Chapter 8

We finally went to that open roof restaurant at fifth floor of the mall after taking some pictures. It isn't the highest floor, there's a multiplex on the top floor, but this restaurant uses the balcony as its open roof part. There're a lot of plants and ferry lights decorating them, building a mellow atmosphere with pleasant vibes. You can also decide to eat indoors. They have an indoor section as well. It's a really versatile restaurant with famous dishes from all over the world. Like Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Indian, Mexican, Italian and what not food. Can they actually make these?

So it took us a long time to decide what to order. Everyone wanted something different. I wanted to try the best dishes from different regions as well. I don't even know how many dishes we ordered. There were dumplings, Pad Thai noodles, chicken tikka, different soups, pasta, quesadillas and stuff I can't even remember. But everything tasted great. I took pictures so that I can try them again. We were all talking, taking pictures and eating in a not so civil way. Thank God most people eating today aren't outdoors and there aren't even that many. Or they would've kicked us out.

Presently, all of us were lazing on our seats and drinking our sodas as slow as possible. The table looks like a cyclone passed over it.

"Damn, I must've eaten twice of what I usually eat." Marvin stated, cradling his belly. "Well, I munch on some snacks every few hours, so my stomach was ready today. I'm positive I'm going to break records at that 'all you can eat' place next time. Now there just needs to be a belch for the crescendo."

"I'll punch you in the stomach if you burp." Lance warned him lazily. Marvin still did. Lance couldn't even lift a finger. He just glared in disgust.

"Such big and complex word for a burp. Did he even use it right?" Liam asked from beside me.

"I honestly can't think right now. My three neurons responsible for my intelligence are all asleep already." I answered honestly. There were chuckles and words of agreement, all too lazy.

"Oh sleep. I can sleep right here, right now." Felix was already down.

"Let's get going in 15 minutes." Duke said, looking at the time.

"It's 9:45 now. I know the perfect way to end the day." Duke and David looked at each other and smiled.

"Yeah, sleep." Ezra looked like he was melting in his seat. There were some lazy laughs.

David, Duke and Liam are the only ones sober right now. All of us are food drunk. Kairn even looks like he's just physically here.

"Oh, come on, you slow bears. The night's still young." David tried to motivate us to move.

"Yeah, but I feel so old." Lance was sleepy and pouting. Wow, lazy Lance is adorable. But I don't want to get punched.

"Aww my baby." Of course, Marvin.

"Ugh I can't. Remind me to punch you twice on Monday."

David paid for the dinner, and we left after 20 minutes with our heavy bellies dragging us down.

_______________________

We were standing in front of the gate to a park. It was obviously closed.

"A park?" I questioned in disbelief. Did they come here to ruin the garden or something? Is this some kind of teen revenge thing, like in the movies? Of course, I don't voice my thoughts. That's just expecting the worst. Vandalism is not something I expect of my friends.

"Come on." We followed David to the back fence. He jumped the fence with swift ease. What's happening? Is this some hazing initiation ceremony? Are they trying to get me to join their cult? The quiet night with loud cricket chirping is not helping with the thoughts I'm having right now.

"What? What're we doing?" I followed them anyway.

"This is the best park. It has a lake, and the sky looks beautiful when you lie down on the grass. And I brought drinks. It's perfect for relaxing." Duke seemed thrilled with his idea. Oh, it was just this.

"All I can see are clouds." Ezra spoke, looking up at the sky.

"Whatever, I'll just sleep on the grass." Felix moved past us.

David and Duke brought a variety of drinks and snacks. Beers, sodas, fruit juices, cold coffee and even Breezers.

"You remembered I like mango and strawberry Breezer." I smiled at Duke and thanked him.

"Of course. Here."

We chose our drinks and sat on the grass by the lake. It was so serene with a cool breeze brushing past us and the freshness of clean air. We just talked about random stuff.

"Hey, what if someone calls the police or something? And there's no guard?" I've never done this.

"It's a little farther from the centre of the city, so there aren't a lot of people here. And we can just run away. We visit this place often. We've never had to run away, so it's fine. Chill." David joked. Okay, I guess. I'll just say they kidnapped me. I just shrugged.

David suddenly got all serious. "Don't come here alone, though. What if you get killed?" And then just started laughing. Stupid. It's not even funny.

"Yeah, don't know if you'll run into some psychopath. We'll never even find your body." Lance joined in.

