Black & White

January 10, 2020

“Chaney, is this really necessary?” Halvo whined as he struggled with putting his tie on. “I hate these things. These parties aren’t for guys. They’re for girls to gossip and rub in each other’s faces how well off they are compared to others…”

She laughed as she pulled on her heels and straightened out her dress and walked over to him. “C’mon Halv, you know it’s not gonna be like that. Look who our friends are. Do you honestly think that we are gonna be that way?” she chuckled as she pushed his hands away so she could fix his tie.

“Ugh, no. I guess not. But a suit? Really? It’s not like we’re at a fucking wedding,” he grumbled as he watched her tie his tie.

She finished tying the knot and placed her hands on his chest. “Halv, we have to dress up. It’s a party for us and John and Kelly. We have to be well-dressed,” she smirked.

“But...I don’t wanna wear this. If it’s a party where we chill with the guys, why can’t I just wear what I always do? What’s the need for all the pomp and circumstance? Don’t you find it all a bit superfluous?”

Chaney moved her hands to the knot on his tie and straightened it out a bit and held her hands there. “Halv, c’mon. I just need you to come to this one. The engagement party with all our family won’t be until later and you don’t have to be there. Kelly and I just wanted a way for all our friends to celebrate our engagements. You know after a little alcohol and a few minutes around the guys, you’ll forget you’re even wearing a suit.”

“I guess,” he dramatically sighed as he clasped his hands over hers. “But it’s not fair that you still get to look so good no matter what you wear,” he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Keep it in your pants,” she chuckled. “If you behave, you’ll be out of that suit sooner than you think,” she winked as she pecked his lips and went to put on her jewlery.

Halvo followed her into the bathroom across the hall and stood behind her as she put in her earrings. His arms wrapped around her waist as he watched her finish getting ready. “You can’t just say shit like that and expect me to walk away from that,” he smirked.

“Not my fault you can’t control your urges,” she teased as she grabbed her necklace and went to put it on.

Halvo removed his hands from her waist and grabbed the ends of her necklace and clasped it for her before planting a couple small kisses on the side of her neck.

“Halvo,” she warned as her eyes closed.

“What?” he chuckled as he kept lightly kissing the side of her neck.

Chaney tried to steady her breathing as he left feather-light kisses against her skin. “You can’t start something you know we don’t have time to finish. We have to go,” she breathed, her will to leave slowly waning the more he continued his actions.

He smirked against her skin, “You don’t sound too convinced. They won’t notice if we’re a few minutes late. I mean...I work fast,” he laughed as he began to slowly start sucking her skin.

She laughed and shoved his face away from her neck. “Later,” she emphasized. “We’re running late as it is. I promise we can pick this back up when we get back. Alex is over at Melinda’s for the night so we won’t have any interruptions.”

“No, what you mean is, we won’t have any restrictions. We can be as loud and fuck as many times as we want,” he grinned.

“Oh my god,” she chuckled, her cheeks turning a bit pink, “I see you’re still horny as ever.”

His face grew serious. “Well...yeah. There hasn’t been anyone since you,” he replied simply.

Her heart swelled, but the pit in her stomach grew at the fact she couldn’t exactly say the same. Instead she held the side of his face and kissed him sweetly. “I love you,” she murmured against his lips.

He smiled and pecked her lips a few times before grabbing her hand on his face and bringing it down to his side. “I love you too. C’mon, we’ve got an engagement party to get to.”

***

Halvo pulled onto the street outside John and Kelly’s house and saw that a lot of the guys were already there. He grabbed Chaney’s hand as he lead them to the front door and walked on in. He looked around to see all of the guys dressed fairly casually. All had jeans and a casual button down shirt on. Then he spotted John. He had on his jeans, ratty Chucks, and one of his short-sleeved button down shirts on with the sleeves rolled up.

“Chaney,” he whined, “all of the guys are dressed casually. Even John. Why did I get put in a fucking suit?”

She looked over at him with a wicked smirk. “Two reasons. One, it gives you practice for our wedding. Two, it makes me wanna rip it off of you,” she winked, tugging on his tie to bring his lips to hers briefly before releasing her grip on him and moving away so she could resist him a bit longer.

