2009-12-06: Pudding and Layered Shots

Starring:

Andra_V4icon.pngHallis_V4icon.pngNathan_V4icon.png

Date: December 06, 2009

Summary:

So corn doesn't belong in pudding… Who knew?


"Pudding and Layered Shots"

Hallis and Andra's Apartment

It's early evening in the Van Cortlandt household, a fairly uneventful day has turned into a fairly uneventful evening. Currently Hallis is perched on a stool and pouring through a new book. The book is in fact a cookbook, wonder of all wonders. Slowly flipping through the pages, she is mostly just looking at the pictures until she hits one particular page. A puzzled expression crosses her features and she holds the heavy book up to the light, twisting it this way and that. With a small 'huh' she puts it down again and runs her fingers down the ingredient list. "Andra!" she calls out to her house mate, "Do you think we can try making this thing tonight? It looks good!" If the teen is concerned about what exactly the 'thing' is she's talking about, well she'll just have to come to the kitchen and find out.

Andra was off attempting to dry her hair after a shower, she catches only a bit of the conversation as she pokes her head out from the bedroom just enough to see where Hallis is. "Well.. What is it, and do we have all the ingredient's?" This is questioned back while she makes her way on towards the kitchen with slightly damp hair, clothing a t shirt and Tigger fleece sleep pants. She pauses next to the other to look down at the book curiously. Zorro is off sleeping in her bedroom is seems, rather happy to hide under the covers of course.

"It's called a terrine, it's French!" Hallis quips brightly, she slides the book closer to Andra to allow her a view of the picture of the decadent appetizer. "We can just go down to the grocery and get the things we need, can't we?" The dish pictured looks a little complicated, but Julia Child always made them look so easy. "We'll definitely need crackers or some little tiny toasts to eat it with. Gosh! Could you imagine making your very own appetizers for a party?! That would be so neat! Oh oh! We should do that!"

Andra blinks at what the other girl has picked and reads over the things that are needed. "Hallis.. This really isn't that easy to make.. I mean there are so many steps involved.." She really isn't all that sure what to say on the rather interesting looking terrine dish that Hallis has found. "Well if you want stuff for a party you could just cut up some cheese, and put like crackers with it. Easy and to the point! Though them little hot dog thingies are rather easy to make too.."

"Hot dog thingies? Ew?" The disgusted look that's pasted across Hallis' face is reminiscent of someone that maybe just threw up a little in her mouth. "Crackers and cheese are for poor parties. We should have a party that's really great. Oh! Maybe a fund raiser or something! I'm trying to start a charity…" The small woman muses half to herself and half to Andra as she flips through a few more pages. Then she points to another recipe, this time in the dessert section. A chocolate pudding. "Let's make that!"

Andra peers at Hallis and smirks. "What.. Don't like hot dogs?" She questions curiously. "What about chicken dogs then?" A shrug is offered. "Well.. I don't see why not. What sorta charity you trying to start?" This questioned before she looks at what else the other is pointing at. "Well I could make that. I have some instant jello chocolate pudding mix."

Hallis pulls the book back and peers at the recipe, "This doesn't say anything about an instant mix. Is that one of the secret ingredients?" Apparently the woman's been reading the cook book for some time now, or not reading it and just letting others dictate how things should be. After all, only people with their own recipes have secret ingredients, top chefs and hillbillies. "Instant is kind of cheating, isn't it? I want to learn how to cook the right way. Not using instant everything… You know?" The question about the charity is left alone for the moment, in favor of the more pressing issue of tonight's cooking lesson.

Andra tilts her head, looking a bit surprised at this before she chuckles. "True." She says with an amused tone. "Well lets see if I can remember one.. Does this one calls for eggs, cream, sugar and bar chocolate?" Her grandmother was a rather good cook after all. Most recipes that Andy knows comes from her head not out of a book.

"Yeah, all of that… except the bar chocolate. Do we even have bar chocolate in the house?" It's not something that Hallis usually keeps. She shrugs her thin shoulders at Andra and peers back into the cookbook, "Oh wait!" It's obvious that Hallis was a little confused by the term 'bar chocolate' after she skips to the liquor cabinet and pulls out a bottle of creme de cacao. "Here we go! Bar chocolate!" Moving swiftly back to the kitchen, she places the bottle on the counter and skims through the rest of the ingredients. "I think we have everything!"

