Page 54 of Broken

Nova

In the weeks that followed, I hadn't heard a word from Liam. My life resumed. The holidays passed in a flash and without incident. It was exactly how I had wanted things to go. Yara and I had gotten closer and whoever it was that had been texting her, she had stopped all contact with him.

Which was why I felt okay about going out for New Year's Eve.

"I have the perfect outing for us." Astrid's voice had rang in my head as she convinced me to finally go out with her.

"I dunno," I'd replied but she'd kept right on talking.

We had decided to get dressed at Astrid's house, while Des and Yara babysat Lexi. I'd bought a black dress and a new short black leather jacket that had cheetah around the trim. Astrid had opted for a sequined turquoise dress.

Yara did make up on both of us, and Astrid fixed our hair. Earlier in the week, I'd had her do a spontaneous blue streak through my tresses. It made my hair pop. I was never one to want to shine. I preferred looking average. Which was why the dye would fade in a matter of weeks and I was happy for that.

"I'm so excited about this club," Astrid said, checking her frame in the mirror.

The sparkle of the turquoise was going to make anyone in five feet of her fall in love. The dress included a sweetheart neckline that threatened to spill every single one of her secrets while keeping them securely locked against her chest. She'd styled her hair as like a forties pinup girl while giving me a sleek genie look.

"Me too," I replied. "It's been a long ass time since I been out. I hope people don't act crazy tonight."

"This club I picked is a little more on the upscale side. This girl in my hair class was telling me about it." Astrid picked up her phone and started taking selfies of herself."Hashtag New Years, bitch."

I giggled.

She looked really hot.

"Come take a picture with me." Astrid paused. "We haven’t taken any together in so damn long."

"Ugh," I groaned.

"Nova, you looking so damn hot, get over here."

Reluctantly, I pulled myself away from the bed I'd been lounging on and went to meet her. Catching my reflection, I decided I did indeed look hot. "Hashtag,Best New Year's Ever, bitch."

I giggled, and she started snapping away at the two of us.

We checked the time and decided that we had better leave. Going out into the living room, we discovered that Des and Yara were coloring in Lexi's coloring book while Lexi had on a Disney movie. We chuckled at them thinking about when we'd been that young.

I came and dropped kisses on both their heads. "Please stay inside."

Yara eyed me. "Never going to live this down, am I?"

"Nope," I replied just as quick.

"You gone bring us home a daddy in that dress?" Des asked and I popped him up behind the head.

"Boy don’t play with me." I laughed at him and dropped another set of kisses on his head. "Love you both. We will be back around two, two-thirty at the latest."

"Thank you, guys, for babysitting." Astrid smiled at them. "Me and your sister need some fun."

"Correction, she's bringing us home a daddy!!!!” Des exclaimed, taking in Astrid's dress.

I went to swat him again, but he dodged me. Rolling my eyes, I grabbed my clutch and headed out.

"Be good guys." We walked out of the door, and Astrid locked it behind us.

We had a ride waiting to take us to the club.

I needed a drink.