out of the grey [N. Sebastian]

new years

[<3]

the house is loud with everyone bouncing with excitement. music plays as we all play a few rounds of uno.

"I'm telling you guys, Evie cheats!" Jolly tells everyone.

"you're so dramatic Lollipop, I don't cheat. you just suck," I shrug my shoulders placing down my second to last card. "Uno."

I offer everyone a cheeky smile as they all groan.

"dude I need to know your secrets! how do you keep winning?" Jesse asks.

"dude I'm telling you! she cheats!" Jolly still believes that I cheat and is doing everything to try and get people to believe them.

"again lollipop, I don't cheat and to answer your question jellybean, I used to play a lot as a kid, years of practice and suddenly I was always winning." I shrug as I watch Noah place down a reverse card. he's sitting next to me so it pretty much skips my turn to prolong my win.

in the circle it's me, Jesse, mike, Orie, Bryan,Will, Amelia, Jolly, Nick, Folio, Jules and Noah.

basically at this point everyone has it against me because I've won the last 2 rounds, this being the 3rd we've played.

"I love you but you aren't winning this round." Noah says and everyone hums in agreement.

all I need is for someone to slip up and then I can easily win once more.

everyone places down a colored card and once it reaches Jesse, he places down a green 9 not having a skip, reverse or the choose a color card.

everyone stares at me in anticipation to see what I'd do. do I pick a card or do I place my card?

"thanks jellybean, I win." I place down my red 9.

everyone groans. "JESSE!"

everyone decided they've had enough of uno and now they're playing Mario kart. I take a break to go feed Harper and to check on the food in the oven.

I pour myself a glass of champagne, not feeling like waiting another two hours for it to hit midnight. instead of making a huge dinner for tonight, we all just decided on lasagna and salad. simple for when we have to put it up and clean afterwards.

I place my glass down on the counter just to watch Noah pick it up for himself. "you know you could've just poured yourself a glass?" I smile at him.

"yeah but I wanted yours." he shrugs.

"you're such a dork."

he sends me a charming smile before giving me a gentle kiss.

"go play the game, I take care of the rest." he says.

"you sure?"

"yes baby, you're always cooking and prepping for every celebration we have, go have fun. I've got it." he kisses me again.

I nod my head, "okay."

I start to head out the kitchen when his voice calls out to me once more.

"here." he hands me a freshly poured glass of champagne with a miss on my cheek.

"thank you."

"of course baby."

the living room is full of yelling, everyone getting a bit too competitive. I take a seat at the end of the couch next to Amelia who's yelling at Jolly because he cut in-front of her.

"JOLLY YOU CANT DO THAT! IM SUPPOSED TO WIN! MOVE YOUR BIG HEAD OUT OF MY WAY." she yells. "JOLLY!"

the sight of all of them bickering over a game is hilarious.

I watch them all play multiple rounds, laughing at their insane yelling and anger they let out when it doesn't go their way. my glass of champagne was finished about 30 minutes ago.

"hey guys, foods ready if y'all are ready to eat." Noah peaks out from the kitchen.

"FUCK YES!" will quite literally leaves mid way through the game to go get food and is followed by Jules.

I laugh as I get up too and make my way to the kitchen. I give Noah a kiss.

"thank you."

"you don't need to thank me baby, but you're welcome. go eat."

soon everyone is at the table and we have an hour before we need to head outside for fireworks and the countdown.

we eat in silence, with the occasional conversation. afterwards, Noah tried to kick me out of the kitchen so I didn't clean up anything, but gave in when I kissed him and stole the sponge.

we both clean the kitchen in 10 minutes, just in time to make it outside with 3 minute spare.

I pour glasses of champagne for everyone and Noah helps me carry them out.

soon the count down starts.

"5!"

"4!"

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"HAPPY NEW YEARS!!" we all chorus.

I hug Noah as everyone hollers at the fireworks. I smile watching the bright colors light up the dark blue sky. and for the first time, I finally have a new years kiss and I'm surrounded by everyone whom I love as we all enter a new year together. better than anything I could've wished for, especially on my first new years seeing color.

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PLEASE READ!!

[so the last chapter, this chapter and the next chapter are fuller chapters just because I have so much to write for the rest of the book but like I'm struggling on what to write to get there. I have a timeline in my head that I'm following and is in no way accurate! and it needs some time jumps because if not it would be long and boring LOL so the fillers are just short time jumps basically to get to where I want to be in the book. I know they aren't the best but I hope you enjoy them at least a little bit 🫶🏻]