#and my ass is thinking of randomly jumping to london next month when both my classes are math intensive

[breaddo]

there needs to be more hours tonight. not even bc i want to fuck off or anything i need to study more 😭😭

[devil-in-those-eyes]

Sweetheart part2- Ben Hardy

Hi guys! here is part two! Part three is where it starts to get smutty so strap yourselves in. don't forget to send me thoughts!

Y/N-

           It was weird, having Ben be in the same house as you let alone the same country but it felt amazing to wake up the next day with the sun shinning through, while in your bed with your parents downstairs, rustling in the kitchen.

           The last couple years had been amazing, you truly needed to get away and spread your wings. You became a different person, you were independent and confident but one night in had you feeling like your old self. The old self that had been pushing her way through the last two years. The old self that had been whispering I want to go home. You had been thinking it for a while now, but kept pushing that thought back and repeatedly telling yourself that New York was your home now.

           It wasn’t like you weren’t happy in New York, you loved it. But you missed your parents and siblings more and more and phone calls and facetimes just weren’t cutting it anymore. If you listened close enough, breathed quietly and stayed still, you could hear your mum and dad in the kitchen, preparing for the next couple days of birthdays and a wedding anniversary, you could hear them speaking to one another. You couldn’t make out actual words, just distant voices. Your heart stilled in your chest when you heard Ben and Matt talking somewhere downstairs.

You sighed and curled further into your pillow but then heard another voice and it made you smile. It also made you jump out of bed and rushing out of your room, despite being dressed in a college sweater and cute little cloth shorts you ran down the stairs and found everyone in the kitchen and a familiar head of hair.

           “You’re here!” you exclaimed and watched as your brother and sister turn towards you.

           Val immediately smiled and pushed Matt out of the way, both of you rushing towards each other for a hug. “You’re home!” Val yelled out happily as you both squeezed the hell out of one another.

           You and Val spoke basically every day. She was the first person you called for everything, from telling her about your first night in the states to telling her about your first date with an American all the way to when you got a real adult job. You and Val had been inseparable all your lives and no ocean could keep you two apart. Sure, you and Matt were close because of the close age difference but there was nothing quite like a sister bond.

           You both pulled back and she smiled at you, “How was your flight, you never called when you landed.”

           “Heathrow is a mess, and I knew I’d see you.” You shrugged.

           “How come Val gets a greeting like that and all I got was a smile and half assed hug?” Matt questioned from his spot behind Val.

           You and Val rolled your eyes and she turned to face you with a smile, “Are we still going shopping? Grab some food? Get day drunk?”

           “Girls,” your mother scolded, missing the way Val’s eyebrows wiggled mischievously before she turned to face her with mock innocence.

           “Yes?”

           You smiled at your mum, wearing the same smile as your sister. You both tilting your heads to the side at the same time.

           “It’s scary how much you girls act like twins.” Ben chuckled, the sound was deep and caused your stomach to quiver from the inside. You and Val turned to look at him, almost forgetting that Ben was there. He smirked over the rim of his cup as Matt leaned towards him while they watched the two of you.

           “Twins.” Matt and Ben whispered to each other before they burst out laughing.

           You rolled your eyes and looked at Val, “I need to spend some money and day drink.”

           Val bounced on the ball of her feet with a smile, “Let me change and we’ll go out.”

           “Wait, why don’t Ben and I join you?” Matt asked and looked towards Ben, who began nodding.

           “I could do with getting day drunk.”

           “Uh,” Val started followed by you who said, “you guys don’t want to spend the day with us.”

           Ben smirked behind the rim of his cup, one that was lost on Val and Matt but not by you. Matt was the one to look at you girls with a shrug, “Not gonna pass up the chance to spend the day with my sisters.” He looked at Ben, “you in, Benny-boy?”

           “Let’s get ready to go.”

           Val faced you and raised her eyebrows, giving a silent big sigh, before both of you headed towards your rooms. “I tried,” Val whispered to you before you walked into your separate rooms to change.

           Over an hour later all four of you were walking through the mall, you had already discussed on what you would be having for a late lunch and where you guys would be day drinking to kick off all the festivities began tomorrow with a family cookout. The four of you were walking around, stopping in a store every once and a while to do some shopping, when you came across a jewelry store.

           You tugged on Val’s hand and she stared at you in confusion, “I didn’t get mum a present.”

           Val’s eyebrows lifted, “You haven’t gotten her a present?”

           “No,” you shook your head as the two dimwits known as Matt and Ben joined you.

           “Val, Burberry is right there.” Matt nodded his head over you and Val.

           Val looked at you, “Matty and I need to hit up Burberry.. Get her a present and meet us there.”

           “I’ll stay with Y/N,” Ben replied as Matt and Val started to slowly back away from you two.

           “You really don’t have too.” You argued, looking to your side and at Ben.

           Ben ignored you and nodded at your brother, “We’ll catch up with you two in a bit.”

           You sighed as Val and Matt walked away. Val casting a sympathetic look over her shoulder, because she was fully aware of what went down between the two of you, but Matt was completely oblivious. “Not like you need to watch over me.” you grumbled before heading into the jewelry store.

           “Not doing it to babysit you.” Ben answered as he followed closely behind you as you looked at all the pretty necklaces and bracelets. “You’re doing everything you can to keep me at arms length, so this is me doing everything I can to get some time with you.”

           Your heart stopped inside your chest as you paused to look at a pretty bracelet. Ben came to stand behind you, you could feel the warmth radiating off of his body as his chest just barely brushing against your back. “Besides,” he whispered, “I’d rather follow you around some jewelry store instead of Burberry, sweetheart.”

           You whipped around to face him, feeling an annoying coil in the pit of your stomach at the sound of it roll off of his tongue. It was so smooth and perfect, like it belonged there and it pissed you off. “Stop it.”

           He smirked and his green eyes shined brightly at you. “I’d rather not. I quite like the way it gets to you.”

           “It isn’t getting to me,” you lied.

           His green eyes flickered down to your mouth, still wearing a stupid smirk. He stepped towards you, brushing his fingers against yours as they rested on the case. He looked back into your eyes, “It’s alright, sweetheart, it’s getting to me too.”

           “Ben,” you whispered, wondering how you found yourself in the situation again. When his fingers brushed against the back of your hand, it caused a pretty shiver to race up your spine, waking you up from the trance he had you in. You breathed deeply and found the earrings, knowing your mum would wear earrings more than a necklace or bracelet. “Don’t you have some girl back in London? Met her on some dating website?” you tried to sound nonchalant, as if it didn’t bother you that he turned to dating websites.

           You’d be wrong to think that your itty-bitty almost meaningless fling with Ben would have stumped him from dating someone else. You knew he had dated some girl a couple months after you and stayed with her for years, it was in that period that you convinced yourself you stopped caring and feeling for him. It wasn’t until Val and your best friend told you that he was on dating apps that you felt a slight sting of jealousy and ever since then you had buried that jealousy.

           “I haven’t been dating anyone for a while.” Ben replied, following you as you pointed out a pair at a worker. “What about you? Any boyfriends in the states?”

           “I’ll take them,” you said to the worker with a smile, knowing your mum would love the diamond stud earrings. As you paid for them, with Ben behind you, you answered, “It shouldn’t matter to you.”

