...And a Happy New Year

June 23, 2014

The guys were all sitting beach-side somewhere along the coast of California enjoying the warm, breezy weather of the west coast. It was just over a week into Warped Tour and thus far it had been nothing short of amazing. They traveled through most of the southwest by this point and were gradually making their way up the west coast. John had been successfully ignoring all calls and texts on his phone. However, by this point on tour, the rest of the guys were getting sick of getting phone bombed by Chaney.

“Dude, you should really answer your phone. Chaney has moved onto calling and texting us asking to talk to you,” Jared complained.

John just groaned and rolled his eyes. “I don’t really feel like talking to her right now.”

“Well then tell her that because as much as I love the girl, she’s getting on my nerves. I hear more from her than I do Tessa. Fix this.” Jared then got up from his seat on the sand and made his way over to the ocean to join everyone else messing around in the water.

John sighed and picked up his phone. He slid his finger across the screen to unlock it and looked at his missed calls and unopened text messages. Over 100 of each. With much reluctance, he cleared out the missed calls and checked his text messages. They all more or less read the same way; asking for him to contact her, asking what she did wrong, and apologizing for it. He was tired of reading her half-hearted attempts at an apology, but decided to at least tell her off gently. Maybe then she would take the hint that he didn’t want to be bothered since apparently ignoring her calls and texts wasn’t working.

He sat up and rested his left arm atop his bent knees as he hunched over, resting his weight on his legs. He dialed her number and waited for her to answer, hoping she wasn’t busy with work.

Chaney was sitting at her desk working on filing some paperwork when she heard her phone go off. She was apt to ignore it because she was in a zone filing paperwork. However when she caught a glance at who was calling her, she immediately dropped what she was working on and scrambled to answer the call.

“John?! Is that you?”

He scoffed, “No, it’s Elvis.”

She laughed lightly, “Um, thanks for calling me back…”

“Yeah, well my bandmates were getting tired of being phone bombed by you. Red told me to take care of it, so here we are.”

“Oh…” she trailed off. She hadn’t meant to annoy everyone with it, but she missed her friend and she didn’t understand why he was ignoring her. “I’m sorry for that by the way.”

“What would that be?”

“Annoying the rest of the guys…I was just trying to get a hold of you since you weren’t answering my calls or texts.”

John rolled his eyes. “Ever think there was a reason for that?”

Chaney was taken aback by his attitude towards her. “Hey now, I’ve tried apologizing. This is the second time you’ve pulled this shit with me John and I’m sick of it. I’ve never been anything but nice to you.”

“Yeah, a little too nice…” he muttered to himself.

“What was that?” Chaney demanded. Her anger was rising the longer she talked to him. She couldn’t believe he was mad at her. She had more reason to be upset with him for the way he had been treating her, yet here she was trying to make amends.

“Nothing. Just, what do you want? I’m just trying to get you off the guys’ backs.”

“Look John, I just missed spending time and talking with one of my friends and I wanted to make sure he was alright. I’m sorry I’m being so annoying but you’re driving me insane! One minute we’re best friends and the next you completely ignore me! What’s up with that? You haven’t talked to me since Halvo’s party.”

He sighed. “I just want to know why you never told me,” he mumbled.

“Told you what? John, you won’t talk to me so how am I supposed to know what’s bothering you?”

“That you’re dating Halvo! God, I thought something like that would’ve come up or, hell, I don’t know, maybe you would’ve trusted me enough to tell me!”

“You weren’t the only one we didn’t tell…” she mumbled.

“I mean, I just don’t understand why it was such a big secret!” he yelled. “It would’ve saved me a lot of trouble,” he mumbled.

“What?” Chaney replied softly. Surely she hadn’t heard him correctly.

“Nothing, just, answer me this; if I’m so exasperating, why do you care so much if I don’t talk to you? Most people would just leave it be by this point.”

Chaney’s cheeks flushed as she thought of the real reason she hadn’t given up on him yet. However she refused to admit it to anyone as she was still trying to deny it herself. She thought for a moment before taking a breath to compose herself before providing an answer. “Is it so bad that I want to get along with Halvo’s friends?” she whispered.

John’s heart sank a bit. He felt bad about how he had lashed out at her, but it was his pride and stubbornness that kept him from apologizing first. However it didn’t stop the hurt he felt over how Chaney treated him like Katie did even after he told her one of his deepest secrets.

“Besides,” she continued, her voice barely audible, “it’s not like it’s exactly rainbows and butterflies with me and Halvo right now anyway.”

