"Do you maybe want to talk about it? I've got a few minutes to listen."

I looked at Devin, slightly surprised at his offer. Was this something I could even tell anyone, let alone a guy I only recently met?

As I debated this in my head, Devin sat on the ground next to me. "What are you doing?" I asked.

He shrugged. "It looked like you were going to say yes." He pulled his knees up and rested his head on them, looking at me. "Well?"

My heart threw in a few extra beats when he did that. I looked at his car so I wouldn't have to see him. "I went to school today and it turns out everyone on campus knows he was arrested."

Even without looking at him, I somehow knew this kind virtual stranger was furrowing his brow. "But the news broadcast it, right? You knew they were going to find out."

I sighed. "Well, of course, but they also knew he'd been..." I couldn't bring myself to say it out loud. That just made me feel the shame all over again. I pressed my face into my knees.

We sat in silence for a long moment. "I know someone who had been a victim of domestic abuse. She's a really sweet person. For as long as I've known her, she's always seemed to be this infallible person who could do anything and everything. Yet, she was a victim." I heard a scuffle next to me an looked up. He was standing over me, holding out a hand to help me up. I accepted and, once I was also standing, our eyes met. "Jessie, being a victim doesn't mean you're weak. It doesn't mean you weren't strong enough. It means that someone was evil enough to trick you and then to kick you. I could never fault anyone for being a victim. Especially not you."

I was tearing up again. How did he somehow know just the right thing to say? "Who was she?"

He smiled and shook his head. "The important thing is that I don't see any of it as your fault. You were friends with him, right?" I nodded. "You thought you knew his truth, but he lied in the end. He lied to a lot of people. They're all just finding out how deep his sins ran. Give it some time and things will quiet down. You'll see. I just wish I could help you more."

I shook my head. "You've already done a lot for me. Thank you."

He smiled at me, but I noticed right away it didn't quite reach his eyes. "My pleasure." He looked down and then glanced at his car. "I need to be getting back. Would you like my phone number?"

"Oh, um. Sure." I pulled out my phone and typed in the numbers. After saving it, we went our separate ways.

Why did he always seem to make me feel better? And why did the words I tried to tell myself feel more convincing when coming from his mouth?

I looked at his contact again. Devin Williams. It was a nice name. It fit him somehow. Devin.

Just seeing it there made me happy. I'd finally made a new friend. I hadn't done that in so long. Surely Kolleen would be proud of me.

---

"Great," I muttered under my breath. My mom was calling me. I slid my phone to the other side of the table. Kolleen looked up from her homework. "I'm not answering," I told her.

"Well I'm not either." She slid it back over to me. "It's your mother. I mean, I love her and all, but what she's calling about isn't something for me to explain."

I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. "I know you're right, but I can't talk to her about anything right now. I want time to process it myself. It doesn't feel real yet." The ringing stopped and I relaxed. "I just want some time."

Kolleen's phone began ringing. "Your mom," she said. I stared at her, begging with my eyes. With a sigh, she picked up. "Hello?" She listened. "Oh, yeah. It was a rough night, but we're both fine... No, no, not at all. She's just fine. I think she just wants some time to process... Jes? She's sleeping right now. Yeah, she worked on her homework and went to take a nap. She's pretty tired." After a few more words, she hung up and pointed her phone at me. "You owe me for that."

"Thank you," I said.

She sighed and rubbed her face. "Jes, I know it hasn't been too long since stuff happened, but you need to talk to her. She's really worried about you. Honestly, so am I. You just walked off campus today and I found you staring at your phone while you were standing in the middle of the sidewalk halfway home. It isn't like you to be doing that stuff."

I leaned back in the chair. "It was the stares and whispers," I said after a couple of minutes. "It was hard to walk around knowing that these people are suddenly wanting to be up in my business even though they never cared about me or anything that's happened to me. It was frustrating."

"If they care now, that's a good thing, right?" She sat her pen down, giving me her full attention. "You could raise awareness or something for dating violence. It's not a bad situation."

I frowned at her. "Would you like to be the invisible girl that everyone pities suddenly becoming the poster child for something that's really personal?" I gave it a moment for that to sink in before continuing. "I understand where you're coming from, and that's all well and good. Dating violence isn't talked about enough, but I'm not the person that's going to do it. No one at that place cares about me. They talk about me because I'm just gossip right now. I heard what they were saying. They feel sorry my boyfriend was arrested, not that he hit me. The ones that don't know think I'm a delinquent or that I'm the sort to hang around those people. The ones that did don't care about that, just that my boyfriend was arrested for breaking and entering and assault. That's it. They don't care what happened on school grounds because they feel it doesn't concern them."

Kolleen just stared at me. The longer she did, the more they seemed to pity me.

It felt awful.

I knew I'd said too much. She was my best friend, but, even so, there were limits on what I could say. She may not have known they existed, but they did.

I stood, gathered my things, and went to my room, using the excuse of my laptop needing to charge so I could keep using it. Once I was safely behind a closed door, I took a deep breath. Devin was right. Talking to someone that wasn't my best friend was probably a good thing.

Again, I thought of his number in my phone. He hadn't said I couldn't text him. Besides, what would be the sense of giving me his number if he didn't want me to message him?

Once I sat my stuff on my bed, I pulled out my phone. I didn't have any messages other than a voicemail from my mom. That could wait for later.

