Present-Day

"Who's the president?" I ask TJ. TJ, Zack and I are all in the back seat as we drive to the hospital. TJ fell off the bar pretty hard. "TJ?" I ask, hitting his cheek.

"A fat Oompa Loompa," he says.

Zack shrugs. "Close enough."

My eyes dart to Devin. He's sitting right in front of me. He hasn't said a word since we've been in the car.

We finally get to the hospital. Zack and Daniel help TJ out of the car, even though TJ can walk and is just being dramatic. Devin walks next to me. Far enough away that his arm doesn't brush mine, but close enough that I can smell him.

Devin pulls out his phone and starts talking. My face reddens. What if he has a girlfriend? Fuck. He probably does. She's probably blonde and beautiful.

Oh, God. I can't breathe. And it's wrong because Devin's not mine. But I'm still his.

Zack touches my arm. "So, how do we explain this?" he asks me quietly.

"Just tell the truth. It's what we did last time," I tell Zack quietly.

He raises his eyebrows. "Last time?"

"Yeah," I say, a smile tugging my face. "We go dancing a lot. TJ likes the attention, and he drinks too much, so usually, he drags me onto the bar."

"And then falls off?" Zack supplies.

"That's how he and Ana met. He accidentally tackled her," I explain.

"Really?"

I grin and say, "No."

Zack and I both smile at each other before following TJ and Daniel. TJ takes a seat on a patient bed. He sits still for a minute, but then gets up and closes the privacy curtains.

Daniel's eyes widen. "Oh, shit! I don't feel so good!" He runs out of the room.

We wait for fifteen minutes in silence. It's just me, TJ and Zack. TJ's laying down. He looks pretty out of it.

I'm staring at tiles on the floor when the back of my neck prickles and the curtain opens. I look up to see Devin and his brother.

"Hey, Nick," I say. He lights up when he sees me.

"Riley! How have you been?" Nick asks as he gives me a hug.

"Good, you?" I always got along really well with Nick.

Nick smiles. "Good."

Zack frowns. "Who is this?" he asks quietly.

"Devin's older brother. He's a surgeon," I whisper back.

"So, what happened?" Nick asks.

"TJ fell off a bar," I explain.

"Sit up, TJ," Nick says. TJ rolls his eyes and sits up. "Follow my finger." Nick moves his finger back on forth across TJ's face. Nick grabs his stethoscope and listens to TJ's heart.

Daniel walks back in. It's relatively crowded. I take a step and brush against Devin. I jerk forward, trying to get away from him.

"You're fine, TJ. Don't drive and drink lots of water," Nick tells TJ. TJ gets up.

"Thanks, man," he says. "Now, let's go back to the club!"

Zack ruffles TJ's hair and says, "We're going home, buddy."

"Hey, Riley," Nick says as we're walking away with TJ. I turn around. "You should come over for dinner sometime."

"Yeah, I'd like that," I say, smiling. "How's Theo?"

"Good. We adopted," Nick tells me.

"You adopted? Oh, my God! That's so amazing!" I say. Nick smiles.

He takes a step closer to me. "I'm sorry about my brother," he tells me quietly, his smile fading.

I swallow. "It's okay. I've gotten over him."

"I just wish he hadn't hurt you," Nick says. His pager beeps. "I have to go, but it was nice to see you."

"You too. I'd love to come over for dinner," I say. We hug briefly and then I chase after the boys.

"Get out of the driver's seat, TJ," Daniel yells. He and Zack are trying to put TJ in the back seat. Devin's already in the passenger's seat.

"TJ!" I flick his forehead. "If you don't get into the back, I'll text Ana—"

"I'm going!" he mumbles. I smirk. He hands me the keys. Zack, TJ and Daniel pile into the back.

"You're such an asshole," I tell TJ. "You said that I was the only one that could fit in the middle."

TJ shrugs. I roll my eyes and pull away. I turn the radio on as an excuse to look at Devin. He has his earbuds in and it looks like he's texting.

He's probably texting his girlfriend. Riley! Stop thinking about it! If Devin has a girlfriend, it's fine. You're fine. You don't need him. He'll only hurt you. It's been seven years, he probably has a girlfriend, I tell myself.

It's better this way. It's better if Devin and I aren't even friends. TJ will get married and I'll never see Devin again. He can go back to living whatever life he has in a town far away from here.

Yeah, Devin and I definitely can't be friends. Because I'll never want to just be his friend. I'll always want something more. And eventually, we'll kiss and my heart will be broken all over again.

"We're having a sleepover!" TJ yells suddenly. I look at him in the mirror.

"What are you talking about?" I ask him.

"Ana's sleeping over at Bethany's. She told me that I should have all of you sleepover since we have to go to brunch tomorrow," TJ says. "Oh, shit! We're spending the whole weekend together."

Devin pulls his earbuds out. "What did you just say?"

"The whole wedding party is driving up to a cabin tomorrow and spending the night," TJ tells him. Devin mutters something I can't hear.

"What about clothes and stuff for the trip?" Zack asks.

"You guys can borrow my clothes and Riley has clothes at my house," TJ explains. Devin looks like he's going to protest but TJ says, "You don't have a choice."

No one says anything for a few minutes.

"Oh, fuck. Daniel, man, don't you dare vomit," I hear Zack say.

"What?" I ask.

"Oh, God! It's comin'! It's com—" Daniel starts but cuts himself off. He rolls down the window.

"What the fuck?" I yell as I swerve the car. I hear the sound of vomit. I slam on the breaks. Daniel jumps out of the car and vomits on the side of the road. "Oh, my God!"

