...And a Happy New Year

May 28, 2014

Today was the day. Halvo’s 26th birthday. Chaney was determined to make sure he had a great birthday. However, she was unsure of what exactly she should do. Sure she had known him most of her life. She also was probably one of two people, outside of his family, that knew him so well. However, she wanted this birthday to be perfect because it would be the first birthday either of them celebrated as a couple.

Chaney leaned against her kitchen bar and looked at the clock on the microwave. It was 9:30; not too early. She debated whether or not she should call anyone. After weighing her options, she decided to contact John. She knew, besides herself, that he was Halvo’s best friend and would probably know what to do. She pulled out her phone and typed out a message to John, figuring texting would be better than calling if he were still asleep.

Yo JohnO! Have any plans today? I need your help!!

She set her phone down and went to make herself a cup of coffee. She wasn’t overly concerned about when John would text her back. She wasn’t anticipating an answer anytime soon. She cleaned out the filter from the day before and was filling up her coffee pot with water to pour into the coffee maker when her phone went off. She picked it up finding a reply from John.

I’m actually grabbing some coffee right now. How about I grab you some and head to your place in 10?

She smiled, happy he was available to help. She quickly typed her reply.

Perfect! Just get me a grande café au lait with skim, two sugars. I’ll make breakfast :)

He smiled, pocketing his phone before placing his and her coffee order and heading to Chaney’s apartment.

Chaney set her phone down, pouring out what little water she had poured into the coffee pot. She then shut it off, and turned the stove on to start heating up while she changed out of her pj’s.

She emerged a couple minutes later and went to the fridge to grab eggs and bacon. Not knowing how John preferred his eggs, she opted to make bacon first. Bacon was always a safe choice and would take longer to make than eggs anyway.

While the bacon was frying, she put a couple slices of toast in the toaster oven with a little butter. She set out a couple of plates and silverware on the kitchen bar. She then placed some bacon on each of their plates and took out the toast. She set the toast on their plates and grabbed the various jams, jellies, and spreads and placed them on the bar. She was in the process of making her eggs when she heard John knock on her door.

“It’s open!” she called out as she finished cracking her eggs and started scrambling them as she sprinkled cheese into the pan.

“Hey! I’ve got the coffee. Where do you want me to set them? Food smells great,” John mused.

Chaney looked at him over her shoulder. She nodded with her head towards the bar where everything else was set up, “You can set them there with our plates. I’m finishing up my eggs,” she turned back towards the stove. “I wasn’t sure how you liked your eggs, so I decided to wait until you got here to ask.”

John set the coffees down and took a seat on one of the stools. “Oh, scrambled with cheese will be fine.”

She laughed lightly.

“What? Why’s that so funny?” he chuckled.

She turned towards him, the pan of scrambled eggs in her hand as she made her way to his plate. She started scraping some of the eggs from the pan onto his plate, “Because that’s exactly how I eat my eggs. Good thing I made two instead of one huh?” she laughed.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he chuckled.

She finished scooping out the eggs on her plate before placing the pan on a cool stove burner to cool while turning off the stove. She then grabbed them a couple of napkins before joining John at the bar.

They both started digging into their breakfast. It was silent the first few minutes as they both were devouring their food and letting the coffee set in their systems.

John had speared some of his eggs, taking a swig of coffee as he spoke. “So Van Gogh, what’s the big emergency? What do you need help with?”

Chaney finished chewing what food she had in her mouth, swallowing before answering. “Well, you know today is Halvo’s birthday…”

He laughed, “Obviously. How could I forget?”

“I wanted to do something special for his birthday and I needed your help to know what to do,” she spoke.

“But you know him as well as I do if not better,” he mumbled over his cup of coffee.

She sighed, “I know, but I want this year to be extra special because it’s o—I mean, I just want to do something nice for him before he’s gone for the summer,” she quickly supplied, not wanting to reveal that her and Halvo were together. They still hadn’t decided on when to tell the guys about them dating.

“Oh,” he replied taken aback, “well, we could always throw him the clichéd surprise party. As cliché as it is, he’s never had one,” John replied.

