Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Logan: we’re going out tonight
Logan changed the group chat name to new years eve or bust
Tyler: I’m not.
Logan: yes you are. we all are. it’s new years eve
Tyler: It’s going to be too hectic out—I’d rather just stay in.
Logan: here lies tyler richardson, he was too afraid to do anything
Logan: that’s what your tombstone will read
Jess: little harsh logan
Logan: someone needs to speak the truth around here
Logan: we have options!! peculiar pub is showing the ball drop but it doesn’t really seem like they’re going to party like we are
Rosie: we’re partying?
Jess: i guess so
Logan: there’s a new club called the new romantics in the west village and i propose we go there
Logan: no cover charge, two drink minimum, and they’re showing the ball drop too it’ll be more lively there than at peculiar pub it’s perfect
Tyler: There’s a catch.
Logan: no catch!!
Logan: ok, except emily from my craft class is going to be there so …
Jess: there it is
Tyler: Always a catch
Logan: rosie, u should be on my side! it’s romance
Rosie: i agree w logan. we should go out tonight, new year’s eve is magical!!
Jess: im down so long as logan buys our drinks
Logan: im poor
Jess: we’re all poor
Rosie: tyler, are you in?
Tyler: I think I’ll stay in tonight, but you guys have fun.
Jess texted me separately.
Jess: you have to get tyler to come
Rosie: what makes you think i can do it?? you’re better friends w him!
Jess: i can’t seem too obvious
Rosie: we’re not in middle school
Jess: im begging
I groaned, switching back to the group chat.
Rosie: tyler, you should come out! it’ll be a lot of fun
Tyler: I’m not really in the mood
I sighed, knowing what’d get him.
Rosie: fine. the real reason i want everyone to come out tonight is because aiden and i kissed and i need to talk about it, ok??
Jess texted me privately.
Jess: you’re my best friend in the entire world
Logan: YOU’RE KIDDING WHAT WHEN WHERE???
Jess: on her mouth probably. unless aiden is as kinky as we thought
Rosie : shut up. the point is I need help from my friends processing this
Rosie: tyler, are you in???
Tyler: Fine. Drinks on Logan, though.
Logan: fine. fuck you guys, if this is the price of love then i’ll pay it
The New Romantics was probably the worst place in New York to have a conversation on New Year’s Eve. The bar sat in the center of the room with a dance floor on one side and tables on the other. There were sweaty, glittery bodies all pressed up against each other, jumping to some techno song. The Countdown to Midnight ball drop was playing on every screen in the place, muted.
The four of us were sitting at a small booth draped in velvet, silver glitter adorning the table. Strobe lights illuminated the room every so often. I could barely hear myself talk as I relayed what happened the day at Aiden’s apartment and then last week at Christmas. I had already told Jess everything, but Logan’s jaw was slack in shock and Tyler’s eyes widened.
“I knew it,” Logan shouted over the music. “I told all of you when they were forced to cowrite they would end up fucking.”
“But we didn’t,” I corrected him.
“You’re obviously going to.”
Tyler leaned forward. “Rosie, how are you feeling? That’s a lot.”
I messed with the straw in my cocktail. “I guess I’m … cautiously optimistic that part of him feels the same way as I do?”
Replaying everything that had happened between Aiden and me in the last few months for them, it seemed so obvious. It wasn’t until I’d said it out loud that I realized how ridiculous I was being, doubting how Aiden felt. The last time I’d started a relationship with someone, I was fifteen. I wasn’t so great at picking up all the signs, it seemed, but they were there. Adrenaline rushed through me at the realization, and I became a little breathless.
“So you like him?” Tyler asked.
I nodded, smiling as I touched my locket. I didn’t need to think twice about it. Everywhere I went nowadays, he popped in my mind, lingering there. And I wanted him to stay.
“You could invite him here,” Jess said.
I shook my head immediately. “No way.”
“You could!” Tyler insisted. “We’ll be nice. You like him, Rosie, and we like you. If you say he’s changed, and he isn’t mean to you like he was at the beginning of the semester, we’ll be nice, too.”
“Aiden hasn’t changed, though,” I said. “And I don’t want him to change. I like how … surly he is. I just understand him better now than I did before.”
“ Invite him ,” Jess said excitedly.
Logan nodded. “New Year’s is all about ringing in the new year with people you want to be in your life in the coming year. You want to be with Aiden. Take a chance on yourself.”
All three of them looked back at me encouragingly. And I knew they were right. The person I wanted to be with most right now was Aiden. Even if he’d frown at the music and crinkle his nose at the drunken dancers.
I nodded once, decided. “I’ll be back.”
I made my way outside into the last of the December cold. I stood in the smoking area as people continued to stream into the club, girls shivering in their shiny dresses and heels. With one last breath of courage, I called Aiden.
The phone rang twice, before I heard his deep, sleepy voice, “Rosie?”
“Hi,” I said. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“No.” I heard some rustling. “I was just reading in bed.”
I deflated. “Oh.”
“Are you okay? Isn’t it almost midnight?”
I pulled my phone back from my face, checking the time. “Twenty minutes.”
“What’s up?”
I kicked at a pebble in front of me, feeling foolish. Aiden wasn’t the type of guy to go out and party on New Year’s Eve. Of course he was in bed with a book at eleven thirty, not even caring.
“It’s nothing. I’m sorry, I woke you. Happy New Year.”
