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Neil’s first New Year’s Eve without Andrew had been a non-event by design. He’d stayed home in his apartment while his teammates blew up his phone with photos of them at the club— glasses of cheap champagne in their hands, and way-too-obvious coke residue on their nostrils. Neil had never been less envious. He was more than content to be asleep by eleven, even if he was woken by the sound of obnoxious fireworks at midnight.
His second New Year’s Eve without Andrew, he plans to do exactly the same. However, Allison Reynolds is a far more difficult person to ignore.They’re both based in LA, and as such have fallen back into an occasional approximation of the relationship they had in college. In other words; Allison being a pain in Neil’s ass, and him adoring her for it.
“You’re not spending New Years alone again.”
Neil sighs. “Why not?”
“Because! How you spend New Year’s Eve is how you’re destined to spend the rest of the year. Last year you spent the night alone and miserable, and boom– guess how your year went!”
Neil sighs, switching his phone to his other ear as he opens the fridge in his kitchen, frowning as he realises it’s still as empty as it was the last time he looked.“I haven’t been miserable all year.”
“Neil, when was the last time you got laid? If you tell me it’s not since Minyard, I swear to God–”
“I’m not telling you anything.”Allison groans. “Oh my God, Josten! You’re coming. You’re coming to my party.”“No. I’m not.”Allison’s party is just how he imagined it; loud, bright, and full of people so beautiful that Neil can barely stand to look at them. He lurks by a drinks table, somewhere a little more shadowed– the scars on his face always feel so much more pronounced when he’s surrounded by the LA glitterati; people who would never tolerate so much as a zit without an urgent visit to an expensive Beverly Hills doctor.He’s not left to his solitary people-watching for long before Allison spots him and stomps over in her pink stilettos, one hand wrapped around a glass of champagne and the other around some girl’s arm as she drags her across the room.“Neil! I didn’t ask you here to hide, you beautiful idiot!” She motions to the girl she dragged over. “This is Bailey. They’ve been begging me for an introduction.”They. Neil quickly reassess his assumption. Not a girl. He looks at Bailey as they roll their eyes and give Allison an affectionate shove.“Fuck you,” they say fondly. “I have not.”Bailey is smaller than Neil, and tiny compared to Allison. They’re wearing a velvet black jumpsuit, and they have short, cropped, bleached hair. Their round nose is decorated with a gold septum ring, and their lips are coated in the brightest pink lipstick Neil has ever seen. Neil frowns when he realises he’s staring, snapping out of it and holding up his beer.“Nice to meet you.”They smile at him. “You too! I watch all of your games.”“You like exy?”Allison scoffs. “Why else would they want to meet you? Your charming personality?”Neil gives Allison a sarcastic smile, and she grins in response. Bailey opens their mouth, about to say something else, when Allison grabs their arm again with a gasp.“Oh my God, he came.” She looks at Bailey. “You have to meet this guy, he has serious big dick energy.”Bailey laughs awkwardly. “Uh. Okay.”They let themselves get dragged away again, giving Neil an apologetic wave. He waves back, shaking his head and swigging on his beer. He frowns when he realises it’s empty, dumping the empty bottle on the table and reaching for another.An hour, two more beers, and many awkward attempts at conversation later, Neil gives up. He finds Allison’s balcony and sits down on the concrete, leaning against the wall and staring out at the lights of Los Angeles, wrapping his jacket tighter around himself and digging through his pockets.He finds what he was looking for– a pack of cigarettes with, thankfully, one stick left, propped up next to a Zippo lighter. He pulls them both out, tossing the empty box aside, and lights the cigarette; taking the first drag and exhaling with a sigh of relief, absent-mindedly running his fingers over the initials engraved on the side of the lighter.He wonders if he could slip out without Allison noticing. There’s still time to salvage this night. Go home, order pizza, pass out on the sofa in front of sitcom reruns. He’s all but decided he’s going to bolt as soon as he finishes this cigarette, when someone drops down next to him in a haze of expensive, sweet perfume.“Hi.”He pockets the lighter and looks over at Bailey, who’s smiling as they rearrange themselves to be sitting cross-legged, leaning back against the railings of the balcony opposite him.“Sorry to interrupt.”Neil shrugs. “Nothing to interrupt.”“Not true. There was peaceful solitude. And if you’d rather continue with it, you’re totally within your rights to tell me to fuck off.”He laughs slightly. “No… it’s fine. But are you sure you want to be here talking to me in the cold and not getting wasted inside with… big dick energy?”“It’s LA. It’s not cold.” They shrug. “Besides, I don’t drink. And big dick energy usually comes attached to tiny dicks. In my experience.”“Oh.” He takes another drag on his cigarette. “I don’t drink either, usually. Much.”“But some occasions need a little social lubricant, am I right?”Neil coughs slightly. “I… yeah. I guess.”Bailey grins, clearly pleased with themselves for making Neil almost choke. “So. Neil Josten. How do you usually spend New Year’s Eve?”“I don’t…” he takes a deep breath, leaning back until his head hits the wall. “I never really used to think about it. Last day of December and first day of January are both just days, right?”“Right! But some people, like our beloved Allison, seem to think that if you don’t have the best night of your life, you’re somehow cursed.”“She told you that too, huh? How you spend New Year’s is how you’ll spend the rest of the year?”“Yep! I spent last New Year’s with my girlfriend, and she dumped me two days later. So that ruins Allison’s theory a little.”Neil pauses, then holds out his cigarette. “Do you smoke?”“No.” They take the cigarette anyway. “But it’s a special occasion.”They grasp the cigarette between their fingers, their nails short and clumsily painted to match the neon pink of their lipstick, and take a long drag–
