The Rose Necklace

4. The mysterious brunette

Jack

I was fastening the buttons on my pants while the ginger girl tried to put back on her dress. I think her name was Meredith, but I'm not sure since I already drank almost half a bottle of Vodka.

"Stop staring like that. Or do you want a repeat?" she tried to make a sexy look, but  failed instantly. She looked like a 50 year old man looking for his next victim on a kids playground.
Why did I even slept with her?

I made a sarcastic grin and left the room. Andrew is probably trying to get off with a barstool again, and that's hilarious to watch every time.

I ran down the stairs and started searching for someone from my friends group, until I saw a beautiful brunette dancing on the improvised dance floor. I started to walk to her, until Steve stopped me midway. "Where were you! I was looking for you everywhere!" he yelled. "I fucked some ginger," I answered vacantly.

When I turned back to the brunette, she was gone. She just vanished.

"Yea, that makes sense. Come on, we have lot to do!" he grabbed my wrist and walked me through the crowd to a table, where all of my friends were sitting and drinking.

"It's time for 'spin the bottle'!" Someone screamed and in a minute, people stopped dancing and started gathering and making a big circle. It was an annual tradition to play 'spin the bottle' exactly one hour before midnight.

As we joined the circle, that ginger girl was still looking at me like I murdered her children.

Come on girl get over it, what did you expect? That I sleep with you once, realise how much I love you and we walk on the beach to the sunset?
Heh, bullshit.

I was still looking for the brunette, who disappeared earlier, throughout the whole night but I swear she vanished into the air. I even started to though it was just a hallucination, until I saw her. She was arguing with some blonde girl who was dragging her here to join the game.

"I swear I'll kill you Jessica..." was all I heard from their conversation. They sat down right on the opposite side of the circle. She was looking around and then...our eyes met. Her icy blue eyes perfectly contrasted mine pitch black ones.
It was just for a split of a second, but it felt like an eternity.

There was something about her body language that was telling me she wasn't really comfortable in here. And that she was also drunk. She tried to hide it, but her messy, shaking hands and legs said it all.

As the game started, people were kissing and bottle was spinning like usual, until the bottle landed on me. And her.
The shock on her face was priceless. I swear she was about to run away, until her blonde friend grabbed her wrist and said: "No!"

I started to lean to her, until some girl yelled: "Five minutes until midnight!" and everyone stood up and went outside. And she of course used her oppoturnity and vanished as soon as I looked away.

Fuck! Not again!

All of my friends were already gone by the time I stood up. When I walked outside, every girl was already in a pair with some boy and waited for the countdown. Even though there were many girls asking me to be their New Years kiss, I was searching for my mystery brunette hoping she isn't already paired with some motherfucker.

I was looking everywhere, but she just wasn't there. Until I saw a silhouette far away, leaning against the railing. She was looking absently into the river and didn't even notice I walked to her.

"You owe me a kiss," I said. If she freaked out, she didn't show it at all.
"Do I?" she said calmly. "Why did you ran away?" I asked. "Run is a strong word. I can barely walk in these shoes," she pointed at her high heels.

"You still owe me the kiss," I said again, impatiently. She sighed and stood up. "Why don't you go and kiss that ginger girl, she's drooling over you all night. I'm sure she'd appreciate the kiss more than I do," she looked me dead in the eye and tried to walk away, until I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

Not this time.

"She got what she wanted," I said. "I don't think so," she looked behind my back and tried to release her wrist from my grip.

She rolled her eyes, sighed and said: "Fine."  
I grinned and released her wrist, only so I could grab her beautiful face. She placed her hand on my chest and begin to count with everyone else. "Five!", "Four!", "Three!"
As we were counting, I grabbed her waist and pulled her closer to me. "Two!", "One!", "Happy New Year!" We screamed and I kissed her on her full pink lips. It was something completely different from what I was used to. She was shy at first, but then deepend the kiss. I had a weird feeling in my stomach, and it definitely wasn't because I was drunk. By the time I pulled away, she was uncontrollably blushing and had a little swollen lips.

"Are you okay?" I asked, because even though we already stopped kissing, she was still holding me like a child holding his mom when it was scared and her legs were visibly shaking. "Yes, I just have to take a sit. Or my legs won't take it anymore," she said as she was sitting down on the ground. When she sat, she was trying to take off her shoes, but by the way her hands were shaking, she failed instantly.

Like the gentlemen I am, I kneeled in front of her and begin to take off her heels. When I finished, she sighed with relieve.

Oh, fuck-

"Thanks," she smiled and turned her head towards the fireworks. It was a beautiful moment I will never forget.
Just two complete strangers sitting on a terrace, watching a New Years fireworks, far away from all the people.