Thursday December 31st, 2009 – Friday January 1st, 2010
"You still have like two more days to get yourself together after this. Go get shitfaced, man. It's celebrating not only a new year, but a new decade." Darren tried to cajole his friend into letting loose tonight and to get into the New Year spirit.
"After how I had to take care of you on Christmas? No, I think I've learned enough from you. Thanks though." Joey teased and checked the time. They were supposed to be at the Bell Tower Hotel by eleven, so they had roughly fifteen minutes to arrive. The two stood side by side in the bathroom in front of their mirror, readjusting stray hairs and their ties.
"So now that my head isn't severely aching anymore, how bad was it watching over us on Christmas?" Darren asked as he tightened his turquoise tie. He grinned as he moved on from his tie and rolled up the sleeves of his black buttoned shirt when Joey sighed, trying to figure out where to begin.
"You guys were like… out of control preschoolers, except on a less innocent level." The taller man shook his head and tilted his head forward slightly to fix the collar of his shirt. "Dylan could barely stand on his own, Jaime managed to get lost in the hallway, Lauren and Joe were eating each other's faces, Bri was -" He stopped himself, remembering what Kaylee told him, and lied, since that was kind of a secret between them. "-just a typical drunk, and you," He looked at Darren in the mirror, "nearly set the apartment on fire."
Darren gaped at Joey in the mirror and then turned to him. "You're bullshitting!"
"I shit you not," He said in a dapper tone, and smoothed his dark green tie against his white buttoned shirt before twirling on his heel toward the door.
Kaylee felt awkward having Lauren assist her. She said it was a great way to get to know "the girls" better. She had been finished far before her and offered to help while she waited. The whole Starkid theatre group would be attending this thing, so she got to meet even more people.
How exciting.
She had been sitting on Lauren's bed in a thick, warm lavender robe while the tiny girl worked on her hair. Kaylee honestly had no idea what she was really doing to her hair and instead focused on the red nail polish drying on her fingers and toes and the stereo that was set on a radio station. Her doorbell rung and she excused herself to go get it.
Girly shrieks and compliments at the door made her worry. There was no way she could keep her cool around these people. Especially when there's so many.
"Oh, you haven't met Kaylee yet, I'm helping her get ready in the other room." Footsteps on the wooden floors grew louder and eventually she came face to face with another new person. She was a bit taller than she and wore a black halter dress with matching stilettos. Lauren was only a second behind and introduced the two. "Julia, this is Kaylee. She's in the Art & Design school."
Julia waved and Kaylee returned one to be polite, though she would much rather be at home watching the Star Wars series again with a tub of Oreo ice cream. "How long did it take you do that, Lo?" Julia's greyish-blue eyes rested on Kaylee's hair.
"I don't even know… a little less than an hour, I'd say?" She stood in front of the ginger's view and added some finishing touches. "And we're finished! Let me just add some of this…" Lauren gave her the signal to close her eyes. She obeyed and held her breath, knowing that the air around her would temporarily be polluted with hairspray.
"It came out nice!" Julia commented. After a few seconds later, she cracked open one of her eyes and turned to the mirror.
"Shit," She breathed in disbelief, desperately wanting to touch it and see if it weren't just an illusion. The orange waves that she was so used to have been transformed into a simple and sophisticated bun. "Thanks, Lauren."
"No problem at all, Special Kay. Now we only have a few finishing touches, then you slip into your lovely outfit and then we bounce. So would you do me a favor and just close your eyes again?" Lauren poked around her vanity for her liquid eyeliner, mascara and… are you fucking kidding me. She closed her eyes and ignored the part of her that was slowly dying on the inside.
"You don't think they'll mind that much if were late, do you?" Darren asked as he opened and closed every door in the kitchen, looking for his car keys.
"There's still… eighteen other people, I think we'll be okay." Joey was lying flat on the floor in the living room, reaching his hands around under the couch.
"Found them!" A jingle from the archway of the living room caught Joey's attention and he went to get his peacoat. Darren already started down the stairs to warm up the car and was soon followed by his roommate.
