We approached the cafe just as a waitress was setting tables and chairs outside.
"Are you open?" I asked, and the waitress looked at me blankly. "I mean can we sit at one of these tables?"
"Sure!" She responded, "I'll be right out to take your order." and with that, she disappeared inside the cafe.
We sat around a larger, circular table, dragging some chairs from one of the others so all seven of us could sit together. Sofi sat to my right and Leslie to my left. Omar was the other side of Leslie, followed by Abi, Emma and David, completing the circle next to Sofi.
"What a night!" I started, and Omar sniggered, shaking his head slowly and looking down at the table.
"Yes. What a night," he repeated, and with that I suddenly felt slightly embarrassed at the memory of what I'd done for the first time last night. All the stigma society still exercised at such behaviour was still very real in my mind, and I felt the weight of it starting to bear down on me.
Then David chimed in, the first time I'd heard him speak, "It was amazing!" And with that simple, innocent observation, I felt relaxed again. No one at this table was about to negatively judge anyone else at the table. I felt a great connection with everyone here.
I stared intently into the doorway of the cafe to see the clock on the far wall. It read a little after 6am. As soon as I saw the time I noticed the waitress was returning and, presumably, thought I was staring at her. She flashed me a winning smile and approached us, apologising for taking so long.
"What would you like?" She asked, pointing the question at me as she came to a halt at my shoulder.
"Coffees all round?" I asked the group, and most nodded their agreement.
Emma's face took on the look of a little girl, as she asked, "Can I have an orange juice?"
"Of course," beamed the waitress, "anything else?"
"Do you do milkshakes?" Asked David, and with that, the waitress hurried to his shoulder, bending her hips slightly toward him.
"Oh we do, what flavor do you like?"
Emma and Sofi gave her a look that everyone understood to mean, "back off."
"Chocolate?" asked David, meekly.
"Ooh, good choice sir!" She responded, encouragingly.
Emma actually tutted at this and rolled her eyes away. The waitress smiled at her own little victory, and disappeared back into the cafe.
After a moment of silence, Emma asked, "Does anybody even know what time it is?"
"Just gone 6," I replied.
"Oh my god I'm not even tired yet," Emma triumphantly informed us, "I can probably stay up all day."
At that remark, we all smiled at her. Not in a patronising way, but in a loving way. Emma was an adult, but had a charming innocence about her. Sofi was looking at her with the most amount of affection, and I saw her mouth the words, "I love you." to Emma, her best friend.
Emma beamed back at Sofi. Her smile went all the way over her entire being, from the wide, open lips revealing her teeth, to the adoring gaze from her watery-focussed eyes, to her completely relaxed but attentive body language, leaning forward in her seat, arms on the table. She stared at Sofi like this long enough for me to notice everyone else looking at her. We all recognised the love in her eyes and we all fell in love with their love for each other. To recognise that love was to be in love with her.
Emma didn't have to repeat, "I love you too," back to Sofi, like some automaton, socially programmed to return a set response. Sofi, and all present knew it instinctively.
The spell was broken by the returning waitress, who brought all our drinks, with no small measure of skill, to our table. She set our drinks in front of each of us, leaving David's to last, flirtatiously squeezing his arm as she turned to leave. David didn't seem to notice as he brought the milkshake to his mouth and sucked the sugary liquid through the straw into his eager mouth.
Emma and Sofi watched him gulp the first few mouthfuls down, then, for the briefest of moments, looked at each other with a knowing glance, before turning to their own drinks.
We all followed suit and almost as one raised our drinks and sipped in unison.
"Oh I love being part of this gang!" gushed Emma.
"Yeah," David agreed, pausing from his shake just long enough to gasp the word out, before returning to his draining of the glass.
A gang? I'd never really been part of a gang before. Some, what I would call friendship groups, whom I met up with from time to time, but never what I'd see as a gang.
However, as I sat there thinking about it, I guess we had witnessed each other's most intimate behaviours and feelings. Such things are a feature of gangs and not so much the acquaintances one meets irregularly, every now and then.
"I don't think I've ever been part of a gang before." I finally said out loud, hoping for an answer to what being part of a gang actually meant.
"There are different kinds of gangs," Omar offered.
"You're fucking right there!" Leslie interrupted, with a voice that told of her experience in such things.
"You mean you were in a gang?" Abi asked.
Leslie nodded at the table and sighed, "Yeah, I've done a whole lot of shit."
Now Sofi turned to face her, and reminded, "Mum, you don't have to tell these people if you don't feel comfortable with it."
Leslie returned Sofi's concerned look and replied, "I feel more comfortable with these people, our gang," and she did air quotes with the word, "than anyone else in my life. I want to tell someone, but I'll only do it if you're one hundred percent comfortable with me doing so."
"These people are all good," Sofi smiled reassuringly, "go for it."
"I never knew my parents," Leslie began, "I spent my whole childhood being bounced around different foster homes. Apparently, or so I was told once by a social worker, I had an older brother. I would daydream about meeting him and he would look after me. But that never happened. Unless you've been through this kind of existence, you can never really know what it's like."
"Totally agree," I piped up, and everyone looked at me now, so I explained my response. "I was adopted at age five." I nodded for Leslie to continue.
"Oh, I never realised," Leslie said with sincere sympathy, rubbing my arm, "You'll know what some of those social workers can be like, then. Not all of them," and she raised her hand with that caviat, "some of them are helpful. But some of them are not. Looking back now, I guess they were just doing their job, but I like to think I'd show a bit more compassion for some of those poor kids if I was in their shoes."
"You never met your brother?" Omar asked, with some concern in his voice, "I miss my family so much. It must feel hard for you."
Leslie laughed inwardly, "I still secretly think I might find him one day."
"Apparently, I had a little sister." I remarked, recognising the connection, "My only recollection of my parents was my Mum being pregnant. Some time later, a social worker came to visit, and my adopted parents told me I had a sister that might come to live with us. I remember being excited about the prospect, but nothing more was ever said about it. I sometimes wonder how she is."
Now Omar smiled enigmatically, "Maybe you two are brother and sister."
We all chuckled at the suggestion, "What, because all us white people look the same?" I asked, trying to be funny.
"No!" Omar said, seemingly offended at the suggestion. I raised my hand in apology, but then we all went quiet for a while.