped as she came running out from the building and slapped hands with them on her way down. We, the heels in the ring, simply mocked her as she came out. "Tiffany," a smaller pop was heard as she came skipping down to the ring, "and Eve Torres!"
The former diva search winner came running down to join her partners in the ring, and everyone but Rosa and Tiffany cleared the ring and stood on the outside of the ring at the turnbuckles. I only paid loose attention to the match before me as Tiffany tagged out to Eve. I was far too busy shooting daggers at Angela (who I was disappointed to notice had borrowed some one else's attire for the event), and she was far too busy glaring back at me. Too busy, in fact, to notice that she had been tagged in by Eve.
The fans laughed at her mistake as she stumbled into the ring, and I couldn't help but laugh either. Pretty soon Rosa finally had the upper hand in the match and tagged quickly out to me. I came running in and propelled my body at Angela, connecting with a dropkick to her jaw. A sickening crack resonated around the open space and many of the fans in attendance 'oohed' at the sound. She got up, holding onto her jaw for what I hope was legitimate reasons. I'd planned it to be.
I kicked her in the gut, hard as I could and she coiled over in front of me. I grabbed her head and fell back, performing a simple snap DDT. Laughter escaped my lips as I turned my back on her and taunted to the fans, just as I'd been told to in the script. What happened next was not in the script. Angela was supposed to tag out, then I was supposed to take a few moves and then tag out to Katie so we could get the win.
Instead of hearing the slap of someone tagging in, I heard the slap of Angela's leg striking my own. I fell backwards and had no chance to react as Angela got on top of me and began punching away at me. There was nothing I could do, except cover my face with one hand and attempt to shove her off with the other.
I heard a bell ringing repeatedly, but it sounded so distant. The referee was shouting furiously at us, and I heard the same announcer from earlier declare, "Uh.. here are your winners via disqualification, Hope French, Rosa Mendes and Katie Lea Burchill?"
Eventually, people came to my aid and pulled the rabid Asian off of me and attempted to restrain her. I got up, with some help from Katie who whispered in my ear, "What a bloody psycho! Are you all right, love?" I nodded 'yes' to her, and was going to turn away, when my ears picked up Angela's screeching.
"You fucking slut! You're gonna pay, bitch!"
Then, I lost it too. I don't remember what happened next very well, but I know that it ended up with me being restrained and pulled back into the building while screaming out "I did nothin'!" while Angela bled from the nose in the ring. Looks like the war was already over.
Back in the FCW building, I was put straight back to work as to work off my rage, test my abilities and stamina. I spent the next few hours with the trainers, working out and performing all my best moves and running around aimlessly for ages.
I was told as I was leaving that Angela was docked a weeks pay for starting the fight, and that we'd both received an official warning. Great, my first day and already I'm in the doghouse!
I returned home gloomily, fully expecting my day to get even worse. Matt had probably heard about our scuffle by now and had repacked all my things and I was going to be kicked out. I just knew it.
So, I opened the front door of our apartment as quietly as possible and closed it just as quietly. It was dark, except for a dim light coming from the living room TV. I crept along the hall, being careful not to knock anything over in the dark. Everything was quiet and peaceful, so you can imagine how terrified I was when a dark form jumped out at me from the living room!
I was scooped up into strong arms and pressed against a rock hard chest as I screamed in horror. The chest rocked as Matt's laughter filled the ill, and instantly all fear evaporated from you.
"You're a dick, Matt!" I grumbled against his chest. He just laughed more and swung us around, so I was facing the living room door as he hugged me.
"Thank you!" he whispered in my ear. Well, that shocked me. It wasn't often one was thanked for getting into legitimate fights with people's girlfriends.
"Um, you're welcome?" I said confusedly. Over his shoulder, I saw someone in the living room turn to face us and was shocked to see it was Angela. She had something taped over her nose, probably to protect it. I found out much later that I'd broken it that day, and our fight was shown in all its entirety on the next broadcast of FCW TV.
"Angela told me you talked it over with her," he whispered in my ear. "She knows it was all a mistake, she really likes you, you know." I highly doubted that.
"Oh, yes," I said, still as confused as I watched her. She was smiling at me, but it didn't look like the nice variety by any means. "You're very welcome hon." I said, not taking my eyes off of her as Matt continued to embrace me. His lips brushed against my cheek and finally my eyes went to him. "Do you want your bed back to.. er.. 'make up' with Angela? Because I could really do with crashing out right now." He shook his head and we wished one another a 'good night'. I ignored Angela's attempts to be 'friendly' towards me and made my way to Matt's room to think things over. Turns out, our little war was only just about to start.
.&.&.&.
A.N.: Thank you so much to my lovely reviewers ChainGangShorty54 (who has a Bourne story of her own that I love), Ainat, Ali Vegas and Angelwilliamsfan. Your kind words really drove me to churn out this chapter, so I hope you, and any of the other readers out there, like it!