Disquiet Comfort

Johnny ordered the same as Taylor, it sounded good and light enough. He quickly turned back and listened to what she said. He couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, dude, like, we're still talking about wrestling even now." He laughed. "It's our whole world and, that's cool and junk. I mean it's why we can live so well, but, man, just gettin out and forgettin about it every once in a while, I think we should at least make an effort, ya know? Like, why can't we just pick one day a month and just do whatever? Get out, get away from everything and just enjoy shit."

Johnny scratched his head. "This might sound really weird, but, like I think I kinda get my dad a little bit now. Like, he's still a bastard, but, if we both weren't wrestlers, I could see how it might be rough livin with someone who is. Like, does that make any sense?"

"Yeah," Taylor nodded. "I remind myself all the time about how much we have. Like, we don't try to live like rockstars, but it'd be so easy to lose perspective."

She furrowed her brow with a little half smile and tilted her head to the side. "Yeah?" She asked. "What do you mean?"

"Like... I can kinda see why they ended up gettin a divorce and junk." He said. "I love my mom, but, she kinda put wrestling ahead of everything. Like, she wasn't even really a wrestler, either, but, you've seen the house... Wrestling was her life!"

Johnny paused for a second. "I guess she did a good job raisin us, but she never took time to just raise us, it was always while doing her wrestling thing. I played with wrestlers, I hung out with wrestlers. My friends were the kids of wrestlers. Wrestling's just always been the only thing I've known and junk."

"So, like, I can kind of see how my dad just wanted her to take some time away from it and enjoy life, enjoy him, enjoy our family... I mean, she's still just about wrestling... If we very have kids... I don't know if I want that kinda life for em... I mean, it's not a bad life, i had so much fun growin up. I just... I guess I want them to decide if they want it, not force them into it and junk. That's all I'm sayin babe." He said with a weak smile.

"I mean.. all of this..." He said motioning to himself. "It's all from wrestling! If my ma had been normal, maybe I would have ended up more like Mamouru and less like a yankee!" Johnny laughed.

"Yeah..." Taylor nodded. "I guess your dad gets a bad rap because he's an asshole, but your mom was probably just as bad of a wife."

She shrugged. She didn't like thinking about the people she loved most in terms of their flaws and their failures, but maybe it was an important lesson.

She cracked a lopsided grin at Johnny, and coyly swept her eyes over his body. "Yeah, I guess it wasn't all bad..." She laughed. "I've only met this Johnny. Who knows! Maybe if your mom was a history teacher, we'd have a skinny, dorky Junichi instead. A sexy, skinny, dorky Junichi."

She thanked the waitress in Japanese when she brought the tea, and she held the cup in both hands. She liked to feel the warmth of hot tea, and she loved the smell of it. She took a moment just to savor it.

"But... yeah. I totally agree. I'd never want to raise a kid in AFW. Not that we're in danger of that happening... But I guess with the things we put condoms through, we're kinda tempting fate!"

Johnny laughed with Taylor as she joked about what might have been. He took a sip from his tea and nodded his approval of it. "Like, yeah... I pretty much agree and junk, but I dunno. I still kinda want them to be around wrestling and junk. Like, I want them to want to be around it, I guess..." Johnny shrugged, he explained it well enough.

"But like, have you ever thought about it, babe? I mean, I know that you say you aren't ready, and I don't think I am either, but have you thought about it? I never would have guessed bro would have been a dad, let alone a good one and I guess he kinda is. I know it was the last thing he thought about or wanted... Until it happened..."

Johnny grinned and took a sip from his tea again. "But Megumi's cute as fuck." Johnny laughed. I'm still not sure how ma keeps her, Mamouru and Alaina in the same house without no one ever seeing each other, sheesh."

Taylor raised her eyebrows and nodded soberly at Johnny. She took the tiniest little sip of tea.

"Yeah... I've thought about it kind of a lot. Not in a, like... not in a I-wish-I-was kind of way, but like... I think about a lot of things a lot. Mostly I think about how terrible I would be, and I know maybe I'd be like Mamouru, but I dunno. Really..." She stared off into space for a moment, and then nodded. "The thought is fucking terrifying."

