“I appreciate that. Thank you.”
I’d pulled back a few inches, but Devin envelops me in another warm hug, his strong arms making me feel like everything’s okay, even though I know that’s not how things work.
“What the hell’s going on?” Shane’s angry tone, which I am unfortunately all too familiar with, startles me out of Devin’s embrace. Shane gestures toward the ride we’d been on. “We’re over there waiting, and you two are over here cuddling? What the fuck?”
“Shut your mouth, Shane.” Sweet Devin’s voice is colder and darker than I would’ve thought possible.
“Still working your way through all of us, I see,” Shane says, directing his full attention at me. “Now it’s Devin’s turn?”
32
Be with all of us
Devin shoves Shane’s shoulder. “Back off. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” While Shane’s glaring at Devin, Devin’s eyes flicker to me, and I sense his conflict. He wants to explain things to his friend, but he doesn’t want to betray my privacy.
I start to open my mouth, but Devin speaks first, as he issues Shane another warning look. “We’ll be over there in a minute.”
It’s a dismissal, and to my surprise, Shane takes a step back, his chest and shoulders relaxing into a normal posture, and then turns to go. Shane’s always acting like the boss of everyone; it’s nice to see that he respects his friend. I was so afraid they were about to get into a physical fight, and I’m not sure I could have coped with that today.
“I’m sorry,” Devin says, reaching out to rub my arm.
“Why are you the one apologizing?”
“I’m sorry you had to deal with that. Shane’s a good guy, and he means well. He’s just a hothead sometimes.”
I shrug. I know all that, but it doesn’t excuse his behavior.
“Are you sure you don’t want to leave?” Devin asks. “We don’t have to stay here.”
“I want to stay.” I was having fun, and I’m not going to let my mother or Shane ruin it. I’m also not going to look at my phone again until after we leave.
“Are you ready to go back to the group?”
“In a minute. I do need to run in …” I tilt my head toward the restroom entrance.
“Okay. I’ll wait here.” Devin’s smile could probably end wars. It could definitely prevent them. And it absolutely makes me feel better.
After using the facilities, I wash my hands and splash cold water on my cheeks. My face doesn’t look too bad considering. Whoever invented the mascara I’m wearing should win some sort of medal.
Devin’s waiting for me outside as promised. “Shane won’t bother you,” he says, as we walk back to the others, and he turns out to be right.
There’s a hurt puppy look in Shane’s eyes, but it disappears after our next ride. He seems wary of me though, and, for the most part, keeps his distance.
With my phone turned off, I return to a genuine good mood after a few more coaster runs. Devin goes out of his way to lift my spirits, and Khalil quickly joins in, cracking jokes to pass our time in lines.
“Is anyone hungry?” Devin asks after we come off of one of the extreme thrill rides, which, except for one notable part, didn’t turn out to be as scary as it looked.
After Shane and Khalil say that they are, Marcos asks, “How about the burger place?”
“They have surprisingly good burgers here,” Devin says. “Are you up for that, Becca?”
“Sure,” I say with a small shrug. “Anything’s fine.”
They lead the way to the restaurant, where we wait in another line and then place our orders at a counter. I hold out a twenty for mine, but Marcos insists on paying for everyone. While we’re waiting for our food, Shane pulls me aside. “Can I talk to you?”
His expression tells me that this won’t be a confrontation, so I agree and let him usher me outside of the building and around a corner where the ambient sounds aren’t so loud.
“I want to apologize,” he says, leaning his shoulder against the side of the building.
“Okay.”
“After my outburst earlier, I realized that your eyes had been red. Were you crying?”
I shrug and look into the distance, where a bright red roller coaster car is climbing a steep track.
“Devin didn’t make you cry, did he?”
My head jerks back to Shane and I frown. “No.”
“I knew that,” he says quickly, “but I just had to ask, just in case. Since he was the one who was with you …”
“He was comforting me.”
His face softens into an expression I’ve never seen on him. “What happened?”
My shoe kicks at a pebble on the ground. “Just some family stuff. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Families can be the worst,” he says, frowning. “My older brother is an addict, and it’s basically torn our family apart.”