...And a Happy New Year

March 31, 2014

Stephanie had made easy work of staying hid at Halvo’s place. She was surprised that more people hadn’t come over to see him, especially Chaney. To her knowledge, Chaney hadn’t seen Halvo since the day she and John stopped by over a week ago. Despite that, she kept herself busy. However she couldn’t deny that after spending the last month or so marathoning shows on Netflix she was getting bored. She was finally able to catch up and watch complete series of shows she’d always wanted to watch but had been unable to. Almost four weeks later, and she was excited to start watching House of Cards. Halvo spoke endlessly of how wonderful the show was, and he was patient enough to re-watch both seasons so she could see them, too.

He got up off the couch to pop some popcorn as they took a momentary break from the show. He looked through his cabinets and to his dismay found them to be barren of popcorn. With a frown, he walked back into the living room.

“Hey Steph, I’m gonna run to the store and grab some popcorn since we’re out. You need anything?”

She shook her head no.

He slipped on some shoes and grabbed his keys and wallet as he walked out the door to go to the store.

Stephanie settled back on the couch and grabbed her phone, scrolling through her social media, but still refusing to post or respond to anything. She couldn’t let on that people could get in touch with her. She needed to remain as hidden as possible.

She had successfully looked through all of the updates on her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram from the past week and Halvo still hadn’t showed up yet. She hummed in contemplation on how to waste her time until his return when she heard a knock on the door. Knowing she would open the door for him, she figured he didn’t bother to fish his keys out of his pocket to unlock the door.

Chuckling, she got up off the couch and opened the door only to have her smile quickly removed. Standing before her wasn’t Halvo. It was a very angry Emily.

“E-emily? What are you…what are you doing here?”

With a raised brow and stern expression she pushes her way past Stephanie and into the apartment.
“You know why I’m here. Don’t play dumb. You need to go home.”

Exasperated, Stephanie replied, “I know that, but you know why I can’t.”

“Exactly. Which is why you need to come home. I’m running out of reasons to explain your absence, especially now that my suspicions about where you’ve been hiding are confirmed.”

Stephanie stood there in silence, taking all of this in. “So, you’ve been making excuses for where I’ve been…why? How?”

Emily sighed, “You know how relentless he can be. He needed answers and I gave them to him. Even if they weren’t exactly factual.”

Stephanie meekly replied, “Thanks. So um, how did you uh…”

“Figure out where you were hiding?” Emily finished.

Stephanie nodded.

Emily chuckled a bit, “I may not always be the brightest, but to me, it seemed the most obvious. Clearly you wouldn’t hide out at Chaney’s. You’ve talked about her too much and that would be the first place he’d look for you. Granted, I got there before he did, confirming that you indeed weren’t there. John was out of the question because he could never know that you went on a couple of dates with him, much less that you would hide out at his place. That left Halvo. He was an unassuming third party that barely knew you. You had a couple common bonds, both of them being his best friends. Seemed the best choice.”

Standing in bewilderment, Stephanie stated, “Ya know, people don’t give you enough credit. You really could make a living as a detective. You have this uncanny ability to read people and learn things about them from god knows where…”

Emily laughed darkly, “As true and flattering as that is, you know exactly why I can’t do that.”

“Yeah, for the same reason I can’t go home.”

“Which brings me to another point…Steph, Chaney knows Annie.”

That caught Stephanie’s attention. “What. How?”

“Well, there was a gallery showing last week that Annie really wanted to go to and I told her I would take her. She ran off to these paintings hanging on the back wall. I should’ve kept a better watch to avoid it from happening, but before I realized what was going on, Annie was acquainting herself with Chaney and John. She took a liking to the painting of John that Chaney did.”

Stephanie couldn’t speak. She didn’t know Chaney painted, much less that she was accomplished enough to have a gallery.

“How did uh…how did Chaney react to Annie?”

Emily smiled, “They got along pretty well. Annie warmed up to Chaney quickly and Chaney seemed to be enamored with Annie just as much as John was.”

That brought a smile to her face to hear that three of the people she cared most about were all getting along so well.

Their moment was interrupted by Stephanie’s phone ringing. It was Halvo.

“Hey Steph, so I’m at the store and decided to pick up some other snacks. I’m currently looking at some ice cream. Do you want some? Debating on whether to get Cherry Garcia or Mint Chocolate Chip.”

