Oh my God! Do my eyes deceive me? I think not! It's an update, truly it is! Hey everyone! So my hand is working now, well it has been for some time but I've been really busy painting my stinking house and going Christmas shopping and wrapping presents and um playing videogames. My stitches are off, YAY! Well actually, I took them out myself, and WOW, that was COol! Anyhoo, thanks for the reviews and get well notices. I really, really appreciated them! Hee, hee. You guys are the greatest! Yeah okay, so I said that I might change the title, well I changed my mind. Okay enough, onto the story.
Chapter 8: Move to Move
It was quiet in Jill's apartment and the awkward silence was becoming unbearable, even if it was only six minutes, going on seven. Richard finally came up with the drinks. Now all they had to wait for was the Chinese, well just Chris and Jill. The others, save for Joseph and his guest, had already begun indulging themselves with the pizzas he brought over as a piece offering as to why he was late.
"Jeez Forest, you eat as if you've never eaten in years." Chris said.
"It's your fault." Forest said.
"Mine? Hey, this isn't my place and my furniture we're moving around, okay. It's hers." Chris said, gulping down some of his soda.
"Shut up. All you ever do is blame me. Jill this! Jill that! Why is it always my fault? Is it because I'm new and it's your job to piss me off? Or is it because of that one night? I can't figure you out. One minute we're having a normal conversation and the next we're arguing with each other like no tomorrow." She said, making a sour face. As she got up from her seat, the delivery guy buzzed in to inform her that her order is here. She trotted over and buzzed him up.
"You tell it like it is, Jill." Richard said in between bites.
"Okay, enough of this stupid nonsense. Let's just finish eating so we can finish arranging the furniture." Richard changed the subject.
"I can talk still." Joseph said.
"Hey, since you're done eating, why don't you get started on arranging the furniture?" Forest said.
"Yeah here, get started." Chris handed Jill's blueprints to him.
"By myself?" Joseph asked.
"You have Kate, why don't you get her to help you." Forest teased. Chris got up and stepped out into the balcony for some fresh air and perhaps a quick smoke or two or three.
"Fine, fine. Alright Kate, tell me where to put things." He said as he handed the quiet Kate the blueprints and walked over to the scattered furniture.
Jill had returned from her trip to the door and brought back the takeout to where the others where dining. "Where's Chris?" She asked. The two pointed to the balcony since their mouths were full. "Hmm, you think he's mad at what I said?"
Richard swallowed and proceeded to talk. "Tch, no. Besides, he has no reason to be pissed. I just think he's pissed at the fact that you just met him and you're able to read him like a book."
"What are you talking about, I can't read that sucker and if he were a book, it's got to be written in some foreign language because I don't understand him." She paused to take a breath, "But still, do you think I should just apologize?"
"Why? Do you think what you said was wrong?" Forest asked.
"No."
"So then you have nothing to be sorry about." He said
"But still."
"No Jill. Forest is right. Don't apologize. Whatever you do, don't. You're just going to bring him back to the summit. And if you do, you're, you're…weak. A weak little girl who claims she was in the U.S. Delta Force." Richard said, knowing that Jill didn't like to be called weak.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." She paused, "But since you guys have known him longer than I have, then I'll listen to you." She said. She then placed the bag on the table and walked towards the balcony.
"Hey, no, no, no, no. You just said you weren't going to apologize." Richard said.
"Who says I am? I'm going to tell him that the food is here. He's probably hungry."
"Psh, let that monkey starve." Forest said finishing the last slice of pizza. He, along with Richard retreated to where Joseph was and sat down on the sofa, waiting for their food to digest before they helped him out.
Jill opened the sliding door that led to the balcony. Chris turned around and saw her and immediately flicked his cigarette away. "You don't have to hide it. I know you were smoking. It is a glass door you know." She smiled.
"Who says I was hiding it? What if I was done and just flicked it the same time you entered?" He said.
"Then you are a litter bug." She said.
"Did you come out here to yell at me more or is there a reason? Or would you like me to come inside so that everyone can watch us?" He smiled.
"Oh, yeah oops. I came here to tell you that the food is here if you would like to eat now."
"Yeah okay, in a bit, thanks." He said.
"Okay." She closed the door and went over to join the others.
"Hey Kate, where does this piece go?" Joseph asked.
"It goes over there." She pointed. "Eww. Why would she put that there? It's ugly." She said, oblivious that Jill was walking up from behind. Kate saw Joseph's eyes bulge. She turned around and faced Jill. "Sorry, Jill but no offense, it really wouldn't look good. I wouldn't want to put that there, or anywhere near there."
