...And a Happy New Year

August 4

Three weeks. Pat had known about Halvo’s twisted secret for three weeks and he still couldn’t look at his friend the same way. Around fans and walking around Warped, he was able to forget about the secret, but the moment he saw Halvo, something inside of him stirred. He didn’t know Chaney too well, but he felt bad for her considering he knew she was dating Halvo. All he knew was that Halvo knew where Stephanie was and was going to help raise her unborn child. Pat had a feeling that somehow Chaney didn’t know about this.

Today was the day they were all headed back towards their home of Tempe. Pat, naturally, was one of the first ones awake and moved to the front of the bus to keep from disturbing the others. He went to the cupboards in search of whatever fresh fruit was left, and was disappointed to find a couple of overripe bananas. If he were at home he could’ve made them into banana bread, but they wouldn’t keep until they returned home the next day. Admitting defeat, he settled for a bowl of dry cereal. He had only ever eaten cereal with milk once in his life and it was a couple weeks ago; something he didn’t wish to repeat.

He found a box of Captain Crunch and poured some into a bowl before settling on one of the couches. He was scrolling through his phone, checking various social media when John emerged from the bunk area.

John’s hair was disheveled and he was wearing a pair of sweatpants low on his hips as he stumbled out of the bunks. Running a hand through his hair, he stifled a yawn as he made his way towards the fridge to find something to drink. He spotted the bottle of orange juice and with a grunt of approval, snagged it from the fridge. He unscrewed the top and started drinking from the bottle in attempts to alleviate the dehydration from sleep.

After nearly draining most of the bottle of juice, he replaced it in the fridge before joining Pat on the couch with a sigh.

Pat looked up from his phone and looked at his bandmate. “Happy birthday dude.”

John turned his head lazily towards Pat and gave him a small smile. About that time, John’s phone began to ring.

“Dude, it’s like 9am. Who could possibly be calling you at this hour?”

John chuckled, “Probably my mom. She always calls me first thing when she wakes up because she can’t stay up until midnight to wish me a happy birthday then.”

John got up to grab his phone that was plugged in and sitting on the table and was surprised to see none other than Chaney calling. “Hello?”

“Happy birthday! How’s my favorite 26-year-old Kurt Cobain wanna-be doing?” she chuckled.

“Uh, alright I suppose? Still pretty groggy.”

“Up late partying last night? Got any strippers doing body shots off your washboard stomach?” she joked.

John’s smile fell and his face turned red. “Wh-what?”

“I’m kidding. I saw the picture your lovely bandmates posted of you yesterday on Instagram. All I can say is, the fangirls approve,” she laughed.

“You’re not funny,” he deadpanned.

“Aw c’mon O’Callaghan! Am I not allowed to screw with you?”

“No.”

“What? Ugh, I’m sorry.”

John burst out laughing. “Van Gogh, chill. I’m joking.”

“You’re an ass.”

“At least I have one,” he smirked cheekily.

“And you’re saying I don’t?”

“I’m just saying you have no claim over me.”

“Checking out my ass now?”

“What? No,” he responded too quickly.

“Mhmm,” she mumbled with a cocky smirk. “Keep telling yourself that.”

“Psh, whatever. So will I get to see you tomorrow?”

Chaney instantly became nervous and she didn’t quite understand why. “Wh-what?”

John chuckled, “I said, ‘will I get to see you tomorrow?’”

“I uh, I’ve got plans tomorrow and I just don’t think I’ll be able to break them…”

“But it’s my birthdayyyyyyyyy,” he whined.

“Perhaps, but I have other people to see,” she chuckled.

“What, am I not first on your list of people?”

“What is this? Myspace?” she chuckled.

“What? No. But I’m offended I’m not your number one. You’d definitely be in my top three,” he chuckled.

“Whatever O’Callaghan,” she chuckled. “Just come back in one piece please. I’d hate to have to pick any of you up from the hospital….or jail.”

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that. We’ll be traveling all day today and part of tomorrow. Pretty sure nothing will happen on the bus that would put us in jail,” he chuckled.

“Well...if you brought one of your underaged fans on the bus perhaps,” she laughed.

