New Year’s Eve

January 1, 2006

Deborah invited me to spend New Year's Eve at the French restaurant where she bartends, but it didn't sound like much fun, so I didn't go. It didn't sound like fun to her, either, and she nearly didn't go herself. She's convinced that the manager — who's been relentlessly making passes at her since she started — is going to fire her. She even thought he might do it before her New Year's Eve shift just to screw her out of a big payday.

She called the restaurant before going in, just to make sure she was still on the schedule. She was. "What are you going to do tonight?" she asked me, as she got ready for work, trying on various sparkly dresses and tops.

"Just gonna go home, I guess. Maybe I'll paint a little. I don’t know. I might not even stay up until midnight, to tell you the truth."

"Ungh. I don't wanna go to work. What do you think of this top? Kinda boring, right?"

"No, it looks good," I said, as she twirled around in a sequinned tank top. "I like it."

"I wish I had something new to wear to help get me excited," she said, pulling the shirt off and digging through her closet for something else to try. "I just wanna hang out with you. Can I come over after work?"

"Of course. Hopefully, you won't have any trouble getting a cab. If I still had a car, I'd offer to come pick you up, but...well...you know..."

"Aww, sweetie, I know. Sorry about your car. That sucks. I probably won't get out until five anyway."

"Yeah, I'm sure I'll be asleep by then, but come over anyway."

We left her place, she went to work, and I went home. As I expected, I fell asleep pretty early in the night, but woke up just in time to watch my clock tick and hear a few muffled cheers in my building. My phone rang just past midnight. "Happy New Year!" said Deborah.

"Hey! Happy New Year to you, too. How is it over there? Busy?"

"Mmm...ehh...not really. It's loud, though, I can barely hear you. People are blowing things."

"Blowing things? Wow, sounds like some kinda party."

"Tsk. You know...Noisemakers."

"Oh, right. Of course."

"Did you get my picture? I sent you a picture from my phone."

"No, I'll check when we hang up."

"Okay. I gotta get back to work. Happy New Year!"

"You too. Enjoy the rest of the night. See you soon."

I hung up the phone, exchanged a couple of Happy New Year text messages with friends, and then...well...what do you think? I sat down and wrote about it.