New Year's Eve Annual Streaking Race

TW: Strong language, allusions to sex, and nudity.

Kissing Jamie’s knuckles, Willy said, “You do not have to do this.”

Her smile begged his lips to linger. “If I knew what this was, it would be a lot easier to say no to,” she flirted.

Willy chuckled. Keeping a hold on her hand, he cupped her cheek in his other, stroking his thumb over her freckles. “Ah, ah, now, that, I cannot reveal,” he teased, pulling her in for a kiss. Their lips moved slowly, but Jamie could feel the passion building, their tongues growing more inquisitive with each touch. She wouldn’t have hesitated to do it in the car again, but a car door slamming beside them jolted the couple apart.

“Shit!” Jamie yelped, clutching her hand to her chest.

Two hands banged against Jamie’s window, and in between them was the tongue of a young man in a black beanie. He wiggled it across the glass in a mock-make-out manner and moaned overzealously before pushing himself off and walking away from the car, laughing hysterically.

“And that would be Charlie,” Willy said, his lips pulling into a tight-lined smile, suppressing a chuckle.

Jamie didn’t suppress hers. “Ah, and he’s the one who still lives with his parents, right?”

“Yes, but technically they live with him. He’s very adamant about that.”

Nodding, Jamie looked out at the glistening white pasture beyond their windshield. The headlights of the car were still on, illuminating the snow-covered field before them. There was a single bare oak tree on the far end of the pasture. “And who’s with him?”

“Oh, that’s his brother, Marcus.”

“And he’s the engineer?”

Willy nodded. “Yup. The O’Leary’s pride and joy. If only they knew what he was out here doing…”

Before Jamie could ask again exactly what they were doing out here in the freezing cold night of the last day of the year, another car pulled up on Willy’s side. “That’s the rest of them. You ready?”

Jamie gulped nervously, but smiled widely. “I think so.”

Squeezing her hand, Willy said, “They’re gonna love you. Especially Charlie,” he winked, playfully.

When the couple opened their car doors, Jamie immediately wanted to retreat back behind them. The sudden bite of the frosty air made her remember why she’d dedicated so much of her winter evenings to Netflix and other crafts. Her breath was a thick cloud spouting out of her mouth like a record-breaking bubblegum bubble. She wanted to suck it back inside of her to savor any and all of the warmth she had left.

Then, Willy’s arm curled around her waist, pulling her into the side of his puffy Patagonia jacket where his solid and chiseled frame could still be felt beneath it. Giving up Netflix instantly felt worth it again. Leaving the car where they’d only just a few hours ago found a way to fend off the cold without the Patagonia jacket…. not so much.

“Hey, guys!” Willy bellowed, as they approached the circle of his five best friends. “I have someone I want you to meet.” If there was any warmth left in her face, it was all in Jamie’s cheeks when Willy said, “This, is Jamie.” And everyone looked directly at her.

Her body as tense as an icicle, and not just because of the freezing temperatures, Jamie managed to bring her palm up. “Hi,” she offered, shyly.

Willy continued introductions: “This is Aimee, Jules, and her boyfriend Alec, and…you’ve already met Charlie,” Willy said, glaring at him facetiously, “…and his brother, Marcus.”

Marcus extended his free hand formally, his other hand holding a 12-pack of Coors Light under his arm. “Nice to finally meet you, Jamie. Willy talks about you non-stop.”

“Ch-yeaaa, he’s definitely into you!” Charlie busted into a fit of idiotic laughter at his own joke. The boys couldn’t suppress their smirks, but Marcus nudged him, and Willy told him to shut the hell up.

Alec seconded it, “Yeah, man, shut the hell up, stupid!”

The girls rolled their eyes. Aimee smiled kindly, but silently at Jamie; Jules reached out and rubbed Jamie’s shoulder comfortingly. “He really does talk about you a lot, Jamie. We’re so happy to finally meet you.”

Willy pulled Jamie into him and kissed the side of her face, whispering, “I told you.”

