...And a Happy New Year

November 5, 2014

Halvo had been chilling out on the couch in his living room, nursing a bottle of beer when his phone rang. He was surprised to see John calling him. As bitter as he still was about what he saw the other night, he couldn’t help but brush that aside. John was his best friend and he hadn’t seen him in a couple weeks.

“John? What’s up dude?”

“Hey Halv, so the guys and I are throwing a post-Halloween party since we weren’t in town.”

“Oh. Are you guys back already?”

“Yeah, we just got back last night. So grab your costume and we’ll head over to 8123. May get kinda crazy because it’s not just the guys.”

Halvo sensed some sort of hidden meaning in his words but shrugged it off as he agreed to be there and hung up. He leaned back into the couch and took a long sip of his beer as he contemplated what to dress up as.

Something bright caught the corner of his eye and he turned his head towards one of the shelves on the other side of the room. With a nostalgic smile, he got up and made his way over to the row of silver picture frames lining the bottom of the three wall shelves. The sun hit the corner of one particular frame and he chuckled as he picked it up and looked at it.

The picture was from either middle school or early high school. It was of him and Chaney at some Halloween party their friends were throwing. She was dressed up as one of the Spice Girls and he was wearing some sort of mask that was crooked on his face by that point in the night. They had their arms slung around each others’ shoulders and had their tongues hanging out of their mouths as they pulled ridiculous faces for the camera.

Halvo couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his lips as he stared at the frozen memory in his hand. He looked over his shoulder and saw one of his suits hanging over the back of one of the chairs. It sparked an idea as he looked between the suit and the picture in his hand. Setting the photo back down, he grinned and grabbed the suit as he made his way to get ready for the night’s festivities.

***

“C’mon Kelly! Please come with!” Chaney pleaded as they sat in the studio. Chaney was perched on one of the tall stools next to Kelly’s station.

She chuckled as she continued to stretch her canvas over the frame. “Chane, I won’t know anyone there! Besides, Halloween was five days ago.”

Chaney jumped off the stool and squat on the floor so she was eye-level with Kelly. “True, but I know something you don’t know,” she sang.

Kelly sat up onto her knees and placed her hands on her hips. “Oh really? And that would be?” she challenged with a quirked brow.

“Oh I don’t know. Maybe a certain shaggy-haired giant will be there and might be happy to see you.”

“I swear if you try to set me up with some Star Wars nerd or someone with a weird fettish--”

Chaney’s eyes went wide. “No! I’m talking about John!” she chuckled.

Kelly’s face flushed red as she leaned back over to start stapling the canvas to her frame. “Oh,” she mumbled.

“C’mon...it’ll be fun! I swear the guys are nice. Like I said, John will be there. He may even let you in on his full name,” she teased.

“I’ll think about it,” Kelly chuckled with an eye roll. “Besides, why invite me? Especially if he told you to invite whoever.”

“Please, you have a thing for John. Don’t even try to deny it,” she chuckled.

Kelly’s face turned more red. “No I don’t,” she muttered as she tried to bite back her smile.

“That! That right there! You so like him! That’s it.” Chaney stood up, dusting off her pants as she stood. “You’re going tonight. Finish your frame and then let’s get your cute butt in a costume.”

Kelly looked up at her incredulously. “But I have nothing to wear.”

“That’s why we go shopping! Hurry up so we can go!” she chuckled.

***

“Ugh, are you sure this is a good idea? I don’t know about this…” Kelly stressed. She kept tugging at her dress and messing with her hair.

Chaney rolled her eyes. “Please, you’ll be fine. Trust me. John won’t be able to keep his eyes off you.”

“Well what about you? Who’s attention are you trying to grab?” Kelly asked perplexed.

She looked down at her own costume, a small smile lining her lips. “No one really. He wouldn’t even notice if he was here,” she shrugged.

The pair walked up the steps to 8123 and knocked on the door. John opened the door with a teddy bear on his head.

“Hey! You made it!” He grinned.

“What the hell are you supposed to be?” Chaney chuckled as she looked him up and down. He was wearing all black and was wearing a teddy bear as a mask.

