...And a Happy New Year

May 8, 2014

Halvo stirred awake and looked at the clock on the cable box to see it was just past 7am. Another night he fell asleep on the couch this week. He groaned as he debated whether or not to get more comfortable and drift back to sleep, or make the groggy walk across his apartment to sleep in his bed. After debating for a few minutes on what to do, he decided to get up and change out of yesterday’s clothes before starting his day. He didn’t have any plans but he was hoping to maybe steal some time with Chaney before the guys came back later tonight.

He got ready quickly, an idea forming in his head before rushing over to Chaney’s place. He knew she wouldn’t wake up for another half hour or so; hoping his idea would pan out. He pulled up to her apartment and got out, quickly making his way up the stairs and to her room. He got her hidden spare key and quietly opened the door before making his way towards her room. He stood in the doorway to see that she was still sound asleep. He first walked to where her phone was plugged in and turned off all over her alarms. He then walked over to the other side of the bed where she wasn’t sleeping, taking his shoes off, before joining her.

Chaney was starting to gain consciousness and felt something heavy on her chest. She was frightened momentarily, afraid to open her eyes to what could potentially be on top of her. She slowly opened her eyes to find Halvo curled up against her, his head lying on her collarbone. She smiled softly, running her fingers through his hair. She didn’t know when he came in, but she was happy to see him. She felt something wet go down the front of her camisole, and picked her head up enough to see it was Halvo’s drool. She laughed lightly before attempting to wake him up.

She ran her fingers through his hair, down to his neck, and back again as she softly cooed him out of his slumber. “Hey, mouth-breather, wake up.” She began planting small kisses on the sides and top of his head, deciding to go another route with waking him up.

He groaned slightly, tightening his grip around her waist and burying his head against her. She giggled, knowing he was now awake, and attempted to lift his head off her so she could see his face.

He begrudgingly moved off of her and laid on his side facing her.

She rolled over on her side to face him, as she continued running her fingers through his hair as he tried to stay awake. “To what do I owe this surprise visit?” she quietly questioned with a smile.

He hummed, “Hmm, just wanted to see my girl.” He then took one of his arms and laid it across her waist, pulling her into his chest as he closed his eyes again. “Less talking, more sleeping.”

She laughed, “Hon, I can’t do that. We need to get up. It’s,” she moved out of his embrace to check her phone, “10:00! Shit! Halvo, I overslept!”

He only groaned, “So?”

“I’m late for work!” Chaney said frantically.

She shot up, moving to start getting ready, but Halvo grabbed her hand. He lightly pulled on her hand to keep her from going.

“Halv, I can’t stay. Trust me, I’d love to, but I’m late for work.”

With eyes still closed and a lazy smile adorning his face he replied, “Call in sick.”

She sighed. “I can’t do that. We’re about to start—”

“I’m sure your boss will understand. Besides, I haven’t seen my girl for two weeks.”

She playfully rolled her eyes. “Maybe it’s because your eyes are still closed…” she jested.

“You know what I mean.”

“I do, and I’m sorry. I’ve just been so busy lately and—”

“Hence the reason to call in a sick day. You’re already late anyway. Just call in explaining that you woke up not feeling well and forgot to call in sick,” he reasoned.

“Ugh, I really can’t afford to do that…”

Halvo sat upright more at her reluctance to take one day off. “Is there some other reason you don’t want to take today off?...” he started.

Seeing the worry filling his face, her eyes grew wide. “No! God no. I just…we got a new client at the end of last week and there’s a lot of paperwork to file and since I don’t have any help I’m in charge of it all…”

“No, I get it, it’s fine.” Halvo got up and made his way to the kitchen to make something to eat.

Chaney felt terrible. She wanted nothing more than to spend the day with Halvo, but since Stephanie’s disappearance, she’s had to pick up her slack and was now working almost double what she was before. She hated that she hadn’t really seen Halvo since Easter. She frowned slightly and stepped out of her apartment.

When Halvo heard the front door close, he sighed in defeat and went to pull a bowl and some cereal from the cabinet. He knew she wouldn’t mind if he stayed and ate a small breakfast there before leaving. He hadn’t gone to the store in a couple weeks and was running low on food. He was saving up so he could surprise Chaney one morning by making a big breakfast, but saw that it wasn’t going to happen for a while. He would save it for later. Maybe she could do something Saturday.