“Get the mint. You’ll appreciate the palette cleanser after consuming all the junk I assume you’re about to buy,” she smirked.

“Hey now, that’s not fair! I won’t be the only one consuming this junk!” he laughed. Alright, I’ll get the mint, what kind do you want?”

She contemplated for a moment. “Butter pecan. Can’t go wrong with a classic.”

“Sounds good. Be home in a few.”

Stephanie hung up and threw her phone onto the couch cushion where she had been sitting.
“Look Em, I’ll go home eventually, but I can’t right now ok?”

Emily nodded in understanding before opening her arms to hug Stephanie.

Stephanie smiled and walked into her embrace. They gave a quick hug before breaking apart.

“Alright Em, you need to head out. Halvo will be home soon and I don’t want him to get suspicious.”

Emily stood there shocked. “You mean you haven’t told him yet?!”

“No, but I will. I just haven’t found the right time to explain all of this. It’s not exactly a light topic to bring up…”

“Which is why you need to tell him sooner than later. If you don’t tell him, I will.”

“Em, please, let me. He needs to find out from me and no one else; especially since I brought him into this unknowingly. All he knows is that I’m running from my husband, nothing more. For now, that’s all he needs to know alright?”

Emily sighed in irritation, rubbing her temple with her thumb and forefinger. “Fine, but you can’t leave him in the dark forever. He’ll eventually start asking questions and if he’s the friend you claim he is, we’ll need someone on your side when he starts asking more questions.”

“I know, I know. Just…give me time. I’ll tell him.”

Emily stood there expectantly.

“Ugh, fine. Give me a week. Just one. If I haven’t told him by that time, you have my permission to kick my ass or whatever that entails to make sure he knows about my situation ok? Deal?”

“Deal.”

Stephanie heard the familiar muted music blaring from the windows of Halvo’s car. She walked over to the window overlooking the street and saw him parking the car.

“Em, we’ll talk in detail later, but Halvo’s here and is about to come upstairs. He can’t see you. Go out the door and take a right instead of a left. There’s a back entrance you can escape through.”

Emily nodded and quickly made her way out the door, narrowly escaping running into Halvo.
Stephanie no more collapsed onto the couch before she heard Halvo knocking on the door, announcing his arrival.

She got up, knowing for certain it was Halvo this time before opening the door.

Halvo walked in, adorning a large grin of accomplishment.

“What do you look so smug about Halvorsen?”

“Oh ya know, just the fact that you’re about to admit that I’m the greatest human alive right now.”

She chuckled at the irony of the statement. He genuinely had no idea how much she thought he was the greatest human alive because of how much he had helped her.

“What did you do this time?” she asked, fully expecting some half-brained answer.

“Just picked up the most awesome movie at the store. Pretty sure you’re gonna love me forever.”

She smirked, “Out with it Halvorsen. Proof or it didn’t happen.”

He laughed, “Drum roll please.”

She stood there with her arms crossed looking at him like he was an idiot.

“Seriously? I’m not doing that.”

He groaned, “C’mon, it’s not that bad. It’s just us two here. I’ll be the only one to see you acting like an idiot. Besides, I’m not showing you what I got until you drum roll.”

She rolled her eyes, and began to roll her tongue, emulating a drum roll.

Halvo smirked in victory. He slowly reached his hands into the bag and slowly started lifting it out of the bag as he began singing random notes to make it sound like an angelic chorus.

“Space Jam? You got me worked up over Space Jam? Really? Are we five?”

Eyes bulging and a hand clasped to his chest in mock horror, “Take that back! Space Jam was one of the greatest cinematic pieces of our generation. It’s a work of art.”

She scoffed, “Right, and and next you’re going to tell me that The Lion King isn’t just another Disney movie…”

“Ok, now you’re getting personal…” he continued in mock hurt.

She scoffed again and turned to head to the living room.

Halvo returned a few minutes later with his ice cream, a bowl of popcorn, and a bottle of tequila, vodka, and coke.

Stephanie’s eyes sparkled when she saw Halvo bought alcohol. It’d been so long since she’d had any and she was dying for some alcoholic relaxation after her visit from Emily earlier.

