"Chaun, I don't know," I wavered.
"Aw come on!" She whined over the phone. "It's New Years Eve! You have to live a little."
I sighed and picked at my nails. "Parties aren't really my thing..."
"It's just one party," she tried again. "If you're not having fun by midnight, you can go home."
"Wow Chaun, a compromise? You must really want me to go," I joked.
I could practically hear her rolling her eyes. "Ha ha, so funny Claire. So what do you say?"
I sighed. "Fine, I'll go. But you have to help me go dress shopping tomorrow."
"Yay!" she squealed. "You're gonna have so much fun, I know it."
She hung up and I shook my head at her antics. What did I just get myself into?
---
I looked in the mirror and attempted to tug the hem of my dress lower. "You look hot," Chaunette stated as she walked into the room.
"I don't know, I'm not feeling too well," I tried to get out of this party.
"Claire," she gave me a pointed look.
I groaned, giving in. "Okay okay. Let's go."
We walked out of her room and into the living room, where Andrew was sitting on the couch on his phone. "Finally!" He exclaimed.
We left her apartment and drove to the house where the New Years party was. I'm pretty sure it was Corey Crawford's house, since the whole team was invited, but I'm not sure.
I checked the clock as I sipped my beer. I was the designated driver of the night so I couldn't drink a lot. It had only been an hour. Chaunette just left to go to the bathroom.
"Hey!" She yelled as she returned, dragging someone behind her through the crowd. "I brought someone for you to meet."
I raised my eyebrows. "Chaun I don't think-" The words caught in my throat as I saw who she had found for me. "Artemi?"
He gave me a lopsided grin. "Hi."
The moment was ruined by Chaun saying, "You two know each other?"
I was going to respond, but she was too wasted to pay much attention. She left to go find Andrew, leaving Artemi and I to ourselves.
"What are you doing here?" I asked. I didn't peg him as the hockey type.
Artemi tried to respond but his words got drowned out by the loud music.
"Let's go somewhere quieter," I suggested. I grabbed his hand and pulled him behind me through the crowd. I couldn't help but notice the butterflies that rose up in my stomach when our hands made contact.
I walked outside onto the porch. It was significantly quieter, and Crow had a fireplace and some couches out here. It looked pretty cozy.
We took a seat next to each other awkwardly. I cleared my throat. "So, you know the team?"
He gave me a half smirk, making my insides melt. "You can say that. I play on team."
I furrowed my eyebrows at his accent. "Where are you from?"
"Russia," he answered. "Want to play 20 questions? We can get to know each other."
