It Feels Good To Be Good

New Year’s Eve 2012, Lyon. I am on my way to meet up with Marlène, a good friend of mine, and then head together to the final house party of the night, which our friend Mathilde invited us to. The metro is full of happy faces, people are certainly a bit drunk, dress up in fancy attire to celebrate the new beginning. I start a conversation with my neighbour. He suited up for the occasion, but it seemed like the night was over for him. He is going back home, and my guess is that he has no one to celebrate the new beginnings with. I insisted he had no choice but to come with me to my next party.

His whole body language changes. He can finally stop pretending to be the cool Guy in a suit. He is relieved. After a few stops, we are finally meeting with Marlene. She welcomes my new friend with generosity, thinking I’ve known him forever. Here we are, on the way to the party. We vaguely walked around the neighbourhood but quickly realised we’d need help finding the address. I tried to call Mathilde many times, but she did not pick up. Yeah, she had just broken up with her boyfriend and had the brilliant idea to leave her phone at home – as a way to avoid any temptation to call him during the night, when alcohol would start kicking in. Great!

The streets are empty, it’s freezing cold, my battery is dying, and Marlène suddenly realized that I only met my new friend a few minutes ago. I see in her eyes the panic she is trying to fight. We are all nervous suddenly. After turning around and around for too many long minutes, we magically met other people on their way to the same party. The best part of the night can finally start.

It was certainly a great party, although I only remember brief episodes of it. But I remember how my new friend would repeatedly thank me every time his eyes crossed mine. I remember his gratefulness when we were saying goodbyes in the early morning. Honestly, I was super tired and didn’t care much during those goodbyes – because it did not feel like this was anything special. But years later, when Marlène and I recall that night, laughing so hard we cry – I feel like we did something awesome.

It feels good to be good. Really.