She reached for her empty water glass from earlier and reached for the vodka and coke only to have Halvo slap the tops of her hands. She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Uh-uh. You’re not getting any of my alcohol if you’re gonna sit here being a negative nancy about my favorite childhood movies.”

She pouted, “But please! I really want some vodka…”

He laughed, “Yeah, because we know how well you and vodka mix…”

She rolled her eyes. “It was one time.”

“Yeah, and thank god we were here and no one else was around. I’d hate to have to explain that situation to anyone who could’ve walked in.”

“Like I said, it was one time and I was sick of only getting a buzz from vodka and coke. I needed more alcohol. Like now.”

She reached for the bottle again only to have him grab it with the arm farthest away from Stephanie and holding it out of her reach.

“Ugh, c’mon Halvo. That’s not cool.”

“Neither is almost destroying my place trying to find the ‘hidden treasure’ you were so convinced was buried here…”

“Hey, in my defense, you thought so too. You helped me look.”

“Initally…and only because you told me Captain Jack Sparrow hid it. Drunk Halvo gets really excited about Captain Jack…and not just the drink.”

They both laughed at that. Halvo looked at Stephanie’s desperate expression and reluctantly passed her the bottle of vodka.

She squealed in excitement as she began pouring some of the liquid in her glass.

“Just remember to mix it with coke this time. I don’t want another repeat of last time. I don’t care how fun the treasure hunt may have been at the time. I wasn’t too thrilled about the treasure I found in the shower the next morning…”

Stephanie looked down quickly, embarrassed. “Hey, I cleaned it up.”

“Yeah, but the shower smelled like puke for over a week. No amount of bleach could rid that stench. If I can avoid that smell and sight, I will. For as long as humanly possible.”

She gave him a tight lipped smile and nodded. She was more than embarrassed now, and to be honest, felt a bit defeated. The night of conversation was one of the lower points in her life. It was a night not long after she arrived at Halvo’s place. She was a complete mess and her only solution was alcohol in any form and as much as she could get her hands on. Halvo didn’t know she had such a low tolerance for it, and kept giving her more. She was at her lowest of lows, and she felt pretty close to how she did that night. The constant nagging about her flaws was a big part of the reason she ran away amongst other lifestyle disagreements. She knew she had no right to compare Halvo to her husband, but in that moment, she felt as low with Halvo as her husband made her feel.

She didn’t notice that Halvo had already started the movie and was halfway through the popcorn when she felt him nudge her. Looking over at him, she saw the concern he wore on his face.

“Steph, you alright? You haven’t touched your food or drink.”

She shrugged. She wasn’t really hungry anymore, as her thoughts drove away any appetite she might have had. She looked at her drink, still sitting untouched on the coffee table in front of them.

“I uh, sorry. I’m not really hungry anymore.”

“Oh, I’ll put your stuff up so you can have it later if you want it.”

He got up and put her ice cream in the freezer. He returned to the couch and was about to resume the movie when she decided to confront him.

She took a deep breath and put her hand over his where it was on the remote.

“Wait, before you start the movie back, we need to talk…”

“Sure, what’s goin on Steph?”

“Well, my real last name isn’t Johnson. It’s Wicker.”

“Ok…so is Wicker your maiden name? I mean, you did say you were running away from your husband…I figured you took his last name…”

“Well, yeah. I mean, I didn’t really have a choice at the time and I wouldn’t have taken it had I known that I wasn’t the first to take his last name.”

“Oh, so he’s been married before?”

“…A few times.”

“Ok, so how does that effect you?”

Halvo didn’t understand why she was so turned off by this. I mean, the guy could’ve been a Ross Gellar, but he still turned out to be an alright dude by Halvo’s standards.

Stephanie shook her head, “Nevermind. I’ll uh, nothing. I’m not as ready to talk about this yet as I thought.”

He frowned a bit. “Alright, well, just know I’m here to listen without judgment whenever you’re ready to tell me.”

As true as she knew that was, she was still afraid to tell him. She was running out of time and opportunities. If she wasn’t careful, her husband Steven could easily find her whereabouts and do some serious damage. That was the last thing she needed. She instantly regretted ever deciding to go to Halvo’s as an escape and began thinking of an alternate escape route. Surely there were other places for her to seek refuge where her over-bearing husband couldn’t find her…right?