Self Love • Christopher Velez •

chapter 43; new year's eve

Chapter 43 - New Year's Eve

“Nila, I’m sorry,” Christopher said, causing me to turn to look at him with confusion written all over my face.

“What for?”

“For getting interrupted non-stop. I enjoy what I’m doing but I also enjoy talking to you without any interruption,” Christopher complained and rested his head on my shoulder, causing me to laugh. 

“It’s fine,” I told him, smiling as I watched him intertwine our fingers. I felt a little something in my stomach but brushed it off. It was probably because of the alcohol. 

“But it won’t be the last time,” he whined. 

“I know, but it’s only when we’re out,” I said and I felt him nod. We drank our drinks before continuing to talk. 

There had been a few people that came up to talk to Christopher and it was then that I remembered. Christopher isn’t just my childhood best friend, he’s also in a band, one that many people liked. There were times when I forgot about this. 

“We’re going to have to get through all those people to get back to the table,” I said when I looked over to the dance floor. 

“You wanna go back now?” Christopher asked me.

“Yeah, okay.”

I finished my third drink and he stood up, holding his hand out to me. I took it and we walked towards the dance floor.

Christopher and I walked closer to each other to not lose each other. When we got to the dance floor, I walked in front of Christopher since it was extremely crowded. 

I felt him walk closer to me and while we were already holding each other’s hand, he had a hand on my waist. I started to bump a little to the music that was playing with a smile. It was hard not to. There was music playing and you could feel the energy. 

When we got back to the table where Andrea and the boys were, I saw Andrea talking to Erick. 

She saw me and smiled at me with her eyebrows raised suggestively. I stuck my tongue out at her and she laughed. She looked down at our hands and winked at me. 

“Not a word,” I told her, rolling my eyes but had a smile on my face.

“I didn’t say anything,” 

"Your face did all the talking," I said and she stuck her tongue out at me. 

Christopher and I sat down as Andrea tossed a bottle of water to me, causing me to smile at her. Since I had 2 shots before coming here and a few drinks with Christopher, I was not far off from drunk. Currently, I was tipsy and could still control what I was doing and talk properly. I wanted to keep it this way. 

“Hey! How have you been?” I asked Joel, who was sitting next to me. He turned to look at me and smiled. 

“I’ve been okay but I was tired after the tour,” he said.

“Three months of non-stop travelling must have been really exhausting,” I replied and he nodded as we continued talking. Tipsy me was a more social and brave me. 

“We have about 45 minutes before the clock hits twelve!” the DJ announced and everyone started cheering. 

“Do you guys want to head to the dance floor?” Richard asked and we nodded. Mi Gente started playing and Andrea cheered. We held our hand to each other simultaneously and took it at the same time. 

“You’ll be okay?” I asked her, turning to speak into her ear so that she could hear me. Andrea was claustrophobic and when there were a lot of people surrounding her, she would tend to get breathless and start to get panicky, but that had never stopped her.