I opened a new message to Devin Williams and stared. What was I going to say? Should I even send him a text? It was after dark, and he was likely working. I wasn't sure he wouldn't be upset. But then, he could just text me after he got off work if that was an issue.

Then there was the fact the only guy I had texted since my senior year of high school was Josh. I wasn't sure how to text a guy friend anymore. But it shouldn't be any different than when I text Kolleen, right?

Me: Hi Devin! Do you have a minute to talk?

I studied it for a moment. Should I say who's texting him? Probably. After all, I didn't give him my number earlier. Also, what was I even going to talk about? My economics homework?

I erased the message and decided to try again.

Me: Hi Devin! This is Jessie. I remembered I didn't give you my number earlier, but now you have it!

I hit send and tossed my phone somewhere on my bed. As I was getting settled with my laptop, I heard the ding of a text. When I found my phone, I saw Devin had responded. I closed my eyes for a moment in hopes it would be good.

Devin: Thanks! Sorry I didn't ask for it earlier. I was on patrol.

Devin: You like pizza?

Pizza? What did that have to do with anything?

Me: Of course. Who doesn't?

Devin: Want some? My treat.

Me: Dropping it off or am I coming to get it?

Devin: Pizza Hut about five blocks from your house. I'm at a booth.

Devin: I've got about thirty minutes.

Me: On my way.

I shoved my phone back in my jeans pocket. "I'm heading out," I said as I passed Kolleen. "I'll be back in an hour."

"Where are you going?" she asked, grabbing my arm.

"I'm meeting Devin," I said. "He's only going to be there for a little bit longer. Can you let me go, please?"

She released me. "This is rare for you."

I reached for the door. "I know it is, but it's like the old me, right? Even when I wasn't with you, I was with someone." I tapped a finger on the knob before facing Kolleen. "I'm trying. Okay?"

She gave me a small smile. "Okay."

Once I returned it, I left.

---

"So I didn't know what to do at this point," Devin was saying, waving a pizza crust around as he told me a very animated story from when he first joined the force. "I had a half-naked senior threatening to beat me with his cane for telling him to not ride his motor chair on a main road with a woman behind him laying on her horn. Here I am, in the middle of it all, trying to make peace while my partner is laughing his head off inside the cruiser!"

For the first time in a long time, I found myself laughing so hard my sides hurt. It was his third story, and each one felt more hilarious than the last. If it wasn't that I hadn't had any alcohol, I would have sworn I was drunk. They were all stories that probably weren't very funny at all if told to someone else. I couldn't help it, though.

He dropped the crust on his empty plate and rested his elbows on the table. "Are you having some fun?" he asked.

"I am," I said, wiping tears from my eyes, still giggling.

He glanced at his watch and then out the window. "Thank you for meeting me here. Sorry if I drug you away from homework you needed to do or something like that."

I shook my head. "Not at all. I enjoy hanging out with you. It's entertaining." We should hang out more. I kept those last words to myself, worried he'd get the wrong idea if he heard them.

He chuckled and faced me. "Good, because I enjoy hanging out with you, too." He paused. "We should hang out more." He studied my face, which suddenly grew hot. "Before you get the wrong idea, I just think we'd work well as friends, Jessie. That's all."

I stared at my soda. "We should hang out more," I said quietly. I glanced up to find him grinning at me. It was almost unnerving. Was he really disinterested? It didn't seem like he was.

"I remember when this place first opened," he said quietly. The grin toned down to a smile. "I was a kid when my parents first brought me here. It looked pretty much the same then, too, even though it's not owned by the same people."

"You grew up here?"

"Well, near here. I was born here but I grew up in one of the smaller towns just outside the city. It felt right to come here to help protect this city." He shrugged.

I smiled at him. He was drawing me in. Inexplicably, undeniably. I wasn't sure how that made me feel. "That's cool," I said.

He just smiled at me and his gaze lingered. It gave me a feeling I hadn't felt in a long time. "My break is almost over," he said, looking away. "May I give you a ride home? I don't feel right making a girl walk home alone after dark."

"You're in your cruiser?"

"Of course." He shook his head at me and chuckled. "Ever rode in the back of a police car?"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course not."

"Well, I'll be glad to give you one." He winked at me.

We left a few minutes later and I followed him to his car. True to his word, he opened the back door and gestured for me to get in. I shook my head. "You seriously don't have room in the front?"

"I do not." He grinned at me. "Don't worry, I'm not arresting you. Unless you want me to handcuff you before stuffing you back here?"

I rolled my eyes and got in. "You're weird."

He closed my door and got in the front. We fell into comfortable silence as we started the drive to my building. I watched the scenery go by, not really focusing on anything in particular. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. There were several scents, but underneath them all was Devin's cologne. It was a pleasant smell.

"I hate to bring this up," Devin said quietly. The static and voices from his radio almost drowned out what he said next: "Josh has a trial date."

"Trial? What about his hearing and bail stuff?"

"His hearing was a couple of days ago and his bail was set then."

"Why didn't I hear about it?"

"I don't know." He paused and took a deep breath. "In any case, his trial is in a couple of weeks. You're probably going to be asked to testify. I felt like I had to warn you."

Testify. I wasn't sure I could do that. I had to recount everything? "Would I have to tell them what happened that night? Or would it be for the past year and a half?"

He paused. "Depends on what you tell the prosecution and whether you want to press those charges. I mean, you don't have to, but it would be a big difference in how much time he's facing." He fell into a silence that changed the atmosphere. It felt like our conversation was over.