...And a Happy New Year

February 15, 2014

Chaney woke up with a smile on her face. Eyes closed, still laying down, she stretched her stiff limbs and said to herself that she kissed Halvo the night before. As soon as that phrase rolled through her mind, she quickly sat up, eyes wide, and thought the same thing again, only with a bit of panic. After it sank the in the second time, she burst out laughing. The longer she thought about it, the more hilarious the thought was. She made out with Halvo. Her best friend. Her brother figure. It was so bizarre, yet at the same time, she wasn’t complaining about it. She doesn’t regret it, but the idea was still so new to her and she wasn’t sure what to think of it yet. She thought her feelings for Halvo from the past were long gone, but something in her snapped last night. All the feelings she thought she buried, resurfaced at full force to the point where she couldn’t control them.

She knew she needed to talk to Halvo about what happened last night and see if he had feelings or if it was just the buzz talking. Part of her felt like he had mutual feelings for her, but she wouldn’t deny the other part of her feared he didn’t and would reject her. However, her new sense of confidence overrode that, and she decided that she would talk to him. She only needed to establish what her actual feelings for him were.

Things were becoming tricky for her because she was battling her possible resurfaced feelings for Halvo as well as whatever she felt for John. Sure she was still pissed at him for the how he had been treating her, but she felt like they were turning over a new leaf. She had hope that she could still get her kiss at midnight from him. However, she thought back to the night before and the kiss she shared with Halvo, and she couldn’t stop the blush that quickly filled her cheeks. She never felt like this before. Chaney had boyfriends in the past that she cared about, but the kisses shared with them didn’t have half the effect that Halvo’s did. She was still grappling with this idea. It was still so foreign to her. She knew she had to get her act together soon and talk to him because the last thing she wanted to do was lead anyone on; as if she needed an actual reason for John to distrust her again.

She shook it off, deciding to put those thoughts on the back burner for the time being. She needed to get ready so she could move out. She wondered if she should contact John or not, and as soon as she picked up her phone to text him, he text her first:

Hey, I’m ready whenever you are. Let me know so I can call the guys. Pat’s bringing the van and trailer over so we can load your larger furniture items. I’ll carry the bulk of the boxes in the bed of my truck, the rest will go in the van.

So the rest of the guys would be there today. She was excited to see them again. She hadn’t had much interaction with them, but knew they were important to both John and Halvo. Not to mention, since her newly found confidence had surfaced, she felt more comfortable being around new people. She was actually excited about having more friends than the two she already had.

She quickly replied to John’s text telling him he could come over in the next ten minutes, but he could go ahead and text Pat.

All she had to do was quickly dress. She knew she would get sweaty today, so she opted to save her shower for later that night after she finished loading/unloading her apartment.

She had just finished getting ready when she heard the knock on her front door. She made her way downstairs and opened the door to John standing on her doorstep. She opened the door wider so he could step in, and led him upstairs so they could start loading up his truck.

They silently loaded his truck, and had filled the bed of his truck by the time Pat and the rest of the guys exited the van to begin loading her furniture into the trailer. The trailer was loaded fairly quickly, with no one really speaking. She figured once they got to her apartment there would be more interaction. She thought more than anything, they all wanted to hurry and bring everything up the stairs and into her apartment, so they could enjoy the A/C as they unloaded and helped her set up the bulk of items in her apartment.

She rode shotgun with John as he led them to her apartment with her directions. She needed to go to the store to get some food so she would have something to hold her over for this week, as well as making food for the guys as a thank-you for helping her out.

She had a small deck off the side of her kitchen, and a small grill that was left in the basement at her parent’s house that they never used. She made sure to grab it before they left, and figured she could grill something for them. She wasn’t a master griller, but she knew her way around a grill well enough to make decent steaks and hamburgers.

Once they arrived to her apartment, Halvo had texted her asking when she was arriving so he could be there for support as promised from the night before. She told him that they had just arrived, but needed to go to the store. He said he would go for her so she could help out, also he wasn’t really able to lift anything, so he would at least feel productive getting her food. She text him her grocery list, and he left to get her groceries as she led the guys up to her room. Luckily, she had a room on the third floor so the walk up and down the stairs wouldn’t be too bad. It also helped that the elevator was right by her door. When it came to the bounty of boxes and smaller furniture, the elevator would be their best option for carrying those things to her room. They would save the stairs for her larger furniture items like her dresser, bed, and loveseat that she kept in her room.

