For the second time in three months, I found myself digging through my closet, searching for something to wear to an actual party. This time, I was slightly more excited. At the very least, I would have James to hang out with. Our conversation had warmed me to him a little, if only because it might've been the first honest one we'd ever had.
"Oh…" Nicole appeared in my doorway, a bottle of cheap champagne in her hands and her excited smile turning into a frown. "I didn't know you had plans…"
"Yeah," I said, standing and feeling a little guilty. "Last minute invite."
"Well…well, good." Her fake smile was back, but I saw right through it. "Have fun. Is it a date or…?"
"Absolutely not," I said with a laugh. "One of my friends needs…me to play wingman. I guess."
"Really? Who's your friend? Have I met her before?"
Yeah. "No. Just someone I go to school with. We're in a lot of the same classes. He's—"
"Oh, he is it?"
"Calm down," I said with my hands in the air. "This is the guy I was telling you about a few months ago."
"The one who burned you in the past?" She frowned. "I thought you weren't going to work with him or whatever?"
"He made a compelling case," I said. "And at the end of the day, it's better if we work together than apart. Turns out, once you get past his ego, bluster, and womanizing ways—"
"I thought you said he was gay?"
Damn Nicole and her good memory. "Turns out, he's bi…I guess." I needed to end this conversation before I slipped up again. "Anyway, he's really not a bad person. I mean, he's still a pain in the ass, but it's actually kind of fun to put him in his place."
"Uh-oh, Lexie, sounds like you're developing a crush on him," Nicole said with a wink. "Just be careful. Even if you think he's changed, people rarely do. I don't want to see you get hurt."
I smiled. "I won't, trust me. I'm keeping my distance. It's more fun to see him get destroyed by the girls in my class." I chuckled. "I have to say, I really like watching them dump him. Sweet justice."
"Have fun." She kissed me on the forehead. "Please stay until midnight, at least."
"I will." I frowned. "Are you going to be all right by yourself?"
"Sure. May not be sober when you get back, but I'll be fine."
She left me to my devices and I finished checking my makeup in the mirror. I wasn't the kind of girl who spent hours contouring and defining, but I figured for a special occasion, I could add a little extra. Once I was happy with my appearance, I transported myself to the beach and waited for James to arrive.
He showed in a puff of black smoke not five minutes later, dusting the remnants of his transport potion off his shirt and coughing into the darkness.
"You've got to teach me how to do that," I said, walking over to him.
"You're better off driving. This is no way to travel." He coughed again and shook his head as black soot fell from his dark locks. "I'm counting down until I get my magic back. One week, five days left."
I smiled, recalling my own brief grounding. "Hopefully you can forget about it tonight."
"I don't know," he said, his face lit by his phone's backlight. "Gee hasn't responded to any of my texts."
"I doubt she will. She doesn't seem like the kind of girl who'd accept an apology over the phone."
James slid the phone into his jeans and took my arm. "Good thing I've got you, then."
"Yeah, yeah."
Gee lived in one of the nicer subdivisions in the city, so it was easy to locate a dark spot to appear in. James even commented on my improving abilities to transport others, before he ditched me and nearly ran into the house. I followed slower, knowing that us arriving together would kill his chances of getting back together with Gee. To be honest, I wanted them back together. He seemed a lot less willful in her presence.
The house was already full of people, most of whom I didn't know. I found out from some overheard conversations on my way to the kitchen that Gee's older brother was visiting from Florida State, and had invited his friends to stay for the weekend. They were supposedly chaperoning, but from the looks of them, they were more drunk than the high schoolers.
I found a few of Gee's friends in the kitchen, and they waved me over, offering me a super-sugary alcoholic drink.
"So, I hear James is trying to get back together with Gee," Tamara said with a shake of her head. "Doesn't he know to leave well enough alone?"
"No," I said with a snort. The bubbles in the drink tickled my nose and the sugar sat unhappily in my stomach. I'd probably only have one.
"Look at them out there," said Emily, peering over the countertop curiously. "Gee does not look happy he showed up. How did he even know where she lived?"
I tried not to look too guilty. "He's resourceful. And determined."
"So what is the deal with you two?" asked the other Emily. "Are you friends, are you—"
"Friends, believe me. I'm not touching that. Ever." I shivered. "He's not the kind of person one should date."
"Yeah, I hear Callista was heartbroken. He apparently wouldn't ever take her out except on Friday nights and wouldn't introduce her to his parents."
I imagined what it would be like for Gavon to meet Callista and had to laugh, which I covered up with a cough. "Sorry, went down the wrong pipe."
