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New Year’s Eve at Ashlyn’s house was always an extravagant affair.
Ashlyn loved planning parties, but there was just something extra magical about a party with all her friends going into the New Year together.
EJ and Big Red were already over at Ashlyn’s that afternoon, getting things set up for the guests arriving later.
“Thanks so much for your help, guys,” Ashlyn said, placing various snack bowls on the kitchen island. Once EJ and Big Red had moved the coffee table out of the way, they went over to join her.
“No problem, cuz,” EJ replied, stealing some pretzels from a bowl and dodging Ashlyn’s hand as she tried to slap him away. “Hey, uh, where’s Gina?”
Ashlyn and Big Red smirked at each other. EJ was a great actor on stage, but his faux-casualness when asking about Gina didn’t fool either of them.
“Her mom came down to visit, so they went out for dinner,” Ashlyn said. “Don’t worry, though, she’ll be back in time for the party.”
“Speaking of,” Big Red chimed in. “I promised Ricky I’d go over and help him get ready. Do you need any more help?”
“No, I think we’re all set here.” Ashlyn leaned in and gave her boyfriend a quick peck and Big Red left the kitchen, clapping EJ on the shoulder as he left.
EJ hopped up onto the counter in front of his cousin. “Hey, Ash, can I ask you something.”
“Anything,” Ashlyn said, turning around to give him her full attention.
“Well, you know Gina and I… we’ve been getting closer recently.”
“Yeah, EJ, I know. She wakes me up squealing every time she comes home from one of your dates,” Ashlyn joked.
EJ blushed and ducked his head. “We’ve only been on one date.”
Ashlyn rolled her eyes. “No, you haven’t.”
“What do you mean? We went for risotto after opening night,” EJ said, frowning.
“God, EJ, you are delusional,” Ashlyn chuckled. “You’ve been on way more dates than that. You were on a date at the bowling alley last week.”
EJ scrunched up his nose. “That doesn’t count. You and Big Red were there.”
Ashlyn laughed. “Ever heard of a double date? How about all the times you guys have cuddled on the couch watching movies? Or when you guys go to the diner for milkshakes? Or after school when you go to Slices?”
EJ shook his head. “Those aren’t dates. We do homework most of the time we’re at Slices. And we just like hanging out with each other.”
“I hate to break it to you, Eej, but those were definitely dates,” Ashlyn said, matter-of-factly. “Gina definitely thinks of those as dates.”
EJ’s eyes widened. “She does?”
Ashlyn nodded sagely.
“God, I’m so stupid,” EJ said. “So… me and Gina, we’re, like, dating?”
Ashlyn laughed. “Yeah, idiot. You guys are dating. What did you think?”
EJ shrugged. “I guess, I don’t really know. I’ve been so hung up worrying about asking her out, that I didn’t really realise we were already…”
“Going out?” Ashlyn finished for him.
EJ nodded. “And here I was going to ask you if Gina would be okay with me kissing her at midnight tonight.”
“Why wouldn’t she be okay with you kissing her?”
“Well, we haven’t actually… kissed before. And I know she hasn’t kissed anyone before, so I would be her first.”
Ashlyn nodded. “And you want to know if Gina wants you to be her first kiss?”
EJ looked sheepish as her nodded.
“Look, EJ, all I know is that Gina has been waiting for the right guy at the right time. I really think that guy is you.”
“You think?”
“Of course. You guys are great together. But you know who would know better than me?
“Who?”
Ashlyn shot him a deadpan look. “Gina. Talk to her. Tell her how you feel. It’ll make this a whole lot easier.
-
Ashlyn was the best cousin with the best advice. EJ couldn’t deny that. Unfortunately, he wasn’t aways so great at following advice.
The New Years party was pretty much in full swing when Gina arrived. EJ went over a greeted her immediately, having been practically waiting for her to walk through the door.
“Hey,” EJ said, smiling. “How was dinner with your mom?”
