...And a Happy New Year

February 1, 2014

It was another beginning to a dull weekend that reflected much of the past week. With an exception to the girls’ night with Stephanie, Chaney had had a less than eventful week, and it was beginning to look like her weekend would turn out the same way as the week before; stuck at home without plans.
Chaney had texted Halvo the day before apologizing for missing his call and text Thursday night due to her phone dying and went to make plans for last night. He cancelled on her while she was en route to his place. He refused to provide an explanation and was acting rather odd about it compared to his normal way of behaving.

Chaney shrugged it off, turned her car around, and begrudgingly drove back to her house. She wasn’t looking forward to another Friday night stuck at home, and was especially looking forward to getting her own place. As soon as she got home, she made her way up to her room, and barricaded herself in there for the remainder of the night.

When she awoke, she looked at her phone to see that it was clear of any notifications. She was saddened to see that Halvo still hadn’t explained his cancellation the night before. She sat up in bed, looked down at her phone, and sighed as her shoulders slumped and she visibly frowned.

“Hey now, what’s that frown for?”

Chaney jumped, not realizing anyone else was in the room. She looked down, quickly thanking herself for deciding to wear a baggy sweatshirt to bed the night before.

She looked to her left where the voice came from and was surprised to see Halvo sitting on the bench of her bay window with a impish grin on his face.

Chaney groaned once she realized it was only Halvo, and dramatically leaned back against her headboard, only to painfully hit her head on it as she did so, as she forgot she had clipped her hair up. She took the clip from her hair and began rubbing the back of her head where she hit it.

Halvo got up from his lounged position in her window and strolled over to her bed where she was angrily glaring at him. He laughed at her current state before plopping on the bed beside her and laying back, resting his head in her lap as he looked up at her from under his long eyelashes.

“Ya know Indy, if you weren’t such a drama queen, you wouldn’t have hit your head.”

She set her mouth in a tight line, and with her free hand whacked the side of Halvo’s head.

“Maybe, but now your head has been hit so we’re even.”

Halvo laughed at her antics and held up both of his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright. I’m sorry for scaring you. However, it was funny as hell to see your facial expression when you heard me speak. I wish I would’ve recorded it.”

“Please spare me. Is there any particular reason you’re here right now other than scaring the shit outta me? If not…”

“Hey, is that anyway to treat your best friend? Can I not come over simply to see you?”

She quirked an eyebrow at him. “What do you want Halvo and how much does it cost?”

He nervously laughed, “Why do you always assume I want something that involves money?”

Chaney only narrowed her eyes at him.

“Fine. I may have found something for you last night…it was the reason I had to cancel on you last minute.”

“So are you planning on telling me what it is or do I have to drag it out of you?”

“Chill. Get dressed and I’ll show you. I’ll be downstairs.” He pat the top of her head before getting up and heading down the stairs to wait for Chaney to finish getting ready.

She leaned forward from her headboard and swung her feet over the edge of her bed. She sat at the edge of her bed for a few minutes as she contemplated what Halvo had to show her that was so important he had to cancel their plans without an explanation. It’s not like she wouldn’t have understood his reasons, but she was hurt that for whatever reason he didn’t feel like he could tell her. For the first time in her life Halvo kept a secret from her and she didn’t like that feeling. Especially since her and Halvo shared everything with each other.

Chaney shook her head from her pondering and began to get ready. She descended the stairs a few minutes later and found Halvo on the couch chatting casually with Alex. She stood back for a moment and hid around the corner of the living room in hopes of not being seen so she could hear what they were talking about.

It didn’t last long because her dad was coming down the hall behind her from his office and saw her standing there and asked, “Chaney, what’re you doing standing here? Halvo’s in the living room.”

Chaney forced a smile and nodded, as now she was sure Halvo and Alex heard her dad give away her position.

She rounded the corner and any sense of conversation that was going on before, ceased instantly as if it never existed. She sighed to herself and nodded towards Halvo signifying that she was ready to go. Halvo got up, but not before giving Alex a small encouraging smile, and followed Chaney towards the front door.

Halvo hadn’t been driving long before Chaney began her interrogation.

“What was that all about back there?”

Halvo’s brow furrowed, and quickly glanced at Chaney with utter confusion. “What are ya talkin’ about? What was what back where?”

“You know! Back at the house…with Alex.”

Halvo was silent for a few moments, trying to carefully choose his words in a way that wouldn’t upset Chaney or betray his new friendship with Alex. “Uh, nothing really Chaney. We just said hi.”