"Okay, I get it. Stop now. You don't need to scare me like you'd scare a child saying 'ghosts will eat you up.'"

Lance just smirked.

"Ghosts don't exist. Murderous psychopaths do." Ugh, I give up.

We got our drinks and snacks and settled down on the grass.

Felix had some fizzy apple juice and was actually sleeping on the grass. Yeah, he wasn't kidding.

"Yeah, he does that. We just wake him up before leaving." David said, smiling at a sleeping Felix. He snorted. "Such a baby."

"Aw come on, leave him be." Duke defended.

David, Duke, Marvin and Liam had beers. Kairn chose some soda. Ezra said he had no space in his stomach even for a drink, so he was just lying on the grass beside Felix and looking at the clouds. I got a mango Breezer and Lance had the strawberry one. Ryan had some cold coffee. I don't know how he likes canned cold coffee.

"Let's listen to some music. Hmm, some soft pop would be nice." Duke set up a small Bluetooth speaker and connected it to his phone.

("My house in Budapest. My, my hidden treasure chest. Golden grand piano, my beautiful Castillo... You, you... I'll leave it all...")

"Hey guys, thank you so much." I disclosed what I wanted to say this whole time, while looking at my drink and smiling. I was a little embarrassed to speak up in front of all of them while facing them. So, I chose to focus on my drink.

"I'm not good around people. So I don't even make an effort, because I feel I'll just ruin it. I didn't have a lot of friends at my old place either. And I never imagined I would make so many good friends here. I seriously wished this year would just end before. Never thought I would find friends in such a weird way." I ended with a light chuckle, half from nervousness and the other from gratitude. I spoke my heart out, but I still couldn't look at them.

David and Duke were beside me on my either side. They said nothing. David just put his arm around my shoulder and Duke gave me a side hug and patted my head.

"You guys are already drunk? I can feel the waterworks turning on any second now." Marvin tried to lighten up the mood.

"Yeah, we're all weirdos here, anyway. How you met us wasn't weird, I believe we're intellectuals."

"Thanks for calling all of us weirdos, Lance." Ryan laughed at him.

"That's what you got? Really? What have you been drinking?"

That made me chuckle. All of this felt so natural and appropriate that I'm scared I might lose it to a dream. I feel way happier inside than I look on the outside right now. Like how you feel when you have hot chocolate in winter, the smile on your face can’t justify the warmth you feel inside. Some part of my life turned out better than I had ever hoped. For the first time since I moved here, I feel like I belong somewhere. I haven't felt this feeling many times in my life. So I can tell very well what this is.

We didn't break the silence; we didn't need to. It was like those times when even silence was warm and comfortable.

("And I know you don't. But if I ask you if you love me. I hope you lie, lie, lie, lie ... lie to me.")

"David, how are things going with Anya?" Liam suddenly asked with a smirk.

"We're not discussing any of those things right now." David took a swig of his beer.

"Fine, did you poop when you woke up today?"

Half of us almost spat our drinks. That was so sudden. "What? Where did this come from?" David asked with a puzzled look. "How'd we get to poop?"

"You know what they say. Good friends talk about their love lives. Best friends talk about poop." We all burst out laughing.

"The hell? Who says that?" David couldn't stop laughing either.

"I bet if you're a stand-up comedian, we would be the only ones that show up. I'd only come if it's free for me, though." Lance quipped in, feigning a sigh.

"I'll pay for you."

"No Marvin, you idiot. That's not the- Ugh whatever."

"Simp"

"I'd be helping your show, you ungrateful brat. Now I won't go too." Marvin glared at Liam in return.

"Fine, I'm okay with you not being there." Liam chewed out in annoyance.

"How'd we get to this mess?" Ezra mumbled from his corner, too tired to keep up. The others watched all this like some live show.

"It's some meme, isn't it? You could've just sent it to our group chat." Duke said while laughing and shaking his head.

"It wouldn't have been funny. I set the atmosphere up for this." Liam said, trying to sound casual, when we all knew he couldn't wait to say it.

"*cough* Not that it was now."

Liam just glared. "Stick in the mud."

"Bonehead."

"Stupid."

David and Duke said at the same time.

All of us then enjoyed our drinks in comfortable silence.

Songs Used :

- Budapest by George Ezra

- Lie to me by 5 Seconds of summer