He was pouring his cereal in his bowl when he heard the front door opening. He stopped and turned toward the jiggling front door knob. He set the box of cereal down and slowly and silently made his way towards the door. He was about to look through the peephole when the door burst open, hitting him in the face.

“Fuck!” He hunched over, grasping his face with both of his hands.

Chaney heard the loud thump when she opened the door, and peeked her head around to see Halvo doubled over. She quickly stepped in and shut the door behind her as she rushed to Halvo, trying to pull his hands away from his face. His eyes were scrunched up and she could see the red spot on his forehead from the door. She led him to the couch before heading to the kitchen to prepare a bag of ice.

She didn’t realize he would be on the other side of the door. She felt terrible. Opening the freezer, to her dismay she realized she didn’t turn the ice maker on so she didn’t have ice. Luckily she did have a bag of frozen peas, so settled for that instead. She grabbed one of the dishtowels hanging on the oven door, wrapping it around the ice to subdue the chill some, before bringing it to the living room.

Halvo was still sitting on the couch, holding his head. His head was pounding worse than any hangover he’d ever had. The room wouldn’t stop spinning and he was beginning to struggle to stay awake. Surely he hadn’t gotten a concussion, he thought to himself as he waited for Chaney’s return.

He was stirred from his thoughts when he felt the soft tug of Chaney’s hands as she pulled his hands from his face, replacing the bag of peas on his forehead instead. She held the bag of peas against his head as he leaned his head back on the couch, praying for his headache to subside.

With her free hand, she began running her fingers through his hair, trying to help him relax some as he seemed to be in a lot of pain. She had no idea she hit him so hard in the face. She then began to kiss him under his ear, making her way across his jaw, catching the corner of his lips before pulling back slightly.

He peeked one of his eyes opened and looked at her with a bit of a smirk on his face. “You’re stopping now?” he joked.

She playfully rolled her eyes and leaned back down, connecting their lips.
The bag of peas was quickly forgotten about as he threw it onto the floor and pulled her onto his lap.

She straddled his waist, wrapping her arms around his neck as she continued to kiss him.

He grabbed her hips, bringing her closer to him and deepening the kiss. This went on for a while before he began to play with the bottom hem of her camisole.

This time, she didn’t hesitate to raise her arms as he slowly lifted it off her frame and throwing it on the floor.

She leaned back down, reconnecting their lips as she began to lift the bottom of his shirt up.

He disconnected their lips long enough to take his shirt off before continuing. The longer this went on, the harder it became for him to control how far they went. Before they went any further, he leaned back, touching their foreheads together, his eyes asking if it was alright.

She nodded, not knowing where this new found confidence in this situation was coming from; but she was too caught up in the moment to care.

He stood up, picking her up as she wrapped her legs around him, and carried her to the bedroom.

***
They both laid there, she was cuddled in his embrace, tracing shapes on his chest and he was drawing imaginary lines across her arms. Both stayed silent as they continued to lay under the sheets.

Chaney wasn’t sure how she felt. It’s not like she regretted sleeping with Halvo, but it definitely wasn’t how she planned on the day going. She didn’t think it was how he planned the day to go either, though she knew he wasn’t complaining. The thought freaked her out a bit that she slept with her best friend of fifteen years, but at the same time, she couldn’t imagine being this intimate with anyone else. It didn’t make sense. Her thoughts were loud as she laid there, trying to drown them out by focusing on Halvo’s touch; his fingers leaving a trail of goosebumps wherever he touched.

Halvo lay there, trailing his fingers across her skin. He was in a state of uncertainty. Had this really been what he wanted? He loves Chaney and has for many years. Wasn’t this a way to show that love? They both seemed so sure before, and now he was left wondering if he made the right decision. He just slept with his best friend. Sure they’d kissed and made-out before, but this was a new level of intimacy. Things could never truly go back to how they were now. He glanced down to where Chaney was laying on his chest, trying to gauge her reaction. Her face was completely blank as she stared at the wall. He sighed as they continued to lay there, wondering if they’d be alright.

After lying in silence for what felt like hours, Chaney moved to get up and make something to eat as she hadn’t eaten all day. Keeping the sheet wrapped around her chest, she leaned over the bed searching for a shirt only to remember hers and Halvo’s were both in the living room still. She spotted one of his hoodies that she often wore to bed lying on a chair a few feet from the bed. She moved her legs out from under the sheet, her back to Halvo, and leaned down to put her underwear on.