Chaney clasped her hands together, “Alright then, let’s get planning! It’s,” she turned to look at the time, “almost 10 now. I say we plan this shindig for around 7?”

John nodded in agreement as he finished the last of his bacon.

“Great! So that leaves us with about nine hours to make this all happen. We need to get food, drinks, find a place, figure out how to get Halvo there, invite people—”

“Woah, calm down there darlin’!” he chuckled. “It’s gonna work out. I know it’s a lot, but between the two of us, we can tackle it. Have you talked to him at all today?”

She shook her head no.

“Perfect! Don’t talk to him all day. I’ll spread the word along to the rest of the guys not to either, or if they do, don’t mention anything about today being his birthday. Let’s make him think we all forgot about it.”

She gasped in mock horror. “John! That’s terrible! I wanna celebrate his birthday, not make him hate us!” she chuckled.

“Chill! It’ll work I promise! We just need to make him think we’ve forgotten about it. I’ll take him out somewhere this afternoon to hang out like we normally would. In the meantime, you can set up the place, get everyone there, and make sure their cars are hidden. I’ll find some excuse to take him wherever we decide to host this, and when we come in, that’s when the surprise comes. I’ll make sure to text you when we’re on our way so you can be preparing for us.”

“That’s brilliant thank you!” she cooed as she placed a friendly peck on his check. “Ok, let me get my notepad and we can get a list going of supplies we need.” She grabbed the magnetic grocery list pad off the fridge and grabbed a pen from the cabinet drawer next to the fridge before rejoining John at the bar. She took the pen cap off, putting it on the other end of the pen. She began to chew on the pen cap end of the pen as she contemplated the various items they would need tonight.

John sat there watching her in her furrowed concentration. It was amusing to see her so engrossed in making such a simple list. He found himself getting caught up in the small facial quirks she’d make as she thought and wrote down various items. Her question brought him back to reality. “What was that?” he asked dazed.

Chaney chuckled, a slight blush rising to her checks, “I uh, asked how many people we were planning on inviting…just so I’d know how much food to prepare.”

“Oh, um…the usual guys I’d guess.”

She gave him a mock glare.

“Right, you don’t know everyone. Ha. Ok, there’s…” he began to count off the various guys they were close to, as well as their girlfriends, tallying them up on his fingers before giving her a final number. “Twenty? That sounds about right.”

“Twenty?! Seriously? I thought this was a small get together! There’s no way I can prepare for twenty people by myself in that time on top of all the planning and—”

“Woah there, slow down,” he chuckled. “I’m gonna help you with it ya goob,” he ruffled the top of her hair.

She glared at him from under her now messed up hair. “Thank’s O’Callaghan,” she muttered as she attempted to fix her hair back. “So how do you propose we go about accommodating so many people? My apartment won’t hold that many people. I know Halvo’s wont. I wouldn’t put the burden on your poor parents to have it at your house…”

“We could always do it at the 8123 offices. The backyard is pretty decent. You saw the other night that it could accommodate us all.”

“True,” she contemplated, “but are you sure it’s okay to use for a birthday party?” she hesitantly asked.

“Psh, of course it is!” he scoffed. “It’s for all 8123 related things. Halvo is part of 8123. Of course it’s alright.”

“Okay, but what excuse would you guys have to go there?” she asked.

“I’ll just say I need to run by the offices to pick something up. I’ll make sure I drive him around so that he’ll have no choice but come along. Don’t worry about it Chaney, it’s gonna work out.”

She took a deep breath, “You’re right. I need to stop stressing about this.”

“Why exactly are you stressing about this? I mean, you act as if this particular birthday has some sort of significance more than his other birthdays. Do you know something we don’t?” he joked.

“Uh…no. I just uh, party planning always stresses me out,” she quickly responded.

“Then why put yourself through it if it makes you so anxious?” he asked perplexed.

“I…I don’t know. I just…want to do something nice for him for once,” she shrugged, hoping she could come off as convincing. She was running out of excuses. She only hoped her vague answer would be enough to satiate John for the moment.

He chuckled, “Ya know, you’re not as bad as I used to think you are. You’re quite the thoughtful one.”

