Happy Birthday, Taylor! (No Longer Open!)

"Maan, you freaking guys." Taylor said, averting her eyes.

It's not that she was uncomfortable around lesbians, it was that everyone seemed to be uncontrollable lesbian nymphos. It was like that defined all of them, except maybe Ciara, but probably especially Ciara. She could have done her homework a little more before signing on with a federation, she didn't know before joining up that Friction was so... like that. She might have gone the more straight-laced route had she known that she was getting into the seedy underbelly of mainstream pro wrestling.

Still, she was in Friction now, and she had no intention of leaving. There were strong people here, and running off now would just be admitting that she didn't think she could hang with them. She could. She'd prove it, too.

She eyed Natalia with a faint, crooked smile while she picked away at the pile of food in front of her. Taylor had suddenly lost her appetite, and had barely made any progress of her cake. Natalia was so goddamn full of herself. She couldn't wait to put her in her place. She'd be doing her a favor by beating her on live TV.

"Man, you can really cram stuff into that face of yours. That's good, though, in a little while you're going to have a whole lot of pride to swallow. Is there a specific hold you want me to beat you with?" Taylor said, her head down but her eyes locked on Natalia.

Natalia, as usual, got full before eating half of what she had ordered. She placed the two barely bit hamburgers back down and pushed them aside to bring back the cake. She looked at Taylor with a devilish cute smile.

"Wait...you actually know how to apply holds? Like...real...wrestling holds?" she said licking the cake's chocolate from her lips."Awesome!" she celebrated smiling. "How about something simple...like an armbar... Lets not complicate things for you...we wouldn't want you to turn yourself into a pretzel using some real submission moves..." Natalia said with giggle.

Taylor's eye twitched. "Alright, motherfucker, let's review, a'right?" She started counting on her fingers as she talked. "First, I'd have choked out Gatt if her thugs weren't there to cheat her away to safety. Second, ask Karina about my submissions, okay? She remembers. Third, fuckin'... Tai, choked him the fuck out with a triangle. Whatshername, the waitress chick with the bar, I almost broke her in half. I think I actually injured her leg, which I felt... really bad about. Then..." She started to bring up Adrian, but she stopped short. No use kicking a dead horse.

"What about you, can you even hit an armbar for real? I thought the only submissions you ever got out of anyone usually involved a lot of panting and moaning and shit. Gawd. You gotta learn, Tits, you can have all the fun you want in your cute little porno matches, but you got me next. I don't play nice, a'right? Not for nothin', but maybe you should spend less time on your back and more time on your boxing. We saw how great that is."

Wait, was she just joking around? Shit. By the end of her rant, Taylor started to realize that she wasn't sure if Natalia was actually talking trash or if she was just being all... giggley or whatever. She was a little embarrassed, tried to just move on and not linger on her little bout of trash talk. She ate another bite of cake, even though she wasn't hungry for it.

"So anyway, yeah, when Johnny's in town we should totally all hang out and stuff."

Natalia continued giggling as she saw Taylor twitch and rant, but as the blue-haired girl continued, and Natalia noticed she was getting truly furious, her giggling stopped. The Dream noticed the abrupt break In Taylor's speech and immediately guessed she was going to mention Adrian.

The way Taylor attacked her next and how she suddenly changed the subject left Natalia blinking confused. She puchsed the cake away and looked back at Taylor staring blankly at her trying to see directly into her eyes, but since Taylor seemed to be trying to avoid it, Natalia let out a sigh of disappointment escape her lips.

"That is...sad..." Natalia said shaking her head. Then she slowly got up and tool some money from her jacket to put it on the table and pay the food. She had had enough of everything for one night. "I hope one day you manage to understand it, Taylor-chan..." The Dream said walking to Taylor. She then leaned down, pushing her hair to the side and gave Taylor a kiss on the cheek, quickly sneaking a hand on Taylor's pocket to steal back the keys of her bike.

"Happy birfday, Terror-chan" she would say as she walked away from the booth, heading to the dinner's exit with a bittersweet smile. "See you in the ring.... bitch" The Dream said giggling before leaving the place to ride her bike.

Taylor watched Natalia with a pained expression. She couldn't help but feel like a jerk, but she couldn't forget that Natalia was not her friend. Despite their few awkward encounters, there were still two things that defined their relationship: Natalia ambushing Taylor and giving her a concussion, and their upcoming match. It was Taylor's PPV debut, and she wasn't going to lose. Getting all wrapped up in thinking that Natalia was her friend wasn't going to help her do that.

Besides, the girl was clearly unbalanced, and she had already attacked Taylor once. Who knew, she could do it again, Taylor couldn't let her guard down, not with someone that crazy. After Taylor beat her ass and made her quit at the PPV, none of it would matter anymore. Then she could come hang around and say whatever and not ruffle Taylor's feathers. There was too much to lose, though, at that moment. She had to stay focused.

That's what Taylor told herself all the way until Natalia was out the door. She turned to Akashi and asked "Was I a total spaz just now? I... she... she's not my friend, man, she just showed up here. That doesn't change the fact that I'm going to wreck her career and make her look stupid."

Ciara watched the whole affair quietly, munching contentedly on her cake. She raised an eyebrow when she realized that one of the people already set to fight the birthday girl in the ring was celebrating her 21st with her opponent. There was obviously still some conflict between the two given Taylor's reactions.

She was surprised by Taylor's outburst, despite understanding the birthday girl's logic. Despite herself, Ciara felt like Taylor was being a little too serious about the whole business.

