Here Goes...

"Alright, great, tilt your head a little to the... great. Now smile."

Taylor did her best to cooperate with the photographer. It was her very first real promotional photoshoot for the AFW. After her win at Avalanche she'd been getting a lot more attention than she was used to, and she wasn't really sure how to deal with it. She also got a nice raise... That part was nice. She hadn't spent any of the money yet. Honestly, she had no idea what to do with it, so she just let her bank account grow. She thought about maybe sending some money back to her mom, but... that seemed a little weird, considering.

"Smile, Taylor. Gimme that great Taylor Parker smile."

She tried, but her usual bright, punky grin just wasn't coming easily. She imagined that the photographer was getting frustrated with her. Really, it didn't seem right, all this attention for her, this dumb photo thing, without Akashi. She knew that she was probably more upset about it than Akashi, but she couldn't help it... She always imagined climbing up the Friction ranks with Akashi waiting for her at the top. But... it wasn't herself that Taylor felt so bad for. Her heart broke for Akashi, and she couldn't deal with it. Probably because it had been several days and she hadn't gone to see her yet. She needed to do that. She was her best friend, she owed her that. She was afraid, though, and she wasn't sure why. She was a wreck, like always.

"Taylor? Are you alright? Do you... Okay, why don't we take a break. Go grab some water, relax. You're doing great."

"Sorry." She said. The spotlight was really meant for girls who weren't complete emotional train wrecks. She grabbed her hoodie and headed back out to the lounge. She pulled on the black "New Found Glory" sweatshirt, zipped it up, and pulled the hood over her bright blue pigtails. She felt dumb. She didn't even like New Found Glory. They were total pussies. She sighed.

She grabbed a bottle of water from a table full of little refreshments and turned the corner into the small room filled with comfortable furniture and a couple TV's hung on the walls. It was empty, except... oh right.

That was the other thing that had Taylor all knotted up. She got to share the lounge today with Heather Sunderland. So far, she'd gone out of her way to ignore her completely, and the few minutes they'd both spent in the room before Taylor went up to have a camera stuck in her face were passed in complete silence. She walked past Heather and flopped onto an overstuffed recliner. She sat sideways in it, leaned back against one armrest with her elbow propped up and draped her legs over the other. She pulled her hood down tighter. This habit she had of trying to use her hoodies to hide from the world was really pretty pathetic. It she wanted to do that, she'd have to start buying bigger hoodies.

Still, she didn't get to where she was now by being a total pussy. She couldn't rely on Akashi's constant reminders to be all good and honorable and shit. She knew that she couldn't keep flipping out and holding grudges and talking trash all the time, and, despite the protest in the pit of her stomach, she knew that this was a good time to try to be a... whatever. Good person or something. Maybe if she talked to Heather she wouldn't want to beat her face in so much for what she did to Natalia. Not that Natalia was her friend... It just wasn't right. And totally un-fucking-necessary. Maybe she should just tell her that.

She took a deep breath. Here goes.

"Hey." She said. "Um... S-so why do you fight in a robe? Are you just too lazy to take it off or something?"

With the fallout from the Avalanche pay per view really settling in, Heather would finally find herself some time to relax, something that she felt she hadn't gotten in ages with everything that's been happening as she sat in the lounge, resting back on her chair, wearing her purple dress as usual. With all the damage that was done to her now fiancee and his miraculous recovery and reunion at the end of her brutal hell in a cell match, as well as some ridiculousness that happened afterwards, it felt like she was never going to catch a break. Finally though, she was able to find herself some time in the lobby, to really collect her thoughts.

However, of course, she was soon to find out that she would have to share that solitude with someone else. That someone being Taylor, one half of the tag team that she was going to face in a matter of days. She really had nothing against the girl, but in their first meeting it seemed that she had some reason so be pissed at her. Heather had no idea that the girl was 'close' with Natalia, someone that Heather truly hated, or that Taylor seemed to be quite pissed at Heather for her after-match antics.

