Page 74 of A Winter in Wonderland
Around the fire, people were sticking their sparklers into the flames and oohing and ahhing as they ignited with a fizz.
‘Sixty seconds!’ somebody called into the night air, but my eyes were still on Josh.
‘Let’s light these bad boys,’ I replied, immediately feeling awkward at my choice of words, then immediately not caring because who cares, right? It’s New Year, and I don’t need a ‘new me’, I just need the old me back.
Whoa, hey there, feelings.
As the thirty-second countdown began, my co-workers calling numbers up towards the tops of the trees, we stuck our sparklers into the fire and watched them burst to light.
The seconds moved slowly, like falling snow on a gentle breeze, the wait for the moment that was on the edge of my lips feeling like for ever away. The glitter from my sparkler edged downwards, illuminating the dark.
‘Ten, nine, eight … ’ we chanted as a group, and because it was New Year’s and I couldn’t help myself, I stood up, holding my sparkler high in the air like I thought I was Harry Potter or something.
Over the next few seconds, there was a scrabble of shoved blankets and knocked drinks as the others followed suit, and we collectively whooped a, ‘Three, two, one, HAPPY NEW YEAR!’ into the night air.
The sparkler in my hand faded to black, as did Josh’s beside me, as did most people’s, and in the amber-flame-hueddarkness I reached my free hand up towards Josh’s neck, and he turned to me, pulling me to him, just as I was doing to him, and he caught my kiss. Pressing his lips to mine, tasting of sparkling wine and woodsmoke, it was over in a second but the feeling imprinted on me.
We slipped apart, our eyes meeting, before we were both distracted by other people reaching in for hugs, cheek-kisses, high-fives and choruses of ‘Happy New Year!’
I was so lost in my own giddy mind that I didn’t notice Esteri standing in front of me until her lips were on my mouth, giving me my second kiss of the night. ‘Happy New Year to the best room-mate I have ever had,’ she said, raising a bottle in the air.
I laughed, chuffed and happy and kissed and blissed.
It was tempting to stay up for hours, to try and get some more alone time with Josh in case he wanted to revisit that tiny moment in our lives. But after a long day, most people drifted off towards their rooms not long after midnight, ready for work again the next day.
Back inside the chalet, I was wearing a headband I’d found that said ‘HNY, bitch’ and helping carry bottles into the kitchen. Josh was wandering about blowing out candles and collecting glasses alongside several others, and anytime we passed we’d meet each other’s eyes and smile, but I didn’t know what to say when all my lips could think about forming was another kiss, and there were too many other people around to be thinking about things like that.
Eventually, with a yawn and a lean of my head on Esteri’s shoulder, I was ready to hit the sack.
‘Sleepy?’ she asked, letting out a big yawn herself.
‘Yeah.’
‘Done for the night?’
I snuck a look at Josh, engaged in a conversation with Daan and looking pretty sleepy himself, and said, ‘Yeah.’
We climbed the stairs. I kissed Josh. It had been a good night, a really good night, and now it was January. Told you New Year’s was brilliant.
