Almost Everything

Same old same old

Almost Everything

        Hallie woke up feeling more refreshed than she had in a long time. She stretched, got out of bed and unhooked a baby blue Natori truffle knit robe off her bedroom door, that she had left when she moved out so hastily, tying it tightly around herself since it was cold, and since Abby probably didn't want to look at Hallie's nearly naked body first thing in the morning. She walked by Abby's room to see a glimpse of her unmade bed with no one in it, and made her way downstairs hoping that Abby hadn't already left.

"Oh!" Hallie exclaimed upon arriving in the kitchen.

There was Abby, sitting at the table, in nothing but a rose and leopard printed Cosabella Baby doll, and Ryan, Abby's longtime crush she never had the courage to talk to, cooking breakfast half naked in fruity-looking blue silk boxers, with his normally spiked brown haired completely disheveled. Apparently, since Hallie had been gone, Abby had mustered up plenty of courage, to do more than talking with Ryan.

"Oh my gosh! Hallie!" Abby shrieked, guiltily, as if she'd been caught by her super strict conservative parents doing the nasty dance on the dining room table.

"Uh�", Ryan grunted unaware of the hissing sounds coming from the pan he was holding.

"You're bacon is burning," Hallie said, pointing towards the stove, while trying to divert her eyes.

"S**t," he exclaimed quickly turning off the stove, and tending to the ruined breakfast.

Abby hopped off the barstool and scoot across the kitchen pulling Hallie by the wrist into the next room.

As Abby tried to come up with some sort of explanation, her face began to match her scarlet lingerie, with her mouth attempting to utter words, but only strange little squeals escaped.

Hallie erupted into laughter, amazed at her once shy and innocent, not to mention virgin best friend, and beamed proudly as if her own daughter had just become a woman.

"Ryan totally deflowered you!"

"Shut up!" Abby cried, her face going from red to plum purple.

Hallie couldn't help it, and began cackling away nearly falling to the ground in a fit of laughter.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were like, married and living with David or something."

Hallie finally caught her breath through giggling, growing more serious at Abby's inquiry.

"Yeah not exactly. What about you? I mean you finally got with Ryan, that's awesome! How did that happen? You two are both so shy."

"Well I�never mind," Abby said shaking her head, her hazel eyes darting side to side.

"What is it?" Hallie asked confused by her reaction.

"It's just that�.no," Abby shook her head. "It's wrong of me to say."

"I won't get mad I promise," Hallie assured.

"After that whole�thing with Christian, and then our fight at the nail shop, I don't know, it just kind of inspired me," Abby remarked quickly, obviously afraid to offend Hallie.

"Inspire you? What do you mean?"

Emotion filled her face as she began to explain herself. "You loved him, you loved Christian, and no matter how angry you were with me I saw the way you looked at him. I never saw you look at David that way."

Hallie looked down at the floor, but Abby continued.

"That must have been so hard, to keep that in. I realized that's exactly what I was doing with Ryan, just keeping my feelings pent up, because I was too afraid. But I finally told him how I felt, and well, here we are."

"That's great, I'm happy for you," Hallie smiled, but Abby could still sense her sadness.

"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"No it's fine. I actually� please don't judge me?"

"I'm in no state to judge anyone after saying something that awful," Abby said guiltily.
"Will you get over it? I went to New York, I saw him."

"Saw who?" Abby frowned.

"Christian," Hallie said self-consciously as Abby's eyes became wide. "I saw him next to the Bethesda Terrace Angel fountain in Central Park. We actually got a room at the Plaza Hotel, and spent the night together."

"You what?" Abby exclaimed, with Hallie not being able to tell if she was excited or appalled. It seemed like too much for Abby to take in so Hallie explained everything.

She told her about David's proposal with that hideous yellow diamond ring, the news of Derek's death, and last night when she gave back the ring.

Abby's face still seemed frozen. "Oh Hallie," she finally whispered, and pulled her into a hug. "Are you ok? Are you�still seeing him?"

"No, he left after that," Hallie replied emotionless.

Abby hugged her tighter nearly suffocating her.

"It's alright. Not much I can do about it now."

"This was all harder on you than I thought. I'm proud you went there to�confront everything, but next time tell me, I'm sure you could have used a friend."

To Hallie, going to New York, everything, had all been a pointless battle, but she nodded in agreement. "I will, and I'm sorry I've been such a crappy friend."

"Well it's so good to have you home," Abby stated genuinely. It was so nice for Hallie to be around someone that loved her again, it really was. She'd been so stupid in moving with David, just because he needed security. Later on she'd gather her things, but she definitely wanted to wait a while, ideally when David wasn't there.

She and Abby could both unpack their things together, maybe redecorate a little bit, and most importantly never speak of Christian again.

"Well I'm going to shower, get everything together," she said looking down at her still muddy feet from last night. "I'll give you and your man some alone time," Hallie teased.

"Yeah right! I'm kicking him out now that you are back. He's totally second compared to you darling," Abby proclaimed dramatically.

"No, you two have fun," Hallie smiled shaking her head, and darted back upstairs before Abby could protest.

Before she went inside the bathroom, she saw her phone flashing on the charger with several missed calls. Probably from her angry family, angry ex-fianc�, or both. That was one phone call she wasn't looking forward to returning. Just for the hell of it, Hallie checked the number, and bowled over with excitement when she saw Roxie McClure was the one trying to reach her.

Hallie punched in her password waiting impatiently to retrieve the voice mail.

"Hi love, it's Roxie McClure, from the cooking competition, remember me?"

Of course she freaking remembered, it was only the coolest job offer ever.

        "We would like you to come to the Beverly Hills studio to rehearse, you know, get you prepared for Hot Girls That Can Cook? Call me back when right when you get this, or better yet just come to the studio. We have a lot to go over, bye for now."

        Hallie yelped in delight, jumping up and down like a little kid. She couldn't believe she had forgotten to tell Abby about it, but she figured she'd tell Abby after the rehearsal. Hallie showered, and styled her hair as quick as possible with a large barrel curling iron. She raided Abby's closet, and found a long sleeve white Ralph Lauren shirt, with a surprisingly sexy Ralph Lauren python pencil skirt and matching pumps.

        Thank God her and Abby were pretty much the same size, although the shoes were a little big. Hallie couldn't believe how Abby had updated her wardrobe. Abby had always been the sweater and jeans type of chick, conservative and daresay a little on the frumpy side. Now here she was sporting little python print outfits for oh so lucky Ryan. My how a girls wardrobe changes when they are dating a new guy. Hallie tried on the skirt, hoping that the tight fit didn't look too trashy, but hey the show was called Hot Girls That Can Cook after all, and she figured it was just rehearsal and they would tell her what she needed to wear next time.

Too excited to call Roxie to inform her that she was on her way, she practically leaped downstairs. Abby was nowhere in sight, probably back upstairs with Ryan or something, so Hallie rushed out the door into her white BMW and tore out of the driveway.

She got to the studio in five minutes, although if she had been going the speed limit it was normally a fifteen minute drive. When she came to the security booth, she informed them that her name was Hallie Harris, and that Roxie McClure was expecting her. She was buzzed in, with the gate slowly opening, not nearly fast enough to let her in. Hallie drove up to the lot, parked close as possible, and began approaching the reflective glass doors to the studio. Catching a glimpse of her reflection, she smirked, pleased at herself. No more pressure of a loveless engagement, hopefully a chance at being a big star, and cooking, what she loved doing most in the world, besides shopping of course. Yep, she looked like the girl who had everything, well almost everything.