John resisted the urge to continue the lyric from She Will Be Loved as he thought of how to respond. Halvo seemed fine on tour thus far. A bit distracted and sick from having a cold perhaps, but otherwise seemed to be his normal self. “What do you mean? I thought things were fine with you two…” he mused.

“Well, they would be if he actually answered any of my calls. Jared, Pat, Garrett, and Kennedy were the only ones to actually answer my calls anymore. I haven’t talked to Halvo since before you guys left. He didn’t even tell me bye when you left. I found out through Twitter and Instagram that you guys were gone.”

John was shocked by what she told him. He couldn’t believe that Halvo of all people didn’t even tell her they were leaving. Surely she had to have known that he was joining them on Warped. “You did know he was coming on Warped right?”

She sighed, “Yeah, he at least told me that…about two weeks before you left.”

John sat there shocked as he looked out at the ocean vista in front him; his best friends all cooling off in the water. The boy in question out there having the time of his life. “I just…that’s not like him at all.”

“I know. For someone who’s so obsessed with saying goodbye to people, you would think he would’ve at least said goodbye to his girlfriend before he left.”

John still cringed at the word. It’s not that he didn’t think the pair were compatible, but something about them just seemed…off. Hearing all of this from Chaney had him concerned for the future of their relationship. “Do you want me to put him on the phone? He’s out in the ocean messin’ around with the guys…”

Her heart lurched at the thought of talking to Halvo, however she sighed and shook her head. “No, that’s alright. He’ll call me when he wants to talk to me. It just sucks because I feel like he’s keeping something from me. I’m not sure what, but he’d been avoiding me long before you left.”

“Seriously?” John asked incredulously. He found it odd as Halvo kept cancelling plans with him to hang out with Chaney, or so he said.

“Yeah, he kept telling me he had plans with you guys, but whenever I called any of them, they all said he wasn’t there. I’m worried about him John. He won’t talk to me,” she sniffled. She couldn’t cry, not now. She was still at work and she was talking to John of all people. She refused to cry in front of John; even if it was only on the phone.

“I’ll talk to him, see if I can find out what’s going on alright? Don’t worry about it.”

She nodded, even though John couldn’t see.

“And uh, don’t hesitate to call me if you need to talk. I’ll answer the phone this time,” he chuckled lightly, hoping to brighten the mood a bit.

She smiled a little at his attempts at cheering her up. “Uh, thanks John. I appreciate it.”

“No problem. I’ll try to have the boy talking to you soon enough alright?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Alright, well darlin’ I’ve gotta go. I think the guys are about ready for lunch so I’ll talk to you later alright? Just…call me or text me if something happens or if you need anything.”

“I will, thanks John.”

John then hung up his phone with a sigh. This was definitely not how he planned on that conversation going. He had fully intended on just shutting her down and trying to get her to stop calling him. However situations change, and now he was practically demanding her to call him. A far cry from his initial plans. He looked out at the ocean and saw Halvo with the biggest smile on his face, and for the first time in his life, John wanted to do nothing more than slap it off. Chaney didn’t deserve to be treated like she had been by Halvo and John wanted to take care of it. Halvo was his best friend so he knew it was his place to call Halvo out.

John got up from his spot on the beach, dusting the sand off the back of his shorts as he stood. He ran his fingers through his hair, pushing his long blonde hair out of his face as he thought about how best to approach the subject. Fate seemed to look kindly on him as Halvo caught his eye and made his way out of the water towards him.

Halvo made his way over to where John was, grabbing his towel from the pile on the ground. He draped it around his shoulders as he attempted to dry his hair and face off. “Hey man, what’s up? Saw you talkin’ on the phone. Who was it?”

John was trying his best to keep his composure. “Oh ya know, just talking to your girlfriend,” he seethed.

“Why the hell was Chaney talking to you?!” he asked incredulously.

“Hmm, I don’t know Sherlock. Maybe because her boyfriend refuses to answer her calls,” he accused.

“Yeah, because you’re one to talk about ignoring calls,” Halvo challenged.

“Whatever dude, I had my reasons.”

“Yeah, and so do I.”

“Dude, what’s going on with you? You’ve never been this distant from Chaney.”

“Nothing man, just leave it be,” Halvo scoffed as he threw his towel back onto the sand.

“You know you can tell me anything right?” John mumbled.

“Yeah well, things change,” Halvo spat before retreating over to the small bar located on the beach.

