Nico (The Rossi Mafia)

Chapter 1 - Kennedy

I was the first one to arrive at the bar. Apparently, it seemed like everyone else had other things to do. Was it too eager of me to turn up there so early? I tried not to think about it as I sat at our usual table and ordered a beer.

Eventually, nearly twenty minutes later, my friends Carly and Sarah turned up.

"Kenni! Look at you!" Sarah squealed. It was strange that she was making such a show of seeing me. We got together for brunch just a week ago. The three of us hugged and as soon as we sat down, our friends Silvia and Mona walked into the bar.

Carly and Sarah squealed again and the four of them fell into tight hugs. It was almost like they were loving the attention...no, it wasn't almost that. It was definitely that. Nothing had changed since high school. My friends loved the attention. They enjoyed the fact that other people at the bar were now turning to look at our table.

I still wondered, even though I'd known these girls for a decade now, why they included me in their group. I was nothing like them. Sarah and Mona used to be in the cheerleading team. Silvia and Carly were equally popular.

I was neither.

I guessed the reason was Ava.

Ava and I had been best friends since fourth grade. She'd picked me—the dorky redhead—out of everyone in class, to sit beside. Ava on the other hand, was a beautiful raven-haired stunner. She was the kind of girl everyone wanted to be friends with. Every guy in high school wanted to bang.

It was no surprise that Carly, Sarah, Silvia and Mona had naturally gravitated to her. And since I was Ava's best friend, they had no choice but to include me in that group.

By now, I'd grown to like them. I wasn't nearly as close to them as I was with Ava, of course—but they were my friends. I'd known them for what felt like forever.

"It's a shame Ava couldn't make it," Sarah said, when we finally settled down.

"She has a thing tonight," I spoke up, gripping the bottle of beer in my hand.

"I've been looking forward to this night all week!" Carly declared, rolling her eyes.

"Me too. Nobody warns you that it gets harder as your baby grows up," Silvia added.

"How old is she now?" Mona asked.

"Two and three months, and it's only getting worse. Thankfully Steven helps out when he can, but he works a lot. I can't blame him," Silvia replied.

"Oh, he's a good dad. I can't say the same for Chad. I mean, he's trying...he's really trying, you guys. But sometimes I feel like he just doesn't have the daddy genes in him. You know?" Sarah said.

"Oh, honey! It'll be okay. At least he's trying. It could be a lot worse!" Carly leaned in towards her to give her a hug.

I drank some more of my beer. I didn't really have anything to contribute to this conversation. I wasn't married and I didn't have a kid. In fact, I couldn't even remember when my last serious relationship was. While my friends were dropping into the marriage game like flies, I was the only one left standing.

"Last night, Jordan called me up at nine...right after I took the roast chicken out of the oven. He tells me, he can't make it home for dinner because he has an important client meeting," Carly said with a sizzle in her voice.

The others rolled their eyes in unison. We'd been hearing about Jordan and his antics for months now. Carly was clearly unhappy. The last time I gave her my advice—which was to dump his ass, the others gasped.