Gina beamed. “It was great! I’ve missed her so much. How’s the party been so far?”
“Boring without you.”
Gina blushed and EJ grinned, both of them stuck to their spot next to the door, unable to stop gazing at each other. Until, of course, Kourtney hollered for Gina to join her in a karaoke duet.
-
EJ was having a blast with his friends. He loved when they could all get together like this, without any stress about school or any drama about the musical, just being themselves and having fun.
He joined in with a couple karaoke songs himself, even duetted with Ricky which was more funny than fun but, still, he was having a great time. Even better, though, was watching Gina in her element. She was glowing, a shining star and, quite honestly, the life of the party. It seemed like everyone wanted to be around her, to dance with her and sing with her. EJ, however, was happy to stand back and admire her from afar, not quite understanding how such a fantastic girl had agreed to go on a date with him — multiple dates, even, if Ashlyn was to be believed.
Just then, as EJ was revelling in his ‘exhausting good fortune’, as Gina would have put it, the very girl he was thinking about locked eyes with him. Gina pointed at him and waved him over, and EJ followed immediately.
“Sing this with me,” Gina said when he reached her, pointing at the karaoke song book.
EJ looked down at where she was pointing and grinned. “Sure.”
“Okay, guys,” Gina announced, raising her voice so that everyone could hear her. “EJ and I are gonna relive our glory days as Troy and Gabriella’s understudies!”
And with that, the opening bars of Just Wanna Be With You starting playing. They’re friends whooped and cheered as EJ and Gina got into it.
Looking into Gina’s eyes and belting ‘no matter where life takes us, nothing can break us apart’ felt more like his words than Troy’s and the way Gina sang back to him with as much conviction, made him think they were in the exact same boat.
When the song ended, EJ and Gina were staring into each other’s eyes, panting from their performance. For a moment, Gina opened her mouth as if to say something, but was interrupted by Carlos invading the make-shift stage.
“Oh my God, if you guys sang that at auditions, you would’ve been Troy and Gabriella, no doubt!” Carlos exclaimed. And then he grimaced. “No offence, Ricky and Nini.”
EJ could see Nini laugh and Ricky wave good-naturedly, but he was having a hard time taking his eyes off of Gina. He felt as if, for a second, it had only been the two of them in the room, and coming back to reality was slightly jarring. Gina gave him a quick smile, and EJ was sure for the second time that night, she was feeling the same way. He watched as she turned away and joined Kourtney and Ash by the couch, and forced his limbs to move away as well.
-
The closer it got to midnight, the more nervous EJ was becoming. He grabbed Ash as soon as he saw an opportunity and dragged her into the kitchen.
“What am I going to do?” he asked.
Ashlyn, looking slightly affronted at being pulled out of the room. “What are you going to do about what?”
EJ stared at her. “About Gina? Kissing Gina?”
Ashlyn rolled her eyes. “You still haven’t talked to her?”
EJ shook his head.
“Then why are you talking to me? You know what I’m going to say. Talk to her!”
EJ nodded, determined. “Okay, yeah. You’re right.”
Ashlyn patted his shoulder before returning to the living room. EJ took a few deep breaths before following her. He caught sight of Gina sitting on the armchair, with Nini, Kourtney and Carlos surrounding her. She looked absolutely stunning, laughing with her friends.
EJ crossed the room until he was standing directly in front of her. “Hey, G.” All four turned to look at him. EJ swallowed. “Can I talk to you? In private?”
Their friends started to ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ but Gina waved them off. “Shut up, guys.” She stood up and smiled softy and EJ. “Lead the way.”
EJ took her hand in his, leading her out of the room and up the stairs, still vaguely aware of their friends giggling behind them. Although, everything was mostly drowned out by the pounding in his ears.
He paused at the stop of the stairs, looking between their options of Gina’s room or Ashlyn’s. EJ wasn’t sure if this was the kind of conversation he wanted to have in his cousin’s room.
“Um, is it okay if we—“ he started, but Gina cut him off by rolling her eyes, grinning and pulling him into her room.
