3Midnight. I stood in the nursery of my church as my best friend rang the bell in the steeple.
Ding, dong, ding, dong.
"Happy new year." I muttered to myself, folding up the doilies and other decorative cloths that we had just used in our candle-lit communion service to welcome the new year.
"Well... two zero zero eight!" My friend said, walking into the nursery.
I glanced at him and smiled, "Happy new year."
"What are you doing in here, anyway?"
"Just... hiding from my mom." I said, standing on a chair to put the cloths on top of a cupboard, where nursery children couldn't reach them. I avoided my friend's eyes as he smiled at me. That smile made my stomach flop.
"Well... happy new year." He said, walking through the room to the door that led downstairs.
I turned around quickly, my heart crying don't leave. I said: "I just realized, I didn't have anybody to kiss at midnight." I smiled nervously, trying to act casual.
He smiled, "Hey, me neither."
"Seems we have the same problem then." Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me!
"Oh. Yeah." He pulled his phone out of his pocket, "It's 12:01 now."
My heart sank as he took another step towards the door and away from me. "Better late than never!" I took a step forward, than stopped; I couldn't be doing this.
He hurried to me, he grabbed me in his arms, his lips found mine, my tongue forced my way into his mouth, I kissed him like my life depended on it.
My cell phone rang.
He tore away from me, even as I decided to ignore the ringing.
"Who is it?" He asked me.
Looking at the caller ID, I answered: "Joseph."
"Your boyfriend."
"Goodnight."