As she leaned down, Halvo moved across the bed to her, kissing across her shoulder blades.

She shivered at his touch, something she was beginning to grow accustomed to feeling. She stayed still as he continued to lightly kiss her bare shoulder , up her neck, across her jaw, and eventually the corner of her mouth. He was now pressed up against her back as she sat on the edge of the bed and she couldn’t have moved if she tried. Her body felt numb with the most pleasurable tingling as she sat there. She eventually turned her face towards him to kiss him back, smiling into the kiss.

After a few short kisses, she got up to put the sweatshirt on and began making her way to the kitchen.

Before she reached the doorway, Halvo called out to her. “Where are ya goin and why does it require clothes?” he smirked.

She looked back over her shoulder at him, trying to hide her smirk. He was lying on his side, perched on one elbow with one of the most devilish smirks on his face. “I thought I’d make us some food because ya know, I’m pretty famished. I—”

“Am exhausted? Yeah I know. I tend to wear people out,” he cut her off with a smirk.

She blushed and her eyes went wide, unbelieving what was coming out of his mouth. “Eric James Halvorsen! What would your mother say about that kind of talk!”

His grin only grew, “I wouldn’t ever talk to my mom like that. Gross! So she wouldn’t have anything to say about it,” he winked.

She playfully rolled her eyes as she exited the room. “Get dressed, I’m making food.”

He smirked at her figure as she left her room and for the first time in their relationship, felt like they would be alright in the end.

Chaney looked through her cabinets trying to figure out what she should make when she found the box of cereal and bowl that Halvo must have gotten out earlier. She quirked an eye at it as she picked it up, laughing silently to herself at how at home he felt there. His hands on her waist and lips at her neck caused her to almost drop the box as she attempted to put it up.

He took one of his hands and grabbed the cereal box she was attempting to put up. He moved to her ear, whispering, “Let me get that,” as he kissed softly below her ear and put it on the top shelf where it was stored.

She couldn’t find the goosebumps spreading across her skin from his contact. It was getting more out of control the more comfortable he became around her.

He wrapped both of his arms around her waist, bringing her into his chest as she laid her head back against him. Her back was to his chest as they both looked out the door that led to her landing, observing the bustle of the town below them. Her room wasn’t that high up, but she still had a decent view of the city and it helped her complex was on a hill, giving her more of a vista view of the town.

“As much as I love standing here with you, I haven’t eaten all day. What do you want bub?” she asked, patting his hands so he would release her while she cooked.

He released her and shrugged his shoulders as he moved to sit at the kitchen bar behind her. He sat on the stool, facing in towards the kitchen, watching her as she moved around grabbing various ingredients. He could watch her all day as he constantly found himself getting caught up in her little quirks. The way she would pop one of her feet up if she was standing on her toes to reach something on a top shelf. The random songs she would hum as she moved about, often times not following any sort of pattern other than whatever ran through her head at the time. How she would bite part of her bottom lip and furrow her eyebrows when she was trying to remember something. When she looked for something, how she would make the motion with her hands of what that object’s purpose was.

All of these quirks of hers that he never noticed before, but only made him love her more. Was he really ready to say he loved her? The thought of admitting that made his blood run cold, his hairs stand on end, and his heart beat out of his chest. They hadn’t even dated that long; surely it was too soon. However, he’s been in love with his best friend since he was thirteen. He was twenty-five now. Was it really too soon? He didn’t want to jinx the amazing day they were having thus far and decided to hold off on saying anything just yet.

She brought breakfast over to the bar where he was sitting and walked around to sit next to him on the stools. They ate in silence, simply enjoying each other’s presence. After they finished, she cleared the bar, putting the dishes in the sink before making her way to the couch and collapsing on it. Halvo got up to follow her, but noticed the bag of peas he discarded on the floor from earlier. Smirking to himself, he picked them up and put them in the freezer before making his way to the couch. He noticed Chaney was slouched into the couch, looking up at him expectantly to sit next to her. With a big sigh, he collapsed on the couch, dramatically moving to lay his head on her lap. He moved so he was laying on his back so he could look up at her.

She smiled and with her right hand, began running her fingers through his hair while her left hand rested on his chest.

