all alone, call my phone

make me feel right

~xxxtentacion

"No I'm not turning down the idea, it's just… It's a bit of a shock, sir… Are you sure I'm right or the job?" my voice was shaking as those last words slipped past my lips, my beating heart pounding in the cage that was my ribcage.

"Positive, Aria." Paul's voice was deep and manly, I could almost hear the smile spread on his face even through the phone. I had barely had two words in with Stephanie McMahon's husband - the multiple-time world champion, the King of Kings, the Game - Triple H since I signed a developmental contract with the company a year and a half ago and now he was giving me such a huge opportunity? It was surreal to say the least.

I let out a sigh, from the immediate silence that came from the other end of the line he could tell how nervous and uncertain I was and so he continued, "I know your… well, your in-ring work isn't as stellar as most of the other girls, and you've never been pushed, but trust me when I say you're exactly what we're looking for." Paul's voice oozed confidence and certainty with every word he uttered; it was enough to raise my spirits somewhat. "Vince saw a few of your segments backstage and he's totally behind you character-wise, you shouldn't take such trust from the boss lightly, I wish I'd been so over with him when I first came here." He playfully told me with a chuckle, trying to ease the mood. It was helping. Just barely.

"But… Aren't there other girls on the main roster better suited for that? What about NXT or NXT UK, even? Charlotte would probably thrive in that role! I-I just don't want to let you guys down if I turn out not to be exactly what you're looking for."

Silence came from the other end. And then he sighed. "Well ultimately the choice is up to you, Aria. None of us can force you to take this position if you're not fully committed. Trust me that I approached Charlotte with the idea first to see if she was interested,"

Typical Paul, always thinking about his NXT kids, he knew I was very self-conscious about anything to do with working in front of a crowd, he probably wanted to save me the stress and see if a more experienced girl was interested beforehand, "And Charlotte said no. Besides, she's on RAW and we just had the draft not too long ago, it would be counter-intuitive to bring her over so soon."

It made sense, I let out a small groan that I hoped he didn't hear.

He totally heard me.

"But if you ask me, I think it's a waste to throw away such an opportunity when it's given to you in a silver platter. Especially when it comes right from the top." He continued, his words spoke of decades of wrestling wisdom.

I know. God I know it'd be such a waste. More the half the girls down in developmental would slap me upside the head for not jumping at this opportunity, and the other half would likely be happy to take this position. I should seize this rare chance, ever bit of me is basically screaming at me to do so… But my own personal issues keep telling me I won't be good enough to live up to the hype. The other girls are doing such high profile matches and even main eventing, how can I expect to ever live up to them and compete on the same level when my talent is lacking?

"You've got a few days to think about it, I advise you to do so and give me an answer before TLC. Can you do that for me?" It's easy to tell how concerned he is.

"Yes sir." I still wasn't sure of whether I could muster up the courage to accept his request but I made sure to put as much confidence into my mouth as I could.

"Thank you. In the meantime, I checked and saw you didn't have any scheduled live events or shows to work at, so I think you should come over and spend a few days on the road with your co-workers. It might help you make your choice. Don't let their on-screen personas get to you, they're a friendly bunch." He offered, and in all fairness it did sound a bit better than staying at home and mulling this over on my own, I was hoping to take these few days to rest but whatever, I can rest on the road. I hear some mumbling coming from someone on the other end of the line and Paul quickly mumbles something to them in return before he addresses me, quickly telling me he has to go and that he's looking forward to my decision before ending the call himself.

I'm holding the phone in my hand, the beeping from the lost connection ringing in my ear as I sit there paralyzed. I notice belatedly that I'm biting down on my bottom lip almost hard enough to make it bleed. I stop myself and lower the phone with an exhausted sigh, letting my mobile fall down next to me on the bed. I just woke up and I already feel like going back to sleep.

I flop onto my back on the bed, my arms outstretched and my eyes closed tight as I reflect on what was just offered to me.

They want me to move up to Smackdown, they want to put me in Corbin's faction, they want me to be one of the main girls on that show, and he said there was even talk of giving me a potential title shot down the line if things go alright.

Yeah, no pressure. I haven't even gotten one win since they put me on NXT; my whole gimmick is that I'll cut confident and mightier-than-thou promos backstage prior to my matches before I'm soundly defeated by the other girls. It's not an enviable position to be in, a jobber for NXT and NXT UK girls isn't something that'll set the world on fire, but sometimes the crowd gets really behind it and even cheers for me when I get some offense. Besides, I once almost got a pinfall win on Killer Kelly once when I was subbing for another girl, that's something! Right?

I groan as I roll over to my side and just lay there, almost curling myself up into a ball of self-pity and doubt. I reach for my phone and dial a number. The rhythm of the beeping is slow and I dread when she eventually picks it up. I haven't called her since…

"Hello?"

"Mom?"

