Daddy Issues

65 - Cute or creepy

A couple of days later, I'm knocking on the door to Pete and Avery's apartment. It's New Year's Eve. And I for one, am ready to leave this year behind.

Avery greets me with an excited hug when she opens the door and pulls me inside. It's crowded, I like that. The bigger the crowd, the easier to get lost in easy laughs and shallow conversation. And some relaxed fun is exactly what I'm in the mood for.

'So these are some of Pete's friends,' Avery says, indicating a group of people in the living room. She was right, he does have some cute friends. I offer them a short wave when some of them look over.

'And these are some of my friends,' she continues, introducing me to some people. I quickly forget their names again, but they all seem friendly enough. Giving some short commentary here and there, she leads me to the kitchen where the band has gathered. My heart jumps a little when I lock eyes with Dan, who's laughing at something Jamal just said.

Everything I told him about Christmas really seemed to bother him, but he respected my wish to not talk about it anymore and I felt so much better after that evening, where he just let me crawl up against him while we watched that movie. I stayed pretty late, because I'd rather be with him, than at home. And he never asked me to leave either, but eventually I did decide to take the last bus.

'Here you all are,' Avery calls out. 'You know, you're allowed to mingle with the rest of the people, they don't bite.'

'But I do,' Yuki says, flashing a smile. Then she winks at me.

'Hey, Emma.'

'Hi,' I say to everyone. I'm still a little uncomfortable around Yuki after hearing everything she said. But even with her doubts about my friendship with Dan, she has been nice to me, so it's slowly getting better.

'Emma!' Pete says, stretching his arms wide to give me a hug. 'So glad you made it, girl!'

I must have pulled a bit of a face, because when I meet Avery's eyes while I hug Pete a little awkwardly, she just laughs and says:

'Don't mind him, he's a little drunk already.'

'And it's just past nine,' I say when he lets me go. 'You're worse than me.'

'About time you catch up,' Dan says, turning to the fridge behind him. 'Wine?'

'Yes, please.'

I greet the others too while I make my way over to Dan across the kitchen. He's just poured me a glass when I reach him.

'You look nice,' he says softly enough so that only I can hear it. Of course, it makes me blush.

I'm glad he appreciates the effort I put into my outfit. I ordered it just for occasion. I went with gold and sparkly. It's got long sleeves, but a short skirt that brings out my curves. I even got golden heels too and I put some glitter on my eyelids and a dark red lipstick on to finish off the look. My skin tingels when his eyes cross over me to take it all in.

'Thanks,' I say. 'You too.'

I always think he looks good, whatever he wears, but he dressed up a little for the occasion too. Black dress pants instead of his usual jeans, and a white button-up to pair it with. He's rolled up the sleeves and opened up the top two buttons, probably because it's pretty hot in here. The sight of that is making me feel hot.

'Okay, fine, we'll go into the living room,' I hear Pete say. When I turn around to look, I see Avery pulling at his arm to follow her.

'Come on, guys.'

Dan grins at me and makes to follow everybody else out of the room, but I take a hold of his arm to stop him.

'Wait, I have to tell you something.'