...And a Happy New Year

July 4, 2014

The entire bus groaned as the alarm sounded throughout the bus. It was yet another early morning to partner with the late night from the day before. It wasn’t even 7am and yet they saw the empty lot they were to play on waiting to be set up. As much as they enjoyed playing festivals like Warped Tour, there was a lot of set up and take down that made for extremely long days.

Halvo had all but isolated himself from the rest of the guys. The news of Stephanie’s condition had him internally battling how to handle the situation. He so desperately wanted to talk to one of the guys about it and seek their opinion. Vito was currently the only other one that knew what was going on, but he was back in Tempe with Stephanie. He needed to clear the air with somebody. He wasn’t sure how Stephanie was able to keep this all bottled up for so long, but he was about to burst. He was literally aching to talk to somebody about this. More than anything he wanted to come clean to Chaney, and to John. The two of them had been his best friends for as long as he could remember and the last thing he wanted was to jeopardize his friendships with them over a secret that wasn’t his to tell. Even if he didn’t tell them Stephanie’s secret, he ached to come clean to them.

Those desires, however, went unnoticed by John. Ever since Halvo had snapped at John at the beach the week prior, John was more than happy to keep his distance from his best friend. As much as it pained him, he found other things to concentrate on.

John got out of his bunk, dressed in his clothes for the day, and made his way off the bus to join the rest of the guys for breakfast. The catering line was long because it was nearing 8am and breakfast would be ending shortly. He fell in line behind Pat and Garrett as they waited to go through catering. Pat had been talking animatedly about the shows thus far and how excited for this particular day he was. John smiled as he watched his friends and band mates discussing the tour. This tour had been something they hadn’t done in about five years, so he was glad to be making the circuit again.

John showed his laminate to get scanned as he made his way through the line to get food. He quickly got food and joined the rest of the guys at one of the tables in the catering tent. Being one of the last to arrive, most everyone else there had finished eating since they still needed to set up their merch tent as well as begin unloading their gear. Not knowing what time they performed, they wanted to be as prepared as possible in order to meet and greet as many people as they could. Today was a new day and John was looking forward to having another performance day.

Halvo was the last off the bus and looked towards catering to see the line dwindling as breakfast was about to be put away. He hastily made his way towards the line in hopes of grabbing a bite to eat before it was packed up. He showed his laminate and got his food. He searched the mostly empty catering tent for a place to sit and found a table off to the side. He didn’t say much as he shoveled his share of waffles into his mouth. Being isolated from everyone was the last thing he wanted to do, however it was his only option if he were to keep Stephanie’s secret.

John, Pat, and Garrett quickly finished their breakfast before joining the rest of their crew to set up their bright orange merch tent. John’s role in the mornings was pretty laid back. Once the tent was set up, he would hang out well past gates opening to meet and greet fans as they came by. The downtime before gates opening though, is where his mind often wandered and led to his demise. His mind often wandered to the fragile girl left back home. His cellphone burning a hole in his pocket as he internally debated on whether or not to contact her again. With a sigh, he left his phone alone and sat perched underneath the tent as he waited for the gates to open.

Chaney collapsed on her couch as she stared her phone down. She hadn’t heard word from any of the guys since John finally called her the week before. It would be strange spending the Fourth of July without Halvo, but at least she had Alex there. She was planning on spending the evening with at least him. Alex mentioned that there were a few friends he was going to invite over; friends that he met through Halvo. Since Alex was unaware of the current lack of communication between her and the boy, she decided to keep it under wraps. As peeved as she was at Eric, she wouldn’t subject Alex to whatever petty argument was going on.

“Hey Alex, I’m headed to the store to grab food. Is there anything in particular you want me to get while I’m out?” Chaney hollered towards the other end of the apartment.

“Just get some burgers and dogs so I can grill. Otherwise, get whatever food you want. Oh, and don’t forget the beer!”

Chaney laughed as she nodded her head. “Like I would forget the beer,” she chuckled. She grabbed her purse and keys from the table inside the door and headed out to her car. She threw her purse into the passenger seat of her car as she left her door open while she turned the car on, in hopes of dispelling the pent-up heat trapped within the car.

