Darcy stood at the entrance of the arena, unsure of where does she need to go in. She held onto her duffel bag strap tight as she stared at the empty place. She checked her note that Ted had given her yesterday. According to the address that Ted has written, she was sure this was it. But she can't see an entrance since the main door was locked shut from the outside. She'd just arrived at Tampa, Florida and this was the arena that they are shooting this week's show. She paced around, trying to find for a place, probably a small door that might open, but they were all shut.
Darcy stood there, looking around, trying to find anyone she could ask for directions.
A pat on the shoulder caught her by surprise as she turned around to find a guy with exceptionally beautiful golden hair and hazel brown eyes. He wore a tight collared t-shirt that revealed the shape of his biceps and loose khaki pants, paired with a brown small-headed belt. He looked like a prince that just came out of a Disney movie.
"Are you lost?" The guys asked, looking concerned.
"Not really. I am where I'm supposed to be but I just can't find a way in" Darcy explained.
"I think you must be mistaken, girl. This arena is booked for WCW talent only for the next three days" The guy explained.
"I am a talent" Darcy said.
The guy laughed, Darcy wasn't sure what he found amusing. She simply stared at him.
"Oh, you're serious?" The guy realized that Darcy wasn't joking when he saw her reaction.
"Ted signed me yesterday. He told me to come here today" Darcy said, handing the paper to him.
The guy took the paper, reading it through. His eyebrows shot up in amusement.
"I see, well, we usually use the back entrance that only the talent could use. Follow me" The guy said, pointing at the other side.
Darcy followed behind him. They made their way all the way back and passed through security. Darcy had to explain to the security guard that she was new and show her letter in order to get through since they only allow authorized people in. It was a really tight security there. She asked for directions to Ted's office and made her way to the place the security told her to go to. The guy earlier decided to accompany her to the office.
"Well, forgive me for laughing just now. It wasn't cuz' I was making fun of you, it's just that these people don't really hire girls like you. I mean it in a good way though" The guy said, feeling bad for laughing earlier. "Most of the girls here are, well, you know, smaller"
Darcy nodded in understood.
"Most of them don't really wrestle. They're either a valet or a comedy skit. But if Ted has hired you, I'm sure he's hired you for more than just a sex symbol, you know?" The guy smiled.
"Thank you, I really appreciate that" Darcy smiled, started to warm up with him. "Have you been around some time?"
"Only a few months. I was in the IWF before this. And you? Your first promotion?" The guy asked.
"Yeah, it is, actually" Darcy said, the guy looking at her in amusement.
"First promotion and straight to the top, ey?" He teased to which Darcy chuckled.
They stood in front of a door that wrote Ted's name on it, confirming that it was Ted's office.
"This is it. You want me in with you?" The guy asked.
"No, I'm cool. Thank you, by the way" Darcy said with a smile. "You have been really kind"
The guy smiled. "My pleasure, Miss..."
"Darcy. Just Darcy" Darcy said, extending her hand. She prefers if people know her for real name instead of her family's name. All her family's name has ever done to her is simply no good.
"Darcy. Good to see you, Darcy. People know me as Terra Ryzing, but for you, I'm Hunter" Hunter winked, making gun fingers and clicking his teeth, before walking away.
Darcy chuckled at his antiques as she watched him walk away. He sure is a charmer.
*****************
Darcy sat at the gorilla position, the place where every controls and order goes out in wrestling terms. There were only guys there who'd look at her as though she was a delicious plate of cheesecake. There were only two females in the WCW other than Darcy. One of them, Missy Hyatt was an interviewer and another one, Sherri Martel was a valet to a top male superstar, known as Ric Flair, one of the best wrestlers in Darcy's opinion. She's always admired Ric's charisma in the ring.
Since it was her first day today, Ted had ordered her to sit at the gorilla and watch how the norms are at WCW. Ted had already given her everything about her gimmick. She was to play a tough girl from Florida who has a tight face all the time and punches the lights out of men. She was really grateful for that gimmick since it was surely who she was in real life and it gave her the opportunity to be her real self.
She saw as each and every one of them went out there, performing with absolutely no fear in their faces. Darcy would cheer each time her favorites like Cactus Jack, Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes would go out. She didn't dare to go and say hi when they were waiting at the gorilla, instead she sat and admired them from afar, continuing to admire them more when they were at the ring which she saw live from the monitors in the gorilla. She would listen carefully how Ted and a few others would give orders through their headsets, telling them how much time they have left and calling wrestling moves or spots through the referee's mic pieces.
It was the end of the show when everyone packing up to go back home. Ted announced that they would all need to be in Memphis, Tennessee 2 days before the next show which is only next week. Ted ordered for the scripts for next week to be distributed to everyone. Darcy anticipated as she watched everyone get their scripts except her. Curious, she walked up to the guy distributing the scripts and asked if he saw her script.
