A Sleepover Between Friends

[CaptainL]

Continued from here

As Chelsea Forster was finding, one of the added perks of living in the same pub you worked at was that, at the end of the day, all you needed to do was to step upstairs to return to your living quarters. The commute couldn't be beat. On the admittedly numerous occasions where Chelsea's drinking habits and short temper got the better of her, all it took to get her out of trouble was a drag upstairs. And, in situations like these - when her old friend had just introduced her to his newly-acquainted daughter, and the two of them had found themselves fast friends - it meant she didn't need to prepare anything for an impromptu sleepover.

Chelsea had already retired to her room, changing into her bedwear, and now she found herself lying on her bed, her hands behind her head and her gaze focused up toward the ceiling overhead as she contemplated how she'd ended up here. A lot had changed in so short a time, she thought to herself. A year ago, she had accepted that she'd never have any friends. Now, she and George had gone steady, she had managed to warm up to Finella Edelstein, the woman who had once been her most hated of rivals - and now, she and Sarabeth had hit it off so well that only a few hours later, they were drinking together, laughing at each others' stories, and putting their trust in one another to take things further. It had all happened so fast, and so dramatically, that Chelsea had a hard time believing it all. She'd grown so used to thinking that her belligerent attitude could only drive others away from her; that she never had a chance of having anything resembling a real human connection. She told herself she was okay with that - that she didn't need friends anyway; that they would just make her soft and weak and pathetic. But in the end...she still couldn't help but yearn for something more. She couldn't help but be jealous of what others had, up until she had it herself. And when she saw how much she had gained in the last few months alone, it brought a smile to her face. Maybe, she thought, there was still hope for her. And maybe all this change really was for the better.

Looking over to check the clock, Chelsea pushed herself up to sit on the edge of the bed, where she took a moment to stretch. Sarabeth would be here any moment, she thought. She could hardly believe she was actually having a sleepover with someone else - the kind of thing her sister did when she was going through high school, and Chelsea had to put up with all the incessant giggling, screaming, and singing along with anime theme music from the next room. Now, she was in the same spot Molly was all those times. And what was more...she was looking forward to it. But when all else seemed like it was looking up, she wasn't going to fight it.

Spoiler

[Pegasus]

Sarabeth got dropped off by William as he made the drive back to Astrid’s apartment and Sarabeth came up to the doors of the pub as they would be left unlocked. Chelsea gave her a spare key to lock them back when she entered and she came through the double doors before putting the key in the hole to return them to a locked state. Sarabeth wore a backwards AC/DC ball cap, a black Metallica t-shirt she was going to use as a pajama shirt, green shorts, and white sneakers along with a black backpack slung over her shoulders. She hardly believed she was doing this either.

Sarabeth never was the one to have sleepovers except with Jessie and Matilda back when they were starting in her adoptive father’s indie promotion. They would usually listen to pop music and Matilda just had to talk about the boys that would come to the promotion day by day and swoon over them. It was hard to listen to since Sarabeth crossed the picket fence to liking her own gender, but at least Matilda was kept preppy. They also fooled around with some of Jessie’s mechanical creations and Jessie showed them how she created most of them. Matilda even showed off her puppetry skills and put on shows for her friends. Those were the good ol’ days.

Her and Chelsea definitely seemed to hit it off with both having aspirations to being musicians, a love for classic rock, both well-versed in arm wrestling not to mention actual pro wrestling, and both had a rebel flare to themselves. Sarabeth saw a kindred spirit in Chelsea and she was willing to explore it more with her new bestie. Sarabeth went by the kitchen to the small staircase that led up to the small house and she made a left turn to head up the wooden stairs. Her feet caused creaking noises which most likely alerted Chelsea to her presence here. Sarabeth checked her phone for the time and saw it was 2:45 AM in the morning. She could probably spare an hour to do things with Chelsea and then they would be off to sleep since both were very tired. The booze helped give them an energy boost so they could talk or spar on Chelsea’s bed or listen to rock music. Whatever they felt like since George wasn’t home.

“Uh….Chelsea? Chelsea?!” Sarabeth called out as she got up to the top floor of the pub.

It was a pretty cramp shack with a few bedrooms and the only bathroom must’ve been located in Chelsea and George’s master bedroom. The only other rooms were a storage room for supplies for downstairs and a laundry room. Sarabeth heard barking coming from an empty guest room as Anfield came out with a toy sloth in his mouth.

