"I'm so glad this year is going to be over," Eliza mused, staring out at the horizon.
"Same here," Maria agreed, swinging her legs back and forth over the ledge the two of them were perched on, smiling over at her roommate/crush.
"I mean, so much crap has happened this year," Eliza went on. "We lost David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Prince, Gene Wilder…"
"And then it took Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds at the very end," Maria added.
"Don't forget Vera Rubin."
"Of course not, the person who proved the existence of dark matter should never be forgotten."
"And then we elected a fucking racist cheeto for President! And a homophobic Vice-President" Eliza threw her hands up in the air. "I'm beginning to think Angelica was right and that we should've moved to Canada after the election."
"Our incomes say we couldn't afford it," Maria reminded her.
"Hmph. I'm going to be gay as I can possibly be just to spite Mike Pence." Eliza picked up one of two glasses of champagne sitting in between them and took a sip.
"Aren't we supposed to wait til midnight to drink that?" Maria asked.
"Fuck it. I'm toasting the end early."
Maria laughed.
"I wish this stuff was stronger," Eliza lamented, staring at her glass.
"There's wine inside."
"Meh, I'm too lazy."
"I can get it," Maria offered, starting to get to her feet, but Eliza caught her hand.
"No, stick around. I can wait."
Maria was surprised she wasn't taking a tumble off the roof, as Eliza's touch was enough to make her knees go weak.
"A-are you sure?" she asked. "I'm sure I can sneak some past Alex."
"Yeah. Come sit back down."
Not willing to argue, Maria sat back down next to Eliza. Much to her disappointment, Eliza let go of her hand.
They sat in silence for a little while. Maria glanced down at Eliza's hand, resting next to the other champagne glass. She started to reach for it, and would have succeeded had Eliza not chosen that exact moment to brush the hair out of her eyes with her free hand. Maria was forced to pick up the other champagne glass as a cover in order to save face.
"Aren't we supposed to wait til midnight to drink that?" Eliza teased, parroting Maria's earlier words.
"I'm toasting the end early," Maria replied, echoing Eliza.
"Touché," Eliza laughed.
"What time is it anyway?" Maria asked.
Eliza checked her watch. "Shit! It's 11:59. We've got thirty seconds...twenty-nine, twenty-eight…"
The two lifted their glasses, ready to toast as they counted down the seconds.
"Ten...nine...eight...seven...six..five...four...three..two...one!" The numbers on Eliza's watch switched to 12:00 and the girls clinked their glasses and drank.
As Maria lowered her glass, Eliza's lips suddenly descended on hers. She barely had time to press back before Eliza pulled away.
"Happy New Year, Maria," Eliza whispered. She started to get to her feet, but Maria caught her hand. They both stood.
Maria leaned forward and kissed Eliza, running her hands through Eliza's hair, feeling Eliza's cool fingertips skimming over her cheekbone.
They slowly broke apart.
"Happy New Year, Eliza," Maria rasped.
Eliza's face broke into a beautiful smile, and her hand dropped down to fold neatly into Maria's.
They turned and walked inside, greeted by whoops and cheers at the sight of their intertwined fingers.
It was a pretty nice way to start the New Year.
Happy New Year! Goodbye to the hell that has been 2016, and may this fluff help herald a new and wonderful 2017!
Also, I'm probs posting this during some time zone where it's either December 30th or the New Year is already upon y'all, or maybe it's still just December 31st. Oh well.
Review, please!