09:12pm | 12/31
"who is it?" I heard a woman's voice from the other side of the door
"uh Micaiah. Micaiah London" I answered
All of a sudden I heard the sound of the locks unlock and soon the door was swinging open. A beautiful dark woman stood on the other side, I'm guessing his mom.
"Hi I'm here for Tyreik..." I said
"wow I haven't seen you since, I don't even think you'd remember me. anyways he's upstairs in his room. first door to your left" She said
"thanks" I said walking in
I didn't know whether or not to take my shoes off but as soon as I tried to she said I could leave them on. I just don't like risking it, some people don't like shoes inside which is totally understandable.
I went up the stairs and followed her direction. I couldn't miss the door though since it was decorated with graffiti and some cool designs on it. My dad would never let me decorate his doors, he would freak.
I knocked on it first not wanting to just barge in—who knows how much clothing he has on.
"come in" He yelled
I opened the door and froze once I seen him standing by the door shirtless. His attention was to his tv which was on the same wall his door was on.
"aye lit you made it. what time is it?" He asked with his eyes still glued to the tv
I looked at my apple watch then read the time off of it.
"9:13"
"oh we got time, come in...sit" He invited
"you just ate huh?" I asked referring to his food baby, which amazed me since his six pack was still perfectly intact
"oh this...yeah. momdukes was throwing down, you hungry I'm pretty sure we got some leftover?"
"oh no I ate before coming, thanks though" I said as I sat on the beige colored loveseat
He paused his game then set his controller down before joining me on the loveseat.
"I was thinking we leave here around 10, catch the train which will take us about 30 minutes to get to from here then—"
"wait I'm sorry...t-t-train?" I asked
"yeah well we can't drive there, traffic is insane tonight plus no parking. an Uber won't be no help either"
In all my life I've never ridden the train, never even been in the subway before. I've never had a reason to be down there.
"I don't have one of those passes"
"you mean a MetroCard?" He said followed by a cute chuckle "it's aight they sell some at the station. anyways, we should get there at about 10:45ish...catch a lil bit of the show till the ball drops. now obviously we won't get the best view, people been there since morning waiting for this shit"
"so what do we do till then?" I asked
"I dunno, talk..." He suggested
"okay. so why me of all people, I'm sure you have a lot more friends you coulda asked to come with you?"
"yeah but I wanna spend some time with you. plus every time we hang out it's usually lunch, I wanna know you when you're not stuffing your face"
That is true. Over the months Ty and I only ever go out to the mall to get lunch, and the one time we didn't was when he helped me study for a midterm, but he brought food so that doesn't really count.
"well thanks. I've never actually gone to see the ball drop so this is something new to me"
"yeah no problem"
We were now sitting in silence which caused him to get up and finished getting dressed. As he was putting on his shoes his mom called out to him from downstairs—man she is loud.
"I'll be right back" He said then walked out of the room
I don't know what prompted me but once he left I got up and started to look around his room. It was a nice room, his whole apartment is.
He had some trophies on shelves hanging on the wall, from what I could tell they were from basketball, football and tennis—that's new. He also had his high school diploma framed and hung on his wall, an advanced regents diploma...nice!
I kept looking around his room at his posters and artwork that were hung up on his walls. A lot of it looked like his door which made me realize he drew them. So not only is he athletic and smart but he's creative too—and let's not forget good looking. If I had any gay friends I would hook him up.
"sorry bout that, she just wanted me to do some' for her" I heard him say behind me
I turned and he was now standing by the door.
"I-I was just—"
"nah it's fine. we gonna leave now actually. my mom reminded me that the train system gonna be fucked up anyways so the earlier we leave the better"
"oh okay"
"yeah. lemme just grab my jacket. you need one, you know it's like 10 degrees out right?" He asked
"and ruin my fit? I think not. I'm wearing two sweaters and a long sleeve I should be fine" I said
"you sure bout that, we gon be out there for hours?"
"very"
He nodded then walked into his closet. In a minute or so he walked out with a huge jacket, it looked like he was about to walk through a snow storm or something.
"warm enough?" I joked
"toasty. aight let's dip"
He grabbed his phone and wallet then led the way out of his room. We said bye to his mom who was talking on the phone then left.
"so your mom just spends New Years at home?" I asked as we walked to the elevator
"yeah she's kinda a loner. She has friends but she likes her alone time more. Her and my dad are total opposites. He's out now getting drunk and celebrating with friends" He explained
"Oh"
We left his building then started to walk to the train station. I still can't believe we're taking the train. I don't want to seem boujee or anything but dangerous stuff happens down there. There have been multiple reports of stabbing that has taken place down there—and the rats is a no no.
After ten minutes of walking we came to one of the stations. It had a sign with three letters in circles: E, M and R.
Ty started walking down the stairs so I followed behind him. It wasn't too busy down here, but then again judging by the people who live in the neighborhood not that many people are taking the train.
"which train are we taking?" I asked as he walked up to these machines
"either one, they all take us to the same place" He said
He started to do something on the machine, I'm guessing this is where you get one of those MetroCards.
"so you seriously have never ridden the train?" He randomly asked
"no. what gave it away?"
"well for starters you called a MetroCard a pass—which it could be considered that I guess. but you also look nervous as hell right now like you in foreign territory"
"people die in these places"
He started to laugh then focused on what he was doing. One of the MetroCards came out of the slot which he took out and handed to me. He then started to repeat the process over again for himself.