           “Well, it does.” Ben answered as you walked out of the store. He touched your hand and stepped in front of you, “We should talk about it, love.”

           “It was years ago,” you answered. “We don’t have to talk about it.”

           “Well, I want too.” He argued.

           “Guys!” Your sister called out, pulling Ben away from you. You looked at your sister as Matt held his hands out, “what’s taken you so long?”

           “Nothing,” you answered immediately and left Ben standing there. “Let’s go drink.”

           The next day everyone was at your house for the cookout that would kick off the next week and a half fill of festivities. Today was the beginning of the two birthdays, for you and your mum, then the final party was the big wedding anniversary for your parents.

           You were so beyond excited to see everyone, having not seen any of your family members in years, but you were more excited to see all the little ones that your cousins had started to push out. You and your older sister were sitting in the backyard, watching all the kids play football in the hot summer sun, while everyone was scattered around. Matt and Ben were somewhere around, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care enough to turn around and find him.

           He had been bothering you all morning and afternoon, showing up randomly and trying to get in on the conversations you were having but you were always able to sneak away. You didn’t get why he was trying to sneak under your skin, what would it bring him? What would he gain out of it? Your annoyance? Because you would never be able to trust him again, you’d never be able to be friendly with him.

           “So… Ben, huh?” Your sister breathed as you both nursed some fruity drink your aunt had made.

           “Yes?” You asked, squinting to look at her through your sunglasses, wondering where she was going with this conversation.

           She sipped on her drink and shrugged, relaxing into the lawn chair she was sitting in. Even though there was ten years between the two of you, she was still your best friend and sister. She knew things that you could never tell Matt, even though you and Matt only had a year apart, there were just some things you could never tell a brother. Such as sleeping with his best friend and him sneaking you out of your house and being your designated driver whenever you wanted to drink.

           “He looks good, gotten much sexier over the years.”

           You kept silent, looking ahead and watching your fourteen year old second cousin play football with a couple of the younger kids. You and your siblings were more like aunts and uncles than cousins, but you hadn’t seen Chris since he were eight and now he was almost your height and a really killer football player.

           “You wouldn’t agree?” Val pressed.

           “What’re you getting at, Val?” You asked back, turning your head to look at her.

           “Just that he’s still looking at you like when you two were kids.” Val said from over the rim of her glass, smirking your way and noticing the slightly flush in your cheeks.

           “We were kids, nothing more.” You said, trying to shut down her hidden meaning behind her words.

           “So, you’re telling me you really don’t see it?”

           “No, I don’t!” you exasperated and tilted your head, “Val, do we really have to talk about him, because I’d rather not remember the way he made me feel afterwards.”

           You watched the playfulness slowly slide off her face as she looked away from you. She grumbled unhappily as she stared into the big backyard, “Still don’t get how he could have acted like that towards you.”

           Your shrugged just as Chris turned towards you and wiped the sweat from his forehead, “Hey, old lady! I heard you played football, you any good?”

           You noticed he was staring at you. You pointed to yourself, “Are you calling me old lady?”

           He grinned and nodded. You stood up, still in shock he called you old even though he was only thirteen years younger. “You did not just call me old lady.”

           He grinned, “Oh, I did, Y/N. What ya gonna do about it?”

           “Kick your ass,” you retorted, giving your glass to your sister and kicking off your sandals.

           He raised his eyebrows, “Barefoot?”

           You made your way towards him as the littler kids ran off the makeshift football field Matt had helped Chris map out earlier in the day. All three of you had played football, but your sister soon learned she didn’t care for being active like that and Matt gave up during secondary school. You loved it. You still watched it on the telly whenever you had the chance, and you missed playing it. The sport was how you and Ben really bonded because he loved playing it as well, he used to give you pointers on how to get better, how to be faster.  

           “Y/N, be careful! He’s only fourteen!” His mom, your cousin, called out from her spot on the back porch.

           You rolled your eyes, “He’ll be fine.”

           “Honey, she plays rough!”

           You looked at Chris and shrugged, “I had an older brother and his best friend played dirty.”

           “Rough is the only way to get it done anyways,” Chris shrugged, siding with you.

           Chris kicked the ball to you while you fluffed your shirt out, so it was no longer tucked into your white shorts. You pushed your hair off of shoulders while he said, “Don’t go easy on me, old lady.”

           You clenched your jaw, trying to hide the amused smile. You were going to kick the overconfident tone right out of him. “First to reach five?” He nodded in response and you started the game.

           It had been five years since you played football, having stopped when you went to UNI in the states, but it came back easily to you. It was a lot of teasing him with the ball, dribbling and faking the different passes. He was younger than you, but you had the experience on him. You scored. He stole the ball from you and scored. It went like that for a while. You admitted he was good, but you were no where near done.

Somewhere down the line, and without you knowing, Ben took the spot beside your sister, holding the cold beer in his hands and keeping his eyes on you. As he watched the game, he chatted idly with your sister, both of them not really paying attention because he couldn’t look away from you. He almost forgot how much he loved watching you play, because it had been that long since he last saw you, but as he sat with your sister he had a reason to stare at you that wouldn’t warrant questions by prying eyes. Such as Val and Matt.

           “She’s still got it, yeah?” Val said to Ben, smiling as you scored again, causing Chris to huff unhappily.

           “Hard to lose crazy talent.” Ben replied softly, sipping his beer and putting his elbows on his knees. “She should’ve continued through uni.”

The game continued on for what felt like forever, both because talented feet kept it going. It wasn’t until he accidentally tripped you, your feet getting tangled, that you were able to take a deep breath. You heard his mum’s gasp as you both rolled around in the grass. It wasn’t a harsh trip, not something that would keep you from playing, maybe a bruise on your leg, but nothing to whine over.

           “Two left feet, buddy?” You asked, laughing and pushing yourself off of the ground.

           “Y/N, for God’s sake! You’re wearing white shorts. Do you not realize how hard it is to get grass stains out!” Your mum yelled out in annoyance.

           “It’s four to three, mum, calm down!” You called back, hanging your hands on your hips and breathing deeply.

           You glanced at Chris to see him pressing his hands into his knees, breathing heavily. “Ready to accept defeat?” You asked him.

           “Fuck no,”

           “Christopher!” His mum scolded and you smirked at him.

           “Shut up, Y/N,” he grumbled.

           “Sweetheart, go easy on the poor lad!”

           Your head whipped around to find him watching the small game between the two of you as he sat beside your sister with a beer in his hand. “Ben, help me out here!” Chris called out.

           “Excuse me?” You exclaimed. “Two on one? That’s not fair!”

           “And you’re winning!” Chris exclaimed back and held an open palm towards Ben, “He can help even the playing field!”

           “Scared of losing, sweetheart?” Ben asked, getting up from his spot and putting his beer on the ground. You looked his way, almost glaring from the pet name that rolled off of his lips because he was doing it on purpose, and watched as he strode towards you barefoot and in light jeans and a light blue top, showing off his bright green eyes and blonde hair.

           “You play dirty,” you narrowed your eyes in at him as Chris pushed the ball towards you while on his side of the field.

           Ben smirked down at you, lifting his shirt and putting his hands on his hips. “So do you, babe.”