Once they exited the building, all feeling was lost from their fingertips and faces in the cold. The dim streetlights revealed the tiny snowflakes that were secretly blowing around in the howling wind. They should be at the place in about twenty minutes or so; Joe said that it was right near the central campus.
Joey began to feel worried once they pulled out of the parking lot. He knew Kaylee didn't do well with big crowds, and they were pretty close now. She was probably one of his best friends at the moment and leaving her hanging made him feel like a douche.
"Hey," A familiar voice called from behind Kaylee and made her turn around. Brolden gave a half-smile, knowing that things were a bit uneasy between them since Christmas.
"Hello," She answered simply, keeping her responses terse. All she wanted to do was camouflage into the tan walls of the room and avoid everyone.
"Look, I'm really sorry about Christmas, I know it was way out of line for me –" He began rambling and dropped his gaze down to the carpet worn and faded with age.
"It's fine, Brian, I already forgave you for that." She cut him off midsentence and looked around at the cast members from the musical, hoping that Joey would be there so she wouldn't have to be all antisocial in the corner. She checked the time on her phone and sighed.
He opened his mouth to say something for a second and then closed it when the last two people arrived. Kaylee grinned, knowing that she had finally been saved when her best friend arrived. He wore a tie of her favorite color and looked… nice. Formal wasn't his favorite attire but, he looked pretty nice, she had to admit.
Joey searched the sea of faces until he came across Kaylee. He couldn't help but stare for a second before snapping back into reality. She stood against the wall in the furthest corner with Brian at her side. Red wasn't what he thought would suit her as well as it did- she had a strapless dress that stopped right above the knee, matching open toe heels, and wore her hair up in a lavish style. Lipstick, he knew, must've taken a great amount of persuasion. She beckoned him over with her matching fingernails waving in the air.
"Hey," He took one more glance of her from head to toe before returning to her brown eyes. She nodded back and smiled, not breaking the eye contact.
"You look snazzy," She remarked, and stood only about an inch below his height with the shoes she was wearing.
"As well as you." He replied. Brian could be heard coughing from a few feet away. Joey turned his attention to him and was slightly confused when he was pulled to the side. He held up a finger to Kaylee, telling her that he'd be right back.
"What is it?" Joey asked, and kind of got the idea when he saw Brian glance back at her.
"Look, I know that Christmas was a total disaster but I think I can actually…" He shook his head and glances over to her again. Joey does the same, to confirm what he thinks is happening here. "… I think I can maybe have a chance with her, you know what I mean?"
Joey nodded, keeping his opinions to himself for a second to think things through. "Okay, so you like her. What does this have to do with me?"
"You're kidding, right?" Brian didn't mean to sound pissy so he pressed his lips into a thin line. "I think you're giving the wrong message to her, is what I'm saying. If you keep leading her on like that then –"
"I'm not leading her onto anything; she's my friend, okay?" Joey got really annoyed by his assumption. Brian didn't even know half the things about her that he did. "And if you're still planning on trying to get with her, just don't do it tonight. It's way too soon."
Before Brolden could even respond to that, Joey turned and walked back to Kaylee. If Brian did ask her she'd be creeped out for sure. "What was that all about?" She looked up from her phone, which she had been using to do some reading.
"Nothing important," He shook his head and blinked a few times to try to keep calm. "Do you want like food or something? I'm pretty sure they brought everything out already." They both went to investigate the food further.
The buffet table had all the appetizers out at the moment, so the two stood at the chocolate fountain, daring each other to coat certain foods in chocolate and eat it.
"Okay… try a piece of salami." Kaylee handed over a slice of the meat from the cracker topping choices and wound it around the skewer for him a few times so it wouldn't fall off. She had started by handing him a cube of cheese, and then he had challenged her with a cracker. "We're probably gonna get sick from this before midnight."
"Well, since you do make a great point," He slowly twirled the stick under the melted chocolate drizzling out of the top, making sure every side was evenly coated, "I surrender after this."
She grimaced when he took a bite, and then began to smile. "How is it?"
