They’re in bed when midnight arrives, though not asleep. That’s not accidental or anything, — Robbie’s honestly past ready for bed and he frankly feels stupid about keeping Georgie awake, talking about the most asinine shit as he runs down the clock, but something in him just wants — he knows it’s not only superstitious, but corny as hell, that idea that the first person you kiss at midnight being the one you spend the rest of the year with, but also — he likes that thought. He’s waiting up for it. He’s making poor perpetually sleep-deprived Georgie wait up for it, and he isn’t telling him why, because it’s cheesy as fuck.
Except then he does, and Georgie’s face lights up like a little kid. Like — Robbie swears to God Tessa is the spitting image of him, but right then he looks more like her, so fucking pumped to learn a new handshake, like she’d never heard of anything more exciting, and it’s Georgie at this superstitious, ridiculous little —
Fuck, Robbie’s lost track of time.
“11:59,” Georgie tells him when he goes to check his phone. “Oh,” Robbie says. “I see you’ve got it covered then.”
“Yeah, babe,” Georgie says, “I’ve got you.”
“Yeah,” Robbie says, takes a sip of his beer, and that Georgie does mirror. “I don’t know what the fuck to say right now.”
“Guess we should have just left it at ‘Happy New Year’,” Georgie says.
“Guess so,” Robbie says. “So, you know. Happy New Year, Dineen.”
“You too, Lombardi,” Georgie says, and when Robbie takes another sip he does the same, and when he walks away Georgie doesn’t follow.