TAGLIST:

@luvborhap @i-cant-hangout-im-drumming @jazzman-19 @manuosorioh @bellamy1998 @thessxoxo @bubblypenguin123 @groovyhoundsoulbiscuit @ixchel-9275 @radiob-l-a-hblah @orchideax @mrsmazzello @quirkydeaky

[raybansandcoffee]

In The Heat of Los Angeles: Chapter One: Don’t Wake Me Up (The Hush Sound feat. Patrick Stump)

Here it is! Chapter One of In The Heat of Los Angeles!! I’m so excited to share this with everyone. I also can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks. Just as an FYI this story will be a bit of a crossover of sorts as both Harry Styles and Nick Jonas will play a big role in the story. Nick was the visual inspiration for Nate in London Calling so it’s only appropriate for him to get an actual starring role in this one. :) I hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. 

If you want to learn who the main characters are just read up about them here. I will be adding bios on each of the other characters but I figured I’d start with our main group first. 

The door of my bedroom slammed against the wall as it swung open, startling me awake. I had nearly jumped out of my skin and could feel my heartbeat racing.

“GET YOUR ASS UP!” Kammi yelled. My roommate had no boundaries, especially before dawn. Note to self, put a lock on the door and remember to use it.

“Go. Away,” I groaned as I pulled my pillow over my head.

“Nope. No sleeping. We need to get to the gym to start our day. You know you will be happy we burned off the excess energy and nerves before this journalist from LA Mag gets to the office.”

“Why didn’t you wake Ty up first?” My voice was muffled from beneath the pillow.

“Because he didn’t tell me last night that he was excited to try boxing with me this morning.” She sounded like a cracked out Disney Princess, you’d think she was singing and surrounded by rainbows and unicorns.

“I didn’t either.”

“You did through non-verbals,” she said. I felt the bed sink next to me and the covers shift towards the other side of my bed.

“Because I punched you when you were mocking me?”

“Yes. It was your way of telling me that you wanted to join me for boxing at 6:30.”

“No, it was my way of telling you that you were a bitch for saying I was cranky and needed to get laid, while we were in a meeting.”

“Whatever. Now get up.” I pulled the pillow off of my head and turned to look at her.

“You know there are days that I wish I didn’t know you. Do you think I can stick my Pops in a DeLorean and he can go back to the T-Ball Brawl of Lakeview Little League and force him to hit your Dad instead of helping him up off the ground and hitting the other kid?”

“Nope. You’re stuck with me.” She had the goofiest smile on her face. I couldn’t help but laugh at her.

“Get out of my room so I can get dressed. And since you are so fucking cheerful this morning why don’t you get my shake ready for the drive in to work.” She stuck her tongue out at me and left my bedroom. I pulled the covers over my head when my phone buzzed on my nightstand. It was likely her, texting me from the kitchen and telling me to get out of bed.

Message with Pops You ready for today? As ready as I will ever be to have a journalist follow me and Kammi around for a day. You’ll both do great. Just a little nervous about it. I don’t want to say too much but I also don’t want to appear like I’m a cold bitch who only focuses on her career. You aren’t a cold bitch. The career thing…well you’re definitely mine. I’ll choose to take that as a compliment. Well, how about we do lunch today, you can bring the journalist along with you. You sure about that? If you have to be under the microscope I’ll join you there. Thanks Pops. I’ll see you in the office in a little bit.

I finally drug myself out of bed and went through my normal motions. Pee. Brush teeth. Comb hair. Put hair in ponytail. Put on gym clothes. Get shoes. Leave bedroom. I was like a robot in the morning. Kammi was a morning person and I hated her for it. If it wasn’t for work I’d stay in bed until noon and just work late in to the evening. Okay, let’s face it. Sometimes I did sleep in and work until the middle of the night. The perk of being in charge, or almost in charge as my Pops likes to remind me. I grabbed my sunglasses off of my dresser and put them on. I found Kammi in the kitchen. She was dancing around like a lunatic as she made smoothies.

“How do you function this early in the morning?”

“It’s genetic. Dad was probably in the office by 6:00 today.”

“You are both crazy.” I took the smoothie she handed me and grabbed my backpack and purse off of the ground where I’d thrown them the night before and we headed out the door. “Are we riding to work together this morning since most of our day is being spent on this feature article?”

“Yeah, my whole day is planned with you. And then if you’re crazy and decide to stay I’ll either make Ty and Eliza bring me home or maybe I’ll have a date tonight.”

“Sounds perfect. Let me guess Jonas is in town?”

“He is,” she said in her sing-song voice.

“So now I have to deal with you being hyper perky and happy that you’re getting laid? I’m going to wish that when you moved here that I forced you to get your own place.”

“You won’t. And I might just decide to stay with him tonight. Though last I heard Joe was in town too. You could get laid.”

“Try again,” I retorted. Kammi had been seeing Nick Jonas for just over two years. They had some pretty wacky and opposite schedules so while they loved each other they weren’t sitting down to talk about marriage or even moving in together as far as I knew. They both often tried to set up Nick’s older brother, Joe and I. I was still recovering from my last relationship which had ended about a year ago and last I checked Joe was dating one of the Starks from Game of Thrones.

“He’s hot. You’d at least get a night of freaky sex or something.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re going to wear out your vibrator,” Kammi said.

“I hate you,” I said as we exited the elevator in our building and started to walk through the parking garage. We approached the section of the garage for our apartment, we paid an additional fee each month for extra spaces. I was definitely my father’s daughter when it came to cars, we both had more than either of us needed. Parked in a row in the garage were my white Range Rover, which was parked next to Kammi’s matching black Range Rover, a signing bonus. Then my black Audi R8 Spyder, a gift I bought myself for my 25th birthday, and my white Jeep Wrangler, though today it didn’t look very white as it was covered in dirt from a weekend of playing in the desert. I’d had a Jeep consistently since I turned 16, Pops knew I needed a car out here and thought it might as well be fun. After climbing in to my Range Rover we were on the road and headed to the office.

“So are you in town this weekend?” Kammi and I often tried to schedule our trips out of town together so that we could go with our assistants, who happened to be our best friends, Ty and Eliza. The four of us had seen most of the world together at this point.

“Probably, though I was thinking of heading up to Malibu Friday afternoon. I know that Pops said he would be staying in the city this weekend so I thought about going up and having a fun weekend on the beach now that it’s getting warmer. Want to join? We can bring Ty and Eliza and have a relaxing weekend before we start our crazy travel schedule that is coming up. We’ve got New York next week and then I have to head home to Chicago after that and will be there for a few days.”

“Heading home for Jonathan’s birthday?” The oldest of my three younger brothers was turning 16 soon.

“Yeah, I’m headed back to be there for the birthday party and I’ve got tickets for the boys and I to see the Cubs while I’m home.”

“Nice. You’ll enjoy being home. You haven’t been in a while.”

“Yeah, probably two months. I know Mom is anxious to have me home for a few days. I might steal Eliza to come with me. I know that her parents miss her and it would be weird if all of us are together for Jonathan’s birthday and she isn’t there.” My mother, Grace, and Eliza’s mother, Marie, had been best friends since college where they were randomly selected to be each other’s roommate freshman year.

