Watercolour

Twenty One

Alana's P.O.V

"You guys ready?" Jace asked as he poked his head round my bedroom door.

"Yeah," Charley replied as she finished putting her shoes on.

It was 8pm on New Years' Eve and the three of us were about to head over to Alex's - his brother was throwing a party and as he didn't want to be alone surrounded by loads of his brothers mate, he invited us.

Charley had come around to mine for lunch and had spent the majority of the evening getting herself ready. I wouldn't describe her as particularly 'girly' but she liked to dress up for occasions such as these. Tonight she was wearing a short, dark blue dress with three-quarter-length sleeves and had left her straightened hair down. She had tried to persuade me to let her pick an outfit out for me but I said no. So in the end, I had agreed to let her do my hair and nothing more.

I had gone with the regular black jeans but, instead of the flannel that would normally accompany it, I had pulled out a dark red chiffon shirt from the back of my wardrobe. Charley had decided to do my hair in a Dutch half-up crown braid before curling the rest of it. I have to admit, it looked nice - but I would never spend so long just doing my hair. I just didn't see the point.

*

As I walked into the house I could immediately tell that Alex's parents weren't home. There were lights and music blaring and there was the faint smell of alcohol hanging in the air. I spied Alex and went over to him, Jace and Charley following on behind.

Alex, Charley and I sat with each other chatting and drinking the occasional [beer] that were continuously being passed around. Later on, Lucas joined us but Jace had wandered off about half an hour ago and I had only seen him a few times; usually with a small red-headed girl. We must have talked all evening because the next thing I knew, Tobias stood up on the dining room table and called everyone over top the TV for the countdown to midnight. I checked my phone for the time - 23:58.

I got myself off the sofa and over to the large flat screen TV, shuffling in next to Jace, who had reappeared and stood next to Nathan. Charley, who was next to Lucas nudged my arm and smiled. Someone came up from behind me and tested their head on my shoulder. I turned my head to see Harvey.
"Hey," I shouted over the combination of the TV and the people that had obviously drunk a lot more than we had, as they had started their countdown from a minute and a half away.

"Did you see where Alex went?" Lucas asked the group, specifically looking at me.
"No, he was with us a minute ago," I said, tilting my head to try and see over the crowd of people. "Should I g-"
"10... 9... 8... 7... 6..." the crowd shouted, everyone joining in.
I felt Jace squeeze my hand as we reached four. His eyes lit up with excitement but there was an undertone of something that I couldn't quite detect. It was an expression that I'd never seen on Jace's face before.
"3... 2... 1... HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

I turned around to face Harvey as he placed his hands on my waist and gently pressed his lips to mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck as I let my lips respond to his. After a while, I slowly pulled away and held Harvey in front of me. His glassy brown eyes looked down at me.

"Happy New Year," he whispered, although it may as well have been silent,
covered by the noise of the party that had resumed around us.

Over Harvey's shoulder, I saw Alex hastily stumble up the stairs and turn the corner onto the landing. I handed my drink to Harvey and pushed through the bodies of people that I didn't know. I tried calling out Alex's name but it was too loud downstairs and he was probably too far away anyway. I bolted up the stairs onto the landing and assumed that he had gone to the bathroom. I walked to the third door and pushed down on the handle; it was locked.