Another year was around the corner. Like most of my New Year’s Eve holidays, I spent them by myself or with my family if their work didn’t call them. Luckily for me, I didn’t have to spend it alone. My girlfriend, Yosefin, had a special day planned for us. She didn’t have to convince me to come see what it was but warned me to wear warm clothing.
I came to her house with enough clothing to keep me warm in the frigid weather. The second Yosefin’s father opened the door, Yosefin came charging around the corner from the hallway where her room was. The sound of her bare feet slapping the tile floor made me realize how hard she was running. Her black hoodie flopped all over the place. With every step she took, her hoodie lifted over her short shorts. She hit the brakes before ramming into me.
“Joshy!” Yosefin said when she hugged me.
“Yo – Yosefin?! Where’s your pants?” Mr. B said. He stood off to my right while I held her as tightly as she was. “You’re legs will get cold.” He shut the door before I could turn around to do it myself. “She was worried about you.”
“About what?” I said after glancing at her beautiful smile.
“She kept asking if you were okay since it took you some time to get here.” I looked at her to judge if that was the case. She didn’t deny it or say anything. All I got was a light giggle out from her nose. “Anyways.” He handed her a pair of keys I hadn’t seen before. “Make sure you put it on snow mode.”
“Come on, Josh,” she said and took me by the hand. We went to her room. She walked me in and closed the door behind me. The door didn’t close all the way. I had to press my finger into it to shut. “Don’t lock it,” she said as I was about to lock it. “All I need to do is put some pants on.” She took off her shorts to put on insolated leggings before wearing thick winter pants. “Kay! I’m good to go!”
“Awesome!” I went to reach for the door but she grabbed my hand. She placed it on her cheek to snuggle with it. It was warm and soft. “What are you doing?” I said out of curiosity.
“I just wanted to feel you.”
“Feel?”
“Yes,” she said then curled my hand around the side of her neck. “It’s been days since we were together.” She moved my thumb on her Adam’s apple. The lack of one reminded me how special she was. I soothed it, causing her to giggle.
“Did you miss me?”
“Very much,” she said in a gentle voice. Her voice gave me a gentle tingle that spread across my chest. “I can’t stop thinking about that night.”
“Sounds like you might be thinking more about it than me.”
“Probably,” she said, snickering alongside me. “I think I’ve gone crazy. It feels like it happened hours ago.”
“Are we... overdued?” It took her a second to figure out what I meant. She turned her head away but kept her eyes on me. When I saw it click in her head, her eyes popped open.
“We are,” she said, snickering again. “But I need to get that off my mind right now.”
“Good thing you called me for whatever you are planning. It could be a nice distraction.”
“Oh! Yeah! Let’s head out! We don’t want to be late for the parade!”
“A parade?”
“Yup! Isn’t this exciting?” I didn’t know what to say. I had never been to one yet they always looked interesting to me.
“Yeah,” I said not thinking of what to say. “Are you comfortable driving in snow?”
“Let me show you.”
We headed through the garage to get to the truck. It was running when I got in. The inside was toasty. I got hot after a minute of sitting.
“I’m gonna break a sweat!” I said. Once the truck’s engine kicked on after she pressed the start button, the climate gauge didn’t have a number. It read, “hi” in all caps.
“Jesus,” she said, dialing the temp to seventy-five degrees. “I don’t know why my dad set it so high.” She clicked the garage button below the sunglass holder. It opened moments later.
“That’s fancy.”
“This whole damn truck is fancy.”
I looked at everything I could before she backed onto the road. The digital speedometer transitioned to white before she put the truck into drive. There were physical buttons for almost everything like the volume knob, fan knob, and defrost controls. The touch screen was high resolution, wide, and tall. Her navigation came on when she slid her phone under in a crawlspace below the center console.
“Whoa,” I said, pointing at her phone and the navigation. “How did that happen?”
“It’s wireless,” she said after snickering with the back of her hand over her face. “My car can do it too.”
“Amazing.” I was impressed. They hid their riches well. I didn’t realize the type of wealth her family had to be able to afford such luxury vehicles.
“We’ll be there in forty minutes.” She turned the volume knob just enough that I could hear the vocals of a rock song playing. “Oh, I love these guys.”