“That will be fun. I almost wish I was going. It’s been a while since I had a chance to go see my grandparents.” Kammi’s Dad was also from Chicago so she still had a lot of family in the city.

“You’re welcome to join. I think we are just stopping the jet in Chicago on the way back from New York, at least if you plan on leaving the same day I was going to leave.”

“I’ll think about it. Might be nice to see my grandparents and see your Mom and Marco. And I’m down for this weekend in Malibu. Though, I’m disappointed James won’t be there.”

“Ugh, stop being gross.” Kammi liked to make comments about my Pops, who admittedly was incredibly handsome and a totally lady’s man. But he was still my Pops. “Just bring your boy toy with you and you’ll be fine.”

“Ooo! Boy Toy and the beach, that might be a good idea.” The house in Malibu had seven bedrooms, there was enough space for all of us and then some. Pops had purchased the land several years ago and built this house to exactly what he wanted. The master suite in this house was insane and where I stayed. Pops entertained clients there enough that he used the studio apartment over the detached garage unless he was there by himself, he didn’t want people going into his bedroom and finding client files. This meant I could bask in a master suite that is bigger than the entire apartment Eliza and I shared our junior and senior years of college in Chicago. We were each at different schools in the Chicago area, she was at Columbia College Chicago and I was at Northwestern University in Evanston. My internship meant a lot of time in the city so I opted to live there and commute for classes. It had been fun living in the city with my best friend at that age.

I drove through the city to our office. It wasn’t far of a drive, which was rare in LA. We lived near LA Live which meant under five minutes walking and we were at the Staples Center, perfect for Kammi and her love of basketball. It was under 20 minutes usually and we were at the office. I loved our office, it was an old Ford Motors plant that had been converted in to the most amazing space. High ceilings, amazing windows, and so much space. We had a full gym which put most of the high end facilities in Los Angeles to shame, this one even included a full basketball court. There was a roof top area for employees to enjoy during their day and for the occasional event that we hosted. There was restaurant and coffee shop on the first level as well as a concert venue that we were in charge of. The top floor of the building had several large offices. Kammi and I each had one as well the company’s COO, my Pops, and  CEO, Kammi’s Dad, though he was based out of New York and rarely in our office. Due to the nature of our work and the facility we had people at our front desk 24 hours a day. I parked in the garage and we started to walk in to the building heading to the gym. We made it to the front desk where Suzy, one of our receptionists was sitting.

“Good morning Suzy,” I called.

“Good morning Miss Scarello, Miss Mackin.” She was new and still hadn’t learned that Kammi and Everlee were perfectly acceptable when addressing us. “You have a visitor already this morning.”

“Okay,” I responded. Kammi looked at me confused.

“A reporter from Los Angeles Magazine.” Why are they here already?

“I didn’t think they would be here until 8:00 or 9:00,” Kami said quietly.

“I looked at both of your schedules. Tyberius had put it on your schedules yesterday.” Ok, she is forgiven for not knowing to call us by something less formal because she just pulled out Ty’s given name.

“Asshole,” Kammi and I both muttered under our breath.

“Where are they waiting?” Kammi asked quietly. Suzy gestured to the young woman waiting in the reception area, she was reading something on her iPhone. “Well, okay. Let’s do this.” We walked over to where the reporter was waiting.

“Good morning,” I said as she stood up to greet us. “I apologize if we are late. We didn’t know you’d be here so early.”

“That’s okay. I haven’t been waiting long. Your assistant, Ty, said that you were usually in the office at 6:30 to get a work out in. I wanted to showcase everything you both do during your typical day. He said you wouldn’t mind.”

“Not at all,” Kammi replied. “I’m Kameron Mackin.”

“And I’m Everlee Scarcello,” I added as I shook her hand. She had a cute bag with her, I assumed there was a laptop in there. Probably also a notebook and a dictaphone or something to record any of our answers.

“I’m Melissa Peterson, it’s nice to meet you both.”

“We were going to head up to the gym for boxing. You’re welcome to join us. We probably have some extra stuff you can wear if you’d like to?”

“Oh that’s fine. I don’t need to box with you. I just want to observe and ask you questions.”

“Sounds great. Can we do a tour after?” Kammi asked. “We don’t want to be late to our class. So if we wait you’ll get the full tour and not a rushed tour."

“That works for me.” We headed through the building to the gym. There was an area that had only two floors and one with five. Our offices were in the taller portion on the fifth floor. The gym was on the second floor of the lower portion along with a cafeteria that was more like a five star restaurant and a large meeting area for all company meetings. Once in the gym we put all of our stuff down and started our boxing class. Melissa observed through the whole thing until we both hopped on treadmills to get a run in after. Melissa sat on the space on the floor close enough to hear us while we were on the treadmill.

“So tell me a bit about yourselves. Everlee, why don’t you go first.”

“Okay, where to start. Umm, I’m Everlee Mae Scarcello, pretty much everyone calls me E or Ev. I’m 25, originally from Chicago, Illinois. I’m a graduate of Northwestern University and I’ve been with Scarcello Mackin Entertainment since I was 14.”

“You started at 14?” Melissa asked.

“We both did. We had internships through high school and college. I’ve done everything in this place you could imagine. During summers in high school I’d work the reception desk, I worked in the mail room, and anything else that would give me insight as to how this company worked. Presently I am the President of our Music Division.”

“Tell me about your family.”

“I’m the only child of the marriage of Grace Fazio Ferrera, she is a curator and event planner at the Art Institute of Chicago, and James Scarcello, he is the director of our Los Angeles office, Co-President and COO of our entire company, and one of the founders. My parents divorced when I was five. My Pops relocated here to open our LA office. I have three half-brothers from my mother’s second marriage to Marco Ferrera, he’s a pretty big restauranteur in Chicago. I grew up in this strange world where I spent basically half of my year in Chicago with a big family and living in a house full of loud Italians and a bunch of little brothers. The other half I spent in Los Angeles or wherever my Pops was for work, just the two of us usually. We spent a lot of time in New York as well, which was always my favorite because I got to spend time with Kammi. My Pops has been married and divorced since he and my mother got divorced but I’m still his only child. Pops is one of my best friends, he taught me everything I know.”

“Did you always want to follow your father in to the business?”

“Absolutely. I loved going to work with him as a kid. This business is his passion and it became mine too. We have a lot in common so that surprises no one, especially my mother. When I would come stay with him as a little kid I’d sit at the little desk in his office that was right next to his. I’d take his scrap papers and color on them. By the time I was probably seven I was reading the trades that he kept in there. By 10 I was asking if I could know about some of his work. I’d sit in on meetings with clients and the staff, most thought I was just a kid who had to be there, but I loved it. By 12 I’d surpassed my Pops in a lot of ways when it came to technology. He’s super tech savvy but I was able to take his projects and build presentations around them that were way better than what he had or could devote time to. At 14 when I was old enough to work I started working here. I think it’s amazing that I was able to be part of SME from such a young age.”

“Kameron, why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself and how you ended up in your position at SME.”