Halvo hated keeping things from Chaney, but not as much as he hated lying to her and he was doing both. He knew it was wrong, but he needed to keep Alex’s trust if he ever had hope of restoring Alex and Chaney’s relationship.

Chaney saw through his façade and knew instantly that Halvo was either lying or keeping something from her. Earlier that morning, she brushed it off, believing herself to be overreacting. Now she knew she wasn’t and felt even more betrayed.

“Ya know Halvo, if you would’ve just told me that you can’t talk about it, I would have understood and dropped it. You didn’t have to lie to me and act like there’s nothing going on. I’m not sure which I’m more hurt by; the fact that for the first time since we’ve been friends that you felt like you couldn’t talk to me about something, or the fact that you had to lie to me about it.”

She was trying to keep herself from breaking down in the car because she hated crying in front of others; especially Halvo. Sure he had seen her cry a few times over the years, but never because of something he had done. She turned her head towards the passenger window and leaned her head against it, unable to look at him.

Halvo’s heart sank as soon as Chaney called him out, and he couldn’t believe he was stupid enough to think that Chaney wouldn’t have recognized his bluff. He finally brought himself to look over at her, only to wish he hadn’t. She was gazing out of the window, her shoulders slightly shaking, and her eyes were glossy as she was trying to keep from crying. He felt like a complete jerk. He wasn’t intentionally trying to keep Chaney in the dark about what was going on, but he needed Alex to believe him when he said that he would be his friend separately from his sister. Halvo didn’t realize how much of a challenge that would actually be.

He silently drove the rest of the way to their destination, hoping his surprise for her might cheer her up some. He parked the car and turned it off, and looked over at Chaney, not knowing how to get her attention.

She realized he had stopped the car, and sat up, as she rubbed her eyes, hoping Halvo hadn’t noticed her silently crying. She looked out the windows around her, confused as to where they were and why. She then turned her head towards Halvo with a questioning look in her eye.

Once he saw her red, tear-stained face his heart broke, however he had to put that aside if he was to show her the surprise he had gotten her. He gave her a small smile and motioned for her to get out of the car.

Once she was out of the car, she walked around the front of it and met him at his door where he waited for her. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, trying to somehow apologize for being so secretive and deceptive towards her. She smiled in understanding and smiled softly before squeezing his hand back. He led her inside and up the stairs before they reached the third floor and looked at Chaney before leading her through the door.

Once they stepped over the threshold, Halvo began leading her through the vacant apartment, still holding her hand, but she was frozen where she stood. It wasn’t until he felt his hand jerk back because she hadn’t moved that he realized she hadn’t followed him.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Chaney stood there in astonishment. “Halvo, what is this?”

He laughed, “An apartment silly! Now c’mon, I wanna show you the rest of it.”

He tugged her hand to follow, but she jerked his arm back to bring him facing her again.

“I know it’s an apartment, buy why are we here?”

He playfully rolled his eyes. “While you’ve been away at work, I’ve been apartment hunting for you. I found this place and it seemed perfect for you. I was in line along with another person for this prime spot, but they backed out last minute, and the landlord called me to see if I was still interested. I came over here last night to fill out the basic paperwork,well what I could at least. If you want it, it’s yours. It’s in your name, but I covered the first couple months of rent so you can continue to save up.”

Chaney burst into tears before tackling Halvo into a hug. He chuckled slightly before hugging her back just as tightly as she was clinging to him. Chaney buried her face in his chest, and he set his head on top of hers, completely content in this moment. He could tell without either of them having to speak that she forgave him for lying to her, especially because she now realized it was for a surprise and not malicious purposes.

They stood there in the middle of the living room, Halvo swaying them side to side, for an immeasurable amount of time. The entire time, Chaney was standing in Halvo’s embrace once again completely mesmerized by him. She hadn’t intended on him actually paying rent for her, much less finding an apartment that she was in love with. She clung tighter to him, more than thankful for his friendship.

Halvo was just happy to be back in good graces with Chaney. He knew he screwed up before, and was still hoping that not saying anything about Alex wouldn’t backfire on him later. He didn’t make any motion to move from their embrace until Chaney did so first. She was content with staying in Halvo’s comforting embrace and eventually pulled back from it, knowing he wanted to show her around.

Halvo gave her a brief tour of the apartment and she was eager to move in.

“Halvo, this place is amazing. How did you even find it? It’s close to work, in a good part of the neighborhood, and in my price range…”

He smiled sheepishly. “I uh, I told you, I’d been looking while you were at work. I haven’t really had anything to do since Rocket split, so I’d been sitting around like a bum. When you told me about apartment hunting, I started to look the next day. I was lucky to find this place so quickly, and instantly put a bid on it. I was so excited to hear last night that the other guy backed out, so I had to rush over here to fill out paperwork. I hated to ditch you like that, but I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.”