[CaptainL]

Chelsea wouldn't have much longer to sit there and contemplate how she'd ended up here. She could hear Sarabeth's footsteps growing closer, and she quickly pushed herself back up to sit upright on the bed. In just a moment, the festivities could begin. Well, as much as they could, at this hour. The Englishwoman rubbed at her eyes and yawned, looking over at the clock to see what time it was. She blinked a few times when she saw how late it was - or rather, how early in the morning. If Sarabeth had this much time to go home and get her things, she thought, she might as well have just retired for the night anyway. But this was about more than just having a bed to stay in for Sarabeth. For her, this was about kicking back, having fun, and growing closer to Chelsea in the process, and when they'd already hit it off so well, they would surely just discover more and more they had in common to bond over. Chelsea did have to ask how much of a slumber party they'd manage to have when it was this late, and both of them were so tired...but if Molly was any indication, not much slumber actually happened at a slumber party anyway.

When she heard Sarabeth call out for her in the hall, Chelsea grumbled to herself and rolled her eyes. "Or'rite, or'rite, I'm comin', like! Ye nah, I kun ye, ye could've juss come into me rewm..." She hopped out of bed and headed to the door, grumbling to herself as she opened it. But as she looked over at Sarabeth, the smile swiftly returned to her face. She couldn't stay frustrated for long. Sarabeth, after all, had that spirit to her that livened up the room as soon as she walked in, and it especially struck a chord with Chelsea when the two of them bonded as well as they had. Chelsea looked over at her shirt and hat, snickering a little to herself - she and Finella would get along well, she thought.

"Welcome aboard," Chelsea said with a grin. "I see ye found de place or'rite..." Anfield quickly ran up to his owner, and Chelsea kneeled down to scratch him on the head before she looked back up at Sarabeth. "Ye meet Anfield before? Dun worry, 'e won't bite, like. Well, 'e'll try, but 'e isn't very good at it."

[Pegasus]

Chelsea came out and called over Anfield as Sarabeth scooted the toy sloth out of her way walking over to her new best friend and roommate for the night. She bent down patting Anfield on the head as the bulldog had a drooling smile on his face. Sarabeth chuckled before taking off her backpack.

“I brought an extra pair of clothes, snacks, my toothbrush and mouthwash, and….well, that item is for my eyes only, but just in case I need to head to the bathroom and need to read something while on the toilet. So, what you want to do first? We’ll probably be heading to bed here soon so we have an hour to kill,” Sarabeth stated.

[CaptainL]

If Chelsea knew anything about Anfield, he took his role as the pub's impromptu mascot to heart, and on the nights were George let him into the taproom, he had been eager to ingratiate himself with any newcomers, getting his fair share of table scraps and pats on the head in the process. Sure, that usually led to George chasing him back upstairs before he got himself into trouble, but as long as he was out there, he lived to please. It didn't make him much of a guard dog, but then, Chelsea took up that responsibility perfectly well on her own. And from the way he was warming up to Sarabeth, the green-haired girl was one of the many visitors he had instantly decided were his new favorite people.

Chuckling to herself with a smirk on her face, Chelsea nevertheless cleared her throat and stood back up, walking into the room. She nodded her head to all the items Sarabeth listed off, not paying much heed. When she mentioned something for her eyes only, she stopped and a blush came to her face - that certainly made her thoughts go places - but her mind was quickly set at ease when Sarabeth mentioned it was for reading. Why she had to do it in the bathroom, that seemed a little strange...but she decided it was best not to pry. They were friends, after all, and Chelsea didn't want to intrude on her privacy.

"Weeeeell..." Chelsea hopped back onto the bed, letting it bounce a few times - and almost immediately, she took a pause at the thought of what they were going to do. What did people do at a sleepover, anyway? Her lack of experience with any sort of social occasion that didn't involve copious amounts of alcohol was quickly catching up to her. For a moment, she stared off into space, hoping that she wasn't coming across as being too hopelessly clueless. But she cleared her throat nonetheless.

"Could tell me a little more about yoself, I guess. But dun, that's borin', like. We could do dat any time." As she lay back on the bed, her eyes scanned the walls, past a few band posters and Liverpool FC pennants she had hung up. But then, her eyes settled on one thing in particular - a guitar hung just above her headboard. It was something that Chelsea had held onto ever since she'd first pursued her dreams of getting into a musical career, and she'd kept it even when that didn't pan out, taking it with her to her apartment in Japan, and then to the pub. For all this time, it had sat here, gathering dust. She hadn't played it in years. She'd never had a use for it - she figured it would always be a tether to the past; a reminder of all the letdowns and disappointments she'd been through that never led anywhere. But...did it have to be that?

