Ryan pulled up at Lindsay house. There was no need to beep the horn because she was already waiting outside for him. She opened the car door, got in and gave Ryan a kiss on the cheek. She was wearing a pale pink, knee length dress with a low back. Ryan thought the dress looked familiar. Then he remembered, Marissa had once worn it to a school function while they were dating. He quietly thought that Marissa looked better in it.
"So are we ready for a great night out?" Lindsay said excitedly. She wasn't actually very excited about the party but she was excited about the countdown. She had never spent NYE with a guy before. 'Who knows what will happen when we count down to one!' she thought.
Within about 10-15 minutes they arrived at the venue - and boy was it a sight. Summer and Marissa had done a fantastic job setting up. There were a countless number of balloons and streamers and there was glitter everywhere. The music was loud and there was great food. These girls sure knew how to throw a party. Summer greeted them as they arrived.
"Hey Ryan, oh, hi Lindsay" She said cheerfully. "Only four more hours til new year!"
Ryan gave a smile. He liked summer she was always there for………Marissa. Someone handed them some drinks and Ryan and Lindsay walked in. There were people dancing and mingling in the crowd.
"You want to dance?" Lindsay asked.
"Um, okay" Lindsay pulled him onto the dance floor and brushed up against him. Ryan pulled away and started dancing. Lindsay looked puzzled but started dancing anyway. An hour of drinks dancing and talking passed by and it was tiring Ryan out.
"I'm just going to go and sit down," Ryan yelled over the music.
"Whatever" The slightly drunken Lindsay yelled back. He had no idea she was such a party girl. Ryan found a bench and sat down. He watched Lindsay dancing. She was so caught up in the music he could have died right there and then and she wouldn't have noticed. About 10metres away Marissa surveyed the situation. Now was her chance to go and speak to Ryan.
"Hey" Marissa said as she sat down gracefully.
"Marissa!" Ryan was stoked that she had come to talk to him. They had grown apart lately and they both hated it. Ryan knew it was for one reason-Lindsay.
"So, how have you been?" she questioned.
"Um I've been okay, you?'
"Fine, you wanna dance?"
"Sure" He realised that the whole point of sitting down was to get out of dancing but this was with Marissa how could he pass up this chance?
Once again he was back on the dance floor, typically a slow song came on and all the couples on the dance floor paired up for some partner dancing. Ryan looked at Lindsay, she seemed to have found some random guy to dance with so Ryan took Marissa by the hand and she followed. They were slowly moving with the music and for a moment Ryan was taken back to the old days, before Lindsay, when he and Marissa were together. He closed is eyes and made himself believe that he was there. It felt like he and Marissa were the only two people on earth.
" I love you," he whispered into her ear without realising what he had just said. Marissa froze and so did he. Tears welled up in her eyes,
"You have a girlfriend!" she exclaimed. With that, she ran off.
Shit! Ryan thought. What the hell did I say that for? Had Lindsay seen? Luckily, she was still dancing with someone. Ryan didn't know what to do. Should he go after Marissa? Or should he stay with Lindsay? He did neither. He ran out of the party and onto the beach. He sat down on the white sand and thought. Once again, thoughts were whizzing around his head but this time he couldn't control them he wanted to scream. But he managed to contain his feelings, as most guys do and just stayed sitting staring into the sky.
Ryan looked at his watch it was 11:15. He had 45 minutes before the New Year was arriving. He picked himself up and walked slowly back to the party.
"Where have you been?" asked Lindsay
"Uh, I just went for a walk, that's all." Lindsay gave him a puzzled look. She was losing him and she knew it.
"I'm just going to the bathroom, I'll be back soon" Lindsay said.
Ryan stood there wondering what to do. He decided to go and talk to Seth. He glanced around the room and saw him, standing around, looking bored.
"Ryan! I've been looking for you, what have you been doing all night?" Seth asked.
"Well that's what I'm here to talk to you about, I told Marissa I loved her, I don't know why its just we were dancing and it felt like old times and the words just came out of my mouth."
"Whoa, dude what did Marissa do, does Lindsay know?"
"Marissa ran away and Lindsay was dancing with some random so she didn't even notice anything."
"Haha, Ryan Atwood, for once you were the one who has stuffed up big time."
Ryan looked around the room for Lindsay; surely she would have been finished in the bathroom by now. But instead of finding Lindsay he saw Marissa. She had come back to the party and was chatting to Summer. Ryan approached her.
"Can we talk?"
"Um yeah, excuse us summer."
"Look, Marissa, I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened. The words just came out" Marissa didn't reply. She simply didn't know what to say.
"Will you forgive me?" Ryan asked anxiously. Marissa took a deep breath.
"Of course, I'm sorry too" She leaned forward to hug him and Ryan hugged her back. He was pleased that they were friends again but something still didn't seem quite right.
Lindsay returned and linked her arms with Ryan's. They stood for a second as Summer got hold of a microphone. " Hey guys, I hope you're having a great time 2night. We are counting down to New Year in 5 minutes. I'd just like to remind you that how you spend the last 10 seconds of this year is how you'll spend all of the new year" She turned off the microphone to go and stand with Seth. Lindsay huddled up to Ryan, determined not to let him go. Marissa stood in between the two couples, wishing she was on another planet.
Finally, the time came for the countdown to begin. Everyone started counting from 20.
20
19
18
17
16
Ryan took a deep breath, he assumed now was the time to kiss Lindsay.
15
14
13
He leaned forward, towards her.
12
As he was about to kiss her, he caught eyes with Marissa
11
He pulled away from Lindsay, he didn't know what he was doing but he found himself walking towards Marissa. Lindsay was about to go after him but she decided to let him go, she knew that it would always be a losing battle between her and Marissa.
Ryan got to Marissa, leaned forward and kissed her. She kissed him back.
10
9
8
7
Still passionately kissing, Ryan felt extremely satisfied with the girl he had chosen. He couldn't believe how long it had taken him to figure it out.
6
5
4
3
2
"I love you," Marissa whispered in his ear.
"I love you too"
1………..
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