Chaney went to find Kelly and saw her standing over near the kitchen with a girl she didn’t recognize. She carefully approached, not wanting to interrupt, but wanting to let Kelly know that she and Halvo had arrived.

The moment Kelly saw her, she waved Chaney over. “Chane! Get your cute butt over here!” she squealed with a giant grin on her face.

She laughed and made her way through the crowd of their friends, giving polite waves and smiles as she reached Kelly.

“Chaney! I want you to meet my friend Melody. We were roommates back in art school. I was a painter. She was a...well, she did everything,” she chuckled. “What was your official major?”

Melody rolled her eyes. “I was a ceramicist,” she laughed, “but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to not take advantage of trying other mediums.”

“She’s right. I’m pretty sure one semester she had a foundations class in all the remaining mediums available,” Kelly laughed. “Anyway, Melody, this is Chaney. You both need to become great friends because you will be seeing a lot of each other. I’m relying on you two to help me pull this wedding off,” she chuckled.

Melody reached to shake Chaney’s hand when she felt something wet hit her foot. She looked down to see someone had spilled their drink all over her heels. He was hunched over on the floor as he tried to wipe it up.

He got off his feet and stood up, and went to look at Melody and apologize. “Shit, I’m---” he paused when he met her gaze.

“You’re….what?” Melody teased with a grin.

He shook his head and a wide grin spread across his face. “I’m sorry. I’m also Kennedy,” he said as he reached out to shake her hand.

She laughed at him a bit and took his hand briefly to shake. “Don’t worry about the shoes. I was looking for a reason to take them off. I’m Melody by the way,” she chuckled as she stepped out of her shoes and dropped in height by about half a foot.

He just smirked as he looked down at her. “You’re so short,” he laughed.

She ignored his comment with a playful roll of her eyes. “So, which do I call you? Sorry? Or Kennedy?” she chuckled.

“Well what do I call you? Short or Melody?” he teased.

“Touche. Call me Melody. But I go by Mel.”

“Alright then Melody-but-I-go-by-Mel,” he smirked. “You can call me Kennedy, but I go by Ken.”

“Wow, you are a smooth one aren’t you,” she teased. “Spilling your drinks on girls’ shoes so you can make fun of them. Real charmer you are.”

“Hey, I can hold my own. You on the other hand…” he chuckled, “you may need some help. Might need to work out to keep up with me.”

“I’ll keep that in mind next to remembering not to wear nice things around you and to always carry a towel. Ya know, because you’re clumsy and need looking after.”

“Man you’re a sassy ass aren’t you?” he laughed.

“Yeah, I’ll do squats so my ass matches my sass,” she countered.

He leaned around her to take a look at her backside and hummed approvingly. “I’ll say this, you don’t need squats for shaping your ass,” he chuckled. “But I do hate to tell you that squats, no matter how much you do, still won’t make you tall enough to ride the big kid rides.”

“I’m not that short!” she laughed, giving him a playful shove. “I’m 5’4” thank you very much.”

“Oh wow. So we know you need a step stool to reach the top shelf am I right?”

“Now you’re just being mean,” she laughed. “And that meanness doesn’t make you any less clumsy. Last I checked, my new heels were still soaked.”

His face softened a bit and his voice lowered. “I am sorry about ruining your shoes.”

She waved it off. “Seriously, it’s not a big deal. I bought them clearance and they’re knock-offs. The beer will wash right off. Promise,” she gave him a small smile.

His face relaxed. “That’s good to hear I guess?” he said with a confused chuckle. “I’ve gotta go, I’m being summoned by a couple friends, but I’ll see you around yeah? It was good meeting you Melody. Nice seeing you Kelly and Chaney.” He then dismissed himself and joined the group of guys Halvo and John were in.

Kelly and Chaney watched Melody shamelessly check him out as he walked away and waited for her to return her gaze and attention back to their conversation. “What?” she asked with a sheepish laugh.

“Uh...what was that?” Kelly asked with a knowing smirk.