“Well, I’m Kameron Mackin, but like E, no one calls me Kameron, except my Dad. Everyone calls me Kammi. I was born and raised in New York City and attended school on the Upper East Side. I’m named after my Dad, Cameron, who is the Co-President and CEO of SME. I'm the oldest of three girls, my younger sisters still live in New York. I am a graduate of the University of Kentucky and currently the President of our Sports division.”

“How did you end up in the sports division? Traditionally that is a male dominated area and it’s inspiring to see a woman in your position in that area.”

“I received a full ride scholarship to Kentucky to play basketball. There was speculation that I’d be drafted into the WNBA at one point but I was unfortunately injured my sophomore year of college and was unable to return to basketball on such a competitive level. I also have a love of horses and have competed since I was very young. I’ve won competitions across the US, it’s part of why I chose Kentucky. I was able to keep a horse in some stables in Lexington, I focused on that after my injury. I have interned in a variety of departments within SME just as E has but sports is the division that I took to and was most effective in. While I’m well aware of the fact that it’s a highly unusual circumstance to have a 25 year old woman running such a male driven division I’ve rarely encountered issues with it, especially from the athletes we represent. Often the negative feelings on a woman in my role come from our competitors, which just fuels the fire to be the best in our game.”

“Have you received any backlash, E?”

“The usual stuff. There’s a lot of people in this industry that believe that a 25 year old is still a kid. I often get treated like a little girl, never inside of this company. People on the outside assume that we got our jobs because of our fathers. And while that does play into it we both earned our way here. We started doing the grunt work we would’ve in any other company, we worked our asses off to earn promotions and get to where we are. The goal is that when our fathers are ready to retire that we can step in their shoes and do it just as well as they have, if not better.”

“We will be better,” Kammi said. “We have a better understanding of technology and how the modern age of social media can effect our clients. Our fathers still have to text us and ask us how to do things on Twitter.”

“How does having such a high profile career at such a young age effect your life? Neither of you are married. Do you find potential partners intimidated by your careers?”

“Yes,” we both said simultaneously and started laughing.

“I was in a relationship up until about ten months ago. I’d been in that relationship since I was 18. But we were in different places in life and different places literally. He is doing his residency in New York to be a surgeon. We had made the distance work for several years, we were both students at Northwestern together, he graduated a year prior to me and moved to New York immediately after he graduated. It was tough to make it work because we are both extremely busy. And he admitted that he was intimidated by the fact that I was already so established in my career while he was still working to pursue his. He was much more traditional than I was. He had hoped that I’d accept a job in New York and move there. When I picked Los Angeles things got hard. Even when I was able to go to New York I was working and so was he. I wasn’t able to be the girlfriend that just attended dinner with his colleagues and supported him because I was busy making sure that SME succeeded.”

“I have been in the same relationship for a while and we are both extremely busy with our careers so we aren’t like a lot of our friends who are planning weddings and babies,” Kammi said. “I am okay with that though. I’m lucky that he’s so supportive with my career and I am with him as well. He knows that I’m capable of being both the woman on his arm when he needs one and he can be the man on mine when it’s my turn to be the high powered person. He’s completely confident with who he is and enjoys that I’m focused on my career because he is as well. Driven people are often times able to accept that, but unlike E’s past relationship my boyfriend is lives in Los Angeles when he's not traveling for work and he is able to understand why my job often takes a higher place in my life than our relationship. I think the difference is that he understands this lifestyle as he’s been in the industry most of his life.”

“You're dating Nick Jonas, correct?” Melissa asked.

“Yes, we’ve been together for a little over two years, we started dating when I moved to Los Angeles full-time. But we both understand that our careers are important so we are able to be okay with one of us up and leaving for a while for work. It’s a nice thing to have someone that understands that. We have fun together. Our main priority is being friends. He’s been someone I’ve known for a long time. Having grown up in New York with a parent in the industry I’ve known the Jonas family for most of my life. Nick is my friend before anything else.” I was a little shocked that she openly admitted she was dating Nick in an interview, while it was public knowledge that they were together and had been photographed together millions of times they’d always remained tightlipped about their relationship. I guess until a few months ago when she stared in a pretty sexy music video of his. Hard to deny you’re together when the chemistry on camera could melt TVs.

“Do you hear opinions from people often about your decisions to focus on your career and not do as many people our age do and get married and start a family?”

“Absolutely,” I said. “I have three Italian parents.” I couldn’t help but laugh. “That means a lot of Italian grandmothers and grandfathers. It’s expected that a woman should marry, have children and spend her life making a home. That’s what each of my grandmothers did. But my mother is so incredibly driven and successful in her career while still managing to be the mother of four children and have a successful marriage with her husband that it’s inspiring. I know I can have it all because she has it all. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be speed bumps along the way. My mother and father were together for a long time. They began dating their first week in college. My mother has managed to figure out how to have a successful life and marriage. My father well he’s still working on that.”

I knew laughing at my father’s relationship history was probably strange to most people but it was how he and I functioned. A finely tuned skill at self deprecating humor was the sign of a true Scarcello. It was widely known that Pops had been married four times and none of them had worked out past a few years, my mother being the longest marriage as they married straight out of college and got pregnant with me very quickly. His last marriage barely lasted 18 months. When the women found out that he had no intention of having anymore children they tended to run. The rock solid pre-nup and will that left everything he owned to me for some reason hadn’t been a sign that he wasn’t interested in having any more children, but he did tend to marry some clueless women. He had a few of his properties in my name so that he didn’t risk losing them when he inevitably divorced whoever he was married to. And the kicker, I was pretty sure he knew Mom was the best he was ever going to get and was still in love with her. Their marriage was far from great, but he adored Mom even still after years of being divorced and her being happily married for 17 years to my step-dad.

“My Mom is also incredibly successful in her career. I think nearly every year of my life she’s made the list of top real estate agents in New York and a few times the country. She proved to me that you could do anything you set your mind to. I mean did I have a nanny growing up? Yeah, of course I did. But I didn’t know life any different. Every kid on the Upper East Side had a nanny. But Mom was always home for dinner every night, as was Dad if he was in the city. My Mom never missed a basketball game or a dance recital. But she hustled her ass off selling some of the most amazing properties in all of New York. She taught me that you build the village of people around you that help you conquer the world.”

We were done with our work out so we headed up to our office with Melissa. We each had unique offices that were built just for us. We had been in the offices on the Executive Level since we started her after graduation, despite it taking a year for both of us to earn our current positions. Our fathers knew that we would likely face scrutiny from some of our colleagues, but they also knew we were the face of this company along with them. The names on the door. We were the future of this company and belonged at the top. We’d had the cubicles in the bullpen of our office, so when we moved here and took the job we were able to decorate our offices the way we wanted them.

My office looked like a New York or Chicago loft. Exposed brick walls. Huge shelves full of vinyl records and books. The stereo we had put in here was top of the line. Vintage concert posters adorned the walls. Polished concrete floors. Comfy couches and chairs you could just sink in to. The art that hung on the walls had been selected by my mother and included some of the photographs Pops and I had taken over the years while we traveled. My exact words to the designer we worked with had been ‘Give me the Humphrey’s loft from Gossip Girl’. And did she ever. It was eclectic and lived in while still giving off a vibe of the professional environment it needed to be. There was an area that was meant for large meetings with a conference table, white boards, and a large tv. An area that felt more like a comfy living room where smaller meetings could be held and a number of naps had been taken. A space for my desk and work area that was often where I spent most of my day. And an area that felt like the swankiest bar Don Draper would’ve ever seen in his life.

