**WYNN POV**
After everyone had arrived, I used my father's keys to unlock the chains, as well as the lock, on the park gates.
"This is so cool. It feels like we're about to commit a crime," said Howin.
David sneered. "I don't even want to know what type of crime you would commit."
Well, Howin was on to something with that one. We were kind of committing a crime: Trespassing. Truth be told, I didn't really ask my father to come here. I just borrowed the keys and asked the chauffeur to drop me off here. If dear old dad found out, he would probably kill me.
I just hoped that Brianna wouldn't notice my hands shaking.
I caught the chains before they hit the ground and gently placed them on the side, before slowly pushing the gates. I prayed inwardly that the gates wouldn't make a loud noise as they swung open, but to my luck, they were silent. My father paid good money to keep this place in shape, so I guess it was to be expected.
I turned to my friends and opened my arms to them. "Alright guys, Welcome To Casa De Newman."
I got a high five from everyone as they passed by, even from Brianna, which made me feel really good about myself. All I had to do now was hope that my father would find out that his keys were missing after I returned home, instead of during the get-together.
We all sat around a long, rectangular marble table at the centre of the park, with seats on each side. On the long sides of the rectangle sat Rashidi, Ashur, and Tianna, facing Shiloh and David, who left space for Lith beside him. On the short ends were Howin and Calvin, who faced me and Brianna on the other side.
I was a surprised to see Tianna there. Her presence made me uncomfortable, seeing as she was one of the people who used to laugh at me all the time. Calvin was also a surprise because I was sure that he already left the group. David must have really wanted the entire group to get back together.
The seating area was in a grove-like area of the park, so it had a kind of magical atmosphere. The lights that were hung up around the place mesmerized everyone, and I nodded in satisfaction.
"Alright, guys. Hey, my name is David-," said David, kind of awkwardly.
Cheery voices rang out from the group. "Hi, David!"
He smiled at our playfulness before continuing. "Yeah, that's me. So I know that everyone here is kind of awkward with each other right now, but I just want to say that I'm glad that you're all here."
Nobody really knew how to respond, but Shiloh clapped enthusiastically for him and urged the rest of us to join in. We did, but it still felt forced.
"I thought of a bunch of stuff for us to do tonight, so-"
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH.
The unexpected interruption shook everyone out of their hesitance to look at anyone except David. All eyes moved to Howin instead, and then laughter poured out of each of us. Nobody could forget Howin's signature sigh. Whenever we were at school, Shiloh could never get peace during lunchtime. She spent most of them listening to Howin's girl problems. Whenever we heard that sigh, it was time to hear some ridiculous story.
Howin's face turned a deep shade of red. "What?" He asked sheepishly.
The laughter took a moment to die. "Nothing, Howin. What is it?"
Seeing that Shiloh was willing to entertain his problem, he regained his confidence. Howin took a deep breath before beginning. "I have this girl I like, right?"
"Naturally."
"But she told me she has a boyfriend." SIGH "What do I do?"
"Wow, Howin. What happened to that vow?" Asked David.
He shot a venomous glare at David before returning his gaze to his therapist, Shiloh. I didn't understand how Shiloh had so much patience with Howin. Some problems that Howin had were so comedic that you had to wonder if they were true. If we didn't grow up together, I wouldn't believe any of his stories.
"I don't really know what there is to do, Howin. If she has a boyfriend, leave her alone." Was Shiloh's advice on the matter.
"But you told me that girls like persistence."
"Not like that!" she exclaimed. "Persistence doesn't mean being a stalker or anything like that."
"Bruh. Women are so complicated."
Ashur added his own input. "Don't listen to her, Howin. Just wait until they break up and then be there for her."
"Do not listen to that!"
"Both are terrible plans. Just steal the girl, Howin," I suggested. I kind of did it a few times. I didn't even have to do anything to get the girl, so it should have been easy for Howin.
David laughed. "Howin can't do that; he'd end up on the news. You want him to get his beat by the boyfriend and his friends?"
"Yeah, but you guys would defend me, right?"
"Nah, you can take 'em," said Shiloh. The rest of the group nodded vigorously in agreement. "Remember that you're the alpha of the group?"
We laughed again. The whole alpha thing is not what it sounds like. It's something Howin came up with after he found a way to make the guys in the group shut up any time he wanted, but it wasn't a glorious method.
The atmosphere was noticeably lighter compared to how it was when we had arrived. All the tense shoulders were relaxed and all the eyes that were fixated on certain people were free. It actually felt like we were in the squad again.
I gave my input. "Howin, you should just work out more. My brother says that women only care about abs and muscles." I was the perfect example. After my glow-up, all the girls were all over me, even when I didn't want them around. It was too bad that the only one I cared about was...
