...And a Happy New Year

January 5, 2014

Halvo woke up in his bed, wondering when and how he got there considering he doesn’t remember much of the night before. The last thing he remembered was trading Chaney’s drink concoction for a water before leaving her standing against the wall. He doesn’t know why, but he began to get this plunging feeling in his gut that wasn’t related to the massive hangover he currently had. He looked around his room finding it empty, much to his relief, until he wondered where Chaney was. He didn’t remember her leaving, and he prayed she didn’t try to leave on her own accord as she was too drunk to go anywhere on her own.

Still sporting the same wrinkled clothes as the night before, he got up from the bed, and stumbled over to his bathroom. He opened up the medicine cabinet behind the mirror, grabbed a couple of Aleve pills before turning on the tap and taking them. He splashed some water on his face, hoping to wake himself up more so he’d be able to assess the wreckage he was sure his house would be.

Much to his surprise, upon entering the living room, the room was fairly clean. He heard some rustling coming from the kitchen, so he made his way over there to see who else was up. Not many people stayed the night, much to his relief as well.

He padded into the kitchen and saw someone looking through his cabinets for food in attempts to make breakfast.

“Uh…can I help you find something?”

This person stood up and turned around. It was Chaney. Halvo sighed in relief that she was still here.

“I was looking for stuff to cook for breakfast. God, I have the worst hangover I’ve ever had. Why did you let me drink so much Halvo?”

“Haha Indy, you did that all on your own. I tried getting you to drink water remember?”

“Honestly, I don’t remember anything other than wanting to keep my cup full.”

Halvo chuckled. “I can believe that. From what I remember last night, you were pretty wasted, and that was before attempting to give you water. Knowing how hard-headed you are, I’m willing to bet you swapped the water for more alcohol, only making things worse.”

She nodded in agreement. “You’re probably right. It would explain the massive pounding in my head. So miserable right now. Talking and standing here is only making it worse, but I know I should eat something…”

“Hey, why don’t you crash on the couch for a bit. Try to ease your headache. I’ll find something. I think I may have some bacon or something around here and I’ll make us some. My hangover isn’t half as bad as yours seems to be, but I’m at least able to function a bit more.”

She rolled her eyes. “Maybe, but you’re still pretty hung over so I’m not sure if you using a stove is such a great idea. Wouldn’t want you to burn yourself, or worse, burn down your house…” she joked.
“Ha. Nice to see where your priorities truly lie. Worry about my house more than your best friend. I’m honestly offended. You can have dry cereal.”

Witnessing a sassy Halvo never failed to entertain Chaney. She knew he was harmless and wasn’t truly offended. She tried speaking to him, but every time she tried to speak, he would just hold up her hand and make noises to get her to stop. She began to get pissed off at how he was acting and stomped into the living room, too hung over to deal with his shit at the moment.

She was going to lie on the couch when she noticed it was occupied.

She mumbled to herself, “Can’t fucking catch a break today.” She began to walk away when she heard a familiar clearing of a throat behind her. She hesitantly turned around to face him.

“You can have the couch if you want, I uh, need to leave anyway.” John got up off the couch, pulling down his shirt from where it had ridden up in his sleep, and raked his fingers through his hair hoping to make it look at least a bit more presentable. He was about to walk past her when he stopped. “Actually, would you like me to take you home? It’s not like it’s far away .”

Chaney just nodded, not really in the mood to talk due to her hang over and still being pissed at Halvo’s sudden bitchy attitude towards her teasing. Without saying a word to Halvo that she was leaving, she put on her shoes, grabbed her purse, and walked out the door following closely behind John.

About five minutes later, Halvo sighed and was walking back towards the kitchen, addressing Chaney, not realizing she had already left. “Look Chaney, I’m really sorry about earlier. I just—” He reached the living room and noticed she wasn’t there. He went to look throughout the rest of the house to make sure that she didn’t go to sleep somewhere else. Nowhere. He made his way back to the front door and noticed her shoes and purse were gone. She left without saying goodbye. She never did that. It only happened once, and he deserved it. What she didn’t know was how much Halvo fretted over her when that happened. The last time she didn’t say goodbye to him before leaving, they were fighting. He couldn’t tell you now what it was about, only that he was genuinely in the wrong and was being a douche to her. She left, he went to tour, and she wouldn’t accept his calls. They went three months without talking, and it killed him. Every time he called, her phone always went to voicemail. He feared the worst had happened, and upon seeing her when he returned, he gave her the biggest hug he could muster and swore to her he would never do anything again that would make them not talk. Apparently some promises were meant to be broken; unintentional or not.

***

John and Chaney rode back in silence. John picked up on Chaney’s less than chatty mood and decided to leave her be. He was a bit tipsy last night, but sober enough to remember what all happened last night. He wasn’t sure if she did or not, but he couldn’t help but think of her differently. Before last night, she was this seemingly quiet girl that opened up once she felt comfortable around you. She wasn’t afraid to be snarky and would dish back whatever you dished her. She was a perfect complement to Halvo; which only made him dissect and reassess what happened last night more and more.

He wasn’t sure why, but after seeing the moves she put on Halvo during the game, he was wondering what caused this sudden boldness. He knew that she was extremely drunk, and under normal circumstances wouldn’t pull a stunt so uncharacteristic of her. However, something about the way she kept looking at him, and then started making out with Halvo didn’t set well with him and he couldn’t place why. He knew it wasn’t because he liked her, because he barely knew the girl. Besides, he’d had his eye on another girl anyway. So he knew jealousy definitely wasn’t something to consider.
Somehow the stunt she pulled last night enraged him. He felt bad for Halvo. Something about the way it happened seemed to much like she’d been stringing him along for years because they’re such great ‘friends’ and because of that, she would manipulate the poor boy to be at her beck and call. It was as if she had him on a tight leash and was determined to make sure he behaved and responded to her just as she wanted him to. After all the shit he had been in and how much Halvo helped through it all, he was feeling very protective of his best friend, and was half-tempted to pull the car over and make her walk the rest of the way. However his up-bringing overtook his emotions and he reluctantly chose to drive her back home and not make her walk back on her own still slightly inebriated from the night before.

Shortly, they arrived to their neighborhood and John pulled in his driveway. He at least drove her home against his better wishes. She could fucking walk to her own damn house if she wanted. He was doing everything in his power to not lose his cool. He turned off the truck and just sat there, breathing a bit laboriously as he worked to calm himself down. Both of his hands were still clutched around the steering wheel until his knuckles were white. He almost forgot she was still in the car until he heard her stupid quiet voice interrupt his rage.

“Hey John. Thanks for the ride. Hopefully we can—”

He cut her off. “Save it. I drove you home so…go.”

Surprised by his sudden anger towards her, she really wondered what exactly did happen the night before.

Chaney slowly got out of the truck and shut the door. Before walking across the street to her house, she looked back through the passenger window to see John still sitting there, upset about who knows what. Confused, she shrugged it off and made her way back home.

She walked inside, luckily to find both of her parents gone for the day. God she was looking forward to the day when she had enough saved up to live on her own. She sighed in relief upon noticing that she had the house to herself. She slumped her way upstairs and into her bathroom. She turned on the shower as she went on the hunt to find some Aleve to help aid her hang over. She took the pills then went to clean up before deciding it best to just sleep it off. What she didn’t realize, due to being so hung over, was that she had left her phone on silent, with a dying battery, and missed the many voicemails and text messages that Halvo had been desperately leaving for her trying to make sure she was okay.