...And a Happy New Year

January 17, 2014

Chaney woke up and flung her arm across her body to shut off the music coming her phone, alerting her it was time to get up. She groaned as she hit snooze, wishing to drift back off to sleep for a few more minutes.

Not even two minutes later, one of her back up alarms went off with a different song. She made multiple alarms that went off every couple of minutes to ensure she got up in case she accidentally turned off her alarms rather than hit snooze. This morning was one of those mornings that she hated the fact that she made so many alarms.

She finally sat up in bed and went to her phone to turn off all 15 of her alarms that were pre-set to go off. To the average person, she may seem insane for creating so many alarms, but Chaney was a deep sleeper and loved her sleep. She’s not a morning person, and hated waking up, though once she was awake, she was awake for the day.

She slowly rose from bed and made her way to her closet to pick out her clothes for the day. She looked at her vanity mirror and saw that her hair wasn’t a total wreck and didn’t look greasy so she decided not to bother with a shower this morning.

Rifling through her closet, she was debating on what exactly she wanted to wear. She checked the weather on her phone, not surprised to find it was another comfortably warm January day. She picked out a light-weight, but work appropriate outfit and got ready.

As she finished, she put on her heels as she walked down the stairs to look for something to eat. For whatever reason, she seemed off today and wasn’t exactly sure why. She never struggled with figuring out what to wear, and most mornings she didn’t worry about what to eat for breakfast. However, this morning, making the most basic decisions were such monumental tasks for her. Not able to settle on what to eat, she slammed the cabinet door shut and groaned in annoyance before settling for a banana that was sitting in the fruit bowl on the kitchen table. She opened the fridge and saw she still had a couple of her breakfast smoothies, so she grabbed a strawberry one, grabbed her purse, and made her way to the car.

Once in the car, she was once again faced with the decision of what music to listen to. She couldn’t be bothered to make a decision, so she turned off the radio and didn’t plug her phone into her axillary adapter on her stereo.

She made it to work with no problem, despite her challenges with making decisions for menial tasks. She only hoped this wouldn’t be a reflection of what her day at work would be like. She didn’t know if she’d make it to 5:00 at the rate she was functioning.

Once in her cubicle, she checked her emails, and began to file the paperwork she didn’t finish filing the day before. Chaney hadn’t realized that she had zoned out, much less how long she had zoned out, until she heard someone from above her clear their throat. She looked up to find her co-worker Stephanie looking down over the top of Chaney’s cubicle from her own cubicle in front of her.

“Hey girl. You okay? You’ve been out of it today. Everything alright?”

Chaney looked up. “Yeah, I guess. I don’t know though. I woke up this morning and just feel…off. I’m not sure what’s going on. I have this weird feeling in my gut that something strange is going to happen, but I can’t place what it is or why it would be affecting me.”

Stephanie hummed in contemplation. “Hun, I’m not sure what to tell you.”

Right about that time, their boss walked over to Chaney’s cubicle, and Stephanie quickly sat down at her desk, hoping they didn’t get in trouble.

“Chaney. Stephanie. How’s the filing going Chaney?”

She shuffled through her stack of papers to check and noted that she had finished all but a couple. She relayed that information back to him before he replied.

“Alright, go ahead and finish up those last couple of files. Oh, and go home. You look deplorable. Grab some food, coffee, whatever you run on, and go home and get some sleep. I don’t have any other work for you today so feel free to go home after you finish. Stephanie, same to you. You girls work hard enough. Take the afternoon off. But don’t get too used to this, I’m just feeling generous today.”

“Thank you Mr. Rickford.” They replied simultaneously.

“Hey Chaney, since we have the afternoon off, what do you say to having a girls night? Me and a couple other girls from the office were thinking of hitting up one of the bars tonight for a couple drinks. What do ya say?”

She contemplated for a moment before replying. “Yeah, that sounds like fun. What time did you want to meet up?”

“Um…how about I just pick you up at your place around 7:30?”

“That works. I’ll see you then.”

Chaney then quickly finished her filing, and looked at the clock on her computer, noting the time was 1:15. She couldn’t believe they were given the afternoon off. She knew Mr. Rickford was nice, and she typically didn’t have any complaints about him. He was a great boss. He, however, never gave anyone an afternoon off because he was feeling generous, so she wondered what the reasoning was. She decided not to question it as she cleaned up her desk and quickly grabbed her stuff before heading out of the office.