Andra ahs faintly and just peers at Hallis a few moments, she eyes the bottle that the other pulls out. "What is that?" When it comes to booze Andy has little to no clue about the stuff. "An it means like good candy chocolate, not like liquor." This offered while she moves over the freezer and opens it taking out a bar of dark chocolate that she put there that morning. "Like this, see?" So Andy like dark chocolate and it is best kept when frozen!

Hallis eyes the 'bar of chocolate' dubiously and then lifts the bottle of Creme de Cacao. "I think I like this bar chocolate better… Can we add it too?" It's her first lesson in cooking and she's already trying to experiment! How industrious of the young lady. Once again putting the bottle down, she busies herself around the kitchen and gathers the required ingredients. Milk, sugar, an egg, a can of corn (can of corn?), some salt…

Andra shrugs as she watches Hallis curiously. "Well.. I suppose we could add some into it. Just not a lot ok?" She blinks as the other pulls out a can of corn and moves over to pick it up eyeing it before she looks back to Hallis. "So, what is the corn for?" This should be a rather interesting answer.

"Well the recipe says corn, doesn't it?" A quick look to the book confirms it for the socialite and she points right to the word corn. "There, see? Corn…. Starch." Hallis peers at the can of corn in Andra's hand and shrugs again, "That's a starch, right? At least that's what I learned in my last dietary class. Corn is a starch." Then she moves on, "Okay, we got everything!"

After a rather good interview — where the interviewer even told him that Nathan (or Braythan as the case may be) would get his vote, Brayden is chipper and feels the need to thank Hallis for his suit, particularly as it was photographed for the Times. With a broad grin, he's made his way to the young socialite's house with a bottle of wine, a bottle that a friend had told him was good. With a smirk, he raps on the door, still dressed in his Arman suit, crisp white shirt, and forest green tie.

Andra shakes her head at this while she puts the can of corn up and then moves over and pulls out a small box that says corn starch. "Well, corn may be a starch but this is most likely what there talking about. I don't think corn and chocolate would go together all that well after all." A glance is offered towards the sudden knock on the door and she ahs softly. "Didn't think the chocolate pudding police would be out this time of night." Her attempt at a joke it seems.

Corn and chocolate, the combination has the young blonde thinking. As she ventures to the door she calls back to her housemate, "I bet it's something the French have tried! In a fondue maybe? Oh! We could do that! Chocolate fondue!" Pudding, chocolate fondue… and corn. A quick glance is flickered through the peep hole to spy the amnesiac outside the door. "Oh geez… Andra make sure Zorro is secure, it's the Russian pizza guy!" Then she opens the door, smiling widely. "Hey! Nathan Petroski! How are you?"

"Hello Hallis," Brayden beams at the younger woman. "I brought you a bottle of wine." He thrusts it towards her. "Just wanted to drop this by as a thank you, as you can see, the suit is doing really well." He smirks a bit as he glances inside, "I'm good. Just had a very successful interview, and I think you're partially to thank, especially with the new suit and all." He grins.

Speaking of Zorro, the large American bulldog is making his way out from Andra's bedroom as he heard the knocking at the door. Without a care in the world the dog trots right up to the door and snuffles out at the man standing there, tail wagging about. "A Russian pizza guy?" Andra questions before erking as she spots the dog and is quick to move over and grab hold of the collar before Zorro can make his way out into the hallway more. The girl peers at the man and blinks with a faint ah escaping her. Ya she remembers him from the night at the bar with Lena and company.

Brayden is treated to a brilliant smile and a silent invitation to venture further into the spacious apartment. "I always like wine!" she bubbles, taking the bottle and drifting over to the bar to place it carefully in the wine rack. On the way there, she notes the winery and year, nodding a little with a very impressed expression. "Good year from that place, I think. I'm not a real expert on wine like Grandmother. Do you want to stay for pudding? Andra is teaching me how to cook. I just learned that chocolate pudding needs corn STARCH and not a can of corn. Isn't that brilliant?" The dog is ignored for the most part by the socialite as he is a part of the happy family, which is probably for the better since he still has some polish on his toenails.

