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Every now and then coming around sniffing me out for anything even remotely suspect… patting me down and getting more extensive, even more dubious, the many inadvertent times I come under her radar.

If anything, at least, she was true to her word – dating Amanda was like a two-for-one deal. Amanda being possibly the bestest girl to walk this earth, and Hayley here, her darker, more skeptical shadow.

For now, I managed to throw her off my trail with another excuse, mumbling about some private matter before I hurried off to the nearest occupied table to offer my best and nicest… and while they looked confused at my sudden splurge of hospitality, they did take me up on my offer for second refills which had me busy enough that Hayley decided to just leave me to it for the remainder of my shift.

Someday, sometime though, I know eventually she’s gonna build up a big enough case against me that little excuses would no longer be enough to keep her at bay, I only hope by then I’ll figure out exactly what to tell her to make the truth seem a-okay.

“Psst.”

I heard another low hiss, like some leak in a pipe, a hazard waiting to explode, and beneath the doorway again, Hayley jerked her head.

“It’s five minutes past the end of your shift,” she said. “You gonna go or what?”

Honestly, she didn’t really need to drop by as a reminder. I don’t think there’s any better astute timekeeper than a weary employee at the tail end of his shift.

.....

“Yeah, I know,” I muttered as I hurriedly strode past her, busy tending to a particularly complicated brew. “But apparently Bruce is running late, so, y’know…”

But Hayley just came forward, practically shoving me off the station and taking over the order herself.

“That’s my problem, not yours,” she said. “Go on, get out of here already.”

It took me a second to realize she was being serious. Like, had it been Nick here in this exact scenario, I’d still be here holding down the fort for however long it took.

Can she take over for Nick forever? I really much prefer when she’s helming the ship. Then again, more of her means more with the intrusive questions like from before… so… maybe there is no winning here, sadly.

“Important private matters to deal with, right?” she said in a way that almost made it seem like she was mocking me. “Good luck with dealing with them, I guess.”

Then placing the order on a tray, wearing an all too sweetly smirk, Hayley parted away from me with an ambiguous look in her eyes that simultaneously couldn’t have been more obvious of her doubts.

“Happy New Year’s!” she called back at me as she rounded the end of the counter.

“Yeah, you too…” I replied back, with only a sliver of her energy. “Happy New Year’s…”

When I got back home, despite the sky coated deep in the dismal gray of late noon, I knew my day had only just started, and after a light lunch, I hastily began preparing for the evening.

I’m not really sure what exactly Irene had planned for later tonight. Maybe dinner, a few drinks here and there, maybe I’ll even get that concert I was promised so long ago now… but after that?

When the clock strikes midnight, when the year closes, and a new one begins anew – as the sky brims with light, as the entire world celebrates as one – what should I expect to happen next?

For some reason, I had Ria on the mind. I mean, it was her birthday we were commemorating, right? Yet it was more than just that too… from the way things sound… I’m half-expecting to see more from her than just an eternal withering flame slumbering away at peace.

Fingers crossed, at least.

Evening came spilling in through my bedroom window before I knew it, and I was already dressed, already prepped, for whatever the last few hours of the year had ready to throw at me…

I heard my mattress buzz, and alight on the sheet, my phone alerted me to a stream only recently gone live. Apparently, Amanda had decided to spend the remainder of the year in the company of her viewers… which was a whole different story from what she was moping and texting me just a while ago.

<<I’ll just sleep through it all!>> she declared to me an hour back. <<The sooner the year’s over, your date will be as well… and I’ll get to have you again too. It’s genius. I mean, not like there’s anything better for me do, right?>>

Turns out, there was. Good for you, Amanda. At least, this way, you won’t be too lonely without me.

As I swiped away the notification, I heard a low creak which led me to discover my bedroom door suddenly left swinging narrowly ajar. Once upon a time, a few months back, I’d physically feel my heart stop at such a sight, but now…

“Knock, Adalia,” I flicked my eyes to the right, to a darkened figure unmoving before the end of my bed. “I’m starting to think you just like giving me a scare for the sake of it. Do you?”

The silhouette didn’t answer, only slowly staggered forward, into the light, before my eyes, and with a gaze speaking in a murky white silence, she raised her hands, the almost blinding glint of a hairpin glimmering between her sharp nails.

