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"Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness." - Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Chapter Eight
Times Square was filled to the brim. I cringed as someone accidently stepped on my already aching foot for the nth time and an hour was still remaining. It was almost not worth seeing the ball drop on New Year's Eve.
Almost.
Travis grabbed the back of my jacket and pulled me towards the inner side of our little circle where Kiara and Dawn were standing. I shot him a grateful smile. He just nodded and went back to talking to Dawn, who pushed her red hair behind her ear shyly. I rolled my eyes. They should just get together already.
The last time I tried to ask what was going on, they both just looked away and refused to talk or make eye contact with each other. Stubborn dumbos, the both of them.
And if they thought that I missed the new charm bracelet on Dawn's wrist that she was fiddling with constantly while Travis shot it satisfied looks, they were dead wrong.
I shook my head and chose to look around instead. Mason and Trent were chatting up couple of girls who I guessed were going to receive the honor of being their first kiss of the year. I personally had nothing against them but the whole school knew about their player ways. Mason more so than Trent. Both were extremely good looking like jocks generally were. Mason Hall was the second most popular guy of our school-the first being Jason of course- and the girls flocked to him like flies to sweet. And he relished in the attention. The guy looked like some sort of a Greek god with his dark brown hair and blue eyes and he clearly knew it too.
Trent Reyes, on the other hand, had a more serious, brooding kind of a look that could charm the socks off any girl. His intense chocolate eyes and dirty blond hair added infinitely to his appeal. He was the kind that waited for the girls to approach him rather than doing it himself.
I would have thought that he really was interested in the girl before him if I hadn't noticed him giving Kiara stealthy looks from the corner of his eyes. And as far as I knew Kiara (which was a lot more than what was considered healthy) she'd totally dig his mysterious persona.
It looked like love was in the air was everyone except me.
I sighed before continuing my little survey. Jake Miller, another footballer, was playing COC on his phone. His black locks were falling into his brown eyes and his eyes were narrowed in concentration. He looked oblivious to the chatter surrounding him. How he managed to do that was still a mystery to me.
The sound of argument captured my attention as I turned my eyes to look at the arguing brother-sister duo. It looked like Kiara still didn't want to wear a jacket as it would ruin her 'cool' look. She would get a frost bite if she continued.
I walked towards them, grabbed the jacket from Jason's hand and wordlessly and quite forcefully tugged it on her arms. She gave me a withering stare, donned the jacket and mouthed the word traitor to me before stomping away to where Travis and Dawn were standing.
"Thank you so fucking much, Midget. I was seriously about to give up." Jason muttered gratefully. I giggled.
"No, you wouldn't. Under that entire tough guy exterior is a guy who won't let his sister get sick." I said knowingly. For someone who grew up with them, it was as obvious as the blue sky. He just shook his head darkly and muttered something that suspiciously sounded like 'I'd rather would'.
"You know, I'm surprised you aren't at one of your jock parties to be honest. Lost the invitation?" I tried to lighten the mood.
"As if. Mom wanted me to come here and make sure Kiara won't do anything she shouldn't." He threw a dark glare towards his sister.
"Do you even know that girl? She's always doing something she shouldn't." I joked. He just laughed.
"True enough. But at least I'm getting paid."
"So does that mean you're just a paid babysitter?" I teased.
"Something like that. I am getting the bonus of being surrounded by a bunch of pretty girls so it's a good enough deal." He winked.
Whatever the reason, at least he was here. At least I knew he wasn't kissing some faceless bimbo at the moment. Not that I had any plans of kissing him tonight. Unless you count daydreams.
"Why is it taking so much time?" I whined. My legs were starting to cramp due to the high heels I was wearing. The pain beauty caused us girls sometimes.
I chatted with Jason and Jake (who'd finally given up after losing what should've been an easy raid.) for a while when Kiara and Dawn came up bouncing.
"Only three minutes remaining guys."
