Sempiternal

The arena was huge. There was so much going on. Everyone was busy doing something, and Lucy was completely amazed.

Seth had caught her up on everything that had been going on in the wrestling world, including what was yet to come. His faction, The Shield, were bigger than ever, and they were only going up. They were about to begin the biggest feud of their careers; The Shield vs. Evolution. Even Lucy knew who Evolution was from her days of watching along with Seth. This was huge for them. It made her realize just how much success her friend had achieved.

He had dropped Lucy off at the spot that would become her office, per say.

“Try to not get into too much trouble.” Seth ruffled a hand through her hair and gave her a half smile.

“Yes, Dad.” Lucy replied with annoyance, but smiled at an older man who was approaching them.

“Don’t worry, Seth. She’s in good hands. Lucy, it’s nice to meet you, I’m Mark.” Lucy shook his hand. “I heard that it’s your first day. Don’t be nervous. It’s as easy as pie. All you’re doing is finding the right size of the right t-shirt, and selling it to them.”

“I can do that!” Lucy said excitedly. She looked up at Seth for approval. He nodded at her.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it.” Seth said, giving the small girl a hug. “Meet me in the parking garage whenever you’re done. We’re pooling with Roman and Dean, so you’ll have plenty of time to get to know them on the road to Hershey tomorrow.”

She nodded. “Hey!” Lucy yelled before Seth could get too far away. “Good luck tonight.”

It had been a year and a half since Lucy had actually held a decent job, and her addictions made passing a drug test extremely difficult. Most of the money that she got came from selling her own possessions, or stealing and selling items from stores. When it came to “have you ever been convicted of a serious crime” on the new-hire sheet she was required to fill out, she quickly put a checkmark through the tiny box next to ‘no’, and moved on.

After she had signed and dated every line, she began unpacking the boxes; placing a model of each shirt on the board. Her favorites so far had been Daniel Bryan’s “Yes Movement” t-shirt and Paige’s “Think Again” shirt. Once she was done, she began organizing the boxes of extra shirts so that it would make them easy to find if she needed them.

“I see there’s a method to your madness, already?” Mark asked as he watched her.

“I’m a little bit obsessive compulsive. I like to know where things are without thinking about it.”

He smiled. “It’s a good method. I think you’re going to do well tonight.” A silence fell over the two as they continued moving boxes and folding shirts. “So Seth tells me you guys are very old friends?”

Lucy smiled. “Yeah, we grew up right down the street from each other. He was my older brother’s best friend, we went to the same school, the three of us hung out a lot. I haven’t seen him in a while, you know, since he went down to Florida for FCW.”

“Mighty nice thing he’s doing for you, here. He must really care about you.”

She shrugged, trying to hide the growing smile on her lips. “Hey, what time do doors open again?”

“7:00.”

Lucy straightened herself and dusted off her hands. “I’m all done here, I’m going to go see if any other stands need help setting up.”

Mark laughed. “Alright, be back by 6:55.”

For the next three hours, Lucy wandered around the area looking for things to do and introducing herself to the production crew. She made sure all the merchandise stands were set up, and even helped roll some equipment down to the ring. She made friends quickly, and they were running her through the jist of setting up for a live event. It was all mesmerizing. There was so much to be done in such a small amount of time.

“I thought I told you to stay out of trouble?”

She turned around innocently to see Seth standing there with another man. A much taller, bigger man, with long, black hair. To Lucy, he looked like a sin. Like the piece of Devil’s Food cake you know you shouldn’t eat, but you do anyways. She knew who he was. Seth had made her watch every YouTube video there was about The Shield before they arrived. She was almost at a loss for words.

“Excuse me, my name’s Lucy. I don’t believe we’ve met.” She said, brushing Seth off completely.

“No, ma’am, we haven’t. My name is Roman Reigns.”

“You are so handsome.” She replied. Seth rolled his eyes.

Roman smiled, looking as bashful as ever. “Thank you.”

She joined Seth and Roman as they gave her a quick tour of the backstage area. Even though it changed with each arena, the layout was still pretty much the same. Male locker room, Diva’s locker room, individual Superstar’s locker rooms, and of course catering. They stopped in to grab a quick snack, and Seth introduced her to a few more of his wrestling pals.