She would need to furniture shop to get some additional items eventually, but she had enough for the time being. Her only concern with the furniture she had now was her couch and bed. She couldn’t help but replay the scene from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. when Ross, Rachel, and Chandler tried to move a couch up to Ross’s apartment via staircase. She laughed as she pictured the same scene unfolding with the current guys there, and couldn’t help but picture John being the one to yell “Pivot” as they made their way up the staircase. At least in this case, her couch wasn’t as large as the one in the show, but it didn’t stop that image from popping in her head.

They had the truck, van, and trailer completely unloaded within a couple hours. Her stuff was strewn across her new apartment, and they were all wanting to take a quick breather before unpacking boxes and arranging furniture. They all collapsed on the floor, fanning their faces in an attempt to cool off faster since the A/C hadn’t kicked on yet. It didn’t help that she currently didn’t have any cold drinks, or any drinks, to offer them, so they were all left panting until they cooled off enough to resume their work. It wasn’t the hottest day they encountered, but it was currently a balmy 81 degrees outside, enough to cause sweat to cover their bodies.

Chaney was just starting to cool off some and feel the A/C drying the sweat on her arms and face when her phone went off. She looked to find a text from Halvo saying he was at the apartment and needed help bringing stuff upstairs. She quickly jumped up, excited to have a small amount of one-on-one time with him before sharing him with the guys. She told the guys she was going to help Halvo bring up the groceries and she would be back. The guys waved her off, only half-paying attention, as they were still trying to cool off.

Chaney ran down the stairs as fast as her feet would carry her and found Halvo sitting in his car, parked right in front of her building. He looked over and saw her standing on the sidewalk.

He got out of the car to greet her, and wasted no time pulling her to him and greeting her with a short, but passionate kiss, before pulling away.

Once again, Chaney couldn’t stop the blush rising in her cheeks at Halvo’s new boldness towards her. She looked at the ground, biting her lip to try to hide her smile.

Still holding her waist with one hand, he took his other hand and cupped it under her chin to raise her head to look at him.

Her skin was tingling from his touch, and she couldn’t deny herself anymore that her feelings for Halvo had definitely resurfaced. Based on his actions, she knew he felt the same, and was anxious to see what would happen between them. She met his stare and this time, she initiated the kiss, pulling his face to hers as she kissed him again; moving her hands from his shoulders to wrap around his neck.

He continued to bring her closer until she realized they had to bring the groceries inside before the guys got suspicious.

She pulled back with a smile on her face, and sheepishly said, “Hey.”

Halvo laughed a little and replied, “Hey yourself.”

She bit her lip again, and laced their pointer fingers together as she led him to his car so they could start unloading groceries.

Chaney opened the back door on the driver side so she could lean in, and began grabbing groceries from the back. Halvo just stood there watching her. He watched how she would try to reach farther into the car, she would pop one of her feet up, as if that would help boost her further into the car. He was still trying to process what was happening between the two of them. His feelings for Chaney never went away once he realized he had them, but he became increasingly good at hiding them from her once he discovered she didn’t feel the same. It used to bother him, but he gradually became okay with it, so long as she was around. He would rather have her in his life as his best friend, then not at all. If that meant that he lived in perpetual liking of her, masquerading as only loving her as his best friend, then he would do it. He loved her as a person and wanted her around no matter what way she was there. He needed her company as much as she seemed to need his. They were dependent on each other. A fact that he realized, as much as he loved it, he knew was unhealthy. It would now be increasingly difficult to reduce their dependency on one another since they seem to becoming more involved as of late.

Chaney had all but cleared out the entire backseat, both her arms lined with bags of groceries, and she stood there dumbfounded as to why Halvo was just standing there.

“Aren’t you going to grab any groceries?”

He laughed lightly. “Of course, I just uh, was waiting for you to finish.”

She stepped slightly away from the open door so he could have access to the open door. Before he leaned into the back of the car, he leaned over to her and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before grabbing the last of the bags with his right arm.

