Need help please ... small programming issue for a new user :(

How about this:

int led1 = 13;
int led2 = 2;

byte ledState = 0;
unsigned long current_millis;
unsigned long saved_millis;

void setup ( ) {
  pinMode(led1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(led2, OUTPUT);
}
void loop ( ) {
  current_millis = millis(); // sample the "time"
  if ( (current_millis - saved_millis)>=500){ // 500 mS gone by?
    saved_millis = current_millis; // save the "time"
    digitalWrite (led1, ledState); // flip the LEDs on/off
    digitalWrite (led2, !ledState);  // flip the LEDs on/off
    ledState = 1-ledState;  // set up for next pass thru loop - results in 1-0-1-0 
  }
// now your code is free to do other stuff here
}