'Hey, can I take you to see the Time Square ball drop later?' Michael asked sweetly.

'Nope, sorry but I'm going with Gwen.' Ryleigh rejected with a smile.

'Oh come on, babe. Go with me in exchange for a kiss?' Michael whined, pursing his lips together.

'You keep your kisses for yourself then. I promised Gwen that I'll go with her.' Ryleigh said adamantly.

'Fine. Can I at least steal a kiss before the new year?' Michael asked flirtatiously, already drawing Ryleigh close to himself.

Ryleigh giggled as she reached up to kiss him. 'Happy?' Ryleigh asked, still giggling.

'I'll live.' Michael said with a smirk as Ryleigh picked up her puffer jacket and left the bakery.

As she walked back to Gwen's apartment, little white particles started tickling her nose. When she lifted her head towards the sky, she was left open-mouthed and astonished. Billions of snowflakes were dancing in perfect synchronization, glittering in the sky as the sunlight hit them. The wind blew gently, moving the snowflakes in a direction. 'Absolutely gorgeous.' Ryleigh said as she admired the beautiful dance of winter.

'Gwen, I'm home. Are you ready yet?' Ryleigh called out as she came into the apartment.

Gwen emerged from her bedroom, dressed in a sparkly dress, decorated with dark blue sequins. It had three quarter length sleeves with a wide neckline. The dress stopped just above her knees so Gwen had put on some black tights. Her hair was left undone with her natural light brown curls flowing down, framing her face to perfection.

Although Gwen was in her 50s, to say she was stunning was an understatement. 'Is this too much?' Gwen asked uncertainly as she looked down at her dress.

'Gwen, you look incredible!' Ryleigh exclaimed.

'I don't know, Ry. Does it look like I'm trying too hard? I mean, I am 52 years old.'

'Don't say that, Gwen. You look so, so good.' Ryleigh replied honestly. She genuinely believed that Gwen would probably outdo most of the teenagers at Time Square.

Gwen let out a smile but it soon turned into a mischievous smirk. 'Now, what are you wearing?' Ryleigh just pointed to the outfit she had on, black tights with a beige sweater and her puffer jacket on top.

'No way.' Gwen shook her head in disapproval and retreated back into her room. She came back out, holding a similar dress to hers but with rose gold sequins.

'Gwen...no...'

'Ryleigh...yes...'

Gwen shoved the dress in her hands and pushed Ryleigh to her bedroom to get changed. Looking at the dress, she had her doubts. First of all it was bright and rose gold, completely opposite to her usual taste for dull and muted colours. 'We'll just have to see.' Ryleigh thought aloud.

When the dress was on, Ryleigh looked at herself in the mirror. The dress hugged her curves without suffocating her. The rose gold of the dress complimented her skin tone perfectly and the sparkles just seemed to brighten her up, making her look positively radiant.

'I wasn't expecting this Gwen but I must say, I love this dress so, so much.' Ryleigh mentioned, still in awe of her dress.

Gwen scanned her from head to toe and placed a finger on her face, contemplating something over. 'Come to my room, now.' Gwen finally spoke with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Gwen sat Ryleigh down by her vanity. 'Alright, close your eyes, sweetie.' Gwen instructed as she started applying make up to her face. Ryleigh was very hesitant at first. After all, her last makeup experience didn't go so well and she despised how it made her face feel heavy and uncomfortable.

'Gwen...please go light.' Ryleigh said. Gwen nodded in assurance.

After 20 minutes of extreme make-overing, Gwen spun Ryleigh's chair to face the mirror. Ryleigh gasped in surprised. Gwen had used a tinted lip gloss on her lips, making them look soft and pink. Her eyeshadow had a nice ombre of dark pink to light pink. The blush palette by the table explained the pretty rosiness of her cheeks. Her hair was put into a messy bun with two face-framing tendrils in the front. 'Gwen...thank you.' Ryleigh managed to verbalize. She had never felt this beautiful in her life.

'Now, let's take a drive to Time Square.' Gwen said as she took her car keys and they left the apartment. Gwen had to stop her car at 34th street because of the swarms of people at every corner of the road.

'Oh boy, we are going to have to walk the rest of the way.' Gwen said. After a series of pushing through people, countering their rude replied, going back and shouting at some teenagers who sat on top of Gwen's car, they finally made it to 43rd street, where they could get a clear view of the ball drop. All around them was people, people and more people.

Amidst the crowd, Ryleigh thought she saw Michael, his arm around a brunette and a couple of his friends. When she moved to get a closer look, they were gone. She brushed it off thinking that it must be a look alike. 'Ryleigh, you know what?' Gwen shouted at the top of her lungs to get her attention.

'Yes, Gwen!' Ryleigh screamed back. The loud music and the sound of billions of people cheering made it nearly impossible for them to have a conversation without raising their voice.

'Let's get out of here, I know a place!' Gwen shouted in reply. Taking Ryleigh's arm, they shoved past so many people, squeaking out apologies here and there.

