The air is crisp around you, your breath paints watercolor plums that wisp and billow around every lip. You could be standing in a crowd of ancient dragons in human form only given away by the fires burning inside of them. Laughter chimes all around, bells left over from the holiday recently past. Flutes of champagne and glasses of wine catch the still strung Christmas lights in rainbow prisms and voices wrap you up in belonging even though you are a stranger to most of the people present. The impromptu New Years celebration drew you in before you had a chance to refuse, a glass placed in your hand, garland around your neck, noise maker in your pocket settled by a very friendly pat to your ass. It's a grand confusion to be lost in. Better than the lonely apartment waiting for you at home.
The stories say what you're doing when the new year begins will paint the coming year. 365 days all hinging on a moment. The thought is ice water dousing the magical painting of the moment, running the paint together into dirty colors, the people are suddenly just as lonely as you, grasping onto strangers in the passing night and hoping for something that will last longer than seconds, minutes or hours. It's a desperate, forced laughter, bitter wine and you don't need this. The countdown starts and you shed the wrappings of the lost, the gaudy beads and alcohol, turn from the large screen and the crowd. 10.
You run into someone, both of you wrap arms around one another for support, slip and slide on the icy pavement and barely manage to keep your feet. 09.
Lips part, yours and theirs. 08. An apology hangs unspoken between you. Warmth, their arms are so warm in the cold. 07.
Who is this person? 06. The shadows are hiding their face. Do you know them? You know who you want them to be but there's no way it could be...is there? 05.
A breath of steam carries the words from their mouth to yours.
04. "Happy,"
03. "New Year,"
02. "Love."
You don't hear that last number, don't notice the crowd going wild around you until much later. As warms hands cup around your waist and neck, as soft and perfect lips press against yours just like you imagined they would, you know the person you've been waiting for has found you first. You press yourself closer, the happy tears running over your cheeks are chilling against your skin but you don't mind. It's perfect.
Happy New Year.
As classic as a white Christmas, the New Years Kiss hangs in the back of many minds today. People are hoping, planning, and contemplating that last and first magic moment when past and present hang around us full of wonder and promise. And of all of those possible kisses, the most longed for is a first kiss.
This year a group of us authors is celebrating the New Year with our favorite kisses. Join us at http://kayberrisford.com December 31st to January 1st and help us ring in the new year with a kiss. There will be tons of prizes, kisses on sample, and good people. Hope to find you there.
