SWNOVELS Chapter CHAPTER 24
Ella, Raegan, Jessica and I have all taken over Grandma Jean’s house as we get ourselves ready for New Year’s Eve. Christmas morning, Dominic shared with me one more present. Grandma Jean had left her house to him in the will.
The days leading up to New Year’s Eve were spent moving my stuff out of my apartment and into ‘our’ house. I can’t keep the grin from my lips as those words flitter across my mind, ‘our own house’. I sigh as I picture our future together, growing old together in this house.
“Hello, earth to Ali!” I hear someone say from behind me. Turning from the floor length mirror that stood free-standing near one wall of the master bedroom, I see Jessica laughing at me. “You do know that we have all been chatting with you for the last five minutes, right?” Eyes wide in shock because I truly hadn’t heard anyone talking for that duration of time, I shake my head no as a blush creeps up my neck and across my cheeks, turning the brightest shade of red.
I look at each one of the girls, admiring their beauty, poise, and elegance. We all decided to wear our hair up, and sport differing shades of blue sparkly outfits. I always go with a dress, yeah, doesn’t matter how cold it is out and honestly, lately, the cold doesn’t seem to affect me anymore like it did before my death. Moving from the mirror, I go and stand by Ella and drape my arm around her shoulders. “I truly couldn’t ask for a more awesome group of friends!” I exclaim to them all. We all ‘aw’ each other and then they each give me a hug.
Ella claps her hands together. “Alright enough with this emotional B.S.! I’m ready to go to the club and get my dance on.” We all laugh at her as she attempts the popular dance move before we head down the stairs to where all the guys are waiting for us.
All of the guys stand near the base of the stairwell and watch as we descend the steps. They all stare admiringly up as we come down causing all of us girls to smile and giggle. “Geesh,” Devon said from in between the entry hall and living room area. “I thought you all were never going to be ready.”
In unison, Nic, Riley, Vince, and Chris all ‘oooo’, Devon. “You better get your boy in check!” I say, nudging Ella in her side.
“Oh, believe me, he will sooo be wishing he hadn’t said that later tonight!” I can’t keep the smile from my lips, which turns into laughter. Everyone else burst out in laughter shortly after leaving Devon with an innocent, caught in the head lights expression on his face because he didn’t see anything wrong with what he had said. I walk over to him, and place my hand on his arm, giving it a few good pats. The poor guy doesn’t have a clue that ladies are never to be rushed and that whining about us taking our time is never, ever a good idea. I smile at his now clueless expression and want to explain what we are talking about but just then Dominic saunters over to me dressed in all black, and sporting his black leather jacket, looking drop dead gorgeous I might add!
Closing my mouth because unbeknownst to me, it had fallen open as I took in his hotness, I hear him say; “You look beautiful,” which he whispers into my ear before placing a kiss on my cheek. I smile as I look into his eyes and then without a second thought, I throw my arms around his neck and am kissing him. We can hear groans and moans and even a ‘get a room’, but we ignored them all for a couple of seconds longer before breaking apart. Nic helps me into my jacket before turning back to the rest of the group, “you guys ready to go?”
“Um, duh!” Devon said as he takes hold of Ella’s hand, causing her to smile. “We’ve just been waiting for you two lovebirds to finish your make out session, so we can leave.”
Dominic punches him in the arm, showing his love and then we climb into Chris’ ginormous SUV and head over to the club. Chris pulls up in front of The Noir Star and lets all of the girls out, so we don’t have to walk far in our heels. Once we are out of his vehicle, he pulls away from the sidewalk to find a parking spot across the street where the parking-lot is. The girls huddle together near the entrance as we wait for the guys to walk across the road and then we enter the club.
All I can say at this moment is, I’m super happy that Chris doesn’t drink alcohol! The rest of our group has definitely consumed our fair share of the adult beverages tonight. We had group dancing, couple dances, girl dancing, but the best part was when all the guys got on the dance floor. Each of them trying to outdo the others while trying to impress us. I’ll just say it was quite entertaining and leave it at that!
Nic drags me out onto the dance floor for one last dance before the ball drops. Pulling me close to him, he kisses me on the lips and then says, “I requested this for you. I thought we could finally dance to it properly.” He smiles at me as I tilt my head in curiosity, so I can hear the song better.
