...And a Happy New Year

June 9, 2014

“Ugh, turn off the alarm,” Halvo groaned as he draped his arm over his eyes.

“No way, you’re closer. It’s your phone,” Stephanie muttered.

“God my back hurts,” he complained as he sat up from his slouched position on the couch. He rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his blurred vision.

“Not my fault you chose to sleep on the couch,” Stephanie mumbled, her face buried in one of the throw pillows. She was curled up in the big, reclining armchair adjacent to the couch.

With a grunt, Halvo got up and walked the short distance across the room to where his phone was plugged in. He turned off his alarm and moseyed back to the couch before plopping back onto it face first, mumbling something into the couch cushion.

“Sorry what was that? I don’t speak mumble,” Stephanie groggily chuckled as she readjusted. She moved to where she was now facing the couch where Halvo was currently lying face down.

He lifted his head up, propping his chin on his crossed arms. “I said that it’s too early to be up.”

She laughed, “Well, you’re the one that set the alarm…”

“Yeah, because someone has a doctor’s appointment this morning,” he challenged sternly.

She dropped eye contact, staring at the floor. She clutched her pillow tightly as she curled more into the giant chair, wincing in pain as she did so.

“Hey, you know I’m only doing this to make sure you’re okay, right? I’m not trying to force you into something you’re not ready for, but you need to be checked out by a professional. I may have taken CPR classes, but that was back in high school so my first aid skills aren’t exactly up to par,” he chuckled, hoping to lighten the mood somewhat.

She meekly nodded, still keeping her eyes glued to the ground as her hands fumbled over the cloth of the throw pillow.

It broke his heart to see her so battered and broken. This was something so much bigger than himself and he had no idea what on earth to do. His gut told him they needed to take it to the police, but she was too reluctant to take any immediate actions. He really worried about her, especially since he left in a couple of days. He had to think quickly if she was going to stay safe while he was gone. He didn’t trust her husband whatsoever.

His stomach churned as he recalled the horrific story Stephanie had told him the day before last. How a man could be so cruel and disgusting absolutely baffled him.

Halvo laid there studying the various bruises and scratches adorning Stephanie’s face and arms. He shuddered to think of what other injuries were hidden beneath her shirt and shorts.

With a sigh he continued, “Look, I know this has got to be difficult. Hell, I have no idea what you’re going through, but you do need to talk to someone about it. I know you’re not ready now, but this guy needs to be locked up. You need to talk to someone else about this besides me. Someone who can do more to help you than I can.”

“I know,” she sighed. “I will talk to someone eventually, but for now I can’t. I’m still too shaken up. You were the first person I thought of to call. I knew you would be able to help and wouldn’t judge me for what happened.”

“Why would I, or anyone else for that matter, have judged you? That guy is an asshole and had no right to treat you or anyone else that way,” he demanded. His voice was starting to slightly raise in volume due to getting worked up over how much he hated this guy. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. “I’m just saying, maybe I’m not the only one that should know about this right now.”

“I just don’t want people to see me for the weak person I am,” she mumbled barely audible, as her eyes became glossy.

Halvo quickly got up and rushed over to where she was at and brought her in for a hug. She clung tightly to him and cried into his shirt. He held onto her as tightly as he could, bracing his head on top of hers, and gently rubbing soothing circles across her shoulder blades.

Once her tears had calmed down some, he moved his head to where his lips were right by her ears. “Just so you know, you’re not weak. At all. Going through what all you have…especially by yourself; you’re one of the strongest and bravest people I know. It took a lot of courage to even try to escape your situation and try to do something like that. Don’t you ever think of yourself as weak alright?” he whispered.

She nodded against him and continued to cling to him. She eventually moved so he could sit on the chair, she sat on the arm, her legs draped over his lap as he continued to comfort her. She knew she had to talk to someone about this, but she was so humiliated. For the time being she only wanted Halvo to know about this. She knew she could trust him.

