The Last Time We Met

15

"What was your favorite part of 2019?" I asked Cedric, sitting down on his lap on the Feldman's basement couch. They were having their big New Year's Eve party, and while the adults upstairs drank wine and devoured cheese plates, Eli's friends were relegated to the basement, where we had an assortment of Chinese food and whatever alcohol Eli could steal from upstairs. The later the hour, the more he was able to bring back down.

I'd decided to stick to soda, since I was driving.

Cedric had already downed two wine coolers, and he grinned up at me with that infectious smile. "I know what you want me to say."

"What?" I asked innocently.

He pulled me down and kissed me, long enough for me to taste the strawberry of the wine coolers. Long enough for me to forget the question, until we finally parted lips and he said, "You, obviously. You're the best part of 2019. Not that it's much of a contest. 2019 mostly sucked."

I leaned back to look at him better. "Really?" I couldn't think of one terrible thing about 2019 at that moment.

"I mean, look at the TV." The television had been playing recaps of the year all night. I'd been mostly ignoring them. "Notre Dame burned down. The rainforest burned down. Kids are still being put in cages at the border. Flint, Michigan still doesn't have clean water. And to top it off, the Cheeto got impeached but somehow we're still stuck with him."

"We get to vote him out next year." I turned back to face Cedric, and grabbed both sides of his face so he couldn't watch the television anymore. "We'll both be eighteen and we can vote him right the fuck out."

Cedric's eyes widened a little when I swore, since I almost never did. It always made him smile.

"And I'll have you for the whole year," Cedric said, pulling me down to his mouth again. "2020's gonna be amazing. Way better than this year."

Ever since the homecoming dance, I hadn't been at all concerned with my friends seeing Cedric and me kissing. It had been a fun night, and all my friends loved Cedric and his now-green hair. "He's too cool for you," Jax had said, prompting Cedric to turn to me and say, "I'm honestly shocked that none of your so-called friends think you're cool."

"You're too cool for us, too," Jax said.

Marlo and Jax had never dated anyone, but they were part of the gaming club at school and invited all of the members to this party. Eli had his GOTM, Ally, and Ally had invited some of her friends, who had brought their boyfriends, so the basement was crowded, so packed that when we arrived I told Cedric he was not allowed to leave the couch. "You have to save this spot. I'll sit on your lap if I have to." And I did have to, because three other couples were making out on the couch.

The music, provided by Eli's Spotify playlist titled "2019 OUT" had a good mix of songs, including some 80s tunes that reminded me of Chris and Brent. At this point I wasn't sure if I was channeling Chris or if I'd been conditioned to get turned on by 80s music. As Genesis sang about tonight, tonight, toni-i-ight, I pressed my hips against Cedric's and sucked on his neck. His scent drove me mad.

Suddenly the music shut off. "Hey!" Cedric shouted into the chorus of protest, but he was drowned out by a few girls who were shrieking, "Turn up the TV!"

I twisted around to see what the commotion was.

"It's BTS!" one girl said, jumping up and down.

"I still don't know who these people are," Cedric complained.

"Well, for starters, they're not from the eighties," I said.

"Can you imagine in sixty years when we'll have to say nineteen-eighties? Because we'll be living in the twenty-eighties."

I kissed his neck. "We'll be too old to care by then. Sitting in the retirement home."

"Yup. Eating pureed peas and wearing diapers."

"You think they'll still have re-runs of the Golden Girls on then? I feel like that show can never get old."

Cedric laughed. "We'll be too old to remember what Golden Girls was."

Jabbing his ribs, I said, "I bet you'll still have that Bea Arthur t-shirt, though."

"Probably."

We didn't resurface until someone turned the music off again and Eli shut off the lights so all the faces were bathed in a blue glow from the television, where the glittering ball began to make its slow drop. I twisted around and half-slid off Cedric's lap so we could watch.

"Ten! Nine! Eight!"

Cedric wrapped his arms tight around me and rested his head on my shoulder.

"Seven! Six!"

Swallowing hard, I closed my eyes briefly. Everything felt right, for the first time in my life. Cedric was my soulmate, I could feel it deep inside my chest.

"Five! Four! Three! Two! One..."

Amid the cheers and honks of the party horns, Cedric and I kissed.

And then Eli put on "1999" by Prince.