He closed his eyes, smiling as she did so. He clasped her left hand in his right, and held it to his chest as he rubbed small circles into her hand with his thumb.

After a few moments of silence, Halvo piped up. “So uh Chaney,” he started with a hint of cheekiness in his voice.

“Yes…?” she replied hesitantly, not knowing what was about to come out of his mouth.

“How was it?”

She stopped running her fingers through his hair and looked at him perplexed. “Huh? How was what?”

He opened his eyes and gave her the biggest shit-eating grin. “Oh you know…how was I?” he wiggled his eyebrows.

Her jaw dropped and with the hand she used to play with his hair, she smacked his head. “Halvo! Stop that!”

“That’s not what you were saying earlier…” he smirked.

“My god.” She tried to squirm out from under him.

“Heard that a lot though…” he continued.

“So help me if you don’t cut that out right now…You know you sound like an eighth grade boy right now, right?” she challenged with an unamused expression and a raised eyebrow.

He smiled, “Perhaps, but I know I was—”

She threw her free hand over his mouth to keep him from saying anymore.

He only laughed and kissed her palm that was now covering her mouth.

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop. Promise,” he said against her hand.

She gave him a challenging look, not really believing he would cut out his adolescent behavior.

He gave her a pleading look, a look she came to know as his way of surrendering.

With a sigh she removed her hand from his mouth.

“Thanks babe,” he said with a smile as he took the hand that was still held to his chest and kissed it.

She shook her head and laughed a bit. “So what do you wanna do today?”

“I mean, I would say you, but I already did that. Unless you wanna go another round…”

She smacked his chest. “Seriously Halvo?! Can’t you cut it out? Please!”

He laughed, “Of course. Just had to get that last one out of my system. I’m honestly good with just sitting here with you the rest of the day. Don’t really care if we do anything but just lay on the couch. We can watch TV, movie, I don’t really care. I just want to spend time with you,” he looked up at her with honest eyes.

She smiled gently at him, leaning forward to kiss his forehead. “Good, because I don’t really feel like getting dressed at the moment.”

He smiled “I don’t really feel like you should get dressed either,” he teased.

She rolled her eyes, settling more on the couch and turned on the TV.

Halvo rolled onto his right side so he could see the TV, keeping his head on her lap as she began playing with his hair again. He probably wouldn’t ever admit it to her, but he loved when she ran her fingers through his hair. It felt absolutely amazing and relaxed more than anything else ever had. Her touch, her very presence being enough for him.

Chaney wasn’t really paying much attention to what was on as her mind kept drifting off to the boy currently laying in her lap. Every time she thought about him, a smile would grow on her face along with a slight blush on her cheeks. She bit her lip and looked down at him, wondering how she got so lucky to have this man in her life. She sighed in contentment and continued to watch whatever show was on TV.

After a few episodes of some 90s sitcom reruns, Halvo broke the silence they found themselves in. “Hey, you did call in sick at work today right? Like, I didn’t get you in trouble today did I?” he turned to look up at her.

She looked down at him, seeing the slight worry cross his features and smiled, shaking her head. “Nah, I’m not in trouble. I stepped outside earlier to call in sick. It was when I came back in that I uh, accidently hit your head with the door,” she said as she gently rubbed the still red spot on his forehead.

He smiled in response, nodding slightly before turning back to the TV.

“Hey babe, what time do the guys come in tonight?” Chaney asked.

“Uh, early morning I think. From what Tim was telling me, they leave sometime this afternoon, and arrive in Houston late tonight. They’ll have a couple hour layover before they fly back here, and should be here early morning. Why?”

She leaned over to where their lips were barely touching. “Just wondering how much longer I got to keep you to myself before I had to share you again,” she said against his lips.

The sensation of her breath hitting his lips was enough to cause him to grab the back of her head with one of his hands and connect their lips. “Ya know ya can’t keep teasing me like this right,” he spoke against her lips in-between kisses.

“Who said I was teasing you?” she challenged, as she lightly bit his bottom lip.

“I do. Especially when you pull stunts like that,” he mumbled against her lips, groaning slightly as he was about to connect their lips again when she suddenly pulled back.

“Oh! I’m sorry, didn’t mean to do that babe. My bad.” She looked down at him and winked, trying to hide her smirk as she turned back towards the TV. Noticing his staggered breathing and the flush in his cheeks, she decided to egg him on a bit more. She loved messing with him. She began to absent-mindedly run her fingertips ever so gently across his chest. Her fingers barely grazing his skin.

