When I wake up I'm stretched out on my back with one arm over my head and the other arm over Devin. And Devin has his arms wrapped around me and his head buried in my stomach. "Yo, Dev," I say flicking his head, "my stomach a comfortable pillow?"

He grumbles something about going back to sleep. I hit him on the head once more and then let him go back to sleeping. He needs to sleep more. His parents are going through a rough phase and are teetering on the edge of divorce. They're always yelling at each other and sometimes at Devin. Needless to say, he doesn't get a lot of sleep. It's gotten so bad lately that he spends almost every night at my house.

Absentmindedly I stroke his hair. I look at my watch and it's 9:45. I smell my mom making one of her famous breakfasts. "Devin," I say shaking him gently, "my mom is making breakfast."

"What one?" he asks, his voice muffled by pillows.

"The pancake one," I tell him. He immediately shoots up.

"Why didn't you say anything? I would have been up like five minutes ago," he says. I roll my eyes and then stand up. I throw a shirt at him and then I put my arms over my head and stretch, rising slowly in my toes. I hear a satisfying crack and smile. Devin stares at me.

I stare back at him and then we walk downstairs. Mom set the table and has pancakes pulled high and a big plate of toast and a bowl filled with scrambled eggs. Devin and I both start digging in. He's gone through three pancakes by the time I've eaten one. I hit him in the stomach. "Don't be such a pig, remember to chew," I tell him.

He shoves his mouth with more food and then says, "Oink, oink." I can see the food in his mouth. I shove him and he grins. My mom smiles at us.

"So, what are you two up to today?" Mom asks us. I look at Devin.

"I was going to hang out with the new kid and I think Dev was going to... uh, spend some time with his uhh... girlfriend," I say. Devin kicks my foot. I kick him and we both glare at each other.

"Oh, you have a girlfriend? That's so sweet. What's her name?" she asks him. He looks at me like he's going to kill me.

"Well Mrs. Connor," he starts.

"I've told you a thousand times to call me Harper," she tells him.

"Okay, well Harper, I don't have a girlfriend. She's just a friend," he says. I raise my eyebrows

"Do you hook up with all of your friends?" I mutter quietly.

"What was that Riley?" my mother asks me.

"Nothing." Devin smirks. I get up and refill my cup of coffee.

"Hey babes, will you get me more juice?" Devin asks me. I nod. I grab his cup from his hand and grab the juice from the fridge. I put the stuff away and then walk back to the table. I hand him my cup and take his. He smiles at me, his grey eyes taunt me. He takes a drink and then starts choking on the hot black coffee.

"Oh, sorry. I guess that wasn't your juice." He takes his glass back from me and gives me the stink eyes that only a four-year-old can manage. Well, Devin pulls it off too, I guess. I take my glass from his fingers. My parents smile at each other.

"What was that for?" he asks me quietly.

"For picking shitty movies and at least the next time you decide to lick me, you'll smell good. You know, like coffee," I say to him quietly. I don't want my parents to ask me why he licked me. They might get the wrong idea. He takes another three pancakes from the pile and chews with his mouth open to irritate me. I roll my eyes and drink my coffee.

"Do you want any?" he asks, he spits a little bit. It lands on my cheek. I wipe it off.

"How can anyone actually like you?" I ask him. He shrugs. I finish my second cup of coffee and go back for another one.

"How do you drink that?" Devin asks me. My parents and I smile at each other. My parents are also coffee addicts. Devin looks at all of us and then he realizes the answer to his own question. "Right."

"Are you done yet?" I ask him as he finishes the rest of his breakfast. He nods and we walk upstairs. Devin flops down on my bed.

"So what are you gonna wear on your date?" he asks me.

"It's not a date, I'm just trying to be nice. Being new isn't easy," I tell him. I brush my hair and pull jeans, a shirt, a sweatshirt, a bra and underwear from my closet.

"Mhmm," he says. "Since when are you ever nice?"

"Don't be an asshole," I tell him. "Now get out of my room so I can change."

