Winter Kiss

It was no surprise to find Victoria at a pub on a Friday night. Firstly because she was Scottish and who hadn't heard about the Scots and their love for alcohol? And secondly because she was a student and they were widely known to be either be drunk or in bed or even both. Regardless of the why, it was no secret that she had a favourable relationship with alcohol. So long as she never ended up declaring her love for David Cameron, she called that a good night out.

Somehow she found herself alone at the table her and her friends had grabbed, and while most would have probably been put off by that, she just took advantage of the absences by swiping the drinks that hadn't been touched. No point letting them go to waste.

Her night had already been planned: drink until she was bored and then head home. Maybe take a few selfies along the way, if she wasn't looking worse for wear. Originally it hadn't included being left by all her mates but she was queen of taking advantage of any situation thrown her way so it wasn't too much of a problem.

But tonight felt different. As she was sipping her friend's drink, she felt slightly disheartened that she was alone. That feeling only grew as she continued drinking, so once she had finished, she sat for a moment before abruptly rose to her feet. Making sure she had everything, she left the table and headed for the door.

And promptly walked straight into it.

"Fuck," she cursed, rubbing her forehead. She fumbled for the door and burst into the outdoors, a wave of refreshing bitter air washing over her. Well, at least she wasn't returning to that pub tonight.

Ambling to the bus stop, Victoria plonked onto the bench seat and hissed at the coldness. She hoped that the bus would come on time for once but she didn't have much hope. It wasn't renowned for being on time, that's for sure.

She'd been sat on the bench for maybe six minutes when a man sat at the opposite end of the bench.

"How long have you been waiting?" the man said, his voice startling her.

"About five minutes."

"So we have about half an hour more to go then."

She let out a short laugh. With these buses, she didn't doubt that. Sometimes they wouldn't even arrive and she'd be forced to even attempt to walk (okay, that hadn't actually happened before) or had to phone someone to come and pick her up. With most of her friends having ditched her at the pub, she wasn't too sure she was willing to phone someone tonight.

They lapsed back into silence for a couple more minutes before the man turned to her and spoke again. "I'm Dallon."

She looked at him in curiosity. "And I want to know this because...?"

"Are you adventurous?"

"Only when I go out without a bra on. Why?"

He smiled. "Come out with me tonight. Have a drink with me, have a laugh and have a good time and then when the night is over, we bid goodbye and go our separate ways."

She was hesitant but what did she have to lose? "How do I know you're not just going to kill me?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You really think that?"

"Nah, but you can never be too careful. Stranger-danger and all that."

"So is that a yes?"

"I don't even know you!"

He shrugged and stood from the bench, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Do you have to?"

"I should," she said. "But what the hell, it's New Year's and I'm alone. Let's have a drink!"

So they both left the bus stop and went further into town, ambling past the pub that Victoria had previously been in. The rational side told her to message someone and let them know that she'd gone off with Dallon, but she knew that they'd try and get her to come back, back to the pub where they'd just end up ditching her once again. Instead she decided to shoot a message to her sister that she might need picking up from the middle of town at just after midnight. At least someone would know where she'd gone.

They got a bar and the volume compared to the pub was immense, making Victoria wince slightly. It was given that it'd be crowed, but the more the merrier.

"So what's your name?" Dallon asked once they'd got their drinks and retreated to the end of the bar that was furthest away from the speakers.

She laughed. "Shit, I didn't tell you. I'm Victoria."

"Not a Vicky?"

"Nope. Not Tori or any stupid names like that. Just Victoria."

He nodded and had some of his drink. "What made you say yes?"

"What made you ask?" she retorted.

Despite having only just met him, she was feeling quite comfortable with him. If she had felt uncomfortable in the slightest at the bus stop, she wouldn't have agreed to come with him - but here she was, spending New Year's with a man who was a stranger. Oh how her life amused her sometimes.

Dallon toyed with his glass. "I asked because my night had been less than ideal up until now," he explained.

She nodded. "I got ditched by my friends. It was either leave or devour all their drinks and regret it later."

"I would have chose the latter."

They finished their drinks and grabbed another, their conversation becoming more and more friendly as the time went on. About halfway through her second drink, just as she was about to place it to her lips to finish, she stopped and lowered her glass. "Let's get out of here. Go get some food or something. I could do with some food."

Without even questioning her, he nodded and they left their drinks, rushing out of the bar and into the fresh air. "What's open on New Year's?" Dallon wondered.

Victoria pulled out her phone and began to search for a place that was open. "Oh, there's a chip shop open until half eleven!" she exclaimed.

"I love chips."

"Me too!"

So Victoria used her maps app on her phone to locate the shop and they brought a large bag of chips and split the cost between them. They also ended up having to ask for them to be put in separate wrappings because she wanted to put ketchup on hers and he despised the sauce and preferred to douse them in vinegar. She thought he was nuts for doing that.

They ate as they walked, the inside of the chips warming them up. As they ate she realised that she'd forgot to eat before she'd headed up and found herself more grateful for meeting Dallon at the bus stop.

Eventually they reached a playground and decided to regress for the moment and perch on the big kid swings, wrapping their arms around the chains so that they didn't fall backwards. A bonus was that there was no one around that was looking to set off fireworks. A brief look at her phone told her that there was thirty five minutes until midnight hit.

"Would have never thought I'd be eating chips for New Year's," Victoria mumbled, breaking the silence that had settled between them. She picked up one of the last chips on her paper and dragged it through the ketchup she had left.

"At least they're good chips."

"They're so soft."

She felt her phone vibrate suddenly in her pocket. Scrunching up her paper, she riffled through her pocket and pulled out her phone. It was a slight surprise to see that it was already five to midnight. She'd thought they had only been sat eating for about ten minutes. The message that she'd received was her sister saying that their mum had just left and would meet her outside the supermarket in ten minutes.

"I didn't expect to hit it off with you," Dallon said, making her look up from her phone. "I thought we'd have a drink and try to have fun, but I'm actually enjoying being here with you."

She snorted. "Make me sound bad, why don't you."

"Anytime."

He stood up and offered to take her finished paper, going over to the bin that sat by the entrance to the park before coming back to the swings.

"Kind of wish it wasn't midnight in like three minutes."

"Was that your friends on the phone?"

She shook her head. "My lift. If I want to make it home tonight, I can see midnight through with you but then I have to go."

"That's fine, Cinderella."

She laughed at his name before they both looked to the sky, waiting for the fire set of fireworks to go off. It was cold, her hands had started to go numb and she wasn't sure whether her butt was wet or cold, but she couldn't have asked for a better way to see in the new year.

And as the fireworks began to go off, Victoria turned and kissed Dallon.

Even when she walked into the door, the night was still good.