He continued to hold her, rocking her gently as he attempted to soothe her. Her tears had finally subsided and he knew that he would eventually have to get her mind off of her current situation.

“So…Chaney has a new roommate,” he started.

Stephanie quickly perked up, shocked to hear the news. “Is it John?!” she asked with slight excitement in her voice.

Halvo laughed and shook his head, looking at her incredulously. “No, it’s not John,” he said with a chuckle. “Why would he bunk with her?”

Her face blushed a bit as she thought back to the promise she made to herself months ago to help Chaney get with John. Apparently they weren’t on good terms if Halvo found the concept hilarious. “I mean, I knew he still lived at home and she had an extra room…” she trailed off. “It didn’t seem that far-fetched,” she mumbled.

He laughed heartily, “No, but uh, there’s no reason for John to live with her. She has another man in her life now.”

This sparked even more interest in Stephanie. “Another man? My god Halvo, have you finally been replaced?” she jested. Deep down she was hoping so because she was still as determined as ever to get Chaney off of her ‘Halvo-kick’ and into John’s arms.

“Uh…sorta,” he laughed. “This particular man won’t make a move on her. I don’t have to worry about decking him…yet,” he joked.

“Ok, so her new roommate is gay…” she guesed.

“No!” he chortled. “It’s her brother, Alex.”

“Woah, wait. You got her brother to live with her? The one that has had some unknown grudge against her forever?”

“The same one,” he smiled proudly.

“How the hell did you manage that one?”

“Lots of talking, and even more booze,” he laughed.

This caused a smile to grace her lips as a small laugh escape. “Thanks Halvorsen,” she said as she took his left hand that was resting lightly across her lap to keep her falling, and played a bit with his fingers.

“For what?” he smiled, looking down to where their fingers were slightly intertwined.

“For helping me. For being there when I couldn’t trust anyone else. For helping me to forget,” she smiled softly.

He looked at her, seeing her slightly glossy eyes and smiled. His phone alarm went off again and he picked it up. “Well, we need to head out. Your appointment is in twenty minutes. We gotta head out. I’ll take you to breakfast after. I may even see if I can get you a lollipop for being such a trooper,” he teased with a wink as he got up.

She playfully shoved him, “You’re such a dork Eric.”

He just beamed as he made his way to his room to quickly change.

Stephanie sat back down in the armchair, miffed as to how she was going to handle this appointment. She knew she was still pretty cut up and bruised, but she didn’t want to show her face in public. She pulled out her phone and turned it on as she waited for Halvo to reappear. Once turned on, her phone kept vibrating with several notifications; most of them being missed calls and texts from Mr. Rickford. She read through them and saw that he was worried about her whereabouts as he hadn’t seen her since she went to sleep Friday night. She quick shot him a text telling him she was back at Halvo’s for the time being and she would be back soon. She sighed, dropping her head into her hands.

“Ready to go?” he tentatively asked as he came back into the living room.

She looked up from her hands and gently nodded. “Might as well get this over with.” Despite the heat outside, she shrugged on a hoodie, pulling the hood over her head. She then took her hair and draped across both of her shoulders to aid in shielding her face from the world. She tugged on the sleeves of her sweatshirt, feeling small and utterly scared.

Sensing her apprehension, Halvo walked over to her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. He pressed a gentle kiss to her temple as he lead her out of his apartment.

The entire drive to the doctor’s office was silent. Stephanie couldn’t help but fidget and bounce her leg in nervousness. She wasn’t quite sure what she was so afraid of; she could hopefully request that her husband not be contacted. Granted, the hospital bill would be sent home, therefore he would see it and know that she went to get checked out. Being married to her, he could possibly find out who took her and find out where to find her. That’s what worried Stephanie the most; Steven finding and hurting her friends that have worked so hard to protect her.

Halvo drove, looking over towards Stephanie every couple of minutes. He wasn’t sure how to comfort her other than letting her know that she wasn’t in this alone.