“Tell me,” he demanded softly. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I assured him. “I’m out with Tyler, Jess, and Logan, and well, we were talking about how you should ring in the New Year with people you wanted to be in your life next year. And I love them, but I kept wishing you were here. With me. Because I want to see more of you in the New Year and well …” Gathering my courage, I touched my locket again, reminding myself what that meant. I just had to make this leap. “Because I like you, Aiden. Not in the oh, I saw this and thought of you way . But in the oh you told me this and now I can’t stop thinking about it because you think about it way . And in the I want to end this year with you and start the new one with you too way.”
He was silent a moment. In the five seconds it took him to respond, I regretted every word I said. I wished I could shove them back in my mouth and pretended it never happened.
“Where are you?” he asked.
My heart thumped as I told him the name of the club we were at.
“I’ll see you soon.”
I looked down at my phone, a little dazed. When I walked back into the club, I found Jess and Tyler by themselves in the booth, sitting close to each other.
“So?” Jess asked the minute I sat down.
“Where’d Logan go?”
Tyler nodded toward the dance floor. “Emily came. How’d it go with Aiden?”
“He said he’s coming.” I tried to keep my voice steady. “He lives close by so maybe he’ll be here before midnight.”
“I knew it,” Jess said, beaming at me.
“Everyone in the workshop knew it,” Tyler said. “It was only a matter of time, Rosie.”
The three of us continued to chat, but I quickly got the vibe that they wanted to be alone. Tyler smiled easily at everything Jess said and would occasionally push her hair away from her shoulder.
I sent a look to Jess and said, “I’m going to grab some water. Anyone want anything?”
“We’re good,” Jess said with an excited smile.
The bar area was crowded, and it was hard to make my way through since I was so short, but I was in no rush. There were only two minutes until midnight and everyone was trying to get their last drink of the year. My eyes wandered to the door, hoping Aiden would miraculously walk in before midnight, but the clock was ticking.
Soon, the DJ called out, “One minute to go!”
Everyone dissipated from the bar and started searching for their significant others. Jess and Tyler stood from the booth and made their way to the dance floor as the countdown started on all the TVs.
When the countdown from ten started, I lost hope. It had been too short notice, he probably wouldn’t make it.
Five.
“Hi.”
I whipped around and Aiden was standing behind me—in a red sweater and dark jeans. My mind told me to play it cool, but my body wasn’t listening. I could hardly believe he was standing there, looking at me with soft adoration in his eyes. My heart thumped against my chest. I bit down a smile as I instinctively moved toward him.
Four.
“Hi! You came.”
Three.
He smiled. “I did.”
Two.
“You wore red.”
One.
“Someone told me it’s what you wear when you hope for love.”
I sucked in a breath. “And you’re hoping for love?”
He nodded, stepping toward me. Everyone around us was cheering and kissing as “Auld Lang Syne” played. “I am. I’m not good at it. And I’ve had bad role models, but I want to try.”
I nodded, my chest so full of hope. “Me too.”
He rubbed the material of my dress between his fingers, his hand lingering on my wrist. “What does black mean?”
“It means you’re taking control over your life,” I said. My stomach dipped when his mouth hooked up on one side, smiling down at me. “Do you want to dance?”
He held out his hand silently, and together we stood amongst the swaying couples, our eyes locked on each other’s. He pressed his hand to the small of my back, pulling me closer. I was too short for us to dance cheek to cheek, but Aiden bent his head so we could.
“I was afraid you were drunk,” he whispered, his mouth pressed right against my ear. “And that was the only reason you invited me.”
“I was a little tipsy,” I admitted. “Liquid courage and all that.”
“You don’t need liquid courage. You’ve got me.” His hands tightened on my waist and I gripped his shoulder.
“I know we said we wouldn’t talk about the book anymore. But … if this were a romance novel, and if I were Maxine, which I am, and if you were Hunter, which you are, then this would be the part of the romance novel where we kiss,” I whispered. “It’d be the part where I’d tell you that I want you. And that I think about you all the time.”
Aiden pulled back from me, his green eyes pining me down. His hand came up to cradle my jaw, his thumb brushing across my cheek, softly and slowly.
“It’d be the part where I told you not a single day has passed since we met that I haven’t thought about you. And not a single hour passes where I don’t miss you,” he whispered. “But we’re not writing a romance novel.”
“No,” I conceded. “But maybe I can change your mind.”
His mouth covered mine. He was warm and tasted like mint. I sighed into his mouth, pressing myself closer to him as his hand moved from my jaw to my hair, angling my head up so he could deepen the kiss.
His tongue found mine, tasting, seeking, wanting. I tugged on his bottom lip with my teeth. He groaned and pulled back.
“Rosie, I can’t do this if we’re going to forget about it tomorrow,” he rasped, backing away from my lips the tiniest bit. “I’ve gotten good at pretending I hate you, but I can’t pretend I don’t know how you taste anymore.”
“Then let’s not pretend,” I said against his mouth. “Let’s go do all the things we wrote about.”
“I knew it.” A slight smile played across on his lips, his eyes dark and hooded with desire. “I knew you were thinking of me when we wrote that scene.”
“As if you weren’t thinking of me, too.”
“I only think of you, Rosie,” he whispered against my mouth before sliding his hand in my hair to pull me into a kiss.
I was shameless in my wanting. I tried to commit every little thing, the way her eyes fell closed, the way she tasted, to memory. There was no metaphor I could write, picture I could paint that would even come close to comparing to the magic of her.
— Excerpt from Untitled by Rosie Maxwell and Aiden Huntington