...And a Happy New Year

February 8, 2014

Chaney didn’t stay long at Halvo’s the night before due to being emotionally and physically exhausted from her day, but she had promised to come over the following day, which is where she found herself now. She once again grabbed his “hidden” spare key and let herself in, calling out to Halvo that she was there.

She shut the door and hung the spare on the key hooks right inside the door. She took off her shoes, and made her way to his room, seeing if he needed anything. Luckily for her, she didn’t have any plans that day and wanted to spend her day with Halvo. If for nothing more than enjoying his company, she was hoping he could shed some light on the John situation. This whole thing was getting out of hand and only wearing her out. Her doubts about this whole thing kept multiplying the longer she talked to John and she wondered why things went south so quickly.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts as she stepped into Halvo’s room, taking notice of the pile of trash and food on his nightstand. He was currently asleep, mouth hanging open, with the remote in his hand and the TV stuck on a random movie channel.

Laughing lightly to herself, she snuck over to his bed and gently removed the remote from his hands and began gathering the trash and dishes by his bed to wash and dispose of in his kitchen. She looked around his living room, and despite his bed-ridden life as of late, his place was surprisingly messy. She figured she would help him out by cleaning up a bit.

She found herself lost in her thoughts as she mindlessly cleaned his kitchen and living room. Completely in her own world, and not rooted in reality. That’s why when Halvo came stumbling through the kitchen and spoke, that she shrieked.

Upon seeing Halvo standing in the kitchen in a stained white undershirt and sweatpants, she knew he hadn’t done laundry, much less changed clothes in the last few days. He needed more help than she realized. It then dawned on her that he was up out of bed.

“Halvo! What the hell are you doing up out of bed?!”

He laughed, holding the left side of his ribs as any form of movement caused immense pain.

“You know, I am allowed to get up, I just can’t do any strenuous work…”

“If that’s the case, why haven’t you gotten your lazy ass outta bed?” She scoffed, her smirk threatening to appear through her teasing.

“And give up having people wait on me? Ha. Yeah right. I mean, it got you to clean my place didn’t it? I think that’s reason enough to milk this whole broken rib thing for what it’s worth. I could get used to this.” He laughed.

Mock glaring, Chaney rolled her eyes and finished putting up the last of the dishes she had washed before turning back towards Halvo.

“So you’ve been getting out of bed and making food when others aren’t here?”

He smirked proudly, “Of course. I’d starve otherwise.”

“Then wanna explain to me why, if you can get up and walk around, I had to come over here simply to pick up your remote off the floor that was literally two feet from your bed?”

“So I wouldn’t strain my ribs from reaching over the side of the bed to get it?” He implied like it was obvious answer.

Chaney could only laugh. Halvo could be so quirky and predictably unpredictable; traits of his that were so uniquely him, she couldn’t help but love those parts of him.

She made her way to the living room and threw herself onto the couch as she waited for Halvo to make his way over and slowly sit himself into the cushioned armchair adjacent to the couch.

He sat there, itching to know how everything with Chaney and John went the night before since he didn’t get the chance to ask her last night. She seemed trapped in her mind and distracted, and not for reasons that seemed overly positive. She looked more defeated and wanting an escape but without having a way. He rolled over in his mind how to possibly bring the John thing up without it upsetting her, as it seemed like it would become a sore topic.

Chaney seemed to sense that he wanted to talk about it because she spoke up first. She repositioned herself to where she was sitting with her back against one of the armrests so she could face Halvo. She had both legs up on the couch, and her left arm was perched on the back of the couch as she played with the edges of the blanket that was folded over the back of the couch.

“You know, I honestly believed at one point that this whole John thing would be a good idea. Did you know he thinks I’m a slut?”

She spoke these words so casually as if they didn’t bother her, but Halvo knew better. He could see the pain behind her eyes that she was trying so hard to mask. Though as her words sunk in, he found himself enraged. He had to know what happened now, and he was going to make sure to talk to John about this. He wasn’t going to have John trashing Chaney’s reputation for no apparent reason. He needed answers.

“What uh, what do ya mean? Why would he think you were a slut?”

She shrugged her shoulders, refusing to make eye contact with Halvo. Her left hand kept fussing over the edges of the blanket, her gaze focused on her lap.

“Apparently it was because of what happened at your party last month.”

Halvo started to speak, but stopped himself. Now he was completely befuddled as to what she could possibly be talking about. From what he could remember, Chaney stood against the wall keeping her cup filled as he tried to slow her drinking down. He wasn’t sure how Chaney’s tendency to be a drunk wallflower at a party made her a slut.