She jammed out and sang along to a seven-minute song. I watched her in silence without her noticing I was watching her vibing out to a song she knew like the back of her hand. Another song she knew came afterward. She sang a few lyrics before stopping once she saw I was looking at her.
“Keep going,” I said. “I wanna hear you sing.” She had the giggles. It took her a moment to regain the confidence and the payoff was amazing. The singer had an early 2000s way of singing that sounded like he was forcing a British accent. She matched his vocal pronunciations perfectly. Once the song finished, she turned down the music with a button on the left side of the steering wheel.
“Joshy,” she said, keeping her eyes on the road.
“What’s up?”
“What are your New Year’s Resolutions?”
“I don’t really know,” I said, looking out my window to watch the cross traffic at a busy intersection before we reached the highway. “I don’t do that sort of stuff.”
“Awe. Why not?” I didn’t know what to say. The tradition of one making themselves a promise for something they would do in the future sounded lame. I felt if people wanted to do something, they wouldn’t need a new year to boost their confidence.
“It just isn’t my thing,” I said after I told her my stance.
“I see what you mean. But...” I looked at her from the corner of my eye and waited for what I thought would be an argument. Instead, she asked if I wanted to hear what she planned to do for the new year.
“I wanna outshine all of your expectations of me and be the best girl you ever had.” Her answer made me speechless. That was a big promise I wouldn’t gamble even if I sought to be the best boyfriend she’d ever want.
“You wanna be my best girl?”
“Um,” she said, blushing with a smile. “Did that part sound stupid? I know I’m not a—”
“It didn’t sound stupid. Those are good resolutions.”
“Thanks.” She sighed and went silent for almost a minute before she spoke again. “I got a resolution for you to do.”
“What is it?”
“Be more of an extrovert.”
“Yosefin,” I said and rolled my eyes. “I basically am. I’m always going out with you.”
“Because I’m asking for you to come. When are you going to take me out?” She asked with a pouty face. “You’re supposed to be the man of the relationship. Not me.” I burst out laughing a second before she did after I realized the subtle joke. “But seriously.”
“I get it,” I said, nodding.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“We could trade if it sounds too difficult.”
“No,” I said, reaching over the armrest to pat her shoulder. “I’ll do what you want.”
“Yes,” she said fist pumping with both of her hands. “This new year is going to be fucking awesome!”
Once we got into the city, Yosefin drove around several blocks, hoping to find a rare chance of free parking. There was nothing we could find, so she ended up paying for a packed garage. Luckily, she found a spot at the top. It was in a position where all she had to do was drive in.
“Oh, thank god,” she mumbled. The center screen turned on a camera somewhere on the front bumper. She lined up the truck within the lines and then turned it off a few feet from the wall. “The truck is saying it’s twenty-seven out there,” she said and shivered. “You gonna keep me warm out there, Joshy?” Her playful question made my heart rate spike. I loved how cutely pitched it was and the gorgeous smirk she had.
“Of course, I will,” I said. The second I opened the door, a cold breeze snuck its way through the crack of the door, hitting me square in the face. I shut the door and looked at her with my eyes flushed as far as I could open them.
We rushed through the snow-covered parking lot rooftop to get inside as we held each other’s hands. The top stairwell was empty but I could hear people talking throughout the garage. Yosefin briefly let go of my hand to press the elevator button. It opened halfway, stopped, and then flushed all the way open. She entered first and pressed for it to go to the ground floor. Once the door closed in the same manner it opened, she let go of my hand and tried to push me into a corner.
“What are you doing?” I said.
“Making room.” She laid her back against my stomach. I put my hands on her shoulders to give anyone extra breathing room just in case the elevator would be packed. They weren’t there for a second before she took them to her lower stomach. The subtle change made me feel warm inside. I took the hold a step further and dropped them below her belly button. She chuckled in a quiet hum.
People began to enter floor by floor. The elevator nearly reached full capacity when the people from the second level came in. I pulled Yosefin closer to me even though it wouldn’t add more space. There was a random urge to protect and keep her away from them. No one was acting hostile. A man was standing in front of her that had his back inches from rubbing against her boobs. I almost told him to move away to give her space. Luckily, the elevator opened on the ground floor. It skipped past the first level.