"Oh, she's coming in," Tamara said. "She looks pissed."
The three girls went to do their best friend duty, and Gee tossed one very evil look in my direction, which I responded with an "I'm-sorry" expression. But I could hear the sound of her stomps all the way up to her bedroom.
"Well, that went well," James said, walking up to me. "Guess I'm back on sale."
"Back on the market," I replied. "Honestly, how am I the only one who gets to hear you make mistakes like that?"
"Because you're the only one I'm comfortable making mistakes around," James said, grabbing my drink from me and downing it with admirable gumption. "Ugh, this is gross." He drank more.
"So what happened?"
"I tried to tell her I'd been grounded, and didn't have my phone until the other day. She then tells me I was supposed to come over on Christmas and meet her family. Is that a thing?"
"I'll explain later," I said with an amused smile. "Then what happened?"
"I said she was the first person I'd texted and when she didn't respond, I came to you—"
"James!" I cried, throwing my hands in the air. "Leave me out of it!"
"Why?"
"You can't be that stupid."
"I'm not, but I don't see why anyone would think there's something between us. I mean…look at you and look at me."
"Yes, one of us is a well-adjusted valedictorian, and the other is a selfish asshole."
James glowered. "That's not fair."
"Neither is the insinuation that I'm somehow less attractive than you are. Or less datable."
"I didn't mean you weren't cute. But you're my friend. We spar and we talk magic. And, oh by the way, your father is my master."
A fact I let myself forget most days. "Yeah, that would be kind of weird."
"We're close because we're both magical. That's all. But there's not really an easy way to explain that to Gee without her thinking I'm hiding something."
"James…you are hiding something."
We stared at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. I wasn't even sure why it was so funny, but after spending so much time living half-truths and sneaking around, it was nice to admit it out loud. Especially with someone in the exact same boat.
Friends. James had said we were friends. And for the first time, I realized that I did consider him my friend. Sure, he was self-absorbed, but he'd also made a compelling case for me to go out and socialize. In his own warped little mind, I supposed he thought he was doing me a favor.
"What's that on the TV?" he asked, nodding toward it.
"New Year's Eve celebration in New York," I said. "Thousands of people watch a giant glass ball drop. Everyone celebrates at midnight."
"Looks like fun. We should go."
"What? Right now?"
"Yeah," James said with a devilish grin. "This party is boring anyway."
"Right now."
"Yes."
"I can't find a spot," I said, standing in the dark outside of Gee's house. "The whole place is crowded. There isn't an empty place anywhere in the city."
"So…let's just appear," James replied. "Nobody will notice."
"Isn't that…" I bit my lip. I'd never consciously attempted magic in front of non-magicals, but I'd always lived in fear of some unknown consequence. "I mean, there's a law against it. A magical one."
"One that, I would suppose, doesn't apply to you," James said. "Considering none of the others do."
He had a point. After the Separation, the remaining magicals created an agreement to prevent the same thing from happening again. That meant no magic until fifteen and no specialties, among other things. But since my father's ancestors had been stuck in New Salem, I was exempt from the pact. Another pesky loophole.
"Look," James said, adjusting his grip on my arm, "why don't you try again? Maybe find somewhere dark and crowded, that way no one will notice us showing up."
"I looked—"
"Try. Again." His smile was encouraging, as if he was sure I could do this and I was just doubting myself. "And stop controlling your magic so hard. You look like you're taking a—"
"All right, that's enough," I snapped, glaring at him. Closing my eyes, I released my magic again, concentrating—
He brushed the center of my forehead with his fingers, relaxing the concentrated tension he found. "Relax. Magic isn't this difficult."
"Easy for you to say," I grumbled, but his gentle touch had worked. Free of the control and with a simple request, my magic darted through the city, landing on an empty broom closet in a building right in Times Square. "I found one!"
"See? And you doubted your—"
I didn't want to lose the place, so I transported the two of us before he could finish. The air sucked out of my chest as he crashed into me, our bodies filling the tiny space. I heard something crash behind him as we both got our bearings.
His breath tickled my cheek as he coughed. "Well…this is awkward."
I glanced down; my legs straddled his, and his thigh was pressed very firmly against the more sensitive parts of my body. Uncomfortable, new feelings rose in my stomach. "I think we should get out of here."
"Waiting on you, magical."
"Oh, right." Using magic, I unlocked the door from the inside, and we spilled out onto the tile floor. I nursed my bruised elbows and hands, but James just lay on the floor, laughing.
