2009-11-13: Freaky Friday

Starring:

Alexandra_V4icon.pngHallis_V4icon.png

Date: November 13, 2009

Summary:

Hallis acts *gasp* nice, and finds solace in a the words of a new friend.


"Freaky Friday"

Starbucks (of Destiny)

It's evening, most of the Manhattan types are up up and around, some winding down after a long day, some just getting up, some in between. Shift the scene to the corner Starbucks, it is relatively crowded and but there are quite a few tables open.

At a table for two, holding a coffee cup in both hands is Hallis. She is one of those in betweeners, having risen for the day in the early afternoon to do a bit of shopping. Her bags rest by her feet and she seems to be waiting (rather impatiently) for someone to arrive. She is dressed relatively casually in a pair of linen slacks and a nice blouse, something a little out of the ordinary for the young blonde.3

It's 7:30pm-ish, that down time between when people get home from work and before they go back out again for the night, particularly on a Friday like this: wet, windy, and cold. What else can you expect from New York in the fall though, right? Despite the downtime, the Starbucks here is seemingly always jumping, but that too is to be expected from this particular chain.

Because of the crowd, Alex is able to slip in relatively unnoticed, just another face sliding through the door, shaking out her umbrella, and looking around the place like some kind of tourist. She's been home from work already, changed her clothes obviously, so what Hallis sees tonight isn't the dolled-up Alex: she's wearing jeans that cling fairly well, warm-looking casual sort of hiking boots, a white button down shirt, and over that a brown sweater, the shirt long enough that the collar comes out of the neck of sweater and the cuffs of the shirt are rolled back. Her hair is loose, and she's traded her gigantic shoulder bag for a more reasonable purse tonight.

Looking up from her coffee, Hallis spies the woman walking through the door. Not wanting to appear too eager, she raises her hand to wave at the woman but does not call out. As Alex nears, she offers a rather friendly smile and points toward the counter. "I didn't know what to get you, so I got a chai latte and waited. I hope you don't mind." Whether it's suspicious or not, the woman's voice doesn't seem to host any ill temper or malice. Apparently she's been waiting a little while because there is no steam rising from her cup, though it is relatively untouched.

"Hi!" Alex calls out as she approaches the table, regarding Hallis and the offered drink carefully. It's not like she's poisoned it or anything, but it seems weird that she would've gone ahead and gotten them! "And yeah, chai latte is perfectly fine! What's up?" she asks, apparently ready to get down to business as she tugs the chair out and sets herself down, letting her purse go on the floor between her feet. Alex sounds more confused and curious than anything else, since she wasn't exactly expecting to see this woman again, after two random run-ins with her that were a little strange!

Looking a little nervous, something quite uncommon for Hallis, she puckers her lips slightly in thought and pauses before beginning. "Well, first I wanted to say that I'm sorry. Trent was totally not worth getting onto you for." She pauses then and takes a deep breath, "I don't know if you know what went on between us, or any of it really… but we've been involved with each other since we were thirteen or fourteen." The petite blonde takes a tentative sip of the latte and swallows it. Apparently using the time to think of more to say. "It was just… well it was weird seeing you with him."

Alex starts to chuckle a little and smiling. Leaning back in her chair she puts a hand over her chest. "I was with him, but I wasn't really with him, though! That's what makes it really silly! He just like…came up to me when I was having dinner and started being all charming and stuff. I didn't even know you were with him, since you were with that other guy, I thought?" Seems like it was a simple enough misunderstanding. "But really, no hard feelings, since I'm not really interested in guys like him anyway!"

"Well to tell the truth, we're completely on again off again. Right now we're off again, but.." Hallis grins and takes another drink of her latte. After a deep breath and a cursory glance around them, she leans a little bit back in her chair as well. "But who's to say that it will be permanent. It still wasn't nice of all of them to rub all kinds of stories in my face. Especially since they were all lies about you. I should have believed the tabloids instead of my so called friends." Her lips twitch in a sort of half smile and she shrugs her shoulders lightly. Apparently the blonde has resigned herself to some unknown fate that might end with Trenton Hawthorne.

