...And a Happy New Year

November 22, 2014

Halvo sat hunched over on his couch. His elbows braced on his knees as he peered down at the picture of him and Chaney from Halloween all those years ago. It had been a couple of weeks since he saw her last and they shared the kiss he’d never thought he’d have again. He didn’t want to seem to eager by texting her the next day because he didn’t know exactly where they stood. He was afraid to test the waters too much for fear that he would ruin whatever progress he and Chaney seemed to have made. However by this point, she was all he could think about so he decided to send her a text.

Chaney had been lounging around her apartment when her phone went off.

Halvo: Are you busy? I need to see you

She couldn’t stop her heart from racing as her shaky hand trembled over the keypad. She was glad she was sitting down because otherwise, she probably would have fallen.
Her fingers hesitated to text a reply, not knowing what would come from his visit. Did she want him to come over? She couldn’t deny she’d missed the boy, however the fear of where they stood loomed over her. Tucking her bottom lip under her teeth, she exhaled and quickly typed a reply before throwing her phone onto the cushion next to her before she could over think her actions anymore.

Halvo sat nervously on his couch as he awaited her reply, if she decided to reply. For all he knew, she wanted nothing more to do with him, and their mini makeout session at the belated Halloween party was a fluke. His heart stopped when he heard his phone go off, notifying him with a text; from Chaney.

He swallowed thickly, closing his eyes momentarily before reluctantly opening them and quickly unlocking his phone.

Indy: No. How soon can you be here? Can you come over now?

He couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across his face as he quickly replied that he was on his way and would be there shortly. Stuffing his phone in his jeans pocket, he slipped on his shoes, grabbed his keys and headed out the door.

When Chaney received Halvo’s reply, she began panicking. She quickly stood, and began pacing the apartment. Biting her thumb, her mind started going into overdrive. She was chastising herself for seeming too eager to see him; reasoning with herself that she should’ve played it off casually. It was too late to change her answer as he was now on his way.

She looked around her apartment and saw the slight disarray of the living room. She groaned slightly and quickly moved about the space, tidying up whatever she could. Chaney didn’t understand why she was suddenly so nervous to have Halvo in her apartment. It’s not like he hadn’t been there before. Hell, he’d picked it out and paid the first month’s rent. He’d been in there countless times since. Her nerves went into overdrive as she heard the familiar sound of his engine pulling up outside of her building. She’d recognize that engine anywhere. He’d been driving the same car since he got his license.

Chaney quickly ran to the mirror in the bathroom and hastily combed her fingers through her hair, hoping to rid it of any tangles. Unsatisfied with her appearance, she decided to throw it up in a clip. She was struggling with getting her hair into the clip the way she wanted when she heard a knocking on her front door. All bets were off. He was here. Defeated, she threw the clip back onto the counter, and made her way to the door. As she walked, she pulled on the bottom hem of her shirt, in hopes of straightening out her already overly-wrinkled shirt. That’s when she realized that she was still wearing her pajamas. Particularly the shirt Halvo gave her years ago that she would wear when he was on tour. Luckily she had decided to put a pair of pajama shorts on so she wasn’t walking around in her underwear. Granted, the shorts weren’t much longer than the hem of her shirt, but by this point, it was too late to change.

The knock on the door sounded again, and she hastened to the door to answer it before he thought she was ditching him. She took a calming breath before unlocking the door and opening it.

Halvo seemed just as nervous as she was. His gaze was cast downwards as he ran a hand through his hair, attempting to calm the flyaway hairs. His hair looked a bit more than windswept, so she figured he had probably ridden over here with his windows down.

She cleared her throat to alert him of her presence, and his head snapped up to her at the sound.

“Uh, hey Chaney. Um…” he smiled a bit as he saw her wearing the shirt he’d given her years ago. He thought she’d have gotten rid of it ages ago, but he couldn’t help but hold out hope that they still had a chance.

“Oh! Um, come on in,” she smiled weakly, the blush filling her cheeks as she knew Halvo noticed his shirt draped over her frame. She opened the door wider and stepped out of the way so he could enter her apartment. Waiting until he was out of the way, she closed the door behind him and turned to see him awkwardly standing in the middle of the living room. She hesitantly approached him, and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

He jumped at the contact and looked back over his shoulder at her.

She quickly removed her hand and cleared her throat. “Um, you can take a seat.”

He walked over and sat on the chair next to the couch. He wouldn’t risk sitting on the couch in case she wasn’t comfortable sitting so close to him. He figured the chair would be the safer, easier option.

Chaney’s face deflated a bit, but she hid it as she moved to take a seat on the couch.