Knowing that Halvo couldn’t lift heavy items for a while, Chaney left him the lighter of the bags, and it would be easy enough for him to carry with one hand so he didn’t strain the ribs on his left side.

To say Chaney was a bit shocked that Halvo was ready to be so bold with his feelings about her now was an understatement. Not that she minded. She definitely loved the new, more confident Halvo. It made her wonder how long he had been hiding this side of him from her because he seemed to transition into this state so quickly and effortlessly. She worried that he had been repressing his feelings for her for so long, and that fact alone made her feel terrible.

She stood on the sidewalk waiting for him to grab the last of the groceries before shutting the doors and locking his car. He began to put his free arm around her shoulders and lead her inside. They stepped in the elevator and as soon as the doors closed he leaned over to kiss her again. The elevator dinged, signifying they were now on her floor. Before they stepped out she stopped him.

“Halvo, as much as I’m enjoying this, we need to talk about this before we continue any further. To be honest, right now I’d rather leave this just between us. I don’t want the guys, or anyone else for that matter, knowing anything about this…or us.”

His face fell slightly, but agreed.

“Uh, yeah, no problem Indy.”

He dropped his arm from around her shoulders and walked out of the elevator without waiting for her and without looking back.

She worried that she had now upset him and that wasn’t her intention. She wasn’t rejecting him by any means, but she wanted to talk things out with him first before anything else happened. All she knew right now is that she enjoyed kissing him and loved his company. Past that, she really wasn’t sure. She knew feelings for him had resurfaced, but she wasn’t sure how deep those feelings ran, and she would rather figure that out before whatever was going on between them continued. If her feelings for him weren’t as deep as his feelings for her, she didn’t want to lead him on or hurt him.
Ultimately she was doing this to keep from severing their friendship and she could only hope he would understand that. Somehow though, this more vulnerable side of Halvo was coming out, and she was afraid it was much more fragile than his normal front that he always put on.

She followed quietly behind Halvo into her apartment, and found the guys all perk up upon Halvo’s appearance into the apartment. He went over to the kitchen and set what few bags he had down on the counter before rejoining the guys in the living room to catch up with them. Halvo seemed to be ignoring her now, and she wasn’t sure why. She set the rest of her bags down and decided to go ahead and unpack her groceries and start lunch. She figured once the guys had food in their stomachs, it would refuel them enough to help her get the big things in the room arranged before she started dinner later in the day.

Chaney hadn’t been in the kitchen long, but it still startled her when she heard someone else come into the kitchen and put their hand on her shoulder.

She jumped a few inches only to find Jared standing next to her with a worried expression.

“Hey, are you okay? You seemed a bit deflated when you came inside.”

Yup, Jared was definitely as perceptive as Halvo was, Chaney decided.

“I uh, yeah. I’m f-fine. I j-just…”

Jared gave her shoulder a squeeze.

“I may not be a relationship expert, or hell a girl expert for that matter, but this much I do know; when a girl says she’s ‘fine’ it usually means she’s not. Really, what’s going on? You don’t have to give me specifics, but I can tell something’s bothering you.”

Chaney half-smiled at him. She knew if things between her and Halvo continued to be as weird as they seemed to be right now, Jared would be the most level-headed about it. She had a sense that she would be able to talk to him about anything and it would be in confidence.

She sighed before answering. “Honestly, I’m not really sure what’s going on. I think Halvo and I got into a fight?” She stated unsurely.

Jared pulled a confused expression. “You think you got into a fight?” He chuckled. “How do you not know if you’re in a fight or not?”

“All I know is that things were fine, and I approached him about something, and I think he took what I said the wrong way. Before I had the chance to explain what I was meaning, he left and seems to be avoiding me now.”

Jared pulled her into a hug and lowered his voice so only she could hear what he was saying.

“Look. I know things seem weird with him right now, but trust me. The guy loves you. He wouldn’t do anything that would jeopardize him losing you in any capacity.”

Chaney sensed a bit of double meaning behind his words, but didn’t want to read too much into what he was saying in case it wasn’t how he intended it. All she knew is that his words, though few, provided her the solace she so desperately needed at that moment.

She gave him a mumbled thank you, as her face was currently buried in his chest, and she was trying to avoid crying. She didn’t want to appear weak, especially after her newly found confidence. Not to mention, she didn’t want any of the other guys to find out about what was going on.

