The LGBTQ club sent out an email at the end of the semester about a NYE party for anyone who didn’t want to—or couldn’t—spend it with family. Jake had to hang around town anyway to work. The country club always had some kind of holiday banquet that Jake helped with. And Ezra’s folks didn’t live too far away, so it was perfect—along with Jake’s Christmas present from Ezra, which he was wearing. He couldn’t have asked for anything better.
Jake spotted Mindy by the food, looking suspiciously up at the lights. “Hey, have you seen Ezra?”
She looked around at the ceiling. “Did you just see the lights flicker?”
“No.” He laughed. “Chill out. There’s not going to be an apocalypse. Relax.”
The email said they could bring a guest, so they invited Mindy. She said okay, and then sent an email to Jake’s AOL address about the earth’s magnetic field changing or whatever. He just deleted it.
She dragged her gaze away from the lights. “I’m not sure where he went. He was over here a couple minutes ago.”
“Well, it’s almost midnight and they’re gonna do the ball drop on TV.”
“Oh! Already?” Mindy grabbed a little gold party horn and put on a gold pair of glasses with the frames shaped into 2000. “Here we go, I guess.”
“Yeah,” Jake agreed. “Here we go into another dimension. Oooooo!” He held his hands up and wiggled his fingers at her.
“Don’t say that!” She playfully smacked him on the arm as he walked off to find Ezra.
Jake finally found him, talking to a couple of friends they’d made in the LGBTQ club. Jake slipped an arm around Ezra’s waist. “Sorry to interrupt, but it’s almost time.”
“Really?” Ezra said. “Let’s go.”
Jake got himself a pair of the 2000 glasses and went with Ezra and everyone else to gather around the big screen TV. Whenthe countdown started, Mindy grabbed onto Jake’s shirt for dear life.
“5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Happy New Year!”
As everybody cheered, and blew on their party horns, Jake turned to Ezra. “Happy New Year.”
Ezra turned to him. “Happy New Year to you.”
Jake took off the 2000 glasses, pulled Ezra right up against him, and kissed him. It was so hot that it fogged up Ezra’s Sally Jessy glasses. There was a second or so where Jake forgot they weren’t in the privacy of a bedroom, but he regained control over himself.
He pulled away and leaned his forehead against Ezra’s. “I love you.”
Ezra took both of Jake’s hands in his. “I love you too.”
“Here’s to the best year of my life with you.”
“And more than that, I hope.”
“Absolutely.” Jake raised his head and reached into his pocket. “In fact, I’ve got a surprise for you.”
Ezra grinned his dimpled grin. “Really? What?”
Jake took out two tickets to see Slayer at the Mega Dome. Ezra looked at them and laughed. “Well, in that case…” He reached into his pocket and pulled out two tickets to see Megadeth at the Mega Dome. They both laughed. At least they’d picked out different dates.
Suddenly, there was a pop and crackling noise from somewhere. Mindy shrieked and grabbed onto Jake’s shirt again. “Oh my god, it’s happening!”
He turned to her. “Chill. It’s just the fireworks.” He nodded to the window. “See?”
She moved the 2000 glasses on top of her head and looked. “Oh, yeah. Yeah.” She let go of his shirt. “I knew that.” She turned, looking around, and paused at something behind Jake. “Well, well, well. Look who’s here.”
Jake turned to see Mr. Weird Ears Crooked Nose hanging over by the punch bowl with some random guy. It wasn’t like Jake didn’t think Sean was in the LGBTQ club, but it was awkward that he was here. In choir, some new basses had joined and Dr. Martin put one of them next to Jake, moving Sean down a couple of chairs next to the second basses. Sean was kind of mad about it. Jake could not have been more pleased.
Ezra was also looking at Sean. “I guess he’s got a right to be here too.”
“Yeah,” Jake said. He turned to Ezra and gave him a quick kiss. “I’ll be right back.”
