My Fake Fiance's Brother

2.One minute left of this year

"I'm hot enough to be a stripper. A good stripper. A stripper that makes a few thousand a night. Right?" The mirror doesn't answer my question. And leaving the moral problems on the side, in a few weeks, I won't be strong enough to walk, let alone dance for sleazy men. So that plan fails. I have already found a charity organization that will take me in for free to spend my last days, so I won't be a burden on Lili, but I still need to find a way to keep her out of the foster system. If I manage to work double shifts for the few months I have left she might have enough for some friend's parents to agree to keep her for a year.

What a s**t new year resolution I have. But it's my best option since Tina's Christmas miracle didn't come knocking on my door.

I take another look in the mirror. I am presentable enough to hope to have some fun tonight. My last hurrah.

Lili had already left for her big girl party at her friend's house and I have only three more hours of the shittiest year of my life. Yet. Let's get drunk!

"Ava! Aren't you freezing?" Tina asks, turning to stare at me so fast that the shinny headband with Happy New Year almost falls from her head.

"I'm here for alcohol and a good one-night stand. Both will keep me warm."

"New Year s*x is the worst. The second worst is drunken s*x. And you plan to combine them and hope for the best?" Tina laughs and guides me to the table where everyone placed whatever drinks they brought around a bunch of plastic cups.

"No, the worst was with that guy at aunt Hilda's funeral. Should have known better, but I really wanted to disappoint her one last time."

"The old witch deserved it though. Leaving you a letter about how you need work harder and be a real woman while she lived her life on her husband's money. Getting buried with a Channel bag like they'd let her take it with her in Hell."

"Who knows? She willed all the money to the church so maybe she bought her seat in Heaven."

"All the money your uncle asked her to use to take care of his sister? The man trusted his trophy wife enough not to write a will and all she gave to your mom was the middle-finger." Tina shakes her head, but I am in no mood to talk about my long and complicated family drama. With how all of us turned out on both sides, Lili surprises me every day with being a decent human. So maybe I did something right.

"Let's go back to what's important tonight. I got my drink. Introduce me to your single friends." I take a shot and then mix an offensive amount of vodka with a drop of cranberry juice.

"I'm not looking for anything serious, you know? Just to finish the year with a bang!" Like his joke wasn't obvious enough, he also winks at me like I am too drunk to get it. And that is a shame because I was able to tune out most of the s**t that came out of his mouth in the past hour because he was the most decent looking guy around. But this...

"And what makes you think I want to drag you to the altar, Matt?" I ask, watching his ego deflate a little.

"I mean... I am a really nice guy. Girls fall for me all the time." Oh, dear God... not a nice guy. In the eternal words of Tywin Lannister: Any man who must say, "I am the King", is no true king.

"I see. Where are they? I assume a guy that has so many women falling for him wouldn't be alone on New Year's Eve."

"I don't need to answer to you, b***h. You'd be lucky if I threw a f**k your way!"

Before I get to answer with a fine selection of words, I feel someone's hand brush against my shoulder as it reaches for the douche's neck. Only a moment later, I am gently pushed to the side while a guy throws Matt to the ground and places his knee on his chest.

"Look fucker. I will explain only once so try your best to follow." The guy presses his knee in Matt's chest hard enough so he can't even scream. "You have no chance with a girl like her. She's way out of your league. You realized that so when it was confirmed, your little fragile ego couldn't handle it. All good until now. The problem comes with the way you react. Instead of walking away like a man, you threw a temper tantrum and ruined her mood. And now, guys that do have a shot with her. Guys like me. Well, we are pissed. So... Apologize and move your ass back to your rented studio to watch free p**n. Alright?"

The guy lifts his knee only when Matt frantically nods in agreement.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry." He mumbles in between coughs and gasps for air as he rushes to run away.

"Oh, wow. A hero. Poor me that was never in this type of situation before couldn't have handled it. Now I owe you one, right?" I ask trying to not sound as weak in the knees as I feel. Tall, with dirty blonde hair and a body so nice I can tell even through the thick leather jacket? And that smile? Cherry on top.

"Well, honey, I took the trash out. Doesn't that earn me points?" He asks, his voice like melted chocolate liquor in my already drunken head.

"Five points."

"How many do I need?"

"A hundred."

"And how many do I get for being hot?"

"Minus ten for being cocky."

"Minus ten you for lying. If you didn't find me hot, you would look a bit more in my eyes and less at my lips. Wondering if I'm a good kisser, aren't we?" He licks his lips slowly, somehow to give me time to look away and deny everything.

"It wouldn't matter anyway." I say with a deep sigh. It's almost a shame that I have to peel myself away from that steamy image.

"Why?" His confidence flickers for a second in a way that makes him even hotter. He was getting closer to me, but as I shook my head, he took a step back.

"Because I don't sleep with guys from that part of the town." I explain, but still make no attempt to walk away. One more minute. He raises his eyebrows, curious, but doesn't deny it. "I work in a fancy restaurant. I could smell expensive perfume from miles away. And yours smells like my annual salary. We don't belong in the same bed. We don't even belong to the same universe."

"Damn..." He whispers to himself, looking a bit embarrassed now, some red color tainting his cheekbones.

"I will guess you even tried to use your cheapest clothes and your cheapest perfume to mix in with the poor. A thrilling expedition in the wild. Like a game of pretend."

"You get tired of the shine of it all. But I would rather be bored than worried about... well, anything."

"You really have no worries?" I ask, curious about what that would feel like. Maybe a future life will experience that, but in this one... ha!

"I do have some at the moment. Family circumstances. But I won't spill guts to a stranger."

"Why? Who else would be better for it than someone you will never meet again?"

"You have something that you would like to tell a stranger?" He asks, with a surprisingly genuine interest.

"Maybe."

"You go first, then. I will tell you mine." He looks around to see if anyone is listening, but there is no one close and all that could eavesdrop are too busy telling their friends what their new year resolution is.

"Fine strenger. But with one condition." His blue eyes search for mine, knowing exactly what I want. "We won't know each other name. We will never meet again."

"Deal."

"I am dying. I have less than a year left." The words come out like a bullet from a gun that was aching to get shot for too long. The relief I feel saying it out lod makes me drop to the ground. Not in a dramatic way, just... sitting down before my drunken knees give up on me.

The stranger sits down next to me and just... stares. Not in a shocked way, but more like the wheels are spinning in his head. And with a few more minutes left of this year, while people fill up their champagne glass in anticipation, he turns to me with the most insane s**t-eating grin that I've ever seen.

"You may be the answer to all my prayers."