The art piece that meant the most to me was custom made by me and my three little brothers. The wall behind my desk was exposed red brick. The boys and I had painted it to look like the outfield of Wrigley Field. The distance painted on the wall was how far my office was from home plate. We had painted ivy on the wall as well, with the help of Mom. And hanging above where you would expect to see the bleachers was a replica of the red Wrigley Field sign that welcomed fans to the Friendly Confines. There was also a picture of my family, at Wrigley. It had everyone in it. My Mom, my Pops, Marco, and my brothers Jonathan, Mason and Christopher. My family was functionally dysfunctional. And we were all Cubs fans which bonded us together. The photo was taken the day I graduated from Northwestern. Pops had insisted upon taking us all out to celebrate. He’d pulled some strings with some friends and gotten us a suite at Wrigley for a game that night. It was just how I would’ve wanted to celebrate graduating from college. With all of my family, a Cubs game with a W flag appearance at the end, and a few pints of Old Style, which also happened to be the featured beer on tap in my office during baseball season.

Kammi’s office fit her personality perfectly. Unlike mine she had floors that looked like a basketball court. Her desk was made of two glass backboards from the University of Kentucky, being a former player and distinguished alum helped her out as she decorated. Her conference table was reclaimed wood from old bleachers that our designer had found while hunting for the things that would decorate our office. Instead of a bar area, Kammi’s office had a concession area. You could always get popcorn and she often had other concession items like nachos, pretzels, hot dogs, and ice cream cones for meetings. She had a scoreboard replica on the wall with a TV where the jumbotron would be so that she could watch games. During things like the Olympics, March Madness and playoffs for just about any sport the TVs all over her walls came in handy.

Kammi’s favorite things in her office were a testament to who she is as a person. One a photo of her on senior night for basketball at UK. She may not have been playing but she stayed close to the team and they surprised her by having her family there for senior night so that she could walk across the court with her teammates the way she would’ve if she hadn’t gotten injured. She had her old jersey framed beside it. She had commissioned a beautiful painting of the horse she had while growing up that hung above her desk. And then there was the series of photos with her Dad. He’d had season tickets to the Yankees, Giants and Nets will she was growing up. There were photos of them over the years at each sports venue. Moving to Los Angeles had meant that she had grown accustomed to cheering for the Lakers and had season tickets on the floor. The first time she’d taken her Dad he was blown away, not by the seats or the game, but that his daughter wore stilettos to a basketball game and voluntarily cheered for the Lakers.

Our two offices were connected to each other through a large bathroom. There were two steam showers, a huge vanity and a closet made of dreams and stardust. It was what every person wished that had in their home. It was more dressing room, less bathroom. But it functioned as this comfortable place to get ready for a day at the office after the gym or a night on the town after a day in meetings. We had a huge wardrobe of designer clothing, workout gear and shoes that we could pick from. It was also strangely where we got most of our work done. The showers were on opposite ends of the large room but we often were in here post gym shouting at each other about whatever new idea we had or the crap our clients pulled. We’d originally thought we wanted separate bathrooms but realized that having our fancy version of a locker room seemed almost too perfect.

“I need to shower,” I said as we exited the elevator to see Ty and Eliza both sitting at their desks. They had requested that they be near each other so that they weren’t shouting to the other while talking about things. It was fun to have all four of us up here and those two ran circles around my Dad’s assistant.

“Me too.”

“Okay, well this is weird to say but you can hang out in the bathroom while we shower. We tend to be weirdly productive at that point of the day. Otherwise we can set you up in one of our offices if you have work to do and then you can join us as we get do our hair and makeup.”

“I have some emails I can go through so that works fine.” I took her in to my office while Kammi went in to hers to put down her things. I got Melissa set up in the bar area before going in to the bathroom. Kammi already had the music going in here this morning.

“So this is not as bad as I thought but it’s shockingly early to be interviewed.”

“Yeah, it is. I’m going to need coffee when I’m done.” We both hopped in the shower and about five minutes later the door opened and Eliza came in.

“Good morning, girls. Don’t worry, I’ve already told Ty he’s stupid for scheduling your interview to start during your work out,” she said.

“Thank you,” we replied in unison.

“I’ve got breakfast ordered for you guys. Give me your drink orders and I’ll add that. You’ve both got lunch with James and Melissa, your interviewer, at 1:00 per his request. And you have a mystery meeting today that he’s put on your schedule. It’s scheduled for 6:00, which I know is late but he said that he’d also bribe all four of us for working late for this meeting with dinner. He wanted the meeting scheduled when a chunk of our office is gone and when Melissa is done. I don’t know what it is so don’t ask. He refused to tell me when he scheduled it.”

“Pops scheduled the meeting?” I asked. It was things like this that made me happy we had smoked glass as our shower doors because I was super confused and naked but no one could see me as I stopped massaging my scalp mid-sentence.

“Yup.”

“Not Maureen?” Maureen had been his assistant since I was 10.

“Nope, he wanted it to be as private as possible. And technically Maureen is on vacation this week. He has Chloe, that assistant in accounting, this week.”

“That explains it,” I replied as I went back to rinsing my hair.

“The new girl at the front desk, Suzy, she called Ty by his actual name this morning. I was too tired to have a sarcastic response about it,” Kammi called. “So remind me later tonight to make fun of him for not telling her that only his grandmother calls him Tyberius.” Eliza laughed.

“What are your drink orders ladies?” We had a Starbucks in the cafeteria, it was a life saver most days.

“Venti Iced Soy Caramel Macchiato with an extra shot of espresso. It’s going to be a long day if Dad is scheduling meetings after 5:00.”

“Do we have the s’mores lattes back?” Kammi asked.

“Yes, I had one yesterday,” Eliza said.

“Give me a venti. And grab me a sweet tea too.”

“Alright, I’ll be back shortly.” With that Eliza exited the dressing room.

“Why on Earth is James scheduling a 6:00 meeting?” Kammi asked.

“No idea. He texted me this morning and said nothing of it.”

“Must be something big. Especially if he wants us both in on it.” Our work very rarely overlapped. Athletes didn’t usually make the great musicians. See: Shaquille O’Neal, Deion Sanders, and the 1985 Chicago Bears. And I’m going to be honest, I wouldn’t suggest that many of my clients try to pick up any sports, at least not professionally. It was rare that we crossed in to each other’s territories, especially on new clients. Most of the clients we worked with that weren’t in our division were someone we’d worked with before we got here that we’ve held on to.

“I don’t know. We probably won’t get much of a hint on it either.” I shut the water off and started to dry myself off. I put my hair in a towel and wrapped another around me. I heard Kammi’s shower shut off as I stepped out of the shower. “How am I supposed to know how to dress if it’s a surprise meeting?”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.” I grabbed my cell phone off of the counter and called my father.

“Hey kid.”

“Hey Pops. So this surprise meeting. How am I supposed to dress?”

“I don’t care. Professionally?”

“Pops…”

“What?”

“Well is the client someone who is traditional? Do I need a suit? A dress? Or are they someone who would appreciate a crop top in a meeting?”

