A New Year’s Eve party with glamour and surprises
Cynthia and Rob decided to attend friends’ bash rather than stay in
Cynthia is a 29-year-old university instructor and author who lives in the Annex. She says, “My style is quirky, cute and very feminine. My style icon is the character of Jessica Day from ‘New Girl.’ For special occasions I do more of an ethereal and mystical ‘fairy princess in the city’ look.” Cynthia’s friends would say she is “a social butterfly, outspoken, loud and opinionated,” but she adds “I’m also kind and caring!” Cynthia loves to “walk around the city, get into long conversations with my friends, read, journal and burn scented candles all over my apartment.” Cynthia says, “Anyone I date has to be a feminist and a fan of art and culture.” Cynthia had been single for a few months when she met Rob.
Rob is shy, quiet and independent, but he is also the first sporty person I’ve been in a relationship with. It was a new experience for me to watch him play sports all day, which goes to show how much I like him! He is also one of the smartest guys I’ve ever known and does really impressive research in his discipline.
This happened before partying for New Year’s Eve was a big fantasy. We spent Christmas with our respective families and for New Year’s we were planning on staying in and watching classic ’90s movies. I was dreaming of a fancy charcuterie board and ice-cream sundaes. Then we found out that our group of friends was planning a party at our one friend’s house, so we decided to do that instead. My friend set a dress code of “glamour” for the party. Rob and I were actually excited to skip our night in and do it up right, New Year’s Eve style.
At that time Rob was getting to know my friends and they all really liked him. It was magical for me to see them all meld together. Rob isn’t a party guy and doesn’t drink, but he is always fun to be around. Sometimes he will go for an eternity without saying anything, but then he comes out with the funniest thing anyone has ever heard.
Rob planned to wear a suit and tie, and I wore a beautiful long skirt and a black leotard. I also had a hair piece that was like a crown. Rob and I had been together for a while, but we had never gotten dressed up for an “event” together before. I was really excited and a little nervous about what the night would bring. It felt like making the relationship more real for some reason. We also got ready at our own apartments and Rob picked me up to walk to the party, so it felt more like a “date”-date than usual.
We got to the party later than the rest of our friends and the apartment was totally packed with people, and very hot and sweaty. Our friends were there but also a lot of people we didn’t know. I think Rob wanted to get into the spirit of things and, since we were late, he did it in a hurry. He usually has water or nothing, but he asked for a real drink and downed it. I had a glass of sparking wine and we checked out the party together. Rob had a second drink and then a third one. It was so weird because he never drinks. I wondered if he was more nervous than usual.
I lost track of him for a while but, within an hour or so, he was totally smashed. I don’t know how much he actually drank. I had never seen Rob drunk — and I haven’t seen him drunk since then! — and I didn’t know how I felt about it. I was amused by it, but also kind of annoyed.
Instead of enjoying the night with our friends, I ended up babysitting Rob. He could really not hold his alcohol at all and he went from having the most fun of his life to crashing hard. He was a sweaty mess. I didn’t want my friends to get a bad impression of him, but nobody seemed to notice while the party was raging around us.
I didn’t want to leave before midnight and neither did he, so we stuck it out until then. Neither of us was having much fun, though. On the walk home, Rob puked into the snow. Happy New Year to me!
Cynthia rates the date (out of 10): 5