"That's why I'm not you." She faked smiled and took a seat on an empty chair.
"Hmm, okay I'm feeling a bit…awkward. I think it's time for me to go." Kate said. "I call you." She said to Joseph.
"Oh no, you don't have to go. I didn't mean what I said in a bad way, it's just that we're different people and we have different preferences." Jill told her.
"Um, oh. Okay, okay but um I still have to go. It's getting kind of late and I work early in the morning." She handed the paper to Jill.
"Okay then, well it was nice meeting you." Jill said even though they weren't properly introduced.
"Same here. Bye everyone." She waved, "I'll call you tomorrow." She told Joseph and gave him a goodnight kiss on the cheek.
"Yeah, okay, bye." He said. She waved for the last time and exited Jill's apartment.
"Okay back to business. So if you guys are done lounging around, do you think you can give me a hand?" Joseph asked. The guys didn't say anything but with the look on their faces, they weren't ready to help him out. "You guys suck!" Joseph yelled at them and searched for another appliance that can be handled by one person. Chris came back from his smoke break and went right to work. Jill immediately joined in too, not wanting them to say that she didn't help move her own stuff. Then one by one, the guys got off their lazy asses and helped out.
-45 minutes later-
"Hey Jill, where does this go?" Forest asked, referring to her floor lamp.
"Oh, um put that over there."
"Where?"
"Over there." She pointed out and accidentally whacked Chris in the face as he was passing by with her queen sized mattress.
"Ow, what the fu…" Chris said.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" Jill said.
"Yeah, okay." He said and continued along with Richard who was chuckling from the other side.
"Twice in one day, huh Jill?" Joseph said.
"Aiming for three." She laughed and Chris shot her a look. "I'm kidding! It's not like I did that on purpose." She said, and retreated to the bathroom.
"Sure you are." He shouted sarcastically so he can be heard as they disappeared in to the bedroom to place her bed.
"Psst, Joe? So I brought the bags, what are we supposed to do?" Forest whispered.
"Oh shit! I totally forgot! Damn! I also left my bags in Kate's car. Arrrrggggg!"
"We can still pull it off. What did you have in mind anyways?" Forest asked.
"I guess you really didn't get my hint. Anyways, I wanted to take all her clothes. Every t-shirt, every skirt, every blouse, every dress! EVERYTHING!" Joseph said in a high whisper.
"Even her bras and panties?" Forest asked.
"Um, no just outer wear." Joseph snickered.
"What about lingerie?" Forest asked.
"I guess not. She obviously can't wear that in public. And before you ask, yes, we're taking her S.T.A.R.S. fatigues too."
"Won't you feel bad about this?" Forest asked.
"No. Not right now at least." Joseph smiled.
"Okay, so how exactly are we going to pull this off?" Forest asked.
"I don't know. I guess we have to wait and see what happens. And if nothing happens tonight, then we'll have to wait until some other night." Joseph said.
"Yeah okay, works for me but should we include Richard, Brad and Chris?" Forest asked.
"Richard and Brad have morals and they're going to tell us what we're doing is wrong and that we're too old to be doing this. Chris already has beef with her so lets just leave them with that." Joseph said.
"Hey, um but how are we going to stuff all of her clothes in what little bags I have? She's a girl, um, woman, lady…whatever! I'm sure she has lots of clothes." Forest whispered.
"Don't worry, I'll think of something. Alright, shut up now, here they come." Joseph said and immediately went to do something productive.
"You better." Forest said.
"You better, what? What are you guys talking about?" Jill asked.
"Nothing. Um Joseph here doesn't want to help me move, er, move…" Forest stuttered.
"Move the other half of your bed into the bedroom." Joseph said.
"Yep. That's what it was. He said that just because Rich and Chris started it, we shouldn't finish it and I told him that's bull. And so now we're going to move the bed. Now if you'll excuse us, we're gonna get back to what we were supposed to do, which is move your bed." Forest said nervously. Joseph elbowed him so he would shut up and then he pulled him by his arm to where the bed was at.
"Okay." Jill said and walked over to the box labeled 'books' and dragged it to the bookshelf that was ready and waiting to be filled. As she put the books on the shelf, Joseph and Forest proceeded to bring in the other half of the mattress.
"What the hell are you guys doing?" Richard asked the two moving the bed. "Weren't you two just complaining that you didn't want to bring the bed in?"
