Hi guys, I'm back with the first of three events to look forward to: the NYE party. So without further ado, I shall leave you to read on!

Chapter 7

New Year's Eve rolled around so quickly that Leaf had not even registered it until she received a text from Misty around noon saying that she was on her way back to Celadon and that she was looking forward to hitting the NYE parties later.

Leaf was relieved that she and Gary had already thought of a way round it: Leaf had told Misty that she was going to be working but instead she would be hiding with Gary. Gary knew that Drew was going to spend another night in his hometown of La Rousse, but what he had planned was a mystery. Leaf was also thankful that Gary was willing to make some alterations to his original plans to help her.

Six o'clock rolled around and Leaf set her plan in motion, pretending to take off for work but in actual fact, only travelling around ten minutes down the road to Gary's flat. She rang his doorbell and was greeted by Gary in seconds, whose hair was flat from being wet.

"Nice hair." Leaf commented.

"Thanks." Gary replied in an equally mocking tone as Leaf, "I was at the gym earlier, you know, because some of us like to look good."

"Too bad you aren't one of us who naturally look good." Leaf shot back without missing a beat.

"I'd like to meet someone from that group." Gary said before offering Leaf a drink.

Leaf requested a glass of water and took a seat on the couch. She emptied a couple of things out of her bag: her make up bag, her outfit for tonight and some snacks.

"Do you need to take a shower?" Gary offered.

Leaf shook her head. "I did that before I left. But I need a mirror."

Gary pointed her into the direction of his room. "You can use the one in there. The bathroom mirror is all steamed up."

Leaf nodded and grabbed her make up bag and a packet of biscuits with her. She struggled through doing her make-up, trying to simultaneously eat biscuits and delicately line her eyes with eye liner was impossible! Gary had to admit that it was amusing to watch when he slipped into the room to grab his hair products, and when he was out, he could hear her groans every time a biscuit snapped and fell out of her mouth.

After a relatively short amount of time, Leaf had managed to do her make-up and her hair into a long, loose plait with soft curls hanging out. "I'm going to change outfits now so don't come in!" Leaf said, popping her head out of Gary's room, just to be absolutely sure that he had heard her.

Gary was dressed up in black dress trousers, a crisp white shirt with the top few buttons open and an undone tie slung around his neck. He was sitting at the breakfast bar with a glass of red wine in one of his hands and he waved the other in a dismissive response to the brunette.

Leaf wasted no time in slipping out of her skirt and top and slipped her legs into her dress and slipping the thin straps over her shoulders and attempted to do the zip up, which extended from her lower to mid back, leaving the rest exposed. Leaf struggled to reach properly, her arms failing to contort to an angle which would allow her to fix her jammed zip.

In the living room, Gary could hear the sound of things falling off his desk. Concerned, he knocked at the door and called in, "What's going on in there."

There was a delay before Leaf replied. "Nothing." She shouted out before another clutter was heard followed by footsteps and the door opened. She popped her head out, almost head-butting Gary in the process. He was leaning against the wall next to the door and appeared unstartled by her sudden presence. "Actually, can you help me?"

Gary raised a brow at her. "Figured you'd need it."

Leaf stuck her tongue out at him. "My zip is stuck." She said then turned round.

"So you felt it was necessary to swipe everything off my desk?" Gary casually asked as he fixed the zip. He noticed that the dress was slightly loose on Leaf's slim figure, exposing slightly further down her back than the design intended, but he shook his head, removing all his thoughts.

"You try doing a zip that's in an inconvenient place." Leaf complained then smiled at her reflection in the mirror. She had to admit that the dress looked stunning on her. It really accentuated her tiny waist and the short front allowed her to show off her toned legs from yoga and walking everywhere because she didn't want to fork out for public transport. The heels she wore - around five inches in height - made her legs look even more slender. "What do you think?" She turned smoothly on the spot to face Gary, and gave him a twirl.

"Looking good." Gary complimented as he eyed her up and down, "You clean up better than I thought you would." Of course his compliment had to be back handed. "We better head soon."

Leaf nodded and picked up her little clutch, ready to leave.

