Matt walked out of the restaurant and onto the street outside to catch some fresh air. He had begun to feel rather hot and cooped up inside, and relished the feel of the cold air on his fingers. Despite the fact that he was in Central London, the streets and roads around him were pretty empty - which, no doubt, was to do with the hour. There was a bus stop near him, but he hadn't seen a bus stop there in a while. The taxis had become much less frequent now, too.
As he stood and watched a car drive off into the distance, Matt heard footsteps. He turned to see a tall, dark-haired boy wearing a hoodie walking up to him - of course, this was Zach. He was one of David's longtime friends. Matt was friendly with Zach too.
"That was a good party, wasn't it, Zach?" Matt said.
"Yeah. David never disappoints. He always puts on the best music," Zach responded.
"He does indeed," Matt agreed. "Speaking of which - here he comes now! Let's say goodbye to him, shall we?" he said to Zach as David walked out. He was smaller than Zach and looked a little nerdy, but he always put on the biggest parties, so a lot of people liked him. Many other people David had invited were also leaving now, however, the only people there that Matt knew well were his brother Ben, who he'd invited along, David, and Zach.
"Well, it's been a good night, but I've got to go now. Bye, Zach. Bye, David. I'll catch you tomorrow at school, OK?" Matt said cordially.
David said nothing, but smiled and waved vaguely in Matt's direction. He then walked off. He had always been a man of few words.
"Bye, Matt," said Zach. "Bye, Ben," he said, addressing Matt's brother. He was slurring his words quite a bit. Matt wasn't surprised. Zach had had a lot to drink. They all had. It had been a hell of a night. The party had been wild. And so much fun. Matt felt naughty partying on a school night - it was near enough midnight on a Monday - but it was David's birthday, and he had given Matt an invitation. Of course Matt was going to go. David was one of his best friends.
"Well, my friends aren't so bad, are they?" Matt playfully said, elbowing Ben lightly in the ribs. Ben had always been skeptical of Matt's friends. Being 2 years older, he considered himself wiser than Matt, and was worried that Matt was getting himself involved with the wrong crowd. Matt disagreed with Ben, so he decided to invite Ben along to the party so Ben could see that his friends weren't so bad after all.
"Stop it," groaned Ben, in an attempt to seem offended. He failed, and ended up chuckling. "I never outright said they were bad. Don't put words in my mouth, Matty boy."
"You definitely doubted them," Matt cackled, stumbling a little bit as he spoke.
"Maybe I did doubt them. But just a little bit. Only a little bit," Ben said.
"You outright called Zach sus," said Matt.
"Well, you told me that he only listened to horrorcore music. How is that not fucked?" Ben laughed.
Matt laughed too, and as his body heaved, he stumbled forward - but Ben caught his arm before he facepalmed on the concrete pavement.
"Woah, steady," said Ben.
"Don't tell me to be steady, you're just as wasted as me," Matt said, clapping his hands together.
"I'm not the one falling over - hold on, are we going the right way?" Ben suddenly asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Matt said. "Why?"
"I don't recognize these streets," said Ben. "I'm not sure we're going the right way, you know. I think your drunk ass might have remembered the directions incorrectly."