The pair sat in silence for a few minutes. Neither making eye contact with the other or making any move to say anything. The only sounds in the apartment was the air conditioner running, the refrigerator motor, and the ticking of the giant clock she had hanging on one of her living room walls.

Chaney couldn’t take the silence anymore and tried to start up a conversation. She didn’t want to bring up what happened the other night between them, opting instead to break the ice a different way.

“So um, h-how’s Stephanie?”

“Hmm?” Halvo looked up at her. “Oh, uh, she has her court trial in a few days.”

Chaney’s brows furrowed. “She’s just now having the hearing?”

Halvo exhaled harshly from his mouth, “Well, she didn’t file the report until a couple months ago. It was a few months after the uh…incident. She had a court session a couple weeks after the report that set the date for her trial. Which is in a few days.”

She didn’t know how to respond, so she only nodded. “Is she like...okay? I mean, he’s not going to…?”

“No! Once she filed the report, she, along with Emily, Annie, and little Annie, were able to move out. Steven is under close watch. He can’t hurt them.”

“So...like do they have a place to stay or...what exactly is the situation there?” Chaney hesitantly asked.

He chuckled a bit, “Let’s just say it’s a bit crowded at my apartment right now. But I will say my apartment has never been so clean.”

The pair laughed at that.

“Yeah, I always knew you were a slob. Who knew it took three women to keep up and clean up after your mess,” Chaney teased.

Halvo smiled as his eyes were trained on his hands. “Yeah, who would’ve thought huh?”

“I don’t know how your mother did it for so long. That’s part of the reason why I couldn’t ever live with you,” she chuckled.

“Aw c’mon, I’m not that bad!” he defended with a chuckle.

“Um, you really are. How do you expect to keep house once they all leave your apartment? Hmm?” she challenged with a smirk and quirked brow.

“Well, that’s the thing...um...Steph is gonna stay a bit longer than the rest of them.”

Chaney felt her insides shatter to a million pieces. This was it. The moment she had feared was coming. He had moved on. He went for Stephanie. She was moving in permanently. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest, and it took all of her control not to cry.

“Oh,” was all she could muster.

“Yeah, she needs help with the little Peanut,” he smiled. “She asked me to be the godfather, and since she’s currently without a job, and will soon be a new mother, I told her I’d help her out. Besides, that’s my little guy,” he said with pride.

Chaney was doing everything she could to hold herself together and not fall apart at the seams. “Your little guy? Do you even know if it’s a boy yet?”

His face brightened as his smile grew even wider, “Yeah, she had her ultrasound last week and we found out it’s a boy.”

“So if you know it’s a boy, why are you still calling him Peanut? Does she not have a name picked out yet?” she asked perplexed.

“Nah, she hasn’t thought that far ahead. I asked her about it once, but her only reply was that she’d know the name as soon as she saw it. Something about fate or something,” he chuckled with a shrug.

Chaney forced a smile. She was genuinely happy that things were going alright for Stephanie and her baby. She was also happy to see that Halvo seemed to be doing so well considering what all they had been through so far this year. However she couldn’t stop the pit in her stomach at the thought that there was something growing between Stephanie and Halvo. Chaney couldn’t shake her insecurities about the potential of there being something between them despite the kiss the pair shared a couple weeks prior. She figured now was a good of a time as any to bring it up since they seemed to be a bit more comfortable talking to the other.

“Hal-I mean Eric,” she still struggled to call him by the nickname he’d become known by and his face reflected the hurt she had previously been feeling. “What um...what exactly is going on here,” she motioned between the two of them. “I mean, I know we kissed at the party the other night, but I mean, I didn’t know who you were at the time, and we were both drinking, so I didn’t know if it was a drunk thing or an ‘I secretly wanna get back together’ thing. Or what the hell was going on.”

Halvo had to take a moment to process what she said as her words were rushed and he could tell she was flustered saying them. He took a moment to composes himself and formulate his response. Of course he wanted to get back together with Chaney and the kiss, on his behalf at least, was anything but a fluke. He’d known from the get-go who she was and played that to his strengths hoping to win her over the same way he had in the past. It apparently worked as the pair were lip-locked when all was said and done. However, he’d never stopped to question if her boldness came from the alcohol or her hidden feelings. He couldn’t help but think she somehow knew it was him behind the mask the entire time. Why else would she have been so drawn to him?

Then again, he felt like he was kidding himself thinking like that. Of course to Chaney it was nothing more than a drunken makeout session. Her and John had been getting closer, as he’d been getting updates on her well-being from the singer himself. Naturally she was still bent on getting her New Year’s kiss from John and not him, and he would have to be alright with that. After all, isn’t that what he promised to help her with when he took on this challenge at the beginning of the year? This was the big climax in Chaney’s life. The moment she’d been looking forward to since she was a child. What kind of friend would he be to deprive her of a childhood dream? So he opted for what he deemed was the easy answer.