The taxi dropped the brunets off at a hotel that Leaf had never even heard of on the far side of town. Quickly she gathered that there was some sort of exclusive event going on and when they entered the hotel, they were quickly directed to a ballroom after Gary had flashed some sort of ticket.

Inside the ballroom was not what Leaf had expected - it was much more than she imagined. There were large tables that could seat up to twelve people; a spacious dance floor where several people were stood mingling and a bar that stretched almost completely along one side of the room.

"Where exactly are we?" She looked at Gary who she had linked arms with to enter the venue.

"It's the Genetix New Year's Eve party. There'll be lots of dancing and my bosses will be here."

"Wow, guess you'll have to stay somewhat sensible then." Leaf said.

"Yeah, I wasn't sure if I was going to come tonight for that reason." He guided Leaf to their table and introduced her to some of his colleagues.

"Leaf, this is Brock, my supervisor."

"Nice to meet you." Leaf shook his hand and put on a polite smile.

"It's nice to finally meet Gary's girlfriend. I missed the honour last year. But you are as beautiful as everyone says." He replied, still shaking Leaf's hand.

Leaf tried to pull away from his overly amorous hand shake subtly. After all, she didn't want to ruin her baby daddy's chances at work.

"Actually, that was someone different." Gary replied. "She's out of the picture now."

Leaf looked at Gary and wondered who he'd taken last year.

"Ah, I apologise," Brock said shamelessly and finally released Leaf's hand. "You must do me the honour of a dance later."

"My pleasure." Leaf smiled. At least she had a dance to look forward to later. She turned to look at Gary and saw that he had pulled her seat out for her. "Thanks." She said and sat down.

Gary took the seat next to hers. "Unfortunately the trade-off for you getting to dance is that you have to talk to a lot of different people." Gary said before adding, "And be nice to them."

"I don't mind." Leaf said, "I don't know if you've noticed but I'm a people person."

Gary nodded. He had to agree with her. Now that he had started to talk to Leaf about things other than uni and beyond the general greetings, he had to admit, she was actually really cool and interesting to talk to. She could hold her own in a debate with him and she comes out with the craziest, yet insightful thoughts ever. "Point taken."

"Who'd you take last year?" Leaf asked, referring to his rumoured girlfriend he had last year. Leaf subconsciously reached out for the glass of wine on the table.

"Emmy." Gary answered and smoothly took the glass out of Leaf's hand in a swift movement. "None for you, remember?"

"Right." Leaf just about managed to say, too stunned by his answer to notice that the wine glass had been taken out of her hand.

Shortly after they had settled into their seats, and into conversation with the people at their table, food was being served. It was one of the many things that Leaf loved about going to ceilidhs (think old-fashioned jigs, like in The Titanic). The first course came and went with delight as Leaf happily consumed all that was on her plate, washed down with a glass of apple juice and a sip of wine (Gary decided that it was alright for her to have one small glass, given the occasion). The second course was a bit more problematic, with Leaf's recent aversion to bacon which was wrapped around the chicken. She sat and stared at her plate, then Gary and back several times before the boy took a hint. After the problem had been resolved, Leaf ate her meal happily. By desserts, Leaf had decided that it wasn't fair that Gary had more to his main course than she did, and guilt tripped him into giving her the brandy snap on his plate. Gary once again swore that that would be the last time he would give into her.

"That meal was amazing." Leaf said and thanked the waiter as he took the dessert plate away.

"I can tell you enjoyed that." He said and nodded his head in acknowledgement to some people across the room. "We better go greet some of my other colleagues."

"Sure." Leaf said and took Gary's arm once again. She followed the boy to the next table over where he introduced her to some people their age, who were either interns like Gary or newly hired staff members. Leaf enjoyed talking to them, and laughing too. They were smart people - her kind of people.

"We should probably go say hello to my other boss." Gary said and guided Leaf over to where she stood.

"Happy new year, Dr Abby." Gary greeted as he gave her a small hug and a polite peck on the cheek.

"Happy new year to you and your... Oh?" She said as she saw Leaf's face. "Leaf?"

