Black Damask

To say I was confused when Devin found a seat far away from me in class would be an understatement. I knew we were pretending to not be in a relationship around the guys, but we were still friends. I guess I didn’t hide how hurt I was as well as I’d hoped when I saw Dev’s text. “Sorry, but you know why I’m doing this. I told the guys I was giving up on trying to get together with you, so now I don’t want Ricky to get suspicious.” It made sense, but it still hurt that Devin made it look like we weren’t even friends. When the bell rang at the end of class, I got my things together and left without a word. Not even a goodbye wave. Throughout my next few classes, Devin kept sending me texts, telling me how much he loved me and how he wanted to be able to hold me. He definitely knew how to make up for earlier.

Five minutes into our lunch break, I knew I couldn’t take it anymore. Sitting there at the table with all the other guys and having to ignore Devin? The day had been enough torture already. “Hey, I’m gonna head home,” I said. “I’m not feeling that great.” Angelo offered to drive me home, but I told him I’d be ok. The guys didn’t let me leave until I promised to text them so they knew I didn’t pass out and kill myself on the way home.

As I walked to my car, I started thinking about that. Kind of. If a person is in a car accident and someone in the other car is killed, it’s considered involuntary manslaughter. So, if a person died while driving and hit another car, killing someone, would that person have been killed by a dead person? Would that person’s spirit spend the rest of eternity floating around thinking “What the fuck is wrong with this world? I was killed by a dead guy.”

Halfway home, I got a text from Devin. It was a red light, so I checked it. See, I’m a good driver who doesn’t text while driving and goes the speed limit. When cops are around. “Wanna meet at the park?”

“Now? Or later?” I texted.

My phone vibrated in my lap as the light finally turned green. I glanced down to see that Dev was calling. I turned the speaker on before balancing the phone on my lap. “Now,” Dev said. “I told the guys I had important stuff to do at home, since I don’t have any classes this afternoon.”

“Sounds good. I’ll be there in about five minutes,” I said.

“I’m gonna stop at the café for some food, cause I’m hungry, and I’m assuming you are too. I’ll be there soon though.”

I sat on the swings while waiting for Devin to arrive. It was so quiet and peaceful here, especially with the cloudy weather we had today. No wonder he came here to think. When Dev arrived, we ate at our usual bench before walking in circles around the playground. Unfortunately, the sun began making its way through the clouds, so we took shelter under a huge oak tree.

“I wonder how long we have to keep this up,” Devin said, lying on his back to look at the sky.

“I don’t know but all I know is that it is driving me crazy” I relied, joining him.

“I honestly love you so much Anna, I know it’s quick to say that I love you but I knew from the first second I saw you that I loved you and that you were the definition of beauty.” I still couldn’t believe how sweet he could be. Even with the simplest phrases, Devin made me feel so happy. I turned away, attempting to hide my face, embarrassed.

Devin sat up slightly, leaning over me. “Aw honey, don’t hide your face away,” he said, gently turning me back to meet his eyes. When I did he was only inches away from me. I took hold of the front of his jacket in both hands, pulling him down towards me. Just as our lips were about to meet, we heard a familiar voice yelling from a distance.

“Um, what the fuck guys!?” Devin pushed himself up, looking for our visitor.

“Angelo,” he said. “That didn’t last long.” I shook my head. I’d really been hoping this little trick would last more than a day. It had to come to an end sometime though, but why did it have to interrupt this perfect moment?

Devin sat up fully as the running footsteps got closer. At least it was only one set of footsteps. “What the fuck!?” he shouted again.

Devin helped me up while Angelo caught his breath. I leaned back against Dev when he wrapped his arms around me, facing Angelo. “Um, surprise?” I said. I heard Devin chuckle behind me. “You have a better idea of what to say?” I asked, leaning my head back to see him.

“No, not really.” I rolled my eyes at him before turning back to face Angelo.

“Wait…but…you and you…there…earlier…” Angelo looked back and forth between us, stuttering. I guess we did a pretty good job of convincing them that we weren’t together than. “What the fucking hell is going on?” he finally got out. I fought the urge to laugh at his confused face. Poor guy looked like a kid who’d just wandered into a Santa convention.

“We were trying to see how far you guys would go to get us together,” Devin explained. “The date actually went great, considering we’ve been together since then.” I nodded. Angelo continued staring at us in shock. “Angelo? Are you ok? Say something, man.”

His mouth hung open. “Are you serious?” he finally shouted, lunging at us. “I’m so happy for you two!” That was not what I was expecting. “But the others are freaking out right now. Ricky’s ready to bang his head against the wall because of this.”

“This could get interesting,” I said. “Join us?” I asked Angelo. I waited, watching him consider the option. Finally he nodded. “Yes. But how did you know it was us here?”

“I was gonna wait here for Dev, cause I thought he would be here to think. But considering this is an abandoned park and the only two cars in the lot belong to the two of you, it was pretty easy.”

The three of us spent a few hours at the park before leaving. We decided to go back to my house, since it was closest. I wasn’t expecting to the see the rest of the band there, waiting. “Where have you been? You texted and said you were here, but then when we got here you weren’t,” Balz said, sounding worried.

My thoughts ran about a million miles a minute. “Sorry, I was here, but then I decided to go back out because I felt better, and ran into these two.” This was nowhere near my best lie. But I hated lying to my friends. This trick was more than enough already, even if Angelo was in on it now too. I led the guys inside, where we started a movie. While the previews were playing, I went into the kitchen to get some drinks.

I jumped when someone came up behind me. “I think we were interrupted earlier,” Devin whispered in my ear. “So, where were we?”

I turned around, Devin pushing me back against the counter. “I think it was something like this,” I said.

Just as our lips were about to touch, someone cleared their throat. “Is there something you’d like to tell us?” Why were we always being interrupted?

I sighed, burying my head in Devin’s chest as he turned to face the guys. “No, but I do have a question,” he said. “What the fuck are you guys doing in here?”

“Simple,” Ricky explained. “This morning you wanted nothing to do with Anna, and now you’re coming to help her.”

“So, how long has this been going on?” Ryan asked.

“Just since our date,” Dev replied. The guys gathered around, cheering for us. When they took their drinks and went back to the front room, Devin held me back. “We still have something we need to do,” he said, pulling me towards him.

“You really think it’s possible to happen without an interruption?” I asked, smiling. It didn’t take much for him to prove me wrong.