A grin lights up my eyes as I realize what song is being played. “Is this officially our song, now?” I ask as I close my eyes remembering the first time we danced to ‘Don’t Cry’ by Emarosa. He nods as he wraps his arms around my waist, and we sway to the music, and I wish for nothing more than to be held like this by him for the rest of my life. All too soon though, the song is over, and we break apart as everyone in the club gathers on the dance floor and is given a glass of champagne in preparation for the countdown.
“10, 9… 3, 2, 1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!” The entire club shouts out. Kisses are shared, champagne is downed, and the ‘Auld Lang Syne’ is sung. After the singing has ended, the club starts booming once more and the dancing commences again.
Around a quarter to two in the morning, we all decided to call it a night and head back to our house. Stumbling and falling, laughing and giggling, we make our way inside where everyone claims beds, couches and pull out sofa beds. Dominic and I make our way to the master bedroom, tumbling into the bed together. He helps me out of my dress and then gives me the black t-shirt he was wearing. I snuggle up against his bare chest and he leans in, kissing me on my neck. Rearranging my body my, I move my body so I can kiss him properly and make out for a little bit. I love running my hands across his firm, chiseled chest, feeling his rippling muscles under my fingers. I am currently fighting to keep my eyes open and sigh because I truly cannot stay awake any longer. I hear a rumble of laughter come from his chest as I roll to my left side and scoot in as close as I can to him, and then feel him place a kiss on the top of my head. As I drift off to sleep, I hear him say; “I love you my sweet Ali,” causing a smile to form on my lips as the darkness takes over…
~
As Nic and I begin to stir the next morning, I groan, “Ugh, the light. Make it go away!” Nic chuckles at me as his head is buried in my hair, pressed against the back side of my neck. “Seriously, is your head not pounding right now,” I whine as I roll over onto my right side so that I can look at him. He barely cracks an eye open to look at me, but he has a big grin on his face. There is nothing I hate more than ‘morning people’.
“Go get yourself some medicine for your headache and I’ll go make us a pot of coffee.”
I lean in and kiss him on the lips, “have I told you how much I love you?”
I grin widely as I watch Dominic get out of bed and then he comes over to my side, pulling me up and out of bed as well. As I walk past him, he swats me on the butt causing me to squeak out an ‘ah’. I try to glare at him but that only makes him laugh, so, I go to the bathroom for some medicine as his laughter follows behind me. When I come back out, I see that he has already gone downstairs, so I grab my purple cotton sweatpants, slip them on and make my way down as well.
Walking into the kitchen, I see that everyone else is awake and Nic and Dev are working on making breakfast for everyone. God, I love a man who knows his way around a kitchen. Especially if it means I don’t have to cook! And did I mention they happen to be cooking one of my favorite foods? Bacon! Which absolutely puts me in a good mood.
I go over to Ella and take the seat next to her. We begin giggling and whispering to each other as we watch the brothers argue over the ‘right way’ to make pancakes. “What time are you flying home, El?” I hate that she has to leave but I know I’ll see her at her graduation from the Black Sun Academy in a few months, so I’m not completely heartbroken about her departure.
“Dev is driving me to the airport in about two hours.” She sighs as she looks at me, “are you sure you don’t want to come back with me? You’re only a few weeks behind in courses. I know you wouldn’t have a problem catching back up with the rest and be able to graduate with me.” She turns honey-gold, wide eyes pleadingly to me.
I hug her to me. “You know as long as my mother is there on campus, I won’t return to that place, Ella. I’m sorry,” I add as I scrunch my nose at her. “Besides, Dominic’s mom has already helped me set up home study courses, so I’ll be able to graduate right around the same time as you, anyway.” Our conversation is put on hold because breakfast is ready and well, we’re wicked hungry!
Before we know it, Ella is saying goodbye and farewell to us. I feel like scarecrow from the Wizard of OZ when Dorothy is saying goodbye to him as Ella says goodbye to me now. I squeezed her tight to me in the biggest bear hug ever. I tell her to call me when she arrives back at the Academy and then we hug each other once more, squeezing each other tight, again.