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Year’s End

“Do we really have to do this?” Bryce asked.

“It’s like a loose tooth. You just have to yank it out.”

“Are we going to have popcorn first?”

“I’ll start the popcorn. You start explaining.” She said.

“I already did. I was young and immature and oversexed. Some guys go wild in high school. Some get busy at college. Some never grow up and they keep acting out even when they’re married. A lot of us do. At some point, we’ve had enough and we grow up and move on. That’s me.”

“Corn’s still popping.”

“What else can I possibly say?”

“What makes you a Legendary Stud?”

“There’s a saying, Veronica. ‘Hurt people hurt people.’”

“What does that even mean?”

“People who are hurting or damaged can’t help but hurt others because of it. I was in a bad place. It seemed like fun and it served a biological urge.”

“Who hurt you?”

“My high school sweetheart. She dumped me for a taller guy and said as much. Rubbed my nose in it and went off with her Prince Charming and selfishly lived happily ever after. After that, I figured that being selfish was its own reward and spent the first year of college honing my ‘game’. Once I worked out a surefire system it was open season. I could have anyone and everyone I set my mind on and I usually did. Sometimes twice. Sometimes in groups.”

“Groups?”

“Hurt people hurt people.”

“What do you mean by groups?”

“At my worst, I worked over the Genetti Triplets.”

“Some guys manage to play twins off against each other. I saw that a few times in high school.”

“That’s only if your game is about dating. Like you said, ‘hit it and quit it’.”

“So the Genetti Triplets…”

“Yeah, legendary.”

“What changed?”

“Hurt people hurt people but hurt people sometimes go to the doctor. I got help.”

“You went from Legendary Stud to sweet, cuddly nerd.”

“Back.”

“What?”

“I went from Legendary Stud back to sweet, cuddly nerd. I was just healing from the hurt she put on me.”

“And all the girls you hurt in the meantime…”

“It was mutual. They were damaged and so was I. People who do messed up stuff usually do it because they’re messed up. Sometimes damaged people hurt normal people and cause them to become damaged. Lots of times, damaged people just hook up because they’re trying to find the missing pieces of themselves without really having to give any of their pieces away.”

“Is that what you see in me?”

“I don’t think so. I think you’re the answer to an unspoken prayer, a wish I didn’t even know I’d made on a star I never saw. You’re simply a miracle that I never expected to experience.”

She wrapped him in a gentle hug and cried on his shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that.”

“It makes me really appreciate what we have. I love you, Veronica. I love you without reservation or hesitation. I love you in a way I could have never imagined and I can’t picture a future without you in it.”

Veronica walked into the New Year’s Eve party with a tight grip on Bryce’s hand. They greeted old friends and neighbors. They met new ‘plus ones’ and grown children who had moved home after years away. It was her community and church family all together to celebrate the coming new year.

There were games and movies in the Sunday School rooms and dancing and refreshments in the social hall. Charles was leading a Bible study in the sanctuary and Marella was participating in a hymn sing in the choir loft. Bryce and Veronica played some games and watched others play. They joined in on the dancing and once they tired out, they found a movie or two to watch.

Everybody seemed to be having a wonderful time. Bryce remembered what he missed about his church from home. It was this feeling of family and community. He was worried that once he got back to the city, he’d fall right back into old patterns and just forget about the whole thing.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Veronica asked.

“This makes me a little homesick, I guess.”

“Tonight, this is home. My home is your home. My heart is your heart.”

His jaw dropped in astonishment. He sat there dumbfounded for a moment and then put his arm around her and whispered in her ear, “That’s the most amazing thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“Well, now you know how I felt when you yelled in that guy’s face that you loved me. Nobody, but nobody has ever, ever said that about me. Nobody. Ever.”

“How is that possible? You’re so beautiful inside and out. You are the most phenomenal person I know.”

“I guess nobody was allowed to see it but you.”

“Lucky me.”

“Lucky us.” She rested her head on his shoulder.

The signature screech of a PA system got everyone’s attention. “Church family, friends and neighbors. The midnight hour is approaching. Please come down to the social hall and grab a glass of sparkling cider. Help us count down the new year together”

Bryce and Veronica found Charles and Marella downstairs in the social hall holding a glass of bubbly for each of them.

Everyone piled into the hall just in time to finish the countdown.
“Ten!”
“Nine!”
“Eight!”
“Seven!”
“Six!”
“Five!”
“Four!”
“Three!”
“Two!”
“One!”
“Happy New Year!!!”

Bryce and Veronica clicked glasses and drank down their contents. He wrapped his arms around her waist. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him close. “Happy New Year, you sweet, cuddly little nerd.” He looked nervously at her parents as she drew him close for a kiss.

The projector in the ceiling was streaming the celebration at Times Square on the large screen at the end of the social hall.

The ball had dropped and the square was inundated with reflective confetti and streamers. People were standing out in the freezing weather singing Auld Lang Syne.

A famous pop singer was belting out her signature Christmas song with an assortment of backup dancers when chaos erupted.