It's 2 AM and I still haven't fallen asleep. Here I am, waiting for something interesting to happen in this fucking apartment. Who am I even kidding? This building's filled with uptight businessmen just trying to make it in San Francisco and hipster college students. So unless something interesting happens to any of them at two in the morning that DOESN'T include an exciting business proposal from a different country with a different time zone or the release of a new Coldplay song, I'm not expecting anything fun. Heck, I'm not even that fun anymore. My orange hair is the most exciting thing about me right now.

I unlock my phone and well, there it is, a picture of the two people that never fail to make me smile, or should I say, never failed. Why should I be subjected to use the past tense? They should still be able to make me smile, I mean, if they were here right now. I don't know. Yep, it was totally wise to make my lock screen a picture of Lea and Arthur. Fuck, I'm about to tear up, I don't know why this happens whenever I unlock my phone. I should just change the wallpaper, but it's just too hard-too many memories that I'll be removing along with the removal of this freaking picture. No, I'm not going to have a cliché breakdown in the middle of the night (or, at least, I hope I'm not going to). I remember when I took this picture, it all happened during the New Year's Eve of 2011. Me and Lea decided to get together on December 31, 2011, and things just escalated from there.

I sniffled as I entered her New York apartment—Sheila was waiting for me at the door. Damn these allergies.

"Are you okay? Should I bring her out, or?"

I breathed in heavily, why does this girl have to be so sweet? "No, no, no. It's fine, and besides, you can't let Sheila stay outside in this—" I pointed at the window, "—weather! It's unacceptable and could be considered animal abuse."

Snow was falling rapidly, and unless Lea wanted to turn her cat into a snowman, then she shouldn't even be.. whatever.

She chuckles at my comment. "Alright, but just say something if it gets too stuffy in here for you. She'll be fine outside, she has a coat!" What. She says it as if all cats have coats. She's Lea freaking Michele, damn it. She could or could not be joking, but I play along anyway.

"Sure she does," I roll my eyes and cross my arms. Lea huffs at my reply. "She does! I swear." She reaches into her closet and pulls out a—whelp, there it is. My eyes widen: why am I even surprised?

I move closer and take the jacket. "You've done it again, Lea."

She looks at me with a pout on her face. No, you're not allowed to do that. You're not allowed to be cute while I'm making fun of your feline fashion obsession. Stop it. "Done what?" She raises her eyebrow, pretending to be confused.

"This.. thing you do. Buying weird things." She glares at me, "Hey! This isn't weird! It's practical, useful even!" I toss the coat to the couch and move closer to her beside the window.

"Let me guess, you have the booties to match?" A wide grin lights up her face. "That.. that's a great idea!" I laugh and think, huh, this girl was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy.

We talk for a few more hours until the clock strikes 11:50 PM. It's good she has a wall clock, otherwise we would've talked through Christmas. "Hey, Lea?" I pat her shoulder— she's playing with Arthur and she looks so fucking cute. They should make a show about Lea and pets. She'd kick Cesar Millan's ass.

"Yeah?" I point at the clock and she tenses up. "Oh shit! Hold on! Let me get something!" She runs into her bedroom and Arthur lies down on the floor, affected by how quick Lea left him. I rub under his ears and whisper, "Yeah, I'd be sad too if Lea abandoned me."

A few seconds later, she dashed into the room with a—holy crap! Is that a Rolleiflex?

"This is my New Year's gift to you, I would've given you a coat for Arthur instead, but clearly you don't appreciate animal comfort. And, I didn't have time to wrap it, so you can just.. use it right now.." She smiled at me and I gave her the biggest hug I have ever given to anyone in my entire life, god, I'm probably crushing her but I don't care. Love hurts, right? Right?

"I.. thank you so much, I love it, I love.." I pause for a moment. I'm speechless, I've lost all sense of self control. Shit. ".. this night, everything's just.. perfect." Nice save, Agron. You've outdone yourself.

"Lea, Lea, sit on the couch beside the window." She complies and I hold the camera up. "Smi—oh, Arthur! Just, uh.." Lea holds him in her arms so gracefully and I would really like to be in Arthur's place right now. "Like this? Is this okay?" She strokes his fur, and I'm just thinking about her running her fingers through my hair. Focus. "Yeah. Perfect." I took a second look, and yep. That looks really fucking perfect. I'm gonna 'Notebook'. Like the sad movie. I'm not thinking strai—"Are you gonna take the picture or.." I hold the camera up to my eye again and—click. Huh. I tinker around with it and, oh, god.

"Lea, did you put any film in this?" Her face turns blank. She blushes and covers her face with her hands.

"Augh, Di, I am so fucking sorry! It.. must've slipped my mind. I got it online, everything.. everything's ruined!" She's shaking, she's about to cry, and I just want to.. I don't even know. "No, Lea, stop, stop, please. This is what iPhone photo apps are for, right?" She looks up at me and wipes her eyes with a tiny smile. "For taking last minute New Year's photos when your vintage camera doesn't have any film in it?" I giggle at her comment. "Yeah, exactly." She returns to her position with Arthur, I slip out my phone, and yep, I'm 'Notebooking' the hell out right now. "3, 2, 1, smile!" Snap. "That was great." She grins and I look at the clock once again. It's 11:59.

She pulls me with her after taking a quick glance at the clock, and we're heading to the balcony, apparently. We leave our pets behind—Sheila's asleep and Arthur, as Lea put it, "doesn't have the proper winter attire".

Here we are. I can here the chants of the people in the apartments below and across us. "10!" We shout in unison. We don't even know what time it is but we're glad we made it to the countdown on time. "9!" She takes my hand in hers. "8!" I squeeze our palms together. "7!" I pull her closer to me. "6!" She rests her head on my shoulder. "5!" We look at the sky and 3 seconds have passed. "3!" I. "2!" Love. "1!" You.

Bam! Fireworks. I wouldn't trade this moment for anything in the world. An explosion of color up in the sky, and an explosion of color right here on a snow filled New York apartment balcony. I wouldn't trade this moment for anything in the world. "Merry Christmas, lady," I say with a smile. "Merry Christmas to you too, lady." Oh, the unforgettable memories we make whenever no one is there to come between us.

The sound of something dropping in the apartment upstairs snaps me out of my haze, and yep, I'm definitely 'Notebooking' right now (can we please make that a thing? The term's ringing in my head.) Things happen too quickly, I'm so dramatic about things sometimes.

I check the clock and it's 2:40 AM. I don't want to be dramatic anymore, but it's gonna be a pretty long night.