Save Me

New Year's Eve, 2007 - 10:30 PM
Seattle, Washington
Emerald City Underground

"You know the winter time is here now, and my poor heart is freezing up."

"I don't even drink alcohol," I stated as I stared across the bar at Alex. "You don't either. The most extravagant thing I ever drink is wine, and I rarely drink that."

New Year's Eve--the time when many people finalize the ending of one chapter in their lives and turn the page to begin a new one. I would imagine everyone, in a way, goes through this yearly evaluation even if they don't admit it. I willingly admit I'm one who can't help but reminisce over past years and dream of years to come. The year 2007 had been a decent one for me as I was able to begin my career as a psychologist and form new friendships while successfully maintaining old ones. Alex just happened to be one of my old friends--an old friend from college.

Sitting beside me was another one of my college friends--my roommate--who went by the name Lee. I called her Leetrice, though, because Lee didn't cut it for me--it wasn't feminine enough. So the nickname Leetrice was born, and though she hated it at first, she had learned over time to accept it. Or at least I think she did.

"You don't drink alcohol either, do you?" I asked, looking over at Lee.

"Very rarely will I drink. I'm more of a fizzy water girl," she replied, smiling.

"Alright, then what'll it be, ladies?" asked Alex, who was a part-time bartender, as he leaned on the bar top and stared at both of us.

I turned my attention toward Alex, staring into his deep brown eyes. Alex was what I would call your typical good-looking young guy: muscular (to a point--he had built the muscles over time as a construction worker), tan, short brown hair and mystifying chocolate brown eyes; a man of Italian and Irish descent with a semi-Cuban twist hinting about. And I was proud to call him my best guy friend as he was particularly protective of both Leetrice and I.

"How about a glass of water with a lemon hangin' off the side of the glass? You cut up lemons like no other man can," I teased with a smirk spread across my face.

"Comin' right up." He turned toward Leetrice and asked, "And you?"

"I'll have a Diet Coke." She grinned.

"Alright. Back in a second, ladies." He gave us his famous charming smile, showing off his perfect white teeth, and walked off to the other side of the bar.

"Wait up, Al!" shouted T.R. over the noise of the crowd as he ran up toward the bar. People turned around to give him weird looks as he apparently spoke just a wee bit too loud for comfort. He stopped dead in his tracks, his cheeks turning bright pink, and looked around, obviously completely humiliated. "Heh...I'll take a regular Coke, please." He grinned, looking down at Leetrice as he was standing next to her. He leaned down and kissed his fiancė's cheek. Though Leetrice was younger than me by seventeen days, she was already engaged--and I was single. It didn't affect me much, though, because I was still in the zone of wanting freedom to date around.

Alex looked over and laughed. "Alright, comin' up, T." He returned with my water and Leetrice's Diet Coke, and then he went in the back to get T's drink.

Leetrice kissed Theodore's (yet he went by T.R.--his first and middle initials) cheek. "Where were you?"

Alex sat T's drink down in front of him. "I'll put it on your tab." He snickered before walking off to take another person's order.

T.R. gave Alex a baby-like grumpy expression (the one he was notoriously known for doing whenever he was pettily mad) before looking down at Leetrice with a smile of adoration. It always amazed me how quickly he could change his mood.

I sipped on my water as I watched the two love birds, who I sometimes called the two ding dongs (out of love and admiration, of course).

"I was outside waiting for the fireworks. Apparently they don't even give you a sneak peek on New Year's! Unfair much?" he explained.

I snickered into my water and continued sipping.

"They save them for the actual moment, T. Be patient," Leetrice pointed out.

Alex walked back over to behind the bar and leaned on the bar top in front of me. "Got plans tomorrow?"

I rested my crossed arms on the top and looked at him. "Nope, not really. Sleep in late from staying up so late, and then it's back to work for me. Why do you ask?"

