Run, Girl (If You Can)

Lydia's room looked like a clothing tornado had blown through it by the time Keeley arrived. Shirts, skirts, and jeans were strewn across every available surface and then some. She wasn't sure where to step on her way in.

"Don't mind the mess, I was looking for a specific belt and things got a little dicey," Lydia instructed. "Come on in. I have the perfect outfit for you!"

Keeley eyed the chaos distrustfully. "Alright, show me what you've got."

Her friend produced a slouchy gold sequined top seemingly out of thin air and waved it about like a flag.

"This top," she announced before digging around some more. "With these black skinny jeans…and black ballet flats! I have some fun gold dangly earrings you can wear too. And gold eyeshadow! You'll be as radiant as the sun."

"Are you trying to make me blind people?" Keeley demanded. That was a whole lot of sparkle in one outfit.

"It's New Year's Eve! Everybody's going to be all sparkly, you'll see. Look, I'm doing it too."

Lydia pointed to a silvery tunic she planned to wear with the thick black belt that caused all the mayhem in her room.

"You're going to freeze," Keeley predicted.

"Am not, I'll be wearing leggings and knee-high boots. We'll be inside most of the time anyway."

She didn't feel like arguing the point and accepted her fate without further complaint. She was used to wearing what other people pushed on her. And Lydia was right—they were the same size. Even her shoes fit.

A glance in the mirror after she dressed up surprised her. Keeley didn't look like herself, past or present. Gone were the trendy wannabe socialite and the casual college student.

She looked like something bright, shiny, and new. It was a fitting ensemble to wear on a day representing a fresh start.

She and Lydia left the apartment around 8 PM since the party started at 9 and they didn't know how long it would take to get there. They chatted idly about their lives apart in college on the train ride over.

Apparently Lydia was kind of dating someone already though they hadn't made anything official. They had been texting constantly during the break.

Jeffrey flagged them down next to his older brother James and a few other people Keeley didn't recognize.

The guys were dressed simply but she noticed that the other women in front of the karaoke bar looked a lot like her and Lydia. She should have known to trust the girl's fashion sense.

They already knew James because he was three years older than Jeffrey and had been living at home during their freshman year of high school. He went to college in New Jersey but was home for the holidays.

James introduced them to the rest of his friends: Ellie Madden, Trey Folla, and Brad Stimpson. Once the introductions were made, they settled into their pre-rented booth.

The karaoke bar was set up with booths surrounding the stage and a dance floor off to the side.

As part of the New Year's Eve festivities, they would be playing games and offering prizes every thirty minutes. Aside from that people were free to do karaoke as usual.

The first game was announced at 9:15—a contest to see who could do a handstand the longest. Ellie had been in gymnastics before so she became one of the ten volunteers.

Everyone cheered wildly for their friends but in the end, a random guy in his late twenties named Greg won an iTunes gift card. Ellie didn't do too badly though; she got third place.

After that James and Jeffrey devised a modified version of Truth or Dare: if you refused to do what you picked, you had to go sing a song of the asker's choice in front of the entire karaoke bar.

Everyone was in a good mood and ready to play, taking energy from the atmosphere in the room.

Trey chose Dare and had to go propose to a random girl in a nearby booth. She looked at him with disgust and he apologized profusely, saying it was part of a game before slinking back to his seat in defeat and cursing out Brad for making him do something so embarrassing.

Lydia chose Truth and told her most embarrassing moment, which happened in 8th grade when she kissed a boy and their braces locked together. It was an incredibly awkward ride to the orthodontist.

Her face was bright red as people around the table howled with laughter.

Ellie refused to answer "Who do you have a crush on right now?" and ended up singing "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion in an opera voice at James' request.

Some of the other partygoers thought it was hilarious and gave her a standing ovation but others looked at her like she was nuts.

When it was Keeley's turn she chose Truth and Jeffrey asked, "Who was your first kiss?"

She scowled. In both lives, the answer was the same. She hadn't had much interest in boys before he came along.

"You should already know this—"

Collective gasps could be heard around the table. James and his friends thought she was talking about Jeffrey.

"—since you're the one that didn't stop him from stealing me away on Valentine's Day."

Now it was Jeffrey's turn to gasp. "You mean he actually kissed you? I thought he just cut in on the dance!"

"You thought wrong," she said sourly.

"That wasn't even their first kiss," Lydia said in a singsong voice. She knew about their previous relationship ending badly in 'middle school.'

Keeley buried her face in her hands. "I hate you guys."

"Excuse me, but you haven't actually answered the question," Trey pointed out.

She looked up and sighed. "Aaron Hale. His name is Aaron Hale."

More collective gasps. What was with all the gasping tonight?

"You mean heir to Hale Investments Aaron Hale? Or like a normal person who happens to share the same name?" Brad asked in disbelief.

"The first one," Lydia said helpfully. "He went to our high school and was obsessed with Keeley even though they broke up in junior high."

"I wouldn't say obsessed," Keeley hedged, feeling uncomfortable both with the attention and at the reminder of what she went through.

Her friend scoffed. "He's more obsessed with you than a monkey is with bananas."

Jeffrey was scandalized. "I can't believe you just compared Aaron Hale to a monkey. He'd kill you if he knew."

"Do you really think he'd be in a place like this? He's probably off in some fancy party uptown!"

Actually, he was in a fancy party two blocks away but Lydia's guess was close enough.

They continued arguing semantics and Keeley wished she could sink through the floor and disappear. Why did Aaron manage to be brought up all the time when he wasn't even around anymore?