I thought we’d just be inside the bar, counting down from ten then screamHappy New Yearand go back home ten minutes later… apparently, I was wrong.
So now we’re standing outside, me keeping Sofia in my arms because this woman forgot her jacket inside and is freezing her goddamn skin off. And she keeps wondering why I nicknamed her icicle. She literallyisone.
Eventually we can hear the people inside the bar start to count down from ten, I hope. Somehow, I keep forgetting they speak a whole other language here.
Anyway, Colin and I join in starting at eight because we were confused at first. Lily and Sofia follow suit.
Fireworks keep going off although we have five seconds left, but there are always some stupid people wherever you are in the world.
“Three!” we yell.
“Two!”
“One!”
While Colin and Lily yell out “Happy New Year”, I already have my lips attached to Sofia’s.
The night sky gets swamped with firework after firework, and the entire street is suddenly filled with people that just came out of their houses to light up even more fireworks on the street, small ones, bigger ones, every possible firework imaginable.
“Happy New Year, my love,” I whisper into Sofia’s ear, waiting until she has said it back before my lips are back on hers for another New Year’s kiss, because, why the hell not?
49
Sofia
“’cause without you, babe, I lose my way”—Falling Like The Stars by James Arthur
“Can you not leave your clothesall over the living room?” Winter says as she barges into my bedroom, throwing my jacket at me.
We’ve been back in New City for a week now, and with every passing day, this woman gets more annoying.
Being back here also means that I no longer see Aaron every day, but he texts me… hourly. Well, I do see him daily, either because we eat lunch together or at hockey practice when Lily and I watch Brooklyn for Miles. But we no longer sleep in one bed together. At least not unless he spends the night here or I spend the night at his house, which hasn’t happened yet.
I get it, though. I wouldn’t want to spend a day in this dorm room either, if I had any other choice. Winter is a pain in my goddamn ass, worse than my pedophilic uncle. Yes, I said it. She is worse thanhim.
“You always leave your stuffeverywhere. Are you a hoarder or something?”
She irritates me, a lot. I always thought I was good at finding words to say or know what someone is about to say but with her… I just don’t ever know.
“You do know that a hoarder isn’t the right term, right?” Plus, I left my jacket hanging by the coatrack, not anywhere else around the living space, so what the hell is she on about?
“Doesn’t matter. You are annoying me with your dirtiness.”
“My… What?”
“So now you don’t even understand English. Just great.” Winter inhales deeply, then repeats what she had saidveryslowly.
“I did understand what you said, Winter. Iamfrom New City. I wasbornhere. I speak English fluently. You just don’t make fuckingsense.” God, please, let me go back in time. Preferably to the beginning of whenever Aaron and I became just that; anus, we.
“You are a horrible person,” she mutters under her breath, then has the audacity to look around my room like she hasn’t been snooping around while I was gone for a little over two weeks. “You got a lot of pictures of Aaron. You’ve got a crush on my boyfriend?”
I almost laugh right into her face at that. “Yourboyfriend?”
“Yes.”
“You are delusional, Winter Varley.” And I absolutely stand by that. How in the world has Lily managed to share a space with this woman since freshman year? I barely made it a full month in total, and I would rather sleep on the streets than spend another day in her presence.
“What? You think you’re his girlfriend?” She laughs, once. “Honey, you do know Aaron only hangs around you because of a bet, right?”