Alex, for a moment, appeared to be posing as your typical 'cool dude', and he failed miserably as he just wasn't the type of guy for that. He was humble, not cool. In my book, anyway. "I was just wondering if you maybe wanted to do somethi--"

Randomly, I felt a presence standing next to me. I casually turned my head to my left to see a very handsome guy standing next to me. He looked to be about my height, not very muscular or tanned, but his short and clean-cut brown hair and engaging brown eyes made up for that. He looked at Alex and stayed silent while holding what appeared to be a ten dollar bill.

I bit my bottom lip and stared up at the guy who was standing next to me, feeling slightly awkward that a cute guy was standing next to me, watching the guy I was talking to. I then looked at Alex to avoid looking like a weirdo to Mr. Mysterious.

Alex looked at the new guy as Mr. Mysterious said, "Sorry to interrupt. Can I get a Coke, please?"

"Sure." Alex looked at me. "Back in a second." He walked off to get Mysterious' drink.

The new guy slowly looked at me and gave me a small smile.

Trying not to melt, I smiled back at him before turning away shyly. I wasn't normally shy, but with guys I didn't know, I usually came off as shy.

"Excited about the new year?" asked the new guy. I looked over at him and saw he was continuing to sweetly smile a little.

I grinned shyly at Mysterious. "Eh, sort of. Are you?"

"A bit," said Mr. Mysterious as he leaned on the bar top. "What's your name?" he asked, being both charming and smooth.

Looking back at Mysterious, I grinned a little more and answered, "Rachel. Yours?"

"Kris." He smiled at me. "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but you are a very beautiful woman."

Alex finally returned with Kris' drink just as I could feel myself blush. "Why thank you," I said, trying to keep calm. "You're not too bad looking yourself."

Kris smiled as his cheeks turned rosey pink. I thought this was just adorable. "Why, thank you." He handed Alex the ten. Alex then took off to presumably get Kris' change. "How long have you been in Seattle?" he asked.

"For a while," I replied. "What about you? I've never seen you around here before. I would've noticed you had you been here previously," I insinuatingly flirted.

Kris gave me what appeared to be a flirty smile. "I've been here for about a month. What brought you to Seattle?"

I shrugged a little. "Heard a lot of good things about the place. Interesting people, decent opportunities, nice college, all that stuff. What about you? Where are you originally from?"

Kris replied, "I'm from Arkansas. My story's like yours - nice school, decent opportunities..." He smiled.

Alex suddenly walked over and handed Kris his change.

"Nice," I said, grinning at Kris.

"So, are you in college?" asked Kris.

In the corner of my eye, I could see Alex raise an eyebrow for some reason.

"I just got out of college, actually," I replied. "I miss it. You still in school?"

"Yep. In my final year now. What do you do for a living?" asked Kris. Naturally, this sent an alert off in my head. He's younger than me. Maybe. Hopefully not, though.

"I'm a psychologist now," I replied. "What are you going to school for? And, um, if I may ask, how old are you?"

I saw Alex silently walk off to take another order.

"Business. I transferred here to finish. And I'm almost twenty-four," answered Kris as he smiled.

Feeling relieved to hear he was older than me, I grinned and said, "Awesome."

We continued to chat for a bit as I learned a few more things about him. He was an intriguing character to say the least, and I was liking what I was hearing. In fact, we talked until the big fireworks display outside, which is when all of us headed outside.

We were in a crowd full of people, watching the magnificent fireworks go off to ring in the New Year. Alex was standing next to me on my left, and Kris was on my right. Leetrice and Theodore were off to the side on their own, kissing as the clock struck midnight.

"Happy New Year!" Theodore shouted after their smooch came to a halt.

Alex looked down at me and grinned. "Happy New Year."

Kris, on the other hand, was laughing as he exclaimed, "Happy New Year!"

I giggled and told them all, "Happy New Year you guys." I smiled and watched the fireworks as they continued to explode, bringing in 2008 and closing out 2007.