A Goodtime Charlie?

It was a somewhat warm weeknight when Alaina arrived at the bar dressed in a black skirt, black shoes and a purple somewhat low cut shirt. She nervously played with the silver necklace she wore as she waited for the two people she called. With luck Carmen would show up first. Alaina never actually met Carmen, but knew that Carmen was also friends with Charlie. Alaina got her number through some Tension contacts she had, and finally got through to her.

Charlie.... Alaina noticed a change in him since he had that breakup with Talia. All seething anger she felt when she thought of Talia aside, Alaina was worried about Charlie. It had been a couple weeks and he simply wasn't himself. She wanted and hoped Carmen would show up first so she could talk to her. Alaina needed to know if anyone else noticed any sort of change in Charlie, or if Alaina was going nuts.

Alaina ordered a water while she waited. A strange choice for being at a bar, but according to her strict dojo training regimen alcohol was a no-go.

As a general rule, Carmen avoided bars, except for special cases. It wasn't some moral rule she was staunch about, but a personal preference. In her experience, good things rarely happened after sunset. Aside from the occasional stint in bars with women suited to her paritcular tastes, she kept her distance.

But this definitely qualified as a special case. So, here she was.

Carmen walked in the bar, dressed in her most casual attire. Jeans, her flip flops, her red Tap Out t-shirt. As usual, she stood out amidst the mostly Japanese crowd, a Puerto Rican on the wrong side of the ocean. And all she had to do was find the other person in the room who was also sticking out like a sore thumb. Not hard.

"Alaina?" She approached the only blonde in the room, going off of Charlie's vivid descriptions. She was everything he said about her and more. An impressively built, wholesome looking young girl, with a face that seemed specifically designed for smiling. An odd fit for Friction, reallly.

She extended her hand for a shake. "Carmen Rodriguez. Nice to finally meet you."

Alaina heard Carmen approach behind her, turning and looking at the big Puerto Rican lady. She was exactly what Charlie described, and this bode well as far as Alaina was concerned. Part of his description beyond the physical one was that of a level-headed, outgoing and observant woman.

That is just what Alaina was hoping for.

"Hey Carmen! I'm Alaina Sanders and it is indeed a pleasure to finally see ya!" She said as she shook Carmen's hand. "Charlie always speaks very highly of you." Alaina said with a smile as she scooted over, patting the stool next to her. "Please take a seat! No need to stand around and be uncomfortable!"

Alaina sipped her water, doing her best to be cheerful. It came natural to her, but when she had a lot on her mind she was always afraid that it seemed forced or fake. After a moment, she decided to just be a bit more blunt about the reason she called Carmen. "Have you seen Charlie or trianed with him lately? I mean.... he doesn't seem any different to you does he?"

Carmen was trying to think of a more pleasant and immediately affable Friction girl she'd ever met. For the life of her, it wasn't occuring. Granted, she'd just met the woman, but she couldn't remember anyone ever being so happy to greet her, and the bar was already set pretty low. Most of the Friction girls she knew much about were either jerks or people who didn't think they were jerks but really were.

"Charlie had quite a bit to say about you, too, though I didn't think he meant 'amazon' so literally." Carmen sat down in the chair and leaned back, getting a full look of Alaina's body. She took care of herself, that much was obvious, and she was willing to bet this wasn't the first time the rising wrestler had drunken water in a bar.

"And no, I haven't seen Charlie in a few weeks, but it's a busy time of the year, I'm thinking. Tension's been getting hot, lately, so I just figured he was busy." She raised a hand and motioned for the bartender to come over. Alaina wasn't drinking heavy, but that didn't mean Carmen couldn't indulge. Just a bit. "Why? Is something going on?"

Alaina nodded as Carmen told her about Tension. "It has been pretty awesome lately, had a real fun PPV to watch!" She said as Carmen finished.

Unfortunately, Alaina had to dampen the mood. "I imagine ya haven't seen Charlie much lately because he hasn't trained like he used to. Lately he's just been... I dunno." Alaina said trying to find the right words. Broken? Lost? Not himself? "He's been just blah. I mean he got trounced in that tag match but losses never really bug him much... I wish I were more like him in that regard. But, I imagine he told you about Talia right? Well... that dumb bitch walked out on him right before he was set to propose to her. Ever since, he just seems out of it almost like he just doesn't give a shit what happens to him."