With a shrug of her shoulders, Alex just sort of lets the whole thing be forgotten. "I really never read the tabloids, you know, unless it's something so grossly ridiculous or hilarious that not even I'm free from the stories flooding the legitimate news channels." Afer that, Alex wraps both her hands around the cup she has, and takes a longer sip; she's a pretty practiced hand at drinking caffeine all day, every day after all. "And besides, I hardly mess around with that crust of people…it's just not me. I was only there on a day off of work, figuring to treat myself!"

Hallis lets off a little giggle, the smile widening enough to encompass nearly her entire face. "It's an alright place to eat, Olivia was having her engagement party to Ray. You won't believe this, but I was dating him just a couple of months ago." The woman pauses dramatically and then leans in a little on the table, her posture always perfect. "Then a week after I dumped him, Olivia starts showing up everywhere with him. Two weeks after that, they're engaged! It's completely disgusting. And that ring, let's just say, I wouldn't have picked a yellow diamond. I mean come on…"

By the look on her face, it's pretty clear Alex has really no idea what all this talk is about. Sure, she's smiling politely, but she has no idea who Ray and Olivia are. There are people she met once, afterall, but she does her very best to keep polite interest in the conversation. The only thing she really can comment on is the yellow diamond, the mention of which makes her scrunch her nose up a little and look mildly put-off. "Ick! Yellow diamond? Why would you want a diamond that looks like pee?"

Throwing her hands up in the air, Hallis exclaims "Exactly!!" Then she rolls her eyes and lets off another laugh. "I mean really… give me a break. Besides, they're only going to break up in another month anyway. Olivia's only doing this for the attention." Hallis doesn't even begin to talk about what she does for attention, but it's all clearly laid out in the tabloids and society pages that Alex doesn't read. "So, I guess I should get to the other reason why I called you…" The socialite begins slowly, "I'm trying to get away from my old image, and I was hoping that we could go shopping or do coffee or something again sometime?"

Without even really needing to think about it, Alex begins to nod her head. "Sure! I think that's totally doable. If there's one thing I don't have a problem with, it's a tabloid problem. I'm really about as boring as they come!" She's smiling a little bit at her self-deprecating 'humor,' if that's what it is. "But yeah, I don't think that should be a problem. Totally honest? You're a lot more…well, tolerable when you're not around all of those giggly-gaggly types. I can't stand those types of people," Alex says with another little nose-curling look of disgust and disapproval.

"Well I like to think that I'm a little bit more than tolerable." Hallis says with just a touch of arrogance. "I like to think that I'm a pretty big deal." Who knows if she's just making a little self depreciating humor of her own, or if she really believes it. History would indicate the latter, but she has professed to trying to turn over the new leaf. "Anyway…" she continues, tapping her fingers against the side of the paper cup as they sit in a little bit of an awkward silence, "I've been doing a lot of soul searching since I started seeing this new guy. It's getting complicated and I don't know what to do. I can't really talk to any of my friends about it, and you kind of seem like a brainy type, do you mind if I unload?"

"Sure…go for it. But being brainy doesn't mean I'm any good at helping out with relationship issues. I'm hardly the person you want to go to for that. I haven't had a boyfriend since college…my first stretch in college I should say!" That being the first stretch on the West Coast where she discovered she wasn't entirely normal. "But yeah, I'll do my best to help you out!" Alex is smiling brightly now, a little unsure when it comes to romance, but certainly willing to be a friend!

Hallis looks down at her cup and sighs, getting a little bit of a dreamy expression as she collects her thoughts. "Well it's not really a romance problem. It's a … how much should I change type of problem." Her eyes flit to meet Alex's and she grimaces a little bit and then takes a small sip of her latte. After swallowing, she licks her lips and ends by catching her lower lip between her teeth. "I've been seeing this guy, who I suppose is kind of a big deal. He's also a lot older than I am, but that's not really a problem, you know?"

"Well, I don't see age as much of an issue. I'm probably a few years older than you myself, and you don't seem to have a problem talking to me about that stuff. As for him being a big deal…well, isn't that your thing, afterall?" Alex gives a playful little wink, and smile, before looking down into her cup and taking a sip to break any bit of tension.