She made her way to her obnoxiously bright VW bug and got in, relieved that it wasn’t that hot inside the car. She turned on her car and contemplated where to go, figuring she would need to eat something with a lot of carbs if she intended to drink tonight. She was such a lightweight when it came to alcohol and Halvo endlessly teased her about it. One would think that she would be able to keep up with the guys with as much as they drink, how often they drank, and how often she was in attendance when this occurred. Unfortunately, she never built up the tolerance, and she got tipsy after one bottle of beer.

She decided to go to the small café John took her to the other day, recalling that they also served pre-made deli sandwiches. She could use the caffeine and their sandwiches looked good enough.

She drove to the small café, vaguely remembering how they got there the other day. She got out of her car, half hoping to see his rickety old white truck pull up. Part of her wanted that, but the better part of her said to not expect it so she wouldn’t be disappointed if he didn’t show up. She kept telling herself that. Over and over. It didn’t soften the blow any, when he indeed didn’t show up when she finished her coffee and sandwich.

She got in her car, and headed home. She was relieved to discover she still had the house to herself when she pulled in the driveway. She made her way inside and headed up to her room to crash for a few hours before she had to get ready for the girls’ night later.

For whatever reason, Chaney still felt off about today and wasn’t seeming to function properly. Everything she did just wore her out, and she was thankful to get a few extra hours of much needed sleep. She once again set her plethora of alarms before drifting off to sleep.

She awoke a few hours later to her alarm going off, signaling for the second time today that she needed to get up. She was still felt like a laggard, but more so because of just waking up compared to how she felt this morning.

However, she still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. She didn’t feel so much that it was her, but more so that she would be in some situation sometime in the near future that would completely derail her life. This gut feeling escalated during her nap from being a mere annoyance of the feeling that something was going to happen, to straight up fear that she was about to be in or witness some life changing event. She couldn’t explain this feeling more than it was some sixth-sense intuition that she got. This feeling didn’t happen often, but when it did, whatever her gut was telling her, typically happened. She was becoming worried about what awaited her tonight, as this impeding feeling in her gut about whatever would take place seemed to come closer. By the time she waited outside to meet Stephanie, she had the feeling that whatever was going to happen would happen this weekend. She prayed it wasn’t tonight. She had no idea what was about to happen nor what the consequences of that night would entail.

***

Chaney, Stephanie, and a couple of their co-workers were sitting around a tall bar table towards the back of the bar when Chaney decided to get another drink. She had been drinking fairly light, sticking with less alcoholic drinks to begin with. Now however, she was having fun and was ready to feel the buzz the other girls were already feeling.

She walked up to the bar and ordered a Screwdriver. The bartender nodded and went to go make her drink.

She turned her head to the right to take in her surroundings, when she heard a voice from her left say to the bartender, “I’ll have what this pretty lady is having and put her drinks on my tab.”

Blushing, she turned her head towards the voice of the stranger to see who was being so kind to her when she nearly fell off the bar stool. It was none other than Halvo standing next to her.

Upon realizing that it was Chaney next to him, Halvo’s eyes bulged out of his face, and his mouth was agape. “Indy? What are you…I didn’t recognize you! You look so…so…”

“Spit it out Halvo.”

“Just…wow I don’t know. You clean up good kid.”

She rolled her eyes. “Thanks.”

“Here on a date?”

“Hardly. Girls’ night with some of my co-workers.”

“Ooo! That sounds fun! Are any of them hot?”

She punched his shoulder. “Seriously?”

“Sorry! My wing man left me to talk to some table of chicks.”

Chaney followed the general direction where Halvo was pointing and had to grip the bar for balance when she saw none other than John talking to her table of co-workers. He was especially using his charm on Stephanie who was eating up whatever he was saying. She couldn’t deny it, he was charming and very easy to talk to. He was once again being the socialite, and she was on the outside looking in. She began to wonder if it would ever end.

Halvo noticed her hypnotic staring at the table of girls John was talking to, and looked back and forth between Chaney and John before he put it together. “Oh my god. He’s hitting on your co-workers…”
Chaney merely nodded in response, unable to formulate words.

