FLOWER ARE BETTER WHEN THEY'RE FAKE (COMPLETED)

Chapter 12

Greyson was the first one to hit home base. He had boarded the plane right after he showed his friend around. He tried calling me several times but his family kept on calling him. They all were calling him to tell him that he was insane and that he was a disgrace and that he was stupid. But he finally managed to get a call through to me. We stayed on the phone until he had to put it on airplane mode. He actually almost missed his flight because Dad had asked him something called a baklava ("What? It is really good!")

Joshua was next. He came in the midafternoon about a day after Greyson did. Greyson and I picked him up, Dad was too busy, and stopped by a restaurant in the First Colony called Dimassi''s. These people love Mediterranean food!

Dani was the last one. She actually came home earlier than expected. She told us that Alex had gotten a call from his boss saying that he needed to get his pretty little behind back to the office or he was going to be fired. Originally it was just going to be Alex coming home then the rest of them, but in the end they decided to scrap that plan and all come together.

They spent New Years Eve at my house. Dad has been at work since last night. The rest of us woke up at 4 in the afternoon and did anything to kill the time. We got so bored that at one point we were playing Go Fish back to back. Even though John Jaques Jr, the man who created the game Happy Families, a card game similar to Go Fish, intended this game to be a non-frustration game, even the sublestest arguments can occur. But what better way to wait for midnight than playing back to back intense, high risk rounds of Go Fish?

Finally, per tradition, we watched the Ball Drop happening in New York. I was situated between Greyson and Joshua on the big couch while Dani was on the armchair to our left. It is our usual setup for this special occasion, and the reason why is coming later. 

We listened to all the performances and the people drone on for hours on end. But finally at 10 seconds to midnight, the ball started to drop. The cameras managed to get every single person in Times Square into a shot or another, counting down until 0. Finally the ball hit the bottom and we watched all the people lose their minds. I have kind of honestly stopped caring for the New Year. I mean, everything is the same, except the number of the year, what is all the fuss about?

"Happy New Year," Greyson said. He was close to my ear, whispering this very softly. I could feel his nose pressed into my head, the breath tickling my hair. He grabbed my chin and turned my face towards him. He was leaning in for the special kiss that only comes once a year. There is a kind of tingle with this particular kiss, I couldn't help but smile a little excitedly. He was close, like an inch or so, but I knew it was too good to be true.

Every year, these two nimrods can't resist recreating Andrew Garfield's and Ryan Reynold's Golden Globes moment. Right at the perfect moment, when Greyson is just about to kiss me, Joshua will grab Greyson's face and just go for it. Right on the mouth, just no second thought. I sit under the two love birds while they are making out. And they don't just do a peck and call it a day, they are fully committed. Dani records the whole thing while laughing her head off. I think her secret ambition is to play all of our old and embarrassing pictures and videos at our weddings. After being best friends for I don't know how long we have enough pictures and videos to blackmail the other 3. It's amazing being here!

"Are you guys done yet?" I said as I laughed. The couple finally broke apart. We all laughed at how pink Joshua is in the face right now. Greyson cleaned his lips and kissed me. They both gave me a hug, Joshua still blushing very much. But it was hard to keep still because of how much we were all laughing.

We spent the rest of vacation doing dumb stuff. We went to the movies where Greyson and I had an intense argument about how much butter should go on your popcorn; Joshua had his first choco-taco despite it being 23 degrees out in Houston; We went thrifting where Dani found a vintage Rolling Stones t-shirt and a lot more in 8 days.