She left the door open as she started the car, groaning and leaning out of the airflow of the vents now blowing warm air. The sweat began to trickle down her face and down the back of her neck as she sat there waiting for her car’s air to kick in. As Chaney sat in the open car doorway, she leaned her head back against the headrest of her seat, attempting to shade her face from the harsh Arizona sun. However, there was movement in her peripheral vision that caught her attention. She quickly sat up in her seat, rubbing her unbelieving eyes. “Stephanie?!”

Stephanie’s blood ran cold as she stood frozen on the sidewalk. She didn’t want anyone, especially Chaney, to see her.

“Wait!” Chaney leaned back in her car to turn it off and grab her purse. She stepped out of her car and hastily shut the door and looked for Stephanie only to find the sidewalk vacant.

In the span of time it took Chaney to turn off her car, Stephanie disappeared into one of the nearby alleyways. She couldn’t believe she had been seen. She had worked so hard over the course of the last few months to keep her cover hidden from Chaney.

Once Stephanie was certain that Chaney had left and wasn’t looking for her anymore, she pulled out her cellphone. She dialed the ever familiar number as it lead to his voice mail. “Eric, listen, call me when you get this. I’m afraid Chaney may have spotted me earlier today. I was able to escape her, but if she calls you, don’t let on that you know anything about this. Just, call me when you can. Bye.” Stephanie then hastily threw her cell phone back in her bag. She carefully walked towards the sidewalk, checking the surrounding areas, before making her way back out onto the sidewalk.

Halvo had been walking around the Warped grounds for the day, selling copies of The Maine’s deluxe edition of Forever Halloween when he heard his phone go off. His hands were full at the moment, but he got someone to hold the box of albums for him while he fished his phone out of his pocket. He noticed Stephanie was calling him, and he knew that she was alright due to the number she was calling from. He directed her to voice mail as he grabbed the box of CDs and continued walking the line and talking to others.

There was a lull in the amount of people visiting the merch tent and John was relieved for a bit of a break. He happened to glance over as he saw Halvo messing with his phone before pocketing it again. John wondered if Halvo had even attempted to talk to Chaney since he called him out on it the week before. Truth be told, John had been keeping some distance from his supposed best friend as he had been treating him as anything but. Tour was never a time or place to pick a fight with those you were on tour with, so John opted to take the high road and not call any attention to the acts of his friend.

John sat back in the lawn chair he was currently lounging in under his band’s tent and pulled out his phone. He noticed he had a text from Chaney.

Chaney: Happy 4th John! Please don’t get yourself blown up today. Have a great show :)

John read over her text a few times with a smile. Even her simple words of encouragement brought a calm over him that he couldn’t describe.

Well, I can’t make any guarantees about staying in one piece, but for you I’ll try.

Chaney had started to walk the isles of the store to gather food for the night when she got John’s reply. She laughed at his reply, knowing he wasn’t an innocent as he made himself out to be.

Chaney: I appreciate the effort John. So what city are you in today?

John took a sip of his beer as he heard his phone go off again. Not expecting a reply from Chaney so soon, he waited a few minutes before replying.

Today we’re in Toronto. Tomorrow, Montreal. I must say I’m enjoying the cooler air of the great north right now. How’s that desert sun treating you?

Chaney was choosing her selection of meat from the deli when John replied to her. Once she placed her meat in the cart, she retracted her phone from her pocket to see what the newly-blonde boy had to say. Rolling her eyes, she quickly typed her reply.

Chaney: Ah, so the great north is being kind to you eh? Well the desert is hot as ever. A whopping 109 today. I’m just glad Alex is deciding to man the grill today

Once John read her reply, he figured she could manage a short phone call. It would be easier than their back and forth text conversations. Not to mention, he was missing the sound of her voice. He excused himself from the tent before making his way over towards the buses to call Chaney.

Chaney had been picking out fruit when John called. “To what do I owe the pleasure Mr. O’Callaghan?”

“First of all, Mr. O’Callaghan is my father. Secondly, are you sure letting Alex handle the grill is such a good idea?” John chuckled.

“Ok Mr. C,” she teased, “which would you prefer to make your burgers; me or Alex?” Chaney then moved her phone in-between her shoulder and ear as she began to bag a few fresh oranges.

“Alright, alright, I don’t trust either of you to make my burger which is why I’m glad for the nightly BBQ hosted here nightly,” John laughed.

Chaney tutted at him, “Now John, I’m offended. I happen to be quite the excellent cook thank you.”

“I guess now I’ll never know,” he dramatically sighed.

