Teach Me How to Love

Brain Overload

Incoming Call

Irina

Oh god. This could not be good. Her older sister never calls her. Yelena let out an exasperated sigh, contemplating whether or not she should pick up. Conversations between her and the oldest Ulyanova child were never a good idea. Irina could never hold a conversation that didn't somehow remind Yelena that she had done nothing of importance with her life. In a way, Irina was like a miniature version of their mother but a lot more cold-hearted. Of the three girls, Irina was the hell raiser. The one who snuck out late at night and snuck back in at ungodly hours of the morning. She was the one who skipped school to hang out at the mall, the one who dated the bad boys, got busted for drugs, and barely graduated and somehow still managed to sweet talk and cry her way out of every situation. Mom was always her enabler, but dad never entertained his daughter's shenanigans. Irina gets pulled over for drunk driving, Mom says "She's just a teenager". Irina takes dad's Mercedes out for a spin with her friends and returns it with a dent, Mom replies "Why doesn't she have her own car yet?". Irina wants a Mercedes of her own and Dad tells her she needs to get a job and save up for it on her own, what does mom do? Buys her a brand new Mercedes for her birthday. Irina has always had everything she's ever wanted handed to her on a silver platter as a teenager, but that's not even the half of it. One day, Yelena had received a brand new camera for her birthday and Irina wanted her to take a few pictures of her. They weren't serious pictures, just a few of her goofing around and a few close ups and head shots. Irina loved the pictures and posted them up on her blog. A few weeks later, she received an email for a scout, asking her if she was a model. As Irina read the email to their mother, Yelena couldn't believe what she was hearing. Had she really taken pictures of her sister that ended up being her sister's big break? She had unbeknownst to her, handed her sister's career to her. Her mother called the scout and papers and contracts were drawn up and signed so fast, her head was spinning. Long story short, her dearest big sister was now a Victoria Secret model and never let anyone forget it.

Yelena chose to let the call roll to voicemail. She was busy after all. Stephanie had offered her another project, designing the poster for the up and coming pay-per-view, No Way Out. She's been working on ideas for it nonstop all week. She wanted to do something special for the poster. Something more unique than just picking a Superstar, slapping a graphic on their picture and putting the pay-per-view's name on it like they've been doing for years. Usually, possible ideas ran through her mind 24/7 when it came to things like this, put since the project had been specifically given to her (and with a deadline), she was having a major case of well, picture block. Her phone buzzed again and she almost sent it straight to voicemail when she noticed that it was Alicia calling and picked up. She had become good friends with the Diva as of late. They grabbed lunch together a few times and went shopping and got their nails done once or twice. Yelena found her quite down to earth and sweet, much like her boyfriend. They really did make quite a pair.

"Hey Alicia." she said

"Hey Lena. What are you up to?" The Foxy Diva asked

"Nothing much, trying not to give myself brain damage thinking of an idea for the poster for No Way Out"

"Well how about a break? We could grab some coffee. I could help you with some ideas." Alicia offered

"That sounds fantastic. I'll meet you downstairs."

They hung up and Yelena closed her laptop, swapping it with a notepad and pen. Coffee was calling her name and she hoped that with a nice caffeine fix, her creative juices would start flowing.

Yelena scratched out another idea on her notepad with a frustrated groan. Alicia came back with another refill of coffee. Alicia was on her second while Yelena was now on her fourth. She had been alternating her gaze from her phone, where the Instagram app was open to the pen scratched paper in front of her, hoping the a idea would suddenly hit her, but her prayers were not answered

Alicia let out a chuckle when Yelena dropped her head down lightly onto the table

"I give up. I can't even come up with one decent idea for the life of me." the brunette groaned

Alicia gently took the phone from her and scrolled through the pictures "It's going to be okay. I know you'll think of something once you stop thinking so hard about it."

Yelena sighed and drank half of her coffee in four gulps "You're right. Maybe I am thinking too hard." she said, tapping her pen against the table.

Alicia continued her scrolling and stopped when she came across a photo "Awww."

"What?" Yelena asked curiously

Alicia turned the phone towards the photographer "I remember this. AJ is such a good actress. She deserves an Emmy for this one."

Yelena looked at the photo and smiled. It was a photo of AJ after Daniel had 'broken up with her on Smackdown. Her face was distraught and her doe eyes twinkled with tears. Yelena remembered how the promo had almost made her feel bad for AJ even though it wasn't real. Maybe a small part of her reminded herself of AJ's character: Being used by someone who didn't really have her best interest at heart even though she wanted him to be her Prince Charming

"That she is." Yelena said, taking the phone from her. She stared at the picture, deep in thought until Alicia spoke

"I'm just glad she's off of the 'Damsel in Distress' helpless horse and fighting fire with fire. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Alicia laughed, sipping her coffee

And just like that, a visual appeared in Yelena's head "Alicia, you're a genius!" she exclaimed

"Huh?" the former Diva's Champion said, cocking her head to the side

"I'll tell you later. Thanks for the coffee. I'll catch you later, I have work to do." the small woman said, grabbing her things and heading back to her room. Alicia gave her a confused wave as she left. Yelena wanted to jump with joy as she jotted down a few decent ideas on her way to the elevator. As soon as she got back to her room, she was going to shoot Stephanie a detailed email and prayed that she liked them. Something told her she was going to be doing another photo shoot very soon.