“Will you lay off of that?” he chuckled.

“What? I just like harassing you about it. Geez.”

“Yeah well…” he laughed.

“Well, as stimulating as this conversation is, I need to head to work. Ya know, I do have a job that requires my presence,” she teased.

“Hey now, I do too! I am the lead singer of this band ya know…”

“Yeah, but you’re not the only one in the band that can sing. Ken’s got a great set of pipes on him…” she mused.

John was laughing now, “Alright, I’m hanging up on you now.”

“Bye John,” she laughed.

“Later hater.” John set his phone back down and moved to sit back down by Pat. John couldn’t remove the smile that was covering his face as his mood was instantly lifted after that phone call. With a content sigh, he collapsed onto the couch, leaning his head back, and closed his eyes.

“Who was that?” Pat asked. “Surely that wasn’t your mother on the phone...I know she would flip her shit if you talked to her like that.”

John moved his head to look towards Pat, partially opening his eyes as a lazy grin adorned his face. “Nah, it wasn’t my mom. It was Chaney.”

Pat’s eyebrows quirked up. “Chaney?”

John’s face turned a bit red as he sat up in his seat. He moved a shaky hand and began to nervously rub the back of his neck as he turned his attention away from Pat’s face and onto the ground. “I uh, yeah…” he mumbled.

Pat put his phone down and turned to face John. “Dude….”

John turned his head slightly to make eye contact for a moment before looking back to the floor and releasing a heavy sigh. “Don’t say it…”

“Dude what are you thinking?”

“Hey, it’s not like I’m acting on it or anything! It’s not like it’s even anything major.”

Pat let out a sigh. He felt bad for John. He was a good friend, and an even better guy. He knew John’s intentions were nothing but honorable despite his common reputation. His thoughts wandered then to what he overheard from Halvo a few weeks prior and it only made the situation more difficult. John was one of his best friends, as was Halvo. However what Pat heard on the phone the other day was enough to make him question Halvo’s intentions with Chaney.

Pat was debating internally on whether or not to tell John about what he heard from Halvo or not. The larger part of him was screaming at him not to say anything because it wasn’t his place to say a word. However, there was still that small voice that was telling him to let John know in hopes of possibly protecting Chaney. The small voice was starting to overpower his other thoughts and he was about to say something.

Halvo then stumbled out of the bunks, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes when he immediately woke up more at the sight of John and Pat in the front lounge talking. Eyes wide, he catches Pat’s eye and discreetly shakes his head, hoping that Pat won’t say anything to John.

Pat set his mouth in a tight line and rolled his eyes, getting up from the couch and making his way past Halvo towards the back lounge. As he got to Halvo he whispered, “I didn’t say a word, but you better do so soon. I won’t stand by and watch my friends get hurt.”

Halvo nodded as Pat pushed past him into the bunk area. Halvo looked over to the couch and saw John sitting on the couch, his arms propped on his knees and his head hung. His expression a cross between happiness and torture. Halvo, curious, made his way over to the couch and sat by his best friend.

“What’s up dude?”

“Not much man, just uh, life I guess,” he said with a forced smile.

“Seriously dude, what’s goin on? You know you can talk to me.” Halvo’s eyebrows drew in concern over his friend.

John looked over at him, and felt bad because he couldn’t talk to Halvo about it. He shouldn’t even be feeling what he should be feeling; especially since it was towards his best friend’s girl. He tried repressing whatever feelings he might have had for as long as possible. But if being away on Warped Tour taught him anything, it was that her presence was one that was not easy to be separated from. He only craved her presence the longer away from her he was.

With a sigh, John gave Halvo a small smile and shook his head. “Seriously, I’m good man. No worries.” He got up and gave Halvo a pat on his shoulder before going to sit at the table to mess around on his laptop.

Halvo continued to sit across from him on the couch and wondered what was bothering John. When he realized that John wasn’t going to talk, Halvo accepted defeat and pulled out his phone. He already had a couple of unread texts. One from Chaney, one from Stephanie. He opened Stephanie’s first:

Steph: Hey, so when are you guys coming back? I feel like I should give you guys a day or two to get back before I talk to Chaney and John.