He pulled into the small clinic across town and he turned off the car, anticipating her to get out of the car. Stephanie didn’t budge. She continued to sit there staring blankly out the front windshield. He called her name softly a couple of times, but she didn’t even flinch. He moved to gently place a hand on her shoulder to gently squeeze it in hopes of getting her attention. The moment his hand touched her shoulder, she tensed up and backed away from him, crouching towards the passenger door. Once she saw it was Halvo, she let out a sigh of relief, blushing slightly, as she moved to get out of the car.

Seeing the sheer terror in her eyes when he moved to get her attention, clued him into just how bad her situation was. He knew it was rough before, but seeing her flinch at the simplest touch made him even more scared for her.

He followed behind her into the clinic and took a seat in one of the chairs in the waiting room while Stephanie checked in at the front desk. She came back a couple minutes later with a clipboard and some paperwork to fill out.

“Eric?” she mused.

“Hmm?” he hummed as he flipped through one of the magazines that was lying on the table in front of them.

“Would uh, would it be alright if I put you down for my emergency contact? And your address as my home address?” she meekly asked.

He turned his attention from his magazine to the girl sitting next to him.

“I mean, if that’s not okay with you that’s fine, I was just wondering…I mean, I guess I can’t put my address as yours anyway because of insurance and all of that. I just don’t want my husband to find out and—”

“Stephanie, look at me. It’s okay,” he replied gently. “I don’t mind being your emergency contact and my house is your house as long as you need it to be. As for the insurance stuff, put your normal address down, and when you go in to see the doctor and hopefully explain your situation, they’ll send your bill elsewhere. You can put my apartment phone down as your house phone if you’d like.”

A small smile began to grace her lips as her eyes became glossy once again that morning. She leaned over and gave Halvo the biggest hug she could muster, given the amount of pain she was in.

He smiled, bringing her to him as he embraced her. “Now finish filling out those forms. Your name will probably be called soon.

She nodded and continued to fill out her forms. She no more finished when a nurse stood at the door on the other side of the waiting room, “Stephanie Wicker?”

Stephanie moved to get up.

Halvo looked at her questioningly.

With a small smile she said, “It’s my maiden name.”

He smiled in understanding. “I’ll be right here when you get done.”

She bit her lip nervously and nodded as she made her way towards the nurse. She got halfway there, and motioned for the nurse to hold on a moment. Stephanie turned back towards Halvo and walked back over to him. “Um, Eric? Would you mind coming back there with me? Right now I just need someone for support and I don’t want to go through this alone.”

“Of course. For the record, you’ll never go through this alone. I’ll be here every step of the way.”

She smiled as he got up to follow her to the examination rooms.

The nurse held the door open for the two, looking at Stephanie with pity before looking at Halvo with skepticism and disapproval. She took Stephanie’s vital signs before walking out of the examination room, the whole time side-eyeing Halvo.

Once she left the room and closed the door, Stephanie let out a breath of relief. “Was it just me or did that nurse seem to hate you?”

He laughed lightly, “Eh, I didn’t notice. It’s not uncommon though. She’s probably mad that I can’t breathe out of my nose and am spreading germs throughout her sterile rooms.” He was willing to make fun of one of his biggest insecurities if it helped keep her mind off of why she was here. He could tell how nervous she was and wanted to do whatever he could to help alleviate her anxiety.

It seemed to work because a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

The two sat in silence for a couple minutes before the doctor came in to examine Stephanie further. “Hello Ms. Wicker, my name is Dr. Harris and I’ll be examining you today. What seems to be the problem?” she asked as he entered the room looking at her clipboard. The second she looked up and took in Stephanie’s appearance, her entire demeanor dropped. She instantly looked towards Halvo somewhat scoldingly, before turning back to Stephanie. She instantly moved her stool closer to the examination table that Stephanie was sitting on before asking more questions.

With a shaky breath, Stephanie looked towards Halvo for support, to which he nodded encouragingly, placing a hand on her knee and giving it a gentle squeeze. She closed her eyes and turned towards the doctor and began to explain what had happened a couple days prior.