She only looked at him perplexed. “I mean, I know you disliked me at one point over some drunk mistake, but you genuinely didn’t like me?” she asked defeated.

“Well, let’s just say you reminded me too much of one of my old girlfriends from high school. It wasn’t pleasant.”

“Geez. Nothing like finding out you remind one of your friends of their psycho ex…” she replied sarcastically.

“Don’t take it that way. It’s just…she was a player.”

This only caused Chaney’s eyes to grow wide as she stood in disbelief in front of John. He thought she was a player?

“Oh! God, no! I’m not saying I thought you were a player! Shit I’m digging myself in a hole. Let me explain—”

“You better because you’re right. You are digging yourself in quite the hole,” she interjected, arms crossed and foot tapping.

“What I was trying to say, is that she was a player. Unbeknownst to me before we dated, she liked to screw guys over. I had no idea of how vicious she was. We dated and not long into our relationship, she wanted me to sleep with her. I refused and she got mad. She then practically blackmailed me to sleep with her. I reluctantly did so, and then she spread rumors that I forced her to sleep with me against her will. Needless to say, I wasn’t popular amongst the female population at school for the next year. If it wasn’t obvious, she publically broke up with me in front of all my friends and embarrassed the hell out of me. I didn’t trust girls for a while. Still don’t completely.”

Chaney was shocked as those rumors never hit her ears. Then again, they ran in different social circles, despite their mutual friend, which could be why she never heard it. She was shocked at not only what happened to him, but that she reminded him of her ex. Was she really that vicious? What could she have possibly done to make him think so poorly of her?

“What…what is it about me that made you think of her?” Chaney muttered.

“I don’t know. I told you that I still have issues trusting girls…”

“Yeah, but you know not all girls are the same. Clearly there was something I did that made you think that about me.”

“If you must know,” he sighed exasperated, “it was at the party not long after New Year’s. During Truth or Dare, you made out with Halvo all the while smirking at me. It just bothered me and reminded me of her. Before Katie, my ex, started pulling all that shit over me, she was super sweet and someone I thought I’d be able to trust. I got the same initial impression of you. Then when I saw what you did at that party, it reminded me so much of what Katie did to me, and I didn’t want Halvo to go through what I did.”

It all made sense to Chaney now. She felt terrible, but at the same time, she didn’t recall it ever happening. She nodded in understanding before turning back to her list and writing down foods to buy at the store later in the afternoon.

John sighed, placing one of his hands on top of her right, keeping her from writing. “Hey, obviously I don’t think that anymore. But you understand why I was so upset with you for so long right?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I just…never knew that happened to you, nor do I recall ever pulling that stunt forever ago.”

“It’s uh, not something I really publicize ya know?” he chuckled darkly. “Halvo doesn’t remember what happened between you two either, and he fought for you just so you know. In the end it was his convincing that made me want to give you a second shot.”

She smirked as a small blush rose to her checks.

“Ah, there it is,” he used his free hand to gently cup her chin and bring her face up to where she was looking at him. “There’s the smile you’ve been hiding. Now c’mon, let’s get back to planning.”

Chaney moved her eyes from looking at the table to looking at John. Her eyes widened when she realized how close their faces were. She could almost feel his steady breathing hit her face.

He cleared his throat when he realized how close they were, before removing his hand from her chin and backing away. “So uh, food…”

“Right!” she scrambled as she stood up, walking around the living room as she read off the list. She had to distance herself from John as the blush she had before had only gotten worse and she had to cool her face, and heart rate, down. Nothing had happened, but she couldn’t help but feel guilty about it. Neither her or John made eye contact for a few minutes until the awkwardness from a few minutes prior had passed. They make out the grocery list and head to the store.

John drove them around in his truck, as all the supplies and food could be put in the back of his truck. Luckily the only things they really needed was food, drinks, and a few decorations. This would be an easy two stop trip. He drove to the store first as this would be a two person job to help gather and carry the food for the night.

“Alright,” she mused as she walked down the first aisle, John leaning over the cart as he pushed it, “let’s start with the snack foods since we’re on this side of the store.”

