I admit, I'm not very faithful to my stories. And I feel terrible for it. However, this is a lucky break. It's a chance that I have to update a really good story. I think you'll enjoy this next chapter. So I give you, the story goodness you've been waiting for. Please leave me a review when you're done.

Chapter 2: Moving Out/In

Desmond

He worked like crazy to pack everything. He already got stuff like his clothes, and books in boxes. Currently, he was working on getting his music collection packed. He knew he would have to have the vinyl LPs in their own box, his tapes in another, and finally a couple of boxes just for his CDs.

"You need any help packing?" Desdemona asked, walking into the room. As usual, she had on exercise clothes, her version of lazy outfits.
He was still in the outfit he wore over to Tom's house. It was crazy.

"I could use a bit of help with my Tapes and CDs." He admitted. "I'd like to have everything by tomorrow for when the movers come."

"Still can't believe you're moving out." She sighed, taking a box and going through his cassettes.

"You don't have to organize them." He replied, seeing her sort through them. "You just have to make sure you can fit as many as possible."

"Alright." She grumbled.

He went to his shelf and took the vinyl records down, stacking them into the box.

xXx

He had finally finished all of the packing. For his music, and for his VHS tapes. He felt satisfied for a brief moment. Then he realized that there was still the bigger stuff. And he also had to disassemble his music station.

"I'm hungry." Desdemona sighed, turning away from the box she packed "I'm gonna make a snack. You want anything?"

"Perhaps some of the Mountain Dew?" he asked "I'm thirsty."

"Alright" she replied, exiting the room.

He turned his attention to his music station. He knew that to disassemble would take a bit of time. He figured the first place to start was to unplug the various devices that made up it.

His music station was made up of separate devices, such as the speaker controls, his turntable, the Cassette player and recorder, the CD player, the radio, the speakers, and of course, the display case where he put nothing in, but just had it empty.

One by one, he unplugged all of the cords connected to everything, and proceeded to remove everything from the shelf components.

This took about an hour. However, there was something that didn't seem quite right. He thought he asked Desdemona for something.

"Desda?" he tried, calling out into the hall.

No response, except for the sound of the TV.

He sighed, figuring he might as well see what it was. Standing up, he made his way out to the hall.

There, in the living room, watching, no; staring at the TV was his sister, just staring at it. At least she was seated this time on the couch.

"Desda?" he tried, snapping his fingers in front of her eyes.

She snapped out of it, jumping at least three feet.

"Good God," she cried "You shouldn't sneak up on me like that."

"Weren't you going to get a snack?" he asked, confused.

"I was?" she asked, confused "Oh yeah, I was going to get a snack. However, I flipped on the TV and saw something on, and so I decided to watch it."

He face-palmed, complete disbelief. He swore, she had such a short attention span. He hated that.

"I'll just get my own soda." He sighed, going into the pantry and fishing a can of Mountain Dew out of the box.

Opening it, he looked at her. As much as he loved his sister, she was so annoying. All of her habits, the nasally voice, the short attention span. And that wasn't anything compared to her need to "Soup Up" the computer every month. Even though it was technically his, she always was working on it, trying to upgrade everything.

He was so glad that he was finally moving out. He figured that he had a good chance to only see her during the holidays. At least, as long as she and Tom never met.

With that, he proceeded to disassemble his futon.

xXx

As it seemed to do every day, the sun set and rose again. He finally had everything packed. Almost everything.

Since he spent the night on his bedroom floor in his sleeping bag, and there was still the pile of boxes, couch, furniture, and of course, the TV. He remembered that the movers were supposed to be here at 9.

He glanced at his watch. 8:45

He jumped, immediately rushing to get dressed, and put away his sleeping bag and fresh laundry.

In just under ten minutes, he had a backpack full of everything else that didn't go in a box.

He heard a knock at his apartment door.

"I'll get it!" he called.

Desdemona returned with "Okay. I'm in the shower!", singing terribly.

He winced when her voice cracked at the end of the sentence, a terrible attempt to hit a high note.

He opened the door, and saw the movers. One was an Asian man, with a tattoo on his face of a dragon. The other was a tall Hispanic man, who looked like he worked out in his free time.