"It's not necessarily bad, just… strange." He shrugged and finished off the rest of the meat.
"That was horrible of me. Oh my god, I can't believe you'd actually do it." The ginger started chuckling, feeling slightly guilty after making him eat her distorted creation.
"It's salami and chocolate, I don't see how the combo could've possibly been so bad anyways." Someone from behind tapped his shoulder. He finished the meat and turned to see Bonnie there in a sapphire one shoulder dress. "Oh, hi."
She waved back with a polite smile. "Enjoying yourself?" She leant beside him and dug around in the cooler for a specific drink. Her brunette ponytail slid off her shoulder as her hand scavenged around in the gelid ice cubes.
"Yeah I was just hanging out with –" He stopped himself, remembering that this was the first time Kaylee would've been introduced to the entire group. "- my friend, Kaylee." Joey gestured to the girl beside him, now eating one of the pretzels she had just poked into the fountain. "She's in the Art & Design School."
Bonnie nodded and smiled to Kaylee. A wave was the best reply she could give at the moment since her face was stuffed. "That's nice, so how are classes?"
Kaylee shot Joey a quick glance, begging him to cause a distraction of some sort so that she didn't have to engage in conversation. He raised an eyebrow in return, knowing that some time she'd have to talk to these people.
"They're fine, how about you?" Both of them knew that brief answers were all she had intended to give out to these people tonight if they tried to make conversation. Joey could tell that Kaylee didn't exactly crave a detailed reply from her.
"They're going great, actually." Kaylee's face was starting to become sore by smiling and thankfully, a silence set around them. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Kaylee." Bonnie stepped back with her beer bottle in her hands and left the two at the table.
Kaylee's smile turned back to a neutral expression in an instant. "Smiling really fucking hurts." She stated before reaching for another pretzel. Joey shook his head and laughed to himself.
"Well it takes more muscles to frown, you know."
"I like a good workout." He raised his eyebrows at the sudden masculine tone. The corners of her red lips curved slightly at the edges, as if to suppress a smile. The ginger finally cracked and let out her grin.
"There you go, enjoy yourself!" Joey encouraged. He checked the time on his phone since the room they were in didn't seem to have a clock. "We have eighteen minutes."
"What? Until this ends or?"
"No, until 2010."
"Oh," She yawned and looked around the room at the slightly tipsy crowd. "I think I'm going to go after the actual New Year thing. I still have to get my project done."
"Are you like, almost done?" He asked, hoping that he wasn't keeping her from her work.
"Yeah, I only have to put together the bibliography, which should be done in like ten minutes." Kaylee shrugged, still eying everyone else. He noticed her red fingernails running along the edges of her clutch purse and her brown eyes now all over the place.
"You okay?" Joey was still aware of her crowd anxiety and wanted her to feel more comfortable around these people but apparently, that wasn't going to happen the way he had planned. She gave him a glare that said "No, there are people everywhere and they all suck," and he wondered if anyone would even notice them if they were to step outside for a second.
"Do you want to take a walk for a few minutes?" He offered, extending a hand like the gentleman he was. She studied his hand for a second before politely smiling and nodding. She put her cold hand in his much warmer one and he led them through the formally dressed crowd. He did one quick glance around the room before walking out of the door, not missing Brolden's glare at all. Joey picked up the pace a little as they emerged into the main lobby. They stood in between two dark ebony columns, slowing down to fully admire all the exquisite décor surrounding them.
The clacks of Kaylee's heels and the hum of the party behind them were the only sounds that they could hear. "It's snowing," Kaylee pointed out absently as she looked ahead past the red and brown lobby to the revolving door where snowflakes could just barely be seen under the dim lighting outside. Joey turned his attention from the potted plant on the reception desk that he tried to figure out was fake or not and smiled a little. There was nothing bad about snow. Besides shoveling and catching colds, but it was worth it.
"Do you want me to go back and get my jacket?"
