The Best Place to Meet Someone

Peyton stopped running, taking a moment as Alaina spoke and crossed her arms, giving her a skeptical look. She then thought for a second how to phrase what she wanted to say. "Okay babe, I get it. I really do. The best thing and all that, sure. But doing all that is totally not going to mean anything if you aren't mentally in it. And that means you need to spoil yourself a little bit. Be a little less high strung! I mean, when I ran into you, you were a mess of anxiety, all down on yourself! I mean, freaking look at you! You got one strong little body on you! And you're already a kick ass wrestler--I think. I dunno, still haven't watched you compete. But what I'm saying is... if you focus so much on trying to be the best, it ain't going to happen. You need to balance."

McKee then put her hands on the brunette's shoulders, giving her an imploring look. "Since you lost your belt, have you like... chilled out at all? Or have you just been going full tilt into training harder? Have you tried just going out and having a night, spoiling yourself and really just let loose all your emotions and get them out? Speaking as someone who has tremendous highs and lows, I promise you that if you just go nuts once, you'll feel so much better and then you can get right back on track and do all your crazy healthy intense training stuff without it getting to you!" The redhead gave the girl a bright smile, hoping that she could understand where she was coming from. Because even if Alaina was totally obsessed with being the absolute best, Peyton thought she could definitely benefit from some R&R.

Alaina smiled and crossed her arms as Peyton spoke. She knew the point Peyton was trying to make to to some degree she was right. You had to have a proper mindset to succeed, no doubt about that. "I see. Have you ever considered that what I do for fun is just, ya know, different than what you think is fun?" Alaina asked. For her training was fun, more fun than going out. She had Bryan in her life... well when their schedules let it happen anyway.... so going out and talking to guys had no real place for her. She met one she loved, plain and simple. Alcohol was a good time even if a night of binge drinking would set her training and fitness back.

"I get what you are saying though and I appreciate it. I really do."

As Alaina tried her best to convince Peyton that she felt her working out and training schedule was what she did for fun, McKee gave her the most flat of looks, not buying it for even a second. "...Dude, my point is that you're doing the same thing that you think is fun and it's got you bumming since you got punked out, apparently. I mean, if all of this is so much fun, why were you looking like it was a chore before I started talking to you?" asked the rehead, crossing her arms over her chest, canting her head to look at Alaina. "I mean, you don't have to go out and do what I'm sure are horribly unhealthy ways of dealing with sadness like I do, but... do you think this is cutting it right now? Do you think that it's putting you in the right head space to figure out what you need to do to get back on track? And be totally honest with me."

Peyton was typically stubborn, and probably a little too forceful for her own good, but she at least wanted Alaina to really think about her predicament, mostly because she didn't like to see people in bad moods around her, especially if they seemed cool.

Alaina sighed as Peyton kept pressing the point. "Okay. I want to be better so I can either improve myself or take time off. If I take time off I am not making any progress, or so I think. To me the best cure for a slump is to work at improving myself and then turning that work into a winning streak." Alaina said, sounding exasperated.

"However, I seem to be horribly wrong in your eyes. Tell me point blank what I should do since I allegedly can't do anything right, and have had a psychologically flawed approach to life with the whole 'work harder' approach." Alaina said. She didn't mean to come across as abrasive but after she said the words she was very sure she was being a total bitch. She buried her head in her hands and shook her head. "...I am sorry. I have just been under a lot of stress and I think I do need a break. I shouldn't have snapped like that."

Peyton looked mildly surprised at Alaina's response, raising an eyebrow and waiting for her to finish before speaking up again, offering a friendly smile. "Hey, no... it's cool. I just wanted you to think about it because, uh... well, you kinda should. Like, what I seriously, honestly think you need to do is just take some time and let loose to get rid of that stress first. If you don't get rid of your stress, you're not going to be able to put all of your focus in getting better and being healthy. Does that make sense? Like, you really need to get all of... this off your mind for a bit. All the wrestling, training, whatever. Just set it aside and then focus on yourself mentally for a bit. And then once you get rid of all that stress you got bottled up by just spoiling yourself just a little bit, you can get back to training and all that crap, and you'll be set back only a wee little bit. What's like, one day of set back when there's 315 days in the year?" said Peyton, her math being totally off there.

McKee, proud of what she considered wise wisdom, gestured the brunette towards her with a smile. "Now bring it in for me." she said before wrapping her in a hug, attempting to make Alaina feel better. When she hugged her, Peyton furrowed her brow, patting her on the back with both hands before moving her hands along her back and saying, "...Damn girl, your muscles are hard as a rock." she mentioned, then resumed the hug proper.

Sometimes all it took was a bit of a change of perspective. There were also times when that change came from an unexpected source. This was definitely one of those times. As Peyton wrapped up Alaina in a hug Alaina hugged her back and got a laugh out of Peytons reaction. "Thanks, ya know you are pretty damn solid yourself." She said as she squeezed Peyton in a hug.

Time away... Alaina took a deep breath and knew what she should do. What she had to do. It had been a while since she returned home, and she thought that a trip back to San Diego was in order. "Like, thanks for putting up with a whiney bitch like me today. It really means a lot. If I can ever do anything for you please let me know." Alaina said quietly to Peyton with a genuinely happy smile on her face for the first time in a while.