Halvo’s breathing practically stopped. He looked at her and saw the smirk she was trying to hide. It was then he knew that she knew what she was doing. With a small grunt, knowing that this wasn’t going anywhere, he got up.

“Where ya goin babe?” Chaney called after him.

“To the bathroom,” Halvo muttered to himself as he made his way to the bathroom down the hall.

Chaney giggled to herself as she watched her boyfriend walk off.

The two spent the rest of the day and night laying on the couch watching old sitcoms and talking. They both eventually fell asleep on the couch with the TV still on.

Halvo woke up around 2am and realized they needed to head out if they were going to greet the guys at the airport. Their flight landed in about half an hour and Chaney lived about that far away.

Halvo sat up and gently shook Chaney to wake her up. When she didn’t budge, he started trailing kisses from her exposed shoulder, up her neck to her jaw. The sensation of his gentle kisses gradually waking her up.

“I’m up, what’s going on?” she mumbled, her voice still thick with sleep.

“It’s time to head out if we’re gonna meet the guys. Let’s get dressed.”

She looked at him puzzled until she realized she was still only wearing her underwear and one of his sweatshirts, and he was still only wearing boxers. She nodded and they silently made their way to her room to get changed. She was only half paying attention to what she was grabbing from her dresser and closet. She still wanted to wear his hoodie as the early morning air would be a bit chilly. She pulled on a pair of sweatpants, and slipped a bra on under her sweatshirt as she slipped on some flip-flops. She looked in the mirror to see her makeup smeared face, and sex hair. She quickly walked to the bathroom to wash her face and attempt to comb through her hair. She gave up after a few minutes to tame it and decided to throw it up in a clip so they could leave.

She met Halvo in her living room and they left. As soon as they were in the hallway, he grabbed her hand, leading her out to his white Accord. He drove them to the airport, parking in short-term parking and led her inside towards the baggage claim to greet them all.

She was still practically asleep on her feet. She found herself cozying into Halvo’s side as his arm that rested across her shoulders, pulled her closer to him. She put most of her weight against him as he had more energy than she currently did. She wanted to be there because she hadn’t really seen them since they helped her move in.

She was about to fall asleep where she stood when she felt Halvo nudge her slightly and nod his head towards the escalator to their left. She turned her head and saw a group of people descending from the top floor. As soon as she saw them all on the escalator, the energy she had been recently lacking coursed through her. She noticed John was in the front, turned around talking to Pat and Jared behind him. All of them had huge smiles on their faces and she couldn’t help but be excited for them. She couldn’t wait to hear all about their travels overseas. She was especially excited to share her paintings with John and to see what writing he had done since they last hung out.

Her and Halvo started walking towards the escalator, the rest of the guys not noticing they were there. As soon as they got off to walk towards their baggage claim, she ran over to them and instantly tackled John in a hug.

John was momentarily unresponsive until he realized it was Chaney clinging to him. He chuckled, “Well hey there to you too darlin’. How are ya?”

She looked up at him and smiled, before leaning forward to give him another hug. “I’m good. I’ve missed you so much,” she whispered in his ear.

John swallowed thickly. Her breath hitting the shell of his ear caused the hairs on his neck to stand.

She gave him a small peck on the cheek before letting him go so she could say hey to the other guys.

John looked over at her interacting with everyone, as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. All he could think to himself was how much trouble this girl was going to be for him and how he had no idea what he was in for now.

A slap across his back shook him from his thoughts. He looked over to see Halvo standing next to him. “Hey dude! How was Brazil?”

John shook his head to clear his thoughts so he could answer Halvo’s question. “What? Oh uh, it was great! One of the best tours we’ve had yet. Great crowds every night, easily one of our favorite places to go,” he lightly smiled.

“Good! Well, I gotta go get my girl and make sure the guys don’t give her too hard of a time,” he winked at John before strolling over to everyone else.

“His girl?” John thought to himself. Surely he had heard Halvo wrong. He and Chaney weren’t dating were they? Halvo always told him everything. Regardless if he decided to keep that on the down low at the moment, why did he suddenly seem to care? He brushed it off and went to rejoin the guys. He chalked his momentary lapse to sleep deprivation and jet lag. He knew a good night’s sleep would clear his head enough to think clearly.