"relax, niggas is just tryna get around like we are. nothing to be scared of"
He paid for his MetroCard then led the way to the spinny things. He went first to demonstrate then watched me do it. It didn't take brain science to operate it like how he was making it seem.
"aight we going this way" He said pointing to the right side
"what's the difference?"
"one side heads uptown and the other heads downtown...we're going downtown" He explained
We ended up walking down some more stairs. How far into the ground are we gonna go?
"so now what?" I asked as I stared at the grimey tracks
"we wait"
"for how long?"
"well they come about every ten minutes, but since we don't know when the last one left I would say roughly ten minutes"
"ten minutes? an Uber could—sorry. it's the rich kid in me"
"nah don't worry I was just like you the first time I had to ride the train. look, you're in luck"
He pointed towards the tunnel part which slowly started to emit light. The light started to get brighter and soon a train was coming from it. I never realized how long they actually are, I counted 11 cars connected.
"plus it's an E train—runs on express so we won't be making that many stops" He explained
The doors opened allowing us to get on. It was full but luckily two people had gotten up and we were able to get to their seats first.
"so this is the train?"
"welcome to New York City" He teased
The train was truly an experience for me. I got to witness one of the train shows where people dance for money. These boys did some tricks on the poles such as hanging upside down and stuff. I gave them $10 'cus they peeked my interest.
I also got the pleasure to experience train delays. Ty's mom was right because there was heavy traffic which delayed the train from moving several times. One of the times the train didn't move for 15 minutes and another time it took 20 minutes.
When we got off the train it was already 11:47. What should've been a 40 minute ride according to Ty took nearly 2 hours.
"I'm just glad it's not 12 yet, otherwise this whole trip would've been useless" Ty said as we walked up the stairs
"well we're still going to the party right? so it wouldn't of been totally useless"
On the train ride he suggested we go to this New Years Eve party his friend is throwing somewhere nearby. Even though I'm not really a party person it would give me something to do for the rest of the night.
"true"
As soon as we stepped out of the station all you could see was people. I don't think I'd ever seen that many people in my life. What made it worse was that we weren't even near the ball drop yet.
To think that was the only problem, I started to feel cold. I should've listened to Ty. I tried making it not noticeable but we were in negative degree weather, I was practically shivering.
"you cold aren't you" He asked as we walked through the people
"a lil chilly" I said trying to play it off "I'll be fine"
He stopped then started to unzip his jacket.
"no no, don't. then you'll be cold" I said hoping that was what he was going to do unless this is just embarrassing
"I kinda figured you'd be cold" He said
He unzipped the jacket to reveal another one right underneath. That's why it looked so big earlier.
"you've been wearing two jackets this whole time?" I asked
"yeah well it was kinda serving a purpose but here"
"thanks"
I put on the jacket then we continued to walk further. After about five minutes of pushing through people the ball started to become a little visible. I was very impressed by his determination to deliver a great New Years experience for me. I was okay with watching the ball drop from where we were but he insisted we get closer to the show.
"okay okay here's good" I said tired of pushing through people after 10 minutes
"you sure?" He asked
"yeah we only have like...two minutes left anyways" I said looking at the time on my apple watch
"aight then"
I stared up at the ball that was still relatively far but good enough to make out. It was changing different colors and the clock under it was counting down in seconds now.
"wow...you know what I just realized?" I said
"what?"
"My first New Years with a boyfriend and he's not even here to give me the first kiss of the year"
I actually do wish he was here right now. I'm having a great time with Ty but of course I'd prefer it to be Masai here with me instead.
"I feel you...but then again I ain't got nobody though so it ain't really the same"
The time had now gone to just a minute left. wow, it's really about to be a new year. I learned a lot this year, got into my first real relationship, lost my virginity, graduated high school and began college. This year was a really huge milestone in my life, this upcoming year though I know will be good.
I don't like waiting for a date to decide what I would like to change in my life, but I seriously can say that this new year will be a great year of growth for me.
"ten...nine...eight..." The crowd started yelling
Ty turned to me and smiled before counting down along.
"seven...six...five..."
This is really it...we're saying hello to another year.
"four...three...two..."
Here goes.
"one...Happy New Year!"
The ball began to fall and confetti shot into the air out of nowhere.
"Happy New Year!" I said to Ty
"Happy New Year" He returned with a smile
I could feel his eyes on me now and so I turned to look at him. We were staring into each others eyes and for a moment it felt like we were the only two people here even though surrounded by thousands.
"c-can I?" He asked slightly leaning in
"uh huh" I answered with a nod before I could even process his question
He closed his eyes and started to lean in some more and I followed suit until our lips touched. His lips...they're indescribable. It's like tiny explosions...it's like...fireworks.
Coincidentally fireworks went off causing us to break apart.
"I know it's not the kiss you wanted but..." He said with a slight shrug
"it was perfect. thank you"
I know I'm obviously going to have to tell Masai about this but I know he'll understand. after all it was just a meaningless kiss.
"so this is it?" I asked referring to the ball drop
"uh pretty much, unless you—"
He was cut off by the sound of shots—gunshots. People started to scream and shriek and run all over the place.
Ty immediately grabbed me and pulled me into him so that he was a barrier to me and tried to follow the crowd of running people which was hard due to the amount of people.
"don't worry I got you" He said briskly before lifting me up