#nburwell

“Hey, babe, it’s almost midnight.” Ash looked at the clock, 11:55:07. “I’m gonna go get us some drinks, you keep the table.”

Ash grabbed her purse from the table before walking to the drink table. The line was long, but it was moving at a reasonable pace. She was through the line by 11:58, and it took another minute to push the crowd. By 11:59, she could see Nic with her anxiety high. She didn’t want to miss their first New Years Eve together, and the seconds were ticking down. She was almost there when she felt a man’s hand grab her arm.

“Dude, fuck off. I have a boyfriend.” Ash growled as she stomped on his toes. She tore her arm away from him as the countdown from 20 started. People started moving in closer, the crowd became harder to push through. Ash made it out of the crowd to and to the clear just as the crowd started chanting, “5,” Ash was too late. “4,” She should have left sooner. “3,” She was going to miss it. “2,” Who was that girl? “1.”

 Her vision went red. The drinks fell to the ground. “What the fuck.” Ash said quietly, at first. She was frozen in her spot for just a moment as she watched that girl kiss Nicholas. Anger surged through her veins, assaulting every fiber of her being. Her hands clenched into fists, and before she knew what was happening, she was there. She reached a shaking hand up to grab a fistful of the girl’s hair, yanking back hard.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Ash snarled, her grip lasting despite the other girl trying to get away. She reached for her wand with her other hand, pointing it under the random girl’s chin once she got it out. “You don’t kiss random ass people. You don’t kiss my boyfriend. You dumb fucking bitch.”

She was some pans in the oven for storage when she noticed the stove light. 1:27. It was late, and Nic would have to apparate across the country. She looked over at him, her shoulders relaxing slightly when she saw how content he was to be helping her out. “Do you want to call it a night? It’s one thirty.”

The sun had barely risen and it was unusual for Ash to even be awake at an hour this early, but she’d been working on this thing for Nic for weeks. There was, of course, the temptation to just crawl into bed and sleep next to him until the hour was more reasonable. He did look so peaceful. Ash nudged Nic, trying to wake him up while not disturbing the other people in his house. “Psst, Nic. Wake up, there’s a big, drooly dog on your bed and he’s hungry.”