...And a Happy New Year

April 1, 2014

Chaney sat at her desk utterly bored. She hadn’t spoken to Halvo in a couple weeks, Stephanie was still missing without a trace, and John was currently somewhere touring in Europe for most of the month. Essentially, she figured this month would be pretty lonely. She hoped to work on more pieces as inspiration struck so she could show John once he returned. She checked the time for the millionth time that morning, irritated that time wasn’t moving faster.

Her boss Mr. Rickford came over to her desk.

“Since today is such a slow day at the office, I’m giving everyone else the rest of the day off. You know I never do this, so don’t waste the day. Go outside and enjoy the weather. I might just close the office early and head outside myself.”

Chaney smiled, barely able to contain her excitement at the news. Outside of her apartment, the office was the only place she had been. Today however, she was looking forward to soaking up some Vitamin D while basking in the gorgeous, yet still chilly weather. To most, 70 degrees wasn’t cold, but when you were used to 90+ degree weather for most of the year, your cold tolerance was much lower than most.

She pulled her jean jacket over her white tee, glad for the casual dress they had at work that day; her boss’s version of an April Fool’s joke.

She practically skipped out the door as she strolled down the sidewalk. She left her car parked, wanting to simply enjoy the day off that she now had. Checking the time, she realized she could actually eat lunch now if she wanted. Her stomach growled, confirming her decision. She almost stopped at the diner she and Halvo frequented, but decided to keep walking. She found a small meat and three just down the block and sat on the patio at one of the outside tables as she observed her menu.

A disturbingly familiar voice disturbed her thoughts as she felt her skin crawl from hearing his voice.

“Well, well, well, look what the cat drug in.”

She made every effort to keep her focus on her menu and not on the guy standing next to her at the table.

“Oh, c’mon Indy, you can’t give me the silent treatment forever.”

All it took was him calling her by her childhood nickname to shatter a layer of her hardened exterior. She tore her eyes from her menu and looked at Halvo. Her brows knitting in confusion momentarily, before looking down at herself, and back to Halvo before rolling her eyes and continuing to look at the menu.

Halvo took that as an invitation to join her.

“So what’s good here?”

She still didn’t reply.

“What? C’mon Chaney, what gives? Ya gotta tell me why you’re avoiding me so much. I thought we were friends. Hell,” he whispered, “I thought we were more that that. What’s going on? Talk to me. Say something. Please.”

She refused to look up but replied, “I see you haven’t quenched your thirst for always having to match clothes with other people. I think they have anonymous groups for things like that. At this point, I’m sure there’s some reality show about people with strange addictions. Probably some shit show on MTV.”

He could only stare at her in confusion and hurt. He slowly looked down at what he was wearing and then looked to her, as realization filled his face. The one time he wasn’t intentionally trying to match clothes with someone, he happened to do it with the one person who’s pet peeve that was. It didn’t help matters that she was already upset with him for who knows what reason. He sat there, not knowing what to do. Should he leave her be and continue to stew in whatever bad mood she was in? Does he stay here and try to get her to tell him what’s going on with her? No matter how many times they fought in the past, he was always able to break down her tough exterior, and he hoped the same still held true now.

Annoyed by his presence and the fact that the longer he sat there, the more difficult it became for her to not pick him up by the collar, pin him against the wall, and kiss him with all the passion she could muster. She was still angry with him, but that didn’t mask the fact that she still cared about him. Conflicted, she got up, and threw her menu on the table, glad that a waiter or waitress hadn’t already attended her table. She leaned over to grab her purse off the ground by where she sat and slung it over her shoulder as she debated where to go. She couldn’t be in his presence anymore right now, so she decided to leave.

She hadn’t walked far before she heard the pattering of feet coming from behind her. Halvo was catching up to her. Her will power to stay mad was waning. She wanted to stay mad at him. Make him realize that she wasn’t someone whose feelings he could mess with. She finally understood why everyone always told her to never date her best friend. Feelings became complicated. Before they started, whatever it was they started, he never toyed with her emotions. At least she never felt like he did. Now however, she felt as disposable as ever and wanted to make sure that he knew how hurt she was by it.

She jerked to a stop as Halvo lightly grabbed her upper arm to get her attention. He spun her around so she would face him, but she refused to make eye contact. She wouldn’t even hold his gaze. He put his free hand on the side of her face to force her to look at him. She reluctantly held his gaze, but quickly dropped it as someone passed them on the sidewalk. Halvo shuffled the two of them over to an alley next to where they were standing.

He now put both of his hands on either side of her face to try to get her attention. He gently rubbed his thumbs across her cheeks, gradually breaking down the last of the defenses she had against him. Once her eyes finally met his, he heaved a sigh.

“C’mon Indy,” he whispered, “please tell me what’s goin’ on. Why are you so vexed with me?”