Chaney laughed, “So what really was the purpose of your call? To bad-mouth my cooking?”

“Nah, I’m sure your cooking is just fine. A treat I’ll have to take you up on when I get back. But uh, would it be weird if I told you I missed your voice?”

“My voice? My, my, are you going soft on me O’Callaghan?”

“Never,” he grinned.

“I don’t know, missing my voice is a pretty soft move…are you sure you’ll be able to handle being away from me the rest of tour?”

“Me?” he scoffed, “I think you should be looking at yourself missy. You’re the one that texted me first.”

“Yes,” she chuckled, “wishing you a Happy 4th full of not blowing yourself up with fireworks. If you misconstrue that as me being unable to deal with you being away on tour then….”

The pair only laughed at the ridiculousness of the conversation.

“And see, this is the sort of banter I’ve missed having while on tour. You’re about the only girl that can keep up with my wit.”

“Wit? Please, don’t flatter yourself John. You and I both know ‘wit’ isn’t the word you’re full of,” she chuckled.

“Very funny Ms. Masters. Well, I actually need to head out. We go on stage shortly and I need to get ready.”

“Alright, just don’t break too many hearts today John,” she laughed.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he grinned. “I’ll talk to you later Van Gogh.”

Chaney smiled at the nickname, momentarily forgetting about the name John occasionally called her. “Talk to ya later John. Write s’more hits for me while you’re on the road.”

“Will do. I better see some amazing paintings waiting for me when we get back.”

“Definitely. Bye John.”

Chaney hung up her phone and replaced it in her bag before finishing up the last of her shopping. Luckily most of the food had been picked up by the time she got off the phone with John. She smiled as she recalled her conversation with the singer. Her friendship with him was definitely out of the ordinary, but she couldn’t imagine it being any other way.

Chaney picked up the last few food items before checking out and making her way back to her apartment. She wasn’t sure who all was coming over that night since most of the guys she knew were on tour at the moment. However Alex said he knew of a few guys that weren’t on tour that were going to come over. The apartment was just as much Alex’s as it was hers, so she didn’t care which friends he brought over. She was just relieved to not celebrate the Fourth alone.

“Hey Alex, I’m back!” she called out as she came in through the doorway of the apartment. She made her way to the kitchen and set the bags on the kitchen bar as she began to look for Alex. Luckily she didn’t have to look far as he was on the back landing attempting to light the grill.

The back door opened moments later. “Oh good, you’re back. Do you have the meat ready to go? I’m going to start cooking. Some of the guys should be coming over within the hour.”

“Oh ok. Yeah. Here are the meats,” Chaney said as she began rustling through the bags for the hamburger patties she picked up. “I hope these will work alright.”

“Yeah, they’ll be fine.” Alex grabbed the last bottle of beer from the fridge. “I’m out back if you need me.”

“Alright, I’ll bring the hot dogs out to you later.”

“Sounds good sis,” Alex said as he closed the door behind him.

Chaney began to unpack her groceries and start making the side dishes for the meal that night. Slowly guys, that Alex was friends with, began trickling into their apartment. She welcomed them all and showed them around while she finished dinner. Chaney spent most of the night playing hostess to the room full of guests she’d never met, but she didn’t mind. They were all gathered on the back landing to watch the local fireworks display when she felt a disturbance on the landing around her. Chaney couldn’t quite place what it was that caused such a stir in her, but she dismissed herself from the group and made her way inside to take a breather from the crowd.

She placed her empty beer bottle in the sink to be recycled later and went to make a glass of water when there was a knock on the door. Not knowing who could possibly be there, she hesitantly made her way over. She opened the door to find a man in a well-dressed suit and a grim expression adorning his face. “Are you Chaney Masters?”

With a perplexed look on her face, she reluctantly replied that she was.

“I’m Steven. Stephanie’s husband.” As soon as those statements left his mouth, he promptly punched Chaney square in the face, easily knocking her unconscious as he walked away from her apartment. Steven was on a rampage and wanted revenge on who had been keeping Stephanie hidden from him. He would be back to her apartment later to further search for Stephanie. There were too many people there at the moment to investigate further so he decided to leave a warning instead. He wasn’t completely sold on her being in Chaney’s apartment anyway. He didn’t take Stephanie to be that dumb when it came to hiding from him. He walked away and made the trek back to his own place. He would be back soon enough.