Tumors And Hearts

Xx-nikki-xX

“Are you excited?!” Manda asked on our way to the locker rooms.

Everyone kept asking me that question today. I even got a text from my sister, Lexi, and my roommate back in Chicago, Ashley, asking me that same thing. My answer to everyone’s question for the past few days is yes, I’m excited, but I’m even more nervous.

Manda and I were in Orlando, Florida at the Impact Zone. It was finally Monday and there was about an hour until TNA started.

We rounded a corner and ran into my Aunt Dixie.

“Oh, good!” she said. “I was looking for you!”

“Did you need something, Aunt Dixie?” I asked.

“Well, I actually just wanted to talk to Manda real quick.” she said. “Would you come with me for a minute?”

“Sure.” Manda said. She turned to me. “Just wait here for me. I don’t want you getting into trouble your first day here.”

I rolled my eyes as the two of them walked down the hall a little ways. It’s not like I go looking for trouble, trouble usually has a way of finding me.

A few minutes later they came back.

“Well, good luck tonight girls.” Aunt Dixie said as she walked away. “I’ll be watching.”

“What was that about?” I asked as we continued on our way.

“She just wanted me to make sure everything goes okay for you.” Manda said. “She’s a little worried about you.”

We finally made it to the Knockouts’ locker room. We quickly changed into our ring attire and went into the connected bathroom to fix our hair and makeup.

I looked at myself in the mirror when I was done. My hair was still black, but a few nights ago Manda helped me die my side-sweep bangs red. I left my hair straight down like I normally wore it and my makeup was simple – just some thick black eyeliner around my eyes. I looked down at the outfit I was wearing. I was in a red tank missing the right “sleeve” under a black tank [made out of a fishnet type material like what the Hardy Boyz used to wear] that was missing the left “sleeve”, both ended just above my bellybutton. I also had on black cargo shorts, black high-top Converse, and black arm bands [one ended at my wrist while the other ended just below my elbow].

Satisfied with how I looked, I turned to see what Manda was wearing. She had a dark green fitted t-shirt with Yoda from Star Wars, ripped black jeans, and dark green arm warmers to match her shirt. Her newly dyed red hair had a little bit of a curl and she had thick black eye makeup around her eyes.

I watched as she hopped up on the sink area. While she was putting on her black boots, I saw the tattoos on her heels. On her right heel was a lock with “fate” written on it and on her left heel was a skeleton key.

“Nice tattoos.” I said. “I can’t believe I haven’t noticed them before now.” Especially since she wears flip flops all the time.

“Thanks. Shannon did ‘em for me at GasChamber.”

“Hmm.” I said thinking back to the night before. I wondered if that was the Shannon I had talked to last night.

“Speaking of which,” she said as she finished lacing up her boots. “I want to introduce you to Jeff and Shannon. Come on.”

She jumped off the counter, grabbed my hand, and started pulling me out of the bathroom.

I guess I was going to find out.

We found them just coming out of the guys’ locker room. They were already dressed and both had their faces painted.

“Just the guys we were looking for!” Manda exclaimed. I stood back and watched her hug Jeff and then Shannon. “I want you to meet my new best friend. This is Nikki.”

I shook Jeff’s hand and turned to face Shannon. He looked mortified.

“Nikki?” Shannon said. I nodded. “As in the Nikki I talked to last night when I was totally wasted?” I nodded again. “Ah, shit.” he said trying to cover up his embarrassment. “I’m sorry for the way I acted.”

“It’s fine.” I said smiling. “You were drunk. And besides, it was kind of entertaining.”

Manda and Jeff suddenly busted up laughing. Shannon and I turned to looked at them. I thought they were going to die from laughing to so hard. Manda actually fell over. She hit the floor and started rolling around.

“I can’t breathe!” she exclaimed.

Mr. Anderson seemed to appear out of nowhere. “I hate to break up all the fun here,” he said. “But Jeff, we gotta go. The show just started. We got a confrontation to do out in the ring.”

Jeff straightened up and tried to get his laughing under control. “Alright, I’m coming.” he said. “It was nice to meet you Nikki. Good luck with your match tonight.”

“Thanks.”

“Bye pretty lady!” Jeff called over his shoulder as him and Anderson started walking away.