A big excited smile lit up my face and we all focused our attention on the large plasma screen which was focusing on the ball right now. I noticed the couples surrounding us were inching closer towards each other. Mason and Trent were just a finger away from getting attached to their girls. Travis was sliding in Dawn's direction while glaring darkly at a couple of guys that were eyeing her up (His tattoos worked wonders in this situation.). Jason was doing the same for Kiara who was just glaring at her brother in annoyance. Jake was just staring at the screen.
Wait a second; was he closer now than he was before?
I just shrugged and waved the thought away. It must be just my imagination. Jake and I didn't even know each other that well after all.
I refocused my attention as the screen lit up with 60.
The countdown had begun.
The ball began sliding down slowly as the crowd began chanting with the numbers.
10.
The crowd grew even louder if that was possible. Excitement filled me and I started counting.
9.
Kiara smiled at me, showing that she'd forgiven me for my little 'betrayal'.
8.
Travis and Dawn looked at each other with mounting excitement.
7.
Mason tightened his hold on the girl in his arms.
6.
Trent looked like he was regretting his choice of potential kissing partner while throwing a subtle glance in Kiara's direction.
5.
Travis lifted Dawn's hand and brought it towards his lips in what was supposed to be a friendly kiss.
4.
Jake looked at me and started moving in the direction of my face. Was he going to kiss me?
3.
Panic filled me and I tried to move backwards in order to avoid being kissed by someone I barely knew.
2.
I felt a surprisingly warm hand grab the back of my arm and pull me towards it.
1.
I felt a pair of softest lips ever land on my forehead as the smell of sandalwood and lavender filled my nostrils.
Fireworks erupted in the sky, big and booming and colorful. But none of them could even begin to compare the fireworks going off in my head.
Jason Henderson freaking kissed me on my forehead!!
No year could start better than this. I was about to start jumping from joy when a voice in the back of my head questioned me.
Why did he do it?
I opened my eyes and saw Jason glaring daggers at Jake who had his arms up in surrender.
"Come on, man. Every pretty girl deserves a kiss on New Year's." Jake shouted over the cheers. I narrowed my eyes.
What was it with every man thinking that it was an open buffet for kisses with any single woman in their sight?
Women didn't give out free kisses as far as I was aware.
"Yeah. She already got one. Now back off" Jason added the last bit in a warning tone. Ah, my knight in shining armor was here to protect me. I squealed internally.
"Thanks." I managed to mutter shyly.
"No problem, Midget. Anyone with eyes could see how spooked you were when he started leaning in towards you. It was either this or punching him in the face for trying to kiss an unwilling girl. I don't know about you but I didn't want to start the New Year with violence. Plus, this way, I did get to kiss a pretty girl." He joked.
And just like that I was cruelly snapped out of my Jason-induced euphoria.
What?
No sudden realizations of undying love? No actions stemmed from raging jealousy?
I knew my imagination was doomed to get my heart broken.
"I couldn't very well leave my new best friend in a possibly tacky situation right?" He continued, shattering the last bit of hope that was trying its best to live. He just winked and walked away to join Trent who was standing awkwardly next to a still kissing Mason.
So that was it? Those texts, that teasing, laughing, the conversations only amounted to this?
I felt a heavy disappointment fill my chest, making it harder to breathe. The guy I adored since I was practically in diapers just friendzoned me. At that moment, I wasn't able to decide what was better: being almost overseen for most of my life or being friendzoned.
The crushing pain in my chest made me realize three things.
One: I really was in love with him. It wouldn't have hurt this much if I wasn't.
Two: I was going to try to move on. Again. Seriously this time. I wasn't going to risk feeling like this again. It sucked big time. It really really did.
Three: If a best friend was what he wanted then that's what he was going to get. I'll be the best damn friend he ever had.
I was officially going to call off the dibs I've had on him since I was old enough to understand what it was.
At least I have resolution this year I thought with a watery smile.