"Aria! What a nice surprise!" I assume her brain takes a couple seconds to process the tone of my voice and she quickly flips from her cheery disposition to one of concern, "Everything alright, princess?"

Ok, good, she's not berating me for my dumb decision a few months back, that's… that's good.

I tell her the whole story, she listens calmly, asking a few questions here and there, and when I'm finished I wait to hear her counsel.

She's quiet, pondering I assume. I'm nervous; I don't know what to do.

"Aria?"

"Mom?"

"I think you should give it a shot."

"What…?" I wasn't expecting her to be so blunt; in truth I would have figured she'd have used one of those 'follow your heart' clichés or even give me a whole 'I told you so' speech.

"Well, remember how much you wanted to be in the wrestling business when you were a little girl?" her voice came off as even more motherly than usual. Honey-sweet and soft like cotton.

I absent-mindedly nod before I remember she can't tell I'm nodding and answer with a "Yes." My voice croaking slight at the pleasant memories.

"What's changed since then? Don't you want to be a wrestler anymore?"

Her questions made my eyes go wide. What HAD changed?

I still wanted to be a wrestler, more so than when I was a little girl. If anything my passion's only grown since I was younger, and the closer I get to this objective the more I want to achieve it deep down in my heart. To achieve something in the hobby me and my dad enjoyed. Whenever I'm in the ring, whether it's stepping through the ropes or being thrown down hard onto the mat I feel closer to him. It makes it feel like even though he's gone, he's still close-by.

"You know I didn't want you to lead this life," my mom began, not waiting for me to answer her question, but there was no bite nor disappointment to her words, "You are a smart girl, you always had such good grades, always wanted to help others, I saw so much of myself in you as you were growing up." I smile a bit at that, sitting up and removing the long strands of brown hard that sweep onto my face, tucking them behind my ear. I have my mother's face and my father's eyes.

"And… perhaps a bit selfishly I wanted you to follow in my footsteps. Heck, even following in your father's would have been preferable and far more dignified in my honest opini-"

"Mom."

"Right, right. Sorry. Even though I wanted you to become like me, I realized a bit too late you aren't me. You're Aria, you're not Jane. And if this is what you want to do, if this is the path you want to follow… Well, I don't have to be excited about it, but I can at least support you along the way." From the corner of my eyes I could feel hot tears forming and threatening to spill down my cheeks.

"And honestly, I see this as them offering you a promotion more than anything, your father wasn't dumb enough to turn one of those down, neither was I, and I know for a fact you aren't silly enough to do so either." Ok, now the tears were running down my cheeks.

"Mom…" I couldn't even get the words out.

"I don't know much about all this pro-wrestling stuff, but I've caught a couple of clips of you on Youtube, I think you look pretty good."

"That-" I begin, then take a deep breath and clean my eyes of the watery mess using my forearm, "That means a lot to me, mom."

"Does it? Well while we're on the subject of how you look, Aria, I wouldn't mind it if you changed your wardrobe a bit to something that wasn't so…" I couldn't help but smile and even let out a giggle at that, shaking my head at her worries, really, it wasn't any more revealing than normal, but I'd take that piece of advice into mind.

"Love you, mom." I interrupt her as she's about to go on a tangent regarding my attire and remove the phone from my ear, ready to end the call.

"Aria it looks like those wrestling shorts and wedged up your-!"

I stare down at the phone with a smile and then rub my face some more, this time with my free hand and get off bed. I'm not making any hasty decisions, I'm still not totally confident I'll go through with this, but I'm willing to try.

And what if I fail and get sent back down to NXT for some more polishing?

I'll just get up and try again.

That's what Lyons do, they never give up.

AN: Hello folks, here's a prologue to my first wrestling fic, I wanted to do a bit of characterization before jumping into the next chapter. I hope you enjoy. Descriptions of how Aria Lyon looks like, what's her wrestling name, her wrestling style, moves, etc, as well as interactions with everyone's favourite wrestlers will happen in upcoming chapters.

As you can tell I tried to make her a bit different from most female OCs on this site; she's not looking to change the wrestling world, she's not a 10 year veteran that did amazing things in Japan and around the world, she isn't overly confident when out of character, and to try and make her even more different I wanted her strengths to lie in character rather than the more technical wrestling bits. No shade if your OC happens to be like what I described above, I just wanted some variety.

Lastly, if you somehow missed the tag up above in the description, this story is going to be Baron Corbin/OC pairing! If you're not a fan of the lone wolf, the one true king of the WWE or you don't enjoy such pairings this might be the place for you to stop reading! The romance will only really start to come in after a handful of chapters (at least) but there'll be plenty of interaction between Aria and Corbin in the meantime!

Thank you for reading and if you would be so kind as to please review with some feedback I'd appreciate it! Be harsh, it's the only way I'll improve. Just don't be a total dick. PMs with ideas and suggestions also welcome. Bye!

rebornrose