...And a Happy New Year

March 7, 2014

Today was definitely a Monday. Chaney woke up, turning to her alarm clock only to realize that her alarm never went off and she was running late to work. Getting up frantically, she rushed to grab her clothes and take a quick shower only to find out she didn’t have water due to turning in her water bill a couple days late. Frustrated, she brushed through her hair, only for it to frizz from the Arizona heat. The one time she absolutely hated her thick, wavy hair. She threw her hair up into a bun to keep the frizz from showing. She dressed and rushed to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. Naturally, she found she made the last of her coffee the day before, so she would have to forego her morning cup of joe.

She drove to work, cranking up the air in her car as it was unnaturally warm this morning. She pulled into the parking lot of her office, her car sputtering as she slowed to a stop. She looked down and saw she was out of gas. She would have to worry about that later, thankful she at least made it to the office. Running through the front doors and to the elevator, she frantically presses the up button on the elevator. The doors open and she steps in, one of her stiletto heels getting caught in the gap between the floor and elevator, breaking the heel of that shoe in the process. Frustrated, she limps into the elevator, losing the missing heel of her shoe down the elevator shaft. She arrives at her floor, and enters into the office suite. She continues to limp towards her desk, not knowing how to walk with a broken heel. She collapses at her desk, relieved to make it to work with a couple of minutes to spare.

Sighing, she removes her shoes, and gets up to walk to the break room across the room to make herself a cup of coffee. One thing she was in desperate need of this morning was caffeine. She made her way into the break room and poured herself a mug of coffee. Picking up the now warm mug, she smiles as she takes a generous sip, letting the warm liquid flow down the back of her throat. Holding her cup close to her chest with both hands, she pushed the swinging door to the break room open with her hip, just as one of her co-workers pushed it open from the other side. Her fresh mug of coffee was knocked from her hands and spilled down the front of her white blouse. She groaned, and put her now empty mug in the sink with defeat. Her day wasn’t going so well, and she couldn’t imagine how much worse it could possibly get, but she was about to find out.

She trudges over to the bathroom, in hopes of trying to wipe the coffee off her shirt and keep the coffee from scalding her skin. Unfortunately, the coffee still stained her only white blouse and her shirt was now soaked through with water as well. It was to her dismay that she realized that she wore a white bra and she didn’t have a jacket or sweater at the office. Her day was only getting worse. She took paper towels and frantically tried to dry her shirt. She was getting desperate as she walked over to the hand dryer, standing under the automatic heat hoping to dry her shirt faster. After a few minutes of standing under the dryer, she gave up and walked out of the bathroom. The front of her blouse was now a light shade of brown.

She slouches into her seat at her desk and was already prepared to call it a day, and go back home. The day had barely started, and all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and end the day. She laid her head on her desk, hoping to erase the day.

She was startled when Mr. Rickford came by her desk, asking if she was ready for the presentation. She looked up in shock, to see his concerned face at her lack of preparedness. She had no idea what presentation he was talking about. She was only a secretary, so why should she have to make a presentation. She continued to look at him with a confused look on her face that he eventually dismissed as he walked off. Chaney racked her brain for any possible presentation he could be talking about. Surely this was a joke. She couldn’t contemplate its genuineness.

Begrudgingly dragging herself up from her desk, she makes her way over to Mr. Rickford’s office to question him further about this presentation that she apparently was ill-prepared for. He never made mention to her about any presentation. Just as she got to his office, he brushed past her at the door, in a rush to the conference room. She hesitantly followed him to the conference room, hoping to get answers, only to have the conference door shut in her face upon her approach. Sighing, she made her way back to her desk, praying for the day to hurry up and be over. She couldn’t escape this day fast enough.

Five o’clock finally came around, and she clocked out, anxious to get out of the hell she had been living that day. She got in her car, only to remember that she was out of gas, and wouldn’t be able to leave to go home. She didn’t live far, but today was particularly hot outside. The fifteen block walk to her apartment sounding less and less appealing. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a choice, and made the long walk to her apartment. Her feet were in so much pain by the time she came home from not wearing her shoes; the hot pavement almost blistering her aching feet.

