She's My Kinda Girl

Devan took a deep breath and let her eyes drift shut as she faced sunshine for the first time in five days.

She was finally allowed to leave the hospital with the instructions to stay confined to a wheelchair for three weeks. Devan could be angry, but she wasn't. She was just glad to finally be out of the hospital. She wasn't looking forward to three weeks in a wheelchair. That was just one more way to feel like her freedom was being stripped away. And maybe it was, but she had to tell herself to remain positive.

She hadn't talked to Adele in a couple of days, but she had no doubt that they would rekindle their friendship the next day, Monday, when she made her way back to school. And she was excited. She had only been out for a couple of days, but that was a couple of days too long. She hated feeling stagnant and that was exactly how she had felt since Alex brought her in her schoolwork. She hadn't lied; she had the majority of the work finished that night. Then she had nothing to do. And now it was Sunday night and she was sitting on the back porch in the swing that they had at their house for years. Her father wasn't happy but she refused to leave the sunshine.

Her father was keeping a close eye on her from the kitchen window. But she couldn't really do anything since she wasn't allowed to put pressure on her hips and legs yet. But she was content to just lay in the sun.

"Do you want a pain pill, Dev?"

Devan's eyes opened slowly, landing on her father, and she shook her head. "No, I'm good."

"I don't want you to be in pain--"

"It's manageable," she told him.

Her father sighed. "What about your antibiotics?"

"I'll take my next one before bed."

He nodded slowly. "I finally finished setting up the living room. Are you sure you don't wanna switch rooms with me until you can make it up the stairs?"

Devan shrugged. "I'm okay with just sleeping on the couch for now. It might be more comfortable than my own bed anyway," she told him with a slight laugh.

"We can look into buying you a new bed when you get better, okay?"

Devan shook her head. "Dad, we don't have the money for that--"

"You deserve it--"

"We deserve to be able to afford our mortgage and bills first," she told him.

Her father sighed. "We'll make do."

"I'm gonna have to call work and see if I can get a leave of absence for a couple of weeks--"

"You don't need to worry about work right now, Dev."

"Dad, we depend on that extra money every week for groceries and--"

"We'll make do," he repeated. "We always do."

But back in her mind, Devan knew it wasn't fair for everything to fall on her father's shoulders. Since her mother had left years earlier, she had helped her father with the bills as much as she could--baby sitting on the weekend until she was old enough to get a legitimate job. Though it didn't pay much, it definitely helped. Though she wasn't sure how much debt they were going to rack up due to her little accident. And it didn't help since the person fled the scene, the medical bills were left up to her and her father.

"Devan?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you hungry?"

Devan shook her head. "No, thank you. I think I might just lay down and watch television for a while, if that's okay?"

"Of course," he said, walking over to his daughter and pulling the wheelchair with him. He helped her shift from the porch swing to her wheelchair before rolling her inside. A couple more minutes were spent shifting her onto the couch, but it wasn't anything that the two of them couldn't handle.

"Thanks, dad."

Her father smiled. "I've already talked to my boss, and I'll be allowed to come in an hour late to take you to school. He's also giving me time to bring you home, but I have to work weekends to make up the hours."

Devan sighed. She felt horrible knowing that her father had to work extra hours because of her. But it was beyond her control, no matter how much she didn't want to admit it.

Once her father had resigned himself to bed, after handing her a cowbell (that she had no idea how he had gotten it) and promising to come running if he heard that. She sat on the couch, flipping through her school books and reading ahead a few chapters in her novel. It wasn't long until she fell asleep on the couch.

+

Alex couldn't explain why he was looking forward to school that morning. It was Monday and he was only slightly hangover, but he was still smiling. And he had no idea why.

But it definitely didn't have anything to do with the fact that Devan was coming back to school that day.

Nope. Not at all.

Because he didn't do that. He wasn't used to having feelings for girls. It had nothing to do with his womanizer reputation and everything to do with the fact that no girl he had met before was able to hold his interest. (And, okay, he was only a little emotionally unavailable.) And then he met Devan. And she had a wit about her that he couldn't ignore. She was able go take his sarcasm and fire back without second thought. He admired that about her and, okay, he might have found it attractive.

