Never Cry Wolf

Lucius

Devyn is the strongest woman I know. Apart from my mother, of course. She's been living with us for a couple of weeks now and she's adjusted better than any of us thought she would. She hasn't seen her father since he gave Ted custody of her. She hasn't seen or heard from Ted since he "disappeared" and Tanner's been avoiding her. I expected her to be a wreck, but she's not. She's so strong. Stronger than I ever anticipated.

"I won't need a ride home tonight." I turn and stare at Devyn. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" She throws her books in her locker, only keeping what she needs for homework tonight.

"Why not?" Why didn't she tell me sooner? What is she doing?

"I have soccer practice tonight." My eyebrows crease. "I guess I never mentioned that to you. I play soccer and practice starts today."

I lift my eyebrows. "I got that." She starts laughing at me as she puts her Calculus book in her backpack. "What time does practice end?" My voice flat. I don't see the humor in any of this.

"About 5:30." So school ends at three, practice ends at five, and the mall closes at nine. If I pick her up right at 5:00 we should have enough time.

"Then I'll pick you up then and you'll finally take my brothers and I to the mall." I expect her to argue, but instead she nods in agreement.

"Of course, my liege." She bows. I can't help but smile as I shake my head. Leave it to her to lighten any mood, but I don't want to control her. I don't want her to give in. I want her to be able to make decisions too. She closes her locker and I pull her into my chest. Her eyes sparkling with surprise, a smile playing on her lips.

"I don't want to control you." I whisper. My smile from moments ago gone.

"You're not." She reaches her hand up and grasps my cheek. "Don't worry." She smiles. "You'd know if I had a problem." I smile before she reaches up on her tiptoes and gently kisses me. I don't know how she does it. She's greedy one moment and gentle the next. I never know what to expect, so I do what any boy would do and wrap my arms around her waist. People turn and stare, but when Devyn doesn't stop. She no longer cares and that makes me smile.

"Well I'll be damned." Devyn and I break apart. I was hoping Jess wouldn't notice, but that was just a hopeless thought. They're best friends and all. I look over at Jess and her hands are on her hips. Her smile is so big it looks like her face is going to explode.  "That's like the first time I've seen you guys do anything besides hold hands." We smile at each other as Devyn shrinks baack down to her normal height, but we don't separate. If anything we hold each other tighter, my arm possessively wrapping around her waist. Jess' eyes follow my hand, her smile never faltering. Instead, I'm telling you, it grew three times it's size. "Okay so next week is going to be super busy." She walks over to us, pulling her backpack around and unzipping one of the pockets. We stand there waiting while she riffles around her backpack. I have no idea what she means by busy until she whips out a piece of paper with a long list on it. Girls are so weird.  Where is the adventure in schedules? "We have your first game" she says pointing at Devyn. Jesus I'm out of the loop. "the festival, and as if that wasn't enough, it's spirit week." Spirit week? Great. What the hell is that?

"Let me guess, you have it all planned out." Jess smirks at Devyn. Plans, plans, plans and more plans.

"Of course!" She scuffs as if it wasn't obvious already. I don't know how Max puts up with this. Devyn looks up at me.

"She's very organized." I smile and not being able to contain my current thought I lean down and whisper in Devyn's ear.

"Max likes that." She looks me in the eyes and laughs. We both noticed that in the very beginning, but Devyn's been helping him get over his nerves and actually talk to her. That's the moment we all realized how very patient Devyn is. It's been two weeks and he's still trying, but Devyn has such immense faith, it's hard to turn her down and back out.

"I will pretend I didn't hear that." Jess glares at us, but I don't care. Got to force the boy somehow. Jess fights her smile as she continues, "So anyway Monday is super hero day" she stops and points at both of us "I expect you both to participate." Devyn rolls her eyes and I hold back my sigh. There's no reason to get her even more exasperated than she already looks. It seems nothing is going according to plan. Which sucks because none of this has even started yet. We're in for a crazier week then we think. "Tuesday is twin day. Devyn will be mine." She glares at me and I shrug. She's my girlfriend not my twin. "Wednesday is couples day, so" she motions to us and rolls her eyes. This time I don't hold back my smile making Devyn blush. "Thursday is toga day and Friday is obviously spirit day." Damn and I thought high school would be a breeze. Devyn sighs and instinctively I tighten my arm around her. She makes it hard for me to focus on anything else and it kills me because I think she affects me more than I affect her. She drives me crazy.

"So Devyn, we w'll need to find a day to figure out our outfits. We have to go all out." The bell rings, cutting her off. "I'll text you with more details."

"Alrighty Jess." She practically skipps off to her next class leaving us in the hallway alone.

"I guess it's a good thing we're going to the mall." I want nothing more than to skip class at this very moment, but instead I smile and start walking her to class. She looks lost in thought, probably deciding on an outfit, so to break the silence I say, "I guess it's going to be crazier next week than I had expected." She looks up at me completely oblivious.

"What do you mean?"

"It's your birthday." She stops walking.

"What?" I stop walking and turn around. Her face is pale, her eyes wide. I reach down and grab her hand.

"I know you don't like surprises, so this is me giving you a heads up." Her eyes narrow. Jesus, if looks could kill.

"Is this why you were so huffy about having to wait to go to the mall?" I smile. Guilty.

"Well, thank you for telling me, but I'm not going." She starts to walk off. I quickly grab her around the waist, lean down and whisper in her ear.

"It's at our house." Her eyes widen as she shakes her head. I don't know if it's the use of "our house" or the fact the she can't get out of this that makes her heart beat accelerate.

"You would do this to me." She sags in my arms. I smile knowing I just one this round.

"So make sure to pick out something really nice for yourself while we're there."

"Okay, but you don't get to see it." She practically jumps out of my grasp and continues walking to her class. I stood there not sure if I should follow when she turns around and laughs. "Don't pout." I reach my hand up and sure enough, my lips are pursed, pouting at her. "You brought this upon yourself, so now you'll have to be a good boy and wait." She smirks as I stride up to her.

"You'll look beautiful in whatever you choose." I lean down and kiss her cheek.

"You say that now." And with that she walks into her class and leaves me standing there like an idiot. She has a habit of doing that. She always reacts in unexpected ways. Right when I think I know, she all of a sudden switches it up. I can't tell if that's just her or if she does it on purpose. I guess I got my wish, a girl with some mystery.

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Author's Note:

I apologize for the lag in updates. My trip to Ecuador was amazing, but I came back with a cold. I took yesterday off of work and spent the day taking my dog to the emergency room. He really knows how to keep me on my toes. Thank you for sticking with me and coming back to read more about Lucius and Devyn!

-Suzanne