December 31, 2019 New York
"Call me if you need anything and please be safe, Bella, okay?" Mom pleads last time when I'm already standing next to the door with Mia. I roll my eyes at her as I look down on the floor for a brief second because I don't have a death wish to do it to mom's face.
"Yes, mom. I promise, okay? I'll see you tomorrow!" I assure her and give her a quick hug. "Bye!" I yell at her and close the door behind me, Mia ahead of me.
"Let's get drunk!" Mia whisper-yells to me before we go inside the car. I laugh at her and shove her inside the car, pushing her to move for me.
"Yell it louder, shithead, let my mom hear you, yeah?" I mutter sarcastically and she chuckles.
"Oh, I wasn't that loud, don't be such a baby" Mia grumbles and flicks me up.
The whole ride is filled with giggles and gossips about the people we're going to see at the party. It takes less than thirty minutes to arrive and just a few minutes after 8 pm, we're inside of the big apartment in Chelsea.
"Hey guys!" Mia yells to some people in the kitchen. They all snap theirs head to our direction and I give them a shy smile. They are Mia's friends mostly and maybe I've met them once before, but I don't really know them. "You remember Isabelle, right?" She asks them and almost all of them nod and say 'hi' to me except of one person who quirks his eyebrow at me and Mia.
"I don't know, but hello, I'm Ezra, nice to meet you both" The guy greets us sweetly and offers his hand to shake. Mia is first to shake it and says 'hello' back. Then Ezra turns to me, beaming widely. "Hi"
"Hey" I greet him back and shake his hand gently. "I'm Bella" I introduce myself and he chuckles softly.
"Oh, trust me, I know" He replies and I raise an eyebrow at his words, but widen my eyes when I understand what he probably means. My mom. I sigh and take a step back, not feeling too comfortable around him now. I think he understands that and he's quick to shake his head. "Oh no! I mean, I know who's your mom, of course, but I meant the movie you were in! I'm a big fan of horror, I love your character in It" He adds softly and I widen my eyes again, but this time in good manner.
"Oh" I respond a little surprised "Thank you, you're the first to say this, so I appreciate this" I smile gratefully at him and relax again.
"You're very welcome, Bella" He replies politely. "So, what about we get this party started, hm?" He says a little louder to everyone around us and they all shout 'yeah'.
Ezra is a really nice guy, he pours me and Mia pretty good drinks. I don't know what he adds to them, but they're fucking strong and I love it. Except of our trio, there are six more people, so it's pretty cozy, but it still can be a good party with the right company.
We stay together, drinking and talking for a start. We quickly drink our first drinks, so I help Ezra this time to prepare another ones. He shows me how to make them as good as he did earlier, so I'm very happy about it, making a mental note to not forget it.
"Come and dance with me, Bee!" Ezra shouts to me and takes my hand, leading me to the clear space in the living room and spins me once before I stop with my hands on his chest, laughing loudly. I'm already after my second drink and they were so strong, I can feel their effect. But still, it's the perfect amount of alcohol in my body to have a great time, dancing.
"Ezra, you're crazy!" I giggle to him, letting him takes my both hands in his and dance playfully with me. Katy Perry plays in the background, making this situation so much funnier.
"'Cause, baby, you're a firework!" He sings happily, dancing in the beat. I shake my head amusedly, but follow his lead, copying his movements.
"Come on, show 'em what you're worth" I continue to sing and he beams excitedly at me.
"Make 'em go, oh, oh, oh!" We both sing along to the end of this song, dancing like we're besties already even if we know each other for less than two hours.
I don't know why Mia didn't introduce me to him earlier, but I'm going to give her shit later for this. I know he'll become my second-best friend after this night.
I spot Mia near us, so I run quickly to her and practically drag her from the people she was talking to, leading her to where Ezra and I are dancing.
"I was talking to them, Bella!" Mia laughs out, but doesn't try to stop me.
"I wanna dance with both of my besties" I say nonchalantly and she quirks her eyebrow at my words.
"Besties? As more than one?" She asks amused and I nod abruptly, stopping in front of Ezra.
"Ezra is my bestie now too, sucks to suck, Mia" I mumble, giggling as I release her hand. Ezra laughs loudly, giving me a new drink, which he just went off for me when I run out from him. "Thanks" I say, taking the cup from him.
I drink the whole cup at once and wipe my mouth, leaving a big grin on my face. They both look shocked at me and shake their heads at my antics. I shrug without care and start dancing with them when a good song starts finally playing.
The next hour passes with us dancing and drinking. But after that, being tired out with the whole dancing and pretty much drunk after two more drinks, I decide to just sit on the couch in more quiet space and pull out my phone.
It's nearly midnight and I had a promise with Florence that we'll call to each other around this time, so we can end this year and start the new year together even if we are in different countries right now.
I look at my notifications and see that Flo called me already once two minutes ago. I smile sneaks on my face and bite my bottom lip as I start the FaceTime. Immediately, I release my lip, remembering that Flo hates when I doing it. After a few seconds, the blonde girl shows up on my screen and I let myself to lick my lips when I see how beautiful she looks.
"Hi, love" She whispers first and I smile brightly at my girlfriend.
"Hey, baby. You look amazing" I breathe out, taking her appearance. Flo chuckles at my complement.
"Thank you, my darling. But did you see yourself, huh? You look amazing!" She exclaims and I roll my eyes, giggling softly.
"You saw how I look already before the party and now you just see my face" I complain slightly with a small blush on my cheeks.
"And?" Flo asks with a raised eyebrow. "You still look gorgeous and I love you very much" She admits easily, making my heart clench.
She's too much sometimes. I've never feel like this, Florence is the best person I could ever fall in love with. I'm so fucking lucky.
"Thanks, babe, I love you too. So, how's is your night going?" I question, changing the topic. We still have a few minutes for some small talk and I want to spend this time hearing Flo's voice.
"Oh, it's going great..."
Flo talks a little about what she did earlier and I listen to her every word with adoration. I love how she's passionate about everything she does even if it's just spending the time with her family. She stops talking when she hears people around me start counting to midnight.
We both lock our eyes together, sharing a loving, bright smile.
"Happy New Year" We both say in the same moment when the reaches zero.
I wish to share a midnight kiss with her, but it works too. We say 'I love you' one more time and promise to talk in an hour because Florence is an hour behind me and I want for her to start the year together like I did.
I've never even once thought that I'll end this year falling in love with Florence, but I did and I'm the happiest person ever. And I know 2020 it's going to be better than 2019 was because I have Florence with me since the first minute of this year.
What possibly can go wrong with that?
Additionally Cast:
Ezra Ryan Nelson
birthday: 12 november 2000
Young Leonardo DiCaprio as Ezra