Devin and I have been walking around the town for a couple of hours. It's amazing. I'm pretty sure I can't eat another thing after the donuts and the fudge and the pizza. We walk into a little trinkety shop. Devin wanders off somewhere and I look around. And then I see a beautiful ring. It's gold and a flower. The petals are tear dropped shaped and interlocking, they decorate a gem in the middle that's grey. Outlining the petals are little loops. I slip it on the middle finger of my right hand and it fits perfectly.

Devin walks up next to me. "Oh, pretty ring," he says. I nod. "How much is it?" he asks. I slip it off my finger and look at the price.

"It's one-fifty," I say.

"You gonna get it?" he asks me. I shake my head. "You sure? But I saw some books over there," Devin says.

"I'm sure. I'm gonna go check out those books," I tell him. He nods. I walk over to the book section and browse. I don't find anything sadly. I walk out and wait for Devin. He walks out. "So, what next?" I ask him.

"Next, we do the ferris wheel," he says grinning. And I can't help but grin back. We walk to the ferris wheel. Our arms brush, but we don't hold hands. "Two please," he says. He hands the guy money and the guy hands him two tickets. We get loaded onto a car. It's one of those tiny ones. But I don't really care. We stop at the top and watch the sunset. It streaks the sky bright oranges and purples, red violets and dark greens. It's probably the best sunset I've ever seen.

I lean my head against Devin's shoulder. Either we're stuck at the top or the conductor thought it would be a romantic setting. I don't mind though. As much as I would have liked to stay at the top we end up coming down. Devin and I walk back to his car and it's awkward. But he seems off.

Maybe I'm just thinking he's off because it's not awkward. But I don't know. He seems off. The drive to the campsite is fast and I'm nervous for some reason. "What do you want for dinner?" Devin asks.

"A granola bar and soda. I'm not very hungry," I tell him. He nods.

"I'm not either," he says. He pulls up. We get out. "We should pack up all of the stuff we can tonight but do the rest of it tomorrow," he tells me. I nod.

"I'm going to go and take a shower," I tell Devin. I grab my stuff and walk to the showers. There's a couple people in there so I'm not totally alone, which would be creepy. I shut the door to my stall and start the water. I slip out of my clothes, careful to keep them dry, and into my bathing suit. I shower and wash my hair and use good soap like TJ told me to. I don't even know why I listen to him.

After I'm done I change and walk out. I run my hands through my hair and touch my earing. Devin has a fire going when I get back. I put my stuff away and he hands me his sweatshirt and hat which I gladly take. Devin leaves to go and shower. Naturally he comes back ten minutes later because boys shower a lot faster then girls do.

We sit by the fire and we don't talk. My hair's almost dry which is strange but we've been sitting by the fire for three hours. I can sense tension in the air but I'm not sure why. I get up to grab a water. I grab one for Devin, and his fingers brush mine when I hand it to him. I jerk back without meaning to. Devin's eyes flare with something. I sit down.

Out of nowhere he starts laughing. It's a laugh without any humor, but rather one with emptiness and a sense of coldness. "What's funny?" I ask ask him.

"Nothing, nothing. But how disgusted are you by me?" Devin asks.

"Excuse me?" I ask him.

"You must be just, horribly repulsed by me," he says, "You flinch. You flinch when I touch you and you won't even say my name." I open my mouth but empty nothings come out. "Don't think I haven't noticed," Devin says.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" I ask him.

"You know what I'm talking about. That first day in the car, our hands accidentally touched and you jerked away like I had burned you. And you keep jerking away from me. You can barely look me in the eye and you can't, or you won't directly address me. You haven't called me Devin once," he says.

"Why does it matter?" I mumble to myself, looking at the ground.

"Why does it matter?" Devin repeats, laughing. "Why does it matter?"

"Why do you care so much?" I ask him, I meet him in the eye.

"Why do I care so much?" He's still laughing and repeating the things I say. "Riley, I get that I maybe hurt your feelings but, how blind are you?" he asks.

"You're...I-I," I stutter. My lip quivers and I really don't want to cry. I stand up but don't move away from him. He's still sitting down.

"I don't know how I thought I could do this," he says. He shakes his head and stands up.

"Do what?" I ask him, my voice thick. "Do what, Devin?"

"God," Devin says. "I-I just...I can't. I can't do it anymore. I can't pretend anymore," he says.

"Can't do what anymore? Can't pretend what anymore?" I ask him.

"I can't pretend. I can't run away from how I feel. And I've tried. I've tried so hard but I can't do it anymore," Devin says. He stands up and takes a couple of steps towards me.

"What feelings?" I ask. I have no idea what he's saying.

"Riley, how can you not know?" he asks me softly. I have no idea what he's talking about. I shake my head.

"I love you," Devin says.