Dinner Party

Chapter 3

Hallie's POV

I woke up to the sound of rushing water in a foreign room, somewhat decorated in blue and earth tones, with cream walls and a royal blue bedspread that was currently keeping me warm. I heard motion and saw someone stand from the corner of my eyes, coming over to stand next to me. I rubbed my eyes tiredly, yawning before getting attacked by a sudden bought of cold that made me shiver under the covers. 

"Oh good, you're awake. Let's get you into the warm bath. Come on, Hallie." I heard the person say, trying to pull the covers back, but I held onto them tightly, pulling them back over my chest. The person chuckled, releasing the comforter from their hands. "Okay then. My way it is." I was suddenly being lifted into the air, covers and all, and I struggled a little to get out, but mostly I was still pretty out of it.

"You have to take a bath, we don't want you getting sick." The voice said, and the fogginess in my brain lifted for a moment for me to remember what had happened earlier, to which I let out a gasp and hung limply as though I died to try to get him to put me down. He only laughed some more, carrying me to what I quickly realized was the source of the water noise: the bathroom. 

He set me down gently on the toilet, mumbling something about wanting me to do this myself and began removing the comforter from my body, which I let him do, even standing up to let him take it and throw it back in his room. "I'm gonna leave now, I need you to get into that bathtub and take a nice, hot bath. There's soap, shampoo, conditioner, even bubble bath if you so desire, everything you could need to take a nice bath. Just knock on the door when you're done and I'll bring you some clothes." He said, patting my head gently, making me pout. 

"Yeah, okay. Bath time it is." I mumbled to myself as he left, grabbing the bubble bath and pouring it into the nearly-full tub before stripping of my clothes and stepping inside, sitting down. Now that I was starting to come to my senses, I was slightly embarrassed by my actions, but also curious as to where I was. His house maybe? But why didn't he just take me home? 

Cause he doesn't know where you live, dumbass, my subconscious said. I rolled my eyes at myself and turned the water of before sinking down into the bubbles to enjoy my bath, drowning all of my worries away in bubbles and hot water. 

~~~

When I got out of the bathtub, I found a stack of towels sitting on the counter waiting for me. I grabbed two, one for my body and the other for my hair, then promptly began drying myself off. Ever since I was a child, I'd used two towels because my hair only grew longer and thicker the older I got. I dyed it once, a natural red color, but I preferred my normal color, a light brown with natural blonde highlights throughout. 

I got myself dried off, taking a while to brush out my hair with a comb that had been left on the counter and putting it into two Dutch braids. Following his previous instructions, I knocked on the door and not three seconds later, it cracked open to reveal his hand holding a small pile of clothes. I thanked him and took them, unfolding the t-shirt which turned out to be a Perfect Circle shirt, one of my favorite bands, and a pair of oversized sweatpants, as well as a pair of white socks. 

I realized quickly that my bra was wet still, and had an internal struggle. Well, I don't want to wear a wet bra, but I also don't want to be braless, I thought to myself, sighing as I just slipped the shirt over my head, deciding to just screw it and face the consequences later. 

Once I was changed, I opened the door and poked my head out, wet towels and clothes in my hands. He wasn't in the room, which didn't surprise me too much. What did I expect, for him to just wait patiently for me to finish my bath? No way. 

His house was foreign territory to me, but I still wanted to find and thank him for helping me. The sun was already up, signaling that the day had begun long before I'd woken up. I walked out of the room, padding down the hallway where I was met with stairs, picture frames of Beck and his family showing a timeline of his life which made me smile ruefully.