I had to go to work on New Year's Eve but only until two o'clock. Many workers would spend the rest of the day in the pub but that wasn't really my style. Once two o'clock rolled around, I was going straight home to prepare for the big night with Carole.
The paperwork tasks were mostly carried out during the time between Christmas and New Year's Eve by me and my skeleton staff and had been completed. Just a few hundred bundles to go! Once I checked a few bundles, I was happy to let the staff go home early. I had to lock up the office so couldn't officially leave until two o'clock.
I took my time to wash and shave and I even ironed a new shirt! Had to look good on New Year's Eve!
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At seven o'clock, I left my place for the twenty minute walk to Carole's and, of course, she wasn't ready! Of course not, she was a woman! She'd had a nice, luxurious bath and was wandering around wrapped in a towel with another one wrapped around her head, turban-style. I sat around while she tried on different outfits.
"Is this OK?"
"What does this look like?"
Being a diplomat, I offered, "Yeah, that's really nice." and "Aah, not so much." but, eventually, she was ready to go.
At eight, we caught a bus to the West End, heading for Crackers in Wardour Street, the club where we had met a couple of months ago. My mate Mike was sure to play the best tunes and keep the dancers dancing.
We stopped off for an early drink in a pub in Soho before going to the club. In those days, there wasn't a ticket admission for events like New Year's Eve as there were plenty of other clubs open if you couldn't get in. We got into Crackers at about half past nine. It didn't look that busy but I knew it would be packed by eleven! Sure enough, it was pretty tight by ten thirty!
We circulated to find a table and Carole suddenly shouted out, "Hazel!!" Then she turned to me and said, "It's a girl from work!"
Hazel turned to see who was shouting her name. "Carole! Wow! What are you doing here?"
"This is where I met my boyfriend. Hazel, this is Vee, Vee, this is Hazel."
Fuck. Ing. Hell! She was absolutely gorgeous! Despite my growing affection for Carole, I wanted this woman badly! She was a little taller than Carole and, with that, came an air of elegance and grace. Her face was angelic but with a hint of mischief in it. Her make-up was perfect and her hair was a tumble of loose auburn curls.
"Really, here? It's not a bad place, this," Hazel said.
"Vee's mate is the main DJ here. What you doing here? I thought you be out with your boyfriend?" Carole asked.
"Aaah, we broke up over Christmas. Some stupid argument about something. But, you know what, I'm not missing him in the slightest! I can get on with my life, doing what I want to do without listening to his whining!"
"Well," Carole said, "hang out with us. That is, if Vee doesn't mind!" If Vee doesn't mind? Absolutely NOT minding at all!
"Yeah, no problem," I said and asked them what they wanted to drink. I went to the bar, got the drinks and got back to a small table, just big enough for three! Oh, yes!
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The conversation was flowing quite easily, especially between Hazel and Carole, as they were work colleagues. Occasionally, I would be included but not often. All I could do was marvel at this auburn beauty!
It was clear that Hazel was not wearing a bra. The thin shoulder straps on her party dress were not going to cover up bra straps. Also, her nipples were quite prominent through the material. Her breasts had a nice bounce as she moved. When the girls got up to dance, it was then that I was treated to full extent of Hazel's elegance. She and Carole were a similar height but Hazel's height was all in her legs. They seemed to go all the way to her armpits!
I could see them through the crowd, talking as they danced, in the nightclub style of hand on the shoulder and shouting in the other's ear! Because the dance floor was full, they had to dance pretty close together, it was mesmerising to watch. I couldn't take my eyes from them.
They came back to the table and then, it was my turn to dance. I took Carole's hand and Hazel looked after their handbags. As we danced very closely, Carole pulled my shoulder down to shout in my ear.
"Hazel was telling me about her stupid boyfriend and how they broke up. She didn't seem that upset but I told her that we would look after her." I was thinking, if I had the chance, I would definitely look after her!
Carole was a good disco dancer but she couldn't show off her best moves due to the packed dance floor. We danced to a few tunes and returned to Hazel. Just in time, as she was being chatted up by a guy asking her to dance. The girls got up to go to the ladies' room so I took the opportunity to go chat to Mike.
"Hey, Vee, good to see you, man," he greeted me, "and a Happy New Year to you!"
"And to you, Mike. How are you doing?"
"Not as good as you, mate. I saw you earlier with those two ladies. You randy git!"
I laughed and explained about how I had met Carole in this very club last time I was there. "The other lady is a friend of hers from work."
"What happened with the Jamaican girl?"
"Well, it seemed to be better to her parents that she was friends with her flatmate rather than being with a white boy!"
"OK," Mike replied.
"Of course, she was already in a lesbian relationship with the flatmate so I was getting the best of everything! For a while!" I lamented.
"So what about this one?"
"Well, she seems to be fairly stable so it could be she's the one!"
"Really? What about the Norwegian girl?"
"She won't be here till the summer so that's a problem for the future."
I left Mike to his job and returned to our table. Amazingly, it hadn't been taken. A few moments later, the girls returned.
Hazel went to get some more drinks and Carole pulled me close to whisper in my ear.
"Hazel got all tearful in the ladies about the boyfriend. I gave her a cuddle and said we'd look after her. She dried her eyes and we started to redo our make-up. As she was applying her lipstick, I said, Ooh, that's a nice colour. She said, Do you want to try it? OK, I said, and instead of giving me the lipstick, she took my face in her hands and kissed me! Her lipstick was all over my mouth! Of course I kissed her back! Our mouths were a mess so we had to wipe it all off and redo the lipstick! Wow! I couldn't believe it, I hardly know her!"
Wow! Indeed, I thought to myself. Phew! Now, I was wondering how this night was going to end up.
Hazel returned with drinks and, from that moment, I centred my imagination on what could happen as we see in the New Year. We continued to chat quite naturally, Carole had seemed to recover from her intimate shock and was driving the conversation with her cheeky personality. Hazel got up for another dance but, this time, pulled me up to join her. We squeezed our way into the middle of the dance floor and made some moves, which we both enjoyed, but it was difficult in the crowd so we ended up holding each other at waist level and swayed a little.
Hazel leaned in to shout in my ear. "Someone told me that you and Carole like a bit of fun?"
"Well, er, yeah. We like each other and love to have fun together!" She kissed my cheek and grabbed my hand to return to our table. We sat talking as we were waiting for Mike to make the announcement that it was approaching midnight and everyone should get onto the dance floor for the chimes and Auld Lang Syne. We got some more drinks and the time had come.
Everyone had crowded onto the dance floor and it was the most packed I had ever seen it. The countdown took us to the live chimes from Big Ben, only a couple of miles away! The whole place was cheering and total strangers were shaking hands and hugging. I looked across to Carole and reached out to her. We hugged and kissed but we were interrupted by Hazel.
"Don't forget about me!" she exclaimed as she joined in our celebration hug. She kissed Carole before turning her face to me. I glanced at Carole as if to get permission and she gave a smile and a small nod. I kissed Hazel with all the joy of the party and our tongues touched. It was the trigger for a deeper kiss between us before she turned back to Carole for a deeper kiss than before! Of course, I'd seen girls kiss before but this was so unexpected, even though it was New Year's Eve! And, thinking of the kiss that Carole had told me about earlier, I was suddenly full of anticipation.