After their little heart-to-heart the night before, Jon had walked her home. The pair had been engrossed in conversation throughout the entire journey. Alexa hated to admit it, but she had been a little sad when they parted ways.
As soon as she was home, she had pulled out her laptop and scoured YouTube for Jon's indie matches. She had sat, enthralled, for hours as she diligently watched everything she could find.
He wasn't a wrestler of beautiful manoeuvres, he was a pure brawler and he fought the same way a dog would fight over a piece of meat. He was just as comfortable delivering a cross face chicken wing as he was swinging a steel chair, the majority of his matches ended with him covered in his own blood, and he seemed to enjoy it. Even if you weren't a fan of hardcore wrestling, you had to appreciate the intensity he brought to the table. He certainly knew how to tell a story and stay in character throughout his matches. He adapted to his opponents in a way that few wrestlers could and he produced entertaining matches relying on perfect timing, crowd manipulation and his vivid facial expressions.
And she watched avidly as he delivered some of the most compelling promos in independent wrestling, perhaps even all of professional wrestling, that she had ever seen.
''I owe pro wrestling. It's the only reason I'm still alive, and it pisses me off, and it makes me sick, everybody else thinks wrestling owes them something. All the time, me me me. I should be champion. I should be a featured performer. I shouldn't be paired with this guy in a team. I should get more mic time. I should get this, whatever. I love pro wrestling, and I owe pro wrestling. It doesn't owe me anything. Because it's given me the only thing that makes me happy, the only high in this world that makes it worth getting up out of bed every day, and when it hits my bloodstream, and it courses through my veins, and explodes in my heart and the warm feeling coming over my brain, the whole world makes sense. And that's what I owe pro wrestling."
He was an incredible talent with unlimited potential and a ton of charisma, she could understand why Darren liked him so much. It also made her realize something else, something that she knew could would her a lot of trouble.
She was really attracted to him.
Alexa had thought he was pretty good-looking when she had first set eyes on him upon his arrival to FCW. And last night... there was just something about him in person, though, that made him infinitely more attractive. But after watching all of his killer promos and matches, seeing his passion for wrestling... that had been a big turn on for her.
She had just decided to wave it off as a little crush, knowing it would eventually fizzle out. She didn't need the drama of a relationship right now. She needed to pull her head out of her ass and get back in that ring.
Alexa frowned as she walked into the FCW building and found it relatively quiet. Usually there was a lot of hustle and bustle going on, with people running around everywhere. She dumped her bag in the locker room before heading to the practice ring, where she assumed Darren would be waiting for her to start their session.
As she walked, she heard familiar voices echo down the hallway. With every step, the voices became clearer and she groaned when she realized what it was.
''She's a lot stronger than she looks! Right, Adam?''
''She's got thighs of steel, man.''
''Dude, they are Canadian...''
''Ah, that explains it.''
''Hey! I'm Canadian too, jackass!"
''I think you've pissed her off, Randal.''
Darren, the sneaky fucker, had found the footage that she was hoping he had forgotten about.
Sighing, she peered around the doorway and saw the familiar scene being played out on the television in the corner. Colby, Joe, Jon, Trinity, Celeste, April, Curtis, Ettore and Shaul stood off to the side as Darren was commenting on the sparring, pointing out to the women how easy it was to take down someone bigger than you.
Alexa slowly walked into the room and came to a stop just behind Colby and Joe, peering in between them to watch the screen.
A few minutes later, the video finally cut and Darren turned to face everyone, a smile breaking out on his face when he spotted her. ''Ah, there she is!"
Joe and Colby jumped back in shock after turning to find her right behind them, making her let out a small chuckle. ''Hey.''
''That was pretty neat, Lex.'' Trinity told her with a grin.
April nodded from beside her. ''Totally. Think you could show me that Muta lock sometime?''
''Sure thing.''
''If you two are going to be all over each other in the ring, we want to watch.'' Curtis told them, a lewd smirk on his face.
''Don't be such a prev, Curt.'' April sent him an admonishing look.
''Yeah, or I'm sure Lex will happily kick your ass too.'' Celeste threatened as she pointed her finger at him.
Alexa stepped back and held her hands up. ''I'm kicking nobody's ass... not yet, anyway.''
''But she totally could kick all of your asses.'' Shaul told the guys smugly.