"Abby?" Leaf said, "Long time no see!" She gave the woman a hug.

"It's been far too long!" The other woman, Abby, reciprocated. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm Gary's plus one." Leaf said, avoiding the words 'date', 'partner' or any alternative that implied they were in any way romantically involved, then started babbling away with the woman, leaving Gary to look on in shock. What was going on?

Gathering his thoughts, he cleared his throat, putting a halt to the reunion happening before his eyes. "Guess there's no need for an introduction then, other than she's my boss."

"I had no idea you worked in the Genetix Company." Leaf said to the woman.

"I had no idea that you knew Gary, let alone being in a relationship with him. You're a lucky boy, Gary."

"Actually-"

"Ah, there's my boss over there. I better go greet him a happy new year before I lose track of him again, but hopefully I'll see you back at kick boxing class soon." She said then excused herself.

"What just happened?" Gary asked the brunette, "Why do you know my boss? And so friendly with her?"

"I met her at a kick boxing class that I used to go to and since we're quite similar in height and build, we always ended up being partners." Leaf said. "She's such a lovely person, you're lucky to have her as a boss."

"You have no idea." Gary started, "She's a nightmare!" Working with the woman was a whole different story.

Leaf laughed, "Maybe I'll have to drop in a few nice words to her."

"Well she does think highly of you, for some reason..." Gary teased.

Leaf gave him a small push.

The pair continued to chat away with each other and other people too, enjoying the night's atmosphere. Gary had once again taken up the duty of watching Leaf's alcohol intake when other people insisted she have some champagne which was being distributed by the floating waiters with trays.

The ceilidh dancing was fun too. Leaf was surprised by how well and gentle Gary was when he danced with her. He held her hands with a warm, firm grip and guided her at a slower, more suitable pace than everyone else, probably because he sensed her lack of dancing ability on top of all other reasons. She had for some reason always assumed Gary to be one of the guys who'd swing a girl with more force than necessary, taking them off their feet. For some steps, she could feel Gary's breath down her neck, tickling her as he exhaled, but thankfully it was only for a second or so before they shifted.

Leaf could feel a stitch from the amount of laughing she and Gary did while trying to dance and not bump into the other guests, who were notably more drunk than both of them.

Gary eventually had to spare Leaf to dance with some of his colleagues, and she was more than happy to dance with other people. Gary too had taken the opportunity to get to know some other people in the dance floor, but eventually, the rotational dances, whereby the females switch partners, brought the pair back together, just in time for the countdown to the New Year.

There was a giant projection on the wall of a countdown to the New Year. Five minutes to go and all the dancing ceased. Two minutes to go and the crowd at the bar dispersed. One minute to go and everyone had their attention tamed to the screen. Ten seconds to go and everyone had decided who they were kissing when the clock reached zero. Three seconds to go and everyone was in position. When the clock struck zero, everyone chanted "Happy New Year" and kissed someone nearby.

Leaf and Gary looked each other in the eyes and in the spirit of the moment, Gary leaned in, placing a gentle peck, laced with the flavour of wine, on the edge of Leaf's lips. Leaf's eyes shut for a brief second, savouring the moment.

"Happy new year." He said exclusively to her, just loud enough for her to catch.

"Happy new year." Leaf said back equally as quietly in amongst the cheering, flustered by their moment.

At that moment, the DJ started to play some upbeat music for people to dance to. The dance floor flooded with drunk people, mostly couples, dancing away and the bar was cluttered with thirsty guests. A couple of waiters with trays walked around offering guests more flutes of champagne with a strawberry in the glass.

Leaf mentally cursed the fact that she couldn't drink and had used her one glass quota so soon. Gary on the other hand happily accepted a glass which seemed to go down rather quickly as they greeted some more people.

The party went on late and Leaf could feel her feet tire from her shoes. "It's been fun a night. Thanks for taking me." Leaf said sincerely to Gary.

"It has been a good night but we've not had a proper dance yet." He said then stood up and offered Leaf a hand.