He puts his hands up in the air and walks out. I change quickly and pull beat-up sneakers on. I open the door and let Devin back in. He goes into his part of the closet and grabs clothes. I have clothes at his house, he has clothes at mine, it made more sense because we spend a lot of time together. I walk into the bathroom and brush my teeth.

I'm about to leave but I catch my reflection. My blonde/brown hair is pulled into a high ponytail, the ponytail doesn't really suit my face. My green eyes are too wide and too green. My skin is somewhere between pale and tan. My lips are too pink, it looks like I have lipstick on. I'm almost pretty. I take my ponytail out as I remember Devin saying You actually have hair! I smooth it out. It helps to soften my features.

I walk out of the bathroom shaking my head. He's dressed in jeans and a shirt. The shirt's tighter so you can make out the outline of his muscles that he has from playing so many sports. He's on my bed like usual. I stand against a wall and face him.

"How are things with your parents?" I ask him softly. He looks up, startled.

"Do we have to talk about it?" His eyes plead me not to. I sigh and take a seat next to him on the bed.

"Devin," I say softly, "how long has it been since you've been home?"

"A couple of days." He looks up at me. His eyes are sad.

"Your mom needs you," I tell him. His dad has mood swings sometimes and has occasionally gotten violent.

"I know. I just don't want to deal with it, you know? I'm seventeen and I feel so much older when I'm around them. I know that it's selfish but..." he trails off. He yanks a hand through his hair, something does when he does when he's nervous, frustrated or thinking.

"You want me to stay over?" I ask him. It makes it easier if I'm there. He nods. "Okay, you wanna play bullshit?" I ask him trying to lighten the mood.

"What about Alec? Weren't you gonna go say hi or something?" he asks, back to his normal self. Or trying to seem like he is.

"Alex, jackass. But I can do that tomorrow," I say. He grins, but the smile doesn't quite reach his eyes.

"You should do it today. You can come over to my house later," he says. I nod and we stand up. He walks to the door of my room.

"Devin, wait," I say. He turns to look at me. I run up to him and throw my arms around him. He stiffens and then slowly hugs me back. I stand up on my tiptoes because I'm an entire foot shorter than him. I squeeze him tighter and he presses his face into my hair. "It's going to be okay," I murmur to him. He holds me tighter and we stand like that for a while. He finally releases me. "You'll be okay? I'll only be gone or a couple of hours," I tell him.

"I'll be okay," he says. I nod and walk him out. I grab my bag and then walk across the street to Alex's house. I knock on the door and Alex answers it.

"Oh, hi Riley. I wasn't expecting you," he says.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to do something? You're new and I figured you could use a friend," I say.

"Well, um yeah. That would be good, just let me go tell my mom," he says. I nod and stand there awkwardly.

He comes out a couple minutes later. He looks good in a t-shirt, jeans, beat up sneakers and a worn baseball hat. "So what do you want to do?" I ask him.

"I wouldn't mind going for a walk," he says. I nod. We start walking.

"What high school are you going to?" I ask him.

"GHS," he tells me.

"Oh, me too, I can show you around if you want," I tell him. He nods.

"I'd like that, thank you." We walk through the park that's right by my house. "Who was that guy with you yesterday? Your boyfriend?" Alex asks me. I start laughing.

"Who? Devin?" I can't stop laughing now and I think that I might have hurt Alex's feelings. "No, you've got it wrong. Devin's my best friend, we've known each other since diapers," I tell him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You guys just seemed like you were something more than friends," he says. I smile. He smiles back. We round the corner and there's about a block or so before his house. "I'll see you tomorrow," he says.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," I say. We both smile and then I walk to my house where I tell my mom I'm staying over with Devin. I lean against the hood of my car and call Devin.

"Hey Babes, what's up?"

"You wanna go somewhere for dinner? We could do something before, like a movie or something. That sound good?"

"Yeah, okay. I'll pick you up in a few. Bye babes," he says.

"Bye," I say. A couple of minutes later his car arrives. I hop in and we drive away. "So what do you want to do?" I ask him.

"I don't want to think," he says.

