"Woohooo! Look who's here," The guy with auburn black hair, whose eyes found us first, winked at Sasha.

"Oh cool, Sash brought her friends." He let out a whistle "I knew you were awesome."

It was chaos. All of them were talking and laughing over each other.

"Here you go. Eve, meet my brother's stupid friends." Sasha sighed and then muttered under her breath,"You think they'll behave as if there's a new person here, but nope."

"Now, now. Giving a great introduction, aren't we?" The one standing next to Zack smirked.

"Stupid? Really? If anyone is stupid among us, it's your brother, darling." said the other one.

And my brain couldn't further deny the fact that I, suddenly, was surrounded by some really attractive guys.

This was Sophie's dream come true and she wasn't here to enjoy it.

"Wait, Eve as in Evelyn?" One of them asked, raising his eyebrows and a slight surprise flashed across my face.

When I nodded, the frown on his face vanished, a smirk taking over and he shook my hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Introduce us." He poked Sasha.

"Alright," Sasha mumbled with a mischievous grin.

"This is Seth. The most innocent and mature guy in this group." She smiled politely and from how the rest of the guys rolled their eyes, I guessed it was quite the opposite.

"That's completely true." Seth smiled and Sasha moved to the next one.

"This..." She pointed at the very guy who whistled at first, "...is Justin. The only single guy among these players."

I could hear others snort.

"Hola beautiful, it's a pleasure to meet you." With that, he smiled.

A charming smile that lifts the corners of your mouth.

Someone coughed behind us and I couldn't resist grinning like a fool.

"And this one," she grabbed the guy, standing next to Zack. "Caleb. Watch out, okay? He's the toughest guy among them. So rude."

And the room erupted in laughter. Caleb's smile vanished and glared at Sasha."Oh, come on. Stop acting like being a tiny bit sensitive is only for females."

"Who said it was? Crying when Baymax sacrificed himself was not wrong. Don't listen to these idiots." Sasha mumbled, pinching his cheeks.

And I already liked him, he was so adorable.

"And this is Dean. What can I say about him, he's just my sweetheart." Sasha gestured at the guy whose hair deceived my eyes. It appeared black a second and brown the next second.

"Love ya li'l bird." He winked as he gave her a flying kiss.

Dean wasn't much friendly as others but he did greet me with a smile.

"And there is Liam. He's the...uh, what should I say?" She trailed off and I gave her a look that meant 'you've said more than enough.'

"It's good if you say nothing. I heard how you introduced them." He chuckled and turned to me with a smile. "Good to have you here."

"Thanks."

After Liam, I turned to Zack and he smiled.

"Do you want us to introduce him?" Caleb asked, coming to us and before he could say anything further, Zack stuffed a sandwich into his mouth and smiled.

"No thanks, we very well know each other." He muttered and I heard Seth snicker. Or was it Justin?

Oh, I'm already messing up their names.

And I did it a few more times and each time, Sasha corrected it with a snicker.

The guys were nice. None of them gave me a cold shoulder or ignored me. I don't know why I was expecting that.

Justin and Seth were the friendliest ones. They both talked to me as if we knew each other ages ago. Caleb was friendly, he was all smiles and politeness. A perfect gentleman. And Dean and Liam were good too, but not as talkative as Seth.

"Your brothers are adorable." Caleb said and a smile took over my face.

"Just like Tiffany's is." Dean mumbled with a smirk.

Brown. His hair was definitely brown.

"Tiffany is his sister." Sasha filled me in.

Aha, smug as well.

And when I looked around to find Noel and Theo, Zack poked me in the shoulder.

"Don't worry, they're with Aaron. Noel wanted to see his dog."

"And here they are. Telepathy huh?" Justin smirked and I turned back to see Theo run toward me.

"Ivy, I saw two dogs. One was tiny and the other was huge!" Theo said with  excitement and I smiled.

"Did you like them?"

"The small one, Archie, liked Theo and Toby likes me. And he's huge." Noel replied and Theo nodded in agreement.

"Uh-huh. You sure you didn't annoy them?"

Theo gasped and shook his head, "No! They loved us. Ask Aaron."

"They loved you more than they love me." The guy who came with them-Aaron, I guess-said with a genuine smile and I stood up, smiling at him.

"I'm sorry if they annoyed you in any way," I said to him with an apologetic smile.

Because I know Theo. When he gets excited about something, he shoots a million questions. And Noel is helpless once he sees dogs. He just goes into a trance and pesters them with love.

"These handsome boys could never be annoying. Adorable? Yes. But not annoying." Sasha knelt down and gave them both a kiss.

And once again, Theo blushed as red as a tomato.

"Boys, come on." Justin called them and they rushed to sit between him and Liam. "Now tell me about your girlfriends."

I, on the other hand, found out that Aaron was their neighbour, around the same age as me. And that he was Zack's first ever friend here.

Sasha was bouncing with excitement as she chatted with Zack's friends. After making sure Noel and Theo were not alone and bored, I slipped out of the room to call Sophie.

"Uh, what?" She yelled when I filled her with details."How the hell do you get all the opportunities? A handsome bully-but a stupid jerk so I don't want that-and a handsome saver boy and now, a gang of gorgeous guys? This is so unfair!"

