Apartment 3B

24. Countdown

Jesse

It's finally New Year's Eve and the five of us are busy decorating the entire house for our big bash. Hayley and Kabir as especially excited to be in charge and are basically managing the whole thing while Luna, Lainey and I sink into a bag of chips.

We've invited all our friends and friends of friends, which definitely includes Gabriel who I haven't seen in a while.

I'm excited to be near him again and no conflict in my brain can suppress the raw desire I feel for him.

Going to pick out my best clothes, I realize they aren't too great. My closet is emptied out on our bed but I still can't find anything decent to wear.

Kabir walks in on my mess, "Where'd this storm come from?"

"I can't find shit, I need to look like a snack today." I let out an exasperated sigh I'd been holding.

"A snack? Really?" He laughs in my face while walking over to his own closet. He tosses me dark gray pants and a matching gray coat to go with it.

"Pair it with an ironed white shirt, leave a few buttons open," he winked and left. It look him literally 10 seconds to solve my hour long problem.

Slipping into his clothes was a task, he was a size smaller than me but I managed to squeeze into it and look decent. A decent snack, ofcourse.

As per Kabir's instructions, I left the top two buttons open and my collar messy. Next on my list was to do my hair which was a job for none other than Hayley.

"Hayles, can you please do me?" I said, immediately realizing what I'd implied and laughed. "Oh no no! I mean, my hair. Do my hair," my laugh turned to a roar as she looked taken aback.

"You're stupid," she punched my shoulder and fixed my hair, planting a kiss on my forehead when she was done.

The party was buzzing with drunk conversations and a few people dancing, playing games and such but I was still tapping my foot, waiting for Gabriel to arrive. It was only an hour and a half to midnight when I thought he wasn't coming. Deciding to drown my disappointment in alcohol, I had tequila shots and made my way to the dance floor.

My body started to heat up, the lights were dim and the world was hazy. Not caring, I continued to dance and took off my coat, flinging it to some corner I definitely wouldn't remember later.

"Here, take another shot," a man I didn't recognize gave me a tiny glass of pure vodka and I downed it in a blink. I started to sweat through my shirt and unbuttoned two more buttons as I continued to sway to the music with figures that were blurry.

A strong arm snaked around my waist as I leaned into a warm body that had come up behind me. Running my hands through the familiar scent of Gabriel's hair, I let my body loose. After a while, I didn't even know where I ended and he began. My body melted into his and he lowered his mouth to whisper in my ear, "I'm sorry I was late, I had deadlines to catch up on."

"You're here now," I almost screamed as I finally turned around to gaze at the handsome hunk that stood before me. He wore a tight maroon v-neck sweater that clung to all the right spots and he matched it with casual ripped denim jeans. A polar opposite of the inexperienced boy I was, he exuded casual confidence as usual. His biceps daring to rip out from underneath.

"You never answered my question, are we doing this? You and me? Monogamous boyfriends?" I slurred in my drunken stupor.

"Do you really want that? I'm still in college, y'know. I don't know where I will be in a few months." He replied, his voice much more serious, contrasting the flirtatious tone from before.