“I don’t know, though, if he really did like you, I’m not sure he would bring you here for this,” Alec mused.

The friends all erupted into collective laughter, the way old friends do when they reminiscence on their years together.

“OK, someone has got to tell me what we are doing here,” Jamie pleaded, eagerly.

All of them looked at her, grinning. There was a brief moment of silent staring as they waited for someone to gallantly volunteer their secret, but, of course, Charlie broke first. Sliding his tongue across his lips, he began unzipping his jacket. “Fuck it, why don’t we just show her?” He wriggled his arms out of his sleeves and tossed his jacket onto the snow in the center of their circle. Then, he pulled off his beanie, again tossing it into the center, and started working his pants off, his hand tugging on his belt.

Jamie’s eyes widened. “Woah, what—”

“Come on, guys, let’s do this, I don’t wanna be freezing my ass off any longer –"

Marcus slapped his hand onto Charlie’s chest, stopping him before he could remove his pants entirely. “Yo, bro, hold up—”

“Geezus, Charlie!” Willy added to the growing groans of his friends who seemed obviously accustomed to Charlie’s obnoxious behavior.

“I am so not having an orgy!” Jamie exclaimed.

This time, everyone howled so loud it echoed, their mouths hanging open in pleasant disbelief and their eyes frozen on Jamie.

“What, babe? No! Oh my god,” Willy said through his chortling. “We are so not having an orgy”

“Yeah, Charlie wishes,” Jules guffawed.

A little embarrassed by her assumption, Jamie demanded, “Well, then, why the hell is Charlie taking all his clothes off? And why the hell are we all out here in the freezing cold!”

“We have a bit of a tradition…” Aimee answered, meekly.

“And it is definitely not an orgy,” Alec confirmed.

“It could be!”

“Shut up, Charlie!” Everyone said in unison. He lifted his hands up in surrender, shrugging.

Amused by their banter, Jamie chuckled, “A tradition? Like a New Year’s Eve thing?” They nodded. “Alright, OK, so what’s the tradition?”

Willy smiled flatly like a child caught in a mischievous act. He stepped over to Marcus, pulled open the Coors Light box, and removed a can. Then, he handed the can to Jamie and explained. “Every year, the six of us come to this field, drink a couple of beers, and then we have a little race.”

Jamie looked down at the innocent beer in her hands. “Um, OK… That’s it?” When he didn’t answer right away, she looked back up to find Willy’s eyes were locked on her, his innocent smile still intact.

“We do it naked,” Charlie added nonchalantly.

“That part,” Jules chimed.

Stunned, Jamie laughed the uncomfortable laugh of disbelief, like when someone tells you such horrible news that your body involuntarily releases what sounds like a laugh but is actually shock. “What?”

Charming up his smile with more cheesy innocence, Willy said, “Please don’t hate me.”

“You’re all going to get naked, in the snow, and race?” Jamie clarified.

Jules, Aimee, Alec, Marcus, and Charlie all nodded and shrugged casually at each other, as if to say, Pretty much. Willy stepped towards her and gently folded his hands around her wrists. “But like I said, you do not have to do this.”

Jamie’s first thought was, Damn straight, I don’t! But when she looked back into Willy’s eyes, she saw the slightest hint of hopefulness dangling behind his genuine but hollow words, the tiniest plea that wished for the possibility that she might actually say yes; that she might actually be the girl who was both a passionate lover and an adventurous wild card; that she might actually be the girl of his dreams, the way Willy was certainly panning out to be the boy of hers… She thought to herself, Cue the Taylor Swift music!

Then, sighing a surrender, Jamie squeezed her eyes shut and squeaked, “OK!”

“OK?!” She heard Willy’s excitement and the delighted gasps of everyone else.

“OK, I’ll do it. I’ll do it,” she confirmed. Willy sprang forward and wrapped her in a hug. Aimee and Jules jumped up and down, clearly eager to have a new female addition for this year’s tradition, while the guys hi-fived and slapped Willy on the back in a football jock’s victorious clap, “All right!” Despite the clear understanding that they were just playing around, all the girls rolled their eyes at their boyish infatuation with seeing yet another female’s bare body.