"Hey, sorry, excuse me" Darcy tapped on the guy's shoulder.
"Photographs and autographs are only taken outside, lady. I'm trying to work here" The guy said.
"No, no. I wanted ask about my script" Darcy said.
"Script? What, you working here?" He looked up, confused.
"Yeah. I just joined this week. I'm Darcy Dawn" Darcy said.
The guy looked like he just realized something. "Oh so it is real after all?"
"What's real?" Darcy asked, not quite understanding.
"That they hired a new chick" The guy said.
Darcy winced at that comment, not really liking the way he said it. "Yeah, I guess you could say that"
"Awh man. I'm sorry, girly, but I thought it was a joke and I threw your script in the trash" The guy said, feeling guilty.
Darcy stared at him, looking to see if he was serious. But from his reaction, she knew he was serious. "Y-you threw?"
"But that's okay. You can just go and ask the creative department for a new script. They have your backup in the office. Just walk in there" The guy said, quickly disappearing as his crewmates called him. "I'm sorry!" He managed to yell before Darcy watched as he disappeared through the crowd.
Darcy sighed. Great. Just great. Now where on earth does she find the creative department's office.
"Looking for something?" A familiar voice from behind caught her attention.
"Hunter!" Darcy said. Finally, someone whom she could rely on. "Yes, I need to find the creative office"
"Why? Something wrong with your script?" Hunter asked.
"Well, yeah, about that. The tech guy just threw away my script and he told I could get the backup scripts from the creative office" Darcy said.
"He threw your script?" Hunter chuckled. "That's unusual"
"Well, apparently he thought that my existence was a joke for them, so he threw away" Darcy rolled her eyes to which Hunter laughed at her sarcasm.
"Alright, alright. Come with me, now" Hunter said, leading the way. "The creative room is always right opposite of Ted's office. He feels that they need to be at the nearest to his office so that whenever he gets an idea, he won't forget it on the way to the creative office. He's one cranky old man, Ted is"
Darcy chuckled. Sounds logical.
"There we are" Hunter said, pushing open the door. He looked into the office, finding for just the person. "Dusty"
Dusty Rhodes turned upon hearing his name being called. He smiled when he saw Hunter, one of his proteges. "Well, well, well. If it isn't Terra Ryzing"
Hunter chuckled. "You know I hate that name"
Dusty smirked, knowing damn well of how much Hunter hated that name. "Well, come on in, Hunter Hearst Helmsley. What does my favorite protégé needs from old Dusty this time?"
"Well, I appreciate being the favorite" Hunter addressed. "But I'm not here for me, today. I'm here for a friend"
Hunter opened the door wider to reveal Darcy behind him who simply stared at Dusty in awe. She was actually standing just a few feet apart from the wrestling legend! Her childhood hero!
"Well bless my hair! Would you look at that! The girl that we've all been waiting for a long, long time. Come in, child! Come in!" Dusty smiled, greeting them both into the office. He cleared his table as he invited Hunter and Darcy to sit across his table. It was still a mess no matter how much he tries to clear the office. The creative office was always a mess no matter where they go.
"Miss Darcy Dawn Johnson. How a pleasure it is to meet you!" Dusty greeted.
"Pleasure to meet you too, Mr Rhodes. And please, just Darcy" Darcy said. She felt like she needs to hand a board around herself that wrote Just Darcy for every time she needs to say that. She was getting tired of correcting people. She was trying her best to conceal her identity as Rocky Johnson's illegitimate daughter.
"Okay there, just Darcy" Dusty joked. "What brings you to the dusty office today? No pun intended"
Darcy stifled a chuckle at his one liner. "I wanted to ask for a copy of my script"
"Apparently one of the tech guys screwed her up and threw it in the trash" Hunter filled in.
Dusty let a hearty laughter. "Ah, so they did it for real, huh?"
Darcy looked confused.
"Blimey, Darcy. You were the talk of the locker room even before you arrived. The first half thinks that Ted was just joking" Dusty said, getting up from his chair, looking through the shelf behind him.
"And the other half" Darcy asked.
"Well, let's just say, they're all waiting to get in your pants someday" Dusty shot which made Darcy's eyes widen.
"They are?" Darcy asked, shocked at the sudden statement.
"Awh, don't worry, honey bunch. They won't force you unless you let them in" Dusty said, grabbing an A4 sized yellow envelope.
"Plus, you've got great security with you" Dusty said, placing the envelope on the table and pointed his thumb towards Hunter.
Hunter smirked, shaking his head. Dusty is always a goof.
Dusty reached out and took a paper stack that was perfectly bound. He flipped through the pages, making sure it was Darcy's script.