“I mean...yeah I had a few drinks. Did I have the clearest judgement? Probably not,” he forced a chuckle. “But it doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it,” he added at the end with a mischievous wiggle of his eyebrows. “You always were a great kisser Chane,” he added seriously.

She blushed at his words and leaned over to give a playful shove on the arm.

“Please, you’re just saying that because you’re my friend and have to be nice to me,” she joked.

Friend. She’d said it herself. It was official, Halvo thought. Chaney was officially “terminating” their relationship and putting a label on what he was to her. Whether she meant to or not, she just defined the terms between them, and he had no choice but to honor them.

“Psh, if I was really the friend you claimed I was, I’d be talking about how terrible of a kisser you are.”

The pair awkwardly laughed a bit at it, trying to make light of the obvious tension starting to stifle the room.

“So, what does that mean for us? I mean...I know we kissed, but what are we exactly?” Chaney asked.

Halvo ran a shaky hand through his hair, and moved his hand to start rubbing the back of his neck as he contemplated his answer.

“I mean, I think we’re now past the part of ignoring each other. Am I right?” he chuckled a bit, hoping to come off as if this wasn’t affecting him as deeply as it was.

“Oh! Um, yeah. Definitely. We uh, we’re definitely past the point of ignoring each other. I say we’ve moved onto the blissful ignorance of the other,” she teased.

He rolled his eyes and smiled. His Chaney was back. Not in the way he would’ve hoped, but he would take what he could get.

“So where do we go from here?” Halvo asked after a few moments.

“Do you wanna start over?” Chaney asked. She bit her lip and toyed with her fingers, wondering how he would take what she was saying.

Halvo quickly looked up at her, his heart fluttering in his chest at the thought that they could finally have the second chance that they never had.

“Yeah! I’d love that!” he replied a bit too enthusiastically.

“Great,” she laughed at his eagerness. “Let’s take things slow because it’s been a while since we really hung out. So I say we take it easy tonight. Friends?” she offered with her hand extended.

Halvo’s heart sunk in his chest for the third time that day. He quickly recovered, plastering on a smile as he extended his hand to shake in reply.

“Yeah, friends.”

“Great! I say we start off old school. Get back to our roots ya know?”

“What uh, what did you have in mind?” he inquired as he saw her get up off the couch and head towards her room.

She returned a few moments later with a few DVDs in hand.

“I figured we could kick off our new beginnings with a little John Hughes marathon,” she beamed while showing him the cases of their beloved movies.

He grinned as she walked over to the TV to choose a movie to put in.

“You can go ahead and put on Say Anything. I know you’ve been secretly dying to watch that one first anyway,” he chuckled.

She turned around, her wide grin matching his, as she took the disc out of the case and placed it in the DVD player. Chaney made her way to the kitchen and grabbed the bag of popcorn kernels from the pantry and turned on the stove as she moved to grab the stove-top popper from the under-counter cabinet. She made her way to the fridge and grabbed a couple bottles of beer and padded into the living room.

“Here, I got you a couple beers. You can go ahead and play the movie when the menu comes up. I’m gonna pop us some popcorn. I can see from the stove.”

He nodded and graciously took the bottle from her fingers as he popped the top off.

She returned to the kitchen, the stove warm enough to start popping the kernels. She poured the oil, butter, and kernels into the popper before placing it onto the stove. She started to turn the handle to stir the kernels in the oil and butter as they became heated and started to pop. Once all of the kernels had popped, she quickly removed it from the stove and turned it off. She grabbed a giant bowl and poured the freshly popped corn into the bowl and brought it into the living room, popping a few pieces in her mouth as she set the bowl on the coffee table and settled onto the couch.

She set back against the couch, eyes trained on the TV, and pulled the blanket off the back of the couch.

Halvo moved his gaze from the screen to her, admiring how little she had changed. Old habits die hard. He reflected on that statement as he turned his attention back to the screen. Maybe that’s where things had gone wrong. Nothing really changed between them. Not that lack of change was always a bad thing; traditions were nice. However he thought about it more and realized one part of his life which he had always kept to himself was his music. It wasn’t like Chaney didn’t know he was a musician, however he never talked about the band with her. It just wasn’t a factor in their relationship. He never felt the need to have to tell her about it. She didn’t care about it. Not in the way that she was apathetic about what he did, but more so in the way that his being in a band was just part of who he was. It wasn’t a factor that contributed to how they interacted. It was just something he did. He likened it much to how he and Chaney never discussed her job. Not that he didn’t care about what she did, it just wasn’t something either ever talked about with the other.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized maybe that’s where he messed up. Maybe this entire time he should’ve been more open with Chaney about things going on in his life, and not so passive about them. His mind drifted to his newest gig and he knew what he had to do.

