Riley and Devin

Chapter Eleven

I'm woken up to the sound of a door slamming. "Babes, where are you?" Devin calls as he walks into the living room. His eyes fill with disgust when he sees Alex, or rather Alex's arms wrapped around me. Alex too, has woken up. "Never mind," Devin says as he turns on his heel and starts to walk away.

"You might want to go after him," Alex says. I nod and then chase after him.

"Devin! Devin! Wait!" I yell after him. I sprint and then finally manage to grab his arm. He whips around to face me. "What the fuck is up with you? Seriously Dev," I say.

"Not that you care or anything but my brother just got home. And guess what? He brought his husband. I'm totally cool with him being gay, but guess who isn't? My father," Devin says. He spits the last two words. I knew that Devin's brother was gay so this isn't a surprise to me.

"How's your mom?" I ask him.

"She already knew about him," he says. "I just came over here to get away from my fucked up family, but I can see that you're busy. I'll go now," he says and then walks to his car.

"Wait! I'll come with you, just give me ten minutes," I say. He nods. I run back inside. "Devin has a family thing going on and he needs me right now. I'm sorry but you have to go. I'll call you later, maybe we can do something tomorrow. Oh and I had a lot of fun last especially playing tictactoe," I say. He grins.

"Yeah, I know how it is with family. I had fun too," he says. He leans down to kiss me. I kiss him back and then he walks out. I run upstairs and brush my teeth and throw my hair into a braid. I pull on jeans and then a tank top and then an oversize sweatshirt. I grab my phone and then run downstairs to Devin's car.

"Whoa, cutting it close. Nine minutes and forty seconds," Devin says as I climb into his car.

"Shut up asshole," I say as I hit his arm. He smiles. "So, where are we going?"

"Well, anywhere but here." He doesn't say anything else.

"Do you have an actual plan?" I ask him. He shakes his head. "Okay, well, first we're going to stop somewhere for breakfast," I tell him.

"I'm not hungry," Devin says.

"Oh Devin, you're going to eat, even I have to shove it down your throat." He nods and then pulls into a small diner. We walk in and then sit down at a small table.

I order a coffee and eggs with toast. Devin orders chocolate milk and pancakes. "You eat like a little kid," I tell him.

"Hey, you're the one that told me to eat," he says. Fair enough.

"So," I say slowly, "how are things with you and Caroline?" He chokes on his milk.

"Really?" Devin asks me. I nod. "We broke up."

"Why?" I ask him. He shrugs. "Well, are you going to tell me or not?" I ask him. He runs a hand through his hair.

"It doesn't matter." Before I can ask him anything else our food comes. I give him half of my eggs and half of my toast and he gives me half of his pancakes. We don't even think about doing it because we've done it so many times. After we eat we get back on the road.

I take my shoes off and then kick my feet up on the dashboard. "Your feet smell nasty," Devin says. I grin.

"It's not my feet, it's my shoes," I tell him. I look at my watch and realize that it's only Saturday. He turns the radio on and I roll down my window. I take my hair out if it's braid. "So, where are we going?" I ask him.

"How do you feel about a road trip that has no destination?" he says.

"Works for me. I'm gonna take a nap though. You came to my house at six in the morning, it's seriously too early," I tell him. He nods and then I shove my seat as far back as it will go and shut my eyes. It doesn't take long for me to fell asleep with the soft music and the light breeze from the window.

I stir a couple of times to see Devin intently staring at the road. I go back to sleep and then when I wake up there's a sweatshirt covering me. I rub my eyes and then sit up. I look at the sweatshirt and then at Devin. "Why'd you give me your sweatshirt?" I ask him. He just seems to have realized that I'm awake.

"Oh! You're not dead! You kept talking about how cold you were and then when I tried to close the window you threatened to cut my balls off. So I gave you my sweatshirt," he says. I frown. I didn't know that I talked in my sleep.

"How often do I talk in my sleep?" I ask him. He grins at me.

"All the time. You like to spill your guts to me. Like how you felt bad about falling asleep with Alex," Devin says. My eyes narrow.

"You're lying," I tell him. He shakes his head. "I'm delusional in my sleep. You can't take anything that I say seriously."

"I don't know, you sounded very convincing," he says. I stare out the window. Do I feel bad about Alex? No, at least I don't think I do. I look around and we're the only car on the road. It's also dark out. I look at my watch.

"Devin, we should stop at a motel or something. Do you even know where we are?" I say.

"No. I don't know where we are, but I do know that there's a motel every couple of miles," he says.

"Do you want me to drive?" I ask him. Devin shakes his head. Sure enough he pulls into a shitty motel a couple of minutes later. We get one room. It only has one bed. I plop down and Devin sits down. "Are we going to talk about your family?" I ask him. He doesn't have to say anything, he just looks at me. His look tells me everything. He flops down next to me and then we stare at the feeling.

"Thank you for being here for me," he says. I nod.

"It's my job." He rolls over and smiles at me. It's a pretty fake smile. I sigh. "Here." I hand him my phone.

"What's this for?" Devin asks.

"Stick the earbuds in, crank the music and dance," I tell him. He raises an eyebrow but takes my phone. He holds out his hand.

"You're dancing too," he says. I shake my head. He pulls me to my feet. Devin sticks the earbuds in and starts to dancing. He shuts his eyes. He opens them and then stares at me expectantly.

"I don't dance," I say. He grabs my hand and puts his other hand on my waist.

"I don't really need your help." He twirls me and then I start laughing. We dance like that for a couple more minutes before we're both laughing too hard to do anything else. I collapse on the bed. Devin leans against the wall.

"We can't stay here forever," I tell him. He shrugs. "We have to leave tomorrow. No later than three, okay?" I ask him.

"Okay, but can I stay at your house?" he asks.

"Devin," I sigh. "You're going to have to face your family at one point or another. But yes, you can stay at my house. And whenever you're ready to face your family, I'll come with you."

"Thank you," he says quietly. He seems far away.

"Come on," I say patting the bed. "Let's go to sleep." He crawls under the covers. I do too and then I roll over to face the wall. I hear him snoring softly about an hour later. Devin looks so peaceful when he's sleeping. My stomach growls and I sit up alarmed.

I take a look at Devin and he's knocked out. I silently creep out of the room. I walk around the motel and look around for a vending machine. I don't see one so I walk outside. There's a gas station across the street. "Fuck yes!" I say and then walk to it. I run to the back of it and find a slushie machine. They don't have Coke, so I get cherry and grape. I also grab a sugary granola bar. I pay and then walk back to the motel.

I sit outside of our room and eat my food, since I'd probably wake Devin up. There's no one really lingering in the motel that isn't already in their room. It's kind of creepy and peaceful at the same time. I finish my food and then let myself back into the room. I throw my stuff in the trash and then take off my sweatshirt. I crawl back into bed and gently push Devin over to make room. He's still passed out. Pretty soon I fall asleep.