“Lead the way captain,” he gestured with his arm.

She laughed as she looked up at the aisle summaries to see which aisle to go down. “Alright O’Callaghan, we need chips. What kind should we get?” she stopped in the middle of the aise.

They both looked at the wide expanse of chips in front of them.

“All of them,” he replied seriously.

Chaney started laughing. “What? That’s crazy! We can’t buy that many chips.”

“Do you not remember that most of the attendees are guys?” he posed.

“Gee, I don’t because someone never filled me in on the guest list,” she challenged with a smirk.

“Not my fault you’re antisocial,” he joked, riding on the cart as he rolled down the aisle.

She gasped, running down the aisle after him. “Get your ass back here O’Callaghan! You can’t say something like that and just run away!” she laughed.

He turned, looking at her over his shoulder, smirking, as he continued to ride the grocery cart like a skateboard. “Catch me if ya can Masters,” he smirked as he turned the corner at the end of the aisle.

She huffed in disbelief. She turned, quickly grabbing family sized bags of Doritos, tortilla chips, and a couple huge jars of salsa. She then half-ran down the rest of the aisle and turned toward the left; the direction she saw John go. She didn’t see him down the length of the store, so she went to start looking down each aisle to see if she could find him. She made it to the third aisle down when John came speeding towards her. She didn’t have time to move because he was less than a couple feet from her when she spotted him.

They both stared at each other wide-eyed as they realized what was happening. John tried slowing down, but he was going too fast and wouldn’t be able to stop in time. They both closed their eyes, ready to face the inevitable.

Without fail, John’s cart crashed into Chaney, knocking her on the ground. John stepped off the cart, stopping it from flipping on top of her.

She was laying on the ground, the chips and salsa laying on the floor around her. John quickly grabbed them and placed them in the cart before turning his attention to Chaney. She was still laying on her back, holding onto her stomach where she was hit by the cart. Her eyes were clenched shut.

He knelt down by her side and placed a hand around her shoulders, slowly lifting her up. With his other arm, he gently took the hands she had grasping her stomach and slowly helped her off the ground. He got her off the ground with little difficulty, but she was wincing in pain whenever she moved.

Once she was upright again, John kept his arm around her shoulders to make sure she could stand on her own. He was concerned that he hurt her pretty severely.

Chaney started to slowly open her eyes, and seeing John’s concerned expression, she tried to surpress her grin. It didn’t hurt that bad, but she knew that her butt would be pretty bruised for the next couple days. She decided to milk this and make him start picking up some of the slack since he’d been goofing off. She went to take a step, and instantly clutched her side with one hand, the other holding onto the cart beside her.

“Oh my god Chaney, I’m so sorry! What can I do? What do you need? What hurts? What can I do to help you out? Wh—”

Chaney couldn’t hold up the charade much longer for fear if she played it off much more, he would probably take her to the ER. She laughed as she hunched over clutching both of her sides from laughter.

He looked at her perplexed. “Wha…? I don’t understand. What’s so funny?”

“Oh Johnny boy, I’m alright. Seriously. I’ve had worse falls than this. I’m only gonna be sore when I sit for the next couple days since I fell back so hard. Otherwise I’m fine. If you only knew half the shit Halvo and I did growing up, you would know this was minor.”

He scoffed and rolled his eyes, playfully pushing her. “You suck,” he muttered as he tried to suppress his smile.

“Hmm, guess you’ll never know will you?” she winked as she moved to the other side of the cart and turned it around to head back towards the other end of the aisle.

John stood there in awe as he watched her walk down the aisle. He shook his head, and jogged to catch up with her. “Ya know, for someone who’s short, you sure do have a fast stride,” he joked.

She looked up at him with a quirked eyebrow. “I’m not that short. I’m like 5’7”. Then again, anyone compared to you is instantly dwarfed,” she jibbed.

“Hey now, I can’t help how tall I am…” he defended.

“Right, just like I can’t help how ‘short’ I am,” she winked as she reached for the ingredients for cake.

“What are uh, why are you getting baking supplies?” he asked.

“To make his cake, duh,” she laughed lightly.