Almost as if Jared could read her thoughts, before pulling away, he added, “And don’t worry. This will stay between us. You can come to me for anything. A friend of Halvo’s is a friend of mine.”

She squeezed him in a tighter hug, then let him go, as her eyes began to well up with tears in thankfulness.

He gave her a small smile before offering to help her unload the groceries.

She nodded, and they silently began to unpack and put up her groceries.

Once they finished, Jared left her in the kitchen while he rejoined the guys.

She began to gather the things she needed to make lunch. She wanted to keep lunch light so they wouldn’t be so miserable while moving stuff around, but she wanted it to be fulfilling. She kept going back and forth between various cabinets and through the fridge and freezer trying to determine what to eat when she heard someone come in the kitchen again.

She heard a small voice from behind her ask, “D-do you need h-h-help with l-lunch?”

She turned around and found the long-haired boy standing behind her.

“Pat, right?”

He smiled largely and nodded.

She smiled in return and agreed.

She quickly found out that Pat was quite handy in the kitchen and knew his way around better than she would’ve expected. She would have to go to him for cooking advice in the future. They ended up making grilled chicken, mixed vegetables, and mashed potatoes. She initially was going to make their starch a bread, but quickly changed her mind when she discovered Pat’s apparent love for potatoes.

It didn’t take them long to make lunch, and she enjoyed cooking with him. It was easy enough to make, and Pat kept her entertained with various stories from tour and casual conversation. As hyperactive as he seemed to be, there was something calming about being around him that she couldn’t explain, and she enjoyed that aspect of his personality. He had an ease about being in his company that instantly made you feel like you mattered. She didn’t know how else to explain it, but through their limited interaction she enjoyed being around him the most so far.

They dished out everyone’s plates, set them on the kitchen bar that separated the kitchen from the living room, and summoned the guys over to get their lunch. They all stopped conversation as soon as the word “food” left Chaney’s mouth and ran over to the counter, nearly knocking each other over in the process.

She could only laugh at their antics, and they all stood around the bar eating their food. The guys all cut up with each other while they ate, but she didn’t really say anything, purely enjoying watching the guys interact.

Halvo ended up standing across from her at the bar while they ate, and they often exchanged glances with one another. She couldn’t read his facial expressions as he would look away from her before she got the chance.

The guys quickly finished lunch, and left their plates on the bar as they made their way into the living room to start moving stuff. They started with her bedroom furniture, and she was left cleaning up after them, Halvo staying near where she was standing since he couldn’t lift anything.

Part of Chaney wanted to talk to him privately now, just to clear the air between them. However before she got the chance to say anything, Halvo looked around to make sure the guys were out of the living room and down the hallway with her furniture before leaning over the bar to pull Chaney towards him. He kissed her quickly and passionately before breaking away and standing back in the living room, nursing the bottle of beer he had been drinking with lunch.

She looked over at him, even more confused by what was going on between them. She was about to ask what was going on, when he subtlety shook his head to keep her from saying anything. She looked at him with a puzzled expression. He simply took a sip of his beer, winking at her as he drank.

She would have to wait until the guys left before she could approach him about whatever was going on with him.

By the time she had the kitchen cleaned up from lunch; the guys had moved all of her furniture into her room and arranged the living room. She was surprised at how efficiently they moved all her furniture, then again, she didn’t have much to begin with. She came out into the living room to talk with the guys, and they were all laughing and joking about something when she came in there.

“…yeah and you better not turn red faced like you did last year!” John laughed as he directed his comment at the auburn headed guy. She couldn’t remember his name as she hadn’t talked to him or the guy with the goatee.

Chaney spoke up, wanting to be part of the conversation that was taking place, hoping she could figure out the mystery behind what was causing this guy to turn so red faced again.

“Wait, what happened?”

The rest of the guys erupted into laughter that was even more intense than before, while the one guy was looking uncomfortable and trying to get the other guys to drop the subject.

The one with a goatee spoke up to answer her question. “Oh, nothing. We’re just giving Garrett here a hard time. Tomorrow is his birthday and we were threatening to give him the same present as last year since he seemed to enjoy it so much.”

Garrett only glared at him. “Yeah, how about no. That was humiliating. Not to mention Falyn gave me shit about it forever, and still does.”