''Not all of them.'' Alexa shook her head. ''I think Ettore would eat me for breakfast.''
''I'd eat y-''
Colby quickly reached out and slapped his hand over Jon's mouth, knowing exactly what the other man was going to say. ''Dude, no.''
''Do you know what her nickname for you is?'' Shaul asked the big man, a big grin on her face as she tried not to laugh.
Ettore glanced between the two Latinas with a bemused expression. ''What?''
''Don't you fucking dare.'' Alexa warned, fixing the younger woman with a stern look.
''He'll find it funny!"
''Shaul, I swear to Go-''
''Choc Lesnar!" Shaul blurted out, before letting out a loud snort.
Alexa closed her eyes in mortification as everyone started laughing. ''I was drunk at the time...''
Ettore, luckily, also found his new moniker funny and let out a guffaw. ''That's hilarious.''
Jon turned to her, his eyes crinkled in amusement. ''Do I have a nickname?''
Shaul was about to respond until a quick glare from Alexa made her snap her mouth closed. Darren moved over to them and clapped his hands together. ''Right. Everybody out except Alexandra, Colby, Joe and Jon.''
Alexa shot the man a look of confusion as everyone started to leave. ''Okay, first of all, stop calling me Alexandra. Second of all, I thought we were going to start with my training.''
Darren just smiled at her. ''We are. I've enlisted some help.''
''Great, now even more people get to see how badly I suck.''
He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, giving her a squeeze. ''Trust me.''
She nodded and they walked towards the ring, finding Jon and Colby sparring inside while Joe was doing something by the corner. Moving closer, she let out a sigh when she saw them arranging several padded crash mats where the rings steps were usually set up.
Alexa's lips curled into a smile when as she watched Colby do a series of beautiful aerial moves, wishing she could get back up there and do the same. "Impressive Lopez." She commended as she leaned forward on the apron. "Me and you would make a pretty cool tag-team."
Colby laughed and looked down at her. ''We could call ourselves the High-flying Hotties.''
''Please. You'd both need to be hot for that to work.'' Jon scoffed, sending her a cheeky wink.
Alexa just shook her head, slowly getting used to his flirtatious nature. She reached up and grabbed the top rope, using it to heave herself up before stepping into the ring. Darren joined them straight after and asked Jon to go and stand on the outside with Joe. The Englishman guided her over to the corner, all the crash mats were laid out all around the base and the two men on the outside were positioned nearby.
''You think they're going to catch me if I fall?'' She asked, jerking her thumb towards them.
''They will if they have to.''
''Yeah, we've got you, sweetheart.'' Jon added.
She rolled her eyes as she looked down at him. ''Please, you couldn't catch a cold.''
Jon looked momentarily offended as Darren smothered a laugh. ''Let's just try, flower.'' He gave her arm a quick squeeze before moving back a few feet to stand beside Colby.
Alexa could practically feel her heart pound against her ribcage as she stepped closer to corner, feeling the panic rising as she reached the ropes. She ducked through them and stepped out on to the apron, taking a deep breath to try to calm herself before she started to climb.
As soon as both feet had left the apron and she stood on the bottom rung, she felt her hands start to shake on the ropes. Trying to persevere, she lifted her right leg up and planted her foot on the second rung. The room started spinning and she froze, feeling her grip on the ropes start to falter.
''I can't... I can't.'' She whimpered as her vision blurred from her oncoming anxiety attack. Closing her eyes, she tried to catch her breath which was coming out in short bursts.
Before she could even attempt to climb down herself, she felt someone wrap their arms firmly around her waist and hoist her down. Not caring who it was, she buried her head in their chest, her body shaking violently. She desperately tried to calm down her breathing and stop the attack as the arms holding her up gently rubbed her back and she could hear quiet words of comfort being spoken.
Alexa tilted her head back, glancing up at the man keeping her upright as her trembling hand reached up to wipe the tears pooling along her lashes. She opened her mouth to speak only to have him shush her quietly.
''Just breathe, okay?'' Jon told her as he gently rubbed her arms, trying to calm her down.
Her breathing eventually slowed down and she mustered a faint smile when Darren appeared in front of her. ''I'm sorry.''
He smiled warmly at her. ''You've got nothing to be sorry for. You manager to climb higher than you have before, you did well.''