A Quiet Dinner Get Together

Cassie closed the bathroom door behind her and stopped. She stood still, with her arms at her sides and her eyes staring at nothing down toward the floor. She allowed a wave of self pity to wash over her, the sting of having to see Mamouru yet again, and unexpectedly so, was not something she could just brush off, but soon she straightened up. She told herself to get over it, she was a grown woman, a pro wrestler, and she had a boyfriend who was a thousand times anything Mamouru was on his best day. What was a few hours with her friend's brother-in-law?

She could do this.

Taylor sprung lightly to her feet and trotted to the kitchen. "I won't make you wait on me, man. Cooking is enough. And... ohhhhh my gawwwwd..." She marveled at the bright red lobsters and charred steaks. "I'm so happy I'm not eating vegan right now." She grinned. "Babe, I'll make you a plate."

As she began to fill a plate for Johnny, Taylor looked up at Mamouru, and glanced toward Alaina. "So, like..." She began, trying to be diplomatic with her choice of words. Not her strong suit. "Have you guys talked about stuff?" Probably not, given her reaction. She furrowed her brow. "Alaina, how'd you find this guy?"

"Oh, I met Mamouru a couple months ago. I went to the bar a couple days after a match to blow off a bit of steam ya know? I got there and this handsome guy was there, looking a little down. I chatted him up, and tried cheering him up." Alaina said as she moved into the kitchen to pass out some plates. Alaina laughed as she recalled one aspect of their first meeting. "I broke the ice by trying to speak Japanese. I wanted to say 'how are you, you look upset' but what came out was 'How am you? Your face is upset, is all correct?' but I've gotten a lot better with the language since then!" Alaina said in as assuring a manner as possible. She did get better with Japanese in truth...... just not a whole lot.

"We've talked about a bunch of stuff. Most of it is work-oriented though, we're sorta boring like that." Alaina said. She didn't know exactly what Taylor was getting at when she referred to "talked about stuff." Alaina would have said more, as she is a super-open person. However Mamouru is way more of a private type and out of respect she didn't say as much as she normally would have.

As Alaina spoke, Charlie poked his head out from the kitchen again while holding up a few bottles. "Uh oh.... who invited Jack, Jose and Morgan to the party?" Charlie said holding up bottles of Jack Daniels, Jose Cuervo, and Captain Morgan Spiced Rum. "I know you guys are super healthy but somone's gotta join me in a dinner shot. As far as the after dinner cigar goes I totally understand if I am solo on that one.... but if not I have a few extra just in case." Charlie said with a smile.

"Aww," Taylor tilted her head at Mamouru with a wry smile. "Poor sad Mamu. Why so sad?" She nodded to Alaina. "Yeah, Japanese is a bitch. I'm fluent, but not by much, and it took a long time to get there. Johnny helped a lot. But my advice is be careful who you speak Japanese to, because you can make an ass out of yourself so easy."

Cassie reappeared from the hallway, and quietly stepped around Charlie and his liquor supply, with a mousey smile and a glance at Taylor. Taylor laughed and put her forehead in her palm.

"Oh, man, I dunno..." She said, shaking her head with a smile. "I haven't had a drink since I came back from retirement. Um..." She looked back at Cassie who was situating herself on the edge of the kitchen. The last time Taylor drank, she got a little too drunk, and, among other things, made out with Talia Wilson. She gave Charlie an inscrutable look. Did he know about that?

"I might have one," Cassie spoke up unexpectedly. "Um... but I've never had anything like that. A drink, that is, not a cigar." She and Taylor both made an ick face.

Taylor shrugged. "Okay, I'll have one. But after I get some food in my stomach."

The two of them together looked at Johnny while Taylor carried a pair of plates to the table.

Mamouru sat quietly and politely at the table next to Alaina as everyone but Johnny seemed to mill about. He kept throwing quick glances at his brother but he knew when johnny was trying to avoid being part of uncomfortable situations. They WERE still brothers after all and whether anyone else wanted to admit it, they were still a lot alike.

"Thanks babe." Johnny said as he contemplated getting up or trying to keep Taylor by him while they ate. It smelled good and he should probably be around, at least, so after a long moment of thinking, he got up and meandered to the kitchen and found a spot next to Mamouru. The bigger buffer between him and Taylor and Cassie the better.

Mamouru looked down and sighed quietly at Taylor's words. She was poking but Mamouru tried not to bite. Whatever issues Mamouru had he wasn't some instigator despite what everyone thought. Alaina, as sweet as she was, wasn't helping and was completely oblivious.

And then came in Mr. Fun. THIS was the guy that Alaina talked so much about? He was a tool. This party might be better IF he started trouble but he wasn't going to do that.

"I'll pass, thank you." A stiff drink was exactly what he needed but the last time he drank things went very badly. He grabbed a plate and sat next to Alaina and slowly began to eat his food.

