Hey!
Thanks loads Veria Fornnan! I've changed this whole chapter to do like you told me, I think you like this one!
I know Rachel accepted a little too quickly but thankfully it's part of my mind-boggling plan!
Yeah, I'm gonna do Judoh, you're right, I'm a little in the dark in these areas although I would LOVE to know how to do it.
Anyway, Thank you SO much for reviewing, I really DO need advice and PLZ do so again with this chappie!
Yo, Starsluvdolphins, I want to thank you too for reviewing again and I won't bother you guys now so you can read this new chappie! Hope you like it!
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My mind goes back to the last month and the things Grandma taught me.
Judoh (Here it is! Hehe!) moves, really cool move on which I kept messing up and almost broke my bones more than once.
Anyway, I had stayed half that hard month with the idea in my head that I was delusioning that this was a world I'd made up from my fall on the window in Nick's attic until Grandma got pissed at my evident lack of will and finally made me believe this was reality.
Only now, I walk with a little less assurance and it makes me feel like an idiot but at least I have exceeded my own expectations and I can throw a good enough punch!
Grandma gave me a pendant of a stone dolphin to remind me that this IS reality on my down days and I finger it nervously.
I am brought out of my thoughts as we pull up in front of a very dirty and crumbling house with white paint peeling off the walls.
I step out of the car and grimace. Oooh yeah, this is Dan's place all right.
Pushing the porn magazine aside, I step up to the door and pound three times.
"Oi! Daniel! Stop wanking and get over here!" I yell with fake confidence, hearing him crash through a couple things before opening the door a crack.
"Nelly?" He asks, incredulous.
Let me explain, Dan was my first bed buddy and he taught me a few simple hacking stuff and since we had stayed friends but his job had taken him away a year ago and I hadn't heard of him since.
"Yep!" I squeak as he sweeps me in a bone-crushing hug.
I look over his shoulder and spot farther up the street a black Mercedes.
Imagine my poor beating heart.
Sensing my sudden stiffness, Dan lets me go and kisses Steph's hand as I introduce them and flirts a bit with her as he does with any thing that wears a skirt and is the opposite sex.
He invites us in, making a way for us through his littered stuff on the floor and pushing papers off three chairs, telling us to sit.
He rushes to his kitchen and makes three steaming hot coffees.
"Take a small sip." I advise Steph, knowing very well and being used to Dan's very strong, black coffee.
He sits in front of us and sets the cups down, whistling cheerfully.
Steph indeed almost chokes on her coffee and Dan and I only smile, finishing our cups at the same time, that is to say a few minutes later.
Steph, getting used to it a little moans softly, delightfully. "This is GREAT!" She squeaks
"Dan, I'm with Steph on a job." I inform him, sitting more comfortably.
He nods for me to continue.
"And we have to bring you back to reschedule your missed court appointment." I tell him, toeing a stray pornographic magazine out from under my black boots.
Dan nods. "It was yesterday?" He asks, uneasily.
"Yes."
He gulps and gets up. "Okay, let's go"
Steph seems surprised a little but I know that he probably forgot his appointment because of a very interesting lady who forgot her bra on the kitchen table.
We drop him off and I hug him before leaving.
"You still owe me that coffee recipe Dan." I tell him sternly.
He only laughs and follows the policemen inside.
Stephanie brings us back to Vinnie's office where she receives her check and we walk out again.
My cell chirps and I make a finger motion to excuse myself.
"Allo?" I say out of habit, my only friend who called me at home being French.
"It's me dearie, I have come to the conclusion that you must now have an apartment." Grandma says, hesitantly
"Grandma, are you ok?" I ask, following Steph out of the building to her car.
"Yes yes, I put some money on an account for you, your card is on your bed, I'm going to the beach with some friends of mine for a couple days so go apartment shopping!"
I sight. "Grandma, I can't take your money." I tell her sternly, stopping so Steph can have privacy with a huge man I don't really pay attention to.
"Nonsense. Why did I have to have a granddaughter who is honorable?" She whines.
"Because that is the way my honorable grandmother raised me." I answer cheekily.
"Rachel, my decision is final. By the way, if you see that hot guy packing a great one, Ranger, tell him I said hi." And with that she disconnects.
I let the air out of my nose angrily, stomping the ground with my foot.
"What?" Steph asks and I turn around, freezing at the guy next to her.
"Nell, this is Ranger." She introduces and I nervously shake his hand.
He nods and turns back to Steph.
"Right nice meetin' ya, Steph, grandma just called, I gotta go look for an apartment and she says hi." I mention to Ranger and walk off to the newspaper seller a few yards off.
I walk back to the apartment, declining Steph's offer to drive me home and plop onto the small couch I had found in the attic, full of cobwebs and rat decrements.
Finding a few eventual apartments, I take my small black backpack and go out again.
Steph's sister lets me borrow her old, dejected, not very stable looking car and I whiz through town, finding one bad apartment after another.
After having crossed two dozen addresses and the sun is already going down, I go to my last choice and find the home of my dreams.
Two rooms, two bathrooms, one with a huge bath, a small, tidy kitchen, a cream colored living room and a small balcony looking out on the street.
The little old lady with gray hair pulled tight into a bun asks a ridiculous sum of money for it and I immediately take it, afraid I might loose it.
"I'll come with my things tomorrow and thanks again." I thank her yet again.
She only laughs and bids me goodbye.
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Well here it is! Was it OK? I know I ain't very good so PLZ forgive me for the grammar things I have overlooked and review ladies and gentlemen!