Dedicating this chapter to chandnipipaliya, though I know that you don't comment much but you've been very regular in voting & reading & sometimes commenting. I really appreciate that. :)

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CHAPTER - 23

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Something really terrible must have happened to the person who said the famous quote 'All good things come to an end.' According to me, that person must have been on a wonderful date with a girl he liked a lot and his sister must have spoiled it all by shouting at them through the men's worst invention called phone, to come back as they were getting late for a party.

Nothing good comes out of a phone or sisters. True story.

That's the only reason why I was currently sitting in my living room cursing going to Precious' New Year's bash and my sister's pathetic timing to phone me.

"I guess the date didn't go as well as you planned it to go?" Brian said, more like questioning. He was seated across me, looking at me for the last half hour like a scientist observing his latest experiment and the reactions taking place as he mixed up some damn chloride with other damn chloride.

Snorting, I unfolded my legs and bent a little forward. "It would have been perfect if your dear fianceé wouldn't have interrupted our little moment," I told him rolling my eyes.

He laughed at what I said. "Firstly, my dear fiancée is your darling sister." I rolled my eyes at that and he continued, "Secondly, what 'little moment'? Were you both about to kiss?" He had a huge smirk on his face and without waiting for me to say anything, he continued, "Tongue or not?"

Groaning, I got up and again, rolled my eyes at him. "What makes you think that I would let you know the details of my date with Kim?" I raised my eyebrow at him and he snorted. Before he could say anything else, I shouted for Hailey, "How much longer are you guys going to take?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just coming," was Hailey's reply.

I turned to look at Brian, so my back was towards the stairs. I pointed my thumb towards the upstairs room from where Hailey's voice was coming and I asked Brian, "Seriously, why are you even marrying her?" He laughed and I chuckled at the same question that I had asked him hundreds of times.

At the sound of click-clack of heels, Brian stopped laughing and tilted his head to look towards the stairs. I watched as his expressions changed to that of complete happiness and his eyes sparkled with happiness. He got up from the couch and started moving towards the stairs where I was dead sure, Hailey was standing all dolled up to go to the party.

"Whipped," I coughed loud enough for all of us to hear and Hailey and Brian laughed it off. Smirking, I turned towards the stairs and spotted her.

Damn!

Between us, the soon to be married couple was locked up in a kiss and Kim's and mine eyes were locked. Not at all subtly, I let my eyes roam from her heels to her perfect curves and to her gorgeous face that was framed by her curls. She was damn hot and very sexy in that black and white dress.

I watched as her cheeks turned to the darkest shade of red when she noticed that I was so checking her out. I was at such a loss of words or actions that I couldn't even smirk at her reaction, like I would have normally done. All I could do was stare at her with admiration and desire in my eyes as I thought about running my hands all over her curves and her brown hair, as I thought about those legs wrapped around my torso and about those red lips as they would touch mine.

"Whipped." Sound of someone coughing interrupted my thoughts that were proving to be troublesome for myself. Reluctantly, I removed my gaze from Kim and glared at Brian, who had suddenly developed bad throat. He had a huge smirk on his face and his dear fiancé was smiling at me.

Clearing my throat, I looked back at Kim and asked her, "Ready to go?"

She snorted and replied sarcastically, "As ready as I'll ever be."

"You don't need to worry about anything, Kim. We're going to have so much fun," Hailey told her. Looking at the confused expressions on Brian and my face, she clarified, "Kim doesn't want to go to the party."

"That makes the two of us," I muttered under my breath.

"What?" Brian raised his eyebrows towards me, telling me that apparently, I was not as slow as I wanted to be.

Clearing my throat again, I told him, "That makes me ask why you don't want to go." I directed my question towards Kim with complete interest. I ignored the looks Brian was giving me. I could never tell them that I - Keith Warren - wasn't interested in going to a party. That would have been so un-Keith.

"Why would I want to go to that dumb Barbie Doll's party?" Kim asked ridiculously. "Can't we go to some club instead or stay here?" She looked at the three of us with pleading eyes.