“What was what?”

“Flirt much?” Kelly accused teasingly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Melody mumbled with a slight blush as she turned her head.

“Ken’s a great guy, Melody. You could do a whole lot worse than him,” Chaney chuckled. “I’ve known the guy about as long as I’ve known John. Ken’s a solid dude.”

“I don’t know why you guys think I like have a crush on him or something. I mean, I barely talked to the dude.”

“We never said you had a crush on him. You did,” Kelly chuckled.

Melody groaned. “I need more alcohol. I’ll be back.”

Once Melody had moved into the kitchen in search of a drink, Kelly turned to Chaney. “So what do you think?”

“I think we have a new couple on our hands,” Chaney laughed.

“Well, that too,” she chuckled, “but I meant about Mel. What do you think of her?”

“I think we’ll get along just fine. She seems to fit right in with us. And uh, she’s already won over Kennedy. Have you noticed that his eyes have stayed glued over here since he left?” Chaney smiled.

“I know. I think it’s adorable. We’ll have to see how this pans out. Especially if Mel thinks she isn’t flirting. I mean, did you see the way she was checking him out?” Kelly laughed.

“Can you blame her? I mean, the guy cleans up well. I know I’ve got Halvo and I love him to death, but damn, it’s nice to look.”

“God, I know what you mean. The man can wear the hell out of suspenders. And that’s coming from someone who lives to see John in suspenders,” she laughed.

“Girl, I feel you. I could say the same about Halvo. Actually I can, because I was able to convince him to wear them with his fitted suit tonight,” Chaney smirked mischievously

“Uh oh, I’m sensing hidden motives here. Spill,” she said with a grin.

Chaney shrugged innocently. “I may have convinced Halvo that this was a formal affair just so I’d have an excuse to see him in really nice fitting clothes that show off his assets,” she laughed.

“That’s a good one, I should take a page from your book…” Kelly mused.

Melody rejoined the group with a full cup of amber liquid. “God I love whiskey,” she said as she took a hearty sip. “Alright, what did I miss?”

“Nothing except Chaney convincing Halvo to wear a suit so she could check him out all night,” she chuckled.

“Ah, so he’s the one you’re with. Okay. Kel was filling me in a bit before you got here, but I never saw either of you come in, so I didn’t know who the lucky guy was.” She stood on her tiptoes in attempts to see over the crowd to see if she could spot him. “Ah there he is. The only guy in a suit and sporting a Clark Kent hairdo. I must say I’m impressed,” she said as she sunk back down. “Ya did good.”

“Uh...thanks,” Chaney chuckled nervously. “So how long are you in town for Melody?”

She shrugged. “As long as I’m needed. I work remote at my job, so it travels with me. It helps that I can barely stay in one place for an extended period of time anyway,” she laughed.

Halvo walked over about that time and silently excused Chaney from the conversation.

“Halv, what’s wrong? Are you alright?” she asked nervously.

“Yes and no. The party is...fine, just like you said it would be. However having to watch you strut around in that dress and me not being able to deal with it properly is not alright. So either we sneak away and find their guest room or we bolt and go home. The sight of you in that dress is driving me crazy.”

Her breathing hitched at his words. She looked around, hoping no one overheard him. “But Halv, we just got here…”

“Then meet me in the guest room. I told you, I can work fast,” he smirked. He kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear, “Find me in five minutes. I’ll be in the guest room. Waiting.” He pecked her cheek again, shooting her a wink as he walked away.

She watched as he effortlessly weaved his way through the crowd and managed to slip down the hallway unnoticed and make it into the guest room. She bit her lip as she tried to think of her escape when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see an angry John standing behind her with his arms crossed. She sighed and rolled her eyes.

“What do you want John?” she groaned as she brushed past him and made her way to the kitchen to grab a beer from the fridge.

“You know damn well what!” he said sternly, his voice slightly raised.

She gave shot him a glare and bolted from the kitchen, finding the back door and leaving it open as she went to stand on the patio. She popped the cap off her drink before taking a hearty sip, never once turning around when she heard the sliding door behind her close.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” John asked accusingly with as much venom as he could muster.

