11:37

"Dammit!"

Annie Walker looked down at her cell phone and quickly looked out the window. Cars everywhere on the road, stopped. Looking at the driver up front, she noticed he had a book with a book light and a container full of coffee beside him. He was planning on staying here for a while . . . a long while it seemed.

The blonde-headed girl groaned in frustration, "Excuse me," she said leaning forward toward the glass to talk to the cabbie. "Do you think we'll be moving anytime soon?"

The cabbie who seemed to be in his late fifties, looked up from his book annoyed as though she'd just interrupted him from a good paragraph. He looked back at her through his rear view mirror. "Darling," he said in a thick Brooklyn accent. "We'll be lucky to move before the ball drops."

"Ugh!" Throwing herself back against the seat, she looked down at her phone again.

11:38

'Stupid, stupid, stupid! God, this is my entire fault! I'll never get there before midnight. There's no way.' Annie thought to herself.

Closing her eyes she let out a deep sigh before opening them again. She looked out to traffic around her which was at a complete stand still. In the car to her right there was a man in a business suit on his phone with a distressed look on his face. His mouth saying 'I'm sorry' over and over again.

Biting her lip, she looked over to the left of her and out the window to the cab and in the back was an older couple around their mid forties sitting together. They were wrapped in each other's arms and giggling to themselves like a couple of school children. They looked absolutely content with their lives at the moment, even though they were stuck in New York traffic on New Year's Eve.

11:39

Annie's heart nearly stopped beating as she saw the time . . . almost 20 minutes until midnight. What was she going to do now? She was stuck in traffic nearly 8 blocks away from Times Square. There was no way she was getting anywhere near her destination sitting in her car . . .

She motioned her head toward the couple on her left, a faint smile grazing her lips as she watched them just continue to look at each other happily. Whipping her stare to her right she caught sight of the man and watched him with a sad smile as he laid his head back on the headrest behind him, still on the phone with his eyes closed as he continued to say 'I'm sorry' into the receiver.

That was going to be her if she stayed in the cab. She would be the one saying 'I'm sorry' over and over again like she had been for the past couple of days.

But there was no guarantee that she'd end up being like that couple in the other cab if she got out.

It was definitely risky, she thought as she remembered how cold it was outside. A blistering 14 degrees to be correct, according to her phone.

Annie's heart rate started going up. She looked down at the clock again.

11:40

She had to go now if she wanted any chance of getting anywhere near Times Square.

Without taking another thought into consideration, she pulled cash out of her purse without even checking to see what it was and threw it hastily to the driver.

"Here! I hope that covers my fee. Happy New Year!"

Grabbing her coat, she opened the cab door and stuck a leg out, much to the protest of the cabbie. "Hey! Sweetheart! I wouldn't do that if I were you it's suici–"

Annie shut the door behind her, the winter air hitting her skin making her gasp loudly.

"Shit! It's freezing out here!"

Putting on her coat and buttoning it up pronto, she then reached for her mittens in her pocket. After putting them on she looked down at her phone again to check the time.

11:41

She cursed loudly as she realized she'd just lost a precious moment.

"This is it. I'm going."

Taking a head start to her next destination, she made a run toward her left. She knew it was only 8 blocks away . . . Times Square.

Hopefully being on the track team back in high school would do her some good, it was time to see anyway. And maybe all that CIA training would come in handy in an social manner instead of work.

Suddenly not even a minute into her run she felt pain shoot through both of her legs. She stopped abruptly and looked down.

"Damn, of course I decide to wear heels today." Reaching down quickly she tore off the black peep toe Christian Louboutin's. She loved those heels to death, but there was no way she could run in them.

The bitter cold hit her legs and feet as she ran fast, feeling the cold pavement beneath her feet even though they barely hit the concrete for less than a second every moment. Suddenly it seemed so stupid that she'd dressed up in the new dress she'd bought precisely for this night.

It's not like anyone was going to see it now. A short black dress that came up to mid-thigh was slowly riding up her legs as she ran faster. The one person she'd picked it out especially for was never going to enjoy it now. Now it was a just a skimpy little dress that was offering her little warmth. It was hidden underneath her black wool coat which was just barely making her feel a little bit toastier.

"I'm totally gonna get frostbite or something. I just know it."

Annie pulled out her phone out of her pocket and glanced down at the time.

11:43

She'd barely scaled two blocks in the course of two minutes . . . this was not going as planned. Sighing she punched the button to direct her to her recent calls and scrolled down to second name she'd last talked to.

Continuing to run as fast as her legs could carry her, in and out of the people who were situated on the sidewalk, she prayed that the person would pick up their cell.

"Come on, come on, come on! Pick up –"

"Hello?"

Annie nearly cried out with joy as she heard the thick southern accent come on through the other end.

"Gina! I'm so glad you picked up!" Gina was a longtime friend of Annie's, and she was hosting the party that Annie knew he had to be at. They were supposed to go together, but…

"Annie? What's wrong honey? You sound completely out of breath."

Annie took a big gulp as she continued to run, passing her 4th block she realized she only had 4 more to go. "What time is it?" She asked frantically, seeing she didn't have a clock to see what time it was now.

She heard Gina scrambling around until she said, "11:45. Why?"

"I'm on my way Gina. I'm about four blocks away."

