There were nine individuals, sitting in the living room with the nearby fireplace to keep them warm on this cold winter night. They were celebrating many things that night: the couples that stayed together all these years, Atticus's actions on a special night ten years ago, and Blair's pregnancy. Zane was the only one who wasn't able to make it there, but it seemed like the other nine would've been fine without him there for tonight.
"I'll be right back," The anxious mother announced, "I'm just going to check on the kids real quick."
"Don't worry about it, Alexis," Her husband who had brown hair with an orange splash on top leaned back in his chair, "They're probably still sleeping. If not, they probably would've come out of their rooms by now and tried to figure out what was going on down here."
"You're probably right, Jaden." Alexis replied. She stood awkwardly for a second before rushing up the stairs. "I just want to make sure they're okay."
The husband identified as Jaden turned to the soon-to-be mother in the room and said, "In a couple of years from now, Blair that will be you."
"I know, but that will be the best part." Blair smiled softly. "The part that I'm worried about the most is the whole pregnancy part itself. I mean…anything could happen, right? What if I have a miscarriage, o-or twins? Sure, I'd love to have twins but the pain that I would go through-"
"You'll do fine." Blair's husband reassured her. "As long as you have me, I know you can get through this."
Blair leaned towards her husband and gave him a quick kiss. "Thank you Chazz."
"Okay," Jaden stood up and put up his hands in defense, "I'm just going to say this since nobody else has yet but…you of all people talking about teamwork, Chazz, it's kind of creepy."
"What," Chazz nearly choked on his own spit, "what do you mean? It's not creepy at all." He turned to the two girls sitting across from him. "Mindy, Jasmine, tell Jaden it's not creepy."
Mindy and Jasmine thought for a second before answering in unison. "It's kind of creepy."
"How is it creepy?" Chazz asked.
"Don't look at me for explanations." Jasmine crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. "You're a big man who can fight his own battles."
"It's just that…you've changed a lot over the last year or so." Mindy explained. "It just doesn't seem normal."
"It doesn't matter to me whether you've changed or not." Blair told Chazz. "I'll still love you either way, unconditionally."
"I think I might barf." Jasmine's husband walked out of the room and in the kitchen.
"What? Come on, Bastion!" Blair turned to Mindy's husband. "Syrus, what did we do?"
"He's not barfing because of you guys." Syrus explained. "He's just doesn't like all the cuteness, fluff, lovey-dovey stuff going on in the room. That's why he left." He paused. "Not a bad idea."
Blair slipped off her left flat and aimed at Syrus. "If you even think about joining him, I will throw this shoe at you so hard, it will leave you unconscious."
"I-I-I mean," Syrus slowly backed away towards the kitchen. "I-I'm just going in there to um…to get some wine for e-everyone. N-Not because of…you know?" He dashed into the kitchen before Blair had the chance to throw her shoe at him. Blair lowered her shoe and sighed.
"I suppose wine would be great right now." Chazz said. He stood up and walked over to the kitchen.
Jaden waited until Chazz was out of hearing range before whispering to the others that surrounded them. "I just thought of something! We should tell the others about that one day at the bar four years ago."
"Jaden are you insane?" Jasmine protested. "We can't tell them about that day; we promised we would never speak of that day again."
"Why did we make that promise again?" Blair asked. "It's a good story, they've never heard about it, and they were probably going to find out about it sooner or later."
"I agree." Mindy said. "I suppose it's not like anything bad happened."
"Well…a few things happened." Jaden admitted.
"Hold on," Alexis's brother Atticus exclaimed. "I smell dirt! What is this story that you guys are hiding from the others?"
"Remember how you spiked everyone's drinks ten years ago?" Blair asked. "Remember how we all become couples that long ago?"
"Yeah," Atticus replied enthusiastically, "that was one of my most heroic acts!"
"There was another moment when our drinks were spiked." Mindy explained. "Only it wasn't Jaden's, Blair's, Jasmine's, or even my drink like how it was last time."
"So are you telling me that someone spiked the drinks of Alexis, Bastion, Syrus, and Chazz?" Atticus asked, his eyes wide open from high levels of curiosity.
"That's exactly what we're telling you." Jasmine nodded. "We thought it was you at first but…we've recently ruled out that possibility."
"How recently did you rule it out?" Atticus asked, clearly confused.
"Just now," Jasmine answered, "you obviously have no recollection of that day so you were probably somewhere else."
"When did this all happen?" Atticus asked.
"Four years ago, we were about 21 at that time so we went into a bar downtown." Jaden replied. He then cupped his hands and called out to his friends. "Bastion, Chazz, Sy, Lex, come over here! We've got something to tell you!"