Now though, they were together in the lounge, neither wanting to budge except for when Taylor had done the photoshoot. There was a compete silence between the two as well. Heather would simply continue sitting back, resting her hands behind her head as she went to possibly doze off to sleep, wanting to get some time to herself. Taylor seemed to be using her hoodie to hide slightly, and Heather would just ignore it. She really did want to find out exactly why Taylor was so pissed at her, but if she wasn't going to talk first, Heather wasn't going to bother.

Just as she went to shut her eyes, and get some rest however, she would hear Taylor suddenly break the silence in a sort of quiet way. Heather would open her eyes, glancing at her before narrowing them slightly. "...What??" She would let out, the random question not really registering with her at first as she would slowly sit up, staring at her.

"...Because I like it. I like the feel of it when I leap off the ropes...why, were you looking for one yourself? I don't have any extras." Heather would say with a slight grin. Inside, the silence, while she didn't really mind it, was slightly unsettling as the girl was just sitting there. Heather figured with a remark like that she could get something going slightly, maybe find out some answers while she was at it.

"No, I'm good..." Taylor said. She jammed her hands into the pockets of her sweatshirt, but found it wasn't any more comfortable. She shifted in her seat and pulled her hood down. She looked down at her stomach, which was left bare by her ring gear's short white top. "Um..." She tugged at the hem of her short blue miniskirt, as if that would help cover her legs.

"So, I guess Clyde's like, okay and stuff. That's cool. I saw your match the day after. I DVR all the Friction stuff..." Her eyes wandered, then flicked over to Heather, and then wandered some more. She was really uncomfortable. For some reason, talking to Heather like this when she had previously only wanted to punch her in the face made her feel really vulnerable.

"How long have, like... the two of you been together or whatever? I guess in Friction the thing to do is bag yourself a Tension guy. Is Clyde a... wrestler? Or something? I only keep up with Friction, so I don't really know."

The worst part about it all was that, at least so far, Heather didn't seem all that bad. But it had to only be skin deep. Somewhere in there was a total scumbag just acting polite.

"Right.." Heather would let out as Taylor responded to her attempt to liven up he conversation a bit. It was clear it nowhere near worked, but what was much more interesting was how the girl was acting. She seemed very much uncomfortable, making motions that gave that emotion away countless times. As she let out the sound that seemed to mean she was about to speak, Heather would tilt her head, listening to her words.

"Yeah..thank you for seeming to care about that. It's been rough recently, but yeah he's ok, everything is slowly getting better." Heather would respond, not even sure if Taylor knew the full story of what he recovered from, but she figured just the fact that she had the decency to bring it up was enough.

"Oh uh..just for a couple months now..I wrestle on and off in tension and met him there..so yeah he's a wrestler." Heather would say, a bit offed that she didn't even seem to know who he was, but when she clarified that she didn't really watch Tension, Heather would let out a sigh. "Yeah..That seems to be the case for alot of people."

Even through this small conversation, it was clear something was bothering Taylor. Heather could tell how uncomfortable she was talking to her and she more and more wanted to know why as they talked. Last time they met, the girl didn't have a single good thing to say about or to her, and now here they were making small talk. Heather still wanted to know what was the deal out in the arena, and now she wanted to know why she was so uncomfortable talking to her.

"Look...I know there's something bothering you and If there's something that you want to say, then just say it. If you're not going to talk about last time we met then I will. So if there's something you want to bring up with me, you probably should before I start asking my own questions. I can tell you aren't enjoying the conversation and trying to convince me otherwise is ridiculous." Heather would say, her body turned towards her as she remained sitting in her chair.

"Well, I been thinking of starting..." Taylor said about watching Tension. "At least for one guy." She almost smiled.

She took on a troubled look of concern while Heather cut to the chase. She could feel her body tensing up, and it became hard to look relaxed. She turned to sit straight in her chair, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees and facing Heather.

"Well, there is something..." Taylor started slowly. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before fixing her deep blue eyes on Heather. "Like I said I watch all the Friction stuff, except the skeezy porn shit. I've seen all your stuff. I'm not real impressed. We got a match comin' up, right? I'm not worried. But... I caught your match. Before the PPV. What you did to Natalia... and... you enjoyed it, you... sick fuck. I don't like you, a'right? You probably don't like me either, that's cool... I'm glad things are cool for you now, your dude's alright, but... I need to beat your face in."