I felt my face heat up and knew I was blushing. I turned to look at Shannon and saw that he was blushing too. I wondered if my face was as red as his.

Manda, who finally remembered how to breathe and managed to stand up, started laughing again when she saw our faces.

“I… uh… have to go.” Shannon said. “Jesse and I have a match soon.”

“Good luck.” I called as he hurried away.

“Way to embarrass him.” I said turning to Manda.

“I’m sorry.” she said trying to catch her breath. “But it was just so funny!”

“Ready for our match?” Alex asked coming down the hall we were in.

“Yeah.” Manda said. “I’m coming.”

“Good luck.” I said as she made to follow Alex.

“Aren’t you going to watch?”

“I need to go talk to my aunt about something first. I’ll try and catch the end though.”

With that we went our separate ways. I went straight to Aunt Dixie’s office. I had been meaning to talk to her about this for a while, but I haven’t had the chance.

I lightly knocked on her door and she told me to come in.

“Nikki!” she said when she saw it was me. “Is everything okay? Are you having fun?”

“Yeah.” I said. “I’m having a great time Aunt Dixie. I just need to ask you for a favor.”

“Okay, what is it?”

“I don’t want anyone to know about my tumor.” I said. “I don’t want people feeling sorry for me or treating me different because of it. I need you to promise me you won’t tell anyone about it.”

“I understand, Nikki. You have my word.” she said. “I have to tell the medics though.”

I sighed. “Just make sure they don’t go around telling anyone.”

“They couldn’t even if they wanted too. It’s in their contracts to keep the wrestlers’ medical information private unless it’s an emergency.”

“Good.” I said already feeling better. “I have to go. I told Manda I would catch the end of Chris and Alex’s match.”

“Okay. Have fun. And good luck with your match!” my aunt called as I headed out of her office.

I literally caught the very end of the match. I made it in time to see Alex pull Sliced Bread on Jesse Neal and pin him.

“Nice job guys.” I said when they got backstage.

“How much of the match did you actually see?” Chris asked.

“…enough…”

“That’s what I thought.” he said laughing.

“Hey, good luck with you match.” Shannon said as him and Jesse walked by.

“Thanks.” I said smiling. “Nice job with your match!”

“We lost.” he said as they kept walking.

“Oh yeah… well…”

“Thanks anyway.” he said before rounding a corner.

“You didn’t even watch the match!” Manda exclaimed.

“Shush. I can still be nice, can’t I?”

Manda rolled her eyes.

“Are you ready for your match?” Alex asked.

“Ugh. Don’t remind me.” I said. “I’m trying not to think about it.”

“You’ll do fine.” he said putting his arm around my shoulders.

“I hope so.” I said as my opponent showed up.

My first match in TNA was going to be against Velvet Sky of the Beautiful People.

“Good luck!” she said as her music started playing throughout the Impact Zone.

I watched her head out to the ring. My friends hugged me one last time as The Beautiful People’s music died down. Unholy Confessions by Avenged Sevenfold started playing in its place and I ran out to face the crowd.

“And her opponent,” the announcer said as I made my way to the ring. “From Chicago, Illinois – Nicolette!”

I got a few cheers from the crowd – probably from people that didn’t like the Beautiful People.

My music died down once I was in the ring. The ref took the Knockouts’ tag team title belt from Velvet and signaled to ring the bell.

Xx-manda-xX

Chris, Alex, and I were watching Nikki’s match from the backstage area. We were all anxious to see how she would do. I was especially worried that something would happen with her tumor.

The match actually seemed to be going okay for it being Nikki’s first time. She was putting up a good fight and managed to kick out every time Velvet had her pinned.

I was right to worry about the tumor though. More than once I saw Nikki grab her head in pain and it almost made her lose the match.

We already knew that Nikki was supposed to win. Chris, Alex, and I all cheered when she finally pulled the signature move I helped her come up with and pin Velvet for the full three-count.

Nikki’s music started playing as she rolled off Velvet. She staggered to her feet and the ref raised her hand, proclaiming her the winner. She got a lot more cheers on her way out of the ring than on the way in.

“You were amazing!” I practically screamed when she finally made it backstage.