Suffice it to say, I was more than amused.

“I taught you this already, didn’t I?” I said, peering back up at her blank, earnest stare. “Twice now…”

“Do… it…” Adalia whispered. “I want… you… to do… it…”

Lazy didn’t seem like the word I used for her upon hearing her request. Indulgent? Spoiled? You bet. Still, I’m the one that keeps obliging her anyway… so really, it’s all my fault, ain’t it?

And for something like this… yeah, I’ll just keep shouldering the blame.

I plucked the pin from her fingers, gestured for her to take a seat beside me, and without further ado, I began combing my fingers through the silky gray weaves of her hair.

“Y’know,” I said, making small talk. “I noticed you weren’t here last night.”

No reply, so I went on.

“The night before too.”

I paused again to cue her in, yet alas, it seemed she had trouble with her timing.

“I’m guessing you were with your sister?”

“She… called for… me…” she finally responded. “I… answered…”

“I see,” with a twist, I finished the first braid, tracing her locks and preparing for the second. “And this? Is this why I’m doing your hair? Going off again for a third time tonight?”

“Yes…”

“Must be special.”

“It is…” she said. “Tonight… is special…”

Ah, yeah, that’s right. It’s a special night for everyone tonight, isn’t it? Matriarchs included too, I suppose.

“New Year’s.”

“My sister… wants… to be with me… tonight…” Adalia said. “And I want… to be with her… too…”

I just nodded, just happy, just honestly glad that she’ll also have someone with her to spend the rest of tonight with. And really, who better than the person you had spent most of your life with, right?

“You… won’t be there…” she said indifferently. “You will… be somewhere else…”

“Disappointed?”

“Yes…” came her reply, as quick as it was blunt. “I want… to be with you… too…”

This girl. Even when she was not trying to give me a heart attack, she still was… suffocating me with such sugary sweet honesty.

“Me too, Adalia. Believe me… me too.”

We both fell to silence again, and beating my personal best, I was already almost done with styling her hair… just a few more braids, a few more adjustments…

“Ria’s… gift…” Adalia abruptly and quietly blurted out, and I felt her head drift slightly left toward a little box resting on the other end of the bed. “Is it… strong enough…?”

“Strongest I could find, yeah,” I said, expelling a heavy breath. “Though I guess that’s up to personal opinion. Any chance she might have told you her specific preferences as well?”

“Your opinion… is good enough…” she said, certain and confident her unwavering faith in me.

“Don’t know why I even went with a bottle,” I said, throwing my eyes onto the little rectangular box too. “I mean, it’s not like she’ll be in any condition to unwrap any present of hers.”

“It is… her birthday…” Adalia simply said. “It is… only right…”

“And y’know…” I went on, small talk becoming a little more. “I don’t think she had ever told me she loves to drink…”

“No…” slightly, I felt her shake her head in agreement. “I… don’t think so too…”

“But she told you.”

“Yes…”

“Yeah…” I said. “Just one out of a million billion things I don’t know about her.”

Adalia took a little longer to respond, the heightened stillness of her body told me she was paying extra close attention to everything, to me, and when she broke out of it, she spun a little, sparing a closer, keener glance toward me.

“You… don’t… want to… go…?”

I met her eyes and watched them swirl serenely for a little while before I promptly shook my head back.

“Of course I want to go,” I said. “But it’s like… it doesn’t feel right. I barely know her, barely a friend… last time I talked with her, I was just an annoyance. I drop in, I’ll wind up feeling like a stranger.”

“You’re not… a stranger…”

“I know,” I scooted back, finishing with her braids, the hairpin wedges perfectly between the elegant seams of her hair. “Doesn’t change the fact that as a person, as a friend, I barely know a single thing about her.”

Adalia, now with free rein to move around, immediately spun herself back at me, diminishing the distance with a little scoot of her own, and blinked her eyes.

“That is why… you must go see her…” she said. “That is why… you must celebrate… with her… spend tonight with her… and not me…”

Adalia paused… her words still resounding a little resentful at the notion.

“Be with her…” she finished. “And you’ll learn… more about her too…”