CHAPTER ONE

Melissa had just moved down to sunny Tampa from the blistering cold that was Boston. Florida was unfamiliar to her. She only faced humidity for three months of the year. It was going to take her a while to become acclimated with Florida. She was used to moving around a little, but had settled back in Boston - where she grew up - a few years prior. She was planning on staying there forever; getting married, buying a house, raising a family, but all that changed a few weeks ago when she was offered a job working in a profession she only dreamed about.

It was Melissa's first day as costume designer for Florida Championship Wrestling. She was offered the job without a formal interview. Melissa's first love was social work, but it didn't pay the bills. Since she knew how to sew and had a love of wrestling, she contacted the local training academy and offered to design costumes for upcoming talent on the cheap. Triple H was scouting cities for new talent and had attended a show in the area. He was impressed with a few performers, but mostly with the costumes she had designed. Melissa had been in attendance that evening to check out her handiwork and see what adjustments needed to be made. She had no idea that Triple H would be talking to her at ring side about signing on to work for the WWE.

Less than two weeks later she finds herself standing outside the training center for FCW in Tampa. The anxiety was mounting in her lungs. Melissa got back inside her car and thought for a few minutes. She was early for her first day so she had time to contemplate this decision. A million thoughts raced through her head. She was worried that she wasn't good enough and that they'd discover that within minutes of meeting her. She worried about deadlines. She worried about meeting the talent. Would she completely geek out the minute she met someone on the WWE roster? She ran her hands through her long, straight brown hair and glanced at the clock. 8:55am. She was due to arrive at 9am. Being on time was being late.

She slowly opened the front door of the facility and smoothed out the front of her green dress. There were already about five guys and a few women scattered around the fitness equipment. One man, who was hitting a punching bag, stopped and glanced up at her.

"Hi" she squeaked out. "I'm Melissa Anderson. Here to start my first day as costume designer"

She was talking to Windham Rotunda, or Husky Harris, as he was known from his time in NXT. A second generation talent who had been sent back down to FCW for a little tune up. "Yeah, ok" he grunted out. "You probably want to talk to Ben"

"Melissa?" yelled a man from across the gym.

"That's Ben." Husky said pointing.

"Thanks for your help" she half smiled and walked towards the chubby man walking towards her in the brown suit.

Wearing a huge smile on his face, Ben held his arms open as he approached her. "Well, you found us! It's so nice to meet you" he said taking her hand in his. "Paul said wonderful things about your work. We're excited to see what ideas you can bring to the table. Paul mentioned you have a back ground in theatre and costume design"

Melissa nodded her head. To say openly that she did would be a lie, but she did take a technical theatre course in college. As far as she was concerned, that counted.

"Great" Ben continued. "We're really hoping you can be very involved in bringing our character ideas to life. Most people come in to train Monday mornings so it's a good day to meet everyone. I'll show you to your office and we'll gather everyone around 10:15am. Sound good?"

"Sounds great" she replied nervously. Melissa was intimidated by Ben's intensity.

Ben and Melissa walked down a small hallway in the back that led to all the FCW offices. Ben flipped a light switch in the third room on the left. "This is where you'll be. Our previous designer was here for a few years so she left some things behind"

"This is some amazing equipment!" Melissa replied bending down to look at the Jenome sewing machine and serger that were lined up next to each other. "This is what I have at home. It's perfect" She wouldn't dare mention she had never worked before with a serger.

"Well, take some time to get acquainted with your space. You're going to spending a lot of time in here. I'm two offices away from you if you need anything. After the meeting we'll touch base. I know you already met with headquarters on your way down here. Everything is in order"

"Great. I'll see you later then. Thank you" Melissa could breathe a sign of relief. So far, the two people that she met were friendly, but she was still intimidated. FCW was a cutthroat atmosphere and she couldn't help but feel that she was going to be watched under the same scrutiny as the talent.

There was a knock at the door. It was Ben again. "Hey Melissa." Melissa whipped her head around. "I wanted to let you know that we already have a few people for you to meet with today. One, Ryan Reeves, you may know as Skip Sheffield, is rebranding himself as a face after coming off an injury. So he'll need your assistance making some vests. He's going to embrace that cowboy persona he had in NXT. The other, Stu Bennett, or Wade Barrett, is stopping by for shorts measurements. Julia sent me an email and she forgot to measure him at Smackdown on Tuesday. She wants to have them done for him by the next show taping. Is that cool?"

Melissa felt her face heat up. "Yeah, that's definitely fine. When can I expect them?" Stu Bennett was her favorite on the current WWE roster. She loved the dominating cockiness of his character. The way he marched to the ring barking orders at his lackys. She loved his tattoo (she had a few herself), his thighs, his accent. Everything about him was attractive to her. What a great, and terrifying, first day she had lined up.

"Not sure about Stu, but Ryan is here now if you want me to send him in?"

"Um, yeah that'd be fine. Give me, like….five minuntes?" Melissa replied while her eyes searched the room for supplies. I need to locate a tape measure and some paper, she thought. And a pencil. What the hell else do I need?