Halvo kept his hand comfortingly on her knee and Stephanie quickly moved her hand to his, grasping it with all her strength. She needed that physical reminder that she wasn’t in here alone. She needed to remember that Halvo was still in there with her as she recounted her nightmare that happened so recently.

Dr. Harris took notes on Stephanie’s charts, marking down symptoms as she tried to not cry at what she was hearing from Stephanie. Once Stephanie finished telling her what had happened and explaining where she was in pain, Dr. Harris looked quickly over at Halvo before turning back to Stephanie. “Now Ms. Wicker, I hate to ask this, but is he—” she motioned to Halvo.

“Oh! No. This is Eric. He’s my confident right now. He’s currently helping me hideout and supporting me through this. If at all possible, can you um, send my results, phone calls, and bills to his address? I don’t want my husband to find out that I came here and—”

“Of course dear. We can do that. We just need you to fill out a couple forms releasing your information to him so he can answer for you if you’re not available.” Dr. Harris then looked to Halvo with sympathy and a bit of guilt on her face. “Sir, I want to apologize to you for automatically assuming you had something to do with this. I just have to take precautions.”

“I understand. It’s fine. I’m just glad she’s able to get help.”

Dr. Harris nodded, happy that he accepted her apology. “Well Ms. Wicker, I need to examine your bruises and scratches, take a few X-rays to make sure there isn’t any internal damage, and take some blood samples just in case.”

Stephanie nodded, her stomach churning at the thought of what could potentially show up in the blood results. She continued her white-knuckle grip on Halvo’s hand as Dr. Harris talked with Stephanie about what steps she needed to take next before she began to examine her.

Halvo turned his back so Dr. Harris could fully examine Stephanie and he wouldn’t be infringing on her privacy. Stephanie still wanted him in the room for support, but he turned so Dr. Harris could more thoroughly examine Stephanie’s injuries.

Dr. Harris noted where Stephanie’s bruises were and went to take her to the X-ray room to take a look at her ribs. She told Stephanie to change into the gown, removing all forms of metal that she could potentially be wearing. Halvo left the room then, allowing her to change, before following them to the X-ray room. Halvo stood over by Dr. Harris as she ran the machine. He watched as Stephanie was positioned on the X-ray table and covered with various covers so only certain parts of her were exposed to the X-ray. Stephanie winced in pain as she was forced to lay in an awkward position on the table to get a certain angle on her ribs where she had been kicked.

After her X-rays, she was taken back to the examination room to change back into her normal clothes before going to the lab to get her blood work done. She sat in the chair, Halvo standing to her left holding her hand, while Dr. Harris stood on her right, looking for Stephanie’s vein so she could take some samples of her blood. Stephanie tightly grasped Halvo’s hand again when the needle punctured her skin and she turned to look at him while the blood was filling the small vials. The sight of her own blood only made her sick to her stomach.

Once Dr. Harris finished taking her blood samples, she bandaged up Stephanie’s arm and told her that she would call her within a week to tell her results. She nodded meekly and got up. Dr. Harris tried to offer her a reassuring smile.

Right before they left, Halvo asked if he could get a sucker for Stephanie since she was such a tropper. Dr. Harris laughed, and gave Halvo a grape sucker.

“See, that wasn’t so bad was it?” Halvo said as he stuck the grape candy back in his mouth as they exited the office.

Stephanie smirked, “Gee, hard to say. You’re the one that got the candy when I was the one being treated.”

“Hey, it was scary for me too ya know,” he mumbled.

She laughed as she ruffled his hair. “You’re one of a kind Halvorsen. Besides, I thought that candy was for me…” she challenged with a smirk.

He side-eyed her, before reluctantly taking the sucker from his mouth. He held it out to her and said, “Well, I’m sorry I took your candy. Here, have my sucker.”

She laughed, “God, I don’t want your germs! You’ve already put that in your mouth and I have no idea where your mouth has been,” she jested.

He rolled his eyes, “God you can be such a girl. It’s not like I have cooties.”

