I moved through the throng of people. They all were happy and laughing and enjoying the gigantic street party. I glanced at my watch. It was almost the New Year—time for a fresh start, a new beginning. The music got louder as I got closer to Trafalgar Square. I could see Nelson’s Column in the distance, but I wasn’t going to make it in time. The crowd had almost become a solid mass, and I could do no more than shuffle forward a few inches at a time. I wondered if Charlie had been able to push through to get to her date. I hoped she had…no, I hoped she got what she wanted. She deserved that.
A loud, metallic voice came from a PA system. It started to count down to the New Year. There was a huge explosion, and a roar went up from the crowd. The entire sky lit up as fireworks shot into the air. With each explosion, the crowd roared again, faces lit up. Car horns honked, noisemakers squawked and people jumped up and down, screaming. Couples hugged and kissed, and handshakes were offered all around. Glasses were raised in toasts, and people in the crowd were singing. And I was alone. I had no one to hug or even shake hands with—
“Happy New Year!” a girl yelled in my face. She grabbed me and gave me a big hug and a kiss.
“Happy New Year to you—”
She was already off, kissing the next person in the crowd. Here I was, alone in the middle of a gigantic crush of people. I shuffled sideways until I was shielded by a storefront and then pulled out my phone. I’d send a greeting to the only person I felt like sending a greeting to.
Happy New Year, bro. Hope you are bringing in the New Year in style with Laia. See you in a few days. Love, DJ
I stayed sheltered against the wall as the fireworks went on and on, bigger and brighter until there was a final explosion and the crowd went wild. Then the last burst fell from the sky and it was over. The crowd started clapping and cheering, and I joined in. It had been quite the show.
I edged forward. I wanted at least to be able to say that I’d been in Trafalgar Square at New Year’s instead of close to it. That was part of it. The other part was that I wanted to make sure Charlie was okay, that she’d made it, that she was safe.
The fireworks had stopped, but the party was continuing. The music began playing again. It was practically wall-to-wall people, and everybody was friendly and happy. More than a few people had had a little liquid happiness poured into them. I really was at a gigantic party, yet I couldn’t help but feel like the uninvited guest who didn’t know anybody.
Nelson’s Column soared up directly in front of me. I was close enough that I could see the giant lions guarding it. Off to both sides were big, beautiful, brightly lit fountains. People waded in both of them, celebrating and cheering. I couldn’t help but think of the CIA agents in the fountain at the lobby. That had been fun. Behind the fountains, in the distance, were the steps of the National Gallery. That’s where she was meeting him.
It would be good—and awful—to see them together, but at least I’d know she was safe and that she’d gotten what she wanted. Maybe I could even go up and wish them both a Happy New Year—and give him a piece of my mind. Anybody who had to question whether she was up to his “standards” didn’t deserve to be with her in the first place. I didn’t care if he was royalty. I didn’t care if he was the King of England. I’d just go up to him and—
“Hello.”
“Charlie!” She was standing right in front of me. “Didn’t you make it?”
“I made it,” she said.
That could only mean one thing. He had decided not to show. “I’m so sorry that he wasn’t there.”
“He was there.”
“But—but what happened?”
“Now you look as confused as he did,” she said. “I told him I’d made a mistake. He wasn’t the person I wanted to kiss at the stroke of midnight.”
I didn’t know what to say.
“And yes, I do mean you and not Sir Bunny. Where is he?”
“He’s safe and on his way home…but…me…you want to be with me? Why?”
“Because you took my nana to the top of a mountain and took care of her. Because you wear your grandfather’s beret. Because you saved my life. Because you couldn’t abandon an old man in a warehouse. Because I hope that you think I’m up to your standards and, most of all, because you still blush a little whenever you look at me.”
She got up on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around my neck, and the world seemed to explode in flashes. We were surrounded by paparazzi, cameras out, flashes going off.
“I think they finally got that picture they wanted,” I said.
“Not yet. Let’s give them something worth taking a picture of.”
She reached up even higher, and we kissed.