A/n: Happy New Year! Once again, the new year themed oneshot is a few days too late, but I still hope you enjoy reading this. The setting for this one, just came to me on 31st and I started writing it without building up a proper background for it. But if I have to describe it now, I'd say that this is one of those righ girl/poor boy AU. I haven't given much thought to it yet but I think it'd be fun to write them in these roles sometime!

Tale 17

- x -

The music was subtle and soothing, but not loud enough to drown the noise of glasses clinking together in cheers or the loud laughter that surrounded the party which, now that there were only some thirty odd minutes left until midnight, was in full swing. Hilary's eyes were filled with boredom as she searched for her parents through the crowd, hoping to convince them that they were only supposed to make an appearance at the party, that they didn't need to stay until midnight and the three of them could ring in the new year together all cozied up inside their home. But when she caught sight of her parents, and the relative they were talking to, she grimaced to herself and decided she was better off moping in her corner rather than approaching her family and getting dragged into unnecessary conversations about her life.

Hilary sighed in defeat and picked up the tote bag that had been lying at her feet, her mother had asked her to leave it in the car since it didn't quite match the dress code of the party, but being her stubborn self she had carried it anyway, knowing that she'd need it's contents at some point in the night. Scanning her surroundings with a thorough eye, she noticed that the bar counter was surprisingly the only place that seemed to be devoid of any nosy relatives or family friends. Setting her sights on it, Hilary quickly made her way towards it, skilfully dodging past anyone who looked like they'd like to speak to her. She almost let out a triumphant cry of relief when her palms touched the countertop and she heaved herself into one of the barstools.

"Could I get a glass of water, please?"

Safe from the crowd and free from the pretence of enjoying the party, Hilary made her request to the bartender closest to her, opening up her bag to pull out the one thing she could rely on no matter which situation she was stuck in, the novel she was currently reading. As she put down the book in front of her, the glass of water appeared next to it, accompanied with a loud snort that made her turn her attention upwards.

"You've gotta be kiddin' me."

Across the counter from her stood a boy who seemed like he was the same age as her. He was wearing the black and white uniform of the servers, his midnight blue hair that ran past his shoulder had been tied up loosely and bangs that would've covered his forehead were pushed back flatly, as if out of force and not habit. His face held an amused expression as his chocolate eyes first looked at the thick book at the counter and then at her.

"Excuse me?" Hilary replied indignantly, straightening herself up in her seat in a feeble attempt to match his height, she narrowed her eyes at him.

"I mean, you're at a party," The boy waved his hands around to gesture at their surroundings as he spoke, a hint of humour laced in his voice, "you're sitting at a bar, and you're gonna read a book?"

She felt herself go red under his gaze, it was understandable for people who didn't know her to be surprised by her ability to drown herself in a book in any given situation, but being found out hadn't always felt this embarrassing.

"And what's wrong with that?" She shot back, turning up her nose slightly so she herself could feel confident about her decision. Even by Hilary's standards, sitting by herself and reading a book at a New Year's Eve party could be considered sad, not that she would ever admit that out loud.

"It's a little bit," The bartender arched an eyebrow at her confidence and replied with a smirk, "sad. Don't you think?"

"Well at least I'm attending a party, while you seem to be working on New Year's eve, so I wonder which one of us has it worse." Hilary almost bit her tongue over how quickly the words left her mouth, it was a mean jab, she knew that, but she'd already spent the evening being polite to people who didn't quite deserve it and didn't have enough energy left in her to pretend anymore.

He didn't look like her words had hurt his feelings however, taken aback by her retort sure, but not upset and that somewhat relieved her. He was still watching her with an amused look in his eyes, as if he was trying to figure her out like he would a puzzle. Which made Hilary anxious since she wasn't used to receiving this kind of attention from boys and suddenly she started to feel conscious about herself, the way she was sitting or how most of her hair had come undone from the bun she'd made in a rush.