“Not traditional. A dress is probably fine. A suit might be a big much unless it’s something not formal and they’d likely enjoy two girls in a crop top, so avoid that.” I laughed, we were still little girls on rare occasions to our fathers.

“Well, you’ll get what you get if you’re keeping the meeting a secret.”

“I figured as much. See you girls for lunch.”

“He says that the meeting would probably enjoy two girls in crop tops and to avoid that. So I vote crop tops,” I said laughing.

YAY! Chapter one is alive, hehe. What do you think?  I’m anxious to hear all about what everyone thinks. As a BONUS I will be posting the first two chapters tonight for everyone to enjoy. What do you think of our four main characters so far? Would you want to hang out with E, Kammi, Ty, and Eliza? Also, who the hell is their mystery meeting with? Will they actually wear crop tops? You’ll have to read Chapter Two to find out!

[placetobenation]

There’s a lot to cover with Beth Phoenix. This might be a long one. She packed an extraordinary amount into her six year career, playing every conceivable role, fighting men and women, inventing angles, being a workhorse, and having more legitimately great matches than any other woman of the Divas Era. She also had more of my personal dream matches than any other wrestler.

When I say dream matches, I mean right from the word go. Beth lowkey debuted in 2006 at the arse end of the Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James storyline, for reasons. Her first match was a tag opposite Victoria and within two seconds of them touching I IMMEDIATELY needed all the Beth vs. Victoria matches. The good news is this wish was granted the week after. The bad news is that Beth broke her jaw in it and disappeared and there were never any more Beth vs. Victoria matches.

Those first main roster appearances were merely a tease, both of Beth herself and of the feeling of wanting her to wrestle everyone in sight.

A full year later she returned with A CAPE, the Glamazon persona and a monster heel push to match, steamrolling the roster on her way to beating Candice Michelle for the title. The Candice feud is amazing. A-MA-ZING, particularly for the way that Beth went into it as a bit of a stiff, and came out of it as a confident, dominating monster, completely transformed. Candice deserves all the credit in the world for that, but that’s another song.

Once she put the pieces together, Beth was a fucking force. She had unbelievable timing, knowing exactly when to let someone run around her and when to cut them off, and when she cut them off she was merciless. BAM clothesline! BAM backbreaker! BAM mid-air catching slingshot backdrop driver from HELLLLLLLL!

She brutalized smaller girls like Maria, Candice and Kelly Kelly. She had a long-running rivalry with Mickie James where they amassed a laundry list of killer matches. Mickie was her perfect foil, a hard working babyface who could push her to the limit before being caught and splatted. And Beth did splat her, and everyone else. She was dominant as all get out.

And then she looked at Melina sideways.

Beth Phoenix Dream Match Alert.

Now Melina, once again, was the baddest motherfucker on the planet. Her and Beth were both heels but after a three-way with Mickie at the end of 2007 I IMMEDIATELY needed all the Beth vs. Melina matches. Then one day Melina cost Beth a chance to regain the title which she had just lost to Mickie in an EPIC match in London. Beth was understandably pissed, and paid her back a week later by walking out on their tag team match and then chewing Melina out backstage for good measure.

This was TERRIFYING. Beth was banging on and Melina was getting hotter and hotter and I was fearing for Beth’s ENTIRE life. Melina finally snapped and hit her but Beth just picked her up above her head and DRILLED her into a locker over and over until she stopped moving and was probably dead.

THIS WAS TWICE AS TERRIFYING. Beth had dominated all the women for almost a year, but absolutely nothing she did was as scary as taking the legitimately frightening and mass murderous Melina and just annihilating her to death like it wasn’t nothin’.

From there they engaged in basically one big brawl for the next month. They would scrap constantly and crowds would be eating it up and chanting “LET THEM FIGHT!” and it was all so completely violent and awesome. So they let them fight at the One Night Stand PPV, I Quit, where Beth literally had to bend Melina into unnatural and suspiciously pretzel-like shapes before she said the words. If you can find me a better heel vs. heel match in company history, bring it to me. This thing is UNBELIEVABLE.

Beth sure did love twisting Melina around like she was Play-Doh though. It reached a level at their rematch at Royal Rumble 2009 when Beth picked up Melina’s foot and beat her in the back of her own head with it, which I’m pretty sure broke all of the known laws of physics. Beth also specialized in pulling off other wacky ass feats of strength, like picking two people up at once into a DOUBLE BACKBREAKER.

Or like, you know, beating up men.

Like The Great Khali, whom she eliminated from the Royal Rumble. Or CM Punk, whom she lariated the shit out of during that match. Or Santino Marella. Be still my beating heart.

Beth deserves a shit ton of credit for the Glamarella angle. We love to heap praise on male wrestlers like Chris Jericho or Mick Foley for writing their own storylines. Well, Beth came up with Glamarella. I feel like she can dine out on that one for quite a while.

It was a perfect pairing. Santino was the goofiest wrestler in history. Beth was very dominant, and very serious, and when Santino made an open challenge to ANYONE, she took that seriously too. She beat Santino up and pinned him to win the match, then she flexed at him and he BUMPED ALL THE WAY TO THE FLOOR IN FEAR. My man. (If you watch this back, the people go apeshit when she wins and Beth is so overjoyed that they pulled it off just like she dreamed it that she can’t stop beaming. Bless.)

AND THE NEXT WEEK IT GOT A HUNDRED TIMES BETTER.

Beth came out again to continue the fight with Santino… or so she probably thought. They grabbed a waistlock, wrestled around for a minute, and then stopped. And stared. Santino grabbed her hair and waited, giving her every chance to fight him off. But Beth grabbed him back, and THEY KISSED for like 1.7 seconds before breaking apart, bewildered. Santino tried REALLY HARD not to look too pleased in case she beat the shit out of him again. And Beth looked like she had no earthly idea what had remotely possessed her to do that. And it was all so EXCELLENT.

As their relationship developed from there it was clear just how perfect a pairing it was. Santino Marella is the greatest comedian in the history of WWE, don’t @ me. Beth Phoenix might be the greatest straight man in company history as well. They were gold together. Santino just Santino’d all over the place with his hi-jinks, and Beth was there to roll her eyes and show that she did, somehow, like this guy, but she maybe wasn’t entirely sure… why. Beth was basically his heavy, saving him from trouble, carrying him on HER shoulders, and just generally being the dominant one. Very Chyna-esqe, but Beth was VASTLY better than Chyna in every single way, and frankly, Santino was way better than Triple H as well.

Anyway, at no time was this dynamic more apparent than during the mini feud they had with Batista.

BETH PHOENIX DREAM MATCH ALERT.

For a fun few weeks Santino kept mouthing off about Batista and landing himself in hot water, squealing and cowering whenever he came face to face with Big Dave. Beth, on the other hand, stepped up to him and slapped him in the face. When this happened I LOST ALLLLLL OF MY SHIT AND I IMMEDIATELY NEEDED ALL THE BETH VS. DAVE MATCHES. Sadly, that was one that never materialized.

There was one that did, however.