With a small grunt, he replied that they would be back the next day.

John had looked up from his computer when he heard Halvo grunting at his phone. With a quirked eyebrow he asked, “Uh….everything ok over there dude?”

Halvo looked up and groaned. “Yeah, just...spam emails,” he quickly lied.

John rolled his eyes and went back to his computer.

Halvo then went back to his phone and hovered his finger over where Chaney’s message thread was. He hesitated a few moments before reluctantly opening up her message.

Indy: Hey, so I’m throwing a surprise birthday party for your best friend/welcome back party for you guys. Be there. Or not. It’s whatever.

Halvo groaned even more dramatically before and threw his head back until it hit the window above the couch. He clenched his eyes closed and exhaled deeply through his mouth in attempts to calm his breathing. He knew he’d been an ass to Chaney, but now she was just being difficult. He apologized and he didn’t understand why she was suddenly acting so cold towards him. He was trying to make amends but for whatever reason she wasn’t accepting it. He threw his phone on the couch next to him and ran his hands up and down across his face.

John looked back over at Halvo and rolled his eyes, shutting his laptop. “What’s wrong?” he deadpanned with annoyance.

“Geez, at least act like you care if you’re gonna ask.”

“Hey I tried asking before and you said it was just spam mail. Which for the record, I don’t buy it at all. You act like I can’t tell when you’re lying. So tell me what’s really wrong because I know it wasn’t spam email.”

Halvo almost broke his promise to Stephanie that he had been holding onto so tightly for the past few months as it was slowly destroying the relationship with his two best friends. However he reminded himself that he would only have to hold out a couple more days. He couldn’t cave and tell them now after so many months of secrets. If they could hear it from her perspective, maybe they could understand why he was being so secretive. He wasn’t intentionally trying to be elusive, but he was just being a good friend. He didn’t want to destroy the friendships with his two best friends. However, he knew Stephanie really needed a friend at the moment that wasn’t someone she knew very well and he was trying his best to be the friend she needed him to be.

“There’s just...a lot going on.”

“Like…?” John prompted.

“Just stuff!”

“Hey, no need to get defensive dude. Chill.” John turned back to where his computer was and opened his laptop back up.

Halvo released a heavy sigh. “Look, it’s just...I’m having issues with Chaney.”

John didn’t even look up from his computer as he muttered, “Gee, I wonder why.”

Halvo rolled his eyes. “If you’re not gonna listen you can fuck off,” he said starting to get irritated.

John shut his computer once again. “Alright. Fine. What’s going on with you and Chaney?” He tried to talk with as little venom in his voice as he could.

“She’s just being difficult right now.”

John sighed. “How is she being difficult? You’re being vague.”

Halvo almost said, but remembered that she was throwing John a surprise party. “She uh, just wanted to do something tomorrow night and was being super passive aggressive about me attending.”

“Of course she’d want to do something with you,” John muttered to himself.

“What?”

“Uh, nothing. Just...try talking to her.”

“That’s the thing dude, she won’t let me!”

“Have you tried calling her?”

“No…” Halvo mumbled.

“God, don’t tell me you were doing this all through text message…”

Halvo avoided eye contact.

“Godammit Halvo!” John got up and leaned over to smack Halvo on the back of his head. “Dude, you know better than to work relationship shit out over text.”

“I know, I know…”

“Well if wasn’t Chaney you’ve been talking to on the phone, what girl have you been calling?” John asked accusingly.

Halvo once again avoided John’s stare as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. He couldn’t bring himself to admit to talking to Stephanie. She would be telling John and Chaney soon enough anyway.

“So help me Halvo if you’re cheating on Chaney…”

“I’m not!” he exclaimed, suddenly sounding very defensive.

“Chill…don’t get your panties in a twist.”

“You just accused me of cheating on my girlfriend! How else was I supposed to react?”

“Well you’re not exactly clearing your name right now…”

“Dude…” Halvo trailed off incredulously. With a scoff he got up and made his way to the back of the bus.

