When she uncovers his plan to lead an entirely uneventful life, Mia Evian is determined to teach Preston Maddox how to stop living like a ghost, but Mia and Preston have history, tension, and a lot of complicated feelings.
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It feels like we've been standing in Margot and Preston's back garden for no time at all when the threat of midnight arrives.
'Three minutes!' Joe shouts over the group.
Naturally, this sends Aiden into a frenzy.
'Fuck, okay–Holy mackerel, right!' he declares, his dark, brown eyes darting between every face in the small circle we've created. They land on me as he says, 'okay, Mia! We're kissing, obviously. Tradition and all that.'
'I appreciate my say in the matter,' I reply.
He ignores me.
Aiden and I have been each other's new year's kiss since the dawn of time, and I've got no plans to change that, but I like to at least pretend to keep him on his toes.
'Margot and Joe, I assume you guys are doing your thing.'
Margot responds to Aiden with a salute.
'Not getting many participation vibes from you,' he continues, spinning on the spot to face Preston.
'Correct,' Preston confirms.
'Trick question. Participation is mandatory,' he hits back, and I figure it's best I don't point out that no question was asked. 'You can either give me a small one, or make out with everyone here–including me, to clarify.'
'This is all very totalitarian,' Joe points out, accurately.
'You don't have to make your decision now,' Aiden continues, ignoring Joe in the same way he ignored me. 'You've got...'
'One minute, forty seconds,' Joe finishes for him.
'One minute, thirty-nine seconds to decide,' Aiden concludes, then turns back to the rest of us. 'If I see one person not locking lips when midnight hits, I will cast you out. Indefinitely.'
'I feel mildly threatened,' Margot murmurs from my right.
'He doesn't intend it to be mild,' I whisper back.
Those who aren't in a relationship with someone in our circle, or who haven't been claimed by Aiden, flash coy glances at one another.
'I'm kidding,' Aiden announces to the group, then pauses contemplatively. 'Well, semi-kidding.'
'He's definitely kidding,' I interject. 'Ignore at least eighty percent of everything he says. Generally, that is–not just now.'
'One minute!' Joe yells.
Before we know it, one minute becomes thirty seconds, which becomes twenty, which becomes ten.
Joe's one is like a klaxon, and he's quickly silenced by Margot, who jumps to wrap her legs around him as they begin, rather aggressively, making out. Aiden breaks our circle to dart towards me, and I'm laughing as he plants a big, wet kiss on my lips, his hands on either side of my face as he pulls me into him. He licks my cheek once he's finished, which is a new development in our tradition.