Chaney stood on her tiptoes and kissed Halvo’s cheek in thankfulness. His face turned a bit red from the contact. They stood there staring intensely at one another. Halvo began to move a strand of hair out of her face, and cupped her cheek slightly as he slowly began to lean in towards her.

Chaney’s heart was racing, not knowing what to do or how to respond. Part of her always wondered what it would be like kissing Halvo since she had repressed her feelings for him and often wondered if he ever felt the same. On the other hand, she couldn’t help but think of John and that she didn’t want to get distracted from her mission. She continued to stand there panicking, her mind moving a million miles an hour as Halvo’s face neared hers and she began to close her eyes, deciding to accept her fate.

Just before their lips touched, a man burst through the door, looking down at the papers he held in his hands.

The sound of the door opening made Chaney and Halvo jump away from each other as if they weren’t standing close at all. There was an awkward tension around them as the man made his way over to them.

“Are you Chaney Masters?”

Chaney looked at the man and nodded, not sure who he was.

“I’m your landlord. Here’s your paperwork. Your guy here already has the first couple of months covered. All you need to do is sign your name and fill out a few of these forms and you’ll be free to move in whenever you want. My room is on the first floor right as you come in the doors. Feel free to drop those off there whenever you’re ready, then I’ll give you your key.”

Chaney thanked him as he left the room and tried her best to look anywhere but Halvo. She didn’t want to admit to almost kissing him. It was strange for her. He was her best friend. The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous it sounded. That part of her past was buried long ago and she had no idea why those feelings resurfaced for that brief moment.

She walked over to the counter where her landlord dropped off her forms and began to flip through them, observing what information she needed to fill out. She could feel Halvo’s eyes on her as she stood there, and tried to ignore how she now felt under his stare. She chose to ignore those feelings as she dug in her purse to retrieve a pen to fill out the paperwork for her new apartment.

Once she was done, she exited the apartment without a second glance back, but could hear Halvo following her. She stopped by the landlord’s door, whose name she now learned was Paul. He gave her the key to her room, and she left his room and out towards Halvo’s car.

He wasn’t far behind her, and unlocked the doors silently, without looking at Chaney. Once they were both in and settled, he turned on the car and began to pull out of the parking spot.

“So Indy, wanna grab lunch?”

She meekly replied, “Yeah, sounds good. Our usual?”

Halvo nodded and drove towards their favorite diner. Neither spoke another word the entire drive there, which was a shorter commute than normal since the apartment complex was near the diner.
They went inside and took their usual booth, awkwardly avoiding each other’s eye contact, wondering which of them would crack first and speak.

Halvo was that person. “Chaney, about what happened back at the apartments…”

She shrugged it off. “Don’t worry about it. No harm, no foul right? Let’s just forget it ever happened Eric.” She then began to look at her menu, wondering if that’s what she really wanted to do or not, but it was too late to take it back now and she didn’t want to confuse herself any further.

Halvo was taken aback not only from her words but the fact that she called him Eric. She hadn’t called him that since they first met. Her words weren’t any easier to swallow either. For the second time that day, Halvo’s heart shattered at what Chaney told him. Of course he didn’t want to forget about it. The moment they almost shared was one that he had dreamed of since he was 13 years old, but she clearly didn’t want anything to do with him, so he decided to continue to help her on her quest for John. He just wished she would recognize what an amazingly flawed, but perfect human she was. She didn’t have half the confidence that he knew she was capable of possessing, and he never understood why she always seemed to degrade herself.

She was so bent on the idea of needing a guy to complete her and give her worth; that guy being John. For the life of him, he never understood her obsession with getting a kiss from John, but as her best friend, he was determined to help her out even if he felt her motives were misguided and he disagreed. He hated that she never felt like she was a good enough person. He knew she wasn’t perfect by any means, but she had a good heart and was always willing to be there for those she loved most, despite messing up most of the time in the process.

He smiled to himself at her perfect imperfections as he looked over the menu he had memorized. He knew he, nor any real guy for that matter, could ever fill the shoes that Chaney had built up in her mind for John to fill, but he had a new determination in him. He would help her with John, but he wanted to make her realize along the way how strong of a person she is and how a relationship or kiss from a guy doesn’t give her worth.