She laughed, “I know, but I don’t want to eat your sucker after you! That’s gross!”

With a dramatic sigh he said, “Fine. I’ll just eat it then. But don’t complain to me when you want my sucker,” he teased with a wink.

She laughed as she wrapped her arms around his free arm as they continued the walk to his car.

They sat inside and Halvo hesitated to turn the car on. He turned towards Stephanie. “Look, all joking aside, I’m really proud of you. You did great today.

She smiled and nodded. “Thanks Eric. That means a lot. Thanks for coming with me.”

He smiled as he put on his seatbelt and turned on the car. “Let’s grab some food.”

***

They arrived back his apartment a couple hours later after a leisurely lunch and both collapsed on his sofa.

“Man I’m exhausted,” she sighed. “I had no idea today would wear me out so much. It was a simple doctor’s appointment…” she mused.

“Maybe, but it was emotionally exhausting. That takes a lot out of you. You go rest. I’m gonna call John.”

“Eric, why don’t you just go see him? I’ll be fine here. Honest. I’m probably just going to sleep and watch Netflix so go see him. I know you haven’t seen him since your birthday. It’s fine.”

He smiled and leaned down to give her a small kiss on her temple. “Alright. I’ll be back in a couple hours. If you need anything don’t hesitate to call my cell and I’ll be back as soon as humanly possible.”

She laughed as she pushed him off the couch, “Seriously, get out of here. Stop worrying about me right now. Go see your friend. I insist.”

He ruffled her hair and got up to lock the door behind him. He got back into his car, which was luckily still cool from recently being turned off, and drove across town towards John’s house. He hoped to find him there, though he knew it would only be one of two places he would be. He pulled up to the O’Callaghan residence and didn’t find his truck in the driveway or on the street. He then drove to the other place he knew John would be; the 8123 offices. He made his way a few miles down the road to the offices and found his truck sitting in the driveway along with Garrett’s and Pat’s cars. He wasn’t anticipating any of the other guys there, but he didn’t mind, he would just need to talk to John away from everyone else.

He parked his white Accord in front of the 8123 house and made his way inside, greeting Tim and Peter as he entered.

“The guys are in the studio if you’re lookin’ for them,” Tim said.

Halvo nodded and made his way to the studio. He was glad they put the window in the door to the studio because he could tell who was in there. He saw Pat and Garrett sitting around the mixing board and laptop working on something. He looked through the door and didn’t see John siting on the couch so he figured he would look for him around the house. He made his way to the kitchen, finding it empty, before hearing movement in the backyard. Curious, he made his way over to the door and looked out, finding John sitting on the back patio, nursing a bottle of Miller High Life. He made his way onto the back patio.

John turned as he heard the back door open and nodded his head, tipping the end of his bottle towards Halvo as he came outside. Halvo took a seat next to his friend in the lounge chairs.

“To what do I owe this pleasure Halvo?” John said nonchalantly as he sipped on his drink.

“Uh, not much really. I just haven’t seen ya since my birthday…thought we could hang out…catch up. The usual.”

John turned his head slightly with eyebrow quirked as he chuckled and took another sip of his drink. “Dude, you act like we haven’t talked in weeks. It’s only been a few days. Not to mention we’re about to spend the next two months on the road together. What’s this all about?”

“Well, quite frankly it’s about Chaney.”

John instantly groaned and moved to get up from his seat and head inside.

Confused, Halvo got up to follow his friend inside.

John set his bottle down on the kitchen island before moving to the fridge to grab stuff to make a sandwich.

“John, dude, what’s up with you?”

“Psh, me? Nothing. It’s you I should be asking that to.”

“What are you talking about man? I’m fine. Why are you being so weird right now?”

He sighed, “I just can’t believe you didn’t tell me about you and Chaney.” He continued to get the meat and cheese from the fridge as he got the loaf of bread out of the cabinet and began making a sandwich.