"You're oddly happy for a Monday morning," Rian noted when he picked Alex up that morning for school.

Alex shrugged. "Am I?"

"I assume you haven't told Devan yet?"

Alex sighed, though his mood wasn't as dampened as he assumed Rian would expect. "No."

Rian sighed. "Alex, you already know I'm not a fan of you trying to be her friend--"

"Rian--"

"I just don't see how you think this is going to end well at all," Rian said.

"Can we talk about this later?" Alex asked.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Look, Rian. I...went to the hospital with the intention of telling her, okay? I did."

"Then what happened?"

Alex sighed. "We...started talking. And she's not even angry, you know? She's dealing with what happened head on and she's. She's really funny, you know? And smart. She got, like, all of her makeup work done in one night. She makes me feel like I'm inferior, that's for sure," he muttered. "And she's pretty, you know? I don't know why I never saw it."

Rian didn't say anything as he pulled into the school parking lot.

"Rian?"

"You know what I'm going to say won't be good," he told him.

"I really did try," Alex defended himself.

"I don't think you did."

Alex scoffed and rolled his eyes as Rian pulled into a parking spot. "What are you even gonna do about it, Rian? It's not like she's going to believe you if you just roll up and say I did it."

"Maybe not," Rian said with a sigh. "But I still think it's wrong that you're lying to her."

Alex looked out the window and couldn't help the smile that appeared in his face when he saw Devan being helped out of her dad's car and into a wheelchair. In fact, he was out of Rian's car before he could stop himself.

"Hey, Mr. Saylor, how are you?" Alex asked, walking up to her father.

Mr. Saylor glanced at him and grunted in reply, a noncommittal noise.

"How are you doing, Devan?"

Devan smiled. "Glad to be back at school," she said bashfully. She wasn't immune to the fact that everyone walking by was stating at her. She couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed since she wasn't used to being the center of attention. And it didn't help that the most popular boy in school was talking to her where everyone could see. Her—Devan Saylor—the awkward and unpopular National Honors Society girl that had one friend and her father by her side.

"Yeah, I bet," Alex said with a smile.

"Here's your bag, Dev," her father said. "I'll be here at three to pick you up."

"I could bring you home, if you want," Alex offered.

Mr. Saylor narrowed his eyes. "I can handle it, son," he told him.

Alex nodded. "Okay, sir. Would you like me to take you to your first class?" he asked.

Devan nodded slowly. "Okay, sure," she found herself saying before she could stop herself. "I'll see you after school, dad, I love you."

"Love you, too, sweets," he replied, kissing her forehead.

Devan watched her father leave, feeling slightly relieved when she found herself alone with Alex. "You don't really have to...take me to class...if you don't want to," she told him.

Alex grabbed her bag and draped it across the handles of her wheelchair. "Nonsense. I am at your disposal for the time being," he told her with a smile.

Devan couldn't hide the flush that appeared on her cheeks.

+

"You really don't have to do this," Devan repeated as Alex wheeled her towards the lunch room.

"And miss the chance of getting out of my classes early to escort a lovely lady such as yourself around? I think not," Alex told her.

And there was that damning blush again, something she couldn't really stop when she was around him. "Yeah, yeah, I see that's all you care about," she joked.

"But of course. You know I have ulterior motives such as getting out of math three minutes early for a couple of weeks," he assured her.

"I see how you are."

Alex laughed as he opened the door and wheeled her into the cafeteria. He didn't miss the way conversations stilted when they saw the two of them walk in together. He was able to ignore it, but Devan wasn't.

"So awkward," Devan muttered.

Alex shrugged and pushed her over to his regular lunch table. "What would you like to eat?"

"I can get it—"

"Nonsense," Alex repeated. "I'm your bitch. What are you in the mood for?"

"I don't have any money for lunch," she said quietly.

"Hmm?"

Devan sighed. "I don't have any money for lunch," she repeated a little bit louder.

"No worries, I got it," Alex said. "I'll get you something. I'll be right back."

Devan tried to stop him but it didn't work. And even though she was never the type of girl to believe in chivalry (she had always thought it was dead, right?), she couldn't deny that, okay, it felt kind of nice having Alex help take care of her.