Soon after Gail Kim returned to WWE in 2009, her and Beth were in a random six-man and within half a second I did immediately need all of the Beth vs. Gail Kim matches. They brushed past one another a couple times – a tag match here, a battle royal there – and I was completely sold but they never had a singles match, and I became obsessed with this white whale of a match I thought I’d never see. Every time it came up, that was my #1 dream match.

Finally a whole two years later, Superstars in 2011 proved it was the king of all the C Shows and randomly booked my dream match, just like that. I went embarrassingly ballistic. And after all that anticipation, Beth and Gail went out there and ran absolutely stark raving wild for a whole four minutes and made all my dreams come true. They even shook hands afterwards like they knew they’d just delivered a workrate dream match for the people. And they did. Nobody has ever been more excited about a four minute C Show match than I was watching Beth Phoenix vs. Gail Kim.

Again, this is the beauty of Beth, the idea of her facing really anyone at all is exciting. Having a tiny little thing like Kelly or Maria to beat up? Interesting! Having a worker like Mickie or Gail to run around with? Sounds good! She wants to step to some male wrestler? Sign me up! She wants to give Jack Swagger’s Soaring Eagle mascot a Glam Slam for no apparent reason? Go nuts Beth!

That really did happen, by the way. Beth was so keen to do comedy that sometimes I wonder if she was just a classic stooging heel trapped in Beth Phoenix’s body. But really I think it just shows her incredible versatility. Being a bigger, powerful woman in a sea of Divas, it would have been the easiest thing in the world for Beth Phoenix to just be the monster heel. And she was so fantastic at it. But she was capable of so much more, and always wanted to show it. She could switch from dominant heel to bumbling around and getting rolled up, and still turn around and dominate again without losing her credibility. She could talk and act and show vulnerability and cry when needed. She could do ALL of the comedy, and was the perfect straight woman. And she was a super fun dominant babyface, but could also sell and garner sympathy, even with smaller opponents.

She even ran as a tweener for a while, straddling the line. What most people don’t remember about the Piggie James angle is how involved Beth Phoenix was – as Laycool teased the shit out of Mickie, Beth was caught in the middle, deciding who she’d rather beat up. After a few months of crowds begging Beth to do the right thing, she gave in to temptation and became a good guy.

From the jump Beth knew what the people really wanted: moves that spin around and fiery babyface comebacks. Her first move as a face was to bust out an AIRPLANE SPIN, and I mean, you just can’t beat that. She also added the GIANT SWING, and just generally had a bunch of fun spinning people around in a circle and lariating their heads off.

Plus, look at that sweet face. Who wants to boo this woman anyway?

Beth was a lot of fun as a babyface. My favorite part was how she became like a big sister to the other faces on Smackdown – Kelly Kelly and Tiffany. She’d team up with them and save them from beatdowns and ruffle their hair affectionately. One time during a tag team match, she did all the damage and then gestured to Kelly to say, “here, you can have this one”, and let her tag in and take the pin, like a present. ADORABLE.

*heart eyes emoji*

The only thing about this little ray of sunshine run is that it ended so soon and so tragically. Beth won the Women’s Title off Michelle McCool at Extreme Rules 2010 in a fun plunder match, but a couple weeks later she did her ACL and had to have surgery. Of course, fate would have it that the next week SmackDown was IN BUFFALO where she entered as the newly-crowned champion hometown hero, only to lose the title and be left laying on one leg crying miserable tears. I can’t even.

By the damn way, can we just stop to appreciate that Beth Phoenix was working on a busted ACL and SHE STILL PICKED UP TWO WOMEN ON HER SHOULDERS IN A DOUBLE BACKBREAKER ON ONE LEG.

Speaking of can we just, she had barely been back from this injury a month before DYING FOR OUR SINS at TLC in the first ever women’s Tables match vs. Laycool. A lot happens in this match but the main thing was Beth Phoenix bumping on her head to her absolute death over and over. She went full Trish here. In fact, when called upon Beth always did lean in and take some terrific shots; there’s a moment at Extreme Rules vs. Michelle where she eats shit on a pile of ironing boards (don’t ask). Beth could take some big bumps yo.

Now of course, that Tables Match involved Natalya too, and we gotta talk about Beth and Nattie. They were fun as a babyface powerhouse team in late 2010. They were AWESOME once they turned heel in the summer of 2011, became the Divas of Doom and went after Kelly Kelly. They were the perfect foils for Kelly as they railed against “Barbie dolls” in the division, and my God, those Beth vs. Kelly matches were just… *kisses fingers*

Beth and Kelly had amazing chemistry. The 2011 series was outstanding, subsequent matches were really good too, and even early on when Kelly was much greener, they always had fun with Beth just beating on her. This is what I’m talking about with Beth – even if I’m not specifically shouting DREAM MATCH, she just matches up so well with so many people in really exciting ways.

Back to the Divas of Doom, man, they literally invented a submission move just so they could tie all the pretty girls in knots and shove a mic in their faces while they screamed and cried. Wild. On a related note, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Beth and Nattie had also taken to wearing bomb ass dresses on telly every week, calling themselves Pinup Strong, and there’s a moment one day on Smackdown where Nattie is beating up Kelly on the floor and Beth is sitting on the stairs in a dress watching on looking incredible and I’m pretty sure this 20 seconds of TV added about five years to my lifespan.

Somehow Beth and Natalya existed on TV together for over four years without ever facing each other one on one. Oh yes, Beth Phoenix Dream Match Alert.

When Beth was heading out the door in 2012, serendipity lead to her having one last SmackDown TV taping in Buffalo, and it was there in her hometown that she and Nattie finally got to have a match. You can see just how over the moon they are, and as tradition held they went absolutely stark raving wild for four whole minutes, including the one and only time in her career that anyone kicked out of the Glam Slam. A parting gift from Beth Phoenix. She had a couple more matches after that, but having her moment with Nattie in the ring and crying it out with her afterwards was about as appropriate a sendoff as you could get. Like so many of these women, she went out on her shield, putting the work in.

Beth always put the work in, she was a trooper. She is also a total sweetheart and I’m so happy for the last couple of years where she’s got to go into the Hall of Fame (best speech ever, don’t @ me either), be in the first Women’s Royal Rumble and now get this commentary gig. She deserves it all.

So this week was in celebration of a great wrestler. Next week will be… not that. And guys, trust me, you ain’t ready.

Check it out: Candice Michelle vs. Beth Phoenix – Women’s Title (No Mercy 2007) Beth vs. Mickie vs. Melina – Women’s Title (Raw, December 31st 2007) Beth Phoenix vs. Mickie James – Women’s Title (Raw, April 14th 2008) Beth Phoenix vs. Melina – I Quit (One Night Stand 2008) Beth Phoenix vs. Melina – Women’s Title (Royal Rumble 2009) Michelle McCool vs. Beth Phoenix – Women’s Title Extreme Makeover Rules (Extreme Rules 2010) Beth & Kelly vs. Laycool (Smackdown, April 30th 2010) Beth & Natalya vs. Laycool – Tables Match (TLC 2010) Beth Phoenix vs. Gail Kim (Superstars, June 30th 2011) Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly – Divas Title (Night of Champions 2011) Beth Phoenix vs. Eve – Divas Title (Vengeance 2011) Beth Phoenix vs. Natalya (Smackdown, September 28th 2012)