A New Year's Eve one-shot by request from Mezz64

2020 had been the most complicated year of Olivia's life. Whenever she had imagined being twenty-one, she had thought about going for drinks with her friends or getting dressed up to go to a club with her girlfriend. She'd get to see Alex in heels and maybe a tight-fitting dress, but Alex turned twenty-one in May－two months after the start of lockdown－and the only attire she had seen Alex in since then were yoga pants, t-shirts, hoodies, and pajamas. It wasn't the way she was used to seeing her fashionista girlfriend dress, but Olivia thought she looked cute and cozy and she could never resist cuddling her.

When their campus shut down, Olivia had to move out of her sorority house and Alex had to move out of student housing, so the two of them decided to get an apartment together. The apartment was far from luxurious, but it was their quaint little love nest and their lives had changed so much in the nine months since they had moved in.

In March, they were juniors and their lives had been centered on passing their classes, going on dates, and having a typical college experience. But it was now the end of December and they were five months away from graduation. After countless hours spent preparing her law school applications, Alex was given early acceptance into Harvard Law School and would be moving to Boston in the fall and, after countless hours of soul searching and much to her mother's chagrin, Olivia had decided to become a police officer instead of choosing a career in academia.

With two hours left until 2021, Alex and Olivia were finishing off a greasy pepperoni pizza and a $5 bottle of red wine. It was far from classy, but the two of them felt as if it was the perfect way to finish off the year.

"I'm sorry you're having cheap wine with me instead of some $500 bottle of champagne like you would at your parents' house," Olivia said before taking a bite of her pizza slice. When some of the toppings slid off and landed on the plate, Alex couldn't help but smile.

"My gorgeous girlfriend has been working out more than ever and is wearing joggers and a sports bra right now," Alex pointed out. "Why would I want to be anywhere else?"

"I knew you were just using me for my body," Olivia teased.

Alex took a sip from the plastic Disney Princess cup that she had designated as her wine glass. "You're the one with the overly active libido."

"I'm the one with the overly active libido?" Olivia scoffed. "You're the one always caressing my arms when I'm on top of you and saying 'Liv, you're so strong' and 'Liv, you go so deep' and 'Liv, baby, don't stop.'"

"What about you?" Alex teased. "'Alex, youre so－"

"Stop," Olivia interrupted, suddenly becoming shy.

"The amount of sex we've had has been the highlight of 2020 for me," Alex told her now blushing girlfriend.

"You've accomplished way more this year than mastering a few new positions with me," Olivia reminded her. "Switching to online learning wasn't easy but you managed to get a 4.0."

"What about you?" Alex asked as she reached for her girlfriend's hand. "You figured out what you want to do after college. My future Officer Benson, I'm so proud of you."

"At least one of the women in my life is proud of me," Olivia joked. "My mom would prefer it if my title were Professor Benson and not Officer Benson."

"I think it's normal for parents to be that way," Alex told her. "I got into Harvard Law School and my dad wishes it were Harvard Medical School."

"Speaking of," Olivia said as she raised up her plastic Lightning McQueen cup. "I'd like to make a toast to my girlfriend who not only managed to get a high LSAT score during a pandemic, but also got early acceptance into Harvard Law School."

"And to my girlfriend," Alex said as she 'clinked' her Disney Princess cup to Olivia's Lightning McQueen cup. "You can always practice using your handcuffs on me."

"Alex," Olivia laughed.

Humor was their coping mechanism and it had been since the moment Alex got her acceptance letter. Once their celebration ended, reality sank in and they knew it was only a matter of months before they were living in different states. Alex would be living with her parents in Boston while she attended law school and, while she was in the academy, Olivia would be living with her mom because it'd be too painful to live in their current apartment without Alex.

Alex finished off the wine in her cup and poured herself some more. "I'm not just losing my girlfriend. I'm losing my best friend. I'm going to miss our oddly specific Google searches whenever one of us wants to prove intellectual superiority over the other. I'm going to miss the way you perfectly toast a Pop Tart and the fact that neither of us can cook so when we don't feel like getting takeout, we have Paw Patrol mac and cheese and wine for dinner. Most of all, I'm going to miss laughing with you and the way you know how to instantly calm me down when I'm having an anxiety attack or if I can't sleep, you just hold me and everything feels better. Nobody knows me the way you do. You're my person, Olivia."

"And I'll still be your person. Yes, I'll be in New York and you'll be in Boston, but that doesn't mean we're breaking up."

"Long-distance relationships only have a 58% success rate and most couples－"

"We're not most couples," Olivia interrupted her. "To prove it, I have something for you."

Olivia went over to their bedroom to get something she had hidden in her chest of drawers－a promise ring she had bought for Alex a few weeks prior. It was a thin ring with small diamonds all along the band, but it was what twenty-one-year-old Olivia could afford and she promised herself she'd buy something a little flashier when it was time to actually propose to Alex.

She walked back to the kitchen table where Alex was still sitting and, although it wasn't a proposal, she decided to get down on one knee and slip the ring on Alex's finger.

"Liv, is this－"

"Not yet," Olivia smiled at her. "I know we can't get married yet, but this is my promise to you that I'm yours and I'll always be yours. The past nine-months have brought us closer together and strengthened our relationship. I know distance won't be easy, but you're it for me, Alex, and I want to spend forever with you."

Alex was at a loss for words, so instead she stood up and motioned for her girlfriend to get off her knees. When she was face-to-face with Olivia, she wrapped her arms around her and started kissing her. "I love you so much," she managed to say after nearly two minutes of kissing Olivia.

"I love you, too," Olivia responded before stealing another kiss. "Aren't you glad you stopped friendzoning me two years ago?"

"Olivia," Alex laughed.

The two of them had grown up so much in 2020, but most importantly they had grown up together. When they watched the ball drop at midnight and the year 2021 light up, Olivia felt comfort in knowing it wasn't the start of the year that'd tear them apart, it was the start of a year in the lifetime that she planned on spending with Alex.