Leaf grinned back at him, flashing all of her teeth in delight. She accepted his hand and followed him to the dance floor area which had slowly vacated over the hours since the bells. Leaf glanced around at the other people on the dance floor - exclusively couples - and noticed they were all slow dancing, arms around their partner's neck and their partners' hands around their waist with a gentle, rhythmic sway. She barely had time to register what to do before she felt Gary's hands snake around her waist and the proximity of the warmth that radiated off his body to hers.

Instinctively, Leaf followed and wrapped her arms around him and let the music take over. She looked up and saw Gary looking down at her, his hair casting a slight shadow over her eyes. Their foreheads touched and their noses would brush up against each other occasionally, just enough to send tingles down Leaf's body. She shut her eyes, savouring the intimacy of their dance.

The song seemed to last for seconds. Gary pulled away slowly and Leaf followed suite. She instantly missed the feeling of Gary's hands around her waist and scent of his cologne that she could smell when standing so close to him.

"Shall we head soon?" Gary asked, breaking Leaf's thought.

Leaf nodded. She was satisfied by the night's event and her feet were beyond tired.

Gary offered his arm out to Leaf yet again and she took it without hesitation. She was used to the treatment he gave her tonight and she had to admit, it was more than pleasant. In the hotel's lobby, they could see a queue of people waiting for a taxi, and several others sitting in the lounge who were also waiting but enjoying a drink in the process.

"Think we'll be in for a wait if we want to go." Leaf pointed out. "What do we do now?"

"Well we-"

"Leaf, Gary!"

The pair looked over to the direction of the voice, and saw Abby sitting in the lounge with her partner and a glass of whiskey in her hands. "Come join us." She indicated to the spare couch across from where she sat.

The pair agreed and made themselves comfortable. "Are you waiting for a taxi too?" Leaf asked.

Abby shook her head. "We've got a room here." She replied. "The company reserved most of them for staff so if you need one just talk to the reception."

"That's amazing, thanks." Leaf said.

"But we'll probably just go, since neither of us packed things for an overnight stay." Gary replied.

Leaf nodded for support but deep down, she was slightly disappointed at the thought of going home.

"Fair enough," Abby shrugged, "But it looks like you're in a wait. Why don't you stay for a drink first?"

"Sure." Gary replied on their behalf.

Gary and Leaf both ordered drinks, a pint for Gary and a cocktail for Leaf, which was slowly and subtly consumed by Gary. One drink turned into two, and two turned into several as they chatted away. Leaf tried to keep an eye on the queue for the taxi rank, silently praying that it was empty enough for them to join before Gary succumbed to the alcohol, like that night at their end of exams party. It was almost three in the morning before there were any available taxis for them.

"It's been so good to see you again." Leaf said, starting her farewell and standing up.

"You too." Abby said and stood up to hug Leaf.

Gary had drank so much to the point that he struggled to stand without aid.

Abby too was drunk. She pointed at Gary and giggled. "Good luck getting home with him." She said and slumped back onto her seat.

Leaf looked at Gary and swallowed hard. She had to accept that Abby was right. Getting the intoxicated boy home again was going to be a mammoth task.

Leaf had the bell boy to thank, for without his help, she would never have been able to carry Gary up to their room on the ninth floor despite the lift. The bellboy dropped Gary off on the bed before giving the pair some privacy.

Leaf made an effort to help Gary once again by removing his shoes, tie and belt to help him sleep comfortably. She poured him a glass of water too and left it on the bedside table. Gary was safely tucked under the duvet but then what?

Leaf looked at the couch, small and not long enough for her to stretch out. She tried to grab the throw which was still partially tucked in. Slowly, she tried to untuck it but to no avail, especially since Gary had a grip on it. Giving up, she sat on the edge of the bed for a moment to contemplate her next course of action and before she could stand back up, she felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her further onto the bed.

So it seems Leaf is in a bit of a pickle! Find out what will happen to her in the next instalment! Just pop a review and I'll love you and I'll try to update real soon with the next event (their first antenatal appointment which will be dramatic-ish in the for of some shit stirring by a certain charatcter) plus the build up to the third event (which will be very dramatic because of the shit stirrer)!

Talk to you soon! Mwah!

Silver-hedgehog

x x x