Chaney nudged his foot under the table to get his attention as their waitress was there ready to take their order. Halvo got his usual meal of a bacon cheeseburger with fries, extra ketchup and a Coke. Chaney got her usual of a chicken tender basket with fries, ranch on the side and a Dr. Pepper.

They handed off their menus and sat there once again in silence, but it didn’t feel as awkward as before. Halvo was about to confront Chaney about this whole thing with John when he looked up to see her grinning widely at her phone.

“Indy? What’s uh…are you okay?”

Still smiling, she bit her lip, and looked back at Halvo as she nodded. “Yeah, I’m great. I just…John. He’s been texting me off and on the last few days and as much as I hate him for being such an ass to me, I think he wants to apologize.”

Seeing the sparkle in her eyes over this, Halvo didn’t want to be responsible for taking that away so he let what he was going to say pass. He would rather have her happy and confident than force her to be with someone she didn’t love.

They finished their lunch and Halvo paid for their lunches, much to the protest of Chaney considering he paid her first couple months of rent. She wrapped her arms around his bicep, and hugged it to her, thanking him for lunch.

The waitress at the front counter that was working the cash register kept eyeing Chaney and Halvo with a smirk in her eyes. She swiped Halvo’s card and handed it back to him. As she was waiting for the receipt to print, she couldn’t keep her opinions to herself anymore. “Pardon my intrusion, but I see a lot of couples come in here, and none of them are as adorable as you two. I see you two in here all the time together, and I think you guys make the cutest couple.”

Chaney and Halvo both blushed at her statements, and Chaney began to speak up, defending their friendship, “Well you see, we’re not—”

“We’re not into labels, but thank you just the same.” He cut Chaney off, and smiled sweetly at the waitress behind the counter.

She smiled just as warmly back at him before handing him his receipt.

Halvo then dropped Chaney off at her house, and for once, she was never so relieved to be home. She went up to her room, still in shock over her day. First there was the matter of the apartment. Halvo didn’t have to look for apartments by himself, nor did he have to pay for any of the rent. Despite offering to let her move in with him, she knew better than to take that spare room away from John. That room had had his name on it since Halvo moved in. Secondly, there was the matter of their “almost” kiss. She couldn’t deny how long she had been wondering what it felt like, but the moment had long passed and would likely never happen again due to how awkward things were between them after the fact. She hated when things got awkward with them. The last time she had been this awkward around Halvo was back in middle school when she admitted in the dreaded game of Truth or Dare that she liked him. She could only hope it wouldn’t get that awkward again. She laid back in her bed and flipped on her TV, not caring what she did for the rest of the day because she needed a distraction from Halvo.

***

Chaney had dozed off in the middle of watching some random show on The Food Network when she heard her phone go off. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before looking to see who was contacting her. She saw she had yet another text from John.

We’re in Austin tonight. Less than a week now. I’ll see you then :)

Chaney grinned and quickly typed out a reply before setting her phone back on her nightstand. She was caught off guard when it began ringing, and even more so when she saw the caller; John.

“John?”

”Hey Chaney.”

She could hear the smile in his voice.

“To what do I owe this phone call?”

John snickered at her question. “What? Am I not allowed to call you now? Are you a text-only kinda girl?”

She laughed, noting the teasing in his tone. “No, I mean, of course you can call me, I’m just surprised is all. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you.”

”Yeah, well I felt like changing things up. How has your day been?”

She had successfully forgotten about her almost-kiss with Halvo until John brought it up.
“It was interesting to say the least. I wish I could say the most exciting part was that I got an apartment, but I’d be lying.”

”Woah, you got an apartment? You’renot moving in with Halvo?” John asked utterly perplexed.

“No…why? I mean, he offered, but I didn’t want to change the dynamics of our relationship.” She then thought to herself how what almost happened between them already changed their dynamic despite her initial resistance.

John was about to say something else when a loud voice came from behind him and began yelling at him and others around them. “Hey, that’s my cue. We’re about to go on. Talk later?”

Chaney nodded, until she realized he couldn’t see her. “Uh, yeah, we can talk later. Good luck tonight. And despite not really knowing him, tell Pat happy birthday.”

John chuckled softly before agreeing and hung up.

Chaney had no idea who this “Pat Kirch” was, but she saw John’s birthday post to him on Instagram earlier and figured she would attempt to get to know John’s other friends and bandmates. It would get her one step closer to being on John’s good side. She liked this John, the one that would cut up and causally talk to her. He was beginning to act like the John she initially met and had become entranced by; not the one that had been so rude to her the last few weeks.

She was mentally counting down the days until John came home so they could talk, and hopefully resolve whatever was going on between them.