"That's not true. Not all girls are like that. I actually prefer skinny guys," disagreed Brianna, breaking my heart. What did she even mean by that? Since when did she like skinny guys? Back when she and Adrian were dating, he was even more muscular than I was. Only Rashidi was more buff than Adrian in the group.
I didn't say much after that. I should have just listened to Troy when he told me to start using women for sex. I didn't want to do that, though. Brianna was different from everyone else, but how the hell was I going to lose muscle? I would have to watch some videos about it.
"Be careful, Brianna. I just heard Howin's heart jump," said David.
She became flustered and waved her hands at Howin. "No, no, no. Not you, Howin."
They laughed again, even Howin, but I wasn't in the mood to laugh anymore.
"What would you do, David?" asked Howin.
"Bro, you can't ask me anything about this one. All my girls keep getting taken away by some mysterious force."
"Who? God or Li-"
"Wait, which girl are you talking about?" asked Tianna, seemingly just realizing that a conversation was going on. I personally wouldn't have told her anything, knowing the type of person she was. If Tianna knew anything about your life, she would laugh about it with her friends whenever you weren't around.
Which begs the question again: "Why is she here?"
"It's Alexia."
"Lexi?" She sounded surprised. "Lexi doesn't have a boyfriend, though."
Howin refuted her point, but excitement was building up in his voice. "Yes, she does. I saw it on her Instagram."
Tianna looked dumbfounded. "Oh my gosh, Howin. That's her brother."
He jumped out of his seat with glee. He was practically beaming with joy as he bounced around. "Really?!"
"Yeah. I could put in a good word for you if you'd like, but Ummm... Alexia usually goes for the uh..." She made a gesture with both hands, spreading them apart from each other. "...taller guys."
"I don't care, that's enough! You hear that, Shiloh?! I'm gonna have a girlfriend!"
'Where'd that come from?' I thought. Truth be told, this Alexia girl was someone that tried to speak to me a few times. She always seemed to be... "down for anything." I doubted that Howin and this girl would ever get together, but who could shut down someone so happy?
"Yeah, you..." Shiloh pursed her lips and pointed at him with finger guns. "You go Howin."
Howin was satisfied after that. When he gets his girl advice, he goes back to being a shy, quiet kid. You would genuinely think that he was if you didn't know him as well as we did.
For the next hour, we just chatted idly with those who we were comfortable with. I had to admit, David went all out to prepare for this. Everyone seemed comfortable and all the people that were volatile around each other were separated. It had been a long time since I saw Brianna smiling like she was. I wasn't really interacting much with anyone because Brianna liked the silent, mysterious types.
David went around a few times, making sure that we were all alright. It hadn't been long since I had spoken to David, but the difference in his expression from before and his expression now was drastic. Somewhere along the line, he became like Lith in some ways, but now he seemed like the David from when we were younger. The bags under his eyes seemed less pronounced whenever he saw one of us smiling.
When he wasn't walking around, he was just sitting with Shiloh. They were talking and laughing the whole time. That was when the eye bags disappeared completely. Too bad that it was a lost cause. Even I could see that this crush wouldn't go anywhere for him, not that he would do that to Lith. I could say with confidence that his situation was worse than mine.
I watched as Ashur made his way over to them. "Where's your friend?"
There was a blank expression on her face, like she didn't hear his question. She continued talking to David, as if he wasn't there, leading him to ask again. He gently tapped her on the shoulder. "Where's your friend?"
"Oh. I heard you the first time. Don't worry." She said, before picking up her conversation with David again.
Ashur sighed and backpedalled. "Where's Lith?"
"Ohhh, Lith!" she exclaimed. "I was just confused cause you said it like he wasn't your friend, too." Shiloh smiled sweetly while making direct eye contact with Ashur.
'That smile doesn't seem too friendly.'
"Yeah, but..." He grinned and made a rolling gesture with his hands. "He's closest with you"
David foresaw the escalation of the situation and interrupted. "He's probably going to his mom's workplace to tell her he wouldn't be home for a while."
Tianna, who was behind Ashur, sneered. "So he couldn't do that before the time of his best friends' meeting?" Her voice was always filled with a frigidity whenever it came to Lith. Nobody knew why they hated each other to the extent that they did, not even Shiloh and David.
I watched expectantly, ready to step up in case they argued with Shiloh and David. I owed Shiloh some help for talking to me earlier that night, and if Shiloh wasn't the one giving me advice, it would have been David.
Lith was also always on my side whenever someone at school used to make me feel bad. He had an eye for how people tried to hurt you while pretending to be innocent and save face. Whenever I didn't realize that I was being laughed at, he did. Even if he was different now, it didn't erase what he did for me.
The other two were people who made me feel like shit when I was younger. I was eager to shut them down when I saw the chance present itself.
Calvin, who was the only other person who was still at the table, put down the fork that he eating with. He didn't even turn to face them, saying "Man shut the fuck-"
"Yo."