Lucy kept her distance from the Divas. At 5’2 and 139 lbs, Lucy wasn’t the skinniest girl on the skinny squad. Her skin wasn’t tan, rather a ghostly, washed out version of tan that was splashed with too many freckles. Her thighs touched, and rubbed together uncomfortably if she walked for too long in a pair of shorts. Her hair wasn’t naturally wavy, with natural highlights, and natural volume. She was just normal, and she didn’t want to be compared to a gang of perfect barbie dolls, no matter how nice they seemed.

“Remember, you’re not here to be a diva.” Seth whispered in her ear after noticing that she had become a little uncomfortable. She knew that, but it definitely made her feel like she needed to work on herself. Lucy could be that, if she tried hard enough.

“I’ve been looking all over for you assholes.” Her ears perked. She knew that voice. It had become unmistakable over the past twenty-four hours. Dean Ambrose; Seth’s other brother in arms, the third member of The Shield. “Hunter wants to see us to make sure we’re good for tonight.” Dean finally noticed the small girl standing next to Seth. His eyes trailed from her to Seth, back to her, and then to Seth again. “Who’s this?”

“I’m Lucy.” She said quickly. “I’m Seth’s friend.”

Dean looked to Seth again and the younger man shrugged. “What she said.”

“So you’re the little druggie that’s going to be following us around everywhere, huh?” A few heads in the background turned in their direction. It didn’t go unnoticed by Lucy. She wanted her secret to remain hidden, and here it was being practically yelled out to all of catering.

“Wow, Dean! Really?” Seth interjected, but Dean only held his hands up in defense.

“What? I’m just askin’ a question.” Dean replied innocently.

Lucy bit her cheek to keep from crying. “Well, it was nice to meet you.” She said to Roman. “Seth, I’ll see you later.”

She walked as calmly as she could to the nearest women’s bathroom. As soon as she hit the stall the tears flooded from her eyes. She was doing so well. She was so ready to start a new chapter in her life and forget about her shameful past, and then he comes and tears every shred of her confidence down; reminding her of what she really is; a good-for-nothing, worthless, drug addict.

He didn’t even know her. He was only going off of what he had heard, and the only person he could have possibly heard anything from, was Seth. Her best friend. Who promised her that he wouldn’t tell anyone. She didn’t want to be judged, here, and yet who was judging her was none other than her best friend’s best friend. What happened to the motto “a friend of yours is a friend of mine”?

A few soft knocks came from the door. Lucy froze. “Hello?” A soft voice asked, “You okay in there?” She looked down at the bottom of her stall to see a pair of red, sparkly boots. A diva. Perfect.

Lucy wadded up a bunch of toilet paper and wiped her eyes and nose, before slowly opening the door. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

The diva in question was none other than Brie Bella. She smiled warmly at Lucy. “That Ambrose guy, he has a chip on his shoulder most days. Don’t let him get to you.”

Lucy gave Brie a half smile. “Did Seth send you?”

“Actually it was my husband, Daniel. Seth was too busy arguing with Dean. We heard what happened, and listen,” The ‘Total Divas’ star wiped away a tear falling from Lucy’s cheek. “No one is going to judge you, here. We’ve all done things that we aren’t proud of.”

“I kind of needed to hear that, thank you.” Lucy said.

Brie gave Lucy a small hug. “I’m Brie, in case, you know…”

“I know,” Lucy laughed. “I’m Lucy.”

“It’s nice to meet you. Hey, we’ve still got another hour before doors open, want to hit the makeup chair? It might make you feel better?”

An hour later Lucy popped back up at her merch stand, feeling and looking much better than she had after the whole ‘Dean Incident’, which she appropriately named it.

“Someone had a run in with the Divas.” Mark noted.

“Just Brie Bella.” Lucy smiled, causing Mark to chuckle. “Alright, let’s get this road on the show!”

Kids decorated in their favorite wrestler’s shirts, with their posters, flooded the arena halls. An electricity buzzed through the air that fueled Lucy’s energy. She saw so many ‘Hounds of Justice’ shirts, but that number wouldn’t even touch the amount of Daniel Bryan and John Cena merchandise. She loved it. She loved hearing who her customer's favorites were. Everyone loved someone, everyone was here to see someone. And there wasn’t a sad face in the crowd.

She was able to push everything behind her, and focus on selling as many t-shirts as she possibly could. Who was Dean Ambrose? Why was he important to her? He wasn’t. Lucy was in a good place in her life, and she wasn’t about to be dragged down by a scruffy, sweaty weirdo. She was only here until she earned enough money to get herself an apartment, and could start going back to school, and get a decent job.

Sooner, rather than later, Dean Ambrose would be out of sight and mind.