John sighed and sank into the booth. This wasn’t how he was planning for his birthday to go. He picked up his phone off the table and looked at it, noting that not much time had passed. However, enough time for Chaney to drive to work and arrive at her desk had passed. He debated calling her. With a defeated sigh, he pulled up her number and dialled.

Chaney had just set her bag down at her desk when her cell began ringing. Eyebrows furrowed, she opened her purse and began digging for her ringing phone. She chuckled when she saw John calling her.

“Roxanne’s Red Light Party Line, Ginger speaking. How can I pleasure you today?” she replied in her most seductive voice.

John’s eyes widened and he pulled his phone away from his face to check and make sure he dialled the right number. It affirmed that he dialled Chaney’s number so he slowly put his phone back to his face. “Uh, Chaney?” he mumbled confused.

“That’s only my name off the clock sweetheart. What can I do for you,” she continued. It was taking all of her willpower not to drop character.

John’s face continued to turn red. “Seriously Chaney…”

She burst out laughing. “Fine, I’m back.”

John tried to even his breathing and he was glad that none of the other guys were in the room to see him getting so flustered. It was bad enough he was trying not to think about acting on his feelings for Chaney, her putting on a persona of a call girl didn’t help matters any.

“Mind telling me what that was about?” he muttered.

“I just figured I’d bring some excitement to your bus ride since it didn’t seem like you would be having any.”

“While I appreciate the effort, it’s really not necessary.”

“C’mon John, loosen up! I was just trying to have a little fun!”

It was the ‘little fun’ that made him nervous. He couldn’t let his mind drift in that direction. He still thought of her as a friend, but he couldn’t get over the growing affection he was beginning to have towards her.

Chaney’s laughter died down as she heard silence on the other end. She became slightly worried as she realized there must’ve been a reason for John to call her. “John?” she hesitantly asked.

“Hmm?”

“Are...is everything alright?”

“Uh, yeah. Look, I’m gonna cut to the chase. Is everything ok with you and Halvo?”

Chaney was slightly taken off-guard by his question. “Wh….why would you ask that?” she nervously replied.

“I just know Halvo’s all bent outta shape about you right now and he’s being really vague about it. I told him he should try to call you.”

Chaney’s heart fell slightly. “Oh?”

“Yeah, so uh, would you answer his call if I could persuade him to call you?” he rushed out.

“Um….yeah. Of course.”

There was an awkward silence encompassing the phone line. An instance that never occured between the two of them.

“So yeah, I’ll uh, let you get back to work. I just needed to call and make sure you were alright and make sure I didn’t need to beat Halvo’s ass for treating you bad,” he chuckled forcefully.

“Thanks….”

“Bye Chaney.” He didn’t wait for her response as he hung up. He threw his phone down and buried his head in his arms. He sat there mulling what he needed to do and with a groan, finally decided to go talk to Halvo. He shuffled to the back of the bus and found Halvo and Pat sitting on opposite ends of the back lounge watching a movie.

The moment Halvo saw John standing at the door he rolled his eyes. “What? Didn’t finish your accusations earlier?”

John ignored his comment and simply said, “Call your girlfriend. She’ll answer. Just fix it. Please.”

Halvo looked at him questioningly and started to reach for his pocket to pull out his phone.

John piped in before Halvo could do anything. “You better call her and not text her dude. The front of the bus is vacant. I’ll stay back here. Go fix this.”

Halvo nodded and brushed past John to go to the front lounge. He was glad the rest of the guys were late sleepers so he would have enough time to sort this out with Chaney. He moved to sit at the table in the spot that John had been occupying a few minutes prior.

Pulling out his phone, he unlocked it and went to call Chaney. The phone began ringing and he let out a deep breath.

“Oh! Finally decided to call me! How thoughtful of you,” Chaney replied the moment she picked up.

Halvo closed his eyes and took a moment to collect himself so he wouldn’t blow up at her. “Ok, I know I’ve been a shitty boyfriend this tour…”

“God, it’s not just the tour Halvo! It started long before! What the hell is going on? Why won’t you be honest with me for once?”

“I promise everything will make sense in a couple days,” he countered.

