Happy New Year [FICTION]

“I guess I’m kissing you again,” I tell my image on the screen of my phone.

It shares the same sentiments while making the same wry smile. As the ball begins its descent, I lean toward my screen, giggling softly. 

“Hmm?” I hum as my phone pings. “An email at this exact moment? Intriguing.”

The notification tells me that the email was sent from my own email with a subject of “Open Immediately”. I don’t remember setting up an email to myself, particularly not tonight at this exact moment.

“What’s this all about?” I ask and then promptly answer. “My last spam of the old year and first of the new..”

I click on the notification.

~

Yes, it’s you. I mean me. There are some things you need to know right now before you kiss that screen. You have better prospects than that shiny little box. Put it down. Put it down and go out into the world and live your life.

P.S. Maybe you should wait until the sun comes up. It might not be wise to start the new year in darkness.

~

I frown at the email as the New Year conviviality on my television begins to fade.

“No kiss again this year.” I lament as I make my screens go dark and head off to bed.

~

Upon waking, I open up the mysterious email again. It sounds so much like me, but I don’t remember setting it up to arrive at the stroke of midnight. As I am perusing my brief missive for the third time, another email alert pings. I click on it.

~

Seriously, GO OUT into the world and live your life. How many times will I have to tell you this before you get our life moving in the right direction?

~

I shrug my shoulders and slide off of the couch, slipping my feet into the pair of socks nested in my shoes and then into those cheap tennis shoes before stepping out into the cold January morning. I tread lightly because the ice I can’t see worries me more than that which brazenly greets my eyes. Despite my caution, I still find myself careening across black ice.

I come to a stop in the arms of another woman. She laughs as she steadies me without dropping the bags dangling from her arm.

“Good thing I played football with my brothers as a kid.”

“Thank you.” I mumble as I tilt my eyes toward the ground, hoping my cheeks aren’t as red as I fear.

“No problem, dear.” She scrutinizes my worn sneakers. “You’re very brave to wear shoes with so little tread after last night’s temperature drop.”

“Yeah, not smart.” I agree.

She laughs again. “You need some cocoa to start the new year. Come have some with my brother and I.”

Hot cocoa sounds delicious, but I demur. “I couldn’t…”

“What if I ask nicely and smile at you,” a deep voice rumbles over my head.

I turn to face a broad chest wrapped in a dark woolen peacoat. I slowly raise my head to look into a beaming face protected from the elements by a well-trimmed auburn beard. 

“Umm…”

“Don’t worry. He’s a gentle giant.” My new friend whispers in my ear, before gesturing to me and raising her voice. “Aaron, this is my new friend…” She gestures toward me, waiting for me to fill in the blank.

“Mandy,” I force my name out.

“And I am Jasmine,” she continues to beam at me. “Now that we are all introduced…cocoa?”

She grabs one arm and Aaron takes the other before I can respond. Soon I find myself nestled between them at a tiny table as we sip steaming cocoa.

“New year. New friend.” Jasmine says between sips of cocoa that redden her cheeks and leave a dollop of marshmallow cream on her nose.

Aaron reaches up to swipe the latter away for her, laughing as the sticky substance smears further across her nose and onto her cheek. “You might need a mirror and some soap to help with that.”

She frowns at him, setting her mug down on the table. “Don’t steal my cocoa or scare away my new friend.”

Aaron lets out a deep laugh that rolls over us and into the room. I see a couple of weary heads lift to take us in. A few even smile at me. One girl winks conspiratorially as Aaron leans in to whisper to me. 

“You have to forgive my sister. Clearly, she doesn’t know how to make friends. I’ll cover for you if you want to make a break for it.” He grins at me as he lowers his voice another degree. “But I have trouble making friends, too, so maybe you could take pity on both of us.”

I blush and raise my cocoa to my lips, blowing on it a couple of times before taking another tiny sip. I applaud my choice not to get any type of cream in mine as I lower the cup and find Aaron eying my nose.

“Nothing there?” I squeak, trying to be funny.

“Just a cute nose.” He responds flashing me that smile again.

I ignore the weird gyrations of my sleep-deprived heart and take another sip of my cocoa, which has luckily cooled enough to remind me to be cautious but not enough hurt me. I continue hiding behind the cup as I wait for Jasmine’s return.

~~Just so you know, dear readers, these writing prompts are meant to generate under 500 words. As you may have noticed, I often can’t limit my creativity to that level. Sometimes I start writing and think I know where the story is going. Then my character goes out and does something stupid and I feel like I just wrote the meet cute for a classic Hallmark movie. (For a girl who doesn’t like to read romance novels, I seem destined to write one, don’t I? At least it would be a clean one that wouldn’t have been quoted/mocked in “Bad Medicine” starring Steve Guttenburg… I hope.~~