“Why not just buy a pre-made cake? It would save you so much time,” he offered.

“Like I said, I want to make this birthday special,” she meekly replied.

“And a surprise party just doesn’t cut it for ya huh?” he teased.

She just glared at him before moving past him to get the rest of her ingredients.

“Ok, I’m sorry. You like to ‘go big or go home’ am I right?” he tried.

She sighed, “I just want to show him how much I appreciate him for all he’s done for me over the years. Throwing him a surprise party and making him a cake are hardly sufficient, but it’s all I’ve got right now.” She grabbed the sugar and flour to add to the cart before making her way towards the refrigerated section to get milk and eggs.

John jogged to catch up with her again.

She was looking through the eggs and calculating in her head how many she would need in order to make a cake big enough to feed everyone. She figured it out, and grabbed a small carton of six large eggs. She wasn’t even acknowledging John standing there as she didn’t want to answer the real reason she wanted to make this birthday special.

He stood there silent, not really sure what to do this time. The two of them had been going rounds all morning and he wasn’t in the mood to continue bickering with her over trivial things the rest of the day. He was missing out on spending time with his best friend on his birthday to help her plan a party for said friend. He thought she would at least show a little more gratitude for his help, rather than bickering. He eventually just mumbled, “I’ll be in the truck,” and walked out of the store.

When she heard his retreating footsteps, she slowly turned her head towards his disappearing figure and sighed. She hadn’t meant to pick fights with him, but she was so touchy about her relationship with Halvo.

She gathered the few items she had left to pick up and paid for them before heading out to the parking lot. She found John sitting inside with the windows down, listening to music. She meekly walked up to his truck and unloaded the bags of groceries into the bed of his truck before climbing in the cab.

Neither said a word as he pulled up to the liquor store to pick up their alcohol for the night. He quickly got out of the cab, leaving it running, while he went inside to grab the essentials. He emerged a few minutes later with a few bags full of bottles. He opened the cab and set them behind their seats in the small space between the back of the cab and the front bench. He didn’t want the bottles to break on the way back.

He decided to just drive her to the 8123 offices so she could prepare for the party there. They had a kitchen so she could cook and set up the food for the night. He looked at the time and saw it was nearing noon. He would be able to stick around for a couple hours before heading over to Halvo’s to chill beforehand. He pulled into the driveway at the office and shut the truck off. He reached behind their seat and grabbed the drinks and went to walk towards the office.

Chaney quietly got out and grabbed the bags from the bed of the truck before following behind him. She heard various voices coming from inside the office, but didn’t know who was there or where they were at. She heard John call out a greeting to whoever was in there as she heard the clunk of the bottles on a table. She followed his voice until she found the kitchen.

John was in there talking with Pat about who knows what, but conversation ceased as soon as she entered.

Pat’s face brightened and he instantly greeted her. “Chaney! Hey! So good to see you again!” He walked over to the doorway where she was still standing and gave her hug before grabbing some of the bags from her hands and setting them on the island in the middle of the kitchen. “Is this stuff for Halvo’s surprise party?” he asked as he looked through the bags.

“Uh, yeah. I got some snack foods and stuff to make a cake,” she muttered as she walked over and set the rest of the bags on the counter. “I uh, also got some stuff for burgers. I figured we would need some sort of sustenance,” she lightly chuckled.

“Alright! Sounds good! Me and Gare are w-working on s-some demos in the studio. If you need help or wanna s-stop in and visit, we’re right around there,” he motioned with hand out the doorway.

She nodded, and he smiled, patting her on the shoulder before rejoining Garrett in the studio. She started unpacking the groceries, putting the perishable items in the fridge to keep them from spoiling.

John still stood across the island from her, just watching her. He grabbed the bottles out of the bags and put them in the fridge. He was still a bit hestitant around her.

Chaney began looking through the cabinets for bowls, spoons, and a pan to cook the cake in. She had gathered the dry ingredients and began measuring them.

John moved beside her and sighed lightly. “So uh, are we gonna just stand here and not talk to each other?”

She turned her head towards him and smiled a little, offering him the bowl and spoon to mix.