I laughed so hard that I felt like someone was twisting my stomach from inside.

"How awesome are they?" She asked and I chuckled.

"You really want to know?"

"Enlighten me,"

"Okay, there's Liam. But you already know him through Sasha."

"Of course, I do. Is he that good?" She sounded quite excited.

"Surprisingly, yes. I mean, of course, she's exaggerating by comparing him to a Greek god. But he's..."

"Hot?" Sophie breathed out and I nodded.

"Yeah."

"God! And the others?" This time, she sounded quite depressed.

"Okay, there's Caleb who's tall, handsome -"

"Stop." She cut me off and I laughed harder.

Good lord, I am enjoying this.

"I know what you're trying to do." She scoffed. "And it's not going to work."

We both knew it was working.

"Okay, zipped. Alright?"

"Alright. But try sending me their pictures."

Right. Like I'm going to take my phone out and snap their pictures like a creeper.

But she made me promise anyway.

When I got inside the room after the call, it was a sight to see. Theo was on top of Justin, whose half body was on top of Seth, who was wrestling Noel.

Wow. Scarlett must be having a great time with them.

"Oh, look. Your sister is here. Get off me and admit that you lost or I'm gonna tell her that-" Before Seth could finish that, Noel sat up straight as if they weren't fighting until now.

Unlucky him, I saw all of it through the glass door.

"Oooohhh! Someone's afraid of their sister." Justin hollered and Zack chuckled.

"How scary is she?" Dean asked them and Sasha nudged me with a smirk.

Noel smiled, biting his tongue and Theo looked from me to Dean.

"Oh come on, she won't say anything. You can say it to me." Justin shrugged and they both whispered something in his ear.

Justin fake gasped so dramatically that Theo got startled a bit.

"What? Dreadful? Really? I didn't expect that." He placed his hands over his chest and gasped again.

Everyone except Theo smiled. He had his eyes wide open, looking at Justin as if he betrayed him.

With a smile Zack sat next to Theo and ruffled his hair. "He's kidding. She know you'll never say that. We all know that."

Justin laughed, nudging Theo and within a minute, my brother forgave the betrayal and laughed with him. Amd I watched as they all included my brothers in their conversation as if they were a part of their group.

And my poor heart melted. They were having the most fun they had in years
.
.
.
.

When Scarlett called us for dinner, it was Seth who sprinted down the hall first.

Justin had Theo in his arms, carrying him like a baby and Noel was on Liam's shoulder as if he was sitting on a throne. Both of them leading others down as if they're a troupe.

"I know what you're thinking. The answer is yes, these guys are always childish like this." Sasha mumbled. "Believe it or not, they toned it down a bit because you're here."

Toned it down? Well, I can't imagine what their normal is.

Them fighting for seats made me believe Sasha. Poor Scarlett.

The table was full, all of us gathered around except for Alex. And a second before the dinner was served, he strolled in with a sheepish grin.

"Am I late?" He aimed his goofy grin at Scarlett and beamed when he saw everyone else.

And one by one, they all rushed to Alex, engulfing him in a big warm hug.

"Seeing this, you'll think they're his real kids." Sasha scoffed, sitting next to me and Aaron smiled.

"Can't blame them, no one is immune to your father's charms."

That was true.

"Let's postpone 'The father' act for a bit so that we can have dinner, okay?"
Scarlett reminded them and he snickered.

"I smell jealousy."

"You wish." She gave him a devious grin and went to get one more plate.

"Hey, Aaron. It's been a couple of days, pal." He winked at Aaron, who gave him a salute.

Alex went on greeting each of us as he threw his tie away, earning a glare from Scarlett.

"Oh, Noel. Look at you with that tiny little big boy moustache. You were a kid last time I saw you." He mumbled and Noel's cheeks were on fire even as he laughed.

"You see, Evelyn? It's really good to have you guys here. Come here often, yeah?" He turned to me with a smile.

And as if those words weren't enough, he ruffled my hair too.

How does he make everyone feel so special?

"So what? We're invisible?" Zack called out when Alex said he'll join us for dinner after a shower.

"Exactly," Sasha scoffed again and I hid a smile.

"What was your name again?" Alex mumbled without looking back and slammed the door.

"Ohhhhh, burnnn!" Seth ruffled Zack's hair and Justin threw a spoon at Sasha followed by Scarlett's 'no throwing around cutlery' warning.

"Let's see who's gonna help him with his work. These losers aren't going to stay here forever." Sasha mumbled and Zack gave her a high five.

Oh, they're a team now?

"Go on, start stuffing everything into your greedy mouths." Scarlett said to the guys and Liam shook his head.

"Nah, we'll wait for him."

And wait we did. I agree with Liam. There's something special about eating together. It's among the those little things we take for granted. We only know the comfort it radiated after we lose it.

So, when Alex joined us and together we all started conversing and having dinner, I was strangely happy.

Seth was the first one to compliment Scarlett's dishes, followed by Noel and Theo.

