Clarissa Lincoln is a martini glass half full type. Heck, even when she slurps the last bits of icy vodka from the glass, she'll tell you it's plumb full!
Until a disaster of a night on New Year's Eve sends the daydreaming, serial dater spiraling as...
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Downtown Minneapolis
New Years Eve 2023
The coveted New Year's Eve kiss with a new lover. It's something we long for and dream of because a kiss like that... is, well it's magical. A kiss like that should erase any future first kisses.
I want it. I am twenty-nine and have not had this yet, but tonight, that's all about to change. I may not have been seeing Thad long....I know, I don't like his name either, but I swear he's not a douchey kind of Thad.
We met by chance at a grocery store. Well, sort of. I went there when I read in Cosmo that grocery stores were great places to meet single guys. I may have spent an hour or two in the frozen section that day, but it's still a chance meeting. I was about to leave when I saw the handsome Thad looking helpless. Turns out he was trying to find a pizza, and he likes the same brand as I do. If that isn't fate, what is?
Thad appealed to me right away with his handsome, boyish looks. I mean sure it'd be nice if he were a little more rugged, but that's just me being picky. His sandy blonde hair is gorgeous, I wish he kept it longer so I could run my fingers through it. When we get serious after tonight, I'll mention that.
He's so fit, well, a little on the skinny side, and I wish he were just a tad taller so I could wear heels, but he's cute, he really is. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder anyway, and the closer we grow to someone, the more the attraction does, too.
I can feel it. This year will be my year. Thad has to be my happily ever after, he just has to be. After all I've been through, the timing of meeting him now so close to New Year's and my birthday. It's meant to be and finally!
Time is lapsing and fast. I am far off course from my "where do see yourself plans." I was supposed to be on baby two and talking about needing a bigger home by now.
The big kiss tonight is all that's been on my mind all night, so much so I keep accidentally ramming into people as I try and make my way through this thick crowd. I'm meeting my best friends, Candice and Melanie at a bar right in the heart of it all, called Fifth Ave. We've all been close for almost eight years now, when we all started training at the call center Candice I still work at.
Since then, Candice has married but stayed at the company part-time, and Melanie moved on to work at a bank. I work hard, overtime, weekends, holidays, and more to prove myself. I am my boss Diane's, right hand. I help Diane with her extra workload, cover for her when she was running late, worked tons of overtime, and she is so happy with me. This year has to be the year I feel it.
I finally spot them hovering over a tall table. Candice is hard to miss; the tall, raven-haired woman is so pretty and always so well-styled, she demands the attention of any room she's in. Today is no different, she is dressed in a little black dress with tall boots, her hair down and wavy. Her handsome husband Byron is with her, dressed in black slacks and red button-down; he flashes me a pearly grin as I draw closer. They have a young toddler at home and don't get out often.