"Yeap, here it is" Dusty pushed the script towards her to which she took with both hands, as though it was an expensive fragile jewel. She couldn't help but smile upon getting ahold of it. She's seen a lot of Bret's scripts and she's gone through quite few of them. But this, this was special. Her very first script book.
"I have pitched in some really good ideas that I think would suit your character. I hope you're happy with it" Dusty said.
Darcy looked up with full enthusiasm and nodded like a five year old girl that just got a whole load of cotton candy. Her bubbly behavior only made Dusty chuckle. She reminds him a lot of his own sons, Cody and Dustin.
"Oh, and before I forgot, if you have any ideas, do let me know. Ol' Dusty has been a little rusty as off lately" Dusty said which made Hunter laugh. Dusty always had something that rhymes.
Darcy joined in an chuckled. "I will, Mr Rhodes. Thank you so much"
"I can't wait to see what you can do, Darcy" Dusty said, getting up, followed by Darcy and Hunter.
"We'll see you next week, Dusty" Hunter said, leading Darcy out of the room.
Darcy was almost out of the room when Dusty called her.
"I really have big expectations on you" Dusty said.
"I won't let you down" Darcy winked before closing the door behind her.
*******************
"So, where are you staying?" Hunter asked once they were outside of the arena.
"Oh yeah, I wanted to ask. Where are we staying?" Darcy asked.
"What do you mean?" Hunter seemed confused.
Darcy's eyebrows furrowed. "They... They have hotels rented for us, right?"
Hunter seems taken aback by the question. "Since when?"
"They don't?" Darcy's eyes wide.
"Of course not. It's in the agreement, didn't you read it?" Hunter said
Darcy just slapped herself in her mind. How can she have missed that? Well, now you guys know why it's important to read the agreements before signing it.
Looking at her reaction, he knew she's messed up right now.
"Well, alright" Hunter said, trying to think of something. "Well, I can't leave you here either. So if you're okay with it, you wanna follow me?"
Darcy stood there, thinking. Sure, she didn't want to be left alone. She was practically homeless right now and she didn't have anywhere to go. She wasn't street smart either and she didn't know what to do. She had no problem going with Hunter although she just met him. Hunter has been nothing but kind and helpful the entire day. But all she could think was what Bret and Owen would say if they found out that she was riding with a guy she just met?
Hunter snapped at her, bringing her back to reality. "Hey, what, you don't trust me?"
"No, no, no. That's not it. I mean, I trust you. Just that..."
"I know what you're thinking. We won't be alone. Don't worry. There's another friend of mine will be joining us. The two of us would drive around together. And I'm sure he'll be fine if you're tagging along too" Hunter convinced.
Darcy took a moment to think. Well, it was better than being left alone here. "I guess so"
Hunter smiled. "Don't worry, I don't know if it helps, but Steve is married and I have a girlfriend, so we're good"
Darcy smiled, nodding. It definitely helps.
Hunter lead them to his rental car. He took Darcy's bags and put it in the trunk before getting into the driver's seat, Darcy got in beside him. A few moments later the back seat of the car was opened, to reveal a blond haired guy getting in.
"Hey, Steve" Hunter greeted, adjusting the rear view mirror. "We've got company tonight"
"Ahh, so you're that hot piece them boys been talkin' about" Steve said, his think Texan accent made it almost hard for Darcy to pick up.
"I guess you could say that" Darcy shrugged.
"I guess I'll be seeing you in the ring next week" Steve said, opening a can of beer, sinking deeper into the car seat.
"Next week?" Darcy's eyes widen, turning around to meet Steve's eyes, confused at what he'd just said.
"Guess lil hottie didn't read them scripts yet" Steve said, sipping in his beer.
Darcy stared at him, seeing to see if he was serious.
Steve extended his hand. "I'm Stunning Steve Austin. The US champion"
"Darcy Dawn" Darcy shook his hand.
"Wow, Darcy. First appearance and you already get to face the champ. Not bad" Hunter commented.
Darcy gulped. The champ? Uh oh!
******************************
Author's note:
Hey everyone! How are y'all? So this is chapter 2 where Darcy is officially signed to WCW and boy are things tough for her. Getting her script thrown away? Being detained at the entrance, not having any female friends and not knowing that there's no accommodation provided? Lucky Hunter was there. And Dusty seems to have big hopes for Darcy. Can't wait to see what she's gonna do in the ring.
Looks like she is making her debut next week with Stunning Steve Austin. What do you think is gonna happen? Let me know in the comments.
Oh and btw, you guys should read my book, Ayla if you guys wanna get a glimpse of what would happen in the future.
Signing out,
Veena
(Date : 23/04/24)
(Word count: 2810)