Fun with Domino and Jewels (For CyanDimitrik)

Trish would continue eating her food to try and relieve herself of her weariness of the matter and also forget. But just when she was almost done, she looked at Drake and saw that he looked pretty uncomfortable and not as hungry anymore. With a sigh and gentle drop of her fork, she would say, "Okay, look, a thousand apologies for that outburst, but that's how I personally felt. I didn't mean for it to hurt you. Sorry."

Now, Trish felt that her hidden insecurities might cost her a new friendship with Drake.

A noodle finds itself the sole victim of a three-pronged attack! Drake scoots it listlessly around the plate, fork held loosely in hand. When Trish speaks up again, he raises his gaze back to her. It takes a few seconds before his expression softens a little, and he bobs his right shoulder in a half-shrug.

"You should come with a manual," he notes. "Something that lists your hot buttons so I don't push'em. You know it's not my goal to make you mad, right?" He'd hope that it's obvious, but sometimes it helps mentioning. Not because the other person is stupid, but to bring attention to the fact that any mis-steps were unintentional.

When Drake mentioned that she should come with a manual to be notified of what makes her tick, she couldn't help but smile and giggle softly. That actually helped feel a little better as she nods and says, "Yeah, perhaps I should." She was glad that Drake was helping her out along the way and maybe this can work out after all.

Trish finally ate her last bite and she cleared her throat before asking, "Can I uhh, confess something to you?"

The food's fine and all, but Drake's pretty much done with eating. Thus, in a bizarre, topsy-turvy world, Trish has eaten more than him today. His fork is set down and the plate is scooted away.

"Sure. What's on your mind?" He folds his hands neatly over the tabletop, his eyes affixed to hers.

Trish would push her plate gently aside as Drake wanted to know what's on her mind. She would start by saying, "OK, well, I hardly told this to anyone else, but..." She then took a deep breath to calm herself as she finished. "Even though I'm a rich girl and people think of me as a selfish snob...the opposite is true."

Trish sipped her tea to add to her calmness before she continued, "I'm really a very shy and insecure girl. I worry a lot about different things and I do my best not to show them. My parents thought if I took up fighting, that can give me more confidence with myself. The same was with the one who recruited me aside from money of course. But I still couldn't help it in some instances and the "boss" told me that if I don't do well in AFW, they'll expose me as a complete loser."

At this confession, Drake's lips pull into a small frown. "Ah.. well.. geeze. That's not cool of'em, is it?" He takes ahold of his chair and scoots it around the table to sit beside her, with the express purpose of gently nudging his shoulder to hers. "I wouldn't have guessed that about you at all, though. In the ring, you just... command the attention. And you're tough. I think you're doing just fine. And with a few more matches, you'll be turning more heads than you know what to do with."

Trish would look down at the table as she was discouraged just thinking about it. She would hear Drake moving his chair around the table just so he can sit next to her. She then felt his shoulder nudging against hers as he said that she's tough and doing fine. Hearing those encouraging words, Trish would look at Drake and ask, "You think so?"

When she looks back to him, she'll be met with a warm smile. "Mmhm. It's not like I just strolled through our match. You gave me some good licks. And if you want, I'll be there ringside at your next match to remind you of that. If you want!" He leans over to nudge again, hoping to lighten her mood with some jovial exchange.

Just those words from Drake gave Trish more confidence and she smiled back. She would slowly give him a warm hug as she said, "Thanks, Drake. Thanks for believing in me. I'll continue to push myself to be at the top someday."

Then Trish looked over to Drake's plate of food and added, "Are you gonna finish that?"

In just the span of five minutes (if even that!), Trish has gone from fussing at him to hugging him. It's enough to give Drake pause, but he soon returns the hug. "That's what you've gotta do; push. Keep at it. Keep workin'. And if you get knocked down, dust yourself off'n fight harder. Fans'll remember that."

She brings his attention to the plate. "Err... nuh-uh."