Halvo rolled his eyes, “My god, is that why you’ve had such a stick up your butt the last few days? Because I didn’t tell you or anyone else about me and Chaney? Seriously dude? Grow a pair,” he scoffed.

John looked over his shoulder and glared at Halvo who was casually leaning against the island behind him. John just shook his head and continued making his sandwich.

When Halvo realized that John was genuinely hurt by this, he realized he needed to fix this. “Look John, had I known you were going to be this upset about it, I would’ve said something. I just…Chaney and I decided we weren’t going to say anything to anyone yet.”

“Why not?” John scoffed.

“I don’t know! She was the one that initially didn’t want to say anything! Just trying to keep the peace man.”

John nodded. Now that he knew who to really direct his frustrations towards, he let up the cold shoulder towards Halvo.

Halvo saw his silence and decided to investigate it further. “John…” he tentatively asked.

“Hmmm?” he hummed in reply.

“Do you uh, do you like Chaney?” he reluctantly asked. He had no idea what he would do if John did. He knew he was Chaney’s ‘dream guy’ and had been for years. He knew if she were to find out he had feeling for her, she would dump him in an instant.

“What? No! Of-of course not! Why would you say that?” John quickly defended.

Halvo sighed in relief. “No reason, just…wanting to make sure.”

John just nodded.

Halvo didn’t completely buy John’s answer, but he wasn’t going to push it. He knew to leave John be when he got a bit moody. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, he was best left alone until he got over whatever funk he was in.

John refused to say anything to Halvo about whatever feelings he had towards Chaney. He himself didn’t even know. Right now, he most prominently felt disappointment towards Chaney in how she knowingly flirted with him while dating his best friend. That was a shady move and he wanted to call her out on it. However, he wasn’t going to tell Halvo about it. Halvo seemed genuinely happy for the first time in years since he had been dating Chaney. He was afraid of ruining that by telling him what happened. He figured he would just approach Chaney about it and leave Halvo out of it. What harm could it do if the two of them worked it out without getting his best friend involved? So he let it be.

With a feeling of accomplishment, Halvo spoke up. “So, are we good man?”

John turned and smiled a bit, “Yeah dude, we’re good.”

Halvo gave him a slap on the shoulder before making his way out. “See ya in a few days dude. Gonna be a kick-ass summer!”

John laughed, “Yeah man, see ya soon.”

Halvo felt a huge wave of relief as he got back in his car. He felt like he could rest easy now that he knew his friendship with John was no longer in jeopardy. He just hoped John wasn’t being as cold to her as he had been towards him. He drove back home and made his way into his apartment, finding Stephanie slumped on the couch flipping through Netflix.

She looked down at her phone. “You weren’t gone that long. Hope you didn’t leave on account of me…” she trailed off.

“Nah, we just had a couple things to talk about and it was resolved. It’s all good.”

She nodded.

He collapsed on the couch beside her with a sigh. “Look, we need to discuss something. You know I don’t mind you staying here as long as you need to, however, I leave Thursday with the guys to head out on Warped Tour for the next couple months. You can still stay here, but I don’t want you here alone. I want to bring someone else here that can potentially protect you in case something happens while I’m gone. Let me bring Alex over here.”

She instantly turned towards him with wide eyes. “No. Please don’t bring Alex over here. I’ve already got you involved and keeping this from Chaney. Don’t go taking her brother, the guy she just got back in her life, involved in this. If they’re truly repairing their relationship, I don’t want to hurt it by bringing him into this and keeping this from her.”

He nodded in understanding. “Ok, but you know she needs to find out eventually right?”

“Yeah…but not now. She can’t know now. Not until we get Steven taken care of.”

“Ok. Well, would you be alright with one of my guy friends coming over and staying? One of my good friends Vito is staying behind this tour and he’s a good dude.”

She smiled. “I trust your judgement. If you think he could help, then by all means call him. Just make sure he knows to keep this all underwraps.”

“I will. And you, don’t you hesitate to call me if something happens. I’ll find a flight and come back as soon as possible if need be.”

She smiled. “I promise.”