Playing for Rya

51. Bells and Whistles

Song: Can't help falling in love; Cover by Kurt Hugo Schneider.
           

"Where does this go?" Kris held up a small, clear bag of clip-on extensions.

Rya mulled over the question for a couple of seconds before coming to a decision. "Trash." She said.

"Good choice." Kris nodded in approval as she chucked the bag and its contents into a box labelled 'Trash.'

They were both in their apartment building, packing up Rya's apartment. Kris, true to her nature, had promised to help when Rya had informed her and the boys a few weeks earlier, that she and Derek had bought a new home and would be moving in together.

It hadn't been as difficult a decision as Rya had thought it would be. For her, it was a natural  transition. She and Derek had spent the last five months in a haze of bliss. Most of her days and nights were spent at his apartment, that is when she wasn't working or being whisked off to yet another exotic city that Derek wanted to show her.

She was happy. Happier than she'd ever been, and to the point where she occasionally harbored the fear that it was all too perfect, and something was sure to happen that would mess it all up.

Things were moving quickly between them. A year ago, she would have balked at the pace at which they were going. But now, it just felt right.

They had found a place they both loved several months back and Derek had immediately moved to purchase the property. It was larger than she thought they needed, and a little further away from the hospital than she would've liked, but it had felt like home, and Derek had insisted that he was happy with her choice.

So far, the renovations they'd made had seen the place basically stripped down to its pillars and put back together again. They had waited over two months for the renovations to be complete to move in and she couldn't have been more excited.

Another reason she was excited was because of what her and Jace and Peter had in store for Kris that evening. None of them were very good at keeping secrets from each other which was why they had planned the surprise as quickly as they possibly could to get the whole thing over and done with before, either Kris got wind of their plans, or one of them accidentally spilled the beans.

"So don't forget tonight at seven, " Rya said now. "Keep your calendar open, drinks at Phil's."

Kris snorted, "My calendar?" she asked with raised eyebrows, "sure. I'll ask my assistant to pencil that right in."

Rya rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."

"You know you talk like one of them now." Kris said as she taped one of the boxes shut.

"Like one of who?" Rya asked.

"The high and mighty's. Society's one percent. The stuffy frogs of the world, you know. Those women who clutch their pearls and cling to their wealthy husbands while staring down their remodeled noses at the working class and going: 'Look at these insufferable mortals. Ha ha ha.'" She put on an affected accent, placing a hand at her chest as she gave a maniacal laugh.

Rya stared at her, biting back a laugh at the crazy expression Kris wore as part of her act, until, unable to contain their mirth, both girls burst into fits of laughter.

"You are silly as fuck." Rya said as she stuffed clothes into the suitcase on the bed which she was in the process of filling with the items from her closet. "I can't, with you."

"So, " Kris said, after they had both composed themselves again. "Uhm, you think we can be done here by three? I have to be somewhere, erm, I mean, I have some stuff to take care of."