mutanthaven [takingrisks]

It wasn't at all unusual for Art Centino to have spent New Year's Eve party hopping. He knew a lot of people, he got invited to a lot of parties. He'd intended on making it to Inferno for the countdown, to ring in 2010 with his friends from Paradise, maybe even land himself with another Ali-kiss.

Except he'd been distracted. Rita was a girl he'd met recently, it had been her first time working on a major movie as a stuntwoman and they'd got to talking. She was as bright and bubbly as Art was, and they'd been pretty much inseparable while they'd been working together. Except then they'd lost contact when the movie had wrapped, and Art had been a little sad that he'd forgotten to get her number. So when he found her at this party, he pounced, and they spent the rest of the night talking and giggling, and in the end, kissing. It was inevitable, given the evening, and given who Art was, and the next morning he'd been pleased to find himself waking up with her wrapped in his arms after they'd crashed out on a bean bag.

And that, my friends, is how Art Centino found himself with a girlfriend for the first time. Even now he couldn't quite figure out how it happened, but he was starting to discover he didn't mind it at all.

mutanthaven [bouncesoffme]

The New Year had barely begun but already Sally was making a few important changes to the way she'd lived in 2009. The most significant of which was probably the people she now opted to hang out with, completely cutting herself off from her old friends. She'd barely spoken to Jubilee in the past month and she hadn't even bothered to wish Star a Merry Christmas, choosing instead to spend the 25th at Tamara's house since her mom was out of town. She was still acutely aware of the fact that she wasn't as cool or as tough or as adventurous as the others, but the difference was, they didn't treat her like a kid. ( Which was probably why they'd brought her along tonight. )