New Year's Eve

"Please tell me you have one cute dress in here," Cam said as she perused through my closet.

I continued to stare at my bedroom ceiling as I laid back on my bed. She got back from her parents Christmas party in the Hamptons this morning and wanted to make sure I had something acceptable to wear tonight.

To be honest, I was completely dreading this whole New Year's extravaganza. After that day Adam called about the ring, he's been trying to get ahold of me again. I haven't told Cam about that phone call yet. I knew that if I told her, she would retaliate. After this whole New Year's thing was over, I decided to just give him the ring so I didn't have to deal with him ever again. Then I could tell her.

"Maybe I should just stay home," I said plainly. Staying home sounded so much better to me than being surrounded by thousands of people in the streets of New York City tonight.

I've lived in New York City my whole life, and not once have I gone to Times Square for New Years. Why? Because I knew how it was and I was not a fan of being in a crowd of sweaty people who were drunk and/or on drugs. Lord knew what could happen.

Cam popped her head out of my closet with an arched brow. "You can't. You promised. Besides, this will be good for both of us."

I snickered. "Yeah, right. What you meant to say, is that you are scared to be alone with bartender guy because you have real feelings for him."

She rolled her eyes and disappeared back into my closet. "That's not true at all! And his name is Kyle. I swear if you call him bartender guy tonight, I won't talk to you for a week."

I groaned as I sat up in my bed. I knew I didn't have a dress she would like. I also hated the fact that I knew she was going to make me go out and buy a new one. That meant socializing. With people. I did not want to deal with people right now. I was not the type to rebound quickly after a break up. Especially after my fiancee decided to dump me for no reason at all. I was more of the wallow in silence type.

Cam came out of the closet and crossed her arms over her chest. "You don't have anything to wear!"

"Told ya."

She tapped her foot. "I have to go run some errands but you need to get a new outfit for tonight. I mean it."

After she left, I tried to think of different ways I could cancel on her tonight. Even though it was nice to dream about it, I wasn't going to do that to my best friend. She was right, this was a big deal to her. Maybe this bartender guy, Kyle, was the start of something real for her.

Cam had never had a serious relationship before. She dated, and she dated frequently, but never a real relationship. She had always told me that commitment just wasn't her thing, but what the hell? Maybe people do change.

I glanced at my watch and begrudgingly got to my feet. Well, if I was going to do this, I was going to do it right. I grabbed my keys and headed out of my apartment. Time for the mall.

11:54pm

I let out a frustrated groan when I got Camille's voicemail. "Cam, why aren't you answering? You are the one who convinced me to come out here. Remember I told you I was having a string of bad luck? Well, it just got worse. My subway broke down and I barely have signal." I let out a sigh before I added, "Why is my life turning to shit? Anyway, I'll call you as soon as I get out of here. You owe me big time. I bought an outfit, put on makeup, and I even shaved my legs for fuck's sake. Call me."

I hung up the phone and slid it back into my pocket. I swear, when I got a hold of her...

"Bad year?" A man's voice asked.

I turned around and saw the face that owned that voice; and it was a nice one. He was a little over six feet, with blonde hair that was a little long and brushed to the side. He had ice blue eyes and an amused smirk on his handsome face.

I cleared my throat. "Were you listening to my conversation?"

He arched a brow. "We are stuck on a packed subway train. I think about half of the people here heard your conversation."

I squeezed my eyes tight as my head fell back in frustration. "Sorry. I don't mean to be a bitch. It's just been..."

"A bad year."

"Yes," I breathed as my eyes met his again. "Apparently, I've done something to piss off the universe because, not only did my fiancee break up with me, but he decided to do it over the phone. The day before Christmas."

"Ouch," he said with a frown.

"Yeah. Then my best friend convinced me to meet her tonight for New Year's and my subway breaks down. Bad luck seems to be following me around lately."

He was quiet for a moment before he asked, "Want to hear a fun fact?"

I glanced at my watch and saw it was two minutes to midnight. "Sure," I said absently. I was definitely not going to make it to Cam by midnight. That ship has sailed.

