Clara.

That night, all was silent.

We sat around a bonfire outside Aiden's house.

Pam was at Aaron's taking care of Nathan and Adira.

Nathan was speaking, but he barely ate.

He would wake up and cry.

Sometimes he would insist on having Adira near him.

Meanwhile we were outside around a fire.

It was Mike's idea, to welcome Aliya into our group.

And to romance her.

I didn't need a PhD to know that Mike felt something for Aliya.

Hell, nobody did.

Aliya came outside in jeans and a purple jersey.

"First time I'm seeing you in something other than those dresses." said Mike.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Those dresses kept men like you away from me. So did James, but he's gone now. To a place where he'll be understood." she says, staring into the distance.

Mel and Shyla looked at each other while Sam just nodded in understanding.

Mike touched his wound.

"A little more and you would've pierced my heart." he said.

"I should've, I wouldn't have had to listen to your annoying lines."

Aiden and I laughed.

Mike has met his match.

"So are we just gonna listen to Mike and Aliya fall slowly in love with each other or are we gonna have some fun?" asks Paul, pulling out a bottle of booze and drinking it.

We all stared at him in shock.

"What? I'm allowed to drink!" he said.

"Paul..." started Shyla.

He turned to her and smiled.

Then he pressed his lips against hers.

We all whooped.

"Get a room homeboy." said Mike.

"Why don't you get a clean mind?" asked Aliya.

Paul broke the kiss and got up.

Shyla got up as well.

Then he did the unexpected.

He went down on his knees.

"Paul..." said Shyla lowly, her accent coming out as she spoke.

"That's exactly how I want my name to sound every morning when I wake up. I want to wake up to your voice, your eyes, your smile."

Awwww.

"I wanna stay up to your arguments about which DC hero is better, though I'll always say The Flash."

"I'll always say Batman." she whispered.

"I want to be yours forever my Slytherin queen. I want to grow old with you and I want you and I to become us. Shyla Brielle Peters, will you be the Iris West to my Barry Allen?" he says, opening the box in his hand to reveal a gold ring.

That wasn't what caused us to gasp.

It was the stone.

It was half black diamond, half white diamond, shaped like a heart.

Shyla gasped.

"Yes, I will marry you."

We all cheered as Paul put the ring on her finger.

Then he got up and spun her around.

"At last, I have found my woman!" he yelled.

We laughed and Shyla blushed.

*******************

"No, Paul lost his virginity to the librarian's assistant."

How did we get to this conversation?

We were reflecting on our college days.

Then the guys got to talking about which girl was their first.

Of course, they started with Paul and things got a bit heated.

Mike is saying the librarian's assistant and Aiden, he's saying it was one of the young professors.

Paul isn't answering, too lost staring at Shyla to even bother.

"No!" shouts Aiden, "I'm telling you it was professor Tyra."

Mike laughed.

"Paul didn't tap Tyra the Terror, I did."

I made a face.

"You're nasty." I said.

"Hoes gotta be hoes." he said.

Aliya rolled her eyes.

"It was the librarian's assistant, I'm telling you it was-" said Mike

"It was neither of them. It was a senior named Francesca." said Paul.

"Well, that's interesting." said Mike, "cause I tapped that too."

"Is there a behind you haven't tapped?" asked Aliya.

"Wouldn't you like to know Ms. Davinson?" he asked.

We laughed and Aliya blushed.

"No I don't care to know." she muttered, shaking her head.

"So Paul, now to Sam. Sam boy, who was the cherry popper?" asked Paul.

Sam laughed.

"I was a sophomore and there was this girl named Georgina. I went over at her place when her parents weren't at home to work on a project for chemistry and we ended up in a different chemistry." said Sam

The boys hooted.

I did not need to know that.

But hey, nobody will ask us girls.

"I tag Aaron." said Sam.

Aaron looked at Mel and she shrugged.

"Doesn't matter, you didn't marry that hoe, you married me." she said.

Aaron sighed.

"Senior year, a girl named Tracy invited me to a party. One thing led to another and the rest I'd rather not say."

I made a face.

Aaron looked at my face and laughed.

"Let's tag a nigga. Aiden." he said.

Aiden groaned.

"I don't want to." he said.

"Clara ain't gonna squeeze your balls man chill." said Mike.

I blushed and Aiden glared at Mike.

"Lia, in college." he said.

Maybe that was why he became attached to her.

Then she broke his heart.

"A toast to a dead psychopath. She was a sucky mom, but she was Aiden's first." said Mike, raising his beer bottle.

The guys raised their bottles.

"You're so full of talks, Mike you're next." I said.

Mike laughed.

"Aiden, you know I'm not going to discuss that story."

"Yeah, because she was the one woman you were actually in love with."

"The first woman I ever loved and she played me like a fiddle." he muttered aloud, to no one in particular.

"What's her name?" I asked.

"Saira Mentore, the only girlfriend I ever had. Even if she wasn't fully mine." he said, looking down.

And for the first time, I saw a very sad Mike.

Even Aliya looked concerned.

"I was naive, wanted to experience new things. Saira, well she was my dance partner. I fell for her and we hit it off. Then she made it known to me that she had a boyfriend. I didn't mind it, I was too lost in her love to even care. Then one day I came to see her, not knowing that her boyfriend was there. She told her boyfriend a lot of lies, that I would harass her, earning me an ass whooping. From that day I decided it was play or be played. Love is overrated and even if the right girl comes along, I'm not even worthy of her."

With that, he walked off, leaving us outside.
**********************

Aww poor Mike.

So... Paul and Shyla are engaged!

Dedicated to @LoveMyTurkishBoy15 who suggested that I make a change to the proposal.

Wonderful.

Ta ta!

-Safiello