Taylor's hands were quivering, she could feel the warmth in her face, her heart was beating faster. She took a deep breath. She had to stay cool.

"Look, how was it when Clyde got fucked up? I don't know who did it, but like, I know he wasn't in a car accident or anything. It's not like he had a match and got beat fair and square and ended up like that. Fighting is our job, that's fine. The shit you pulled wasn't fighting, you stuck up, prissy, hateful little bitch. Natalia is somebody's Clyde." She said very clearly. "Understand?"

She paused, and leaned back in her chair. She took another deep breath. She hated how she felt. She hated how it felt when she watched people like Heather do the things they did. At that moment she hated fighting. She had no idea why she ever thought it was a good idea to come to Japan and spend all of her time around these people. She should've been an accountant or something. She hated that feeling.

Heather would nod her head slightly at Talyor's words about possibly starting to watch it for a particular person. That, she could understand. Truth be told, Heather didn't watch much of it either other than obviously the matches she was in and then the matches that Clyde was in. However, with that aside in the conversation, Heather would bring up the point that lead to their first altercation.

She would wait in anticipation as Taylor began, and right off the bat the girl seemed to belittle her. Heather would narrow her eyes a bit as Taylor said she wasn't impressed or worried about their upcoming match. She still had no clue who she was but with the attitude she was taking towards on her, she already was getting on Heather's nerves. But then, she would bring up the reason why she was angry. "Wh...What!?" Heather would let out as Taylor revealed she was mad about the little humiliation trip that Heather gave Natalia at the end of their match.

Just then, Heather wanted to stop her, feeling quite wronged but however she would let her continue. Then though, she did something that really aggravated Heather. She dared to compare what she did to Natalia to what happened to Clyde. Heather couldn't believe her ears at first and when Taylor finally stopped her venting and sat back, Heather would just stare at her for a second, blinking her eyes before she decided to respond.

"Are you finished?..I knew what I did wasn't going to be popular...But I don't see how I can be blamed for it." Heather would say, simply glaring at Taylor as she talked. "What I did to her was nothing compared to what she put me through that entire match...She humiliated me in that ring every single second that she could. She just kept touching me, she wouldn't stop...her groping, her kissing, her teasing...How do you think I felt? She even didn't hesitate to bring Clyde up constantly while she did all that."

Heather would shake her head, part of her not even wanting to deal with this, in disbelief that the girl would say what she did wasn't fighting. "Did you even watch the whole match or just the end? The match wasn't a humiliation match..it wasn't a hentai match..so tell me, why is it ok for her to do those things to me the entire duration of the match, but me getting her back for it at the end was not ok?" Heather would say, her fists clenching tightly, but she was doing a better job of hiding it. "And..don't...you...dare..compare what I did..to what happened to Clyde......I thought he died you little bitch...Don't fucking compare the two! I would NEVER cause someone else to go through what I did or what he did!

"IT WASN'T RIGHT!" Taylor screamed and leapt to her feet. "FUCK Natalia!"

Her outburst attracted the attention of an AFW staff member, who poked his head around the doorway. Taylor glanced at him, and then back at Heather. She tried to relax again. She didn't want to fight, but it was so hard to let it go.

"Look." She started again, a little cooler. "Natalia tried that shit with me a little. Know what I did? I beat her nice and clean, and it felt great. How do you feel? And look how pissed you are the second I start talking about Clyde, what if Natalia's... significant other was watching that match? I don't... think... she has parents... or whatever. I... Um..." She hesitated, and tugged fitfully at her hoodie. "Goddammit! The point is it was still wrong! You can't just do that shit to people. That... doesn't go away, ya know?" She said, running out of steam and getting quiet.

She was quiet for a moment before finally unzipping and throwing off her hoodie. "And I HATE THIS FUCKING BAND!" She kicked it fitfully across the floor. If she weren't so hyped up, she'd have been pretty chilly. Her ring attire wasn't very warm.

