~14~ Trust the Instinct

(Brian’s POV)

“Who is this?” I had asked the same person who had called a few times tonight. I finally answered the New York number once that I had a room to myself since Lulu seized my bed in Angel’s room.

"Brian,” I familiar voice addressed…but who?

“Yes…” I replied. "I need you to do me a favor,” they said. I didn’t want to be rude and ask again who it was, but I wanted to know to understand what they were really telling me. “Go check on Devin.”

I paused.

“Who is this?” I asked again."Just go check on Devin,” the guy repeated.

“Why?” I asked. I couldn’t trust this random person. "Because we both know that you’re confused about this whole mess and Joey will just go along with it all,” he said. Now I worried. Whose deep and understanding voice was this? How did they know about this? The only people to know were Angel, Lulu, Joey, Devin and—

“Zac,” I spoke. There was a brief silence. "Listen to me, Brian. Go check on—”

“What gives you the right to call me to tell me what to do after you left and dropped me and the rest of your friends?!” I yelled at him. I didn’t think I would confront him this way after all this time—after all I’m supposed to be the

perceptual one. I guess I was just fed up. And I didn’t even want to know what would happen if I stepped to Zac in that same manor in person. I’d probably be charbroiled alive.

"Just…” he stopped himself. Zac Tyler just held his tongue. “I know there’s beef between us now, but…my sister told me something was wrong with Devin. My instincts are telling me to have you check on him.”

“Why don’t you do it yourself?” I spat."I’m a little busy right now,” he replied.

“You're busy traveling with your friends right?” I replied. Silence. “That’s right. I know about that. Think about how big-mouthed your ex girlfriends are before you run into them.”

That was it before I dropped my phone. I didn’t have super hearing like him or Joey to hear what he’d say. I didn’t even want to. I was pissed at him for leaving me and breaking Angel’s heart (even in her denial)…but I had to obey his request because I cared about Devin just as he did; and apparently I cared about Devin just as much as Vanessa did.

“Hey, Bri-Bri,” Vanessa greeted over the phone. Devin and I were sitting across from each other as I put her on speaker. I had to call her. I mean, she was the one to tell Zac.

“Hi,” I said.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“You told Zac we came looking for him,” I accused.

“Wrong,” she started. “I told him that Devin was sick.”

“What I wanna know is how the h3ll you even got to talk to him when you said you hadn’t,” Devin retorted.

“He said it was…instinct for him to call me...” she answered. Did she think we were stupid? Even though that was the same excuse Zac gave.

“Vanessa, that’s ridiculous—”

“Do you know where he is?” Devin asked her.

“You’re not seriously believing that are you!?” I asked Devin in a whine.

“Instincts should be trusted,” Devin told me. “Especially Zac’s. Do you know where he is?”

“No…” Vanessa said.

“Well—”

“Sorry. I have to go right now. My mom needs me. Good luck,” she concluded and then hung up. I growled.

"Look. I love Vanessa and all, but I don’t believe her, Devin,” I said.

“And why not? Zac told you to check on me because of instinct, right? And here I am, needing you,” Devin reminded. “His instinct is important.”

“You don’t need me though,” I said. He was fine.

“I need you,” Devin confessed. “I need you to put me in check and…and…keep me away from testing for all these fu**ing chemicals—”

“But you need to find a cure,” I recalled.

“I already have a cure! I just need you and Joey and Zac to complete it!” he yelled. His eyes molded into gray stormy clouds.

“Stop yelling at me!” I shouted back. Then there was a knock at the door. I immediately started to cover all of his science equipment and files like Devin told me to do. After his revelation about his “experiments gone wrong”, no one was to know about him working on anything outside of the professional lab—he especially couldn’t be caught working on a project for a cure to his own health problem.

As I did all of that, Devin answered the door. There was an attractive girl standing there with a purse on her shoulder and a pile of books in her arms.

“Uh-uh…hi,” Devin stammered. I saw lab equipment start to shake from Devin’s powers. The glasses clinked together because he couldn’t control it. He was…nervous. “Can I help you with something?”

“I was actually looking for CJ…” she said. The bottles stopped.

“I think CJ’s room down the hall,” Devin said. The girl backed up, removing her beautiful face from my view in order to look at the room number.

“Oh, right. Pssh. He’s 213, you’re 231,” she laughed. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Devin insisted. There goes the shaking again… “Do you need me to walk you to his room?”

“Uh, no. It’s fine,” the girl smiled. “If he answers his phone for once, maybe I’d know for sure where to go.”

“Sounds like a lame boyfriend if you ask me,” I muttered. The girl peered into the room.

“CJ isn’t my boyfriend,” she said with narrowed eyes. “He’s my lab partner.”

“Still,” I smirked. Devin started laughing.

“So you have Chemistry without the chemistry?” he joked. He awkwardly laughed as the sheets started to rustle, so I sat on them to not raise suspicions. Wow. That was a bad joke. But somehow, the girl laughed.

“Yeah. Something like that,” she smiled. She actually liked that cheesy joke? Wow. And it seemed as if she was interested in Devin.

“What’s your project?” Devin asked. Time for his science nerd self to come out. It was better than his power-controlled self, though.

“We’re just…studying some elements and gases for anesthesiology,” she answered. I stood up.

“Do you need help? Because—”…because I am a genius at anesthesiology and medicines.

“—I can help you out,” Devin offered, stealing my offer. There was a spark. They were into each other and it was in my best interest to up and leave him there with her. I had never actually seen Devin interact with girls. Maybe this would be good for him.

“Sure,” she smiled. You can tell when a girl is interested by her smile and that one was it. Way to go, Devin. She was beautiful and smart (considering she’s at HARVARD, duh). So it was time for me to go.

“I guess I’ll go,” I said, starting to walk out. “Have fun, nerds.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Devin said, allowing the girl into his dorm.

“Call me later,” I added, walking out into the hall. I was expecting a: “You’re not my mother!” or “Don’t tell me what to do!” but all I got was: “yeah, yeah. Sure whatever. Bye”

Maybe this girl was good for him controlling his powers…