“It’s not like she was mad at you for it.” Jared spoke up.

“I know; she just makes fun of me for how uncomfortable it made me.”

The rest of the guys continued to laugh at him, and Chaney could only feel sympathy for Garrett. She didn’t know what happened, but whatever it was seemed to still bother him and the guys wouldn’t give up their teasing. She figured she would try to change topics since they didn’t seem to catch on to Garrett’s mood.

The guy with the goatee spoke up before she got the chance to, “Hey Chaney, why don’t you join us at the get-together for Garrett’s birthday tomorrow?”

The other guys nodded in agreement.

Chaney faltered. “I don’t wanna intrude…”

“Nonsense,” Jared interjected, “we’re having a small get-together with the guys and closest friends. If you can deal with us today, I’m sure you could hold your own with the rest of them tomorrow.”

She was still hesitant, but Jared was giving her a reassured look that she would be able to handle it.

She was about to protest again before Jared decided to make a more definitive statement.

“Don’t worry Chaney, you won’t be the only girl there. My girlfriend Tessa, Garrett’s girlfriend Falyn, and Tim’s girlfriend Ashely and her sister Melissa will all be there.”

That made her feel a bit better about the situation.

John then piped up, “Yeah, and I can invite Stephanie to come with me, so there’ll be another person you’ll know there. C’mon Chaney.”

She took a deep breath before finally agreeing to go. The guys affirmed her attendance before telling her bye and heading out the door to leave.

She was now left alone with Halvo and she wasn’t sure where to start. She wanted to distract herself, not knowing exactly how to be alone with him right now. He was acting so hot and cold towards her since her statement in the elevator and she was hesitant about how to act around him, afraid to set him off in a foul mood again unintentionally.

Once the guys were out the door, she went to busy herself; opening up boxes and attempting to unpack them.

Halvo stood there watching her momentarily as she looked over the open box to find things to put away. He squatted down and put one of his hands over one of hers to gain her attention. Her heartbeat sped up and she tried to ignore the effect he was having over her with his simple contact. Contact that never affected her in that way before.

He squeezed her hand trying to get her to stop what she was doing and look at him. It took him physically taking her chin in his hand and guiding her face to look at him before she stopped.

He took a deep breath before speaking, trying to gather his thoughts, but Chaney cut him off before he spoke.

“Halv, can you explain to me what the hell is going on right now? Things between us have always been so easy, and now I don’t know how to act around you anymore. I wasn’t rejecting you earlier, I just wanted to keep things on the D-L until we could figure out what was going on between us. Then you seemed to be mad at me and started avoiding me. Then after lunch you kissed me and acted like nothing happened and I—”

Halvo cut her off by leaning in to give her a small kiss to shut her up.

She pushed him away lightly after a couple seconds.

“If you wanted me to shut up all you had to do was ask.” She retorted a bit bitterly.

Halvo laughed. “Indy….”

“What? I’m being serious right now! What the hell is going on between us?”

With an amused expression he replied, “I don’t know, you tell me.”

“God, you’re exasperating.”

“Well…”

“Well what? All I know is that when I came over last night everything was fine until the kiss—”

“Which you initiated” Halvo cut her off sternly.

“Yeah but—”

“Chaney, if it’s not obvious by now, I like you. Hell, I have for a while. I’m just trying to show you that.”

She sighed, nodding in agreement.

“I get that, it’s just, this is all so new to me.”

“It is to me, too, but we’ll do what we do best. Work through it and figure it out together. Think you can handle that?”

She couldn’t help but smile. Here was the Halvo she was used to. The Halvo that reassured her insecurities and was willing to help her work through whatever she was going through. As long as this part of Halvo didn’t change in this new phase of their relationship, she could handle it.

“I think I can.” She half-smiled.

“Oh, you only think you can?” he challenged jokingly.

Chaney shrieked as he then leaned over and began tickling her.

“Hal-hal-halvo! S-s-stop! I can’t, I can’t breathe!”

“Not until you admit that you can handle this.” He said as he continued to tickle her sides.

“Ok! Ok, I can handle it!” she yelled.

He stopped, letting her catch her breath from laughing before pulling her in for a kiss. Smiling into the kiss he murmured against her lips, “Good.”