She death gripped the railing to walk up the few flights of stairs her floor, not bothered enough to deal with an elevator again today. She makes it to her door, and fishes for her keys in her bag. Forgetting that she was still holding her shoes, she drops them on her feet; the one shoe with a stiletto poking her foot, causing her additional pain.

By this point in the day, she couldn’t do anything else but cry. She didn’t even bother opening the door, opting instead to sit on the floor against her door and cry. Her day had been so terrible thus far, and she saw no way of it possibly getting any worse, or better for that matter.

She continued to sit in the hallway on the floor. Her hair disheveled. Her makeup streaked and running down her face. Her shoes off and half broken. Her feet blistered. Her body sore, aching, and sweaty. Her shirt soaked with sweat and stained with coffee. She sat in defeat at the day she was given. She heard familiar humming and soft singing coming from the stairwell, and she tried to clean up her appearance somewhat. The last thing she wanted was for Halvo to take care of her right now. She honestly didn’t even want his company; preferring instead to be left alone to wallow.

Halvo rounded the corner to her hallway, continuing to sing a Beck song as he messed with his phone. The closer he came to her room, the more she straightened up, and eventually stood up as he approached her door. He still hadn’t noticed that she was out in the hallway until he pocketed his phone and went to knock on the door.

“Indy? What happened? Are you okay?” He asked, concern lacing his features as he dropped the two bags he was holding.

She shook her head no, as her eyes began to fill once again with tears.

They instantly embraced each other as she cried into his shirt. She thought she didn’t want his company. However, having him there, physically holding her, calming her down as she cried, helped more than she thought.

They stood in the hallway, her crying into his shirt as he would occasionally place small kisses on the crown of her head or forehead while softly rubbing her back. He had no idea what happened, but it was definitely the opposite of how he planned the night going. He hadn’t seen her in this bad of a state since her first breakup in high school.

Halvo searched the halls of the school, looking for Chaney so they could ride home together. He had to have looked over the entire school at least twice, and he still couldn’t find her. By this point, the school was all but empty, save for the athletes, a couple teachers, and the janitors. Chaney never rode the bus, so he knew it would be ridiculous to assume that she would have taken that option. He wondered if she had gotten a ride from someone else and neglected to tell him because he was her ride that day.

He was about to give up hope when he heard a small whimper coming the girls bathroom across the hall from him. He hesitated with going in to check on her in the off chance it wasn’t her. So he stood by the open entry to the bathroom and called out her childhood nickname. That way, if it wasn’t her, no one would suspect anything.

He heard a muffled groan that he instantly knew as Chaney’s. He asked if she was alone in there, and when she said she was, he made his way in there to get her out. He needed to get her out of the school and at least to his car. The sight he found when he walked in was one he wouldn’t soon forget.

The bathroom was completely trashed. Chaney was sitting on the floor against one of the walls crying her eyes out. The stuff from her backpack strewn across the floor along with various paper towels. She was an absolute wreck and it broke his heart to see her in such a state. She looked so fragile, and he was almost afraid to approach her. However, he knew she needed to get out of this environment. The closer he got to her, the more his heart broke. Her eyes were bloodshot. Dark circles rimmed her lower eyes. Black smudges adorned her face. Her hair was a tangled mess from her constant pulling. He had no idea what made her so broken, but he was determined to fix it.
She looked up at him with the most pitiful expression he had ever seen. He offered both of his hands to help her up off the ground.

She flopped her hands into his, not putting forth any effort to get up. She had lost every sense of vitality that she had previously had. She didn’t seem to care about anything anymore. He rubbed small circles on the back of her hands with his thumbs as he struggled with how to fix this. He gently tugged on her hands, and pulled her up.

She instantly slouched into his familiar frame, sobbing into his shirt.