Then she waved her hand dismissively at the mention of Alaina. "Man, for such a nice girl, Alaina has got a fucking problem. She rages about Mamouru, when if he had just been up front with her and told her her, I got my ex pregnant and now I'm going to be a dad instead of dating you, like, there's nothing rage-worthy there. And then fuuuucking Charlie, Jesus Christ. What the FUCK, Alaina?"

Taylor shook her head with a scowl, and took another sip of tea before continuing. "I literally cannot believe the thing she's so pissed about is Talia breaking up with Charlie. Charlie being such a pussy isn't her fault. I just have no words."

"Yeah, man, that guy kinda sucks." Johnny said with the straightest face he had. "Then again, he fell for Talia. At least I figured out quick that I already had something awesome." Johnny grinned.

"And shit, I ain't defending my bro or anything, but he really DID like Alaina. It was hard for him to do what he did. I know he was really scared. Maybe he shoulda done it better, but..." Johnny shrugged. "He did pretty good for him. Maybe she's got a bug up her ass ya didn't know about? She seemed pretty cool... I dunno. Even I can see she wanted Charlie's D pretty hard..."

Johnny then grinned widely. "For the record, you'd be awesome, not terrible, babe."

"Yeah.." Taylor shook her head in disgust. "He fell for her. And we allllllll tried to warn him, but he was all we're in love, she's a wonderful person. Fuckin' gag me, dude. I mean like... That's some real shit, ya know?"

She took a sip of tea, and then couldn't keep from shaking her head some more. No matter how much she did it, the situation still warranted more. "I know what it's like, though. Right? Like, a special little guy or gal likes you best and it's so great. Nevermind that she's a proven friggin' sociopath! She actually did a pretty decent thing by breaking up with him, if you ask me, because she COULD have used him to get at everyone else, namely ME. Cutting him loose, though, that was decent. Maybe, like..."

She trailed off, and then gave Johnny a big pretty smile to butter him up.

"Maybe you could talk to ol' Charlie? Ya know, about being a man and stop it with the pity party and all that. I dunno, like I love the girl and everything, Alaina, I mean, but this has just gotta stop."

She hesitated for a moment and looked away in thought. She tucked her hands under her thighs and leaned in closer to Johnny, head cocked to the side. "I feel like we're being too negative. I shouldn't be talking about this stuff right now..."

"Yeah, dude." Johnny said, nodding to everything Taylor was saying. He knew how Talia was and Charlie thought he could change her, or something. He didn't fault the guy for falling in love, though. He knew first hand that it could happen with anyone.

"Uhhh, I guess..." Johnny said, scratching his head. He barely even talked to Charlie. He was pretty sure their only real meeting was a REALLY awkward double date back when Alaina and Mamouru were dating and he was just there...

"Yeah, maybe...' He said and looked down at his teacup. "But, We just want the best for our friends, so I don't think that's being too negative. It's not like we're talkin shit about anyone or anything and somehow we avoided wrestling..." He shrugged. "You mentioned going to a concert, but I don't think any of the bands we like really play here unless you planned on getting into J-Pop, or are into it and aren't telling me." He said with a grin. "Then again... most of the shit I like hasn't been a band for a long ass time.. fuck, dude..." Johnny frowned a bit but then smiled.

Taylor found herself paying more attention to Johnny's eyes than to what he was saying as she sipped her tea. The food arrived while he was talking, and Taylor smiled at the waitress, and then listlessly pushed at the eel with her chopsticks.

"Yeah, I know, right..." She said absently, clearly thinking about something else.

She took a bite of eel. It was pretty good. Better than Staten Island Taylor Parker would have ever dreamed possible for something so slimy and gross while it was alive.

"So, babe," she began cautiously, her eyes on her plate. "Not to go back to talking about wrestling already, but you know all the stuff with Kelly, and Talia, and like... Brittany and Death Bunny and... the Dojo, and... Cassie... And the panic attacks, and like..." She paused to recollect her thoughts. "In the match with Nikolette, I felt like I could barely breathe, and like, my stamina was just not there. It was actually really scary, because I didn't have the stuff I usually do, so I had to keep thinking of what I could do to beat her..."

She shrugged. That just made her think of Talia... ruining another match of hers.

"So... I actually started seeing, like... a... therapist." She was already blushing, and was clearly uncomfortable even saying it out loud. "I had a couple appointments so far and they've gone okay, I guess..."