California Connections

Alaina rubbed her head, still tender after her brutal SS matchup with the old, crazy, tough-as-nails Kei. It was a nice enough day out, cloudy but nothing falling from the sky. She would have talked to Charlie about doing something but he hadn't been himself lately. As hard as she tried, working to cheer Charlie up was a drain on Alaina.

She needed a touch of home, and knew just the person to call. After looking through her contacts she found just the person to talk to... provided said person was available.

Alaina hit "dial Amy Poford" on her phone, calling up the Tension star who shared in her love of Mexican food. "Come on Amy pick up...." Alaina said aloud. While she miraculously didn't have a concussion or broken ribs her head and chest felt like a steamroller ran them over. While unconventional, Alaina felt like part of her missed home and getting back in touch with that was a much needed remedy.

Wouldn’t it have been something if Amy was at Tai’s Taco Stand just then?

But alas, Amy was not. That afternoon, Amy had elected to eat lunch at her favorite ramen shop instead. While the restaurant didn’t offer the best version of the noodle soup she’d had- that honor went to a little hole-in-the-wall in Tokyo- it was certainly more than decent; fatty, comforting, generous with the chashu slices. But the reason that that restaurant was her favorite had nothing to do with its food. No, it was her favorite ramen shop because the owner’s 8-year old daughter was tasked with refilling water on the weekends. Mai-chan had a polite, squeaky voice, loved cats, and was fascinated by Amy’s blonde hair, which she was allowed to touch upon request. So cute.

Amy wasn’t quite finished with her meal when her phone rang, so she couldn’t answer it for fear of being rude. But Amy did peer at the screen to see who was calling, and the name across the front of her phone made her eyes light up. She hit the "reject call" button, but sent a text immediately after.

hey alaina. sorry, eating lunch. what’s up?

Alaina saw the text shortly after her call didn't get through.  Voice, text, whatever.  Any communication was good.  She began to reply as soon as she finished reading.

Heya Amy!  I haven't talked to you in a while and wanted to see if you would be up for hanging out a bit later?  I need some California influence in my life!  I am down for doing pretty much anything you would be down for doing!

Alaina replied, knowing she threw a lot at Amy.  However it was for a worthy cause!  At least a worthy cause as far as Alaina was concerned.

Amy slurped down the remainder of her noodles as she read Alaina’s text. Alaina sounded excited to see her. Did she have good news? Or maybe Alaina was just feeling restless. Then again, they’d only hung out the one time before, so who knows? Maybe this is just the way that Alaina texted.

i’m down. are you coming here though? Tokyo’s pretty far for a day trip…

Amy glanced at the time on her phone. Especially if she started at 1 pm. If Alaina left now… no, but Alaina has a car, she’d probably drive... and she’s a bit of a crazy driver…

Even with all allowances, Amy calculated that Alaina wouldn’t get to Kyoto until it was dinnertime. She’d need at least that long to get back, too. Amy sent a second text.

you sure you want to do today? I don’t mind, but you'd probably have to spend the night here

Amy put her phone down. Then she picked it up again.

you can crash at my place, but it might be cramped

Amy’s apartment was cheap; that’s why she lived there. But in exchange for low rent, Amy gave up on all sorts of things. There was no laundry machine in the building. There was no parking. She didn’t have a fridge or stove. Finally, her apartment was a bachelor- it was a single room (plus a bathroom)- and it was tiny.

Most of her sacrifices were ones she could live with- there was a laundromat the next street over, she didn’t have a car, and she made do with a mini-fridge, a microwave, and a lot of delivery. But the space thing was a little harder to deal with. She didn’t have a bed, but rather a Japanese futon bed she rolled up during the day. She had a small closet, but she also had a big rack of clothes that took up a giant chunk of her precious real estate. Finally, she had a low table that she could only use by sitting on the ground. Amy made what little space she had work, but it was definitely meant for a single user; Army hadn’t even seen her apartment, much less spent the night.

Amy didn't mind if Alaina stayed over- despite having only met her the one time before, Amy liked Alaina. She was sweet, she was thoughtful... and Amy could read her emotions easily enough that Alaina probably wasn't a sociopathic murderer. But Alaina deserved to know that her stay might not be as comfortable as it would be spending the night at a hotel.

Still... Amy chewed on an errant bamboo shoot as she waited on Alaina's reply. A sleepover could be nice.

Alaina read Amy's reply and smiled. Sure she lived in the dojo for now, but it wasn't quite like a sleepover. She thought a nice day away would be fun and hurridly began getting a few things together. She never ever allowed the beach to not be a possibility so she packed a pink bikini and matching one piece swimsuit along with a black tanktop, and pair of shorts. Not to mention socks and underwear.... can't forget those!

However, she did forget to reply to Amy's texts. She whipped out her phone and began to reply immediately.

"I would love to stay the night if you don't mind having me crash there hun! I am sure it will be fine, I will try to keep my big ol' butt from taking up too much room! See you soon!"

