46. The Order

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The shift passed quickly after Aslo left

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The shift passed quickly after Aslo left. It always did on New Years Eve. There was a franticness that was synonymous with this one night of the year. Perhaps it was the count down, or the crescendo it represented, the grand finale.

Whatever it was, there was this need that ebbed from the crowd. The need to make this night epic, to have it be more than all of the others. It was an expectation that could never really be met, especially not in a busy bar in the centre of town, where it was too cramped, too expensive, too controlled. All it bred was a frustration that was almost palpable as the clock ticked towards midnight.

That frustration had reached a precipice moments ago, when the bells called out the New Year and the sea of cheers and screams of celebration erupted.

I'd watched as friends embraced, couples kissed, and strangers sought out anyone willing to seal the New Year with a kiss.

Across the bar I spotted the dark-haired man and redheaded girl from earlier devouring each other, and wondered if that was what Aslo had in mind when he'd engineered their meeting this evening. It might have been romantic if the guy's tongue wasn't halfway down her throat.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Emma and Max sharing a kiss of their own in the shadowed archway at the end of the bar. Kelly, too, had snuck off to kiss the band's drummer she'd been seeing for the past few months.

My gaze drifted to the bowl of Skittles under the bar, and my fingers curled on the metal countertop. Aslo's visit had raked up feelings that had just started to settle, like sediment on a riverbed. Now they swirled and clouded, filling my mind with fog and something else that pulled at that ache in my chest when I saw the couples celebrating together.

"Happy New Year, Gorgeous!" Callum chirped, as he leaned across the bar and planted a firm kiss on my lips, his hands clamped to either side of my face. I felt the apples of my cheeks smush against his palms. He smelled like expensive aftershave and tequila.

I chuckled as he bounded around the bar, passing behind me to find Emma and Max.

Last year I'd spent New Years alone, in my flat, sitting watching the fireworks through a drunken haze. Now, as I scanned the faces of the people I worked with, my friends, I had to admit that, despite the ache I felt when I thought of Book Boy, I was happy. Or at least happier. My life had changed in the past year, I had changed, and as I looked back down at the Skittles I wondered if it was a coincidence that Book Boy had been around when it happened.

I reached to pluck one of the green Skittles from the bowl, but a scream stopped me.

Auld Lang Syne was still playing through the speakers while the silver and gold confetti swooped and pirouetted towards the floor. Yet the mood had changed in a flash. I watched the bouncer Kelly had hired for the night as he drove his way through the throng of people. I could almost see the fight he was heading towards. A bubble had started to form around it, the drunken crowd drawn to the allure of violence.

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