Page 103 of My Family

Jack actually trips over Santana's leg in his rush to the door, catches himself on Cedric's shoulder, and uses the momentum to propel himself forward.

Tyler is close behind, his eyes wide and bright with the disbelief of someone who's forgotten that places like this exist.

Liam climbs out laughing while I compete with Reed to see who gets out first.

He wins.

The motherfucker pushes me back.

Inside, there are tables everywhere. The walls, floors, and ceiling are wooden. It's warm, and it smells divine. There are pictures on the walls, framed photos of someone's Italian grandmother, and a chalkboard menu with hand-drawn pizza slices that have faces for some reason.

Griff negotiates seating with the host, a teenager whose expression suggests he's reconsidering his life choices as he processes the logistics of a table for eleven.

We end up in the back, at a long table assembled from three smaller ones pushed together.

The two guards take seats in the middle of the table like regular people. Santos picks up a laminated menu and studies it. Patterson orders water.

Griff takes the end of the table, rests one elbow on it, picks up the menu, scans it once, and sets it down.

Decision made.

And we are loud. He lets us be loud. Jack is on his feet before the water glasses arrive, reenacting Reed's championship finish. We all watch him.

Cedric is correcting him: it was jab, jab, hook, not hook, jab, hook.

Dan is already arguing with Cedric, saying he just made that up.

Liam is laughing, watching it like it's a spectacle.

Reed is rolling his eyes, huffing.

Tyler is watching Reed and scowling at him, as usual, but without the bite.

Santana is talking loudly to no one about pepperoni.

It goes on, chaotic.

"Hey!" Griff exclaims. "Three pepperoni, three cheese good with everybody?"

We say some variation of "yeah, yes, fuck yeah" and keep discussing the matches.

Even Liam's.

"Liam, when you hit that guy Dominguez in the fucking FACE! I screamed so loud, I'm still hoarse," Jack says.

"That was insane, man. I thought he was going to kill you right then," Santana says, nodding.

Liam seems a little embarrassed, and it's so cute to see.

My little shy puppy.

"He did try to kill me after," he says, and we laugh.

"He tried to kill me too," Reed says, and I'm surprised.

Reed really likes Liam, a fact that makes my stomach burn.

"But you got VENGEANCE!" Jack says.