and I spent a few minutes greeting all of them, and then Kyle walked behind the bar, so the rest of us sat down on the stools.
“Okay,” he said with his eyes wide and excited. “I’ve been working on this with Kaylee all week.” Kaylee was Kyle’s older sister, and she was a professional bartender at one of Posting Proper’s highest-end rooftop bars. “She helped me design drinks for all of you.”
He started to pour different liquors and flavored syrups into a tumbler and mixed them together as we all watched, stunned and silent. A playlist of popular music was playing quietly and was a perfect soundtrack to Kyle’s mixing. He poured the contents of his first drink into a glass—something light blue and somewhat ethereal-looking—and slid it over to Colette.
Colette took a drink of it, and her eyes lit up. “Oh, wow! It’s amazing.”
Kyle smiled. “You’re bright and mysterious. I told Kaylee that you have a sweet tooth, so there’s a little bit of white chocolate in there.”
Alistair got a darker drink that looked like a regular brown liquor until he lifted the glass to drink, and I saw shimmering particles swirling throughout it. “It’s bitter, like you,” Kyle said, and we all laughed. “But I know you’re a classic guy, so it’s a bitter twist on a tried and true.”
“It’s awesome,” Alistair said.
Avery got a cocktail with aged wine because of how old-school and intelligent she was. Jaxon got something sour because he was sharp, both mentally and physically. Nikita got her widely known favorite drink, an Amaretto Sour, with a black cherry twist and coloring that made it a little darker but a little sweeter.
I got an amalgamation of expensive liquors and flavors. When Kyle slid it to me, he said, “I call this a top-top shelf Long Island iced tea because it’s pretentious, but you forgive it because it’s good.”
The smile that rose to my face was so large that it made my cheeks hurt. “Thanks, man.”
After that, Kyle started mixing a drink. It was easily the most complicated of all the drinks he’d put together and required several mixes, liquors, syrups, and a carbonated soda. When he finished, it had a shining gold hue to it. He stuck a straw in it and slid it across the bar to Brayden.
“Uh.” Kyle let out an awkward chuckle. “Not to pull a Nathan, but I think I spent the most time putting this one together. It hits your tongue with a little bit of sour, but then it’s really sweet going down. When it hits your stomach, it makes you kind of warm all over.” He shrugged. “Like you.”
Brayden gave Kyle a wide-eyed look first and then looked down at his drink. “Wow.”
“Kyle, this is amazing. Thank you,” I said.
“Did you make one for yourself?” Avery asked.
Kyle lifted the cocktail he was already working on when Nikita and I arrived. “Yeah. Kaylee made it for me. It’s a light liquor with a sour tinge to it because Kaylee says I’m a brat, but after the first sip, you don’t wanna stop.”
Avery let out a bright, loud laugh. “Oh my god! That’s so true!”
“It is!” Colette tacked on. “When I first met you, I was like, who is this guy? Then after, like, a week, I was like, where’s Kyle? Let’s hang out with Kyle.”
“It’s perfect for you,” I said.
“You okay, man?” Alistair asked, looking at Brayden. Brayden was still just staring down at his drink, looking dumbfounded.
“I’m okay,” he murmured in response. “Thank you, guys. I feel selfish.”
“Why do you say that?” Kyle asked.
“Because I know how hard these last few months have been for all of you, but for me, it’s been amazing. I get to spend time with you guys, and I feel like we’re friends. I never really thought of myself as being part of this group, more like I was just someone forced on all of you by Nathan.” He looked up at Kyle. “I don’t know what to say?”
“Don’t say anything,” Kyle replied. “Just drink.”
“I remember when Brayden first came,” Colette said.
Jaxon nodded. “Yeah. That was funny.”
“What happened?” Brayden asked.
“Well, Nathan was all up in arms about wanting to enlist a bunch of younger members so that The Royal Court could go on after we’d all graduated. A hundred kids must have come to Nathan, all wanting him to bring them in, but when Nathan asked if anyone stuck out to us, at the exact same time, we all said—”
“Brayden,” Kyle, Colette,