Accidentally in Love

New Years Eve

Tadashi Hamada's Journal

January 1st, 9:03 AM

My New Years Eve was pretty great- at least, what I remember of it. It's 9 AM on New Years' Day, and I have yet to go to sleep.
Our nerd group threw a party. Fred rented out the venue and was also in charge of the drinks- probably not a good idea. Gogo brought in a disco ball, and bought party poppers and blowers. Wasabi ordered pizza and brought snacks; Honey baked sweets and made osechi. I made a music playlist and borrowed some strobe lights from SFIT's stage tech.

Here's a recap: People started arriving at 9:00. At first we just talked and ate pizza and sushi, and some people danced. Then Wasabi stands up, holds his drink in the air, and yells "ALL RIGHT, WHO SPIKED THE EGGNOG?" Fred raises his hand and starts laughing, causing Honey and Gogo to break into a fit of laughter. I'm not really sure what happened between 10:00 and midnight, but at around 11:50 (a pretty drunk) Honey Lemon stands up on a table and shouts "ALL RIGHT, IT'S ALMOST MIDNIGHT! EVERYONE BETTER HURRY AND FIND SOMEONE TO KISS!" Fred takes her hand and helps her down from the table, spinning her into an embrace. I've gotta say, I was not expecting that. Wasabi is with a guy I vaguely recognize from my Japanese class. I looked around, and pretty much everyone is in couples. Gogo, however, is standing in the middle of the room, the same deer-in-the-headlights look on her face that I probably had. I walk over to her, and Wasabi chuckles. Gogo's eyes narrow, but she smiles. "You guys did this on purpose, didn't you?" Fred winked. "Maybe it's fate, maybe it's destiny... maybe it was Honey rambling on and on about how cute you two would be together." Gogo is wearing a short, form-fitting black dress. She painted her lips red and put something sparkly on her eyelids, on top of the usual purple. She bites her lip and looks up at me, blushing. She's so cute. Over the next ten minutes, extremely loud music starts playing, and everyone starts dancing. Well, more like jumping up and down and fist-pumping; we're all too drunk to do anything else.

Suddenly, I hear Fred's voice over the speakers.

"Alright everyone, we've only got 30 seconds left until the New Year! Let the countdown begin!"

20...

19...

Honey runs up to Gogo. Honey kisses Gogo's cheek and takes a selfie on her cell phone.

14...

13...

Honey runs back over to Fred.

11...

10...

Akane, a girl from my Calculus class, hands me a party popper.

8...

7...

Someone snatches my baseball cap and throws it into the air.

4...

3...

2...

1...

I hear the sound of about a hundred party poppers, followed by "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

And then, silence.

Gogo kisses me.

My brain short-circuits. I knew this would happen, of course, but I don't know how to react. I stand there for a few seconds, frozen.

My hands find their way to Gogo's waist. I lean into her so she doesn't have to stand on her toes.

I brush her cheek with my thumb. Her skin is warm, and her lips are soft.

She runs her fingers through my hair.

Suddenly, I hear clapping. We part, and I realize that we've been kissing for quite a long time. And... everyone is watching us.