Ignoring his male companions, Willy cupped Jamie’s faced between his hands and pressed his nose into hers. “Are you sure?”

Placing her hands on top of his, Jamie kissed him. And despite her growing concern about how cold she was going to be without clothes on in the icy air, she said, “Yes.”

“Let’s do this!” Charlie yelled, jubilantly.

Marcus handed everyone their own beer. “Since we have a new player tonight, I think it’s best to remind everyone of the rules. Charlie! There will be no groin-tapping at the start line.” Charlie tilted his beer towards him, as if to say, Aye, Aye. “When I yell ‘Go!’ everyone must strip down to their birthday suit, chug one Coors Light beer – or approved substitute alcoholic beverage – and sprint down to that oak tree –” he pointed to the only one at the end of the field, “—then sprint all the way back to the starting mark. First one here is the winner of his year’s New Year’s Eve Annual Streaking Race.” Everyone nodded their understanding.

Once they were all lined up side-by-side at their staring line, a line Marcus drew in the snow with his foot, Jamie asked, “Isn’t anyone a little worried about, I don’t know, freezing to death?”

Next to her, Alec assured her matter-of-factly, “The beer helps.”

“Plus, Alec is our medic,” Jules offered.

“Oh, you’re a doctor?” It was news to Jamie.

“No, but he wanted to be one,” Jules beamed proudly, squeezing his shoulder.

“I almost made it into med school,” Alec added.

“Ah,” was all Jamie could muster, confused by how this qualified him to be their “medic,” but she was willing to go along with it. “And what about all of your guys’…you know?” She pointed a finger down towards Alec’s groin. He tilted his head, unsure of what she was asking. “Doesn’t it, you know...? Aren’t you worried about it, you know, shriveling up a bit?”

Jules exploded, “AH-HAAA!” She leaned forward to meet Jamie’s gaze. “Yes. They do. And they used to measure them after every race, but then, someone—” she pointed a finger towards Charlie, “—started to get a little self-conscious, so they stopped doing that.”

Aimee snickered quietly, and Jamie bit her lip to contain hers. Charlie scoffed, “Alright, alright, enough questions, already. Let’s do this thing. It’s my year!”

“Wait, wait, one more question!” Jamie rose her index finger. “And we absolutely have to undress before we drink the beer?”

“Yup,” Marcus answered.

“It motivates you to drink faster,” Charlie said.

“He’s right… for once.” Jules.

“Good luck, everyone!” Aimee.

On the other side of Jamie, Willy squeezed her hand. “You’re gonna do great, babe. Just have fun.”

“On your marks…get set… GO!”

In an instant, everybody was moving, quickly tearing at their clothes as if they were impassioned lovers just seeing each other for the first time in years. “Oh, oh!” Jamie yelped, surprised by their speediness. Their swiftness was motivating and thrilling, and it completely eradicated her fear of the cold. Around her, everyone was ooh-ing and ahh-ing, yelping and hollering, laughing and giggling, as their bare bodies met the crisp air and their feet touched the icy snow beneath them. She heard the pop of one, then two, beer cans opening, followed by continuous streams of gulping. With the advantage of having left one layer of clothing in Willy’s car earlier, Jamie’s was the third can to open; she began chugging like she’d been deprived of liquid for days.

Marcus was the first to take off. “AY-YI-YI-YI-YEEEEEE!”

“Shit!” Charlie said, crushing his can and tossing it aside before sprinting after his brother.