Daniel gets back into the car. I shake my head and start the car again. I don't even want to think about what Daniel just did.

I hear police sirens and see flashing lights. I look in the mirror and there's a cop car behind me.

"Oh, shit. Fuckin' perfect," I mutter. I pull over to the side of the road. "This is all your fault TJ."

"I think it's Daniel's fault," TJ says.

"Shut up!" I hiss as a cop starts walking towards us. He taps on my window and I roll it down. "Hi, officer. What seems to be the problem?"

"Have you been drinking?" he asks.

"No," I tell him. "I don't drink."

"Can you step out of the vehicle, ma'am?" the officer asks. I sigh, rolling up my window and unbuckling my seat belt.

I shut the door. "I haven't done anything wrong," I say.

The officer almost smirks. Being close to him, I can see how attractive he is. He looks like he's in his late twenties. His eyes are distinctly hazel against his dark skin. His face also seems to be perfectly symmetrical.

"Look at the windshield of my car, ma'am," he says. Daniel's vomit is covering the windshield.

"Oh, shit," I say, a giggle escaping my lips.

"Can you walk in a straight line, ma'am?" he asks. I sigh and start walking.

"Look, Officer..." I ask, trailing off.

"Lee," he says.

"Officer Lee, two of my friends got drunk and one of them vomited out the window," I start. "He's a lightweight. Anyways, I swerved the car because I didn't think that he was actually going to vomit."

"That's some story, ma'am," Officer Lee tells me.

I shrug. "It's true. But you don't have to call me ma'am. It makes me feel old."

"What's your name?" he asks, writing something down.

"Riley. Riley Connor, but you don't have to give me a ticket," I say. Officer Lee looks up. "You should give it the person that vomited. He's the guy sitting next to the blonde kid."

Officer Lee smirks as he shakes his head. "Daniel," he mutters.

I frown. "You know him?"

"He's my second cousin."

"So, you know he's a lightweight then?" I ask. Officer Lee shrugs.

"License and registration, please," he says. I sigh and pull out my phone. I keep cash, a credit card and my license in my phone case. "Registration?"

"It's the blonde kid's car. He got really drunk and fell off the bar, so you can't really talk to him," I explain.

Officer Lee shrugs. "How'd he fall off the bar?"

I smirk. "We were dancing and he slipped. We took him to the hospital and now we're just trying to get home," I say. Right on cue, TJ reaches over Zack and bangs on the window. He waves to the officer. "That's TJ."

"Makes sense now," Officer Lee mutters. "I'm going to let you go, Riley. But on one condition..."

He keeps talking, but I don't hear him because TJ grins at me and puts a plastic bag over Zack's face. Zack gasps for air. I can see his face through the thin plastic. My eyes widen. What TJ's doing seems kind of illegal. Zack claws open the plastic bag.

I cut officer Lee off, "You can have my number."

He frowns. "I was just saying that you have to make sure he gets home safe."

"Oh," I say, my cheeks reddening.

"Have a goodnight," he says.

I grin. "I'm really sorry Daniel threw up on your car."

A door slams and I look over. Devin is walking towards us.

"We're going," Devin says. His hands touches my arm. "Come on, Riley."

I don't look at Devin. "Thanks for not arresting us," I say. He nods before walking away and I smile to myself.

Devin lets go of my arm and doesn't say anything else. It seemed a bit odd for him to get out of the car. I didn't need his help. He wasn't jealous, was he? I was flirting with the officer...but...there's no way he'd be jealous, right?

I hear Zack gasp for air as I pull away. "How many goddamn plastic bags do you have?" he gasps out.

TJ grins at him. "A few more."

"TJ!" I yell. He jumps. "Give a plastic bag to Daniel, you asshole. He could have vomited in the bag."

TJ leans forward, resting his arms against my seat and Devin's seat. "Did you give him your number?" he asks in an almost proud and slightly gossipy way.

"No. But I had to smile and cover for your ass since you were choking Zack," I tell TJ.

"I'm so proud of you," he says. "But Ana would have gotten me out of jail."

Daniel groans from the back. "Shit."

"Oh. Your cousin is nice," I say. I see Daniel frown.

Realization crosses over his face. "Oh, fuck. I forgot Raymond's a cop."

I pull up in front of TJ's apartment building. He and Ana live together, but like he said, she's sleeping over at her friends' house.

"Okay," TJ says once we're in his apartment. "I get my bed. Daniel gets the floor, Zack gets the couch. And Riley and Devin share the bed in the guest bedroom."

I grab TJ's shirt. "I'm not sleeping next to him," I hiss quietly.

"Why? You always used to—"

Zack cuts TJ off, "Riley can have the bed and I can take the floor. Devin can have the couch."

"Whatever," TJ says. "Night night. Go to sleep, Zack! Or I'll use the plastic bags to make you."

Zack mutters something and shakes his head as we walk to the guest bedroom.

"TJ's pretty wasted, huh?" I ask.

"You have no idea," Zack mutters. He looks at me. "How come you didn't want to share a room with Devin?"

I sigh. "I don't want to talk about it." Zack nods and I feel slightly bad. "I'll tell you sometime. Just not tonight, okay?"

"Whenever you're good," Zack says. He takes a step towards me and shoots a panicked look at the door. "Just make sure he doesn't come in here with a plastic bag-"

"Surprise!" TJ yells, throwing open the door. Zack jumps behind me.

"Go to bed, TJ! I'm gonna put a doll in your room," I say.

TJ sighs. "Shit, I'm going. Night, guys."

Zack and I both grin at each other.