Alaina wanted to be comfortable today for whatever they did so she threw on a yellow sundress and sandals along with sunglasses as she looked at her chest. Her bruise wasn't as noticeable as it had been right after her match but her sundress was less "cleavage friendly" to help hide it anyway. Finally before running out the door Alaina changed up her hairstyle in an effort to hide the small bandage covering her stitches on her forehead.

great! my address is

Amy paused. She could get out her wallet, retrieve the slip of paper with her address on it, then ask Mai’s dad for help with the romanization, but that sounded like a lot of effort. Amy thought better of it, erased her text, then started over.

great! let’s meet at the tension gym. text when you’re an hour out

Then she stowed her phone and leaned back. “Gochisou sama deshita!” Amy had never been able to finish an entire bowl of ramen here (if you counted the soup), and it didn’t look like today would be any different. “Mai-chan!” The girl waddled out obediently, head cocked and eyes curious in the way that children’s eyes always seemed to be. “Okanjou onegai!”

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Amy spent the time between lunch and Alaina’s projected arrival time at the studio, just as she did every weekend. It was a comfortable place for her, a constant; as many countries as she’d traveled through and as many cultures as she’d seen, the most consistently friendly and helpful people were always the dancers. Today, she worked with a talented high schooler on smoothing out her floorwork, then helped a beginner with some basics. Never mind that she didn’t speak the language; it was a productive afternoon, and she’d worked up a sweat.

Amy checked her messages as she toweled off at the end of the session. Alaina was an hour out half an hour ago; shit. And there was a second message, too. An email from management. Huh.

Anyway, she wouldn’t have time to shower. She said her goodbyes and rushed to the station, hoping to get to the Tension campus before Alaina did. It would be embarrassing to be late when Alaina was coming from almost 300 miles away.

Amy reached the doors of the Tension gym exactly 30 minutes later, panting slightly, and a light sheen of sweat about her face and neck. She was still dressed in her dancewear- black French terry dropcrotch pants, and a loose, sleeveless grey hoodie up top, armholes torn wide and unhemmed, revealing the electric blue sports bra underneath. She had her backpack and a change of clothes with her; she could change once management had cleared up whatever it is they wanted with her. It had been overcast all day, but the sun had only just begun to set, and it was still plenty warm.

Alaina was in the car and ready, enjoying the drive. She had a convertable so the top was down and she was loving every second of the wind blowing her long hair all around. She had a crazy mix of music playing, everything from Pink to Def Leppard to Rolling Stones. She loved driving on the open road, speed limits be damned. Driving was a stress reliever for Alaina, it always had been and always will be. She was free on the open road and this was a judgement free solo drive. No one to tell her to slow down.

Alaina had arrived at the Tension gym right on time. She would have been there 45 minutes earlier had it not been for a slow construction zone. Alaina was in her sundress with her backpack of travel goodies. The Tension gym was... slightly smaller than she was used to at Friction. However it was bigger than the dojo due to its private residence nature.

Alaina looked around for all of twenty seconds before spotting Amy. "Heya Amy whats up girl?" Alaina asked happily as she waved and approached. She wanted to give Amy a nice big hug as soon as she was within hugging range.

Amy didn’t even have the time to catch her breath before she heard Alaina call out her name. She turned toward the parking lot; Alaina was on the approach, waving and smiling like Amy was waiting for her with a bag of freshly roasted sweet potatoes.

“Alaina, hey! Omph.”

Alaina wrapped Amy up in an all engulfing hug before she could say another word. She figured that Alaina was going for friendly here, but it was hard not to appreciate the power that her frame was obviously capable of. Still, given Alaina's size, strength, and natural warmth, Amy was quickly learning that Alaina was an excellent hugger. Amy lifted her arms returned the gesture as best she could.

“How you been? How’s it going?”

"I've been busy, had me a little scuffle at the Summer Splash show, that was a good time." Alaina said referring to her match with Kei that she was still hurting from a bit. "I mean, keeping busy and inside the ring keeps me out of trouble... well, sort of. What about you? Whats new girl?" Alaina eagerly asked.

She was curious as well to see what the word was with Charlie in Tension. As far as Alaina knew he was still employed even though he hadn't had a match for quite some time.

For once, Amy wasn’t taken off guard by a wrestling term. “Summer Splash, that’s the Friction PPV, right? Heard it was crazy big this year. Dude, you should have told me you were in it! If I knew, I would have watched.” For whatever reason, Amy wasn’t the least bit surprised that Alaina was one of those long huggers. “How’d you do?”

Finally, Amy extricated herself from Alaina’s clutches. “Not much, not much. Work’s been kinda shitty, but what are you gonna do, right?” She grinned, getting caught up in Alaina’s excitement. It was good to see her, and she was flattered that Alaina thought that a night out with her merited a disgusting twelve hours on the road. Then Amy was struck with a sudden thought, and she bit her lip. Surely Alaina didn’t drive all the way here with her convertible top down? Amy shook her head. No, of course not. But her hair was...

Then she remembered. “Oh, speaking of, I have some business to take care of inside. I don’t know how long it’ll be, but wanna come with?” She gave Alaina’s outfit a sympathetic once-over; clearly she’d been hoping for a different sort of day. Unfortunately, though, it would be cold soon; the sky was quickly darkening, like an even char on a nice steak...

Damn, was she hungry? Amy was hungry.

Amy pushed the door open and held it for Alaina. “If you've got clothes in that bag, you can change while you wait. We can grab dinner as soon as I’m done.”