There's glitter on the floor after the New Year's party you threw, girls carrying their high heels as they run off barefoot, a thousand polaroids hung on the walls and on the floor and even candle wax — that you (sigh) are gonna have to find a way to clean later — on the cold floor.

Basically, it's a mess. One that you knew would be there after the party when you decided to throw it but didn't really think about because you knew it would make you give up on the idea if you did. You kinda regret it now — only not completely because you had one hell of a good time.

It was supposed to be mostly friends and family, but you have quite a lot of friends who have friends who have friends and more friends they brought — and you ended up not protesting because "the more the merrier" or whatever people say —, so saying it looks like a war zone is an understatement.

The bunch of shameless people were all saying their goodbyes and leaving, the more polite ones just throwing their trash in the trash can and bringing their glasses to the sink at most.

The only one who actually stayed is Niall. The one who helped you organize the party, buy the food, choose who to invite and invite them, and now clean it all up.

You two met back in 2019, you had just released an album and he had released his first solo one two years before. It was the Grammys, when one of your heels broke while you were coming off stage after winning an award and he helped you find other shoes to wear instead.

You talked a bit, went home, he dm'd you, you talked a bit more, went on a date, and a second one, and another one until you were already dating.

He was there when you tried to close yourself off. When you won awards and were the toast of the town, but also when you lost and were hated on. You were there when he was lost, when he was scared, when it was hard or wrong or when you made mistakes. When he cried or when he laughed.

That laugh you could recognize anywhere— even if you were miles away or spent ten years without seeing each other. Which won't happen, of course. He won't ever become a stranger like everyone else.

Everything you did in your lives lead to this — you, in the kitchen sink, cleaning up bottles with him on New Year's Day.