Shrugging he laughed it off, “Doesn’t matter. It’s what I wore Halloween night so I figured why not?”

“You’re an idiot,” she chuckled.

“And you’re….Indiana Jones?” he asked amused.

Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. “Maybe…”

He smiled warmly at her and looked over at Kelly. “And you’re…?”

“Kelly. You remember her from the studio right?” Chaney prompted.

“Huh? O-of course I d-do!” he stumbled. “I uh, wow, you look great. Glad you could make it. I dig the masquerade mask,” he grinned widely.

Kelly slightly ducked her head to hide her smile as John opened the door wider to let them in.

“Uh, make yourselves at home. Obviously it’s a bit crazy at the moment,” he chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck. “But uh, drinks are in the kitchen. Food is...well, wherever you can find it. Um, Happy Halloween!”

There was a loud crash that came from one of the adjoining rooms followed by a group of loud cheers.

“Uh, sounds like they hit the hard stuff early, Better go check that out. I’ll catch up with you ladies later. Kelly, it was nice seeing you again,” he smiled as he dismissed himself towards one of the back rooms.

“Well, welcome!” Chaney laughed. “Wanna make drinks?”

“Sure. Lead the way.”

The two weaved through the crowd of people filling the small halls and rooms of the house as they made their way to the kitchen.

“Chaney!”

The pair turned around and saw Jared dressed in a terrible wig with bad makeup in a hilarious attempt at being Flo from Progressive.

“Jared? Is that you?” she tried to say through her laughter.

“Yeah! Come over here and give me a hug!”

He walked over and engulfed her in a hug before stepping back. “Hey, I’m Jared,” he stuck his hand out to introduce himself.

“Kelly. I’m a friend of Chaney’s.”

“Well it’s very nice to meet you. The rest of the guys are around here somewhere,” he laughed. “We’ll have to catch up later. I think there’s a game of flip cup about to go down. You girls wanna join?”

Chaney looked to Kelly, who only shook her head. “Nah, we’re good for now Jare, thanks. But I may stop by in a bit to see how drunk you all are.”

“Sounds good. It was nice meeting you Kelly.”

Once he was out of the kitchen Kelly went to stand beside Chaney as she made their drinks. “He seemed nice,” Kelly mused as she leaned against the counter.

Chaney turned to smile at her. “He is. All the guys are. They’ve been nothing but nice to me since I met them.”

Chaney finished pouring their drinks and handed Kelly’s to her as she lead her out towards the main room. The pair leaned against the wall nursing their drinks. Chaney’s eyes drifted across the room taking in the somewhat familiar and unfamiliar faces packed around them. Her eyes landed on a tall, slender man leaning against the wall across the room.

He was sipping from a plastic cup. His long, slender fingers were wrapped delicately around the cup as he would occasionally bring the cup to his lips and take a sip. His posture was slightly slouched as his shoulder was braced against the wall. A black button down and black slacks covered his fit frame and a black mask covered the top half of his face. He had a long black cape draped around his shoulders; a black hat covering his head.

Chaney was shaken from her intense stare-down by a nudge on her shoulder. Chaney looked over to see Kelly chuckling at her.

“Geez, quit undressing him with your eyes! Just go over and say hi!” she encouraged.

Chaney blushed as she took a sip of her drink. “I wasn’t undressing him with my eyes,” she mumbled over her sip.

“Oh really? And that’s why your tongue was practically hanging out of your mouth and you were salivating?” she teased.

“Ugh, shut up,” she mumbled.

“What’s the worst that could happen? He already has a girlfriend? Go for it!”

“Fine. But if I do this, I’m forcing you to go and talk to John.”

“You make it sound like you’d have to force me,” Kelly chuckled. “Go! Quit stalling.”

Chaney rolled her eyes and downed the last of her drink. If anything she figured maybe this mystery guy could at least get her a refill if it didn’t pan out.

