Awakening and Moving In

Awakening is a new chapter i added in between and so is Moving In. I thought to put the two chapters in one thing cause they pretty much go together.

Awakening

        The first thing Hallie noticed when she woke up was a half eaten ham sandwich on her bedside table alongside a glass of water. She blinked her eyes open, feeling like she'd been asleep for days, and stretched her cramped arms over her head. Her whole body trembled from the cold, which was odd since the heater was on. It read three o clock on her wall clock but with her drawn blinds she had no idea if it was morning or afternoon. With no desire to be blinded by possible sunlight, she stretched one more time then got out of bed. Still in a sleepy daze she ignored the food, not feeling at all hungry, and ventured downstairs to see what was going on.
        As she came downstairs boxes were littered all over the house as a reminder that she was in the process of moving out with David, and speak of the devil there he was sitting on the couch, just staring at a wall.

"Hey babe, what are you doing,?" Hallie asked curiously as she came down the staircase.

David stood up, looking back at her just as curiously. Yuck she probably looked horrible, and she probably should have put some make up on before going downstairs, or at least brushed her teeth. Then again she had no idea David would be here. Had he stayed over after their turbulent yacht outing?

"Did you eat the sandwich I made for you?" David asked, tiredly.
"No I wasn't hungry," Hallie replied taking a seat on the sofa where David had been sitting. "But thank you for making it, that was sweet."

"Of course," David nodded.

"Hallie! You're up!" Abby burst into the room, and wrapped her arms around Hallie's shoulders. For some reason it felt strange. Normally she didn't mind Abby's friendly affection, but this time it felt weird, she just didn't want to be touched right now. Instinctively, Hallie shook her off, and Abby apologetically backed away.

"Sorry�," Abby muttered.

"It's alright, I'm just stiff I slept wrong or something," she replied stretching again.

"Do you want a backrub?" David offered.

It was so annoying how they were both standing over her, so Hallie stood up, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"No actually I want to get these boxes out of the way, there is still so much packing to do before I move out," she said heading towards one, and looking around for tape to seal it up.

"Hallie, we don't have to do that right now," David said placing a hand on her back. What was it with everyone touching her? It was so uncomfortable, even if it was her own boyfriend, and her own best friend.

"But you said you wanted to move in with me remember? I packed up all these boxes, I guess I got so tired and fell asleep before I finished."

Abby gave Hallie a wide-eyed stare, then Hallie remembered she hadn't even told Abby about moving in with David. Whoops�

"I'm sorry Abby, it just all happened so fast. David asked me to move in so I began packing and-,"

"Really, you don't have to do this right now," David cut her off. "We can just do it some other time," he nodded encouragingly.

"But I want to!" Hallie protested bitchier than intended. Have you changed your mind again?"

"No but-"

"But what? You gave me this whole speech on the yacht how we should live together, and so I'm making it happen."

"Would that really make you happy?," Abby questioned.

"Yeah because honestly, there's no rush. I know I pressured you before, but I shouldn't have. There is nothing wrong with wanting to stay here," David offered.

"It's okay David, Abby and I talked about this at the nail shop. And I told her not to worry about me," Hallie grimaced at Abby, remembering her disapproval for Hallie's decision of staying with David.

"Okay, if that's what you want," Abby agreed. She was being so peaceable about the subject than before, probably because David was standing right there.

"Alright lets start moving these boxes outside," Hallie said beginning to lift the biggest box there.

"Let me help," David said reaching his arms underneath and trying to support all the weight.

"No I've got it," Hallie wriggled away. Ok yeah so it was heavy as hell and she thought her arms would break off, but moving out with David meant that she had to be independent, she'd better start now.



Moving In

        After the tedious journey of transporting boxes back and forth, unpacking most of them, Hallie scurried over to the box that she had drawn a giant heart over to be recognizable from the others, and quickly tore it open as if it were a birthday present. She fetched the beloved Eve of Saint John painting out, and figured the best place to hang it was the entryway.

        "What is with you and that painting?" David tilted his head curiously. "We haven't even set the bed up yet but you just have to have this painting," he teased.

        "I just love it, simple as that. Plus someone told me once that it looks like me as a little girl," Hallie spoke out loud without really thinking.