“Drinking a fucking beer at my joint engagement party. What does it look like I’m doing?” she quipped back.

“It looks like you’re trying to destroy the life you’ve spent the last five years building.”

At that she turned around to look at him incredulously. “Oh really? And what makes you so sure? I mean, you are the one that pushed so hard to get me and Halvo together. I don’t know what your deal is.”

“Together, yes. Engaged, no,” he said sternly.

“Oh that’s real rich John. This coming from the guy who can’t commit a single feeling towards someone. It’s a real shock you and Kelly have lasted as long as you have because of how hot and cold you are with people.”

He was seeing red the more she spoke. “Yeah? This coming from a girl who picks up a relationship she hadn’t had in over five years and jumps into engagement before learning anything about him!”

“John, we’ve been friends for almost 20 fucking years! It’s not like he’s a random stranger I met on the street,” she defended.

“Then clearly you don’t know him,” he countered. “Do you even know anything about his roommates that he’s going to have to leave behind because of you?”

“Yeah, he said he found an ad for an apartment in LA when he moved and is living with some girl and her son. I don’t get what the big deal is. He was upfront with me about it.”

“Like you were upfront with him about our history?” he said sternly, crossing his arms.

“Pot calling the kettle black a bit huh? From what Kelly tells me, we were just casual friends that met through Halvo. She doesn’t even know about why we became friends to begin with does she?” she seethed.

“Like it matters anymore,” he defended. “Clearly we have both moved on past whatever the hell that was five years ago. No sense in bringing up old wounds.”

The last sentence hurt her a bit more than it should have. “Fuck you,” she muttered, her eyes shooting daggers at him.

“Trust me sweetheart, you have. And you would be considered lucky to have such an opportunity again,” he said condescendingly.

“I don’t know what Kelly saw in you. You’re being an asshole and I don’t understand why. I know this isn’t you. So when the John I used to know has returned, you can talk to me. Until then, fuck off and leave me alone,” she breathed, her eyes brimming with tears. She roughly brushed past him and stormed inside. She set her bottle down on a random table and escaped to the bathroom to try and collect herself. The door was locked and she put the lid on the toilet down as she took a seat and tried to keep herself from crying. She didn’t understand why things with John were always so complex. Their friendship was finally in a good spot until she got engaged. She refused to let her fights with John get in the way of her engagement to Halvo. She was far too happy to let his words affect her.

She heard a small knock on the door. “Chaney?”

It was Halvo on the other side of the door. She quickly wiped her eyes and looked in the mirror to try and rid the evidence on her face that she had been crying. She unlocked the door and opened it with a forced smile.

“Yeah? What’s up Halvo?” She pulled him in the bathroom, closing the door behind him and shutting the door before shoving him against it and attaching her lips to his.

He was momentarily unresponsive, thrown off by her actions, but soon responded as he kissed her back. His lips trailing across her face and down her neck as he held her body to his.

Her hands were braced on his chest, lightly tugging on the collar of his suit jacket as he kissed her neck. Her worries and hurt feelings over John’s words flying from her mind by the simple touch from Halvo. His kisses quieting her mind and making her worries and fears disappear.

Halvo sensed something was up because there was a different sort of desperation in her actions and kiss than normal. He pulled back and saw her reddened and slightly red face and puffy eyes. His hands instantly cupped her cheeks. “Chane? What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” he asked worried as his eyes scanned her face hoping to find some answer hidden in her facial expression.

She sighed, “Nothing. I just need you Halvo.”

“Babe, I’m here. What do you need? What happened to make you cry?” he asked as his thumbs brushed across her cheeks.

“I need you,” she emphasized, hoping he would catch on to her meaning. “Take me home Halvo. I don’t wanna do this in a bathroom or this house,” she mumbled as she attached her lips to his jaw to leave kisses there.

He swallowed thickly, his brows furrowing in concern. Something happened in the few minutes since he last saw her. But all he knew is that whatever shook her up, she needed him to fix her. Much like he had in the past. And he was more than willing to do so; hoping she would eventually let him in on what was bothering her.