"According to modern day superstition, the person you choose to kiss at midnight on New Year's Eve can either give you good luck or bad luck for the new year."

I sarcastically laughed. "So, what? I'm supposed to go around and ask random guys if they will bring me luck? Then kiss one of them at midnight?"

"Nah. I can tell by looking at the guys on this subway that most of them would probably bring you bad luck."

I shrugged. "Guess I'm screwed."

"Not necessarily," he said before flashing me a cocky grin. "I happen to know, that if you kiss me at midnight, it will bring you nothing but good luck."

I gave him a look that said I wasn't buying his bullshit. Before I could answer, everyone on the subway started counting down to midnight.

"5!"

"4!"

"3!"  "Well, what's it going to be?" he asked as he held my stare.

"2!" My eyes fell to his lips.

"1!"

Time seemed to stop in the moment when this handsome stranger's lips met mine. At first, it was just my lips against his. There was no other touching. But once that spark was ignited, I leaned into him the exact same moment that he cupped my face with his hand. I deepened the kiss in the exact same moment that he buried his other hand in my hair. When he moved, I moved. It was the oddest thing. I've never felt anything like that before. 

The sudden rocking and movement of the subway caused me to stumble further into this stranger's body. He caught me and luckily kept me from falling. As the subway finally started moving, I realized this amazing kisser and I haven't broken eye contact. 

His brows here formed a deep V. His full lips were slightly parted and I imagined he was trying to catch his breath. Just like me. Some of that blond hair had fallen into his eyes and it took all of my restraint to keep myself from brushing it back. Instead, my hands fisted his shirt. I didn't even realize I did that until one corner of his mouth lifted up in a cocky smile. 

Common sense would be to pull away. To extract myself from this man's arms and run as far and as fast as I could. But I didn't do either of those things. Nope. Common sense was currently sipping a margarita on a beach in Bali. What I did do was cup the back of his neck and pull his lips to mine again.

He wrapped his arms around me tighter as the kiss turned heated. Thank God this was New Years...and New York. Otherwise people might actually care that two people were making out on a subway train. 

The fact that that didn't stop me cold told me this wasn't like me. I didn't do things like this. I lived my life on the safe side. I didn't take risks. I paid my bills on time. I used the crosswalks. I didn't run red lights, and I definitely didn't kiss strange men. But this man seemed to make me feel like anything was possible. 

The automated system of the subway alerted me that my stop was next. I cursed under my breath when I pulled away from him. I ran my hands over my hair and clothes. I knew they were all in order, but I couldn't stand still. When I looked up to the mystery man, he had a concerned look on his face. 

"Are you okay?"

It took me a couple seconds to find my voice. "No-- I mean, yes. I'm fine. Sorry." The subway came to a stop and the sliding doors opened. "This is my stop." 

I tucked my hair behind my ear and walked off of the subway. I made it a few steps before I heard his voice behind me. 

"Wait!" I turned around immediately and he was standing just inside the subway doors. "Can I see you again?" 

Just as I was about to say yes-- the subway doors closed and he was gone.  After the subway train was out of sight, I stared at the tracks. This whole sing felt unbelievably surreal. Did that really just happen? Or did I fall and hit my head?

In a daze, I walked up the stairs and onto the crowded streets of Times Square. The entire time I walked toward where I knew Cam and Kyle were waiting, I kept thinking about the kiss.

That kiss was the kind of kiss that you see in the movies. It was one that made time stop and someone was playing music in the background or something. I felt corny and cheesy for even thinking it, but that's what it felt like.

When I kissed that man, I felt like I had done it a million times. Like I knew the man on the other end of that kiss. In a weird way, it felt like I was kissing the only person in the world who really knew me and understood me. Was that crazy? I sounded crazy. Although, when he kissed me, I didn't feel crazy.

When I finally saw Cam standing a few feet in front of me with bartender guy, I pushed all thoughts of my mystery midnight kisser away. I definitely could not tell Cam about this. At least, not tonight. All I needed was for her to send me off in a white van to a padded room.

Instead, I smiled as I approached her and extended my hand to bartender guy.

"Hey, Kyle. I'm Ally. It's nice to meet you."