"What? Don't be ridiculous. I think you just assumed you didn't want us to bring it in." Joseph said.
"Never mind, it doesn't matter. Just as long as everything is in their rightful place, otherwise Miss Bitchy over there might…bitch." Chris said.
"Oh that's cute, you already have pet names." Joseph teased.
"Ha, Ha! You know, you're so funny, I might just break your face." Chris said.
"Well now, you're not very funny yourself. Let's move on Forest. We're not wanted in the presence of Chris." Joseph laughed as they moved on.
"So why are we bringing this in?" Forest asked.
"So we can see how much clothes she has and estimate how long it will take for us to pack everything." Joseph said.
"Ah, ha. Makes sense." Forest said as they placed the mattress on top of the bottom one.
"Okay, stand guard and tell me if anyone's coming." Joseph said as he opened up the closet, which happened to be a walk-in that housed a ton of clothing. "Holy sweet mother of god! She sure has a hell of a lot of clothes!"
"Well, she is a girl." Forest said.
"Hmm, okay, let me think this through. If we work double time and not take off all the hangers, we might be able to pull this off in five minutes. But see, the hangers will take up extra room and we have limited space so we're going to have to take them off. Hey, open that top drawer over there, will you?"
"Um, undergarments." Forest said.
"Okay, skip that, next?"
"Socks."
"And the other?" Joseph asked.
"Ah, ha. We've got some tank tops and boxer shorts, some other shorts and other shirts."
"Okay great, now check the other dresser."
"Jack-pot." Forest said
"Okay, let's get out of here now that we've finished taking inventory." Joseph said.
"So how long do you think?" Forest asked.
"Shit!" He cursed, realizing something was wrong.
"Now what?" Forest asked
"I don't have a car."
"I hitched a ride with Rich. Do you think we should just call it off?" Forest asked.
"NO, hell no! If I say we're doing this, then by god we are!" Joseph said, "Hmm, I guess I'll have to make an excuse to leave and get my car."
"Why can't we just load it Rich's truck?" Forest asked.
"Because he can't know." Joseph said.
"Okay, then we'll borrow his car and get my 4Runner." Forest said.
"Sounds like a plan." Joseph said.
After asking nicely, Richard agreed to lend his truck to Joseph. On the way back, Forest and Joseph decided to stop at a 24 hour Super-Market to buy some snackies. By the time they got back most of the heavy lifting was done.
"Hola, mis amigos! Hey, how nice. You're all done with the all the heavy duties!" Forest said, walking in with a bag full of chips and beers.
"No thanks to you lazy gallivanting bums." Chris said.
"Excuse me, but we have jobs." Forest said as though Chris offended him.
"And homes." Joseph included, "Hey where's Jill?"
"Taking a bath." Chris said.
"Taking a bath? And you're not with her?" Joseph teased.
"Shut up. It's getting annoying." Chris said.
"Yeah, it is." Joseph then went up to the bathroom door and knocked on it. "Jill?" He called.
"What are you doing?" Richard asked but he ignored him.
"Yeah?" She shouted over the running water.
"Are you going use those empty boxes out there?" Joseph asked.
"Um no. I was just about to ask if you guys could get rid of it, but if you need it then go right ahead!" She yelled.
"Thanks!" he yelled and returned to the living room to collect the four empty boxes.
"Guys, chips, beer and the balcony looks great right about now." Joseph wanted them out of the way and beer would certainly distract them. Forest handed them the bag with beer and chips and the two of them took it to the balcony.
Once the living room was cleared, Joseph and Forest slipped into her bedroom and proceeded to raid her closet. They managed to pack all her clothes in nine minutes and the both of them were utterly exhausted but their work wasn't over yet. They still had to bring the boxes down to Forest's 4Runner and load it. They left her a little note in her closet and made sure it was in a place where it was easily spotted.
Before they exited her room, Joseph peeked and saw the guys were facing towards the street talking about who knows what and Jill was still in the bathroom, probably still shaving her legs or something.
"Okay, lets make this quick. We'll bring all the boxes out at the same time and probably leave it in the hall. Just as long as it's no where to be seen by Jill."
"Gotcha. Lets do this!" Forest laughed evilly. He couldn't wait to see the look on Jill's face when she opens her closet to find absolutely nothing to wear. The two of them brought the boxes out and stuffed it into the elevator. One by one, they took it out of the elevator and brought it out to Forest's SUV and managed to fit all four boxes in it, no sweat. "Hey, um I'm not keeping her stuff at my place."
