Slumber Party Panic!

Talia cooked in the kitchen like a dedicated chef. She even pulled an apron out of her bag and immediately put it on. If there was one thing she thought she was better at than wrestling, it was cooking. She grilled up the food rather expertly in some simple spices. The room filled with the scent. When she was almost finished, Cass ran off to the living room to apparently print out some things for the two. Right after she ran off, though, someone knocked on the door. Talia looked after Cassie but she didn't seem to hear the sound.

Talia, still wearing her apron started for the family room. "Cassie, someone's knocking at the door," she started before the guest appeared to let himself into the room. She stood there holding a large wooden spoon as she stared back at the man who looked eerily familiar to her. "Oh...umm...Yes...yes it is!" she said awkwardly. She really needed Cassie to come back at that moment; she just didn't know what to say. "Wait...have we met before?" she asked as she tilted her head. Something about him just reminded her of someone she knew.

Mamouru looked at the girl who seemed to find him familiar. Mamouru smiled and lowered his head. "I do not believe so. I would certainly remember a face as lovely as yours." He said and flashed her a smile. He then stood up. "However, I do believe that you look familiar as well..." He paused and put his fingers to his lips. "You are in AFW are you not/" He asked. "I am as well." He nodded. "In Tension of course, however I do ... or have... represented some Friction girls as a manager." He wasn't sure where he stood with his clients at this juncture, honestly.

"My name is Mamouru. Mamouru Higurashi. It's a pleasure to meet you." He said while bowing and smiled at the girl. "Are you a friend of Taylor's? Is she here?" He could smell the delicious food wafting from the kitchen. This girl was obviously cooking but he had not heard of her. How would she know Taylor? Maybe she was finally getting some friends while she was on her Johnny Hiatus? He would have to inquire about all these things subtly.

"Hi, Mamouru." Cassie said and rose to her feet amidst an array of papers laid out on the floor. The complications of their relationship kept any more exuberant greeting in check. She hadn't gone to see him after returning to Japan. She wasn't even sure why, but... she also knew why. Between her miserably failed attempt to rejuvenate her floundering career under Mamouru's guidance, and her complicated feelings about the guy, she just didn't know what to do. So she did nothing.

Still, she crossed the room and gave Mamouru a hug. "Taylor's not home right now." She said. "She needs a lot of alone time right now." She left it at that. No doubt Mamouru already knew why.

"This is my friend Talia! We met in the gym today, and we're just hanging out and stuff." She reached up and scratched her head and tousled her short red hair and made a face. She didn't know what else to say.

"Mamouru is Johnny Higurashi's brother!" Was what she came up with. "And... Johnny is Taylor's boyfriend."

Talia couldn't help but blush at the man's comment about her face. "Yes, actually! I'm in Tension as well, I've only been wrestling a few months." She was a little happy to be recognized as well. It was some proof to her that she was getting more renown in the league. She reached out to shake his hand. Cass's additional introduction of the man made Talia suddenly pull her hand back. It wasn't anything he had done, but the mere thought of it all had quickly diminished her mood.

"Yes...I...I know Johnny..." Talia began in a somber tone. That explained a lot actually, especially why he was so familiar. "I actually met Taylor through Johnny in fact." Talia wasn't sure of what Johnny had told his brother about her. For all she knew, this man knew everything about their date and about what had happened right after. Hopefully, though, he didn't. And she didn't want to ruin the night if that was the case. She caught a scent of her chicken cooking and quickly ran back over to the kitchen. "Oh! Do you want to stay for dinner?" she asked as she flipped the food. It hadn't even dawned on her that it wasn't her apartment and that it probably wasn't proper etiquette to invite him without Cassie's permission. "We have more than enough food!"

Mamouru's face went white when he heard Cassie's voice. She was the last person he had expected to see. He could barely even form words when Cassie, and then talia spoke. He closed hsi eyes when Cassie hugged himand gently, patted her on the back of the head. His body tensed. He didn't just want to hug her, he wanted to properly and warmly greet her. She was being so cold, so casually. Mamouru could feel his body begin to knot up and when she let go, he took a step back. He turned and looked at Talia as she scampered away. "Y-Yes, I've seen your match. Johnny-kun's spoke... of you..." Mamouru let out a sigh as his words dropped.

He lifted up his hand and ran his figners through his hair as he looked at Cassie and frowned. Not in an anry way but in a way that silently asked her a thousand questions. "You're living with Taylor now?" He asked. "That... must be exciting..." Mamouru clenched his teeth and lowered his head. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He couldn't take it and covered the distance between them. "C-Cassie-san!" He pleaded a s he reached out to grab her arm. "You didn't even tell me you were back! You have moved and..." Mamouru swallowed hard. "Not even a phone call..." He knew what that meant.. He released her arm. "I... understand... Cassie-san..." He said with a somber tone.

Cassie didn't pull away from Mamouru. She accepted his touch, but her face fell and she suddenly felt awful. Everything she had thought would go unsaid was out in the open now, and she had nothing to say about it. Other than the truth, but they probably both knew that anyway.

"Mamouru, I... um..." She hesitated. "I'm really sorry. I should've... called, or something. But... I dunno. I didn't know what to say." She took a step closer to him and said very quietly "Maybe we could just talk about that later?"

Then she stepped back and held his gaze for a moment before becoming social again. "Yeah! You should stay for dinner. Smells pretty good, eh?" Her phone rang. "Oh, excuse me."

She retreated to the living room and sat on the recliner while she answered her phone. "Hi!" She said brightly with a smile. "Oh! Awesome! What's his name? We're making chicken and... I don't know what else, but, well, we can do something else too, ya know, for you, and, what does he like to eat? Ask him what he-"

She checked her phone and confirmed that the person on the other end had hung up. She hopped off the chair and raised her arms triumphantly. "Taylor's coming home! And she's bringing someone!"