Brayden follows her into the apartment and closes the door behind him. "Good, it is a good year from what the clerk said." He shrugs a bit, "If I knew things about wine, I've since forgotten them." He grins a bit to Andra and tilts his head. She seems vaguely familiar, but he can't quite place her. "I didn't think corn went in pudding… I thought it was corn starch that went into stuff… not corn and starch, but like one thing…"

Andra works on pulling Zorro backwards out of the way, which isn't all that hard to do actually. "Hiyas." Is offered with a polite tone to Brayden before she turns and takes Zorro back to her room and pushes him past the door and closes it. "Well, some pudding recipes call for different things. The one my grandmother taught me did have some cornstartch in it like the one out of the book."

"Well corn is a starch." Hallis defends as her cooking skills are put to the test. When Andra locks the poor dog away in her room, the young blonde's face falls a little and she gives the other girl a bit of puppy dog eyes. "Why can't Zorro stay out? He was being good." Yes, the beast has grown on the socialite, especially since he grudgingly allows her to dress him up and paint his toenails… Did I mention grudgingly? Focusing back on Brayden, she waves between Andra and him making the introduction. "Andra, this is Brayden… or Nathan Petroski, the Russian Pizza maker."

Andra is given a small wave and a smile. "I'm… Bray — Nathan. Call me Nathan." He's working on it. "It's Nathan Petrelli actually, not Petroski, but they're close-ish." He smirks as he glances at the dog being locked out of the room. "Zorro's a dog?" he arches an eyebrow. "Don't put him away on my account. I love dogs." He grew up with one. But then, he can't remember that.

Hallis watches Andra go back to the bedroom and when the girl doesn't come out again right away, she shrugs and turns toward Nathan/Brayden. "So, you want to be Nathan then? Or Brayden? Because I could call you either." She waves him into the kitchen and gives him a large smile. "I hope you know how to make pudding, because that's what we were going to do. Unless you want to make something else? I'm kind of just learning how to cook."

"I'm going by Nathan as much as I can. Trying to get used to it," Brayden explains with a grin and a shrug. ""Uh… I don't really know how to make anything. Not anymore, anyways. I can make a good BLT, good french fries, and good fish 'n chips." His grin broadens. "Sorry, I'm useless when it comes to cooking… I think drinking is a better past-time anyways." Pause. "So how have you been, Hallis? You and George staying out of trouble?"

"Well cooking is out then… I don't know anything." Hallis eyes the bottle of Creme de Cacao and then flits her gaze up to Brayden. A slow, quite evil looking, Cheshire grin spreads across her face and she skips to the bar. "Since cooking is out… it's shooter time! I know how to mix the best drinks. Seriously." Never mind the fact that she's not legal yet, no one else does. "Grab a seat anywhere in the living room and pick your poison as a chaser. We can play a game or we can just experiment, it's up to you."

An eyebrow is arched as Brayden offers Hallis an equally mischievous grin. "I like B52s with all of the layers." His grin broadens as he smooths his suit jacket and walks over to the living room where he has a seat on the couch. "Otherwise, make whatever you feel like. I shoot back many different kinds of alcohol. And I'm not picky."

Pulling open the doors to the large liquor cabinet, the small woman reveals a myriad of bottles of the most expensive of liquors. "I think we can do B52's… I have all the stuff for that and more!" Hallis pulls out three bottles and two shot glasses, then begins the arduous task of pouring the liquor, balancing each of the layers perfectly in the glass. "Hoohoo! I don't think you could find a better bartender than me tonight!" In fact, this is the first time that Hallis has picked up a bottle while she's in a good mood. This could certainly turn into a good night.

"It's a thing of beauty!" Brayden smirks as he stares at the shot glass. "You have to admit the layers make it awesome." He takes the shot glass once poured and grins broadly before bringing it to his lips and gulping it back in one smooth motion. "Ah." He grins and nods at Hallis. "Thanks, Ma'am!"

Hallis slams back her shot at roughly the same time as Brayden, and then places the shot glass down on the bar top. "You know what? We need someone to do the dishes while we drink. That would be the best idea ever. Because you can't reuse the same shot glass every time you make a new shot. Especially with a B52. Once the glass is dirty the layers won't go." She turns and peruses the selection for a little while before pulling out a few more bottles and two new glasses. "Okay… Next shot is a Chocolate Covered Cherry… this thing actually tastes like one!" After pouring the new layered treat, she raises one of the glasses for him to take.