He pulled her away from his neck, trying to mask the concern on his face and in his voice. “Yeah, let’s get out of here. I’ll sneak us out.” He grabbed her hand in his and unlocked the door as he sought an escape route.

Chaney followed close behind him, keeping her head ducked as they walked against the walls and made a quick escape. It took all of her willpower not to run to his car as they walked from the house. She was even more desperate to be with Halvo now than she had been at the beginning of the night.

Halvo got in the driver’s seat and reached across the center console to hold Chaney’s hand as he drove home. He tried to keep the concern he had for her hidden as she seemed to be troubled enough as it was. He was trying to figure out what could’ve possibly happened to her to shake her up so badly.

Chaney sat in the passenger’s seat and suddenly the words John spoke to her echoed in her mind. She needed a distraction. She needed a fix. She needed Halvo. He had always been there to fix her in the past. That night wouldn’t be any different. Maybe if she could push John’s words from her head long enough to enjoy her time with Halvo, she could forget about the hurtful words spoken to her.

She didn’t want to wait for the foreplay when they got home. She wanted him to be ready the moment they walked in the door. She picked up their intertwined hands and began kissing his hand softly. She examined his long, slender fingers and began kissing each one individually, before taking one of them and placing it between her lips as she began to suck on it softly.

Halvo nearly ran off the road the moment she started sucking on his finger. “Ch-chaney? What are you doing?” he asked nervously, his breathing becoming uneven and his heart racing. She couldn’t be doing this to him now while he was trying to drive them safely home.

“What? I’m just getting ready for when we get home…” she replied innocently around his finger as she continued to lightly suck on it.

“Chane, I don’t wanna crash. I can’t do this right now…”

“You’re not doing anything. This is all me. Please let me,” she said softly as she pulled his finger further into her mouth, sucking harder.

Halvo worked to distract his mind as he drove as fast as he could home. Chaney wasn’t making it easy on him to do so. His desire for her was getting stronger the more she continued what she was doing. He finally pulled in front of the apartment building and turned off the car. Chaney met him around the front of the car and grabbed his hand, pulling him inside as she practically ran upstairs to the room.

Once they were standing in front of the door, he started looking through the key ring for the room key. While he looked for the key, Chaney began kissing the side of his neck and nipping at his earlobe. “Babe, can’t you wait until we’re inside? I’m still trying to find the key…”

“It’s hard to when you look so good in that suit,” she mumbled against his neck.

He nearly dropped his keys as her kisses turned to soft sucks on the side of his neck. He finally found the key and reached around her to unlock the door as he guided her backwards into the apartment, shutting the door behind him.

Chaney grabbed his hand and led him to their room and pushed him against the wall as she roughly began kissing his lips, her hands tugging on the collar of his suit jacket. She slid her hands up his chest to his shoulders and began to push his jacket off.

He leaned off the wall to pull it off while Chaney started working on his tie and buttons of his shirt. He slid the suspenders off his shoulders and reached around her back to unzip her dress. He pulled off his shirt and threw his tie off to the side as she stepped out of her dress and heels, kicking them off against the wall. She reached for the button and zipper of his dress pants, undoing them both and allowing him to step out of his shoes and pants as their lips stayed connected.

Halvo turned them around and pushed her up against the wall, grabbing one of her legs and wrapping it around his waist as his body pushed against hers. His lips started to trail down her neck and lingered at her collarbone. Her head lolled back against the wall as he kissed across her chest, her breathing unsteady as she looked up at the ceiling. She had a hand tangled in the back of his hair, the other clutching around his torso and grabbing onto his back. This was what she needed. She needed to get lost in Halvo and his touch. It had a way of keeping her calm. He was slowly drowning out the voices in her head as he lead them to the bed, both discarding the remainder of their clothes as he laid them down.

The feel of his body against hers was something she’d missed over the last five years. She’d forgotten how perfectly their bodies melded together. She relished the feeling of how he felt lying above her as they kissed. Her clouded mind momentarily defogged as his touch and movements made her feel at peace. She was desperate for him in a different way than she normally was and it was as if he was responding accordingly. The tighter she clung to him, the more he made his presence known; simple touches or kisses reminding her that she wasn’t alone.