John stood there speechless as he saw his best friend practically denounce their friendship.

As Halvo stormed off, the thoughts he had been trying to repress were only intensified now. He felt like an ass, but he had to be. He grabbed a seat at the bar and ordered a bottle of beer and a couple shots of whiskey as he attempted to erase from his mind the heart-wrenching phone call he received the week before.

Halvo had been sitting outside, enjoying their off day in-between Dallas and Alberqurque. The guys were off playing cornhole, or in the case of John, sitting under the shade of a giant tree, reading. Halvo was sitting away from the rest of them, just soaking in the day when his phone began ringing. He saw Stephanie calling and it brought a small smile to his face as he answered. “Hey girl, how are you?”

His mood instantly dropped the moment he heard her sobbing from the other end of the line. “Steph? What’s going on? Are you okay? What happened?”

She tried taking a few deep breaths to calm her breathing as she attempted to relay her news. “I um…got a call back from the doctor’s today…” she began.

Halvo had an idea that what he was about to hear wouldn’t be the happiest of news. “What’s wrong?...”

“Well, my injuries are minor thankfully. Just a few bruised ribs. No major internal damage…” she conveyed.

“That’s good. But I don’t see the problem. What else aren’t you telling me?”

She took a deep breath as she tried to contain her sobs. He heard Vito in the background attempting to calm her down and coax her into telling Halvo. She finally composed herself. “My blood results came back. The fucking bastard got me pregnant.”

Halvo’s heart sank. He knew what this meant. He struggled to formulate the words to say. He knew what he wanted to ask, but was apprehensive to do so. “Are you going to…?”

She sighed, “I don’t know yet. I still have time to decide. Eric, I don’t know what to do.”

“I can come back if I need to, just tell me what I need to do to help you and I’ll do it.”

“No, don’t come home. Vito’s taking good care of me. Just…,” she sighed, “just continue to be there for me and support me no matter what decision I make. Can you promise me that?”

Halvo struggled to find his voice, but he replied, “Yeah, uh, of course. Whatever you need. What can I do?”

“Nothing right now. Vito’s helping me out right now . For the time being it’s just a waiting game. I’ve still got a few weeks to make a decision on what I want to do, so that’s what I’ll be doing over the next few weeks.”

“Ok…just let me know if I can do anything.”

“I will,” she sighed. “And please don’t tell anyone. I know I’m already asking so much of you from keeping my presence a secret, letting me stay here, finding someone to take care of me while you’re on tour, but this…this is humiliating. I never wanted children…at least by that bastard that I unfortunately call my husband. However, now that it’s happened I’m stuck. I wanted kids eventually, but not like this. I always looked forward to having my first child, but now their memory will be tainted by the monster that helped create it. I don’t know if I can deal with that—”

“Hey Steph, shh,” he cooed, “slow down. Like you said, you have some time to figure it out. Don’t make any snap decisions right now okay?”

“Okay,” she breathed.

Halvo sighed, “Get Vito to get you some ice cream and you can binge watch as much Netflix as you want okay? I’ll even let you watch Game of Thrones without me,” he chuckled.

“But that’s our thing…”

“Yeah, but if you need a distraction, I’ll bequeath my role to him. Like you said, he’s taking good care of you. I’m a phone call or text away.”

“You’re right. Thanks Eric.”

Halvo hung up his phone and dropped it on the ground beside him. He looked around at the land around him and observed how happy and carefree the rest of the guys seemed to be. This is exactly the kinds of experiences Stephanie should be having; not worrying about the fact her polygamist husband raped her and impregnated her. She should be out enjoying life with those who loved her, rather than hiding from those she fears.

His world seemed to stop in that moment and he felt like he had to really become an adult for the first time in his life. It’s not that he didn’t have responsibility before, but if Stephanie chose to keep her child, he would help her out however he could. If that meant he offered his room to Stephanie and her child while he bunked on the couch, he would do that. He would help her raise that child and show it the love it’s father would never show.

Halvo gulped the last bit of his beer as he slammed it down on the bar. He rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand before massaging his temples. The stress he was feeling over Stephanie’s well-being was starting to get to him. She hadn’t contacted him since that dreaded phone call a week ago. He knew she was in good hands with Vito, but it didn’t mean he still didn’t worry about her.

He looked over at his stuff sitting on the beach and contemplated whether he should grab his phone and call her. He shook it off and downed his two shots of whiskey before ordering a couple more. He would need to be nice and numb if he were to make it through the rest of tour.