Admittedly, the tease causes the blonde to break into a grin. "Okay, you caught me, it is my thing." Hallis tosses back her head and stares at the exposed beam ceiling and laughs lightly. She is obviously in a good mood when thinking about this particular man. "But, I don't even know if he's serious about me. Or even if he takes me seriously." She levels her eyes to stare into Alex's again and wrinkles her nose. "I mean, what if I'm just a little toy to him? What if I change everything and I just find out that he's going to get married to someone that fits him perfectly? And that someone isn't me?"

Alex's firt thought is that it seems like it would be an appropriate fate for a woman like Hallis…but she's hardly that mean. "I…well, that's hard for me to say. I can't really answer because I don't know him…like at all. I think…when it comes to something like that, you really have to trust what your mind says, even if it's the opposite of your heart. Do you think he's going to do something like that to you?" Alex stretches a hand out across the table and puts it on top of Hallis's patting it a little bit while smiling to her.

Sagging her shoulders, Hallis shrugs. "I don't know, that's the problem. I'd love to think that I'm more than just a silly little game. But it'd be ironic if I was, wouldn't it? After all, how many people have I treated like a game?" Apparently the blonde sees eye to eye with the unspoken justice of the brunette, she's just a little more verbal about it. "That's why I've been trying so hard. You know? I've been trying to do good things and collect as much karma as I can. I'm even going to church one Sunday!" And then Alex is given this incredulous look, certainly this will be the first time the young Van Cortlandt has set foot in the house of God since her baptism.

"Oh, come on now! It's not that bad. I grew up in New Orleans…church every Sunday!" Alex replies, even reaching down to the collar of her shirt, pulling out the simple silver crucifix she wears on its thin chain. "I haven't been since I moved here, but I've been looking around here and there…" she starts, but catches herself before she goes too far off-topic. "But I really don't know…maybe you should just come right out and ask him!" Alex isn't…very subtle. It's not something her job or her ability encourages her to be.

The suggestion comes right smack dab in the middle of the blonde taking a drink of her latte and she begins to choke. She turns her head quickly to avoid spewing the beverage all over her new friend and begins to cough the liquid up into a napkin. After the little spell is over, she takes a few deep breaths and turns back again to stare at Alex. "Ask him? But… you don't just… I can't… I mean… What if he says that I'm just…" The young blonde is sputtering now, trying to come up with a good excuse as to why she hasn't brought the conversation up to the man before, but so far, she can't think of one. "What if he says it's nothing?"

"Well, then you have something on which to base your decision about the future, won't you?" Alex leans back, taking a sip of her tea, thinking it over some, before she leans forward to rejoin the conversation. "If it were me though? I wouldn't put up with it. If I was just being used for eye candy…I'd be out of there, and fast. Move on with your life, and find a guy who isn't going to use you like a possession or whatever." Alex seems about as cool and collected as they come when talking about stuff like this, using cold logic in place of hear heart since, well, she really hasn't ever been in this situation; it's mostly a thought exercise to her.

"I guess so…" Hallis mumbles, obviously completely depressed about the thought of being just a piece of eye candy to the congressman. "Have you seen any of the papers, or magazines, or anything? I mean, you do know who I'm seeing, right?" She queries, hoping against all hope that the woman has. "Do you think that going to church will make any bit of difference to him at all? Or do you think that he'll just laugh and think I'm being silly and little?"

"Uh…well, no, I actually haven't. I usually don't have a lot of time to read the tabloids and papers like that. My days are pretty hectic, and even at home, my reading is mostly limited to work stuff. And even when I don't have to read stuff for work, my private reading is still technical and all….sorry!" Alex says, frowning a little. "As for church? I think you should do what you think is right by you. If he wants a religious girl, and you're not a relgious girl, then it doesn't sound like you two are right for each other. It's like that whole square peg-round hole argument, you know? It's easier to find a round peg for the round hole than to force the square peg in." Of couse, she doesn't mention that a round peg would fit in a square hole if the circle's diameter is just a hair smaller (in reality, the same size in theory) as the square.