"It doesn't matter. We're going to put it at Flyboy's place. Well actually his storage."
"How?" Forest asked. Joseph then pulled out a key to Chris's storage. "How?" Forest asked, wondering how Joseph got the keys.
"Simple, Chris is dumb." He laughed.
"So we're going to frame Chris?" Forest asked.
"Let's just say 'we had nothing to do with this.'" He smiled.
"Awesome."
"No, I'm just bored. There isn't anything to do in this damn town and we hardly get called in." Joseph said.
"Yeah, you're right. There isn't anything exciting to do here." Forest agreed. They triumphantly walked back to door that been held open by a twig and marched back up to Jill's apartment and joined the others on the balcony. Right after the two stepped in, Jill stepped out of the bathroom, rubbing her long hair with the towel to dry it off as best she can. She found the living room empty and as she walked towards her room to lay her towel on the bed to dry, she spotted them all in the balcony, guzzling bottles of beer. She opened the door to her room and tossed the towel in and left to the balcony. "And where did you guys get the beer?" She asked.
"We made a wish and the great beer genie granted it." Chris said as he raised the bottle to his lips to take a swig.
"Ha, ha." Jill said and immediately grabbed the bottle out of Chris's grasp and emptied it over the balcony.
"What the hell, I was drinking that! What a waste." Chris said in an irritable tone.
"Um, I need the restroom." Richard made a quick exit. Forest and Joseph stayed, curious to know what they were going to say.
"You shouldn't be drinking at all." She said. Forest and Joseph were watching, looking at Chris now, eager to know what his reply was going to be.
"And why not? Everybody else is! And besides, who are you to tell me what I can or cannot do?" Chris said for his defense.
Forest and Joseph turned their heads to Jill, waiting to hear what she has to say. "Hey," Forest whispered to Joseph, "Pass me some chips will ya?"
"They're not driving." She said calmly.
"Psst, can you give me a bottle?" Joseph whispered to Forest as they turned their heads towards Chris.
"Richard and Forest are, and I didn't see you grab their drinks out of their hands and emptying it over the balcony." Chris said.
"First of all, they didn't have a bottle in their hand if you didn't already see!" Secondly you're driving or riding or whatever a motorcycle and that's more dangerous than a car, did the thought ever cross your mind? Or are you too stupid to comprehend?" Jill asked.
"Oh, that's sweet. She's looking out for Chris." Forest whispered to Joseph while looking at Chris for his response.
"And why do you care?" Chris asked.
"I don't." She half-lied, "I just don't want you to hit a dog or cat or chicken crossing the road. It hurts my heart to see a dead animal on the side of the road because of some careless or reckless driver, such as yourself, having seen your driving skills first hand!"
"Oh, it hurts you to see a dead animal on the road. Cry me a fucking river. That's pathetic." Chris said. He really didn't want to say that because in actuality, he hated to see that.
"A, screw you alright. Screw you! I'm pathetic just because I pity those animals? Ugh, you make me sick. You know, I pity you more than those animals because at least they have more feelings than you will ever have!" She yelled at him.
"Hey, Joe? Um how did this conversation go from beer to stray animals?"
"I don't know." Joseph said, leaving Forest confused.
"Save your pity, for what I feel should not even matter to you, or anyone else. And who are you to say that I don't have any emotions? You don't know me!" Chris said.
"I don't know you because you don't want me to get to know you! I see what you're doing and I don't know why the hell you're doing it. Here I am trying to be your friend and you come up with something to piss me off, and you know what, it seems to be working! How in the world did your parents deal with you, shit, god knows I'd be dead if I had to deal with one such as yourself!"
"Well lucky for you, they are." Chris said calmly and walked into the living room where he grabbed his jacket and headed out the door. He opted to take the stairs down to walk off some steam.
Jill stood speechless in the balcony with Forest and Joseph. "Fuck! How the hell was I supposed to know that his parents are dead!" Jill felt really bad about it.
"Because it's not our part to talk about Chris. If he wants to tell, then he'll tell. You wouldn't want us talking about your past, would you? I mean, wouldn't it be better if you were the one to tell?" Forest said, as the three of them walked into the living room.
"You know, for such an immature guy, you seem to know what you're saying and it makes perfect sense." Jill said.
"Well, I try." He smiled at the compliment.
"Um, Jill, you know when you wanted to apologize to Chris earlier?" Richard said.
"Yeah?" She said.
"Now would be a good time." Richard said.
"But he's probably gone already." Jill said.