"You must be Andy and Jose." Desmond replied. "All of the small stuff's in boxes. The TV, couch, and the other stuff are still where I said."

"That's good." Andy replied "I was beginning to think we had the wrong address. Glad we got it right on the third time."

With that, they entered, and proceeded to lift and carry everything out. He was kind of glad that there wasn't an elevator, seeing as they would need the practice with stairs during the unloading part.

xXx

Right after they'd carried the last of the boxes, he figured he'd do something nice for them.

"You guys want something to drink?" he offered to them as they went back upstairs.

"Thanks." They replied.

"What do you want," he asked "We've got Coke, Sprite, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, tea, lemonade, milk, water…"

"Gatorade sounds nice." Jose replied.

"I think I'll have a Coke." Andy answered.

Desmond proceeded to withdraw a bottle of Gatorade and a Coke can from the fridge, and handed them to the movers respectively.

"I just need to call Tom up and tell him we're on our way." He announced, going for the phone.

He entered the digits of his future residence into the machine, and listened for Tom to answer.

"Hello." A voice asked on the other end.

"Hey Tom." Desmond replied "I'm just calling to let you know we're on our way. We'll be there in about ten minutes."

"Alright." Tom sighed "I'll leave the door unlocked."

"Thanks." He replied "I'll see you then."

"See you." Tom replied, hanging up.

"We're ready to go man." Jose replied "You got what you need?"

"Yeah." Desmond sighed, picking up his backpack.

"We'll follow you to the place." Andy commented.

Desmond grabbed the car keys, and made his way downstairs with the two movers following behind him.

He had to admit, though the place here seemed much better in terms of space and all, the fact that Desdemona was living there sure made things not worth it.

He smiled as he entered his car, and started it up.

He watched the movers enter their van, and listened as they started it up.

With that, they pulled out of parallel park, and made their way up the street.

xXx

Tom

He sighed as he made his way back to the computer. He had to admit, the feel-out run was good. He was a step closer to finding the access screen to Citibank's account management.

He wasn't the type to do mass theft from everyone. That stuff wasn't worth it, too easy to get caught. However, there was the idea of screwing around with it.

He got out of the window on the computer, and put it on standby.

Desmond

He arrived at 204 Remington Drive. They both parallel parked up front.

"Alright boys." He announced, getting out and shutting his car door. "Apartment 6A is where it's at."

"Got it." Andy replied.

He watched both men open the trailer to th4e van, and lower the loading ramp.

"I'm gonna let Tom know we're here." Desmond announced "Just give me one minute." He made his way to the front door of the apartment building, and quickly found the stairs.

Climbing each one, he found the first floor, and then Apartment 6A.

"Tom?" he tried, knocking on the door.

Tom

He was getting out of the bathroom when he heard a knock on the door. He figured it was Desmond, or the police.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"It's me, Des." The person on the other end replied.

Desmond

He figured that Tom was probably in the john, seeing as it was taking a little while.

"I brought all of my stuff with the movers." He added "They're already starting to unload everything."

There was the sound of locks being manipulated, before the door creaked open.

"I was beginning to think you'd gotten lost or something." Tom explained.
"Can you leave the door open for them?" he asked "The movers are already working on bringing up the couch."
"You have a couch?" Tom asked, sounding very surprised.
"Yeah." He replied "I bought it when I moved in where I just was. However, I can already tell my old flatmate will be pissed that I took the couch." He paused "That, and the TV."

Tom laughed "I see someone was the big spender back home."

"Well," he replied "I think that certain things are essential. Plus, I saw how you have neither of those things."

"yeah." Tom sighed "I had been meaning to purchase a TV for myself. My last flatmate got both the couch and the TV when he moved out."

"I'll go show them the way to the apartment." Desmond replied "Just wait here."

"Alright." Tom sighed.

xXx

With everything major having been moved in, and the boxes set down, Desmond paid the movers, thanked them, and watched them leave.

"You've sure got a lot of stuff." Tom replied, looking into the box with the VHS tapes. "Let's see," he commented, pulling out a tape "You've got Boston, Don't Look Back Tour '79, Styx, Kilroy Was Here Tour, 38 Special Wild Eyed Southern Boys Tour Sure have a lot of concert tapes."

"Yeah." Desmond sighed "I'm a bit of a music nut."