EJ let himself be pulled along, waiting for Gina to close the door before turning to face her.
“Great party,” he said, and then winced.
Gina only laughed. “Yeah, EJ, it’s the best… So, why are we up here alone when we could be downstairs with our friends?”
EJ took a breath. “Here’s the thing. I like you, Gina.”
“I like you, too, EJ,” Gina replied, but her eyebrows knitted together slightly. They’d already confessed their feelings for each other, so why did this feel like such a big moment?
“I want to kiss you at midnight,” EJ continued.
Gina’s eyes widened. There was the big moment. “Oh.”
“Oh,” EJ repeated. “Oh. You don’t want to kiss me at midnight?”
“No!” Gina clarified immediately. “No, it’s not that… It’s just…”
“Just?” EJ prompted. “I promise, Gina, you can tell me anything. I won’t be upset.”
Gina nodded, stepping closer to EJ and taking his hand. “It’s just… you know when we were singing downstairs? That felt like a moment, you know, where it was only us. That moment was only for us. And then the music stopped, and all of our friends were there and I realised that that moment wasn’t just ours, it was everybody else’s too.” EJ nodded, because he really did understand how she felt. He had felt it too.
Gina took a deep breath before continuing. “If you kiss me tonight… It will be my first kiss. And I want you to be my first kiss. But I don’t want my first kiss to feel like that. Like it’s not entirely ours.”
EJ took a second to process her words, and he found himself agreeing with her. Their first kiss should be special, sacred.
“I understand,” EJ said truthfully. “That makes perfect sense.”
“Really?” Gina asked skeptically. “You’re not mad?”
EJ laughed, shaking his head. “Not mad. Never mad. If anything, it just makes me like you even more.”
Gina giggled, blushing. She reached up to wrap her arms around EJ’s neck and the pair hugged tightly.
“Come on,” EJ said when they separated. “Let’s go back downstairs.”
Just as he reached out for the doorknob, Gina stopped him. “Wait.”
EJ looked back. “What?”
Gina surprised him by grabbing the back of his neck, angling his face so it was directly opposite her own, and kissing him.
It was so short and so sweet and EJ didn’t even have time react before Gina was pulling away.
“There,” she said, a coy smile on her lips. “That one was just for us.”
EJ was dumbstruck. “Gina…”
Gina laughed. “Come on, we should go before any one misses us.”
It was EJ’s turn to stop her before she could leave. “Does this mean I get to kiss you at midnight?”
Gina grinned. “Yes, EJ. You can kiss me at midnight.”
“Can I kiss you right now?”
Gina paused, pretending to think about it. “I suppose I could allow that.”
EJ breamed, leaning in this time, kissing Gina slowly, appreciating the fact that he actually got to participate this time around.
“Wow,” Gina breathed when they pulled apart.
“Yeah,” EJ agreed, eyes closed. He rested his forehead against Gina’s and smiled.
“We, um, we really should get back,” Gina said, in a tone that made it clear she didn’t really want to leave.
“Yeah,” EJ repeated, eyes still closed as he leaned in again.
-
When they finally made it back downstairs, it was almost midnight.
“Where have you been?” Ashlyn asked when she spotted EJ and Gina.
The pair looked at each other, smiling guilty and shrugged in unison.
Ashlyn rolled her eyes, but left them to go join her boyfriend.
As the gang counted down to midnight, EJ and Gina couldn’t take their eyes off of each other.
“Still okay?” EJ asked. The rest of their friends were shouting ‘Five… Four…’
“More than okay,” Gina answered.
‘Three… Two…!’
Gina and EJ leaned towards each other and were already kissing when the rest of the party reached one and screamed “Happy New Year!”
They paused briefly, EJ looking into Gina’s eyes and Gina’s hand on his face, completely unaware of the couples around them popping confetti and blowing on party horns.
“Happy New Year, Gina.”
“Happy New Year, EJ.”