“It’s fucking New Year’s, Masters. We have to celebrate.” Isaac wasn’t letting it go.
“I can’t come tonight, I have a hot date,” Jake said from his stall, and my eyes went wide.
“What? What about Bryan?” I asked over the water.
“Bryan and I agreed on an open relationship while I’m gone.”
“I can’t go, either,” Alicia said from another direction.
“What you think, Mia?” Isaac asked from the other side of my curtain.
Turning off the water, I wrung out my hair and grabbed the towel from the hook to dry off. “I don’t know …” I said, getting into my panties and pulling one of Ollie’s shirts over my head. Before opening the curtain, I stepped into my plaid pajama shorts. It would be nice to see Ollie tonight for New Year’s. Having a New Year’s kiss wasn’t something I’d ever wanted in the past. Something about a fresh new year with Ollie by my side made me giddy inside.
“Come on. I got a proper bottle for tonight.” Isaac punched Ollie in the shoulder, but Ollie’s lips never moved. “It will be laid back.”
Ollie glanced at me and back to Isaac. “Coming on strong, mate. Why do I get the feeling you’re up to no good?”
“Am I ever up to any good?” Isaac wiggled his brows. “Plus, I can’t see the fireworks from my window, so it’s either your or Mia’s room. I’m showing up one way or another.”
“Fine,” Ollie caved.
Isaac applauded.
Bria squealed.
And I spit out my toothpaste thinking this was going to be a good night with Ollie, or things were going to go horribly wrong.
During the holiday, the security checks had diminished, but the automatic doors still locked right on time. I’d been spending every night with Ollie. Him not wanting to leave my sight, and me not wanting him to. He insisted on walking with me everywhere and told me about the things Oscar had done in the past. Told me how bad it could get, and how dangerous he was.
It was ten minutes until midnight when Isaac and Bria fell through the vent hole of Ollie’s room. “Let’s do this!” Isaac said as soon as his feet hit the floor with a bottle of liquor in his hand.
Ollie grabbed the bottle from Isaac and examined it. “Where did you get this?”
“A hookup, Masters. You need to relax,” Isaac said, taking the bottle back from Ollie.
Ollie was on edge. Heat flared from his skin as he laced his fingers through mine and turned to face me. “Something’s up, Mia. I can feel it.”
Isaac popped open the top and poured some into Bria’s mouth. “Yeah!” he cheered, then came between Ollie and me and held the bottle over my mouth. “Come on, Mia.”
Shrugging my shoulders, I opened my mouth, tasting the bitter burn in my throat. It warmed me instantly. If there were one thing I’d come to learn about the students here, they were consistent. No one took “no” for an answer, and the badgering would only continue.
Bria grabbed my hand and pulled me aside as I swallowed the rest I was holding in my mouth. Her breasts bounced in her cropped shirt as she skipped to the corner and spun me around. “I’m doing Isaac tonight.” Her determined smile verified she was on a mission.
“Here?”
She nodded excitedly. “Yeah, where else am I going to have him?”
I smacked my hand to my forehead. “Oh Lord, I don’t want to see that.”
“I’m sure you and Ollie will busy yourself.”
Rolling my eyes, I said, “What? You think this is an orgy?”
Bria laughed. “Wanna?”
“Hell no,” I said through a laugh. “Not going to happen.”
Bria made a pouty face, and I slipped away from her before her ideas clouded her best judgments. Isaac encouraged the alcohol on Ollie and Ollie finally caved, taking a few gulps before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. I checked the clock above the door. Two minutes before the fireworks.
“One minute!” Isaac called out, and Ollie wrapped his fingers around my wrist as he pulled me in front of him toward the window.
His breath was minty and laced with alcohol as he pinned my back to his torso. “You ready for a new year?” His words danced in my hair as his breath worked small bumps across my skin.
“I’m so ready.”
We stared out the window. Past the rolling hills and the darkness, the city lights sparkled as if all the stars in the sky had gathered and hovered around one location. Since Ollie only started three months before me at Dolor, we both had half the school year down, and only one and a half years to go. We could make it.
“Ten!” Isaac and Bria said, counting down. “Nine … eight …”
Ollie leaned into my ear. “Close your eyes, Mia.”
I spun around to face him. “Why?”
“Six … five …”
Ollie wrapped his fingers around my chin and brushed his nose to mine. “Just close your eyes, my love. Pretend we’re far away from here and I’m holding you in the middle of the city under those lights.”
“Ollie …”
“Two!”
“Do it for me.” Ollie dipped his head and kissed my objection away. I gripped his sides to keep from falling back as he held my head in his hands. His lips melted over mine, soft and captivating. His hand traveled to my neck as he swept his thumb along my jawline. Our tongues crashed, and all my senses kindled against his fervor.
He pulled away slightly and brushed our mouths together as I inhaled his sweet breath. “Happy New Year, baby,” he whispered, his lips turned up into a smile against mine.
“Happy New Year.”
Turning around in Ollie’s arms, I looked back out the window to see the firework display as Ollie slowly swayed me back and forth with his long arms tight around my waist. Shades of red, purple, and white glowed in the distance, shooting from a nearby city, creating designs in the velvet black before sizzling into a stardust rainfall.
Closing my eyes, I pictured being under those colors, inside Ollie’s arms, with the night wind in my hair. Ollie pressed his lips to the back of my head before resting his chin over it.
“Happy fucking New Year!” Isaac shook Ollie from behind and the moment dissolved as quickly as I had created it. “Let us drink!”
The bottle hooked around us and appeared in my face. I grabbed the bottle and took a swig before Bria pulled me from the window.
“Isaac kissed me,” she whispered. I gave her two thumbs up after she took the bottle from my possession.