He moved her to his left side, wrapping his left arm around her shoulders as she wrapped both of her arms around his torso. He gave her a small kiss on the side of her head and bent over to replace the items in her backpack. Carrying her backpack, and Chaney around his middle, he led her out to his car.

He opened her door and she fell into the car, apathetically going through the motions of putting on her seatbelt. Halvo opened the trunk and put both his and her backpacks in there before closing it and making his way to the driver’s side. He hesitated for a moment, taking a deep breath, before opening the door and getting in the car. His worry for Chaney only grew the longer they drove. He wasn’t sure whether to take her to her house or his, so he took the most central route possible until a decision was made.

He was quickly approaching the area of town where he’d have to decide which house to take her when she quietly spoke up.

“Take me to your house please.”

He obliged and turned toward his house, fully expecting her to either spend the night or for him to return her home much later in the day. The ride to his house remained silent, the A/C and the engine providing the only sound on their drive.

He pulled into his driveway, and Chaney instantly got out of his car and made her way around the back of his house. There was a tree outside his window in the back that she often climbed up to get into his room when they were younger. Often times she only came over during the night if she had a nightmare and needed Halvo to calm her down. Otherwise, she would come over if she just craved his company, which was often as they quickly became inseparable.

He chuckled lightly at the memories of their younger years climbing up that old tree. Remembering all the cuts and scrapes they both received from that tree along with the memories associated with them. He quickly followed behind her, making his way up the tree that he hadn’t climbed since their early years of middle school.

She left the window open for him to climb through, and he found her already perched on his bed waiting for him. He barely made it completely through the window before she spoke so softly, he strained to hear her.

“Halvo, would you ever leave me?”

He looked at her with a puzzled expression. “Of course not! Why would you ask that?”

Her face contorted, eyes welling up with tears, as she spoke over her sobs. “Rob broke up with me.”

Halvo’s heart sank. He instantly ran over to the bed and embraced the girl there. He stroked her hair, a motion he knew calmed her down.

As she continued sobbing, she moved her head from crying into his shirt, to her head laying against the side of his chest so she could talk. “Ya know, he told me I was becoming boring and a bit of a prude because I refused to ‘put out’. So, he cheated on me with his ex who had no problem hooking back up with him. Apparently they’re back together and he dumped me this morning.”

Halvo was doing all he could not to jump up from the bed and beat up Rob. He never was a fan of the guy, but he knew Chaney liked him. When he heard what Rob said to her, it took every ounce of self-control to stay with her. He had to give Rob a piece of his mind. He decided to wait until the next day at school. His job for today was to comfort and be there for Chaney.

Sniffling, Chaney leaned out of Halvo’s embrace and looked up at him. “I’m not boring or a prude am I? Because of…well, ya know…” she struggled to say. She couldn’t even look him in the eyes, afraid of the honest answer she knew he would provide.

“Chaney look at me. You’re neither boring nor a prude. I’m glad you have self-respect and you should be commended rather than condemned for that. You’ll always be my number one gal you know that right?”

She smiled a little and nodded.

He got up, grabbing her hand as he pulled her off the bed. “C’mon, let’s go raid the freezer, get some ice cream, and watch some John Hughes movies. How’s that sound?”

Her grin only widened as she tackled Halvo in a hug.

That day had become a turning point in their friendship. So much about the friendship they have now stemmed from that day. That day was the day he felt it was his job to protect Chaney. That was also the day she went to Halvo with problems other than petty arguments with friends or gripes about classes. She had a real problem, and he was there. Same as he was now, trying to console her from whatever was bothering her.

As much as he hated seeing Chaney in this state, he couldn’t deny the humor, or possible irony, of the situation. That day back in high school, Halvo and Chaney established what came to be known as an annual holiday between them: best friends’ day. They picked a non-specific date to celebrate it on, and would get together to hang out, watch movies, and eat their weight in ice cream. Essentially, nothing too different from what they do on a normal basis. He smiled to himself as he realized the breakdown she was seeming to have today is almost mirror to the one where they established their special holiday. She apparently didn’t realize it was today. That alone put the worry back in him as he pulled back slightly from her.