"It's George Dawson, Congressman Dawson." Hallis says sheepishly, though the glow of happiness that surrounds her more than makes up for any timid feelings she has. "I mean, at first I just didn't know what to think, you know? It was all pretty harmless. A night here and there, but now…" She sighs and places a hand over her chest, near her throat. "He's just so good you know? I don't think I can live up to it. I don't think I'm good enough." She frowns a little and then takes another long drink of her latte, finishing the rest of it. "Do you think church is a good place for someone that's seeing him? I mean… I don't know if he's ever been."

"Really…I can't say. I don't know him, I don't know what he's about. I'm not a New York girl…but I do know that were I'm from, down south, if you were even going to be seen in public and thought of as romantically-linked to a politician like that, you'd better be church-going, at the very least. Of course, we all know the reputation politicians get for sleeping around." Alex really didn't want to have to put it like that but…she just had to, to be perfectly honest with Hallis. "Still, I really think you need to go to church for you, not for someone else. Otherwise, what's the point? What do you get from it?"

"Well, I guess if he is sleeping around, it's not a really big deal because we were never exclusive, right?" The socialite seems to be preparing herself for the worst. Her latte is now finished and she seems to be looking for some sort of distraction as her mind whirls around and around, figuring every worst possible scenario to the outcome of her rather unconventional relationship. "I mean, the worst that can happen is he tells me to get out and he can't see me any more because I got a little too serious, right?" Now Hallis is chewing on her lower lip, actually worried that this is what might happen if she goes home this evening.

"I don't think you should worry, really. It should all work out in the end, right? But I mean, the best thing to do is just to…ask, you know? Does he want something serious? Does he want a fling? If he just wants a fling, you know now to let it go any farther, and just enjoy what you get out of it casually. And if he wants it serious well…you seem pretty much prepped for it, right?" Alex's drink is mostly forgotten now, as she squeezes the back of Hallis's hand still, squeezing a little tighter, reassuringly as it were.

It works, the young celebutante is quite pleased with her new choice of friend. Any of her others would have been too self absorbed to care about the conversation and her therapist? Well, once a week sessions are great when you don't do all of your homework. "I think I'm prepped either way. Thank you so much for meeting me here, and talking, and everything." Truly, Hallis does seem genuinely grateful. Shallow Hal may not want a gal, but she's definitely eyeing the prize with the congressman.

"Well, there you go then! Sounds like you've got a plan of attack now, so that's good." Alex smiles genuinely and sweetly at Hallis, guessing now that they're friends of some type! "I'm glad that I could be a help, you know? It's the least I can do, honestly. I don't think your other friends would've been much help!" she says, with a little chuckle.

Hallis joins the other woman in the laugh, unable to actually think of anything helpful any of her oldest friends could have done for her past some company on a binge of retail therapy. "Yeah, you're right…" she admits sheepishly. Grabbing a napkin, she pulls a pen from her purse and scribbles her number down for the other woman. "I should get going, I'm kind of anxious to find out from George if it is something real or if I'm just a little bit of a trophy for him." She pushes the number across the table and gives Alex a big smile. "Think you could call me tomorrow, or I could call you to tell you how it went?"

"Oh definitely…I'll give you a call. Later in the day, of course, in case you need to…sleep in or something?" Alex gives a sly wink, and reaches across the table, taking the napkin from Hallis. She folds it neatly and slides it into her pocketbook, right in there next to her wallet. "So…it was nice talking to you tonight! I'm glad I could help…and…well, good luck, yeah?"

Grinning widely, Hallis slips out of her chair and grips the handles on all of her shopping bags. Apparently, she's got a little bit of a habit because every time Alex has seen her outside of the restaurant, she's been on some sort of a spree. "If he hasn't left for D.C. yet, I'll treat lunch… or dinner… depending on how late I get up, okay? You pick the place." Then she picks her coat up with her free hand and slips it over one arm. Spotting a taxi just outside, she bids the other woman a quick goodbye (with air kisses) and races out the door. "Bye Alex! See you tomorrow!" is the faint call from the door before she gets into the cab.

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