"Who told you that?"

"Chris-�uh no one," Hallie said catching herself. "I want it hung up higher, Will you help me?" Hallie asked changing the subject.

"Sure," David agreed not seeming to notice the reference. He propped her on top of his shoulders as she reached up to try and straighten it out.

        "It's crooked," David laughed as she scoot around on his shoulders.

"It is not!" Hallie giggled. She reached up to try and adjust it again, then finally it was perfect.

Moving into the newly built luxury condominium had been more fun than she thought. David originally wanted to hire movers but Hallie pleaded that they just do it themselves, and of course Hallie always got what she wanted.

It was only a few miles away from Stanford, David's law school, with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, plus tons of daunting San Francisco city buildings. Hallie preferred the beach personally, but as her parents said, it was time to grow up. She had nothing to complain about, the place looked more like a vacation resort than just a place to live. There were three enormous swimming pools, a well equipped gym, and that fake rustic European feel to it with random statues and fountains scattered across the property. Inside it had high ceilings, marble floors, and best of all a fantastic kitchen to invent new recipes, or at least experiment in.

Besides Hallie's eight suitcases of clothing, David's enormous salt water fish tank, and a few other personal things here and there, all of the furniture was moved in. Now they were just trying to make it more like their home as much as possible, and not a huge empty space.

David hoisted Hallie off of his shoulders back onto the floor. She shivered as her bare feet landed on the marbled floor and realized she was going to miss her cozy, carpeted, three story beach house, and being five minutes away from school, but they had looked at several places, and this one was the best, she just wasn't sure for who. At the moment she couldn't care less where she lived, as long as it wasn't with Abby anymore. Not that Abby was a bad friend. She had been the ideal best friend until she began pushing Hallie to be with Christian. Was it really any of her business? Discontinuing the living arrangement with her was the best idea, if she was going to keep doing that. She wanted something serious, and moving in with David seemed like the most serious thing she could do right now.

Scary as it was, it almost felt like her and David were practically married. It was somewhat exciting, although seeing that she hadn't exactly been girlfriend of the year didn't exactly bring her hope, but hey it was only January.

"I found this when we were clearing out your house," David said pulling a crumbled piece of paper out of his pocket. Once he smoothed it out and the writing became legible, Hallie nearly had a heart attack when she saw what it was.

"2009" Los Angeles Annual Cooking Competition" was printed across the wrinkled piece of paper given to her none other than Christian that rainy day in the graveyard.

"It's still not too late to enter. Man, I bet there would be some major competition though, don't know if you should do this."

Of course there would be some major competition, that's what competing was all about, it was funny how Christian fully believed in her, and David thought she shouldn't even waste her time. She ignored David's negativity, and remembered how sure Christian was about her.

"When is it?" Hallie demanded.

"Next week."

Hallie leaned over reading the details, which said that the contest was based on who could make the best dessert. It could be anything from cookies, to cakes, to pies, and the judging would be based on presentation, aesthetics, and whichever one tasted best of course.

"I want to win this! I want to do something with my talent," Hallie stated decidedly.

"That sounds great Hal. It will keep you busy, you knowm something to do," David encouraged.

"As if I don't have enough to do with moving and with school!"

"I'll take care of all that, well the moving part at least. Just do what makes you happy right now, this will be fun for you."

The thing that would make her happy was for him to realize that this wasn't just "fun" for her. She really wanted to do something meaningful, something she was passionate about. Why was that so difficult for him to understand? Even though David was now cheering her on it didn't feel real. Was it possible that she could never be fully happy with him? That no matter how much security he bestowed upon her there was still a small irritating feeling of uncertainty underneath it all? She wasn't sure, but scrutinizing it so much brought forth a fascinating idea what she would create for the competition next week.

Reviews

[Loribeth215]

Hi Evil,

It's been fun for me reading the re-written chapters. In fact, I never read some of these the first time. The first chapter I read was when Hallie and Christian are in the expensive hotel, right after Derek's death.
Nice to see how they actually reached that point. Clearly, I am hooked. Make sure you submit this to the Jaded Press contest. They're a small book publisher. You never know... :)