Taking the guitar down from the wall, Chelsea turned around and strummed the strings, sending a sting of electrical notes through the air. "Say. Ye said ye wuz inna band, rite?" She looked up toward Sarabeth, her smile growing wider. "Ye wanna 'ear a song?"

[Pegasus]

Sarabeth grinned when she saw Chelsea take down the guitar and strum it a few notes to let the music flow out of the instrument. What may sound ear grating to a first time listener is perfect harmony to her and is her comfort zone outside of the ring. Her adoptive father gave her a guitar for her 18th birthday as a way to soothe her anger over her abandonment issues and she had plans of pursuing a full music career when her time in the ring was done and over with. At the time, she balanced training with Alania and her father and booking gigs at bars and nightclubs, but she hopes to play in arenas when she hung up the boots.

“Not a band per say, but I was a local artist trying out my luck. I usually got 30-45 people in bars to listen to my rock and my songs. My adoptive dad had good money for being a wrestling promoter so I had no problem booking concerts. I was approached by an agent with the band Slipknot to do a cold open with them, but I wanted to focus on the indies for now. It’s real amazing how fast things can spread around and I was just playing in a single town at the time,” Sarabeth explained.

She figured her fans recorded her performances and she got super lucky grabbing hundred thousands of views on YouTube. The Slipknot gig could’ve been her big break, but Sarabeth had her ambitions set on wrestling. Thinking back on it for a brief moment, had Sarabeth pursue music instead of wrestling, she probably wouldn’t have met her actual father and Astrid so she had to breathe a sigh of relief to herself for making a good choice. Sure, they could have met at a concert, but if she was getting into a band and her agents booked multiple concerts on the road, she wouldn’t be able to enjoy the family time. Working Hunter’s independent promotion gave her lots of free time outside of training and signing photos for fans. Not to mention, Jessie and Matilda would be without her as well so there’s another benefit to staying in the ring.

“Hmm? Oh yeah, my dad mentioned you wanted to be a musician yourself. I’m up for listening to ya shred. Show me a Chelsea Forster original,” Sarabeth stated with a wide and patient grin.

[CaptainL]

Chelsea had only heard bits and pieces about Sarabeth's attempts at a musical career, mostly from what she'd overheard during their drinking contest. But she had no idea quite how far it went, or what it entailed. When Chelsea heard that she'd gotten crowds of that size, at her age, she couldn't help but be impressed - and her eyes went wide as she leaned in a little closer. "Wot!? Gerraway-! 'ey, 30 er 40 might not sound like a lot, but whun you're gettin' started it can mean de wirld, like..." Even when she mentioned being approached to open for Slipknot - a band that the old Chelsea would've scorned as yet another example of American idiots hopelessly failing to capture even a modicum of what had made the best British artists so great - the new Chelsea had to be impressed. To be able to speak of such accolades at Sarabeth's age was nothing short of admirable, even if she had her adoptive father to give her the leg up with his resources as a promoter. "You're really lucky, ye nah..."

Chelsea couldn't help but let out a sigh, in fact. She wanted to be happy for Sarabeth. Even if she had chosen to focus on wrestling, the fact that she had gotten such attention truly was an impressive feat. But it was because of that that she couldn't help but feel an air of melancholy come over her, and she sank a little lower into the mattress. As much as she knew that she shouldn't, Chelsea couldn't help but compare Sarabeth's successes to the challenges she had faced in trying to get her own musical career off the ground - all the road blocks she'd run into, all the venues that turned her away, all the managers who found her too hard to work with. And yet, here Sarabeth was, who was younger than Chelsea even was at her start and who still managed to do everything right. It just left her asking herself, what was it she was doing wrong? Why did everyone else seem to have so much better luck than she ever could?

But...maybe it wasn't all so bad. As Chelsea looked back up at Sarabeth, she had to remind herself that she at least had someone here she could connect to. Someone who liked music, and knew music, as well as she did. Someone who could understand when Chelsea voiced her frustrations on how hard it was to find a gig. She was starting to open up more and more to new people, but not all of them shared those same passions, and not all of them could connect to Chelsea on such a level. Sarabeth, though...Sarabeth would know. And when she asked Chelsea to play her a song, it struck the Englishwoman right then and there that she was the first person in longer than she could remember who had actually wanted to hear her play. To that, she lifted her head with a grin. If that was the case...then Chelsea was definitely going to oblige.