"Yeah, true enough! And the more we drink the less we'll want to keep the layers separate." Brayden accepts the next shot and lifts his glass to clink with hers, "To interviews well done and rediscovering life." He grins as he lifts the shot to his lips once again. The motion is quick. He downs the drink easily. He slams the shot glass on the bar again with a smirk, "Very smooth."

Another shot down! Hallis grins as she tosses the glass back onto the bar and then reaches for a couple of tall glasses. "We should have some drinks that last a little longer. Shots are great, but they're like the treat in between courses, you know?" Hallis knows, she's been drinking for seven years now. "So you seriously came here to say thanks for the suit? Man, I bought that thing over a month ago! It's out of style now."

"Out of style?! Are you kidding me?! It changes that fast?" Brayden smirks as he tosses his glass aside. "Besides, I love this suit. It fits well and it's comfortable and I totally aced an interview in it". Pause. "Yeah, I could use a beer if you've got one. Preferably something strong." He smirks. "I'm actually not picky about the brand, just nothing too colorless — tends to be a bit feminine for my tastes."

Beer, now that's a problem. The young woman paces in front of the bar for a moment before screwing her face up and facing the older man. "Well you see, I don't actually have beer. How about a gin and tonic?" Hallis' question comes without waiting for an answer because she immediately begins to pour the offered drink and hands it to him before pouring her own. "You know the funny thing about gin and tonic? They glow under a black light, isn't that cool?"

"Gin and tonic. Not quite my usual," Brayden smirks as he takes the drink. He's not about to deny a drink. Not ever. Especially from the hostess who bought him a suit. "I had no idea it glows. How do you know that?"

"I was drinking it at this club down the street, the Imago Cabaret, do you know it?" Hallis explains quite matter of factly, she takes her drink and wanders over to one of the two chaise lounges and reclines regally. Her bare feet (wow no shoes) are pointed out toward the rest of the room and crossed at the ankle. "Anyway, the lights went down for this completely fabulous show, and I noticed that my drink started glowing. At first I thought I'd ordered something radioactive, but no… it's naturally a really cool electric blue."

"Huh. I'll have to remember that. And no, I'm not familiar with the Imago Cabaret, although maybe I knew it last time I was in New York?" Brayden smirks as he sips at his gin and tonic. "So who's your friend? Or roommate?" He arches an eyebrow. "Quite the place you have here, Hallis."

"Andra? She's my roomate slash tutor. She's teaching me how to be." The young socialite says glibly, she's not ashamed that she's quite different from your normal run of the mill twenty year old. "You know, normal stuff like grocery shopping, cooking, how to change a light bulb. Did you know that you don't have to throw out the whole lamp when the bulb dies? I didn't know that! You can just change them!"

"I did know that, actually. Although, maybe I didn't before I forgot who I was?" Brayden almost suppresses a chuckle. "It's good you have a tutor though. These are important things to know and I'm not sure how people learn them other than having someone teach them. Caitlin taught me those things…" His cheeks flush faintly as his lips curl at the name on his lips. "Now she was a lot of fun…"

"Caitlin? Is she your wife or girlfriend?" Hallis questions, the thoughtful nature of her musings expressed in her body language as well. The slow tilt of her head, the flip of hair behind her shoulder, the small sip of her drink. "I guess… ex now, huh? You did say was, right?" From somewhere else in the apartment, a faint tune can be heard for about thirty seconds before it stops. The blonde looks toward her bedroom and then just shrugs her shoulders, the phone can be ignored tonight. She has a guest.

"Cailtin is neither now," Brayden smirks. "She's in Ireland and told me it was over if I needed to find myself so badly." He sips at his drink at this and shrugs as nonchalantly as he can manage. "She's the first face I can remember. The first person I have a clear image of." He smirks and then shakes his head, "No, my wife is Heidi. And she — she wants nothing to do with me. Of course, she's probably moved on. I would've after a year and a half." Although Brayden is nearly certain that isn't why she doesn't want to see him, it gives him some comfort. "Do you need to get that?" he asks about the phone.

Hallis shakes her head and takes another long pull of her drink. "Nah…" the tiny blonde is beginning to feel the warmth now, signified by the little giggle at the end of her denial of the phone call. "You know what? We should totally go out one night. And it wouldn't even get bad press because I'm with George! Maybe we could all go out, I never really get to party with my friends any more… I'm trying to be good, you know? I'm totally not a good girl." The last bit is delivered with a very liberal roll of her eyes and wave of her free hand.