"If I know Chris, he'd want to walk off some steam, so he probably took the stairs. You could probably catch him still." Joseph said.
"Yeah, his bike is still out there." Forest peeked out a window.
"I guess I should. I have to work with him tomorrow and if this is not settled, we may have some bloodshed." She smiled and ran out the door.
"Hmm, you know, this is really funny." Forest said.
"Why is that?" Joseph asked.
"You don't find it funny?" Forest asked.
"Find what funny?" Richard asked.
"How we treat Jill. We were introduced to her not even five days ago and we treat her like we've known her for years. And when we first met Chris, it was the complete opposite, it like took us a couple of weeks for us to really be loose around him." Forest said.
"You think he's jealous?" Richard asked.
"No, I don't think he cares for that crap." Joseph said.
"I guess." Richard said.
Jill ran down the stairs hoping to bump into him on the way down. He was in the lobby area when he immediately stopped in front of the door and thought about what had just happened. He should have thought about it on the way down but he was busy thinking about what he should eat, after all, he didn't eat his share of food up at Jill's. "Damn, this is stupid! I better apologize. She didn't know." Chris thought. He turned around and immediately ran up on the left side of the stairs, taking it three by three. As he was going up, he watched the steps so he wouldn't miss any and held on to the railing with his left hand for extra support. He focused on that, occasionally looking up to see what floor he was on. He reached the fourth floor when, CRASH! He fell to the landing and the other person, who happened to be Jill on her way down, fell along with him and coincidentally, landing on top of him.
"Oh, my god! I'm so sorry, Sir! It's totally my fault! I wasn't watching where I was going." Jill apologized.
"Sir? Do I look that old to you?" Chris asked, sounding as if he was insulted.
"Chris!" Jill immediately got off of him. "I didn't know it was you. I thought you had already gone." She extended a hand to help him up.
"Um, just curious, how did you not see me? I mean you're going down right, and so don't you look down to see where you're stepping?" Chris asked.
"I don't know. Maybe I blinked or something. It just happened so fast." She said.
"Well that's one long blink." He smiled, "So where you heading? Don't you still have guest up there?"
"Yeah I do, but I guess you can say they sort of chased me out." Jill took a seat on the fourth step. "Can we talk?"
"Uh yeah so um, listen, I uh, wanted to apologize about earlier." He said.
"I thought that was my line?" She asked.
"No, you shouldn't have to apologize to me. You didn't know that my parents were killed by some drunk." He leaned up against the wall.
"I'm so sorry." Jill said.
"It's alright, unless you're father was the drunk that killed them, then I'd have to kill you, just to get even." He joked.
"No I don't think it was him. He was probably out robbing some jewelry store. He preferred doing that rather than picking up a bottle of whiskey." Jill smiled.
"That's good, cause it would be a shame if I had to kill you." He said.
"And why is that?" She asked.
"Well because then I won't have anyone to file my reports." He laughed.
"Tch, and who says that I will anyways?" She smiled.
"Because, I'm Chris Redfield and I always get what I want." He joked.
"Are you always this arrogant?" She laughed.
"Um, when I feel like it, yeah." He smiled.
"So wanna come back up? I mean, you must be hungry. You didn't eat your food and I don't think I could finish all of that by my self."
"Oh yeah. I am starving." He said.
"So let's go then, the guys might be tired waiting for us." She said. The continued up the stairs and made their way to her apartment. She opened the door and found the place empty. "Guys?"
"Rich?" Chris called out.
"Where did they go? They couldn't have left. We would've seen them."
"Not unless they took the elevator." Chris spotted Richard outside giving him the peace sign.
"What?"
"They just left." Chris pointed out the window. Jill walked up and saw them leaving.
"They suck." She opened the window and stuck her head out. "You guys suck! We're not even finished! Free loaders!" She yelled. Chris couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh well, I guess I could help finish up."
"You don't mind?" Jill asked.
"Not at all." Chris smiled.
End of chapter 8! Sorry if it sucked. I had ideas but I lost them cause I didn't write it down. I thought that I can remember it, but with all the stuff going around here, I seemed to have forgotten it. I can't say when the next update will be but hopefully it won't take as long as this one did. Anyways, WOW, it's Christmas Eve! In Guam anyway and it's snowing! Well, no actually, it's raining. You see, this is my theory, as the snow comes falling down, the sun melts it and it turns into rain, thus making it wet snow, or something like that. It got so bad that the power even shut off last night and I couldn't get to upload this. Well, have a safe and Merry Christmas! Peace, I'm out!