Just as I was about to suggest that we could just stay home, watch movie marathons with Kim sitting beside me and I could make my charm work on her, eventually, making her mine; Hailey decided to open her mouth. "But she invited us, Kim. It'll be fun. I promise. And, if at any time, you think that you're not having fun, you can just come to any of us and we'll leave right away."

And, this time, just as I was about to say that Hailey and Brian can go and have all the fun they want, leaving Kim and me here alone; Kim opened her mouth. "Okay." It was clear from her voice that she was still not convinced.

Stupid women and their mouths!

Brian and Hailey decided to go in Brian's car, and Kim and I in mine. The ride was silent and tensed. Well, it was tensed for me. I really could not understand that how was I supposed to pay attention on the road ahead, with Kim sitting just a few inches away from me. Involuntarily, I kept stealing glances of her beautiful face, while she kept her gaze out of the window.

This girl really made me think every time if I wasn't that good looking for her. I mean, c'mon, I was devilishly sexy and good looking. I knew that. But, how could she not give even a second glance towards the God sitting beside her, was beyond me.

I parked the car in front of Precious' huge house and sure enough, it was already crowded. The loud banging music could be heard from here and the thought of 'perfect party' made me smirk coyly. I turned to look at Kim, whose expressions were the opposite of mine. "You alright?" I asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Never been better," she muttered, still looking outside. The sarcasm in her voice could not be hidden.

"There is nothing that you need to worry about. I'll be with you. Hailey and Brian would be with you. Why are you in your serious thinking mode?" I was genuinely confused and let my confusion take the form of questions that I asked her. She was looking uncomfortable and a frown was etched on her features when she turned to look at me.

"I just... I'm going to sound stupid to you," she mumbled and started fiddling with the sleeve of the black jacket she was wearing.

Laughing, I playfully punched her shoulder and asked, "Since when do you worry about sounding stupid to anyone?" In reply, she muttered something under her breath but I couldn't hear it. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing, Keith," she muttered again. She looked at me straight in my eyes and said, "I just..." She gulped her own spit and continued, "It's my last..."

"Last what?" I pried when she stopped mid sentence.

"I just have this intuition that it's going to be a bad night," she told me and I tried to stop myself from laughing.

Women and their intuitions!

"I knew you were going to think that I'm stupid. Laugh all you want, I'm going inside," she said with frustration and got out of the car, banging my car's door in the process.

"Hey, wait!" I called as I ran behind her and held her hand, making her stop. She faced me and again, I was at a loss of words at how beautiful she looked tonight.

"What?" she asked with anger in her voice.

This snapped me out and I found my voice. "I'm there with you, Kim. You really don't need to worry about any damn thing. And even if you think that something is wrong, don't forget that I'm there. With you," I told her as honestly as I could tell her the truth. This seemed to have calmed her down as she slightly nodded and I smiled slightly at her. Without leaving her hand that was entwined in mine, I made her turn towards the party place and said, "Let's have some fun now." From the peripheral, I could see her rolling her eyes, but I could also see the slight smile on her lips.

Fun?

Yes, I could call that night 'fun' if I were to ignore the longing stares that many men in this party gave towards Kim and the lustful glances that they threw towards her when she walked inside with me. Let's just say, that I didn't leave Kim's side even for a second. If Kim would have noticed how everyone was looking at her, I'm sure she would have broken a nose or two, which was the reason I didn't leave her hand even once.

Who the hell was I kidding? I didn't leave her hand even once because I wanted each and every person present in this party to know that Kim was with me and they had no other choice but to stay at bay from her.

"Wanna dance?" I asked Kim, about half an hour later.

She rolled her eyes and snorted. "I suck at it, Keith."

"C'mon, Kim. That little alcohol in your system will make you a great dancer," I joked and tried to take her to the dance floor.

She narrowed her eyes at me playfully and said, "Maybe I will dance if you'll 'beg' me to do that."

The huge inside joke in what she said was so evident that I couldn't help but laugh remembering the dreadful gay stripper dance. Before I could say anything more, I was called by a few of my high school jock friends. "I'll be back in a minute," I told Kim and went towards their group.