"We should. I need to be good for now though. No partying for me with the press at the moment; I've been advised by my publicist and my mother." Brayden grins. Yes, he's starting to feel the effects of the alcohol too. Enough that he divulged that he's seen his mom; he hasn't told anyone this fact. Not even Helen. "Hard to be good sometimes though, isn't it? Why's your crowd not supporting your decision to be good?"

"My crowd is the self indulgent jet set." Hallis quips, raising one of her legs into the air and swirling her toes around in a little circle. "If it doesn't have anything to do with fashion, drugs, or the best parties… they're not interested." She eyes the man in the other lounge and tries to stop her smile, "You wouldn't believe what we've done to get to a party. There was this one time that Soleil hosted one in Japan and flew everyone there for a night. Just because! It got a little weird though, did you know that you can buy underwear in vending machines over there?"

Brayden hmms. "Well I guess that does present a problem then. If they don't understand what you're about now or know when to do other things…" He shrugs fleetingly as he finishes off his gin. "So do you fly often, then?" he quirks an eyebrow as he crosses his arms over his chest. "Or… just to Japan for partying?" He grins.

"Well, when I was hanging around with my friends more, we'd fly all over the place whenever we felt like it. You know?" Hallis swirls the glass in her hand a few times before looking over at Nathan with a little bit of a smile. "Not that I'd trade George for a few parties, but sometimes I miss just taking off and going somewhere just because I felt like it. It helps that he's in Washington most of the time, I mean, I can go there. Or could, before I got my job. Now I have responsibilities…" That word seems to stick in the back of her throat, such a foreign sounding term to be coming from the young thing.

Brayden hmms, "Well if you could go somewhere. Anywhere right now where would you go? Japan? Vegas? Europe?" He tilts his head and smirks. "Planes never operate when people want them to, you know? Like, they take off at bad times for people's schedules." A solution might be a private jet, but for Brayden this isn't a solution at all. "And I've never trusted many pilots. I flew a plane for the military back in the day… much rather fly myself than have someone else do it."

"Anywhere? Oh man.. somewhere really warm, with a beach! Like Tortola or some island with white sandy beaches and conches! I'd love to snorkel and find a conch." Hallis blurts this out rather easily, she's been thinking about it over the past few days. In fact, ever since the weather turned bitter cold, she's been considering asking for a few days to refresh her tan. "What about you? Where would you go if you could go anywhere right now?"

"At this moment? Florida." Brayden smirks as he drums his fingers on the arm of his chair. "My kids are there. And I haven't met them yet, but I feel like I could almost … remember them if I saw them. But then, I don't want to traumatize them at all…"

"It's probably worse if you wait. I mean, if my Daddy disappeared for a while and then came back.. and then didn't come to see me first thing, I know I'd be upset, really upset." The young woman is speaking through the eyes of a child, the sudden absence of her father in her own life cut her rather deeply. She gives the man a small smile and shrugs, "I mean, right now Daddy at least passes me messages through Grandmother and Mother. So I know that he's at least thinking about me. I bet your kids would just be happy to see you, you're their dad."

"I want to see them, I just… I can't remember them," Brayden frowns deeply. "And I know Florida's not that far, but I don't even know what they look like… just where they live with their mother." He continues to frown, "Would you want to see your Dad even if he couldn't remember you? Would it be worse?"

"I'd want to see my dad, even just to know that he's okay." Hallis gives the tortured man a faint smile of encouragement then takes one last drink from her glass. The happy drunk is quickly turning to something serious. "Besides, even if he couldn't remember me, he's still my dad. I wouldn't want to miss any more time with him than I already did. You know? I mean… Even though you don't remember your kids, don't you want to see how much they've grown from the last picture you saw? Or listen to them tell you what they've been doing?"

"I'll go, I guess. Tonight. I'll get to Florida tonight and visit them in the morning. Hopefully they'll want to see me." Brayden sighs a bit. He is tortured in a way by his own forgetfulness. "And yeah, I can maybe try to muster something about how much they've grown. I just don't remember how to be a parent. Or how to talk to children."

"You don't have to know anything. You just have to tell them that you love them." Hallis interjects with her own little spot of brilliance. "That's the biggest part about being a parent… Knowing you love your children even though you've never seen them. I can't wait for that part."

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