"Crazy? No. Unnecessary? A tad. There's no divine mandate for you to slip on a BFF ring for her, but I don't think you gain anything by pushing someone like her away. The best opponents are those you can joke with and lean on after the dust settles." Ciara scooped off another bite of cake before resting the fork down for a moment, "You probably don't want to hear this from a new acquaintance like me, but take it as advice from someone who's seen just what kind of bullshit springs from needless aggression. You can put just as much effort or more into a match when you fight to show your opponent & friend how strong you are than if you just are trying to ruin someone."

"Take Akashi for example," Ciara nodded at the champ, "she's pretty buddy-buddy with anyone she meets unless they go the extra couple miles to piss her off. Not sure what she thinks of me, but I know for a fact that she cares for Katsumi. Even so, if they went up against one another in the ring, I'm certain that both girls would battle to the last shred of their endurance to try and best the other."

Ciara smirked knowingly, "But o'course, that doesn't mean you're forbidden from making the other girl look stupid if you REALLY want to."

Taylor's face tightened, and she leaned back in the booth. "Man, alright, I didn't mean I was actually going to ruin her, ya know, but I'm going in there to kick her ass. I'm not going in to test my skills out and have a good fight and stuff, I'm gonna wreck her, fast, get the win, get paid, and move up. I need this. I need it, sooo bad. There's no way I'm going to let her beat me. There'd have to be three of her. Or at least two."

She knit her brow and looked at Akashi for a moment, but then back to Ciara. "And what the hell do I gain from someone like her? Who cares if I push her away? We have some history, man, and someone like her would only be there to kick me when I'm down. I don't need people around who are gonna... Know what? We don't need ta talk about this a'right? Forget about it. Eat more cake." She put her hand on Akashi's shoulder and gave her a smile. "Sorry, Kashi, I'm still having a great time, I'm just a little crazy is all. Don't mind me."

She ate another bite of cake and looked out the window, half expecting to see someone out there. She couldn't help but think about Natalia and Adrian and where they were, what Adrian was doing. She couldn't think too long, though, she didn't want anything from them. There was nothing to get from them. It was best just to let them go. "By the way, if bar fights mean anything, I can totally hang with the champ. And I don't care how huge you are, your teeth break just like anyone else's." Taylor said with a grin, more playfully, and patted her right knee while giving Ciara a look.

Akashi looked at Ciara with a nearly absent stare. She was listening to the girl but knit her brow as she continued. She then turned to Taylor and smiled. "Yeah, you totally spazzed. I still think she's your friend, even though she's also a little bit of a bitch. But that doesn't mean you can't just kick her ass either!" Akashi pointed to where Natalia was sitting.

""Natalia..." She then pointed at Taylor. "Taylor..." She then pointed to herself. "Akashi..." And then back to where Natalia was sitting. "Sarah..." She then grinned. "It's sorta like that, maybe on a smaller scale and at least Natalia acts nice sometimes, that's kinda lucky!"

Akashi smiled and put her hand on Taylor's and squeezed it tightly. "I know, Taylor-chan. So... I'm really happy!" She beamed brightly. She then laughed and took another piece of cake.

"h, haha. Like drunk Akashi is real tough! You were lucky fighting was ALL I was doing cause I'm pretty sure I was trying to get my hands on that hot ass of yours and smack it, not kick it!" Akashi then stood up. "Oh! Speaking of drinking!" She proclaimed. "Rounds for everyone! I need a shot! Make it a double for me! No... A triple!"

She then looked down at Taylor and grinned. "Hee... for your sake, maybe I should make it a double... anything more and I won't be able to walk home!"

She pounded the table. "Make it a quadruple!" She said and laughed as the man behind the counter considered just bringing over the bottle and the glass.

"Man, Kashi..." Taylor said, bowing her head and looking up at her hand on the table while she fidgeted with her fork. "You definitely give it to me straight. I dunno, she's just such a dick. Should I apologize? I think she's gone... I don't think I should apologize. Should I?"

Taylor furrowed her brow and watched Akashi run through her Taylor-Natalia Akashi-Sarah analogy. She was quiet for a second while the wheels turned upstairs, and slowly a look of understanding came over her. "Wow. I... huh. That's... Do you think I'm, like, I'm like you? Or am I Sarah... I don't get it. Well, I do. Am I really you? That means... Natalia... Oh, man. What do I do? Should I talk to her, or is that, like, dumb..."

By the time she was partway through talking, Akashi was in drinking mode. She let Natalia slip from her mind. It was her twenty-first birthday, anyway, so if ever there was a time to drink it was now. "I'll have what she's having!" She called to the dude at the counter and laughed, flashing Akashi a reckless grin. She'd have some fun and be puking in an alley in no time.

Akashi smiled at Taylor and looked her over. "No. You don'tneedto apaologize. She's a dick, like you said. But that doesn't mean you can't accept her for who she is and move forward with that in mind. I'd never apologize to Sarah-san for anything, she's such a nasty bitch." Akashi furrowed her brow at the thought. "But, that's just how she is. We couldn't be friends if I let that get to me... too much." She said, indicating that it still got to her. "And when she gets out of hand, I just kick her ass back into place!"

Akashi laughed as she was served the drinks. "You're like me, Taylor-chan." Aashi said grinning. "Not like those other two. You have a big heart and like to wear it on your sleeve. We just have to get you playing for the right team and your transformation will be complete!" Akashi cackled a it and then laughed for real before the girl came down with 8 shot glasses filled with Sake.

Akashi's eyes lit up, and she grinned. She passed a glass to Taylor. "You think you can handle this?" She said A bit of challenge in her voice.

She then lifted up two shot glasses and raised them high. "To Taylor-chan! Banzai!"

Akashi then tipped back her glass and then the other one, slamming them both down before reaching for two more to grab them and slam them both down. When she was finished, she turned her head to Taylor. She had big goofy grin on her face and her cheeks were flushed with red. "N-not bad!" She said and raised her hand. "B-But I'm just getting started!" She declared.