A Quiet Dinner Get Together

"Charlie! Is everything done yet?" Alaina yelled to the kitchen from the living room, where she was currently filling bowls with various snacks. She had laid out some cheese, crackers, nuts, carrot sticks, celery, and of course Charlie's favorite.... cheetos. She was wearing blue jeans and a black tanktop, and hoped that the various guests remembered that this was casual. She didn't mind dressing up, but she knew a few people in attendance were the more laid-back sort when it came to fashion. She was always excited to see her boyfriend/manager Mamouru, and she couldn't wait to see a couple acquaintances she'd made since starting in the AFW. She told Taylor and Cassie to invite guests as well, not wanting to snub anyones husband or boyfriend.

"Its cooking, it should be all done shortly after everyone arrives. If it gets done any sooner the food will be cold and less awesome." Charlie replied from the kitchen as he ensured that his lobsters were steaming, and steak was marinating. For an extra appetizer he had some spicy buffalo wings at the ready. For a small guy he would put himself up against anyone in an eating contest. He was also looking forward to this get together. He had yet to meet Mamouru, although he had heard only good things about him from Alaina. Her choice of friends seemed to be good from what he had seen thus far, Taylor and Cassie didn't seem like psychopaths which was an accomplishment in the AFW from what Charlie could tell. As far as he remembered the last time Taylor saw him was March when he had a brace and walking stick. "I'm gonna bring the wings out and put them on the table in front of the TV!" Charlie yelled as he walked out and let his food continue to cook.

"Good, I bet everyone will love those thanks Cha..... are you not wearing any socks!?" Alaina asked with a laugh of disbelief. Charlie was a bit too laid back at times, as he walked into the living room in a pair of gym shorts and Star Wars t-shirt. "Can you at least put on a pair of socks to cover those hobbit feet of yours?"

"Pfff, I thought this was laid back?" Charlie asked as he set the wings down with the rest of the snack food. "I'll go get a pair and... oh thanks big guy!" Charlie said as he turned to walk into his room only to see L.C trotting his way with a pair of socks in his mouth. "So like, is Taylor gonna make us lock L.C in his room tonight?" Charlie asked with a hint of worry. Not having his dog at his side was just downright strange to him, especially in his own place. Talia was a bit uneasy around L.C but Taylor seemed even worse off around the small canine...

"No WAY!" Taylor gaped at Cassie, as the three of them started the walk from the cab up to Charlie and Alaina's apartment building. Cassie's giggle told everything. "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Cassie smiled, with her hands in the pockets of her spring green dress, swishing the skirt back and forth as she walked. "It was... really fun."

"Wow, dude! I guess not everyone thinks of you like a little sister. How did it happen? Did he turn on his movie star smile and charm your pants off?"

"Well, no, I... kinda came onto him. We went back to my house and I made tea and we were sitting on the couch, and like... earlier in the night it looked like he was going to kiss me, but we were interrupted, so I was like, what was it you were going to say before, and he was like... like..."

"Pow, right in the kisser?"

"Uh huh." Cassie beamed. Taylor couldn't even deal.

"Ohhhh maiiii gawwwwwwd, Bear! Good for you. You bagged a moviestar, huh? I guess you-know-who can suck it."

"Heh. Yeah."

"Sorry. I didn't need to say that. I'm really happy for you, though. We are. Aren't we, Killer?" Taylor looked over her shoulder at her burly husband, who followed behind the two girls like a chaperone.

"At the party, I met a girl named Gwendolyn, and she was trying to be a really big jerk to me and make me feel bad about being there. I just felt... cheap, and silly, but she started to really get out of line, and I was going to go talk to her about her attitude, but Shinobu stopped me. She's in Friction."

"Talk to her about her attitude? You mean beat her ass?"

"Well... hopefully no. I wouldn't mind fighting her, though. She's really arrogant. I didn't like her."

"That's funny. The Friction roster is just out of control. You can't even get a cup of tea without running into one of 'em. I know who I want to fight next, though, but I don't think even mom can get me that fight..."

"Who? The one we..."

"Yeah. I want her so bad, all I can taste is cilantro. Speaking of food..." Taylor sniffed the air as they stepped up to the door of the apartment. "This is the place, right?"

Cassie checked her phone. "Yup." She could only just hear the sounds of party preparedness from inside. She rapped on the door three times with her knuckles. "So it's just us three, and Alaina, and her friend Charlie..."

"Yeah."

"Annnnnd..." Cassie said with a sly smile.

It took Taylor a moment to figure out what Cassie was talking about. The realization hit her like a slap in the face. "Ohhhhhh..." She groaned. "At least I didn't wear a skirt."