"Thank you, Seth. You know what? After moving here, I missed your comments on my cooking. And then I got these two sweethearts." She looked at Theo and Noel with a smile.

"Don't say that, your cooking skills are stupendous." Justin said and she laughed.

"Well, thanks. That felt more like a paid compliment."

Good food, good people. What else do I need?

                               ▪️▪️▪️

Dean, Sasha, Caleb and I helped Scarlett in clearing out the dishes and helped her in the kitchen work. While the rest of them sat around Alex, eating up his ears.

And when we were done with everything, Theo was asleep in Liam's arm and Noel was resting on Aaron.

"I'll take him to the room." Liam said and I shook my head.

"No, it's fine. We're leaving anyway."

"Oh, alright." He nodded.

"Hey Sash, you driving her? If not, I can. I've to buy something on the way." Dean called out to Sasha and Scarlett poked out her head with a frown.

"You're leaving?" She asked and I slowly nodded.

"Will your mom wait for you, dear?" She asked quietly, concern etched across her face and I shook my head.

Sadly no.

"No problem then," she beamed.

"Well-"

"Juz, my boy. Take my car and buy some ice cream will ya?" Alex came in, cutting me off and Justin whistled a yes. "The one I brought yesterday was devoured by Sasha."

"Here's the key." Zack threw it to him and he caught it smoothly.

"Mom, focus." Sasha nudged her mom, whose eyes were moving from Zack to Justin.

"Ah yes, but Justin, drive carefully."

"You know I will." He murmured and stood up, flexing his arms while Dean joined him.

"And my Evelyn, you are so not going home today." She placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled.

"Who's going? I thought everyone was staying." Alex looked at me with a frown.

"We'll come back tomorrow, I promise."

"I don't see any point in that." He shook his head again.

"Is my house that boring and uninviting?" Scarlett asked.

"What? No, not at all."

"Are you saying my company is bad?" Sasha stood, hands on her hip as usual.

"No Sasha-" before I could say anything else, Seth let out a loud gasp that startled me.

"Are you trying to say that our charms aren't attractive enough?" He went along with Sasha and her mom.

"No, Seth." I chuckled and Alex shrugged.

"See, no problem at all."

"But we've got classes tomorrow."

"You can go from here." Zack smiled innocently.

Not helping, Zack.

"Well, yeah. But Theo and Noel, their books are back at home." I tried one last attempt and Alex grinned.

"Why don't we do this; you'll stay here today. Tomorrow, when you leave for school, we can stop at your place and grab the books and clothes, if needed, and then go to school and then come back here," he took a breath and everyone gaped at him, not understanding a thing while Scarlett just shook her head with a grin.

"And stay for one more day and then enjoy. I mean, stay here for two days. Enjoy. Not only today but tomorrow too. How's that?" He finished and Scarlett sighed.

"Now that was more understandable." She winked at Alex and turned to me,

"So, that's the final plan."

I had no choice.

"Now, ice cream. And wake them up, they need to eat ice cream." Alex said to Liam and Aaron and went along with Scarlett to the kitchen.

"I told you that mom was gonna persuade you." Sasha said with a smirk.

"I told you that you were gullible." Zack shrugged smiling at me and Seth gasped, again.

So dramatic.

"What?" Zack frowned with a sigh and Seth shook his head like a little child.

"My Zack, that's such a mean thing to say to her. You sound like you don't want her here."

"What? No. You know I don't. I mean, I want her to stay. A couple days ago I told her that she was a bit gullible and this just showed it, I mean." He went on rambling and Seth continued.

"Such a harsh thing. You were all like, 'See, you just agreed to them. You're so gullible. Why did you do that?'" he said, mimicking Zack's style and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"I did not. You're just trying to... Jesus! You're so annoying, you moth-" and before he could complete whatever he was going to say, Seth screamed.

"Mom, see what he's calling me!!!"

Theo was a better five-year-old than Seth.

"Idiot." Zack hushed him, "I was going to say idiot, you idiot."

And then, he turned to me. "I didn't mean it like whatever he just said."

"That's fine." I managed to say through my chuckle and he let out a sigh.

"See," Seth crossed his arms and Liam laughed, giving a high five to Caleb.

"See what?"

"She said that's fine, means it's not. If she hadn't taken it seriously, she'd have said 'of course, I know that' but see what she said. 'That's fine', that means, she felt bad but it's fine." Seth tilted his head with raised eyebrows.

Zack opened his mouth to say something and closed it after a few seconds. He turned to me again as if to clarify and that was all it took to lose my control. I laughed hard, joined by others and Zack finally sighed.

It was Caleb who found this more than entertaining. He applauded dragging Zack with him.

"Now, now. Who was sensitive?" He smirked, all of them mumbling something under their breath and Sasha laughed.

"This is why I love them."

I can see that. It's hard to not love very lovable people. And it's impossible when the said people treat you like you're a part of them.

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

I really hope all those scenes weren't much annoying. I'm so sorry if it is. I HATE online classes😫

And thanks to everyone who's reading this. Thank you ❤️
With a virtual hug😘

So, that's it. Meet Zack's friends.😝

Thanks again, lots of love💙
Stay safe💕