Alaina was worried she was over-reacting, which is a big reason she wanted to talk to Carmen. A second opinion when observing Charlie. "I dunno if I am just paranoid, but keep an eye on him when he comes. He should be here soon and I'm just sorta worried about him, thats all."

Sorta worried was, by far and away, an understatement.

It was at this point that Carmen realized she had just stepped head first into a load of drama that she wasn't quite prepared for.

Her life had been pretty much drama free, and it was something that she was quite proud of. At least, she'd avoided the nastiest kinds of drama. She hadn't had any big breakups with her nonexistant girlfriends. No 'he said, she said' deals. And this marked the first time she'd ever gotten involved with a worried friend about something going on with another friend.

It wasn't her strong suit, and she was a bit uncomfortable, but she managed to keep it all on the inside. She'd only known Alaina for about thrity seconds, but even she could tell her concern was genuine.

"He told me about Talia. Not the proposal, though. Definitely not the break up." She took a moment to order a light beer from the bartender. Getting too sauced too fast would probably be a bad idea, but she could use a little buzz for her nerves. "I'll keep it in mind, but you shouldn't worry - Charlie is a nice guy going through a rough patch, it sounds like. He'll come out. The real nice guy always do."

Alaina drank her water and thought Carmen's choice of drink was smart. Nice cold light beer was an old favorite of hers but she didn't want to break from her water. "I know he's a good guy, but he's had crap happen throughout his life and I am just worried that this is the straw that broke the camels back ya know?" Alaina said worried.

She realized how much of a downer she had to sound like, she decided that having some fun or at least light hearted conversationw as in order... but what to talk about... "So, whatcha up to over in Tension? I hate admitting it but I have only seen one of your matches but you rocked it! Are ya thinking of making any title runs over there?" Alaina asked deciding that talking about work at least gave them a common ground.

After a while, maybe getting away from the ring would be good. All work and no play didn't do Jack any real favors in The Shining. "When you aren't wrestling what do you like to do outside the ring?"

Carmen caught the beer as it slid down the bar, then blew off the foam from the top. She took a few sips while Alaina talked on and tried to lighten the mood. It didn’t quite work, Carmen was still dreading what would happen if she screwed this whole social interaction thing up, but it was an admirable attempt.

"He always struck me as a man with a good back to handle a lot of straws. But we'll see." She gave Alaina a quick nod and tilted the glass her way, before taking another sip. "And no, I'm not big into anything at the moment. I did get in a little fight with the world champion last week, but that wasn't actually for the title. That was just her being a bitch and me losing my temper."

She leaned back in the chair and crossed her legs. "What about you, though? I caught some of your match with Gwen - what's going on with that? Are you going to challenge for the Entropy again, move to the World Title, or..."

"I heard the new champ over there is a pain...." Alaina said when Carmen mentioned her scuffle with the Tension champion. "Next time you see her I hope its in a ring and I hope you win."

As soon as Carmen wntioned Gwendolyn, Alaina shook her head and tried her best to smile. "Ahh Gwenniecakes.... she gave me a title shot because she thought I would be an easy title defense. Because I lost and then got pounded in my next match I need to work my way back up for another entropy title shot." Alaina said, looking up for a second. She wanted that belt. Entropy deserved a champion who would honestly defend the belt, not use dirty tricks. "I will get a shot again someday, but with Cassie in line for the title now, Nikolette in the mix and Ace who also got screwed before I did.... it will be a while."

As Alaina spoke, the door opened behind her. A short guy with messy blonde hair sauntered in. Usually Charlie just be-bopped around like he didn't have a care in the world. Now? It looked more like he just didn't care. He walked up to the twoladies and put a hand on each shoulder as he stood in between them. "Hey hows it going?" Charlie said before getting the bartenders attention. "Whiskey on the rocks."

Carmen nodded along with Alaina as she spoke - calling Reira a pain was, if anything, overly charitable. That was a subject she would've happily ranted on for a few minutes. "I doubt I'll be getting a title shot anytime soon. Haven't been too high on the ranks, lately, and there are a lot of people ahead in that line. I'd really like to see Drake get another crack." She raised an eyebrow at what came next. "So...there's a line up for the title? But I thought the champion got to choose who-"

Before she could go on, Charlie finally showed up, looking not like Charlie at all. Morose. Slovenly. Even more unkempt than usual. It was not a good look, but Carmen knew better than to draw immediate attention to it. "Hey, vato." She gave him a little wave and patted the seat beside her. "Been a minute since you stopped by the gym. Everything okay?"