"No, no I'll be fine. Thanks though." She shook her head and brushed an out of place hair from her right eye. Getting excited, she dragged him along gently and pushed the glass revolving door and temporarily closed them into a small space. "Holy shit," Once they stepped out of the building their breath curled up into the air before them in a fog. She ran her arms along her arms to try to warm them.
"Now do you want my coat?" Joey could already see her knees trembling, and he'd be doing the exact same if he were wearing a strapless cocktail dress. She gave him a sympathetic smile over her shoulder. The tip of her nose, ears and fingers had flushed into a rosy pink from frostbite.
"Is that okay?" Kaylee started to confine back into one of the quadrants of the revolving door. He nodded and followed behind her, instantly embracing the warmth from the heated building. Honestly, he didn't want to go back in, knowing that he may or may not be confronted by Brian again. When they turned the corner into the coat room, it was thankfully empty. At this point, Brian could definitely screw himself, in Joey's opinion. Hitting on a friend is one thing, but making them uncomfortable is another.
He had no idea why he was still getting so worked up about this if she had said it was fine, maybe it was just him. Retrieving his blazer from a hanger, he set it over Kaylee's bare shoulders for her to wear. "Thanks, Joey," She shimmied her arms into the sleeves and they both walked at a comfortable pace back to the revolving door.
The howling winds didn't seem to faze her as effectively. In fact she seemed snug in the oversized coat. Banks of snow were neatly shoveled on the edge of the sidewalk and glimmered under the streetlights. He pulled out his phone to check the time –seven minutes left. "So are you starting to feel kind of better?" He started to make some kind of conversation as they padded down the street to no specific destination.
"Yeah," She nodded and shoved her hands into the blazer pockets. "What about you? You kind of seem pissed over something."
Joey clenched his jaw, unsure whether or not he should say anything about Brian to her. He had to come up with something to lighten the mood for the both of them. "Nah, I'm fine." His eyes trailed down to his feet, and then the abundance of snow to his immediate right. He took a moment the gather a handful and to squeeze it into a snowball. His fingers had begun to burn and tingle slightly from holding it for far too long, so he chucked it right at her back.
It exploded into a cloud of fluffy flakes and left an outline of the impact against the black fabric. Her head whipped around so fast he was almost sure she'd get whiplash, to the man trying to keep an innocent appearance. "Just so you know, I definitely did not throw a snowball at you." He raised his hands defensively as a devious smirk spread on her face.
Of course Kaylee was going to get her revenge, there's no way in hell she'd just let snowballs be thrown around without her fucking bashing on her opponent. Kicking off the heels that Lauren had oh-so-kindly picked out for her, she abandoned them on the sidewalk and began to pat her own snowball. The only difference was that she planned to make this one big motherfucking snowball.
"What are you doing, Kay?" Joey stood by her side, watching her put together her weapon of mass destruction. "I recommend you put your shoes back on -it's pretty cold."
She only shook her head and finally finished her creation, which was probably half the size of her head. "What are you doing?" He asked, taking a step back as she had begun to approach with the massive amount of snow. Kaylee's smirk had gone to a full out grin at the point, and decided to take this perfect advantage for her to suddenly run and pelt him in the torso with her fabulous snowball.
"Now we're even." She chirped, smugly grinning at his snow-dusted tie. She spun on her heel and went to fetch her shoes which she had left behind. For Joey, there is no "even" in snowball fights, and there was absolutely not a chance that he'd let her win. Catching up behind her, he gave her a bear hug from behind and threw them both into the enormous bank of snow beside them. The shriek of surprise from the ginger girl was his victory song.
"We're still even, just so you know." Joey added as they lay in the blanket of white. Kaylee was the first to crack with laughter and it quickly spread to him, so the two shudder in a cackling heap until warm tears fell down their cheeks. When the laughter died down, a thunderous cheer from the hotel rang in their ears.
"Well then, happy 2010, Joey." She squeezed his arm, which he hadn't noticed she had been holding on to. He listened to their breath, which had become in sync from being so close to each other. A sudden wave of heat broke out through his face at the touch.
"You too, Kay." He said, and squeezed back.