"..Wasn't right!? WASN'T RIGHT!?" Heather would say, getting up to her feet after Taylor would. She certainly wasn't as angry as the girl was, but she felt like she was totally taking the full blame for something that in her mind wasn't a big thing.

"You need to wake up!" Heather would let out as Taylor finished her whole explanation before throwing off her hoodie. "Things don't just work that way! That fucking girl was on me the entire match. She didn't just try things, she DID them. She wouldn't stop for a single second. Do you really think just winning the match was going to correct all of that!?" Heather would let out, shaking her head. She wasn't sure if Taylor was going to get it regardless, but she still went out of her way to explain.

"I gave her a taste of her own medicine! Like she wasn't going to do the same exact thing if she had me in cuffs. I've SEEN what she's done to other girls in that kind of match. And HELL She fucking LIKED what I did. You call ME sick??? Fuck that that it doesn't go away. What about what she did to me!? I don't see one BIT of way that just me winning the match would have taught her. She got what she wanted, I had to give it back to her."

Heather would shake her head, sighing as she rubbed her temples. "People..don't learn shit from you being 'fair and clean' to them. I just gave her back what she did to me and that is all! I wouldn't have even THOUGHT of doing that to her had she not tried to sex me up the whole match!" Heather would let out, trying to get her point across as well as she can. "I understand where you're coming from, and I'm sorry if you're friends with her, but in no way do I regret what I did nor do I think it 'wasn't right'."

Taylor scowled. Looking at Heather being so sure of herself that she didn't do anything wrong, and remembering how wrong it felt to watch it happen, Taylor wasn't sure if she was going to punch her or start crying. She didn't want to do either.

"Alright." She said, ironing out the slight quaver in her voice. "You think what you want. Whatever makes you happy. In a few days or whatever, when it's me and you in the ring, I'm going to teach you a thing or two. I'm going to beat your ass down, Akashi's going to stomp Cecelia into retirement, and when it's me and Akashi with our hands raised, I'll help you up and let you get the hell out of there so you don't have to face your fans like a loser. You're not like, a total asshole or whatever, like Gatt, but that only makes it worse. I don't know how. I don't like you."

"Taylor? Ready?" Called her photographer from the next room.

She didn't answer right away. She looked Heather in the eye and slowly cracked a grin. "Yeah, I'm comin'." She called back without breaking eye contact.

"Here's a question." She said, sort of out of curiosity. "What do you think about me, eh?" She really was just asking so she could have some fire in her to carry to their match. At least that's what she thought. "You'd better figure it out, I don't think you're going to be facing off with Gatt soon, you'd be stupid to want to, so if you want a belt I'm your best shot. How do you like your chances?"

Heather would watch and listen to Taylor's words, each one really getting to her. She couldn't help but be slightly annoyed at the girl's stubbornness. She tried her best to explain her actions, but it was like Taylor was blocking out all she said in favor of what she wanted to hear. "I still don't understand what your problem is or why you hate me so much for doing such a small thing, but if that's what you think then I'll just have to set you straight. I'm GOING to beat you out there in that tag match, and I'll show you that I can do it all 'nice and fair' like you say." Heather would respond, crossing her arms. "Cecilia can hold her own as well, Akashi won't be stomping down anything."

Heather would hear Taylor being called to a second photoshoot it seemed, but just like Taylor, she wouldn't break eye contact. The next words that came out of the girl's mouth were interesting ones. "What do I think of you huh?" Heather would respond before she would let Taylor finish her words, shaking her head and letting out a small sigh.

"I don't need to try and figure it out, I already have. What do I think about you? I think you're just a brat who loves to argue for no real reason. I also think you feel some kind of high and mighty for being a 'good girl' but yet you seem to play it off like you really aren't. Maybe you just don't understand, but it doesn't matter. I'm going to put you in your place in our match." Heather would say before sitting herself down, crossing her legs. "As for your title, if I was even allowed to use my contract for your belt, I wouldn't waste the opportunity. You aren't worth it. As for Gatt, I'll deal with her. If she's holding the title when I decide to cash in, She'll be the one I beat." Heather would say with a smile on her face.

"I'll see you in the ring and we'll see who the better one is. You better not waste any more time though, your little photoshoot awaits."