He smiled and grabbed them while she got a smaller bowl to mix the wet ingredients together. Before she started that, she finished measuring out the dry ingredients so John could get them mixed while she worked on the wet ingredients. She carefully opened the pack of flour and slowly started to pour it into a measuring cup, when a large amount poured out of the bag. The dust flew up around them and covered the fronts of their shirts in flour. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry John! I—”

She was cut off by him taking a small handful of flour and throwing it in her face while laughing. “Hey Chaney, I uh, think you’ve got a little something on your face,” he leaned towards her, pointing at the flour covering her face and hair.

“Oh, you’re getting it now O’Callaghan!” she smirked. She grabbed some flour and went to throw it in his face but he beat her to it as he had some in his other hand. He put that hand in a fist and held it up to his mouth, blowing through his hand, causing flour to cover not only Chaney, but the counter and floor around her.

The additional flour that was thrown on her surprised her, causing her to drop the flour she had in her hand on her feet. She was now covered head to toe in flour while John only had a little on his shirt from the initial spill.

He couldn’t hold in his laughter as he took in her white appearance.

The two engaged in a full-out flour fight in the kitchen, completely covering each other, and the kitchen. They were both slipping around on the floor as the floor was covered in flour. They grabbed onto each other’s arms to keep each other from falling as they couldn’t stop sliding or laughing. By this point, neither cared how loud they were being as they couldn’t get over the hilarity of how ridiculous the other looked.

Pat and Garrett were messing around in the studio and heard a lot of noise coming from the kitchen. Curious, they both got up and went towards the kitchen. They stood in the doorway stunned as the kitchen was completely covered in flour. There was a giant cloud of flour starting to settle and they saw John and Chaney on the other side of the kitchen completely covered as they laughed.

“What uh, what’s going on here?” the copper-headed boy asked.

“Well, the short version is we were making a cake…” John trailed off, trying to stifle his laugh enough to speak.

“Pretty sure that’s not how you make a cake dude.” Garrett chuckled. “The flour is supposed to go in the cake, not on the floor.”

“I know that! It just got a little…out of hand,” John laughed.

“I’ll clean it up, I promise. Sorry for the mess and noise,” Chaney apologized, still trying to stifle her laugh as well.

Pat and Garrett just chuckled, waving them off before going back to the studio.

“Well, it’s safe to say I need to change before tonight,” Chaney chuckled.

“Yeah same here. I’ll need to hose off before picking up Halvo.” He pulled out his phone and checked the time. “Shit, I need to leave soon. It’s already after 2. Want me to drop you off at your place to get changed?”

“Yeah, that’d be great, thanks.”

John and Chaney quickly cleaned up the kitchen. She covered the ingredients she had mixed up and set them aside for the moment. She stuck her head in the studio to tell the guys she’d be back in a bit to finish cooking and setting up. She joined John in his truck and he drove her back to her apartment.

After he dropped her off, he drove to his house to get cleaned up before picking up Halvo. As he drove home, he was smiling as he recalled the morning he had spent with Chaney. Sure they had bickered a bit, but he enjoyed the time they spent together. She was fun to be around and was able to keep up with him. Then again, anyone that was friends with Halvo had to stay on their toes, he thought to himself. He chuckled at the thought as he pulled into his driveway. He quickly got cleaned up and texted Halvo telling him he was on his way over.

Halvo was sitting on his couch when he got John’s text. He was relieved. For a moment, the thought everyone had forgotten today was his birthday. Granted, he was never one to dwell on ceremony, but he was surprised that no one had said anything. Especially Chaney, she hadn’t texted him at all that day. It was so unlike her. She typically texted him first thing in the morning. He hoped she was alright and nothing had happened to her. He was glad that one of his best friends remembered his birthday at least.

He got up from the couch and went to get changed from his pajama pants into some shorts and a shirt for the day. By the time he made it back to his living room, he heard John knock on his door. He opened it up to let him in while he grabbed his keys and wallet. He locked the door and followed John out to the truck. Once they were settled and seated, he asked, “So John, what’s on the agenda for today?”