Everyone began to shimmy out of the tight room towards the bombastic streets. The relief after the man in front of me left was enough to make me sigh. I relaxed my hands to let her know she could walk out. She took them with her for one step. We were separated for two seconds before returning to hand-holding.
“It sounds chaotic out there,” I said.
“It does,” she said and pulled me closer to her arm. “I’m anxious. This is my first time being in one.”
“Serious?”
“Mhmm,” she said with a cute little smile.
We stood at a four-way intersection. It had an unobstructed view of the massive parade. Multiple marching bands were playing the same music as if they were playing through a speaker. The music never faded as the next entourage came by. Between them were colorful dressed people. Some danced, waved, or sang. I asked Yosefin what they were but she had no clue. She had to look up all the details of what they were.
“Mummers?” She said, pronouncing it wrong.
“It’s mum, like the British,” I said.
“Mummers,” she said with an emphasis. “Did I say it correctly that time?” She said in a British accent. “Mummers, yeah?”
“Yes,” I said, laughing. “That’s correct.”
She read through the entire program in that accent. When she got to the end she pointed at an evening concert. It was followed by a fireworks celebration at midnight. I was shocked at how long the parade lasted. I thought it would be a few hours of my day and not its entirety.
“Goodness,” I said. “This is long.”
“I knew you wouldn’t be able to handle it all,” she said, putting her phone away to put her glove back on. “So, I planned to take breaks throughout the day.” The fact she took precautions was admirable.
“You’re too good for me.”
“We’ll stay here for a time. Then I want to have you all for myself.”
After an hour passed, we went to a nearby park to get away from the crowd. The park was almost empty. A few people were roaming around under the light snow. The sky was clear enough for the sun to heat my face while Yosefin and I sat together on a wooden bench.
“So,” She said after cuddling under my arm for warmth. “Are you having fun?”
“Eh,” I said, tilting my head from side to side. “A little bit.”
“Do you want to go home?”
“No. You brought me here to celebrate. I don’t want to cut the day short.”
“You won’t be doing that if we left,” she said and blew hot air into her palms. “All I care about is seeing you happy. The parade doesn’t matter if you’re not having fun.”
“You really do love me that much?” I said, cuddling her tighter.
“What type of a person would I be if I didn’t care about my boyfriend’s feelings?” She turned my head to make me look at her. “An ungrateful one.”
The irony of her statement made me appreciate how it reminded me of the type of woman I wanted to have. One would have sunken me in a false sense of a true relationship. The other one stated she would be loyal from the get-go. She was the ideal woman I wanted yet it wasn’t enough for me to choose her in the end. Yosefin was certainly not the type I went after even if there were no mutations involved. Yet, I couldn’t stay away. I used the mutated look as a means to justify my attraction and the things I did. It worked for a time but it began to destroy our close friendship. I knew in the back of my head who I adored even though I denied the truth. I knew I found the one when I got a reality check on the difference between kissing for looks and kissing backed with love. And I knew it was game over when I couldn’t resist answering the call for the so-called rants. I was in love for a while.
“Yosefin,” I said.
“Mhmm?” My emotions were high. I felt like I could cry, smile, and laugh at any moment. She watched me closely as I tried my best to form the right words so that I could express what I felt.
“I don’t know.” A tear came out of my eye. “I don’t know what to say,” I said and let out a light chuckle. I hid my face, hoping it would help me find the words to say.
“It’s okay,” she said. “You don’t have to say anything to me.” She rubbed her head on my arm until I moved it away. She slithered her way over to my lips, bringing the cold winter to them before the warmth of the spring took over. “You can tell me with kisses.”
“Is that the only way I can tell you if I’m having trouble?”
“No,” she said after grinning and giggling through her teeth. “I can think of a few things you could do if you can’t find the words.”
“You tell me and I’ll do them.”
“Noted!”
We headed back to the city to eat lunch that was on the same street the parade went through. Yosefin suggested that we find one so we could continue to watch it and be warm.
“What’s the next event?” I said.
“There’s a concert in a few hours further in the city,” she said, looking through her phone and eating a triple chocolate cake. “And the last event is the countdown.” I let out a soft moan when I thought about how much of the cold weather I would have to sit through. “What’s up?”