"Tyson, quit chatting and get back to work!"

And just like that, the boy sauntered away from her without a word or a second glance in her direction, towards his colleague who had called out for him.

Hilary was relieved, she finally had the peace and solitude she'd been looking for, turning to the book in front of her, she opened it to the page marked with a bookmark, and putting this little interaction behind her, she began to read.

Or rather she tried to read, but somehow the words on the pages just wouldn't register in her head no matter how many times she read through the sentences. An itching feeling at the back of her mind kept making her want to look up and search for the boy who had so easily called her out on her silliness. And eventually Hilary found herself giving into this feeling, turning her gaze away from the book and towards the other side of the bar counter where the boy from earlier stood with two more servers. From her perspective they looked quiet busy, taking orders from the guests and immediately working on them, in fact to her that side of the bar looked much busier and crowded than the one she had picked, for which she was grateful.

She was not sure how long she watched him for, and she found it weird that her brain was telling her to do this over finishing the novel that lay in front of her, since she rarely ever got distracted once she began reading. She wasn't proud of it either, in fact she felt embarrassed by her behaviour, if all it took for him to grab her attention was a meek exchange, then she really needed to work on her standards. Despite all the second thoughts and conflicted feelings floating inside her head, Hilary still watched him keenly, her lips curling upward slightly when he laughed at something his colleague said and the sound carried itself all the way to her ears, loud and infectious. And then without a warning, he turned towards her for a brief moment, locking eyes with her from across the room in a gaze so intense she felt sparks fly in the air all around her.

Hilary somehow managed to tear her eyes away from him and back towards the book lying open on the countertop. Her whole face felt like it would explode any second from the heat that raced all across it, from her cheeks to her neck to her ears, every inch was now burning red. Staring at someone so obviously was bad enough in her books, but she'd went ahead and gotten herself caught as well. Fixing her eyes on her novel, Hilary decided that she just wouldn't look up from it anymore, until her parents came looking for her. Even if the letters on the page danced around it excitedly, making it impossible for her to grasp anything, she was determined to keep looking down and save herself from any other embarrassing moments for the remaining few minutes of this year.

"Here, it's on the house."

A glass full of a peach coloured liquid appeared in front of her, and it was only after she could get her heartbeat back to it's normal pace, did Hilary look back up, coming face to face with the blue haired boy as he rested his palms on the countertop and leaned forward towards her, with a bright grin on his face.

"It's an open bar, everything here is on the house," Hilary replied, in an attempt to sound calm and collected, her voice came out whispery and she bit her tongue at the sound of it.

"Wow, you really don't play along." The boy's grin faltered, as the amused look of comprehension returned to his face.

Hilary shrugged, unsure about what he meant by that, and picked up the drink he had offered, sipping it slowly and savouring the tangy yet sweet taste of the mocktail that was surprisingly exactly to her liking.

"And to go back to your statement from earlier," The boy spoke up again, looking quiet satisfied with himself over her reaction to the drink, "you still have it worse. 'Cuz if I'd been invited to a party like this, I'd definitely be getting ready to join in on that, right about now." He gestured to the crowd behind her, and unlike herself, Hilary found herself turning to look at the scene.

She regretted it instantly of course, with only a few minutes left to midnight, it seemed that everyone present had decided to partner up with someone and the whole party was suddenly filled with the sight of couples everywhere. Hilary spotted her own parents, and was surprised that the drink she had just taken a sip of didn't come rushing out at the sight of them clutching onto each other in a tangled mess, something she hoped she'd forget by tomorrow. Another year of watching her parents kiss at midnight while she sat in a corner by herself, she sighed, some things just weren't meant to change. Hilary once again turned her back to the party, maybe this year she could just pretend that not everyone she knew had a significant other wrapped in their arms as the clock struck twelve.

Her disappointment with herself must've been visible on her face, because when she turned and faced the bartender again, he looked nervous and fidgety, as if he had managed to hit a nerve he shouldn't have.