Taylor wore a tight, navy blue t-shirt with the words "Young, Beautiful, and Badass" written in stylized letters across the front, and a monochrome silhouette of a pair of eyes with heavy, rockstar eyeliner; a pair of dark, skin tight jeans, cut low on her hips; and a heavily worn pair of black Converse high tops. She had a pair of pink bracelets on one wrist, her blonde hair was loose with her red-tinted bangs not quite covering one eye, and she wore all of her rings. One in each earlobe, two in the upper part of each ear, two in her right eyebrow, a small stud in her nostril, and a little bit of silver in her belly button that just barely showed under her t-shirt.

Cassie, on the other hand, wore a simple green dress with a small golden locket around her neck, and she had two pink bracelets and black Converse shoes that matched Taylor's. Her finishing touch was a pretty yellow flower in her hair, just above her ear. It was from her garden at home.

"Oh, uh, yeah, dude." Johnny said absentmindedly as Taylor spoke directly to him. He was barely paying attention. He was happy for Cassie, sure but the girl talk sort of made him zone out.

"It's cool, shorty, like Shinobu's a pretty cool dude. So, if you came onto him and junk, then it's all good. But, I'll totally kick his ass if he gets out of line and junk." He said as they went back to their talking. It was about Friction but Johnny seemed to zone again until the reached the door.

He was dressed in ripped, tight fitting gray jeans and a tight fitting "Misfits Fiend Club" shirt. It was one of his favorites. As far as he knew, he was just going to "some chick's" house Taylor knew but Cassie and Taylor were talking kind of weird and his ear pricked back up as he listened to the conversation again.

"Someone else comin?" He asked as he knocked on the door.

Alaina was finally confident that things were mostly in place. Thankfully they had an air conditioner so it wasn't insanely hot inside their apartment. She did one last survey of the place to make sure things were in order. She didn't want any of the guests to think that Charlie and her lived like slobs.

As soon as she heard the knocking she ran over to the door. "Charlie they're here!" She shouted. The knocking also attracted the attention of L.C who trotted over without barking. Alaina opened the door and was very thankful that everyone was dressed casually, so her simple attire fit in nicely. "Hey guys! Thanks for coming!" She said as she opened the door, stepping off to the side so everyone could come in. "Thats Charlie right there....." Alaina said as she pointed at Charlie. As everyone walked in, she didn't know who the guy was. She guessed it was Taylor's husband.... but she couldn't get over the fact that he looked similar to Mamouru.

"Hey guys how's it goin'? Its good to see you again Taylor and nice to meet the rest of ya." Charlie said with a smile and nod.

"...and that's Little Charlie, or L.C as we call him." Alaina concluded, with the introduction of the corgi. L.C surveyed everyone, barked once and trotted into the living room, laying down in the middle of the seats in order to get maximum attention from everyone present. "Don't mind L.C, he's just a little attention whore. Come on in and sit down! We have some snacks ready because the dinner is still cooking. We have a few movies we can check out while we wait too!"

Johnny could smell the food cooking as he walked in. It seemed like a nice little place and this Alaina chick was pretty friendly. Johnny tried to connect the image of Taylor and her meeting. Taylor had told him about it but it seemed... weird.

"Yo, dude, how's it going." Johnny said with a smile as he took his shoes off. The question was more or less rhetorical and not said specifically to anything. "Smells pretty good man." He said, bowing his head politely. "So, you like, wrestle in friction and junk?" He Asked Alaina as he took a seat. "That's pretty cool and junk. Too bad you're not in Tension man." Johnny said with a shrug. She looked tough enough and Johnny always liked to see how he matched up.

"Hey, what's up."

"Hi, Alaina. Hi, Charlie."

Taylor and Cassie stepped inside and removed their shoes, and then Cassie went to give Alaina a quick hug on her way to Charlie, who she had not yet met. "Thanks for inviting us," she said, and then extended a hand toward Charlie.

Taylor strolled along with Johnny, but stayed standing. "He means you look tough," Taylor translated for Alaina. "How's training going? Are you guys working out together?" She asked, with a hint of a twinkle in her eye.

"I'm doing good, thanks!" Alaina cheerfully answered Johnny. "Yeah, I like Friction but I've done a match against a Tension guy so ya might catch me over there once in a while!" Alaina was a bit taken back when Johnny said she looked tough. He looked like he could pick up and throw a mack truck at someone. "Thanks... even if my record doesn't quite reflect 'tough', it doesn't stop me from trying!" Alaina said while jokingly flexing. She noticed that her new workouts seem to have been working, as she had a slight bit more mass and more definition than she did the first time she met Taylor a few months ago.

Alaina gave Cassie a good squeeze on her hug. Hugs were something Alaina didn't half-ass. "Its great seeing you again Cassie! Thanks again for the help with the fund raiser idea. I got in touch with the right people and we were able to kick a nice anonymous donation around."

Charlie gave Cassie a quick checkout before shaking her hand. She sort of reminded him of Talia but with shorter hair and more energy. "Hey, nice to meet ya. Help yourselves to any food we have. Seriously eat. If we have too many leftovers it'll get thrown out and being wasteful is just bad juju." Charlie said with a polite smile to Cassie, and the last part to everyone in general before looking at Johnny. "Dude, if you need a short spaz to tag with or to face in the ring I'm game! I'm over in Tension too, and will have a match soon since my knee is rehabbed and cleared."