More cans were popping open, and Jamie could feel her can emptying. She tilted her head back, swallowed its remains, and took off running. The brisk air smacked across her chest, but her focus was so set on catching up to the others, she hardly noticed the sharp pain. She was moving with such speed that her body didn’t even register the sting of the cold, or the sinking of her feet in the ice with each stride. Involuntary laughter consumed her as she sprinted, and all her other senses drifted away. Jamie didn’t notice or care that there were naked strangers flailing around her; she wasn’t even sure where Willy or the others were in relation to her. She just sensed the bodies darting nearby, flying freely and wholly abandoned to the wind. Jamie finally understood why people paid money to experience things like cryotherapy and cold plunges: it was absolutely exhilarating; a numbness that left behind only dopamine and adrenaline. It was the most fun she had ever had.

When she’d made it back to the starting line, Jamie had no idea what her rank was, nor did she care. She just jumped up and down, hollering like a wolf in the moonlight and twirling around with her arms outstretched towards the sky like a kid in summer. She was so enthralled in her own personal victory that she didn’t hear the others approaching the finish.

“Damn, Jamie! Willy didn’t tell us you were a professional track star! What the hell was that?” Charlie said, his hands resting on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Marcus ran up after him, went directly to his pile of clothes, and started dressing himself.

Jamie stopped twirling and looked at him quizzically. Just then, Willy wrapped his arms around her from behind and lifted her up. “Hell yes, babe! That was amazing!”

“What! What! What!” She asked amidst her jovial laughter, unbothered by her legs reflexively spreading in the air, exposing her ladiest of parts.

Putting her down, Willy exclaimed, “You did it! You won!”

Jamie wouldn’t have believed them, but soon the others were approaching her, their jackets clutched to their chests, congratulating her.

“Hell yeah, girl,” Jules said, sportively tapping her fist against her shoulder. Alec trudged behind her, respectfully averting his eyes and covering his groin. “The new girl does it, woohoo!”

“Congratulations!” Aimee squealed, pulling her in for a loose side-hug.

Marcus, now fully dressed, approached her and Willy, handing them both another Coors Light and a handful of clothes for each of them. “Congratulations, Jamie. We all had high hopes for you, and you didn’t disappoint.”

The shock and surprise of winning paused Jamie so much so that she almost forgot just how cold she was. Thanking everybody, she pulled on her clothes ravenously. “So, what is it that I win, exactly?”

“That beer in your hand,” laughed Charlie. The others chuckled lightheartedly.

“And,” continued Willy, “if you plan on sticking around this year, you’ll never have to buy your own beer when you’re with us. At least for this year.”

The words settled in Jamie’s ears, and another realization hit her: he was talking about their future, something they hadn't yet discussed. He was asking her to stay in his life and to take their relationship to another level; to join his group of friends, these whacky and crazy people who’d just run naked with a complete stranger…to be his. Her heart fluttered at its wishes coming true, and she was speechless. Despite more Taylor Swift ringing faintly in her ears, she could feel the silence of the others waiting for her reply around her.

Then, Charlie exclaimed, “It’s 11:59! Everyone, grab a beer!” All fully dressed, each one readily reached for their final beer out of the cardboard box. Alec and Jules huddled up together, Aimee comfortably third-wheeling at their side; Marcus and Charlie seemed to couple together, and Willy pulled Jamie into his side one more time. Beer cans popped open, and Marcus began the countdown.

“5…4…3…2…1! Midnight!”

Alec and Jules embraced in a kiss, and the others all clinked their cans together, cheering, “Happy New Year!” Willy and Jamie chugged a gulp of their beer, and then Willy caught her chin, holding it in place.

“So, what do you say?” He was obviously referring to the “sticking around” comment from a moment ago. His eyes searched hers, desperate and hopeful and pleading.

Playing coy, Jamie bit her lip, and looked around at his friends, potentially her friends now. She considered how different her life might be with these people in her life. They were hooting and hollering and laughing like wild teenagers. They were not the kind of people who stayed home on cold winter nights and watched Netflix, but they were the kind of people who were accepting and funny and loving and adventurous. And if the feeling she felt while flying naked across the pasture was any indication of what her life could be like…

Jamie laced her fingers around Willy’s neck, and pulled her lips up to his, just close enough to barely touch. Then, she kissed him deeply and whispered, “Happy New Year.”