Alaina managed to work her way through one lobster claw without making too much of a mess. Mamouru seemed a little off, but she didn't want to bring anything up.... but she wanted to let him know that she knew. Alaina put her hand on Mamouru's leg giving it a gentle rub and squeeze before capping it with a smile. She turned her attention to everyone else in short order by asking what she thought was a simple question. "So who are you guys scheduled to go up against next?"

Charlie poured himself a shot of each liquor, go big or go home....... well, he was already home. At least Taylor and Cassie were up for shots later. "Hell yeah!" Charlie said, holding a hand out to Taylor and another to Cassie for high fives in response to them being down for shots.

As not to be rude, he turned his attention to the guys. "Mamouru its good to finally meet ya dude. How long have you and Johnny been in wrestling?" He asked the brothers. It was nice to meet a couple guys. Most of his friends in Japan were chicks and sometimes he just needed a good bro-down..... even if Charlie looked like the only one in the room ready to party. The hell was up with that?

As everyone ate L.C began to make his rounds, trying to pick out a sucker who would feed him the good stuff. First stop was the guy sitting next to Alaina with the glasses.

Mamouru turned and smiled at Alaina softly when she squeezed his leg and smiled. He carefully ate his food until Charlie spoke. He nodded politely. "Alaina-san's spoken a lot about you."

Mamouru looked at Johnny when Charlie asked how long the twins were in wrestling. "All our lives." He said curtly.

"Yeah man. Our Ma's been in wrestlin since before we were born dude. It's kinda in our blood and junk."

Taylor and Cassie both gave slightly embarrassed smiles and looked away while giving Charlie a pat on the palm.

"Well, I don't think either of us have anything scheduled yet. I plan on taking matters into my own hands a little bit once I heal up a little more." Taylor raked a lump of lobster meat out of the shell and devoured it without butter.

"I met a girl that I'd like to have a match with, but I'm not sure how to make that happen. I don't have a manager right now or anything, so I'm just kind of going along with stuff." Cassie sawed at her steak and took a tiny bite.

Taylor nodded toward Johnny. "Yeah, their mom is my manager. And mother-in-law and stuff. I call her mom. She's crazy. I love her." She washed down her lobster with some water, and glanced back at Johnny. "Jun-Bug has got a match scheduled, though. Do you want to tell them, or should I?"

Cassie's gaze trended toward Johnny as well, though she allowed her eyes to shift around the room so as not to stare.

"Rest up a lil bit at least, babe."

Johnny said, grinning at Taylor. He looked at Cassie and wondered who she could face next.

"Mother is certainly her own woman." Mamouru said quietly with a small smile. He loved his mother to death but she was a big fan of butting into people's business. He wasn't really looking forward to bringing Alaina to see her. He couldn't even fathom how Taylor and Junko got along, let alone gotten as close as they were.

"Kozue and I are takin on Killer King, man." Johnny puffed out his chest proudly. He didn't even mention Bree. "That's Ninjette." He wasn't sure if anyone else knew her by her real name. "Finally gonna show that roided up motherfucker what happens when he fights a wrestler instead of a rookie who doesn't know what the fuck she's gettin into!"

"I have only heard bad shit about that King dude, rip him a new one!" Charlie said as he got up. "Gotta run to the restroom real quick. We do have a little half bathroom over next to L.C's room over there." Charlie pointed towards the dogs bedroom before quickly heading to relieve himself.

"Oh wow thats awesome!" Alaina gushed. "I can't wait to meet her, I just hope she likes me." Alaina wasn't sure how Mamouru's mom would like her. Taylor was a top tier fighter whom she managed. Alaina was a struggling rookie.

Alaina had heard of Ninjette before but didn't know her. "As a ninja from Jersey does she fist pump a lot or talk like anyone on The Sopranos?"

Alaina also noticed that Cassie had been very quiet all night, that just didn't seem like her. "Cassie you have been awfully quiet, is everything all right?"

"Yeah," Taylor nodded, with a smile that betrayed the bundle of nerves that surrounded the topic. "We're working really hard to prepare. I mean, I'm not in the match, but... we're doing the work. We'll be ready." Then she snorted and shook her head. "She's not a ninja, I don't care what it says on her ass. She's just a jock. And a major skank."

Taylor glanced at Johnny. She wasn't sure exactly how friendly her husband had become with the Jersey girl, so she didn't know which side of the line they were on as far as her being able to get away with trashing Ninjette at every opportunity. But whether she said anything about it or not, she just didn't like her.

Cassie was idly chasing a piece of lobster around her plate with her fork when she heard her name. She looked up quickly and reflexively smiled at Alaina. "Me? Oh, sorry. I don't mean to be quiet. Um... the food's really good." She looked around at the other faces. Half of them knew everything about the events of her life in the last couple years, but the other half knew nothing about it at all. She wondered if she would really have to be turned off and mopey for her whole life over these things. After looking back and forth from Charlie to Alaina, she thought that at least for tonight, she didn't.

"Well, I was just wondering how long you guys have been together? Like... Were you his client first, or his girlfriend?" She asked. The question was innocuous enough.