Make the Most of It

1. The Kiss of a Stranger

"C'mon Nikki! Hurry up. We have be ready in an hour!" My best friend Aria yanked on my hoodie sleeve, urging me to the bathroom to get ready.

"But I was having an amazing date with my couch." I wined, jokingly. I trudged up the stairs, following her to my room.

"You know, Nikki, you could maybe get an actual date at tonight's party." She glanced back at me and winked. "Besides, there's going to be tons of hot guys there." I rolled my eyes at her comment. She's been trying to hook me up with guy after guy, but honeslty, I wasn't over from my breakup with Michael. He had been abusive, but there were parts of me that still missed him. Unfortunately.

Then again, I was super excited for tonight's party, to celebrate New Year's. It was hosted by a song producer and apparently it was going to be the biggest party of this year.

"I heard that some celebs are going to be there." I said to Ari, trying to loosen myself up.

"Yeah I know, I can't wait!" She replied in a hyper tone. I walked into my closet to pick a dress. I glanced around and my eyes darted to a shimmering black dress in between my loads of clothes. I closed my closet door and begin undressing myself. Looking at myseld in the mirror, I realized that I had gained a couple pounds ever since my breakup. Man, this whole Michael thing has really been getting to me. I needed to get back to my old self. Ari was right, I had been spending a lot of time to myself and I hadn't been getting out much. This party was a great start. A new year, a new me. Hopefully with less guy drama.

I slipped the dress on. It was a black halter top dress. It had an open back and fit my figure with ease. I felt confident just wearing the dress.

"Ari!" I called. She opened the door and just one look left her mouth agape.

"What? Is it showing too much? I can take it off."

"No way Nikki! It's gorgeous! I just haven't seen you deck up so nicely since the night of the.... um... you.... know." Her smile dropped for a second. She was referring to my 1-year anniversary night with Michael, the night that Michael got super drunk and started abusing me. That was the beginning and ever since then, everything had gone downhill. I don't know what happened to him. He just immediately changed. I wish I knew that happened. But there's no use sulking because life moves on.

I pushed the thoughts out of my mind and smiled, letting Ari know that I wasn't going to let my past get to me. I ushered her out of my closet and into the bathroom to do our hair and makeup. Ari told me to put my hair up in an elegant bun to show off my back. She curled her hair and let it down to go along with her flowy red dress. We decked up a bit on the makeup, with my approval. I wanted tonight to be the start of my life without men. Once and for all.

Once we were done, we went downstairs and waited for Ari's boyfriend, Carter, to pick us up.

"I'm gonna totally kill all the guys with my good looks," I joked, flipped my hair.

Ari rolled her eyes at me. "I'm so glad to see you acting like your old self again Nikki." I smiled at her, to let her know that I felt th same way.

Just then, the doorbell rang and I went to open it. Carter was standing there with two boquets of flowers. He handed one to me and gave me a peck on the cheek. Then he walked in, handed the other boquet to Ari and engulfed her in a huge hug-kiss combo. He noticed me staring and said, "I'd do the same to you but I don't know how akward that would be."

"Too akward. Either way, you can't have all this. Your loss." I winked to add emphasis. Carter seemed a bit taken aback by my words so Ari made a comment.

"Yup Carter, you heard right. Bad-bitch Nikki is back." I smirked at her comment.

"We should probably go, it's almost time for the party to start."