New Years! I love New Years so much. The countdown, ball drop, New Years kiss. Very exciting. Especially at Shelby's. Her parents decorate the entire house with decorated little balls, like Easter with eggs. And they also decorate the walls with 'A New Start!' quotes. And they do all of this right after Christmas for a week. Also, before midnight, we all go through our New Years revolutions.
I invited Sean before he left at Christmas and he gladly accepted to come over. So now I'm making the dinner. Since we only have their family, Sean, possibly Ken, and me, I don't need help. You confused about Ken?
Apparently, he told Shelby that he was going to try to come over but not to get her hopes up. Dad is probably keeping a tight leash on them all now.
"You going to be nervous all night?" I ask Shelby when she walks into the kitchen.
"Nah, I'm just pretending like he's not coming." She says casually, but adds," but it would be amazing if he did show up!" I shake my head smiling as I add the spice. She giggles at my response and sits down at the dining table. We talk for a half hour until dinner is ready.
I call everyone to dinner including Sean and we all sit down at the table joining Shelby. We talk excitedly the entire time about the new year and going back to school for second semester. I laugh the entire time despite my mood for the past week.
I've been moping around the house as I can't see Tommy and Caden for a while. I haven't thought of any new plans yet, so I'm hoping they have. I really want to see my little brothers.
Once everyone is finished eating, they go out to the living room to start watching the New Years countdown. I stay in the kitchen with Sean to make snacks for the night. We get some popcorn ready, candy, and a lot of other store bought treats.
"Hey." Sean says behind me. I turn to smile at him, but instead I'm met with a blinding flash. I almost fall backwards, but am caught by a pair of arms. I glare at Sean standing up who smiles, obviously amused.
"I told you I need to be ready for the picture." I tell him. He's been taking unexpected pictures of me since Christmas and it's getting annoying. He always uses the flash.
"Why? It's so cute when you freak out." He says with an adorable pouty face. I take the camera from him and use his confused expression as an advantage. I snap a picture of him with the flash and now it's his turn to freak out. Luckily, he doesn't almost fall like me, because I really doubt that I could catch him.
I look at the picture and burst out laughing. His eyebrows are up with wide eyes and his mouth his hanging open. "We have to use this." I say referring to the scrapbook. He snatches the camera and looks at the picture.
"No!" I laugh again at his horrified expression and he glares at me. He deletes the picture earning a very sad look from me. He ignores it though, picking up food to take to the living room.
We all sit down around the coffee table with about three hours to go. We've gotten through about a third of the snacks which means we'll have extra afterwards. I curl up next to Sean, which is very hard because of the baby, while listening to someone perform on the tv.
Wyatt is talking about the performer who I have no idea is, and don't really care. It shows people cheering and I could never stand in that cold weather. They all wear scarves and mittens and I shiver at the thought.
Suddenly, the baby starts kicking for the third time this day and I close my eyes feeling it. Sean doesn't notice as he joins in with Wyatt. I look over at Shelby who is already passed out on the couch. Lightweight. We'll have to wake her up or she'll kill us. Their parents are in the kitchen now drinking, but their too smart to get drunk, so it doesn't concern me.
They come in an hour later still them normal selves and sit down on the couch beside me. "Let's start out resolutions." Her dad says after waking Shelby up.
"I'll start!" Wyatt says eagerly. "I want to get a girlfriend sometime this next year and she has to be hot. I also want to go to my first party." He says. His parents nod and look to Shelby next.
"Oh, well, I haven't really thought about it. My life is pretty amazing since I do have Ken and good grades. Um, I do want to figure out which direction I'm going in life after high school this year. I do like helping people, so maybe a doctor or nurse. I also want to start volunteering as I'm old enough to do it myself now." She says smiling.
Her parents go ahead next talking about promotions and getting a bigger house to which Shelby and Wyatt are very excited about. They also talk about doing some volunteer work with Shelby as they do need to give back. Then they look at me.
I clear my throat and begin. "Well, I want to be able to see my family freely, and not be restricted from them because of a mistake. I also want to see my mom some time this year. Even though she's in prison and she did hurt my little brother, I want to be able to see her to see if she's changed. And I want to be able to forgive her if she deserves it. Um, I also want to start volunteering at the local animal shelter because this guy showed me how much I actually love dogs. And I also want to have a safe pregnancy and I want to see my daughter every other weekend or something like that." Wow, that was long. I look up to Sean after I'm finished and he looks nervous.
"I want to be with this girl for the whole year and I want to get good grades for school." He says smiling.
"That's it? Nothing else?" Shelby pushes. He shakes his head no nervously again.
"Alright, I'm pretty positive that first part will work out." I say smiling and cuddling back into him. He puts his arm around me and we all encourage each other to follow their resolutions. It takes about an hour so we're left with one more hour until the new year.
I eat the snacks mindlessly while everyone still talks about the new year. I get bored of the talk and my mind wanders for a while.
"What do you think Nicole?" Sean asks me looking down.
"Huh?" I say confused.
"I was asking what you thought about Wyatt's resolutions."
"Oh, it'll be easy for you to get a girlfriend since
you're not too bad looking, and your party will be very easy. Just show up to a friend's place when they invite people, and it'll get big. So yeah, good luck." I say smiling. He takes my words into consideration and nods thanking me. I shrug it off checking the time and see we have about ten minutes left.
Shelby watches the screen thoughtfully now wide awake and Wyatt starts taking to his parents. "You ready?" Sean says quietly looking down at me. I smile up at him to indicate that I am and he squeezes his arm around me.
"Looks like Ken isn't coming. Poor Shelby." I say just loud enough for him to hear.
"She doesn't look like she cares though. She probably thought he wouldn't be able to."
"Yeah, but it's still sad."
"I know." He says laying his head on mine.
We all watch the tv now watching the time tick down slowly. I sigh being bored that it won't go any quicker and Sean joins in with an agonized groan. The people just keep talking! They need to shut up and start the ball drop.
Finally, were down to a minute. We all stand up in anticipation and my eyes start to water from not blinking. I blink rapidly earning another amused look from Sean this night and give a fake glare. He just chuckles and looks back to the screen.
Ten second countdown. Right before we start it, we hear a door swing open. Everyone looks to it and we see a sweaty Ken running in.
"Ken?" Shelby asks.
"Countdown... Now." He says hurriedly running over to her after looking back. We have five seconds left.
"Five!"
"Four!"
"Three!"
"Two!"
One!"
"Happy New Year!!!"
Sean turns me to face him and cups his hand around my face. And then he kisses me.
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Yay! I couldn't have Ken stay away, so sorry about it being predictable. I wanted to leave the kiss to all of your imaginations.I really hoped you all like this chapter!
What do you guys think about the story so far? What about everyone's resolutions? What did you think about Ken running in at the end and why do you guys think he was sweaty? Why did he look back?
Thank you guys so much for reading this far! Please vote, add to libraries/reading lists, and comment! Love you all so much!!!