He cleared his throat a bit to gain Chaney’s attention.

She turned her head to face him and gave him an expectant look, letting him know he had her full attention.

“So...I know this isn’t something we’ve ever really talked about, but I felt like I needed to tell you,” he started. He kept his eyes trained on the coffee table in front of him, scared to gauge Chaney’s reaction to what he was about to tell her.

Chaney sat frozen on the couch, having no idea where this was heading and was nervous to find out.

“Well, it’s about um, this new gig I got,” Halvo stated. “I um, well you know how Rocket split a little over a year ago?” He then moved his gaze towards Chaney so he could watch her reaction.

Her eyebrows furrowed at the question, and she slowly nodded her head.

“Right, and you know how since then, I’ve been kinda ambling about and helping out the guys at 8123 whenever I could?”

Once again, Chaney nodded.

“Well, I uh, I have a job now. Um, the last few months, I’ve been working with, and recently have become, the newest bass player for Cobra Starship.”

She only stared at him wide-eyed. “Wait...really?” She moved to sit up straighter as she was now more than intrigued. He never talked about the band with her.

“Yeah,” he chuckled, relieved that she seemed overly curious and genuinely interested in the new path his life had taken. “We actually played on Jimmy Kimmel the other night,” he stated proudly.

Chaney’s brow creased and she leaned over to grab a few pieces of popcorn before hurling them towards Halvo’s face. “And you didn’t bother to tell me about this?” she asked, clearly infuriated that he didn’t tell her.

“Woah! Sorry. I didn’t know if you’d actually watch. I mean, you never did when I was with Rocket; much less attend a show. Excuse me for being a bit skeptical about telling you.”

She then blushed and focused her attention on her hands, which still held a few pieces of popcorn. “It’s not that I never cared Halv, I just...god I hope you never thought I didn’t support you all that time,” she muttered.

He felt bad when she said that. He knew she supported him, and he didn’t realize until that moment that he implied that she hadn’t. “Of course I didn’t Indy.” His eyes widened at the name, as did Chaney’s as her head snapped up to stare at him. The name left his mouth before he could think about it.

“Well...I guess I can’t be too mad at you,” she replied. “It’s not exactly like I’ve been one-hundred percent honest with you either,” she admitted sheepishly.

“What are you--?”

Chaney shot him a pleading look as she got up from the couch and made her way to her bedroom. She walked over to her closet and shuffled through her clothes to find the painting still wrapped up and leaning against the back wall of her closet. She exhaled a sigh as she grabbed it and made her way to the living room. Biting her lip in nervousness, she placed the painting in Halvo’s lap.

He looked up at her confused. “What is this?”

“Just open it,” she replied as she sat on the couch. She pulled her feet up on the couch, her chin propped on her knees. She was sitting sideways on the couch, her left side braced against the back of the couch so she could see Halvo.

With a furrowed brow, he turned the painting over and began releasing the tape that was keeping the plastic wrapped around the painting. He carefully pulled the painting out of the plastic and turned it around so he could see the front. His face softened and his jaw went slack as he saw the picture.

“I um, I paint,” Chaney nervously chuckled. “I actually used to paint all the time. I tried going to art school, but my parents didn’t like the idea of me becoming a starving artist so I had to swap majors. Long story short, earlier this year I got an offer to show my work at a local gallery. This was one of the paintings I did.”

Halvo looked back at the painting, lightly trailing his fingers down one of the sides of the painting. He vaguely recognized the picture she had painted. It was an older one of him, that had to have been from sometime back in high school or when he first went to college. Back when his hair was much longer than it is now. He vaguely remembered this picture being in a frame in Chaney’s old room at home. He didn’t remember the situation surrounding the picture, much less it being taken. But he did recall Chaney once saying that it was one of her favorite pictures she’d ever taken of him. Smiling at the thought he moved to hand the painting back to Chaney.

She stopped him from giving her the painting; pushing it back towards him instead. “How um, how about you have it. I already have a copy I like,” she chuckled.

He smiled warmly at her before putting it back in the plastic and setting it down beside his chair. Maybe they would be alright after all. Maybe things weren’t where he wished they were at the moment, but he was determined to win her back. He wouldn’t stop trying to win her back until she had a ring on her finger.