The feel of his body collapsed completely on her brought her back to the reality of her life. She wasn’t distracted by the touch and feel of him, but she did feel significantly better than she had before. His head was lying on her collarbone as she played with his hair. They remained silent as they both tried to steady their breathing.

After a few minutes of silence, Halvo sat up, bracing his arms on either side of her. “Chaney? Are you alright?” He couldn’t help but ask. His mind had been reeling as he tried to figure out what had happened.

She gave him a soft smile and nodded. She pulled his head down so she could give him a soft kiss. “I’m better now. Thank you,” she said with a smile as she cupped the side of his face.

He pecked her lips and moved from lying on her and moved to lay beside her. He turned on his side and faced her. “What happened back there to upset you so badly?”

She turned her head to look at him. “It doesn’t matter. Some prick said some rude things. It’s over and I feel better now, so don’t worry about it.”

He nodded and draped his arm across her stomach. “John asked me to be his best man and I asked him to be mine…” he trailed off.

Chaney rolled onto her side to face him now. “Oh?” she said trying to sound as genuinely interested as she could. Honestly, the idea of having to see John more than she had to seemed unappealing. She was sick of him giving her the third degree about her engagement to Halvo.

“Yeah. I told him I wasn’t sure when we planned to have ours, but that I wanted him by my side that day.”

“What did he say?” she asked hesitantly.

Halvo shrugged. “He’d said he would. Why would he say any different?” he asked rhetorically.

“I don’t know. I was just curious if he’d talked to you about our engagement or not…”

He sat up, propped up on his elbow as he looked down at her. “Why….? Has he said something to you about it?” he asked, the concern and anger slowly appearing in his voice.

She didn’t want to talk about it as the wounds were still fresh. “No, I mean, not since that night we got engaged. I guess I’m just shocked is all,” she shrugged.

“Well we’re still engaged. Nothing's gonna stop that alright? It’ll take a hell of a lot more than a pissy John to get rid of me,” he laughed.

She smiled and leaned over to peck his lips. “Good to know.”

“Speaking of, we’ve gotta move…”

She sighed, “I know. I’m gonna call the storage place tomorrow so we can reserve us a unit to move all our stuff until we find a place.”

“That helps. I uh, I’m actually heading back to LA tomorrow to start packing up...it’s been over a week and I need to go back and get my stuff together and get ready to move.”

She sighed sadly. “I guess I should go back home too. I’ve talked to my roommate about my engagement and we’ve worked out how to do the lease for the next couple months. It ends in March so that helps. In the meantime, I’ll pay my half of rent to her while she looks for another roommate. What about you?”

“I haven’t talked to mine yet. I figured it should be something I tell them in person ya know? Especially because of her son and stuff. He’s still pretty young and I felt I should tell them in person so I can sit and explain to him what’s going on.”

She smiled. “You’ve got such a good heart. I think that’s wonderful that you’re doing that. I’m sure they’ll both appreciate it; especially his mom.”

He nervously laughed, “Uh, yeah. I bet she will. Anyway, I have an early afternoon flight to head back to LA. I’ve gotta drop the car back off at my parents’ and they’re gonna take me to the airport. I wondered if you wanted to join us for brunch tomorrow. Dana will be there and she’s been hounding me for our engagement story,” he chuckled. “I figured you would probably wanna tell it. Mom would love to hear it from you anyway,” he smiled.

“I’d love to. I’ll just ride with you when you head over there. I’ll bring my stuff with and that way when they take you to the airport I can get a flight to San Fran. I’ll look tonight for a ticket.”

“Sounds perfect,” he grinned, pecking her lips once again.

Halvo had a lot to take care of in LA before he moved back to Tempe. It wouldn’t be an easy transition for any of them, and he secretly worried about how it would all pan out, but hoped that it would all work out. He was torn between two lives and trying to figure out how to balance it all before it all blew up in his face.