Hilary wanted to reassure him that she wasn't mad at him for pointing out the obvious, but when she opened her mouth, the crowd began chanting the countdown and her voice was completely drowned out. As the crowd inched closer to one, she saw a switch go off in the boy's head and in the next moment over the loud cheers of 'one' and the deafening sounds of fireworks going off all around them, he grinned and mouthed 'happy new year' before leaning in towards her and planting a kiss on her lips. She sat stunned, her eyes fluttering shut when his lips brushed against hers softly, lingering long enough for her to get a taste of the alcohol he must've sipped in between making drinks for the guests, and for her whole body to drown in the warmth radiating off of him.

She had never been kissed before, so naturally she didn't know what she was supposed to do, how she was supposed to respond, or if she even wanted to respond. So even when the boy pulled back, taking with him the sun like warmth, Hilary sat in her stool, feeling cold and empty with her eyes still shut, trying to process everything that had happened in the past minute. The new year had just begun, and she had received a kiss, her first kiss, from a total stranger. This was all her brain could manage to settle on before she was finally able to catch a hold of herself, and open her eyes.

Thankfully, the bartender hadn't made a run for it in the meanwhile, in fact he was watching her sheepishly and when she met his gaze, he shuffled his feet and looked away, with just a slight tint of pink visible on his cheeks.

"There you go, now neither of us have it worse." He muttered, despite the low tone, the boy seemed quiet pleased with himself and his actions, as if he had just saved her from some terrible predicament.

And that finally made Hilary snap back to her senses, not only had this boy stolen her first kiss, he seemed to feel no regret over doing so. Hilary couldn't believe that she had allowed such an important experience of her life to just slip out of her hands right in front of her eyes, but more than herself, she blamed the culprit, the blue haired boy standing in front of her with a giddy and smug expression on his face. With anger, confusion and embarrassment bubbling up inside of her at the same time, she slammed her hands on the countertop, fixing him under an icy glare and leaning in to give him a piece of her mind-

"Hilary, sweetheart where are you?"

She froze at the sound of her mother's voice.

Had her mother seen what had happened?

That would be very bad. Bad for her, and bad for him and his job too.

So Hilary counted till ten in her mind in an attempt to control all the feelings that were overwhelming her and clouding her rationale. She looked at the boy again, who now looked as confused as it was possible for someone to.

She opened her mouth to tell him-

Tell him what exactly? Hilary knew she had to say something to him, that she couldn't just let this all end with him assuming that he'd done her a favour, she had to tell him that he had crossed a line and he should be grateful that she was planning to keep this little incident to herself so he wouldn't get fired.

But when she looked into his deep, chocolate eyes, everything inside her mind came to a screeching halt and she could no longer form sentences from the words that were floating in it. She just stood there, with her mouth hanging open and eyebrows furrowed with anger, a hand partially raised to point a finger of accusation at him, all in all she was a sight that would send anyone into a laughing fit.

And that's exactly what the boy did.

Honestly, his audacity seemed to know no bounds, and as much as Hilary wanted to convey this to him, she felt her mother appear behind her, getting a hold of her arm and telling her to wrap her things up so they could leave.

The rest of the night was a blur, she'd followed her mother out of the party without as much as a second glance in the bar's direction, but the sound of his laugh had followed her all the way to the parking lot and etched itself into her mind. On the way back home, Hilary had replayed her conversation with him and everything that followed several times in her head, hoping to understand what it was about him that she felt so drawn toward. In between these recaps she'd chided herself for never getting his name and not knowing how she'd ever manage to run into him again. And as she settled inside her bed and turned off the lamp on her bedside table, with only a sliver of moonlight escaping into her room from the window, only one thought remained.

As far as first kisses went, she'd had a pretty exciting one.

- x -

A/n: Thank you for reading, leave a review if you can, and if you have any requests let me know, I'm running a bit low on prompts as of now.