Chaney closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Look, I don’t wanna spend one of the few times you’ve decided to contact me, fighting, but I’m mad as hell at you and don’t expect to get off easy,” she warned.

With a sigh of relief, he smiled. “I wouldn’t expect you to. Just...keep an open mind alright?”

“You’re not cheating on me are you Halvorsen?”

“Besides my bromance with John?” he chuckled.

“I’m being serious,” she deadpanned.

“Alright. Sorry. I just don’t understand when things got so tense between us. Our relationship used to be so effortless. What happened?”

“I don’t know, you tell me. You’re the one that put distance between us.”

“Yeah, well you’re the one that kissed me on Valentine’s day.”

“Hold on. First of all, we were both drunk and it was mutual. As I recall, you struggled to let me leave because you kept bringing me to you to kiss. Secondly, you’re the one that kept kissing me after that night and eventually making things official.”

Halvo didn’t have an argument there.

“Besides, you can’t pin this awkwardness on me. You’ve been lying to me for a while now and I want to know what’s up.”

“Indy I told you; you’re going to find out .”

“Why can’t you tell me now?”

“I thought you didn’t want to fight,” he countered.

“I don’t. I’m just asking a question.”

He sighed, “Seriously, can we not spend this conversation fighting? I really miss you.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” she muttered.

“God, I’m trying here! Can’t you meet me halfway here?”

“Fine,” she mumbled. “How was tour?” she asked flatly.

Halvo’s heart started to break a bit as he realized she no longer cared. She didn’t seem to want to fix what they had and it was all his fault.

“It was good. Great to be back on the road with all the guys--”

“Great,” she interrupted uninterested.

“But it wasn’t the same hanging out with the guys without you here.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t.”

“I missed surprising you for breakfast.”

Chaney’s uncaring attitude started to crumble a bit.

“I missed getting to wrap my arms around you whenever I wanted. I missed getting to feather your neck with kisses. I missed holding your hand. I missed surprising you at the office after work. I miss our 80s nights.”

Chaney sank into her desk chair as he continued to tell her what he missed about her. She tried to stop the blush from filling her face, but his words made it hard to ignore. She found herself biting her lip and smiling like an idiot.

“So you missed all of that huh?” she replied with a cocky smirk which Halvo could easily detect over the phone.

“Oh yeah, and I’m going to make it up to you when we get back.”

“Really now?” she challenged.

“Oh yeah! You’re going to wish that you were angry with me so we could have angry make up sex,” he countered.

Her face was fully flushed and more red than she thought possible. “Halvo, I’m in the office.”

“Even hotter.”

“God you’re in a mood today aren’t you?”

“I won’t be the only one in the mood by the time I see you.”

“Ok, I need to get back to work now. Will I see you tomorrow night or not?”

“Were you not just paying attention to what I was saying?” he chuckled.

“Point taken. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She hung up her phone and took a deep breath. That was not how she was expecting her conversation with Halvo to go. She was still angry with him, but underneath it all, she still loved him. He was her best friend and nothing he could do would ever change that. With a small smile, she set her phone on the desk and turned to start working.

August 5, 2014]

Chaney was finishing setting up the last of the decorations in the 8123 offices. Falyn and Tessa were there helping her out as they hung streamers on the walls. Sean and Joel were over in one of the corners of the room blowing up balloons while Ryan was manning the grill.

Chaney finished taping up the last bit of streamers onto the wall and pulled out her phone to check the time. “Alright, Halvo just texted me. He said they just got off the interstate and should be headed our way once they got the trailer unloaded. Does anyone know where they’re unloading at?”

“They usually do it at Pat’s house until they gradually start moving things here,” Tessa replied.

“But I think Garrett said something about them wanting to just relax and planned on coming straight here and unloading later tonight,” Falyn added.

With a curt nod, Chaney set the tape down and jogged towards the kitchen to check on the cake and make sure the rest of the food was set out and prepared. She was pulling the cake out of the oven when she heard Sean yell.

“Hey guys, they’re here!”

Chaney quickly put the cake on the counter and shut off the oven before shuffling into the main room. They had already shut off the lights and were crouched and hiding around the walls where the 8123 logo was on the wall.

