"Jade?"
"Jadey?"
"Jadeeeyyy?"
"What!" I exclaim, making the girl in front of me flinch. She looks at me with her huge brown eyes and I sigh. "Sorry. Now, what?"
"I'm tired." Cat's hair is rumpled from laying on the couch, watching television all night long. Somehow, I'd managed to sit through several of her favorite cartoons, though I had zoned out after the first five minutes.
I roll my eyes. "You're already tired? It's only ten o' clock...but you know you can go to sleep, right?"
"No...I have to stay awake. Please don't let me fall asleep!" What is it with her and this New Year's thing? First, she shows up at my house in her pajamas, holding her ridiculous giraffe and a blanket. Then she tells me that she has to stay up all night, because if she doesn't, then the New Year's 'Monster' is going to kill her in her sleep. Where did she hear that?
"'Kay...do you want some coffee?" I ask, standing and stretching. I hadn't moved in over two hours, and if Cat was going to need me to stay up with her, I needed my coffee.
"Do you have ice cream?" There is a hint of hope in Cat's voice, if slight. She knows I hate the cold, sugary food.
"No," I say, "but...I have an idea. Get your shoes on and uh...tie this over your eyes when we get in the truck." I yank a scarf from a pole by the front door of my house and hand it to Cat, who's clapping her hands excitedly.
"Where are we going? Are we gonna go to the zoo?" I grin a little and shake my head at her questions.
"Cat, the zoo's closed. And I'm not telling you; it's a surprise. You'll find out when we get there." Hey, if we're going to stay up all night, we're not going to spend it at my house. It's one hell of a boring place; besides, I couldn't stand Cat's cartoons anymore.
"Yay, I love surprises!"
"Of course you do."
Cat follows me outside and we climb into my truck. While I start it, Cat ties the scarf around her eyes as I had instructed her. It takes half an hour for me to stop by Starbucks to get my coffee and the closest Freezy Queen to get a little something for Cat. She knows I got the coffee by the smell, but she doesn't know about the ice cream, as far as I can tell.
I hope Cat enjoys this. I drove an extra hour (with her asking the whole way: "Are we there yet?") to get to this place. My mother used to take me here on New Year's when I was little, and I have to say, it's pretty amazing for a fireworks show. There's this huge, beautiful lake that people gather around to watch a dusk-to-dawn fireworks display, with the largest one at midnight, exactly. It changes every year.
As soon as we begin to hear traces of the show, Cat lets out a little squeal. "Ooh, is it fireworks?" she asks.
"No, it's a shooting range," I laugh, but Cat thinks I'm serious, of course. "No, don't worry, it's definitely fireworks. But you still can't take the scarf off until we sit down, okay?"
"Kay, kay!" she replies, grinning into Mr. Longneck. I drive off of the road and onto a smooth dirt path just wide enough for a vehicle to move through. Most people leave this trail alone, probably because they're scared of snakes or something, but I know better. At first, it looks rough and forbidding (which I kind of like, but hey, I guess a lot of people don't) but the vegetation gets thicker and greener the further you go.
The forest ends about fifty yards from the shore of the lake, and I carefully maneuver the black Silverado over the uneven ground, coming to a halt between a couple tufts of grass containing colorful flowers. I have to resist the urge to take my scissors and cut them to shreds.
"Hold on a second," I tell Cat, and I get out of the driver's seat. I make my way to the passenger's side and I open the door, taking Cat's hand. I manage to get her onto the hood of the truck and I climb up beside her, and I finally permit her to uncover her eyes as I thrust a bowl of strawberry ice cream into her hands.
"Oh, my gosh! This place is so pretty!" she gushes. Yeah...I did good for once, didn't I? Well, never speak of it! A large cracking sound resonates in the air and a moment later, a large spray of orange and yellow sparks fill the sky, reminding me of fire. "Oh, lookit! It's so bright!" I grin a little as Cat giggles, losing herself in her sugary treat and the different colors that light up the night.
"Wait a minute...we forgot something," Cat whimpers after a few minutes. I glance at her, my eyebrows knitting together. How could we have forgotten something? It's only fireworks. "Neither of us have anyone to kiss at midnight!"
Of course.
"Sorry..." I say, glancing back at the clock inside the still-running truck. "We have ten minutes. Nobody we know can get here that fast." Which I am perfectly fine with, though I'm not about to say it out loud. I don't like mushy-kissy stuff very much, and it's just awkward when you have two or more couples doing it at once.
"Phooey." Cat makes a pouty face, but soon resumes watching the fireworks. I know when midnight has come when rainbow-colored lights dye a wall of fog and a huge sheet of colored sparks rain down, followed by an explosion of red and pink hearts. Well, that's not very...New Year'sish.
I turn to Cat to see her reaction to the disgusting rainbow, but to my amazement, she isn't looking at the display. She's looking at me, with a big grin on her face. Before I can tell what she's doing, she leans in and kisses me, cupping my cheek with one hand. My heart stops for a moment, then my eyes flutter closed and I'm kissing her back.
Why am I kissing her back? I honestly don't know. But I do know that it feels wonderful and that I never want to stop. Her lips are soft and they taste like the strawberry ice cream she had been eating, a taste which I suddenly don't hate anymore. The kiss is slow, soft and passionate, and it makes me wonder how long Cat has felt this way...and also how long I had felt this way. We obviously wouldn't be enjoying it so much if we hadn't wanted it before.
We break apart with a tiny sucking noise and I feel Cat's warm breath on my cheek when her face lingers beside mine. Suddenly, I feel quite possessive over the little red-headed girl, and I close the distance between our bodies. I wrap one arm around her and entwine our fingers together with the other.
Cat glances up at me before smiling a little and resting her head on my shoulder. "Happy New Year's, Jade," she sighs.
"Happy New Year's, Cat," I reply, but despite the noise of the ongoing fireworks, she's already asleep. I consider waking her up, but I decide that I would be plenty protection against the New Year's Monster.
Happy New Year's, Everybody! Hope you had a great year of 2011! Now, who's ready for the world to end? Nah, just kidding. Guess what? It's my first ever story with nothing bad happening! Please review and tell me if you liked it; should I start doing more like this, or continue with darks stories with *somewhat* happy endings? Reviews are my cat's food :3 Please feed her!
...Because if you don't...she won't be happy :D