“I think this is the longest you’ve ever gone without talking,” I tease her.
Without warning, she launches herself at me, throwing her arms around my neck. “I can’t believe you. You couldn’t have waited until after the party?”
“Hell no,” I tell her, “I’m about to get drunk and spill all my secrets.”
“Let’s get out of here, then,” she says with one more look around the room. “Thank you, Eric. I just...thank you.”
•
Vision is packed more tightly than a can of sardines when we walk in; between the dresses, the suits and thedecorations, I’ve never seen so much damn glitter in my life. Even the dancers in the plexiglass boxes are covered in a thick layer of body glitter in place of their usual outfits, and it lights up with every movement of their bodies under the neon lights.
“Look,” I tell Sophia, pointing to the dancers, “you can find ‘em easier if you lose them.”
“Shut up,” she laughs.
We find Colt near the bar, sipping on a drink while he greets and laughs with some of our guests. I run up behind him, launching myself at him and latching onto his back like a spider monkey, forcing a loud ‘oof!’ from him.
“Happy new year, ya old bastard!” I shout, patting him on the cheek.
“Jesus, Davis,” he laughs, “get off of me.”
I hop down, reaching forward to steal his drink, and I take a sip of it.
Fuckingginger ale?
“Where are wifey and eldest spawn?”
With a shake of his head, he tells me, “They’re not going to make it tonight. I’m only here for show, I’m out of here by ten thirty so I can ring in the new year with Rowan.”
“Take one shot with us.”
“I will toast your shots with my ginger ale,” he laughs, and I roll my eyes at him.
New Year’s Eve is the one night that I used to be able to consistently get the guy to let loose and get more wild than he usually does. Five years ago, the night ended with a tie around his head, drinking champagne straight from the bottle, and eating cereal by the handful. I still have no idea where he got the cereal. I felt like a proud father that night.
Tonight, he really does just sip on a damn soda, toasting while Sophia and I throw back shooters. At ten thirty on the dot, he gives us each a hug and heads home to his wife. I wanna give him a hard time for always tripping over himself when it comes to her, but I suppose I don’t have much room to talk, anymore.
As soon as he heads out, Sophia reaches into the pocket of my suit, digging around until she pulls out two brightly-colored pills with a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. She drops one of them onto her tongue, then the other onto mine, and we swallow them down at the same time.
I watch Sophia while our highs hit, and it’s like she’s moving in slow motion. While her body bounces to the music, she closes her eyes, running her hands through the pieces of hair that frame her face. She looks like a goddess, brought down to Earth for the night to hang out with us measly humans. I don’t even realize that I’m stuck in place, not moving because I’m too damn busy staring at her, until her hands reach out for mine and force me to match her rhythm.
“As pretty as you are standing there,” she teases, “it’s even better when you move.”
We dance with each other -and the people around us – until a five-minute warning sounds over the speaker system that the ball is about to drop.
I grab Sophia by the wrist and pull her through the crowd, heading toward the bar with two minutes to spare. Grabbing her by her sides, I hoist her up onto the bar and climb up after her. I bend down to grab one of the bottles from the bar, giving the bartender in front of me a wink while I pull the pour spout of of it, and I throw a swig of rum down my throat before offering the bottle to Sophia.
“To fate,” she says, raising the bottle in the air, “and the games that she likes to play.”
I smile while she drinks down a healthy portion of the liquor, then wrap my arm around her neck with a kiss to the top of her head.
The music stops and the crowd quiets down while the TVs behind us play a thirty-second countdown to the new year, and every single one of us starts to count along with it once the timer hits ten seconds left.
If someone came to me as a kid and asked if I ever thought I’d be here, with a woman on my arm who belongs tojust me, staying loyal to her and thinking about her all the goddamn time, I would have told them ‘hell no.’ There are a lot of things I didn’t think I’d have, even up to last year.
This girl…
‘Five!’