Halvo had been leaning up against the wall, keeping his eyes open for Chaney to walk through the door but had yet to see her. He could’ve sworn he heard Jared yelling her name out a few minutes prior, but had yet to see her. He was in the process of taking another sip of whatever alcoholic beverage he had concocted when he heard a very familiar voice curve over his ears.

“So handsome, you come to these parties alone often?”

He nearly choked on his drink and turned his head to see Chaney moving to stand in front of him. His eyes bulged when he saw her costume.

“Indy....ana Jones?” he recovered to mask his shock.

She chuckled. “You got it! It’s um, one of my favorite trilogies,” she smiled as she tried to hide her blush.

It dawned on him then that she didn’t realize who he was. He cleared his throat and lowered his voice a bit to disguise his voice.

“Trilogy? You know they made four right?”

“Psh, of course. But any true Indiana Jones fan wouldn’t count the abomination known as The Crystal Skull as part of the series,” she scoffed.

Halvo tried to hide his grin as he continued talking. “So you’re pretty passionate about Indiana Jones huh?” he smiled over his cup as he took a sip.

“You could say that. Maybe I just wanna protect Harrison Ford’s integrity as the perfection he was as Indy.”

“Ah, so the truth comes out!” he laughed. “This has nothing to do with the movies, but everything to do with your crush on Harrison Ford huh?”

Her face turned bright red. She went to take a sip of her drink so she could hide her blush in her cup but then remembered she emptied it before walking over.

Halvo noticed her frustration and decided to change the subject. “Need a refill?” he gestured towards her cup.

She nodded and handed him her cup.

“I’ll be right back,” he winked at her.

He made his way to the kitchen and scoured the counter for what to make her. He instantly found her go-to liquor and mixer, but he didn’t want to give away who he was. He struggled momentarily to figure out what concoction would be his best bet to make her. He knew she didn’t like her drinks too strong, but she liked to be able to taste the alcohol. After some debate, he settled on a shot of rum mixed with coke. He figured it would be a safe choice. He topped off his drink and brought their cups back to where Chaney was casually standing against the wall.

“Your drink m’lady.”

Chaney sniffed her drink before taking a sip. “Mmmm, Captain Morgan and Coke?”

“You know your liquors,” he chuckled.

“I like to be prepared,” she smirked. Chaney wasn’t sure where this new boldness was coming from, but she liked it. She had no idea who this guy was, but something about him put her at ease. His company was comfortable and familiar.

“A woman after my own heart.”

“Speaking of, who’s heart are you here to capture tonight? Zorro is it?” she asked.

“Well yours if you’ll let me,” he replied smoothly.

Chaney downed her drink, the alcohol hitting her system quickly as she stumbled slightly. She grabbed his free hand, “Let’s go dance.”

He smirked, finishing off his drink, before following her onto the dance floor. He missed this closeness with Chaney. It’d been way too long since they were last this intimate. Part of him wanted to rid himself of his disguise and let her know who he was. However he knew the moment he did, she would likely retaliate and it would drive a wedge further between them. At least she didn’t have her tongue down John’s throat.

Chaney was thankful for the upbeat music and the hoards of people surrounding them as this mystery guy’s hands kept distracting her from the thoughts that had been plaguing her mind all night. His hands rested comfortably at her hips as she danced in front of him.

After a couple of songs, he slowly turned her around to face him and pulled her by her hips closer to him. He reached up to grab her hat and slowly pulled it off her head. Her hair which was carelessly thrown up into her hat, now cascaded down her shoulders. He chuckled a bit, and lightly grasped the side of her face as he brushed her hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

Chaney’s breath hitched at the action and she felt her heart race. One of his hands was still grasped tightly at her waist, his thumb rubbing small circles onto her hip. Breathing ragged, she had to focus on keeping her breath in control. She found herself staring into his eyes. They were brown and they seemed to sparkle as if there was an air of mischievousness about him. She couldn’t shake off how familiar this all felt, but couldn’t place what was so familiar about this.

John had walked out of one of the adjoining rooms and spotted Kelly leaning casually against the wall. “Did Van Gogh leave ya stranded?” he chuckled.

“Nah, I’ve been keeping an eye on her though.”