"Thought you'd na ask..." she said, just before she strummed the strings of her guitar again. "'ere's me take onna fuv o' mine..." And with that, with a voice that seemed shockingly clear and refined, Chelsea launched into a rendition of one of her favorite songs - one that, she had to acknowledge, felt all the more appropriate here.

Spoiler

[Pegasus]

Make no mistake about it. Sarabeth really liked Chelsea and having her around even though they just met a few hours beforehand. They both had that rebel flare to them and Sarabeth finally felt like she found someone to connect with that is close with her father. She only felt really close to Jessie and Matilda when she first got here to Japan. Knowing they would be competing together in LAW, it made her feel like she took a piece of home with her when she moved to Japan. Not to mention the fact that her being exchanged with WFPW gave them more options to compete around the world. America, England, Germany, India, Denmark, Ireland, South Korea, etc. This would be the true beginning of their bustling careers.

Sarabeth, however, had Chelsea in her presence now and as Chelsea began singing a Beatles song she loved, Sarabeth bobbed to the music. Chelsea had an angelic voice underneath the rough exterior she loved putting out. She clearly had a voice for singing whether she wanted others to know about it or not. Anfield was too busy playing with his toy sloth to notice anything only occasionally lifting his head and his ears perking up. The bulldog grabbed the toy in his mouth slobbering over the floor before parking his body in the lap of Sarabeth as she had to hold her mouth to stifle a giggle.

[CaptainL]

Getting to hear Chelsea Forster sing was a rare opportunity indeed. When she'd come to understand that any hopes of making it as a musician were doomed from the start, she'd given up on trying - and the more she hardened her heart to the world and let her stern, gruff exterior come to dominate her, the more she shut that softer, soulful side of her away. It wasn't her, she told herself - she wasn't so sensitive and sentimental. She was strong, she was tough, she didn't take anyone's nonsense, and any emotions, any vulnerability, she had was just proof she was weak and hopeless. No one would have ever suspected that the short-tempered, thick-accented Scouser could sing so beautifully, or put so much of her heart and soul into her music. So if she was going to show that to anyone, it meant that she trusted them - and even in so short a time, Sarabeth had proven she was worthy of earning that trust.

After she finished her song, Chelsea stopped for a moment, letting out a soft sigh and staring down at the ground. "...You know," she began, in a voice that was clear and soft as she was when she'd been singing, "I don't sing often. I haven't...done it in a while. I thought I might be able to make a career of it when I was younger, but it didn't work out...so I guess I just kind of stopped trying..." She sniffled a little, thinking back on all her regrets, and the opportunities that had passed her by. How would things be, she asked, if things had gone differently - if she'd been able to reign in her temper then, like she could now? Would she be happier? On the other hand, would she have ever met Sarabeth and George and Karl and everyone else - and would it be quite so special that she was willing to open her heart to them?

Whatever the case was...Chelsea didn't get to linger on that thought for long. She was quickly thrown out of her introspection when she heard Sarabeth giggling just a little. At first, an alarm bell rang in her head, and she jumped up a little straighter. Was she laughing at her? Did she really look just as foolish as she'd feared she had? Maybe all of this had been a mistake. And maybe putting so much trust in Sarabeth to begin with, expecting her to understand her and to not judge her, maybe that was the mstake!

For a moment, Chelsea's teeth tightened in a grimace, and her body went tense, ready to snap...and that was when she saw Anfield laying his head in Sarabeth's lap. At once, she let out a giggle of her own, and the tension flowed away from her body. "Seems ye made a friend thuz, like."

[Pegasus]

Sarabeth patted Anfield’s head and even took the toy sloth as Anfield perked up wagging his stubby little tail barking loudly for it. She threw it over to the side as the dog went for it. Chelsea explained how she wanted to make a career out of music first than wrestling and the Young Lioness had to listen and nod along with her story. She then saw Chelsea sniffing a little bit and since Chelsea became a wrestler and co-pub owner, that was all Sarabeth needed to know that the music career Chelsea wanted didn’t pan out. Sarabeth herself was looking for a career in music and she still planned to get into the industry once she hit the end of her wrestling career.

Sarabeth got up and came over to give Chelsea a comforting hug as well as a pat on her back.

“Trust me, Chelsea, things didn’t pan out for me either. I thought I would have my mom and dad in my life raising me, but my abusive mother shoved my dad straight out of my life. I was the next one to suffer her wrath and she sent me packing to the streets when I was 10. It really sucks when we want things that are seemingly so simple and shit gets thrown right back in our face to make us look like idiots for having dreams,” Sarabeth explained.