Into the Light

80 Anna's POV

Colby said that he loved me. Without me saying it first. Without Lilith's influence. He said it like it was the most normal thing in the world for him to say. I was in the backseat of Griffin's car, sitting next to Devyn. Her, her friends Xepher and Griffin, were all talking or singing. I vaguely noticed that someone had their phone out and was recording a lot. I was still frozen. In shock or something else, but my brain was still repeating the words that he had said. "I love you." Then I had barely croaked out a "love you," before Devyn was yanking me towards the car. This was a big moment but he was doing whatever he was doing, while I was with people that I barely  knew at someone's house that I didn't know at all. All I really wanted was to be back with him. I sighed and looked out the window. Maybe I could call him to come get me. Just tell Devyn that I wasn't feeling well or something. I sucked at lying though. Of course, I seemed to be getting better at it, since that's all I had been doing lately. My new life called for it and there was no way around it. "You okay?" Devyn asked, softly. I looked over to her and smiled. "Yeah, I'm okay," I replied. "You miss him, hun? I recognize the look," she whispered. I felt my face flush and ducked my head. How stupid was it to miss someone that you had only been apart from for maybe 20 minutes. It didn't make sense. "I guess so," I said. "I've just been spending a lot of time with him lately, so it kind of feels weird to be away from him." She smiled and patted my leg. "It's okay. I understand. I promise that you're going to have a great time tonight though. If you don't, and you want to leave, just let me know. I'll make sure that you get right back home." I smiled at her gratefully. "Thank you, Dev." "No problem," she replied. "Now, put a smile on that gorgeous face because we're here!" Everyone got out of the car and she met me at the back of it. She looped her arm through mine, and started walking towards the modest sized home with me. "Okay, a few things that you should know. These people are great. They're some of the best people that you could ever meet, but they're also total goofballs so don't take anything they say seriously. Remember, if for any reason you don't feel comfortable, or just want to leave, don't be afraid to let me know. This night is about fun and if you aren't having any then it obviously isn't working. Promise you'll tell me?" she asked, stopping at the bottom of the brick stairs. I nodded and swallowed the ball of nervousness down. "Great!" she replied, with a smile. "Then let the fun begin." Griffin and Xepher were already ringing the doorbell repeatedly and banging on the door. Seemed like overkill to me, but what did I know? "Oh My GOD, will you fucking STOP IT!" A tall, dark skinned man had opened the door and was yelling at Griffin. He had a wide, gorgeous smile on his handsome face. "What's up, Kevin?" Griffin said, then stepped past him into the house. "Come on in," Kevin replied, wryly. "Hey Xeph." "Hey Kev," she said, smiling at him. When Xepher walked inside, that left Devyn and myself. "Well, who do we have here?" he asked. I found myself blushing again, just because his smile was so pure. "Kevin, this is Colby's...friend? This is Anna. Anna, this is my good friend, Kevin," Devyn said, introducing us. Kevin took my hand in his and raised it to his lips. "Nice to meet you, Anna," he replied, lowering my hand. "Nice to meet you too," I said, shyly, and folded a lock of hair behind my ear. I was never any good at meeting new people, and the nervousness that I felt had my stomach rolling. I just knew that my hands would be shaking if I held them up to look at. "Cassie and Tara are in her room," Kevin said, stepping aside so that we could enter. I followed Devyn through a stylish living room, to a door off to the side. She knocked a couple of times, then opened it and walked in. "Devyyynn!" A tall, beautiful blonde girl screamed, before jumping up and slinging her arms around Dev. "Hey Cassie," Devyn laughed. When Cassie let her go, she looked at me and smiled. "Cassie, this is my friend Anna. Anna, Cassie. She dates Jake's brother, Reggie. You'll meet him later." I smiled shyly, and brought my hand up in a half wave. "Hey, it's nice to meet you." She giggled and pulled me into her arms for a hug. "We aren't formal here," she whispered. "Don't be nervous." When she pulled back and smiled at me, I felt a weight lift off of my shoulders. I could see in her eyes that she was a genuinely nice person. I didn't have to worry about being judged or not fitting in. Cassie and Devyn sort of fell down onto the bed. That's when I noticed that Xepher and Tara were already sitting around the room. Xepher was on the bed with Cassie and Dev, while Tara was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. "Hey Anna!" she exclaimed, smiling at me. "Hey," I replied. I was still nervous, but that was just my initial reaction. "The last time we hung out with you, we gave you a makeover," Devyn said. "Wanna do it again?" I watched her pick up something rolled in white paper and inhale deeply. It was a joint. She saw me watching and held it out to me. "Wanna hit it?" I shook my head. "No, thank you." She shrugged and passed it to Cassie. "Well, sit down. You're making me paranoid," Xepher said. I hadn't spoken to her much but she seemed nice enough. Her fashion style was something that I would never in a million years be able to pull off. She was confident in it though, and I had to admit that she rocked it. It did look strange to me, with the spikes on her shoes and around her neck. The chainmail bralette that she had on under a black leather jacket was extreme too, but she had it paired with a black miniskirt, that had silver chains woven in and out of it. I couldn't figure out why she was wearing stockings with runs all in them though.