But then she looked around, from Talia to Mamouru, and began to realize the nightmarish situation that Taylor would be walking into. A look of panic and horror came over her and she was frozen in place.

"DO YOU WANT TO STAY FOR DINNER TOO?" She asked Mamouru again, in a voice way louder than she realized, having forgotten that she'd already asked him. "Because if you have somewhere else to be, ya know..."

Talia watched the two talk from the safety of the kitchen. She had no idea of their history though the clear awkwardness between them was more than enough evidence of it. She just kept tending to the chicken as she dropped some white rice into a pan of hot oil. Fried rice seemed like an American thing she missed. As if directing her own cooking show, she walked over to the cutting board to finish slicing some vegetables for the rice. It was then that Cassie's phone rang. She looked up curiously as she cut up an onion. Cassie seemed so happy, then all of a sudden the mention of Taylor made Talia cut down quickly. "Ow!" she yelled as she knicked off a tiny bit of skin from her finger. She instantly wrapped it up with a towel. "Taylor's coming?" she asked nervously. It was fine, right? I mean, all she did was...attack Taylor that one time.

But Talia just kept on cooking. So what? She was Cassie's guest! She had every right to be in Taylor's apartment cooking. It'd be just fine- "Should I leave?" Talia quickly asked Cass with a nervous look on her face. "I-I'll leave..." Talia said as she pulled the chicken off the stove. "You all can eat this...it'll be fine..."

Mamouru's eyes fell when Cassie spoke. It was rude of him to be so anxious, especially when Talia was still around. Mamouru nodded and smiled. He looked at Cassie and found her eyes for a brief moment. "Let's." He said. "Hopefully we can catch up on things when we both have some free time." Mamouru nodded again. "Dinner would be most excellent." He said and watched as Cassie answered her phone. He drifted back to Talia as she watched the girl cook.

But he was startled when Cassie yelled and snapped his head towards her. "Um.. Yes, of course, Cassie-san. Even if there are many people, that would be alright. I still have to speak to Taylor-chan." He'd certainly be staying for dinner just for Cassie but there seemed to be a bounty of beautiful ladies filling up tonight's dinner menu and as a gentleman he certainly wouldn't step out on such pleasant scenery and a good meal.

However, it seemed as if Talia was hastening to leave and the girl nervously muttered and abandoned her post at the kitchen. Mamouru stepped towards her. "Talia-san. Why would you leave? He asked. "We have just met. Wouldn't it be better to stay and get acquainted?" His tone was sincere, and friendly. "I am sure that is what Cassie-san wants as well. She's ever the jovial and courteous woman. I know she values friendships deeply."

Mamouru's eyes suddenly widened and he turned his head. He had meant it as a sincere praise of Cassie's unflappable personality but he suddenly realized it could be taken differently. That Cassie was abusing the relationship between her and Mamouru. But Mamouru shook his head. Cassie was as he said and she'd never think he would have meant it like that.

"Don't be silly!" Cassie exclaimed, and rushed to Talia, gently grabbing her arm. "You have to... stay... and stuff."

Her conciliatory smile faded as the thought of Taylor returning to find Talia and Mamouru returned. She froze again. She didn't want Taylor to be mad, sure, but she was most afraid of how it would make Taylor feel. She didn't want to make things even harder for her. She spent a lot of time trying to do the opposite!

"What?" She suddenly realized Mamouru was talking. He gave her a weird look and then looked down the way he did, and Cassie thought she must have missed something. Well, it didn't matter.

"Uh, Talia, you seem like a pretty good cook, is there a way we could... um..." Cassie drifted off for a moment, staring at the food. "Taylor's a vegan, so she doesn't eat chicken. Not really, I think. Maybe it might be nice if we have food she can eat?" She said, her voice climbing to a high, hopeful pitch. "You don't have to. She has her own food. She eats lots of vegetables and stuff, just raw. And stuff. Um..."

Cassie thought for a moment, staring into space, and then bolted out of the kitchen back into the bedrooms, zoomed into the bathroom and then quickly reappeared back in the kitchen and stopped as if she'd forgotten where she was trying to go in the first place. She stood for a moment, frozen in time, until all at once she seemed to relax as if nothing had happened.

"Do you want to see what I'm making?" She asked evenly, and walked over to pick up the pile of papers on her printer. They were pictures of AFW, Friction and Tension, wrestlers, four two a page, printed with a brief bio on the back. She found a pair of scissors from a drawer by the fridge and began neatly cutting them into individual pictures.

Talia reluctantly accepted the reassurances of each person. Mamouru may not have known what happened between Taylor and her but his reasoning was still sound. And Cassie was friendly enough for the both of them, Talia didn't want to make her mad. She just didn't want to be a burden or bother on anyone. "I...okay..." she would state simply before walking back to the kitchen. She drained the water out of the pot of pasta and added in another sauce she had been simmering. Luckily for Taylor, she already knew a way to make something vegetarian by simply not mixing the pasta with the chicken. It wouldn't hurt to make a salad too, she thought to herself. Or a nice bean salad. Now she felt as if she needed to impress Taylor somehow. Maybe it would make things less awkward if she at least enjoyed the food.

When Cassie came back into view, Talia looked up at her curiously. For a moment, she stopped stirring one of the pots to walk over to inspect her work. "Oh...what are you making?" she asked as she held the wooden spoon up to her lips. She would have licked it had she not known it was boiling hot. "Is that for work? Are you making like...a collection of those for your journalism thing?"