"Well, need any help putting your futon together?" Tom asked, spotting the box of futon components.

"That would help actually." Des sighed "I'll get the mattress in there, you can carry the parts."

"Alright." Tom sighed, putting down Heart Dreamboat Annie Tour

Desmond pushed the mattress up and tried to drag it in, while Tom simply picked up and carried the box containing the futon metal parts.
"I think I'll get the sideboards." Desmond replied, giving up on the mattress. He went to the box and picked up both identical wooden sides.

"So how exactly is a record store employee still sleeping on a futon?" Tom asked "I imagine you guys make tons of money picking out music for people."

"Well" Des sighed "I like the sleep I get on it, and the record store pays me just fine. You'd be surprised at my true wage."

"So where do we begin with this?" Tom asked, taking all of the parts out of the box.

"Well," Desmond began, before giving instructions on where everything went and helping Tom put it together. Within less than 45 minutes, they had managed to assemble the entire frame, with only the mattress missing.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Desmond sighed, standing next to Tom and admiring their handiwork.

"Let's put the mattress on man." Tom replied "You take the front side, I'll take the back."

"Alright."

They proceeded to lift and carry the flexible mattress over to the futon frame, setting it down on the metal bars.

"That is good." Desmond announced, making a dusting off motion with his hands.

"Need any help with the rest of your stuff?" Tom inquired.

"Not really man." Desmond sighed "I took the day off of work tomorrow to unpack everything."

"You took a day off for Labor Day?" Tom asked "A national no-work holiday. You realize you should get that day off."

"Not at the record store." Des sighed "We usually have our Labor Day Sale then. I don't mind since I don't earn a commission. I simply work hours there."

"Still sounds like a great place to work." Tom sighed, taking a seat on the Futon "I work for this new company called Adobe. They're paying us to develop certain items for their software suite."

"My sister would love a job like that." Des sighed, joining him "However, she's currently working for this new company called MetaCortex. She's basically developing software all day in a cubicle farm. I personally could never work in one."

"Thus the record store?" Tom asked.

"That," he replied "And the fact that I only have a High School Diploma. I got the job at the record store since my second cousins own it, and I've been working there since I started high school. It's how I paid for my instruments."

"I don't work at a cubicle farm." Tom replied "I work from home. I get paid to have the beta by a certain deadline. However, working at home gives me certain liberties not found elsewhere."

"Like what?" Desmond asked, curious.

"I can set my own hours. I can watch TV while I work now." Tom replied "I personally think this job's like riding the gravy train. It's easy to get good money."

"That's good." Desmond sighed "I get paid to find people some new music, and take inventory after we close. I work the first shift, the daytime shift. I have nights off though."

"I've been wondering if you guys get discounts on all of your music." Tom asked "Because I had a neighbor who worked at one, and he always had some new music to blare."

"Depends on the store." Desmond replied "I do."

"Well," Tom sighed, standing up "Is there anything you want for dinner?"

"Whatever you plan on cooking," Desmond answered "I don't really mind."

"I was just going to order a pizza." Tom sighed, grinning "I usually just get pepperoni on it."

"I'm fine with that." Desmond replied "I like it with that and extra cheese though."

"You just read my mind." Tom chuckled "I'll go call Pizza Hut."

xXx

When the pizza arrived, Des was currently putting his music center back together. He'd just assembled the shelf component, and was putting the various devices to it on.

"Thank you." Tom's voice echoed through the apartment.

"Was that the pizza guy?" Desmond asked, hearing the door close.

"If it wasn't" Tom joked "Then I just paid for someone else's pizza."

"I've got to say," Desmond replied, taking a seat at the table "you can easily start listening to music while you work. I've been wondering what you'd like."

"What do you think I'd like?" the man asked, withdrawing a slice of pizza from the box.

"I don't know yet." Desmond admitted "I have a few mixes that I have made for when I am in the mood for anything. I think I'll loan you one of those cassettes."

"Sounds good." Tom replied, mouth full of pizza "I think I'll be sure to listen to it."

"I've got a walkman you can borrow." Desmond recommended "You're welcome to it."

"Thanks, but I have my own." Tom admitted "I think I'll listen to some of that."

"I'll be sure to find the mix." Desmond replied.