John looked at her perplexed.

She nodded her head towards the dance floor where Chaney and her “mystery guy” were having an increasingly intimate moment.

“Woah, what’s happening here?” he asked as he tipped his beer bottle back and joined Kelly against the wall.

She shrugged as she took another sip of her drink. “Dunno. But she kept undressing him with her eyes for a while so I encouraged her to go talk to him. Seems like it’s going well for her because they’ve been inseparable since.”

John scrunched his eyebrows together and looked back to the dance floor and squinted as he took a better look at the guy she was standing with. He instantly recognized who she was standing with. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped slightly.

“Does uh, does she know who that is?” he questioned worriedly.

“No because she was nervous as hell about going over there, but it seems to be going well regardless. Does it really matter?”

John looked back towards them and saw the smile adorn Chaney’s face. The smile he hadn’t seen her have since Halvo put it there months ago. He smiled slightly and turned back towards Kelly. “No, I guess not. Wanna go sit out back? Get some fresh air?”

“Yeah, I’d like that,” she smiled. “Care to take the bear off your face so I can see it?”

“Aww, you miss my face that much? I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll take the bear off my face if you take the mask off yours. That way we’ll call it even.”

“Deal. Maybe now I can feel less weird about watching her potentially hook up with some random guy,” she teased.

“Shall we?” he offered his elbow as he led her outside.

Chaney was completely lost in this time-stopping moment with this guy she didn’t know. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt like this. It had been so long. Halvo was the only guy that had ever made her feel the way she was currently feeling, and she suddenly felt guilty for contemplating pursuing anything with this stranger. But something about this felt so good. So right. How could it be wrong to want to feel so wanted for the first time in a while?

Curiosity overtook her as she reached up to take his hat off. His hair was slicked back and nicely combed; further fitting in with his put-together appearance. She coyly bit her lip as her fingers slowly traced down the side of his face to outline his mask.

His eyes closed at the feeling; electricity coursing through his body at her simple touch.

She hesitantly combed her hand through his hair until she reached the tie securing the mask at the back of his head. Her fingers toyed with the string, internally debating whether or not she wanted to find out the identity of this handsome stranger or not.

His eyes slowly opened at her hesitance and their eyes bore into one another’s. Something sparked in the both of them and they pulled together as closely as they could and connected their lips.

Her hands found a home at the back of his neck and shoulder as she pulled his face closer to hers. She felt his hands gripping at her hips, pulling them into his as he continued to kiss her with such passion that was aggressive, yet gentle.

The curiosity to discover his identity was satiated as she was more than content with her current state. Kissing this man was more than familiar. It was something that had been routine. She’d done this before. She knew his lips better than anyone’s and in this moment she knew it was wrong of her to rush into things with him like she was, but it had been so long and she missed him so much. She sensed he knew that she figured out who he was purely by the way he was now kissing her. She grinned into the kiss as she knew his habits were difficult to break. The way he’d grip her hip, or how his fingers would comb through her hair and grasp the back of her head to bring her face closer to his than it already was. She knew his tells all too well. She would always know what kissing Halvo felt like. It was imprinted into her. This is the man she loved. Forgetting any of these things about him wouldn’t ever happen.

The moment he felt her smile against his lips, he felt for the first time that things might turn out alright for them. He knew they were going about it at the moment was all wrong, but this was something they needed to get out of the way so they could attempt to try and move forward. He just hoped this wouldn’t set them back any further than they already were. He hoped even more that it wasn’t the alcohol in her system causing this sudden boldness and willingness to be around him.

The pair finally pulled apart and he rested his forehead against hers, the smile on his face stretching as wide as he could make it. Neither were sure whether or not to play the “stranger” role or not, but Chaney made the decision for them before they overthought anymore.

“I uh, I need to get going. I’ve got work in the morning. But uh, I’ll see ya around Zorro,” she winked. She pecked his lips once more before breaking away and making her way through the crowd to find Kelly. Her cheeks were flushed and she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. Her limbs felt fuzzy and for the first time in months, it wasn’t due to the alcohol.