“Not looking forward to staying in the cold.”
“We can go back to my place and chill before the last event comes.”
“If that’s okay with you.” I had a strong feeling that there would be something spicy sprinkled in. “I don’t want to ruin this moment.”
“You’re fine, dude. I kinda wanna take you back to my room.” My heart rate began to rise as I thought about what she wanted to do with me.
“What are we going to do for several hours?” She blankly stared at the table. The blood in her cheeks got redder as time went on. “Yosefin?”
“We could play some video games.”
“For several hours?” The corner of her lips started to fold the more she tried to prevent herself from smiling.
“Sure,” she said, glancing at a waiter who walked past us. Once she was out of earshot, Yosefin leaned over the table to whisper. “We could do other things.”
“What?” I said, leaning over the table too. “Watch a movie?”
“Uhh...”
“I think I know what you want. Maybe we should do that first.”
I sat back in my seat and let my statement marinate in her head. She didn’t confirm or ask what I thought she wanted. Eventually, I got my answer when she hastily rushed me to her room and ignored her parents’ questions about why she was home.
“Be quiet,” she said after locking the door. She pressed her ear against the door. For two minutes I stayed silent.
“Are they out there?” I whispered. I got out of my warm clothes while she continued to listen. Suddenly, she cracked the door open and aggressively spoke to her parents in German. She shut and locked the door after having a one-sided conversation.
“We should be good,” she said with her voice down, walking over to me. “They better not bother us doing this.”
“Doing what?”
“Quality time with my boyfriend.”
The quality time she meant was us making out, cuddling, and having deep-thought conversations about her life during the time her body changed. It was a terrible time for her. The first change she noticed was the acne on her face. That was common. I had to deal with that mess. Next, it was her voice. It pitched higher instead of going down. She mentioned again at the age of fifteen her breasts grew but she added it was the origin of her phantom pains.
“My doctors didn’t know what the hell was going on with me,” she said. “My teenage life was nothing but tests.”
“That must’ve been terrible,” I said as I soothed her exposed thigh.
“It affected my social life. I was so depressed, Josh. I don’t know how I’m still here.” The thought of seeing her gone scared the ever-loving shit out of me. It reminded me of the time I almost lost her in a car accident last year.
“How did you get through it?” I said. I stopped soothing her thigh so I could clutch her close instead.
“It was a bit of acceptance,” she said, pressing my arm tighter around her stomach. “I tried to make what I thought was a curse into something cool.”
“Cool?”
“Yeah!” She chuckled. “I became what you saw last year.”
“Yosefin Böhme?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “She was invented for you to fall in love with.”
“Well, she certainly got me,” I said in my head. “Then what exactly are you talking about?”
“Yose Böhme...” She said after soothing my fingers with her thumb. “My style, my interests, my desires. That is... his... That’s... mine.”
“It’s also hers too,” I said and used my nose to tickle her neck.
“Josh,” she said, giggling like a child. “Don’t make me laugh. This is a serious talk.”
“Sorry, but it’s true. You two are the same.” She turned on her side to face me but never looked directly at me. The top of her head was tucked under my jaw. Her soft nose rubbed against my Adam’s Apple as she readjusted into a near fetal position. She didn’t speak for a time. She lay with me with her eyes closed. After a few minutes, I asked if she was feeling okay.
“I’m fine. I’m just digesting what you said.”
I let Yosefin lay in silence. Another minute went by when she decided back to town to see the rest of the parade. We caught a portion of the concert. Most of the artists that came on didn’t amuse me. There were two that I enjoyed and they were mostly an alternative rock band. At midnight, the whole city erupted. Fireworks filled the sky while people cheering blew out my eardrums. She was among them but she was the most tamed. The most I did was clap.
Yosefin drove me back to her house. She parked the truck in the garage but didn’t get out once she turned the truck off. Her right eye slowly turned to me. The corner of her lip pulled into her cheek. She didn’t have to say a word for me to know she didn’t want me to leave.
“What do you want this time?” I said, rolling my eyes and laughing.
“Nothing particularly. I just want to say I had fun today.”
“Same.”
“Happy New Year, Josh. May it be a great year for us both!”