They started to hear the distant sounds of chatter coming from the other side of the door that was getting louder the closer they got. Someone put the key in the lock and started to turn the knob. As soon as they heard their footsteps across the wood floors, the four of them jumped out from behind the walls and yelled out “Happy Birthday John!”

Sean then chimed in and said, “And happy welcome back!....wait...that didn’t make sense, but you know what I mean.”

Everyone else laughed as Halvo started to look around the crowd of guys in front of him to find Chaney. He saw her on the other side of the room, observing them all happy to be home. She skillfully snuck away from the crowd and made her way to the kitchen. Everyone else was busy giving greetings and jumping into telling stories from tour so he was able to sneak away with ease. He heard Chaney messing around in the kitchen and was happy to have her alone.

He walked in the kitchen to find her with her back to him. She was chopping up some tomatoes for the burgers he could smell cooking from the grill outside. He quietly walked over to her and stood directly behind her. He couldn’t believe he was back home and was finally here with Chaney. A smile graced his lips as he moved forward and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.

As soon as his arms wrapped around her, she jumped, screaming slightly and held the knife up.

Halvo chuckled, “Woah, calm down! It’s just me!”

She visibly relaxed and set the knife down, turning to face Halvo with a devilish smirk and quirked eyebrow.

He instantly closed what little distance was between them and pinned her against the counter. “God I’ve missed this,” he said before moving his head to connect his lips to hers.

Her arms instantly wound around his neck as she pulled on his neck to pull him closer. “I’m still pissed at you,” she mumbled against his lips.

“I don’t care so long as I can still kiss you.” He then began to trail kisses across her jaw and began to suck softly on the skin by her jawline.

A soft moan escaped her lips as her hands trailed up his neck to gently pull at the hair on his head.

His hands squeezed her hips as his thumbs rubbed circles into her hips.

She felt an all too familiar feeling rising up in the pit of her stomach and grabbed his hair to reconnect her lips.

Halvo moved his hands to rest just under the bottom of her shirt as he began to rub her sides.

Chaney’s hands trailed slowly down his spine before softly resting on his bum. She gave it a light squeeze, smirking into their kiss as Halvo gasped in surprise.

He pulled away slightly, panting slightly. “Wh-what was that?”

“Hey, I can’t miss parts of you too?” she said with a wink.

Halvo’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as he began kissing her again. He was about halfway to removing her shirt when they heard someone clear their throat from the doorway.

Wide eyed and faces flushed, they turned to find Nick standing there with a cocky smirk. “Couldn’t keep it in your pants could ya Halvo?” he teased.

Halvo rolled his eyes and reluctantly removed himself from Chaney. He leaned forward to whisper in her ear, “Don’t worry, this isn’t over.” He gave her a peck on the cheek and grabbed a beer from the fridge before joining the rest of the guys in the main room.

Chaney was still a bit flushed and turned around to continue slicing tomatoes.

Nick just chuckled and grabbed a beer before leaving her be.

John walked into the kitchen and saw her standing there and smiled. “Thank you.”

She turned around and when she saw it was John, she smiled. “Of course. We had to celebrate your birthday and your guys’ return from tour. What better way than a get-together?”

John made his way across the kitchen and gave her a hug. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him to her, severely missing her friend over the last couple months.

“Thank you for this Chaney. It really means a lot. I’ve got some new material I’ve written. We need to meet up soon so I can show you,” he mumbled into her hair.

She nodded against him. “I’d like that. I’ve done a couple paintings myself.”

John smiled as he removed himself for Chaney. “That’s great. I can’t wait to see them. Let me know when you want to meet up. Or I may just show up unannounced on your doorstep. You never know,” he laughed.

She rolled her eyes. “I never do with you O’Callaghan.”

Halvo walked back in the room and saw the two of them standing there. “Hey, it’s actually really good that I caught you both here. I need to talk to the both of you.”

John and Chaney exchanged confused glances before returning to look at Halvo.

“So, there’s someone, not me persay, that needs to talk to the both of you. Are you both free later this week?”