He got the spare key from the hiding spot and unlocked her door, grabbing the dropped bags, and leading her inside. She instantly collapsed on the couch and he set the bags down on the coffee table.

“Halv, I really appreciate you being here. Today has been absolutely shitty.”

He smiled a little. “Of course I’d be here, especially today.”

She sat up a bit and quirked an eyebrow. “What do you mean especially today? What’s so special about it?”

He feigned hurt. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten what today is…”

She furrowed her brows in concentration trying to figure it out. “It’s not your birthday yet…mine’s not for another couple months…we don’t have any anniversaries—WAIT. Today is best friends’ day! Oh my god Halvo I’m so sorry. If you only knew the day I’ve had. I—”

He interrupted her with a short, but sweet kiss. Leaning their foreheads together he stated, “I can’t deny that I quite like the new perks of this best friends’ day.”

She laughed. “Of course you would. Now let’s indulge.”

She leaned back up and re-connected their lips, smirking into the kiss as it caught him off-guard.
He moved one hand to the side of her face, while the other cusped the side of her neck. He’d missed kissing her and wanted to enjoy this as much as he could.

She soon realized how much she had not only missed Halvo, but missed kissing him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, using one hand to play with the hairs on the back of his neck; causing goosebumps to cover his skin.

He began to kiss across her jaw as he moved his hands to her sides, slowly rubbing small circles into her hips. As he started to kiss down her neck, she moved her head to the side to allow him easier access when he had to ruin the moment by beginning to tickle her sides.

She instantly backed away, laughing, while trying to push him away to cease the tickling. Of course that only provoked him to try and tickle her more. Next thing she knew, he had her pinned to the couch. He was straddling her waist, pinning both her hands in one of his while he used his other hand to continuously tickle her sides.

She squirmed beneath him, trying to escape his grasp with no avail. She was laughing so hard she couldn’t breathe. This was one of the most peculiar forms of torture.

Upon noticing that she was struggling to breathe, Halvo stopped and let her catch her breath. Her chest heaving, trying to catch her breath from laughter, Halvo looked down at her and realized she had never looked so beautiful to him. Yeah, her hair was a mess, she had coffee staining the front of her shirt, and remnants of her morning makeup streaked across her face. But, she had a smile that she saved especially for him and a twinkle in her eye that he knew he was in part responsible for. In that moment he knew the surprise, the anticipation of what he had planned for tonight was what he needed to do. He leaned down to capture her lips in a quick kiss before getting off of her and beginning to set up their stuff for their annual best friends’ day.

They were halfway through Sixteen Candles when he looked down at Chaney. He was sitting upright on the couch with his right arm set over her shoulders. She was lying on a pillow that was on his lap. Her left arm tucked underneath her, and her right arm lying across his legs, rubbing circles on his left knee with her thumb. He was so content in this moment. He didn’t want it to end. He wanted to be with Chaney just as he was right now, forever. He didn’t want to get ahead of himself so he started off small.

He moved his left hand from its perch on the couch arm to playing with her hair. “Hey Chaney?”

She turned her head and looked up at him. “What’s up?”

“Can I uh, ask you something?”

She sensed the nerves in his voice and on his face. Thinking it to be something serious, she sits up from her relaxed position and faces him. “Yeah…”

“So, I know this,” he motioned the space between them with one hand, “is kinda new for us. I don’t know about you, but I really like having this part of you. I love getting to know this side of you. I guess I’m just saying that I would like to keep this going. Do uh, do you wanna be my girlfriend?”

She bit her lip, trying to hide her smirk. “Halv, I love you, but you know you sounded like an eighth grade boy just then right?”

He sighed defeated, “Yeah, I guess, I—”

She leaned over and kissed him. “Of course I’ll be your girlfriend,” she said against his lips.

“Oh yeah, I could definitely get used to this,” he said before re-connecting their lips. The movie and annual tradition forgotten as they became more consumed in each other.