After addressing the others Alaina was finally able to turn to Taylor whom she also gave a good sized hug to. "We did, but recently our schedules have sort of flip-flopped. We will get to the gym together once in a great while. Mostly at the end of the day we'll look over match tapes to see some of our mistakes and go over ways to not screw up again." Alaina stated. "Ya see, I have a manager now and after that dark match in Atlantic City we've been dating. Charlie here also found himself a girlfriend who works doing IT stuff at the AFW office. I hit the gym early in the morning and again after dinner. Charlie goes during the day when his girlfriend is at work, then is with her a lot around dinner time." Alaina said before remembering that Taylor was in her match at the PPV... and what a match it was! "Oh shit, Taylor I also want to say congrats on that win! Your match was awesome!"

"For sure. It was on the awesome level of batshit crazy fucking insane type awesome."

"What's a short-spaz?" Cassie asked no one in particular while the conversation continued without her.

Taylor laughed a little louder than she should have at the mention of Charlie's IT girlfriend. Talia had told Cassie who she was dating, and both of them had already met his roommate. "Oh, we know Talia," she assured their hosts. "We all know Talia Wilson very well." She cleared her throat and dialed back the sass, for fear of offending someone.

"Thanks," she said and casually brought a hand to her face. She still sported a black eye and a cut lip from the match. "Finally getting a clean win over Adrian was really awesome, and being the first person to make her submit was a nice bonus."

"I almost fell over when she baited Adrian into that hold. I was sooooo happy! She made me so proud." Cassie looked at Taylor with a pretend tear in her eye.

"Yeah, everything good about my grappling comes from Bear." Taylor sat on the couch and cozied up next to Johnny. Cassie wasn't quite sure what to do with herself. She felt like she should help in the kitchen. "But how are your matches going? You said you're losing a lot? That happens, man, not many people just walk into AFW and start kicking ass right away. You'll get there. Oh, but... you're dating your manager? Dude, that has never gone well."

Johnny almost wanted to pat Charlie on the back and tell him good luck. Talia had seemed nice at first. In fact, if things hadn't gone the way they did, Talia might be Mrs. Higurashi right now instead of Taylor. That thought alone was mind boggling to the silver haired wrestler. He gave Taylor's leg a squeeze and smiled at her. He had seen what both girls were REALLY like and he had definitely dodged a bullet.

Still, there had always been a part of him that felt like everything that had happened with Talia had been his fault. She didn't go crazy until he had dumped her. Johnny wasn't going to think about it though. If this Charlie dude was some kind of wizard with women than he wished him all the best with Talia. As long as she, and him, didn't end up fucking around with the people he cared about. He had no problem breaking Talia's ass, that was for sure. He'd do it to Charlie too even if he was just being pulled along by a string.

"C'mon, shorty, sit down."

Johnny said, patting the other side of the couch. Cassie was too fidgety sometimes. She needed to learn how to chill.

"A short spaz? Thats pretty much me. I'm sort of a spaz who hops around the ring and I'm pretty damn short, like a high flying mega-dwarf." Charlie told Cassie as he saw her wander about like she didn't know quite where to go. Then he heard Taylor talking about Talia. As much as he wanted to go on about how much of a sweetie she was, he figured by that tone they wouldn't believe any of it. Cassie might, but not the other two. In the interest of of goodwill and in general mellow-ness, Charlie opted to keep his mouth shut. These guys were friends with his friend, and he was a glass-half-full type. Why couldn't everyone here be buddy-buddy?

"Yeah, as it stands now I'm only 2-3 but that'll change!" Alaina said with her usual optimism as she sat down in a dining chair that she moved into the living room. "My manager has been great though. He's super understanding and accomodating. He really bends over backwards to help which is awesome since my next match looks like it'll be a tough one." Alaina said. She also caught some of Taylor's tone when talking about Talia. Alaina met her and thought she was all right... but if there was something she didn't know she wanted to find out. Charlie deserved a nice woman he could trust, not someone who had skeletons in the closet.

"The main course is still a few minutes away from being done, but how's the rest of the food guys?" Charlie interjected as he walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, sitting in his favorite, old recliner. Thankfully, he did remember to set the timer. He didn't want to burn the food, especially since everyone present had some sort of history with his girlfriend. "Matches aside, how's everything going with you guys?" Charlie asked. They didn't seem like the type to hold a dislike of Talia against him..... or so he hoped. "You all seem like a talented bunch, I imagine wrestling isn't all you guys do right?"

As Charlie asked, L.C got up and looked around in surprise as if he was shocked no one was scrambling over to pet him. He moved in front of the couch and looked up at everyone on it, taking special notice of Taylor. He looked up at her, yawned and began holding up a paw.