My Little Raspberry

9 years later.

There would be no troubles this New Year’s eve, Gwen had decided that. For the last four years there had always been something in the way for them to have a nice, relaxed evening together. Either Sammy had dragged them out, mostly because she was feeling lonely when Matthew had left her, but now they were back together again and had promised that this would be nothing like another derailed party. Betty and Christian were also coming, after leaving their daughter, who would turn nine next year, at one of her friends. No, nothing would be allowed to go wrong this evening (, with a few exceptions; she knew how Sammy could be).

Through the years, Mary and Gwen had decided that it was time for them to start a life without each other, clinging onto each other’s backs. They were still best friends, and would always be, but now they had to learn how to live by themselves. It had been easy for Mary to find a new apartment, to their joy, and Gwen remained in the old one, which she had nothing against. Years had passed, and they both had great lives.

“How are those champagne-glasses coming?” a male voice said from behind Gwen, as he put his hands on her waist.

“Fucking tease, no alcohol until they arrive,” she answered and turned around to face the person she had, against all odds, decided to spend the rest of her life with.

“Are you kidding me? I’ve been thinking about joining straight edge since you gave me those rules about no alcohol, no sex and no smokes until New Year’s Eve. How long are you gonna torture me?”

“Brendon, it’s just a game, and I’m not sure if you’re strong enough.”

“A game? A game?! You know that it’s fucking torture, I tell you that I might as well start at anonymous alcoholics, the way you are following me like hawk. And then you can get yourself a good night sleep, knowing precisely where I’m at.”

“Fool.”

“Oh, I’m the fool? I say that you are the fool, the way you’re going on like that--,” and he kept going, slightly raising his voice. Gwen knew he was never serious when acted angry. If he was angry, she was the first who could tell.

“Shut up, and help me with these snacks,” she said and pushed him on the shoulder. His response was impossible to hear through all of his mumbling. Giving him work to do would definitely take the words out of his mouth. Ten minutes later a familiar Green Day-song was heard from Gwen’s cell phone. When she answered she heard Sammy’s voice on the other end, telling her that they were not less than five minutes away.

Gwen had been preparing the night since she got home that afternoon, both with cleaning the apartment and freshen herself up. She was pretty excited for her friends to come over. Nowadays they wouldn’t meet as much as before, just now and then.

Literally five minutes later Gwen went and opened the door to find all of the people invited standing outside, waiting to get inside. There was Sammy, who was a brunette right now, nothing really spectacular about her hair, but always beautiful, stood beside Matthew. Betty had her arm around Christians, who had, to Gwen’s joy, let his hair grow to its natural length, including his long bangs. He had served in the army as interpreter, which, though he wouldn’t be near weapons, had driven Betty crazy, because he wasn’t home with her and she of course though he would die in battle. Beside Betty stood a colored woman, an old friend, whose name was Erin. She wore a plain, nice, but sexy black suit, which merely showed of her curves. Last, and actually least, or smallest was a woman that Sammy had met almost by accident. She’d been introduced to Gwen as Mara, but was only short for Maria. Gwen found it very interesting that this woman was half Croatian; when her own father had a relationship with a woman from Croatia, and she knew that she easily would get along with beautiful Mara.

“Will you just drag them in here so I can start with the booze?” Brendon shouted from the living room, and Gwen shrugged her shoulders and said that it would be best if they did what he wished for. Brendon felt the responsibility to hand out drinks to welcome their guests as they entered they living room.

“We’re not gonna get wasted?” Sammy asked, regarding the glass that seemed half empty.

“Believe me, I’m working on it,” Brendon answered. When everyone seemed to be pleased he grabbed a glass himself and went over to stand beside Gwen. “Alright? Then I just have to say welcome, great to see you all and… chee--,”

“Wait! I have an announcement to make!” Sammy shouted with the glass held high. “I just wanna say that I and Matthew are good on our way of becoming… parents!”

“Are you kidding us?” Gwen shouted. “Are you considering giving birth?”

“Fuck no, you know me, right Gwen?”

“You mean adopting?”

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

“Which country?” Betty asked.

“You know me better than that! We want a small Japanese girl. Oh, do you realize this? I’m the first in this gang to become a parent.”

“Uh, Sammy,” Gwen said and nodded toward Betty and Christian.

“But Kat doesn’t count; she’s too big to count.”

“Katya is eight!” Betty shrieked in the way only Betty could shriek. Gwen laughed, Brendon laughed, Christian was laughing, Matthew was laughing and Erin and Maria were laughing. And there you had the feeling for the whole night. It went by very smoothly, and Gwen was surprised that no one came up with the idea, for example, running around the building, naked. It would usually be Sammy who did all these weird things, but Matthew seemed to have her pretty much under control from doing those things. When the clock seemed to be getting closer and closer until midnight, the company filled their glasses with champagne once again, and went out on the roof, where other groups of people had gathered to celebrate the struck of twelve. They all began the countdown;

“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five four, THREE, TWO, ONE!”

No one had got the time to say ‘Happy New Year’; everyone had fallen in the arms of someone. Sammy had a firm grip with her legs around Matthew’s waist, showering him with kisses. Betty and Christian weren’t as vulgar as the couple before, but they sure weren’t shy about their love for each other.

The only thing that pretty much surprised everyone was the fact that Erin and Mara actually were exchanging saliva very diligently. When Sammy realized this she removed her lips from Matt’s skin and shrieked. She was either confused, happy or both.

“When did you turn gay, Mara?”

“I’m not gay, I’m just veeery intoxicated right now, and who the fuck am I supposed to kiss anyway,” she answered, slightly slurring. Erin just looked extremely pleased. “Now excuse us.”

Gwen laughed at the whole situation and turned back to Brendon who’d been staring at her all the time, she realized.

“What? Is it something with my hair? Have I got something in my teeth? What is it?”

“Shut up precious, you look fucking great.”

“Well, aren’t you romantic.”

“I’m as romantic as I can be, alright? Just look, we’ve got the whole city at out feet, and a starlit sky about us, different colors shooting through the air, great friends around, and each other. What more do you ask for?” He didn’t give her time to answer his question before he placed his lips on hers. You could almost see the shining sparkles that flew around them. She put her arms around his neck and he slipped his around her waist and kissed her once more.

This would be a great year.