“Well…what happened at the party? Apparently you nor I remember what happened, and I’m just dying to know what you did that was apparently so terrible.”

She sighed, debating whether she should tell him or not. On one hand, she felt Halvo should know so that way maybe he could try to understand what was going on in John’s brain. On the other hand, she didn’t want to make things awkward by telling him due to their close call at her new apartment a few days ago. Which, she still hadn’t moved into yet. Halvo was supposed to help her move in this weekend but, it was obvious why that was out of the question. She knew she couldn’t get Alex to help her because he spent all of his energy ignoring her. John was the only other person she could think of and at the moment, they could barely hold a conversation because he refused to see past what happened at the party.

Halvo had to know. She couldn’t leave him in the dark about this. He deserved to know why what happened made her such a bad person when it clearly takes two people to make out. Why wasn’t John mad at Halvo? Why was he only mad at her? She figured telling Halvo could potentially solve that mystery.

“So like you, I only remember you trying to get me to slow down my drinking. Details get pretty fuzzy after that, so I have no recollection of the rest of the night. According to John, there was this game of Truth or Drink and I got a dare that said to make out with someone, and it ended up being you. Obviously it was for a game, but for whatever reason, John is so bothered by this and I’m not sure why. All he keeps accusing me of is toying with your emotions. Could you shed any light?”

Halvo sat there trying to absorb what he just heard. He and Chaney made out. The one time he cursed himself for drinking so much, he couldn’t even remember the moment he’d been dreaming of most of his life. He quickly dismissed those thoughts as he tried to assess why John would be so bent out of shape about the game. He had to talk to John and it needed to be today. He reached into the pocket of his sweatpants and pulled out his phone, quickly typing a text to John demanding he come to his place as soon as possible.

He turned his attention back to Chaney who looked utterly confused.

“Indy, I have no idea what to tell you. I’m going to talk to him though and hopefully find out something. Trust me, I want this stupid feud between the two of you to end just as much as you do. Besides, with me being out with my broken ribs, you won’t be moving into your apartment with help anytime soon. So, I’ll talk to John. Maybe he can help out.”

He smiled encouragingly at Chaney hoping to brighten her mood some. He heard his phone vibrate on the chair arm, and he stole a glance at the text on his lock screen informing him of his arrival later in the evening. He looked back over at Chaney and she still refused to make eye contact. He decided to go to his last resort in hopes of cheering up, which would mean losing what little leverage he had over her.

“So Indy I was thinking…do you wanna watch—” he gulped before finishing, “Say Anything?”

Her head instantly snapped up, and her eyes lit up as she hoped she heard him correctly.

“Really?! I thought you had that movie banned and hidden…”

“I did,” he laughed, “but uh, it seems like you’re in need of it right now. I can manage to watch it this once for now.”

She got a mischievous smirk on her face.

“You know this means I now know your hiding place for this movie right?”

“Yeah, which means I need a new hiding place. It’s on the top shelf of my closet in the back behind the stack of shoeboxes.”

She stared at him incredulously as she rose from the couch to head to his room. She returned quickly, the movie exactly where he said it would be.

“I can’t believe the hiding place was so obvious!”

“That was the point. You wouldn’t look in an obvious place, so I hid it in one of the most common hiding places.”

She just shook her head in disbelief.

“Now when it comes to your new hiding spot, I won’t know where to look! You may decide to stick to your routine of hiding it in obvious places, but you wouldn’t have told me your plan otherwise. Unless you wanted me to think that you wouldn’t hide it in an obvious place so I would look for it in weird places knowing I’d figure it out. Or better yet, you knew that I would think to look in a less obvious place, therefore forcing me to look in the obvious place where you told me about it initially!”

Fighting his smirk, he shook his head.

“You put way too much thought into this, Indy. Just put in the damn movie before I change my mind.”

She laughed before excitedly putting her beloved movie in the DVD player and relaxing back on the couch, pulling the blanket over her legs in the process.

Once the movie was over, she looked to see Halvo had fallen asleep in the chair. She took the blanket and draped it over him before leaving him a note telling him she had left, hiding his spare key back in its normal spot.

***

John left his date with Stephanie on cloud nine and was so happy with how well their afternoon went. It started off a bit rocky, but once she loosened up a bit, they hit it off. He made his way to Halvo’s door, fishing the spare key from its hidden spot and let himself in, surprised to see Halvo passed out in the armchair, still expecting him to be bed-ridden.