"This is already much more fun than that party. Why don't we do this more often?" he asked, turning to look at me.
At first, I thought he meant the intimate moment in the closet, which increased the new squirming in my stomach. Then I realized he was speaking more generally.
"Because, apparently, you hated me," I said after a while.
"Oh right," he said. "Because I thought you and Gavon were conspiring to make my life miserable."
"You know," I said, propping myself up on my elbows. "In order to conspire, people actually have to communicate."
"Enough of that. I don't want to think about him," James said, popping deftly to his feet. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up too, so fast I got dizzy, so he placed both hands on my shoulders. "We have a city to explore."
The crowd was audible from the seventh floor (where I'd transported us), and even louder when the elevator doors opened. The lobby was empty, but just beyond the glass double doors, people were crammed in tight on the street outside. I wasn't even in the crowd, and already claustrophobia welled in my chest.
"C'mon," James said, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward it. I magically unlocked the glass doors (then locked them again; no need to get a poor security guard in trouble), and we entered the fray. Crowded didn't even begin to describe it. This was insanity. Lights and flashes blinked down at me from everywhere, and the din of the crowd was so loud it made my ears ring. My only tether to sanity was the pressure of James' palm in mine, and the tug of forward motion as we walked through the crowd. I was over it in seconds, but he seemed drunk on the activity of it all.
"You're sure you don't want to go back to the party?" I yelled over the din.
"No way," he called, glancing over his shoulder. "You don't think this is fun?"
I offered a half-smile, and he tugged at my hand.
"C'mon! Live a little. You have all this power to go anywhere you choose and you choose to stay home."
"I like being home!"
"You aren't living. This is living!"
He stopped short, and I ran into him. Again, I found myself in close quarters with him, pressed against his back as he held tight to my hand. But his attention had gone upward, to the moving signs and tall buildings. He turned to me with a wide-eyed innocence I'd never seen before. Gone was the cocky and brazen boy who swaggered around my school as if he owned it. James was gawking at New York City as if it were the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen.
He finally noticed my closeness and took a step away. "What?"
"You're…actually excited about something," I said over the loud chatter around us. "It's weird."
"I get excited about lots of things. But I can't very well act like everything in school is brand new to me, can I? Might invite some questions."
"Yeah, one of these days, you're going to have to tell me how you managed to fool my school into thinking you're a normal kid from the twenty-first century."
He grinned. "Later. After you tell me what that thing is!" He pointed to one of the large movie screens on the building, counting down the minutes until midnight. "And that! What is that over there? And—"
"One thing at a time," I said with a laugh. I drew his attention to the main event, pointing over his head. "See? That's the ball that drops at midnight."
"And why is that important?"
"I…have no idea," I said with a frown. "Just tradition, I guess. New Year's means everything starts over. People like that."
"I like that, too." His attention was still on the ball, as if willing it to move sooner. It might be a good thing he was without magic. "This year is going to be weird."
"Tell me about it," I replied with a sigh. "Graduation, going to college. Moving out."
"Getting inducted into the Guild."
I looked at him sharply, but he hadn't moved. "You're getting inducted?"
"On my eighteenth birthday in March." He finally wrenched his attention away, and for a split second, I saw uncharacteristic uncertainty. But it was quickly replaced by his usual carefree smile. "But let's—"
A loud cheer rose from the crowd, and we turned to the main billboard. There was one minute left until midnight.
"Now what?" James called to me.
"Now we count down to midnight," I called back.
"Oh. What happens then?"
What did happen then? People usually cheered, toasted…and kissed.
Oh crap, this was going to be awkward.
"Ten! Nine!"
James joined in the chanting and I did too, half-heartedly, dreading the impending moment and wishing I could transport myself out of there.
"Six! Five!"
James turned to me, a curious look on his face, so I wiped the worry from mine. This year was going to be better. I'd be getting into Georgetown. I'd be graduating high school. My new life was going to begin.
Yeah, things were going to be great. Just after this awkward moment passed.
"Three! Two! One!"
The world exploded in cheers and confetti, and next to us, couples moved together in celebratory kisses. Before I could even question it, James grabbed my face between his hands and planted his lips on mine.
My first kiss was over before it began, and it was all I could do to stare wordlessly at James. He turned away as if nothing interesting had just occurred and wrapped my hand in his, tugging me forward to do another lap around the crowd.
But even as I dumbly followed, I pressed a finger to my lips, wondering if it had been my imagination, or if a bit of magic had passed between us.