'Hey watch where you're going disco ball!' A middle-aged man scolded Ryleigh as she accidentally brushed past him. Ryleigh looked back at him, hurt written all over her face. He sneered at her and added, 'Your dress is ridiculous, it really does look like a disco ball. Why would you even wear that?'

Before Ryleigh could say anything, Gwen stepped in and shouted so loud that everyone in the vicinity could hear. 'Who are you to tell a sweet young girl how to dress? At least she has some new year's spirit, aren't like you, faded gray t-shirt with tomato sauce stains! Someone doesn't know how to eat properly!' Some people glanced back at him and let out a chuckle. He just smiled at the crowd in embarrassment, trying to cover the food stains on his shirt.

Emerging in one piece from the crowd, Gwen led Ryleigh into a restaurant. Still laughing from Gwen's response to the rude man from earlier, Ryleigh said, 'Oh, Gwen! You should have seen the look on his face!'

Gwen crossed her arms smugly and smirked, 'When you've been here for 30 years, you learn how to deal with jerks.'

'Hey, Gwen is that you?' A plump old man greeted with a warm smile.

After embracing each other, Gwen said, 'So, Carlos, I hope you don't mind but this year, I brought a friend of mine.

The man shook Ryleigh's hand a firm shake and introduced himself, insisting that Ryleigh referred to him as Carlos. 'Nice to meet you too, Carlos.' Ryleigh replied. Carlos then led Gwen and Ryleigh up five flights of stairs.

'Carlos, install an elevator for God's sake!' Gwen panted in exhaustion.

'Come on, Gwen. You used to do this every day.' Carlos countered.

'That was before...never mind.'

If it weren't for the coldness of New York's winter, Ryleigh's dress would've been ruined and drenched. Ryleigh lifted her head from her knees as she was also short of breath after climbing up all five flights of stairs. Carlos opened a door which led them to the rooftop of his building. It was peaceful and yet you could still feel the excitement in the air. Straight in front of them was a perfect view of the Time Square ball lit up.

'Hey, Carlos? Could you get us some of your shrimp taquitos please?' Gwen asked politely. Carlos nodded and left.

Gwen assessed Ryleigh's face and saw her curiosity. 'Alright, I'll give you a story.'

Ryleigh nodded enthusiastically. 'Yes, please!'

'Remember my late husband, Johnny? Carlos was his best friend. They helped each other through thick and thin. When Johnny was in need of a friend; Carlos was there for him and helped him get used to New York; when the economy crashed, Carlos was going to lose this place, so of course Johnny had to help, he lent Carlos enough money to buy time for him so he could get back onto his feet.' Gwen explained.

'How do you have so many nice friends Gwen?' Ryleigh sighed. She thought that there was no way she could ever have as good connections and friends as Gwen.

Gwen patted her shoulder gently. 'You know, when I first came here I didn't have friends at all so when I finally made friends, I cherished them and treated them with dignity and respect. And well, now that I'm old, I still have them.'

Ryleigh took in her words. She thought of Holly and Jacob, she thought of Parker and even of Christi and Joanne, whom she didn't too well. Most of all, she thought of Michael, maybe he would be her Johnny.

'Ryleigh, you're sweet as can be. You don't manipulate or deceive. You would do anything for the people you care about. I'm absolutely sure you would have no problem finding true friends.' Gwen said firmly so Ryleigh would not argue.

'Thank you Gwen.' Ryleigh replied with a genuine smile as Carlos came back with a steaming plate of taquitos.

'Just fried.' Carlos declared. Gwen and Ryleigh thanked him as he left.

As she bit into it, there was an explosion of flavours in her mouth. The crispiness of the tortilla and the tenderness of the shrimp paired with the palatable sauce Carlos put on the side, which he refers to as his mystery sauce, it was absolutely heavenly. In one bite, it was tangy, it was sweet, it was spicy but the flavours worked flawlessly together. They continued to pass the time talking about New Year's resolutions.

'I want to develop more recipes for Dudley's Bakery and stay great friends with the people there.' Ryleigh declared, mostly wanting to stay great 'friends' with one particular person.

'I want to bring you to all the restaurants in Manhattan.' Gwen said with conviction.

'I support that!' Ryleigh bent down, giggling at Gwen's resolution.

'10! 9...'

'Oh my god the countdown! The balls descending!' Gwen shrieked in excitement as she hit Ryleigh's shoulder to make her join the countdown.

'5!' They yelled in unison.

'4!'

'3!'

'2!'

'1!'

'Happy new year!' They both screamed and embraced each other, watching the fireworks light up the night sky. Millions of people were cheering or chanting "2021!" 'Thanks for the past year, Gwen.' Ryleigh said, thinking back to the friendly lady who opened her doors to a clueless and homeless runaway teenager.

'Thank you too, Ryleigh.' Gwen replied, having flashbacks to the sweet young girl who brightened up her life with just her presence and still is.

'2021 is going to be the best!' They shouted as fireworks boomed in the sky.