Apparently, Precious had invited almost everyone in the town and most of them had come. The party was on in full swing. The music, the crowd - everything was perfect. My old friends and I started talking about our good old days and the football matches that we all so fondly remember. Though, the main reason of them calling me here became clear when Wyatt asked, "So, who's the girl with you?"

All of them were interested in knowing about Kim and I made it very clear to each one of them that she was off - limits for everyone. Just telling them that "She is mine" was enough and everyone got the message loud and clear.

"If I were you, Keith, I wouldn't leave her alone even for a second in this party," Wyatt said, motioning towards the dance floor with a concerned look on his face.

Frowning, I followed his gaze and spotted Kim dancing with Nathan, captain of our rival team, against whom we won the main match and the biggest douche in the entire world.

'Why the hell was she dancing with him, if she couldn't dance with me?'

Fury took birth inside me as I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists when I saw them dancing together. Yes, there was distance between them, but what the hell was Kim thinking when she agreed to dance with him? The worst part of all was that she looked happy. She had a grin on her face as Nathan told her something and all I wanted to do was break his teeth so he won't be able to say any damn thing to her ever. I was seeing red.

Involuntarily, I had taken some steps towards the dance floor and I would have ripped Nathan off Kim, if Adam wouldn't have come and interrupted my raging thoughts.

"I hope you remember that you've to bang Hannah tonight. Did you see her tonight? She's looking so damn hot." I didn't pay attention to him. "Sh*t, that reminds me, who's the smokin' hot diva you have brought with you?" he asked and definitely had my attention now. But, I was way too pissed off and jealous to answer him. He waved his palm in front of me and continued, "What's wrong, Keith?" This time too, I couldn't remove my deadly gaze from Nathan and Kim, who were dancing a few feet away from me. "Dude, that's the girl I was talking about? Who's she and why don't I know her?" Adam continued asking as he followed my gaze.

"Kim," I muttered with clenched jaw and shut my eyes tightly. I ran my hand through my hair and faced Adam. He was looking towards the dancing pair with his jaw hitting the floor.

"That can't be Kim," he mumbled and looked back at me. Looking at my expressions of anger, he removed his surprised expressions and asked, "Why is she dancing with Nathan?"

"I don't f*cking know," I answered with clenched jaw and took a step towards them again, but Adam stopped me by placing his hand on my shoulder.

"You like her," he stated.

My head snapped towards him and decided of going in denial. "No, I don't," I told him. "Nathan is a douche and all he does is use girls."

Adam snorted and shook his head. "Don't be a hypocrite, Keith. We do the same."

I couldn't refuse this as I realized how true he was. I told him the truth, "Kim is my friend and I won't use her. Nor would I allow any other douche to use her."

My eyes travelled back to where Kim was dancing with Nathan and I watched as her eyes met mine. Nathan had his back to me and Kim smiled when she spotted me. I didn't have the courage to smile back, so I faced Adam again.

"How far are you planning to take this 'just friend' sh*t?" Adam asked, shaking his head at me.

Gritting my teeth, I warned him, "Don't try to take me to the edge, Adam."

"Okay." He brought up his hands in front and surrendered. "But, let me just remind you, Keith. This is Kim's last night here in Hendersonville." The feelings I had upon hearing this are something that I could never describe.

I was speechless. 'How could I forget that Kim will have to go back to Miami tomorrow? How could I?'

Slowly, I looked back towards Kim and Nathan, and she was coming towards me without Nathan. She had a huge grin on her face, again making me jealous of that douche.

"What were you doing with him?" Adam asked on my behalf. I was thankful for that, my tongue was tied and I couldn't utter a word.

"Dancing," she answered in a 'duh' tone and looked towards me. "He is so hot," she gushed, making me wonder if her girly clothes had some kind of side effect, making her girly too.

"No, you are hot," Adam complimented her, making her blush. Just by hearing his voice, I was sure he had a huge smirk on his face. That made me regain my senses and I hit his head from the back lightly.

"What the..."

Before Adam could finish his sentence, I cut him off, "He's not good for you, Kim."

