Selcouth

51.

Mallory

The new year was always supposed to be a good thing, and I'd like to think that it is.

We celebrate the new year on this date, the first of January, to honour the Roman god of beginnings, Janus, who is believed to have two faces.

One looking back into the past and the other looking into the future. Ancient Romans celebrated the day by offering sacrifices to Janus and exchanging gifts with one another.

The new year is a new chapter in your book. In your book of life. Each new year you write a new chapter in your book.

The goal is of course to achieve as much as you can in each new chapter, so that you will have had a fulfilled life, and you may die in peace. You were sinless, basically, because you made as few mistakes as possible.

Celebrating the new year has never been such a big thing in my family. We would go to my grandparents, which was really nice, and we'd just have dinner and watch some show we watched every year during new year's and that would be it.

I've never in my entire life been to a new year's party, this is my first one. We're in a club, but a party is a party.

We had dinner at this really fancy Italian restaurant, and the food was delicious. Mateo knew the owner, of course, and he had made a reservation for dinner on the balcony, on which you could see the entire city lit up with lights.

We stayed at the restaurant for two hours. We ate, had some wine. They even let me have wine. I was sure to check that this was not a dream. They don't mind if I have an alcoholic drink, but I know they'd prefer I didn't drink anything with alcohol in it, which I can understand. Alcohol is overrated anyway, so I'm good.

They asked me what I wanted to do, again. Mateo told me his sister told him there was a new year's eve party in this unexpectedly lavish and elegant club. I mean, since when is a club supposed to be lavish and elegant? That's right, they're not supposed to be.

A club is supposed to be a place where somewhat college students and people at the age a few years after college would go to. It's a nightclub, a discotheque even, and some even some sort of a pub.

But no, this club, is everything the opposite of a pub or a discotheque. I almost feel as if I'm at a ball. And I am certainly not dressed properly for a ball, none of the people here really are, but the interior of this 'club' makes me feel excessively underdressed.

After our entry at the club, we were immediately met with Mateo's sister, who I met only a few days ago. Surprisingly, she gave me a hug as if we'd known each other for years. But I didn't mind, it was actually sort of nice.

Her husband, his name was Dominik I believe, is here with her and he greeted me as well, not having forgotten my name.

Dominik is a very sweet man, even though I've only known him shortly, he seems so perfectly suited for Francesca. Mateo seems to accept him, Mateo sees Dominik as a brother of his, which you can see in the way they act with each other.

Dominik shakes my hand as he greets me, a huge smile growing on his face seeing Mateo and me standing next to each other. Val and Elijah are talking to Francesca. Surely, they don't know about our relationship, and I think Val, Elijah and Mateo would like to keep it that way.

It's not as if they're ashamed to be seen with me, right? I think it's more the fact that if you tell your sister you're in a relationship of some sort with a girl and with your two best friends who are in the same kind of relationship with her.