The bartender had long put her Screwdriver in front of her. She quickly drank it and ordered two shots of whiskey.

Halvo tried to slow her down and take the shots away from her, but she pushed his hands away as she threw back both shots. She cringed at the burning of the amber liquid down her throat, but shook it off as she hopped off the bar stool and made her way back to the table of her co-workers.

Stephanie was the first to speak. “Chaney! I want you to meet this guy. He’s super sweet. His name is—”

“John?”

John looked up at Chaney from his stare at Stephanie before his face completely changing. He went from smiling to being completely emotionless and cold. Without warning, he put his hand on Stephanie’s shoulder, slyly slipping her some piece of paper that Chaney assumed was his number, before whispering something in her ear and walking off. As he walked off, he couldn’t help but glare at Chaney.

“Huh, wonder what that was all about. Chaney, how did you know John?”

“He’s my neighbor. He lives across the street from me and has since I was six.”

“He WHAT? Chaney, why didn’t you ever say anything about him before? He’s gorgeous!”

She knew that and didn’t need her one friend from work thinking so as well. She had no idea what was up with John, but he was mad at her for reasons unknown to her, and now he was hitting on one of her co-workers. Perfect. That shit storm that she had been dreading all day? She just found herself in the calm before it started.

***

John made his way back to Halvo who was still seated at the bar, watching this whole scene unfold, still in his shocked state from before.

John waved his hand in front of Halvo’s face to get him out of his daze. “Dude, what’s your problem? You okay man? Ya kinda blanked out on me.”

Halvo shook it off before turning to John. “Uh, I’m fine, just…never mind. So, what’s up with you and Indy?”

“Nothing. Why?”

“I just mean, I don’t know, like you didn’t even say hi to her. Did you guys get into it or something? Last I knew you guys were cool, but then she was saying something about you acting weird towards her and after your sudden exit after talking to that table of girls I sorta believe her.”

“What the hell are you talking about Halvo?” John asked exasperated. “What exactly has Chaney been saying I’ve done?”

“I don’t know, she just said that last weekend you gave her a ride home, and everything seemed fine, but by the time you guys got home, you all but kicked her out without so much as a goodbye, and dude, that’s so unlike you.”

John just rolled his eyes. “She has no clue what she’s talking about. Shit’s crazy. Just let her be. It’s all in her head.” John then ordered a couple whiskey shots, just like Chaney had just done, and threw them back just as quickly as she did.

Halvo was beginning to wonder what exactly was going on with John and Chaney and why John suddenly seemed so closed off.

What Halvo didn’t realize is that John was doing this for him. John didn’t think Halvo had any idea of what kind of girl Chaney really was, and he intended to show him. So what if he happened to get a few dates off one of her more attractive co-workers? John was more than willing to make that “sacrifice” if it meant he could more inside information to use against Chaney. He didn’t know what exactly he was looking for, but since that drunken game of truth or dare, he didn’t trust her. He would do whatever he could to prove to Halvo that Chaney wasn’t the kind of girl he needed to be close to. He remembered distinctly the look on Halvo’s face when Chaney really kissed him, and how Halvo seemed to look like it was the most natural thing in the world. What was even more ingrained in John’s mind was how Chaney had been looking at him from the corner of her eye the entire time she kissed Halvo.

John admitted to not having the cleanest or most reputable history with girls, but even he thought that was shallow. He had no idea what was running in her head, but something about the smug look on her face as she kissed Halvo and pranced back into the house after that, just rubbed him the wrong way. He felt bad for poor Halvo because the guy doesn’t claim to remember a thing. Especially because in those brief moments that Chaney kissed Halvo, Halvo looked the happiest and most content that he had in years. John figured the poor kid probably had no idea that he was in love with his best friend. John never would have figured Halvo liked Chaney if it weren’t for their lip-locking. He decided then, more so than when he was 11, that he would look out for Halvo. Especially now. Halvo needed John to save him from the wreckage that Chaney would leave behind in her wake, or at least John thought so. He was determined to show Halvo how misguided he was and expose Chaney for the fraud she was. He just needed to figure out how to do it.