"Why don't we get frozen yogurt and Chinese food and then go somewhere," I say. He nods and pulls over at a Yogurt Lab. He smiles when I hand him a big cup and grab one for myself. He goes straight to the chocolate and I walk over to the salted caramel and then the tart one. I fill it up with a couple more flavors and then head to the toppings. Devin seems to have taken all of the gummy bears. I put a bunch of chocolate toppings on mine.

We walk up to the register and Devin pulls out his wallet, I hand the girl my card before he can. "You can get dinner," I tell him. He nods in agreement. We walk out and he smiles at me.

"Oh my god! Devin!" a nasal voice says. Devin turns around.

"Shit! Can I run?" he asks me. I smirk and shake my head. "Oh, hey... uh..." he trails off.

"Did you forget my name?" she says, clearly offended. She tosses her hair. He looks at me. I roll my eyes for what I'm about to do.

"Honey, you better have forgotten her name," I say, faking a southern accent. I shove the yogurt at the one girl and loop my arms around Devin's neck. I kiss his cheek and then kiss down his jawline, trailing soft kisses hoping that the girl will take the hint and go away. I can feel the hint of rough stubble under my lips. I turn around and take my yogurt. "Thanks, sugar," I tell her she scoffs and walks away. I start laughing as we walk back to his car.

"What...what was that?" he asks me.

"A thank you would be nice. I just saved your ass," I say.

"Thank you," Devin says. I hold his yogurt as we drive. He stops at a restaurant and we get Chinese takeout. After that, we drive to the creek, our little spot. He grabs some pillows and a couple of blankets from the trunk and then lays them out on the hood of the car.

We eat the frozen yogurt first so it doesn't melt. I take a couple bites of mine and then reach for his. We switch containers. I take some of the gummy bears and throw them on the ground. "Hey! What are you doing?" Devin asks me.

"Feeding the squirrels, why do you put so many on?" I ask him.

"They taste good. Why do you get so many different flavors that don't go together?" he asks me.

"Because they taste good. Will you grab the food?" I ask him. He nods and puts the frozen yogurt back. He hands me a set of chopsticks and then a carton of noodles and chicken. "Who was that chick anyways?" I ask him.

"She was a one night stand, I think. I'm not sure, I was probably drunk when it happened," he says scratching his neck.

"Nice, really nice," I tell him. He shrugs like what can you do.

"You wore your hair down today," he says. I nod. "It looks nice," he says.

"Thank you," I say. It's weird that he's complimenting me, we always make fun of each other. I remember what Alex said. "Hey, do you know what's kind of funny? That kid, Alex, thought that we were dating," I tell him.

"Yeah, strange huh?" he says a little bit forced.

"What? Don't you think it would be weird for us to be dating? I've known you since diapers," I tell him. He looks like he's about to say something but he doesn't. Did I offend him? I grab a carton of rice and eat that. He grabs the carton that I put down. He's been weird lately. I don't know why, it must be hormones. Or maybe he's stressed out about his parents.

We finish eating in silence. We drive to his house and then slip in unnoticed by his screaming parents. Devin lays down on his bed face down and sticks in his earbuds cranking the music up so loud that I can hear it. I sit on his desk chair, straddling it backwards, watching him. I can see why he didn't want to go home.

He's obviously not in the mood to talk so I grab a book from my bag and start reading. My thoughts keep wandering back to Alex and what he said and then wandering to outside the frozen yogurt place. When I kissed him it didn't feel weird or wrong, it didn't feel like kissing my cousins on the cheek. Why didn't it? He's my honorary brother.

Whatever. I'm just messed up, that's what I'm deciding. Instead of thinking of Devin I think of Alex and what could happen. "Dev, you should take a shower," I tell him shaking him gently. I pull out one of his earbuds, "Devin, you need to take a shower." He reluctantly gets up and I hand him clothes. I sit down on his bed and read my book. He comes back, his hair wet and flips down on the bed. After a couple minutes, he puts the earbuds back in.

"Oh, Devin," I sigh quietly.