I'll Be Holding on to You

time travel

Moey brought Devyn home the next afternoon. She was not at all what I had expected. She had short blond curls and was short and sweet. She was also mostly afraid of the motorcycle.

"We take my car places unless it's like a block away," she admitted, laughing at herself. "I'm always afraid we'll tip over." She sat on his lap in the living room and his arms were around her.

"I wouldn't tip you over," Mohammed told her, and it was so strange to see him being all loving with a stranger. No stutter.

I was watching live performances on my computer of Twenty One Pilots, especially the song they ended with, Trees. They put two sets of drums on platforms for the crowd to hold up and then got up on there and both played. "This pretty much gives me life," I said to no on in particular, not that they didn't already know that and feel the same.

"Who's that?" Devyn asked of the music, and after we all winced, we educated her.

They left after an hour and Mara and Gage just missed them. Mara shrugged out of her jacket and hung it up and hugged me. Gage hugged me too, whispering, "Didn't tell her yet," in my ear as he did so.

My tongue was swollen but not badly. "The kissing thing is true, right?"

"What are you whispering about with my girlfriend?" Mara joked, tugging my hand so I went back to her.

I stuck my tongue out. "I was double checking the no-kissing rule," I admitted, kissing her on the lips. "The no tongue-kissing rule, I guess I should clarify."

"That's so hot," she said. "Wow. I must be you, because I suddenly can't even." She kissed me back.

"Gaaage," Erika hollered from the living room, where she was kicking Cam's ass at racing.

"Gotta go," he said happily. We followed him. He joined Erika on the couch, kissing her on the lips, which gave me acid indigestion to see. Yes, I'm a hypocrite.

We watched a movie and then everyone was sitting around doing whatever, asking Would You questions. Moey had returned too.

It was Gage's turn. "Would you live in a cabin with no electronics for a month for a million dollars?"

We all said yes except for Freak. "Nope," she said. "Hell no. I already have money if I need it. I need my wifi."

Gage kissed her cheek. "For five million?"

"Nope," she repeated.

"If there was TV?"

She considered. "Cable? With all the channels?"

He chewed his cheek. "Half the channels. One movie channel, but it's HBO."

She winced. "No deal."

"Okay, this is a good one," Freddy said, looking up more questions on his phone. "Which of your friends are you most proud of?"

"Ohhh," we said. Tough one.

"Cammy," Evie said first. She was eating gummy worms, on the bean bag chair with Freddy.

"Cam," I echoed, wrapped up with Mara, Cam next to us.

"Dory," Mo piped up. "Sorry, Cam."

Cam saluted him. "Also Dory," he said.

"You guys," I said, absurdly pleased. Mara nudged me, smiling too.

"Also Dory," Erika put in. "Sorry, Emo."

He flipped her off.

"I too will go with Cam, which gives us a tie," Freddy said happily.