“Eh, nothing special. Just thought we could run to the record store. I heard they got a new shipment in yesterday and I thought we could check it out,” he shrugged as he pulled out of Halvo’s apartment complex.

“Oh, yeah. That sounds good,” he said a bit defeated. So it was true, everyone forgot about his birthday.

They pulled into the parking lot and made their way inside, greeting Alex as they came in. Halvo instantly went to the back to begin shuffling through the new records on the shelf at the back of the store.

John looked to make sure Halvo was occupied on the other end of the store before getting Alex’s attention. “Psst. Alex!” John whispered from the other side of the counter.

Alex looked up from sorting labels and made his way over to John. “What’s up John?” he said as he continued to sort the labels in his hand.

“Shh! Keep it down, I don’t want Halvo to hear,” John whispered, as he looked back over his shoulder to make sure Halvo was still occupied.

“Ok…” Alex whispered, confusion on his brow as he made brief eye contact with John before resuming what he was working on.

“Ok, so today is Halvo’s birthday. However, we’re all acting like we forgot about it so we can throw him a surprise party. Can you be at the 8123 offices tonight a little before 7 so we can surprise him?” John whispered.

“I get off in a couple hours, so yeah, I’ll be able to make it. I got your back,” he replied softly.

“Awesome. Well, we’ll be in here looking around for a bit. I’ll let ya get back to work.”

Alex nodded and resumed working on the sorting the labels as John made his way over to Halvo. “Anything good come in?”

“Eh, not really. There’s a few things I saw that I might check out. But I’m gonna listen on Spotify first before investing in the vinyl ya know?”

John nodded, “Yeah I get ya.”

Halvo let him look as he made his way around the store looking at all the records in there. It didn’t matter how often he came in here, he could always spend a few hours just perusing. He loved looking at all the album artwork and looking for obscure records from bands he loved.

The two of them spent the next few hours looking through the racks and shelves of records before going to check out. They each had found a few vinyls that they had been looking for, so the trip wasn’t a flop luckily. They made their purchase before getting in the truck.

“Man, I’m beat. Wanna head back to my place and kick back a couple beers?” Halvo asked as John drove off.

“Yeah, that sounds great. I need to stop by the offices first though.”

“Ugh, why? Can’t it wait until tomorrow?” Halvo complained.

“No. I left my notebook in there and I need to grab it because I won’t be able to make it over there for the next couple days.” He had stopped at a red light and quick pulled out his phone to text Chaney.

We just left the record store. About 10 mins away. Be ready.

“Who was that?” Halvo asked as John stepped on the accelerator.

“What? Oh, no one. It was just Pat asking about some demos he and Garrett were messing with earlier today,” he casually lied. John surprised himself at how easy it was to lie to Halvo.

They pulled in to a darkened and empty driveway. John moved to get out of the truck and Halvo stayed there. “Dude, aren’t you coming in?” he asked.

“Nah, I’m gonna chill in the truck. You’re not gonna be in there long anyway,” Halvo mused.

“Well…I need your help. I uh…left my keys at the house,” John supplied.

“Here,” Halvo chucked his keys out John’s open driver window where John caught them, “use mine.”

John internally groaned. “Dude, I don’t know what fucking key it is! You have so much shit on your key ring.”

“Fine. I’m coming,” he groaned as he begrudgingly got out of the truck.

They walked to the front door and the entire time Halvo was going on about John and his lack of remembering to grab stuff. He unlocked the door and flipped the switch inside the door. As soon as he did, he saw the main room light up and fill with his best friends. Chaney being the one right in front of him.

His eyes lit up when he saw her, as did the rest of his face as he realized what was going on. “Chaney?! Did you…how did…wow! Thank you!” he smiled.

His friends were all cheering and wishing him happy birthday while this was going on.

He instantly grabbed Chaney and pulled her into a passionate kiss. The moment he did that, the entire room fell silent. The two noticed the change in noise and slowly opened their eyes realizing what they just did. Chaney began to internally panic.

Halvo gave her a look of reassurance before pulling her into his left side, draping his left arm across her shoulders as she wrapped both of her arms around his torso. “I uh, I guess this is the perfect time to tell you guys that uh, me and Chaney are dating!” he sheepishly chuckled.

