"This party's a little loud!" Ryan shouted.
"What?!" Taylor shouted back.
"It's loud!" Ryan shouted again, laughing, and moving closer.
"Oh! Yeah." She giggled back. "Thanks for inviting me, Ryan. It's good to spend time with an old friend."
"No problem! How are you liking New York?"
"I'll have to come back for a proper holiday!"
"Then I can show you around." Ryan said, eyes widening as the music stopped, causing him to effectively shout. "Oops." He blushed, Taylor laughing softly.
Ryan looked down at his feet as a slow song started to play.
"You wanna dance?"
"Sure." Taylor kindly smiled. Ryan looked up and beamed back. He pulled her towards him, and put his hands on her waist. She looped her hands around his neck.
"Look at us." She giggled. "Slow dancing on New Year's Eve. Who'd have thought?"
"I know." Ryan smiled. "I'm glad though. Us going to colleges near each other has let me get to know you."
"Ditto." Taylor smiled. "Hanging out with you is like a slice of home."
"Yeah." Ryan agreed, his face close to Taylor's ear. As she turned her head, she found herself alarmingly close to Ryan's face, their noses almost touching. If this was the movies, she thought to herself, this would have been one of those awkward moments when you're wondering if they are going to kiss. Well, she thought, it was almost midnight, and in the movies…
"It's nearly midnight." Ryan said softly, smiling.
"Yeah…" Taylor said, ever so slightly worrying that Ryan had read her mind.
"A new year." Ryan said, sighing. "Where does the time go?!"
"Do you remember that Wildcats party last year?" Taylor laughed.
"Yeah! It was certainly… wild."
"What your sister did to Troy was…" Taylor laughed to herself. "Wow."
"I really don't wanna discuss my sister's antics." Ryan murmured, looking slightly traumatised.
"Sorry." Taylor apologised, with a slight giggle. "It was a good night though."
"Yeah." Ryan nodded, smiling. "You looked really nice."
"Oh, stop it…"
"You did! That purple dress… wow."
Just then, everybody started to cheer as a huge chime rang through the building. Ryan looked at the giant clock on the wall just behind Taylor.
"Midnight." He smiled.
"Yeah." Taylor nodded. "Happy new year."
"Happy new year." Ryan grinned. He rolled his eyes, and leaned in to kiss the girl.
Taylor closed her eyes, and enjoyed the kiss that she had more or less expected. Ryan kissed differently from the other guys she had kissed - he was soft, gentle, and seemingly quite experienced. She fell deeply into the kiss, and had to open her eyes to jog herself back into reality, or she feared her legs may have given way.
"Okay… wow." She gulped, as Ryan pulled away.
"Yeah." Ryan grinned, modestly but with a hint of pride.
"Hey, you know…" Taylor looked around her, grinning. "I think I left my car unlocked. Will you come and check with me? In fact I think the locks are broken, so we should just like… sit in it."
"Right." Ryan laughed. "Let's go."