She looked at me with a disgusted look and said, "What?"

"Yes, Kim. I've known Nathan for a long time and I'm telling you that you'll find his tongue down some girl's throat within the next-" I glanced at the huge wall clock on the wall and continued, "five minutes."

She looked at me with disbelief and shook her head. "That's not possible."

"Wanna check?" I raised my eyebrow, challenging her.

"Sure, I've nothing to lose," was her reply.

With that, we left Adam behind and started our search for Nathan and his prey. Exactly three minutes later, I spotted him glued to a red head near the made up bar area; their tongues fighting furiously and hands all over each other.

A huge smirk made its way on my face as I watched this and Kim followed my gaze. She made puking noises, making me laugh and soon, she too joined. "That's so gross," she stated, laughing. I just laughed more. I was happy that Nathan was out of the picture now. Not that he was even in the picture. "How did you know that he was about to that?" Her eyes were dancing with excitement and curiosity.

"I'll tell you, but there is one condition," I told her.

She lightly chuckled and asked, "What?"

I smirked, looking down at her and bent a little towards her. I brought my lips near her ear and whispered, "Dance with me." I knew that my being close to her had some effect on her, and all she could do in response was nod slightly.

We went in the middle of the dance floor, which was completely crowded with sweaty bodies all over. Kim had removed her jacket when we had reached here. I rested my hands above her hips and brought her close to me. Her eyes widened slightly and reluctantly, she rested her hands on my shoulders. I liked her being so close to me. Hell, I wanted to vanish the little distance between us.

"Tell me now," she said a bit loudly so that I could hear her over the loud music.

"Guys are like that, Kim. He thought you were hot and decided to dance with you. But, knowing you, I'm sure that you didn't even let him touch you. So, he knew that he can't get his tonight's doze from you and he eventually started finding some other girl," I told her the truth in the simplest of words.

Complete disgust overtook her expressions and she asked, "So, you're saying that if a girl won't let a guy have his way, he would find some other girl?"

I nodded. "A guy who doesn't actually have feelings for you," I clarified. "If a guy likes you, he likes you. Nothing can change that. Not even a semi-nude Playboy model." She raised her eyebrows at my example and I added, "Or a completely nude Playboy model."

She laughed lightly at this. "That's not true. Guys think from their d*cks," she argued.

I laughed and added, "They really don't need to think if you take d*cks into consideration. It's all about hormones."

"Eww. Gross. Spare me." She made a face and shuddered dramatically.

Chuckling, I pulled her closer to me and said with all the seriousness I could gather, "If a guy really likes you, he'll do any damn thing for you. Take for example... umm... suppose that I like you." I watched her expressions carefully and continued, "If I like you, no other girl would matter to me. It'll be just you." Her face was blank as I told the truth wrapped in 'suppose' and 'ifs'. But, her eyes had too many emotions in them. It was difficult to point out any single one.

After a moment of comfortable silence between us and loud music in the background, she nodded her head slightly and mumbled, "I hope so."

We danced for I don't know how long, we danced just looking into each other's eyes. The surroundings had suddenly disappeared. For me, it was just Kim and me. A tap on my shoulder brought me back from the dazed stage I was in and I looked towards the person who had interrupted us.

Hannah

She had a huge smile on her lips and she hugged me tightly, completely ignoring and effectively removing Kim's hand from my shoulders. "I was looking for you everywhere," she said. She was drunk, but not over the top.

She pulled away and looked at me with desire in her eyes. If this would have been the situation about a week ago, I would've welcomed Hannah's desirous gaze with open arms, but, not now. I liked Kim and I had nothing to do with Hannah. I looked back to where Kim was standing, but she was not there anymore. I looked around, ignoring Hannah, who had her palm rested on my chest and saw Kim entering the kitchen.

Hannah had a murderous look on her face when I looked back at her and she quickly changed it to a pout. Her expressions were of least botheration for me and I ignored them. "Why were you looking for me?" I asked her. Urgency to go back to Kim was evident in my voice. I wanted to finish this unwanted conversation and go in the kitchen.

