New Year's Kiss

I was in my third glass of champagne, already asking myself why I came to my work's New Years' party just to see my drunk coworkers singing songs and hugging each other. The only good thing about that was the mysterious guy talking to my boss. My mysterious dream guy. Every New Years' party he was there. I'm not known for being discreet, so, I stared at him most of the night. I decided to take 2 or 3 more glasses of champagne so I could talk to him; we were so close that we could feel ecstatic between us, but I lacked the courage. Suddenly, he looked straight into my eyes; God, he was dreamy, indeed.

-Lovely night, isn't it?

-The food is horrible, but the guests are cute, at least.- God, I'm the worst.

The mystery man laughed, so spontaneously that I forgot why I was embarrassed.

When the ball dropped, my heart was racing, my face was on fire, every little piece of me was trembling with the idea of tasting him. Apparently, he was feeling the same, as he got near me at the same moment I was reaching him. My heartbeat was so strong I thought everyone in the room could hear it. Finally, our lips touched. Avid, restless, as we were trying to save ourselves and become each other at the same time. He grabbed my waist and brought me closer to him, and everything else disappeared. Passion indeed makes you do crazy things. After the countdown, the party got chaotic and I didn't see him again.

Now it's Wednesday and I'm still dreaming about that night. I tried to find out something about him, but I couldn't. No one on my floor knows him. Anyway, I tried to brush it off and pay attention to my work, which consisted of looking to short stories writers sent to the publisher, and sort out which ones would be promising. Gillian and I had a lot of fun doing that.

I heard Gillian swooning. When asked, she told about a short story called "Perfect Stranger" that the author said it was based on a true story. I asked her to read it out loud.

I completely froze. The story told exactly what happened at the weekend. It described everything, perfectly.

-And look, there's a note on the end! It says "dear stranger...find me on the 4th floor, office number 8"

I didn't even let her finish. I ran to the elevator, nervously sweating. I've never been to that floor. Finally, I found the room. James Evans. The same last name as the company's name.

He looked stunned but happy.

-It's nice to meet you, stranger.