The last of her walls came crashing down as she threw her arms around his torso and brought him to her in a hug.

It took him a moment to realize what happened before his hands dropped from her face and embraced her back. He gingerly rubbed her back as he felt her shaking as she hugged him.

“Hey, shhh, Indy, what’s goin on? Talk to me.”

She leans back enough to look at him, as she struggled to refrain from crying. “You! You’re my problem!”

Taken aback, he replies, “How? Wh-what did I do?”

She pushed him away from her embrace as her defenses started to build back up. “Treating me the way you do! I’m so disposable to you!”

“What?! That’s not true! What are you talking about?”

She sniffed, and wiped her eyes, no longer caring that her makeup was most likely streaked across her face.

“Really Halvo? You’re gonna play dumb now?” she scoffed. “How do you explain that little stunt you pulled a couple weeks ago when John and I stopped by huh? What about that girl that you were entertaining hmm? I mean, typically I wouldn’t care, but since we’ve started this…whatever it is, I kinda figured we were exclusive.”

Halvo’s face relaxed as he finally understood where her anger was coming from. She had a right, considering she didn’t know that it was only Stephanie and it’s because he’s helping her hide out from her husband. However, he couldn’t betray Stephanie’s trust by telling Chaney about what was going on. She finally started telling him what was going on, and though still confused, he didn’t want to tarnish what he’d worked so hard to achieve.

He brought his hands back to either side of her face, and leaned forward so their foreheads were touching.

“Chaney, we are exclusive. I didn’t want John to know about us since we hadn’t talked about it.”

She leaned back and looked up at him. “Yeah I get that, but what about the girl in your apartment? What exactly were you hiding in your apartment that day?”

“I did have a girl in my apartment, but chill, it was just Dana.”

Chaney sighed in relief. “All you had to do was tell me your sister was visiting. We would have understood.” She leaned back into him, embracing him once more.

He rocked them back and forth, subtly rubbing her back. He rest his chin on top of her head as they held each other, and he couldn’t help but feel absolutely terrible about lying to her about who was in his apartment. He didn’t want to concentrate on that fact right now though. He was too content to have Chaney back in his life again. He would do whatever it took to keep her there.

***

Chaney skipped into her apartment, happy to have patched things up with Halvo. She hated how angry she was at Halvo since he hadn’t done anything wrong. She hated how she so quickly jumped to conclusions without talking to him about it first. She knows that’s something she needs to work on.

She dropped her keys and purse off inside her door and made her way to her room to change into some shorts and a tank. She felt a new burst of inspiration, and had to paint as soon as possible. She hadn’t painted in a couple weeks, much less touched her art supplies, since she set up her show a
week ago. She grabbed her supplies and brought them out of her room and set them up by her door that led to the landing. She opened up her box of brushes and found a handwritten note from John.

Hey! Look at you! You’re painting again! I’m so proud. Paint me a masterpiece while I’m in Europe. I’ll be writing and when I get back, we can exchange. See ya when I’m lookin at ya.
-John

Chaney smiled as she found the note, so glad to have his support. She folded the note back up and placed it back in her brush box. She had a feeling that note would come in handy on days when she would be lacking inspiration.

She set up her materials, and began to paint. She feverishly painted, completely zoning out and drowning out everything around her. She worked well into the wee hours of the morning and was pleased with how her piece turned out. It was definitely a step up from what she submitted in the gallery show and she couldn’t wait to show John when he came back.

***

Halvo came back to his apartment after running into Chaney and couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. He was glad to repair their relationship and was hoping to spend more time with her later in the week.

“Ah, life is swell dear Stephanie. You’ll never believe who I ran into,” he said as he unlocked the door and entered into his apartment. He set his keys on the credenza inside the door and walked into an empty living room. He figured Stephanie must be in her room. He lounged on the couch and turned the TV on, waiting for Stephanie to come out of her room.

He watched a couple episodes of some sitcom that he wasn’t paying much attention to, but Stephanie hadn’t come out yet. He wondered if she had gone to bed already, but looking at the clock, it was still too early to do so. He looked around the living room, and noticed her stuff wasn’t strewn around. He grew suspicious, and made his way to the room she had been staying in.

Surprised by the open door, he slowly made his way into her room, only to find it empty with the bed made and a note on the pillow.

Halvo, I’ll never be able to thank you for all you’ve done for me over this last month. This whole situation is getting so out of hand, and I can’t bear to bring you into my mess. I’ll pay you back someday for letting me crash with you. Thanks again for all of your help.
-Stephanie

To say Halvo wasn’t shocked would be an understatement. Now he legitimately had no idea where Stephanie was. He couldn’t keep an eye on her anymore. He had no way of making sure she was safe. Once again, his role as protector became a necessity. He had to find Stephanie and make sure she was alright.