This brought a very suggestive smirk on her face and she fluttered her eyelashes. "I thought we could go somewhere in private. I know you want to," she purred. If she would have said the same words about a week ago, I would have grabbed her and made her scream my name in pleasure, all night long. But, somehow, even Hannah's Greek Goddess body, full lips and large sea green eyes were not appealing for me. "It's my last night here, Keith," she said in a very seductive voice.

'It's Kim's last night here too,' the voice within me said and realization hit me hard. Kim was going to leave tomorrow and there was no way that she would stop if I'd ask her to. Why would she? She had her whole life in Miami. Why would she leave all that for me?

But, I couldn't let her go.

I didn't want her to go.

I wanted her to be with me.

I had to do something to make her stop.

"What's wrong?" Hannah's voice brought me back from my messed up thoughts.

"I need to go," I muttered and without waiting for her response, I took off towards the kitchen. The sweaty mass of dancing bodies blocked my way, but nothing could stop me from going to Kim at that time. I entered the corridor where the kitchen was located, and eventually, the kitchen. Sure enough, Kim was inside with her back towards me and was facing a counter. There was no one else in the kitchen. I watched as she poured what looked like some juice in a glass and drank it in one go. I stayed fixed at the kitchen door, leaning against it as I watched Kim's every action. After about a minute, she turned around and jumped slightly in shock at seeing me here.

She took deep breaths and kept her palm on her chest. "You scared me," she breathed, looking at me with wide eyes. She was trying to be playful, but her eyes were a completely different story. They were anything but playful.

In the background, we could hear DJ announcing and asking us to 'welcome the year with open arms and wrestling tongues' and they began counting in reverse from ten.

Ten

I started moving towards her.

Nine

She was rooted to her spot against the counter.

Eight

The distance was decreasing with each step I took.

Seven

Our eyes never left each other's.

Six

I reached her and blocked her by keeping both my hands on her either side.

Five

I watched as she gulped her own spit as the distance between us decreased to minimal and I stared in those warm brown eyes.

Four

I whispered, "The date was incomplete and I thought I really need to complete it."

Three

My gaze travelled from her eyes to her red, inviting lips, which were parted slightly.

Two

I leaned close to her so that our noses were touching.

One

I kissed her.

The feeling of her soft lips against mine was surreal. I kissed her slowly, giving her time to respond. My hands travelled to her waist and I held her closer to me. It took her a moment to gain back her senses and she started kissing me back. I was on cloud nine. She tangled her hands in my hair and my urgency to kiss her increased. Our lips moved together in perfect rythm. My hands travelled from her waist to her neck and eventually, to her brown tresses. I ran my fingers through them and Kim let out a moan that just drove me a lot crazier. That was the sexiest sound I had ever heard. Her smell was driving me crazy. She tasted like mangoes and I wanted more of her. But, I knew that I couldn't push my luck more and I needed to take things slow with Kim.

Panting heavily, we parted and rested our foreheads together. I opened my eyes to look into her eyes, but they were closed. My hands were above her hips and her hands were around my neck. I watched as she opened her eyes after a moment and her lips stretched into a beautiful smile, but I was sure that the smile on my face was bigger than that. I closed the distance between us again and kissed her for just two seconds, even though what I wanted to do was a lot more than just kiss.

I knew I could stop Kim from going now. We could work something out. The events of the night were the complete opposite of what Kim's intuition was telling her.

The smile didn't leave our faces and I whispered, "Happy New year, Kim."

"Happy New Year, Keith." She smiled.

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A/N

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Picture on the side - Kim's look in Party. C'mon you can't expect a tomboy to become all dolled up in just a night. It's just unrealistic.

QUESTION- Why do you think Kim was worried and reluctant to got to the party? There are so many things going on in her head, my dear friends. :D :P

Please bear with mistakes as I've uploaded this chapter in a rush and after a very long wait. Though, I hope it was worth the wait. *wink wink*

Thank you all of you for your support. :)

PS. The story is not over. It has to go a long way. :P

12th March 2016 - Edited!