The room erupted in laughter and congratulations.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you guys sooner. Chaney and I were just trying to find a way and when to tell you guys. We’ve been dating for what…a couple months now?” he asked, turning his head towards Chaney.

She nodded and smiled.

All of his friends then lined up to wish him a happy birthday and tell him congrats on him and Chaney.

She excused herself so she could thank John for helping her pull this off, however she couldn’t find him. She looked outside and saw his truck was gone. Perplexed, and a bit sad, she began to pull out her phone to call him when a tap on her shoulder put those thoughts away. She turns to find Alex standing behind her with a small grin.

“Alex! Oh my god! I’m so glad you could make it!” she embraced him.

“Uh, thanks sis. John invited me at the record store earlier.”

“I’ll have to thank him. God, I’ve missed you,” she mumbled into his shoulder as she hugged him tighter.

“Uh, Chaney? You’re cutting off my air supply,” he choked out.

“Oh! Sorry,” she sheepishly chuckled. “Let’s go talk to everyone else.”

Alex wrapped his arm around his sister and led her away from the door towards where Halvo was standing on the other side of the room.

The night was spent in jubilation as Halvo opened gifts from his friends and spent time with them all. It was by far one of the best birthdays he’d ever had and he was so glad to have Chaney there next to him.

The two of them stayed until the last of the party had left before cleaning up and driving back to her apartment. She drove back and led Halvo up the stairs to her apartment before unlocking the door and letting him in.

They both kicked off their shoes by the door before trekking back towards her room. Halvo instantly collapsed on her bed face first.

Chaney laughed as she stepped into her closet, keeping the door cracked to hear him, as she changed into her pj’s.

“My god I’m exhausted,” he groaned exhausted after a few minutes.

Chaney stepped out of her closet wearing one of his tshirts and a pair of her boy shorts as she climbed onto the bed to stroke his hair. “Aww, did I wear you out with this party?” she cooed as she combed through his hair.

He moved, motioning for her to sit against the headboard. She did so, and he resumed his position of lying face down on the bed, but this time, laid his head on her lap. He grabbed one of her hands and put in on his head, signifying that she should continue to play with his hair.

“Yeah, you could say you did. It was a good surprise. I genuinely thought everyone forgot,” he mumbled.

“Babe, you know I would never forget your birthday,” she assured.

He turned his head so he was now facing her and smiled. He then sat up enough so he could kiss her. “That’s true,” he mumbled against her lips before sitting up completely to continue kissing her. “Regardless, you scared me there for a bit,” he said in between kisses.

She hummed in response before replying, “What was it you said about less talking, more kissing?” she smirked as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He chuckled before laying her down, continuing to make out with his girlfriend. He didn’t care that she had seemingly forgot, or even who’s idea this party was. He was just happy to spend his birthday with those he loved.

John on the other hand didn’t think the party went over as well. As soon as he saw Halvo and Chaney lip-locked he froze. The moment Halvo said that he and Chaney had been dating, had been enough to send John over the edge. He didn’t know what came over him, but he had to leave.

As he drove back, he couldn’t get over how betrayed he felt. Halvo always told him everything. He was hurt by the fact that Halvo didn’t tell him about Chaney. By this point he didn’t know if his hurt was coming from the fact that Halvo didn’t tell him about Chaney, or he was jealous that Halvo was with Chaney. He shook that thought instantly as his feelings towards Chaney shifted as well. Chaney was just as much a part of this as Halvo was. She knew she was dating Halvo, yet she playfully flirted with him all day. Not to mention the almost kiss that they shared in her kitchen that morning.

He pulled into his driveway, slamming his door shut as he stormed into his house and into his room. He felt especially betrayed by Chaney as he poured his heart to her about Katie. Someone he never talked about. He told her why he had issues with trusting girls, and in particular her. He even told her why he had issues trusting her in the beginning. It’s as if she didn’t care. She still went under the guise that she wasn’t dating anyone. What made it worse was he was actually starting to trust girls again because of Chaney, and now he felt like he was back at square one.