tilting their head back and blowing the smoke out into the night air. Neil watches them, and for the first time in a long while, he finds himself… interested.“How do you know Allison?”They look back at him. “She designed some clothes for a shoot I was on.”“You’re a model?”They laugh. “I’m five feet tall. I’m definitely not a model. I’m kind of…” they roll their eyes. “An influencer, I guess. I have a big internet following, so I get a lot of brand deals.”Neil nods, grateful he didn’t have to ask what the fuck an influencer was. Clearly the blank look on his face had been enough to warrant further explanation.“That’s cool.”“It’s not cool at all. In fact, I need to take a picture right now because I’m meant to be promoting the lipstick I’m wearing. That’s incredibly fucking uncool if you ask me.”Neil laughs. “Can you be smoking in the picture?”They pause, then grin, taking their phone from their bag and handing it to him. “There was nothing in the contract that said I couldn’t!”Neil’s eyes widen as he takes the phone, suddenly feeling a little out of his depth. Bailey is unbothered, however, shifting position so that they have one wrist resting on their knee, the cigarette propped between their fingers. They turn their head sideways in a practiced fake candid pose, and Neil finds himself dutifully pointing the camera at them, snapping a few shots.“You’ll have to turn on the flash,” Bailey says, still looking away. “To see the lipstick.”Neil nods, pressing the flash button, and taking a few more photos. When he’s done, he swipes through them, zooming in on one in particular photo, where the light from a nearby building is reflecting in Bailey’s pupils.
Bailey clears their throat to regain his attention. “Happy with your work?”Neil hands the phone back, feeling his cheeks warm slightly. “Yeah.”“Thank you. Send my manager your invoice.”Neil snorts slightly, then frowns as Bailey pauses, both of their hands still on Bailey’s phone. They’re looking at Neil’s knuckles, the raised white circles that are still visible, will always be visible. They put their phone back in their bag, then reach out again, hovering their fingers over the scars as if they’re too hot to touch.Neil hesitates, then swallows. “It’s okay.”They look up at him, then look back at his hands, gently stroking their fingers over the marks and tilting their head. “Sorry. I just… I have a thing about scars.”“A thing?”“Not in a kinky way! Just…” they turn Neil’s hand back and forth, examining his skin. “I just think they’re cool. Fascinating. Every scar has a story. Every one is unique.”Neil pauses. “Sure. But not every story is a good one. And scars can make it hard to forget.”Bailey hums. “True. Some scars are bad. Some are good.”“There are good scars?”Bailey nods, finally letting go of his hand and sitting back again. They tug at the strap of their jumpsuit, pulling it down past their nipple. Neil starts slightly, surprised at the sudden nudity, but still looks as they motion to the surgery scar across their chest.“I paid good money for these ones.”Neil nods in understanding, and Bailey smiles, covering themselves back up and sitting back, stubbing out what’s left of the cigarette on the ground next to them.“It’s nice out here.”“Yeah,” Neil agrees. “But I won’t be offended if you want to go back inside and dance to…” he frowns, listening to the muffled music from the party. “What the hell is this?”Bailey’s jaw drops. “Neil, this is Beyonce.”“Oh.”“You don’t know Love On Top?”“Should I?”“Neil! Allison told me you were uncultured, but this is worse than I even anticipated! Oh my God.” They grab for their phone again. “I need to find a playlist. Right now. This can’t be–”Bailey and Neil both jump as a firework screeches across the sky and explodes above them. Inside, there’s a huge cheer and a loud chorus of HAPPY NEW YEAR, and Bailey’s eyes widen, the Beyonce playlist immediately, thankfully, forgotten.“Is that…?”Neil nods. “Guess it’s midnight.”“Holy shit. We missed midnight.”They stare at each other for a moment, then Bailey bursts into a delighted laugh, throwing their head back. Neil watches them, charmed despite himself, and smirks.“Just one day bleeding into another day, right?”“Right!” They look back at him, grinning. Then hold out their hand. “Give me your phone.”He frowns. “Huh?”“You’re not so feral you don’t have a phone, right?”
Neil rolls his eyes slightly, then does what he’s told, digging his phone out from his pocket. He watches as Bailey takes their own phone, air dropping one of the photos Neil just took onto it. After that, they open his contacts and plug in their phone number, and their name, punctuating it with a pink heart emoji. They lock it with a flourish, then hand the phone back to him.“If you feel like hanging out again, you know what to do.” They climb up onto their knees, leaning in and pressing a lingering kiss to Neil’s cheek. His eyes fall closed. “Happy New Year, Neil.”With that, they pull away, then pull themselves the rest of the way up and stand, smoothing down their jumpsuit and walking back into the party with a spring in their step, as Neil watches them go.
He looks inside, and sees Allison, her arms flung around some random guy as he sloppily kisses her neck. She’s beaming at Neil, and raises her glass to him in a smug toast.Neil is never going to hear the end of this one.