“Thanks.” she sounded out of breath.

I pushed Alex and Chris aside to get to her. “How’s your head?” I muttered in her ear as I hugged her.

“Killing me.” she muttered back.

“Nice job with your match.”

I let go of Nikki and we turned to see Shannon and Jesse coming our way.

“Thanks.” she said smiling.

“Mind if we steal Nikki from you guys?” Jesse asked us. “We got a backstage scene to do with her.”

“She’s mine!” I screamed hugging her again. “You gonna be okay?” I muttered in her ear again.

“I think so.” she muttered back.

She sighed and stepped out of my arms. “Manda, I’m leaving you.” she said trying to keep a straight face.

“For who?” I asked, feigning shock.

“Shannon of course!” she said. “I mean look at him!” Shannon nodded his head, smiling in a cocky way. “And at least he calls me pretty!”

Shannon’s face went bright red. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

“Not for a while at least.” Nikki said smiling.

I smiled as I watched them walk away, still talking about the night before. Shannon actually looked happy. That was the first time I had seen him smile a real smile since this whole thing with Julie happened.

They would look so cute together…

Xx-nikki-xX

Shannon, Jesse, and I hurried to the place where we were going to be doing our backstage scene. We were running late and didn’t have any time to prepare – but then, who needs to prepare when you’re just getting the shit beat out of you?

The camera started rolling and Velvet, Lacey, and Madison started beating me up. They made it obvious that they weren’t happy I beat Velvet.

Shannon and Jesse suddenly appeared and came to my rescue.

“This isn’t over Nicolette!” Madison shouted as they hurried away.

Shannon slowly helped me up as Jesse shouted after them that they better leave me alone. I was supposed to act like I was in pain, but I didn’t need to act – my head was still throbbing from earlier.

“Are you okay?” Shannon asked as I held my head in pain.

I nodded, letting the pain show on my face. Jesse grabbed my arms as Shannon slid an arm around my waist and they helped me limp out of the view of the camera.

The cameraman told us the camera was off and walked away. Jesse and Shannon let go of me. I stood up a little straighter, still clutching my head, as Jesse bid us goodbye and walked away.

“Are you really okay?” Shannon asked.

Me? Oh I’m fine. I just have this tumor in my head that’s slowly killing me is all. Nothing to worry about. “I’m fine.” I lied. I suddenly felt really dizzy. I tried to take a step in the direction of the girls’ locker room and stumbled. Shannon quickly grabbed me before I could fall down. He gave me a concerned look. “Really.” I said.

“Well, at least let me walk you to the locker room.” he said holding onto my waist to keep me steady.

I sighed. “Okay.”

It was a silent walk. We had to go slow because Shannon [okay, and me] was afraid I was going to collapse or pass out or something, but we finally made it to the locker room.

“Thanks Shannon.” I said.

“No problem.” he said. “Are you going to be okay?”

No. “I’ll be fine.” I lied.

“Okay.” Shannon said scratching the back of his neck with his free hand – he still hadn’t let go of my waist yet. “Well… I guess I’ll see you later.”

I nodded – bad idea when your head is throbbing. “Thanks again Shannon.” I said hugging him.

He finally let go of me and I headed into the locker room.

Manda was waiting at our lockers, already changed out of her ring outfit.

“How’s your head?” she asked as soon as I made it over to her.

“Worse than before.”

I opened my locker and got out my bag. I sat down on the bench by our lockers as I dug around in the bottom of my bag until I found my bottle of extra strength pain killers. I popped two in my mouth and chased them down with a whole bottle of water.

“Do you feel up to going out after the show?” Manda asked sitting down next to me.

“Where?” I asked stuffing the bottle of pills back in my bag. “And with whom?”

“To a local bar for some drinks.”

“I’m not old enough to drink.”

“You can still get in though.” Manda said. “You can be like that bald hobo preacher on WWE and wear X’s on the back of your hands.”

I smiled even thought it didn’t sound very appealing.

“Who all is going?” I asked tossing my bag in my locker from where I was sitting.

“You, me, Alex, Chris, Jesse, Jeff, and Shannon.”

I perked up when she said Shannon’s name.

“I guess I’m in.” I said trying to hide my sudden excitement.