"Four blocks away? You mean from Times Square?" What are doing here? I thought you were back home in D.C."

Tears began welling up in Annie's eyes. "I – I couldn't do it Gina. I had to come, I had to. I can't leave." her voice broke as she continued talking to the older woman.

"Oh darling. I understand."

Upon coming to the third block she could see it . . . a ton of people in the distance. The place was packed. She lost her breath at the sight and began slowing down. There was no way she was going to make it.

"Oh my god." she said in a strangled whisper.

"What is it?"

"There are so many people here. I don't think I can make it through."

'No! I have to. Come on Annie. You can do this. You didn't come all this way for nothing.' She told herself, pepping herself up.

Taking another long stride, she began picking up speed once again and dashed toward the crowd. She was going to make it.

"Hey Gina? Could you meet me down at the entrance to the building? So they'll let me in. Please?" she asked praying that she would.

"Oh of course! I'll be down there in a couple minutes. Now don't worry about anything, just make sure you make it here okay?"

"Thanks so much Gina. I don't know what I'd do without you. I'm gonna go now. See you in a few." and with that she quickly hung up her phone.

Looking out into the crowd that she was quickly making her way towards, she paused for a moment to take a look at her phone.

11:49

Ten minutes until midnight and she was two blocks away.

She could do this. There was no way she was backing down now.

Backing down was what led her to this moment anyway, if only she hadn't screwed them both over...

Annie looked down at the man below her who was kneeling down on one knee.

It had taken a total of 10 seconds for her world to come crashing down . . . in the most magnificent way possible. Or so she thought.

"W-what?" she choked out in strangled breath.

The 33-year-old man she'd been dating for the past two years looked at her with wide eyes, his brown orbs seemingly looking at her with anticipation at her answer.

"Will you marry me?" he said quietly again to her.

She let the word mull over her again, these were the exact words she'd wanted to hear from him from the moment she'd realized her feelings for him.

Two years ago at this same spot, a little water fountain in the middle of a park filled with blooming roses.

'Open your mouth and say yes you idiot girl!' her brain kept saying to her.

But as Annie opened her mouth slightly to voice her answer . . . something inside of her jolted her. Fear sprung up out of nowhere, and as she continued to stare down at the man who was holding her hand and a box containing the ring in his other hand . . . she was scared.

"I . . . I –"

Confusion slowly began to show up on the man's face as he listened to the woman he loved continue to not say anything.

"Annie?" He questioned.

Her breathing became erratic as she watched him slowly get up off his knee and gaze at her with a furrowed brow. She looked up at him as he stood up straight.

"I can't." She whispered.

11:56

"Annie! Over here!"

Annie's head whipped around, frantically searching for the voice calling her. When she saw Gina she broke into a smile. Maybe she would be able to pull it off.

Running toward the door she let Gina pull her in and she was immediately greeted by a warm hug from the woman.

"I didn't think you would come to your senses. I'm so glad you did honey."

And just like that they were off to the nearest elevator that was being held open for them by a security guard.

Once they got inside Annie looked down at her phone to check the time.

11:57

"My legs, my feet hurt, and I can barely breathe right now . . . but I don't care. I have to see him before midnight Gina. I have to tell him what I really wanted to say when he proposed. I wanna say yes, I wanna spend the rest of my life with him."

Gina clasped her chest and smiled a happy smile. "Oh thank the Lord Annie. I was so heartbroken when you said no."

"Do you think he'll take me back?"

Gina smiled at her. "Of course, honey. In a second."

The elevator opened to reveal a busy hallway.

"It's to the right."

11:59

Just then a door opened, making her stop dead in her tracks.

She knew who that brown-haired man was.

He came slinking out of the door with his phone in hand and a sad look on his face.

"Auggie?"

His head jerked up and his eyes searched to locate the sound of her voice.

"Annie? What . . . what are you doing here?"

She looked at him and could see the redness from the winter night still on his cheeks. She smiled weakly. "I – I"

Both of them stopped a few feet away from each other and she stared at him. Those dark eyes would never be able to see her, but she knew…he could see her.

"IT'S TIME FOR THE COUNTDOWN!" A voice yelled out from the studio behind them.

Smiling she realized it was Nicole's voice, Gina's sister.

"10! 9!"

Taking a giant step toward Auggie, Annie stopped a few inches from him.

"8! 7!"

Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes, "I came to say yes. I was wrong the other day Auggie, I was stupid and scared."

"6! 5!"

Auggie stared at her direction with his mouth open and a shocked look on his face.

"I came to say yes, Auggie. Yes, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I want to be your wife. I want everything; I want to be there with you for every step of the journey. I want to be yours . . . forever."

"4! 3!"

"Yes Auggie. Yes, I'll marry you."

"2! . . . 1!"

Suddenly, before she could register what was going on, Annie felt lips crash upon her and kiss her hungrily.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

There was massive cheering going on; 'Auld Lang Syne' broke out over the speakers. It was the New Year.

But the two people who were currently wrapped up in each other didn't care.

"I love you Annie. Don't you ever forget that."

And cue happily ever after! ^_^ So, this is my first time ever posting, so any comments, concerns, let me know. Or, if you wanna just compliment me, that's cool too. :P ;)

Best Regards,
-Audrey C.