Riley and Devin

Chapter Forty-Seven

"Wake up!" I yell at Devin. I shake him awake. We have to leave in fifteen minutes. Devin rolls over. He grabs my waist and pulls me to his chest. "We have to go," I tell him.

"Why? It's Saturday," he says. I throw my leg over his hip.

"We have to go and talk at a middle school. I told you about this," I tell Devin. He groans.

"Can't I just sleep?" he asks me.

"No, you have to get up," I tell him. He groans again and then opens his eyes and looks at me.

"Five minutes?" Devin asks. I shake my head. He sits up and rubs his eyes. He hasn't been a fan of wearing shirts to bed I've realized. I stand up and hand him a pair of jeans, a shirt and then a sweatshirt. I look outside and it's raining pretty hard. Devin walks to the bathroom. I shove my phone into the back pocket of my jeans and then put my earbuds in the front pocket. I'm wearing dark grey skinny jeans, a tight and low cut white t-shirt and then one of Devin's zip up hoodies.

I tuck a lock of hair behind my ears and continue to look outside. I walk downstairs and pour coffee into a to-go cup. Devin walks downstairs. "You ready?" I ask him.

"Your hair is thicker and wavier than normal," he says and then adds, "It's sexy." I try to ignore the last part without much success. Devin comes right behind me and his hands run through my hair. I stiffen and stop pouring coffee.

"Yeah, it's um, humid out," I say. I put the lid on my cup and step away from Devin. "We should go," I say. He nods and I lock the door as we walk out. We get in his car.

I stare out the window as we drive. Raindrops hit the windows hard. I try to hide my excitement, not from the middle school thing but from the rain. I love the rain and it's hard to keep a smile off my face.

"Why are you smiling? You're not actually excited for the lecture are you?" Devin asks me.

"No, I just, I really love the rain," I say.

"Why? It's dark and gloomy and you get wet," he tells me.

"Yeah, but I love the smell and I also love getting soaked. I love the way rain feels against my skin and I especially love overcast clouds," I tell him.

"Do you want me to stop? We can get out and go in the rain if you want," Devin says, he turns to look at me.

"Ms. Walter would kill us if we're late. But maybe later if it's still raining." He nods. A couple of minutes later we pull up at the school. We're supposed to meet Ms. Walter in the gym. "Do you have an idea what to expect?" I ask Devin. He shrugs and then we enter the gym.

There's about forty middle schoolers, twenty high schoolers and a handful of teachers. Ms. Walter beckons us over. "Riley, Devin, thank God you guys are here. Okay, so we're having some technical difficulties so, try to find a couple of kids to hang out with. Talk about high school or whatever else. I honestly don't care," she says and then turns and goes back to talking to other teachers.

"Okay," I say. I turn to Devin. "So.." I say.

"I'm gonna go meet up with Caden and TJ," he tells me. So then I'm alone. I look around trying to decide where I should go. And then I see a girl.

She's sitting with her back against the wall, feet crossed at the ankle and she's wearing beat up Vans held together with duct tape, she has earbuds in, head bobbing to her music. She's scribbling in a journal and she has a nose ring. So naturally I walk over to her.

"Hey," I say and sit down next to her.

"Hey, you want one?" She holds out one of hear earbuds. I'm not usually one to do this but I take her earbud anyways.