My American Boy

Chapter Six: Old Friends

Liv quickly spots us walking towards them and waves. We cross campus to meet them.

"Hey, have you just finished your classes for the day?", Liv questions.

"Yeah, we just came out of our last class. Have you?", I reply, hoping she has so we can walk to our halls together.

"Yeah, Eli and I were going to go for food if you two wanted to come with? There is this great Taco place that we wanted to try near West 4th Street", Liv asks me.

"Yeah, I'll come", I tell her. I really enjoy Liv's company and Eli and Franco are both fun so I'm happy to go for food with them.

We decide which street to take and go to leave campus. Walking in front with Liv we talk about our day and classes. I fill her in on Leo falling asleep in class and stealing my notebook and taking pictures to annoy me.

"That is classic Leo. He really knows how to wind people up", Liv replies, sounding exasperated. "When I first met him he used to always flick me. I always used to react so he kept doing it. But as soon as I stopped reacting to it he stopped", Liv continues to tell me. "He's like that. He knows how to press people's buttons".

"Well he definitely knows how to push mine", I tell her. "I've only met him twice and already he drives me crazy".

"A lot of people can relate to you", Liv laughs.

"How do you know Leo and everyone?", I ask. Taking the opportunity to find out more while we are talking about him.

"Leo, Franco, Kye, Ruby and I all knew each other before we started at NYU. We all went to school together in Rhode Island and all of our families lived there. Mine moved to Long Island when I came to NYU to be closer but everyone else's families still live there. We all came to NYU after finishing high school. Then we met Eli, Liam and Ava when we all came to NYU, we met them at orientation. Ruby and Ava major in Digital Art and Design, so we met Ava through Ruby, and Liam and Eli did Bioethics with Kye, so we all met through them. We've all hung out together since our first year here", Liv informs me.

"Ahh okay, I wonder how you all knew each other. When we were at Eli's party I noticed you all knew each other but I wasn't sure how", I reply.

"Yeah, we are all pretty close. Liam and Eli live with Leo in their apartment as they don't have to go into dorms and then Franco and Kye are in a shared apartment in the East Village", Liv returns. "And I have you", she turns and gives me a warm smile.

We walk down 6th Avenue and then cross the road to go down West 4th Street. It doesn't take long for us to find the place and we walk inside. Luckily the place is quiet and they have plenty of room to seat us. They take us to the back and give us the food and drink menus. I scan the list of tacos and straight away I'm drawn in by the pulled pork taco. As everyone scans the menu Eli's phone goes off from inside his pocket.

"Leo just text me. He says he's on his way", Eli tells us typing a quick reply and putting his phone back in his pocket.

"We'll wait till he is here to order then", Liv replies, putting her head back down to read the menu.

We order some drinks while we wait and by the time they arrive, Leo walks into the restaurant. But not alone, Ava and Ruby follow his lead to the back of the restaurant. Seeing the extra three people the waiter grabs an extra table and adds it to the end of ours. They sit down next to us and pick up the menu.

"I didn't know you guys were coming", Liv comments looking over at Ruby and Ava.

"We were hungry, so we thought we'd tag along with Leo", Ava replies.