Almost Easy

I was sandwiched in-between Michelle and Gena, singing loudly to one of the catchy pop songs pumping through the sound system and dancing wildly together, the fact we had in taken a few too many cocktails was blatantly obvious. I felt young again, at my old age of 20 going on 21 in a couple of months, the last year or so had aged me mentally.

The big clock on the wall read 11:23pm, and I sighed once again losing my mind to the thumping from the speakers, grinning at Valary who had suddenly made an appearance, but she mouth at us all to move off to the side where the guys were.

Continuing to shake and move as we made our way over, I followed Michelle who eventually ran over to Brian. I spotted Jimmy lent against the wall, he looked so mysterious and I felt a stirring in my stomach. I forgot all about being mad at him in my drunken state as I moved over to him, leaning my back against his chest, sinking in as I took a large breath.

'Having fun?' He spoke in my ear, pulling me from my trance; I turned my head twisting it right around so I could look at him.

'Oodles'

'Where going to a party across town now, are you fine with that?' He nudged me till I turned my body so our chests were touching. I went to reply but he lent down and smothered my lips with his own, it seemed to last a lifetime as he playfully nipped at my bottom lip and grinned into our kiss. I knew what he was doing, he was trying to apologize in his own way and for now I'd let him.

'If you two are done...we shall leave' Matt laughed pushing me gently as I looked around at him.

__

'A shot for every last second of 2005?' I asked looking at the ten shots lined up in front of me 'Oh god'

'Don’t be a pussy' Jimmy laughed from next to me; his own line of shots set up before him 'This is a brilliant idea!'

I looked over at the guy who had invented it, I had no idea who he was but he was wearing a pirate hat. He stared at the TV waiting for the countdown to start and suddenly he squealed go.

Picking up the first shot I downed it as fast as I could, wincing at the hot pain in my throat from the vodka, but continued to take the resuming shots until everyone started yelling 'HAPPY NEW YEARS!' and in that moment I turned and pushed my lips into Jimmy's, the sour taste of vodka evident in his mouth as well as mine.

Pulling away I let out a loud howl, gulping down a beer off the counter trying to remove the liquor from my mouth.

'Delicious!' Jimmy laughed whisking me off into the crowd as my cell started to vibrate in my pocket, I pulled him along into the bathroom, slamming the door shut after us. The caller I.D said it was my father calling and he never calls so my mind was reeling.

'Dad?' I mumbled trying to sound as sober as I could 'what’s wrong?! Where’s Isaiah?!'

'He's fine...' His voice was all croaky and I felt suddenly sick 'Your mother is in the hospital...she just had a heart attack'

'WHAT!' I yelled, I felt as if someone had just popped my bubble, and I was suddenly back to feeling much older than my years 'I'll call a cab...I'll be there soon'

'They don’t think she’s going to make it' My father, my drunk, abusive father was crying on the other end, he was showing emotion and it was nearly enough to send me into a state of shock.

'I'll be there soon'