He shook his right shoulder vigorously to wake him up since Halvo was such a heavy sleeper.

Halvo woke with a start, nearly jumping out of his skin as he saw John standing in front of him. It took him a few seconds to process what had happened since last he remembered, he was watching Say Anything with Chaney. He looked around to see her long gone, and a note sitting on the coffee table written in her messy, half cursive script.

He sat up from his slouched position, pulling the blanket off him from where it was draped over him up to his neck, and motioned for John to take a seat on the couch.

John obliged, and leaned back into the couch with a lazy grin on his face and a content sigh coming from his mouth.

“What’s got you so happy O’Callaghan?”

John turned his head to face Halvo, still sporting the half smirk on his face.

“I just had a wonderful date this afternoon.”

Halvo could only glare at him in disbelief.

“A date? What the hell man?”

John sat up, confused as to why Halvo would be so worked up about it.

“What? Am I not allowed to date now?”

“Depends. Who’s the girl?”

“Dude?! Why are you acting like this? What’s your problem? It’s just a date. I don’t understand why you’re getting so worked up about this.”

“Really? I find that interesting considering that I don’t understand why you’re so worked up about what happened at my party last month with Chaney.”

John crossed his arms, and leaned back against the couch huffing. He couldn’t believe how quickly his good mood was soured by Halvo’s lack of support.

“Halvo just…don’t worry about what’s going on between me and Chaney.”

“I feel like I should worry about it when firstly, it involves my two best friends. Secondly, it concerns me when she comes to me asking for help because she has no idea why you hate her. Seriously John, this is getting ridiculous. You need to get your shit together and cut this out. You’re acting like a child.”

John rolled his eyes at him and muttered under his breath, “I knew you wouldn’t understand.”

Halvo groaned, “Dude, how can I understand what’s going on if you refuse to talk about it? Hell, it involves me, too, so I think I deserve to know what’s going on.”

Sighing, John forced himself to utter the words he’d kept locked up and pushed to the back of his mind for the last few years.

“It’s just that…it’s like Katie all over again…” John trailed off.

Halvo quickly stood up, instantly regretting the decision as he clutched his side, but continued, now towering over John’s sitting figure.

“Don’t you dare compare Chaney to that she-devil. Katie isn’t nor will she ever be half the woman that Chaney is, so how dare you put them in the same league.”

John looked up and could see the fury burning in Halvo’s eyes. He was debating on whether he should suck it up and learn to accept Chaney or be on his guard. Chaney reminded him too much of Katie and the hell she put him through. Something about the two of them seemed too similar, and he couldn’t help but be on his guard towards Chaney. He had been too trusting and honest to begin with which is what caused him to get in the predicament he ended up in. Granted, Katie was a demon in her own right. Most of what happened to him wasn’t his fault, but he did blame himself for being so naïve to fall for it.

He’s been cautious towards girls since then, and he found himself too easily falling under Chaney’s charm much like he had with Katie. After what happened at Halvo’s party, he couldn’t help but be reminded of the cruelty that Katie dealt him, and it was a slap in the face to see history begin to repeat itself at the party. The last thing John wanted was for the same thing to happen to Halvo. John wouldn’t wish that hell on his worst enemy. As much as he hated to admit it, he wouldn’t wish what happened to him on Chaney. Even if she did remind him of Katie, even he knew she didn’t deserve that.

That realization made him gather that he had to end his grudge towards Chaney, even if he didn’t want to. He trusted Halvo, and for whatever reason Halvo trusted Chaney. Halvo knew what John went through with Katie as he was there to help John do damage control and deal with what happened. No amount of therapy helped him as much as his best friends’ support did. It was then that he knew he had to make this up not only to Chaney, but ultimately to Halvo. Halvo helped him through the darkest part of his life thus far, and he owed him for being there for him.

“Okay. You’re right Halvo. They aren’t the same person. It’s just hard not to be cautious ya know?”

Halvo’s face softened.

“I get it, but you gotta stop assuming that every girl you talk to is going to treat you like Katie did. Ya gotta stop being afraid of opening up to people dude.”

John nodded his head in understanding, now resting his elbows on his knees, hunched over.
Halvo stepped towards him and gave him a supporting slap on the back before making his way to his room.

John sat there for a few more moments before calling Halvo’s attention again.

“Halvo!”

Halvo walked back towards the living room to face John, wondering what was going on now.

“So, I feel like I need to apologize to Chaney. For real this time, and in a big way. Any ideas of what I can do?”

Halvo nodded and smiled, remembering her lack of help to move in.

“I have the perfect way to start.”