Six (Josh)

I had crossed the line.

There were no words to accurately describe how terrible I felt.

I quickly realized I didn't deserve Devina in my life. She was brave and she was selfless. I didn't even deserve her telling me the time of day, and here she was, protecting me with her life.

I felt so guilty. I offered to drive when we checked out of our hotel in Chicago but she refused. She said she needed to drive to clear her head.

She was very quiet as she drove us from Chicago to Pittsburgh. I wanted to talk to her, but I couldn't think of anything to say. When I did have an idea it seemed superficial. Really, I wanted her to tell me about her brother, but I knew she wouldn't.

Thomas called as she drove and she talked to him for nearly an hour. I was jealous -- jealous of everything he had with her. I would never know her the way he did.

It was that fact that gave me an idea. We had finally stopped for the night and had settled into our hotel room. Devina was tapping away on her phone when she announced she was going to take a shower.

The door shut and I grabbed her phone. I tapped through until I found Thomas's number and dialed.

"Hey, Finley!" Thomas's voice sounded.

"Uh, hi. It's Josh," I replied nervously.

"Hey! How's it going?"

"Well, uh... Devina's probably told you about the... um..."

"Confrontation?"

I tried not to groan.

"Uh, yeah."

I leaned back in the bed and tried to get comfortable.

"Yes, she told me."

"I really messed up, didn't I?"

"No. You made a mistake and I'm sure you've learned from it."

"She hates me though."

"She does not hate you. Yeah, she's still seething a bit, but she's mostly trying to figure out how to act around you."

That's not what I was expecting to hear.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, she didn't know how to act around you before that little episode because you were a stranger forced into her space. Now she really doesn't know how to act because now you know the one thing I'm sure she never wanted you to know." Thomas elaborated.

This felt like a dead end. I didn't want this. I wanted to be Devina's friend. I wanted us to have as much fun as we could.

"So... what do I do?"

Thomas sighed on the other end.

"Dev lacks eloquence when it comes to articulating emotions. She approaches any friendship like a team. Do something where you have to work together and she will relax a bit."

"Team. Right."

I must not have sounded convinced.

"She definitely doesn't hate you. Just approach her as a teammate and she will open up."

Still it felt like I was missing a key piece to the puzzle that was Devina Friedmann.

"Anything else I should know?"

"Don't think so. You'll be fine."

"Okay. Thank you, Thomas."

"No problem. Don't hesitate to reach out to me if you need to."

"Thank you."

"Take care, Josh."

"You too."

I ended the call and put Devina's phone back on the nightstand.

Okay, so I just needed to find an activity where we had to be a team. I got up and walked over to the welcome packet on the table.

After a couple minutes of flipping through the booklet, Devina came out of the bathroom, steam rolling out behind her. Her hair was wrapped in a towel and she was dressed in a robe. I tried not to think of what was underneath.

"Looking for things to do?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah," I answered. I glanced over to see her pulling her laptop out of her bag. "I was thinking about tennis. There's a place that is a full-service tennis facility and they have equipment."

She looked at me in mild surprise.

"That would be fantastic," she told me.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Good find."

The sound of Skype starting up filled the room. Devina grabbed some clothes and went back to the bathroom. She had only been gone a couple minutes when a call came through Skype. She obviously heard it because the door opened again with a bang. Devina came flying out, pulling a tank top on as she rushed to the bed. I caught a glimpse of her full bust contained in her black bra and her bare, trim waist. I looked away, feeling like I had intruded on a personal moment.

"Torin!" she squealed after she accepted the call.

"Devina!" came a male voice from the computer.

And then I lost the conversation because Devina launched into a monologue spoken rapidly in German. The man on the other end was obviously keeping up because he would speak just as rapidly when Devina paused for breath.

I was reaching for the book I was reading when I noticed Devina was crying.

"Dev? You okay?" I asked.

She looked up at me and nodded excitedly.

"Come here," she said, waving me over.

I walked over to the bed and sat next to Devina. When I looked at the computer screen I knew right away who she was talking to. This had to be her brother. He looked just like her and was as handsome as she was beautiful. He also had bright green eyes that complemented his dark brown hair.

"Torin, this is Josh Hutcherson. Josh, this is my baby brother Torin," Devina confirmed.

"Hello," I said with a wave.

"Hello! Are you keeping my sister in line?" he asked. He had the same smooth voice as Devina, except his’ was deeper and masculine. I had a feeling they shared a lot more traits than what I could already see.

I chuckled.

"I am, yes. She's quite a handful but I manage," I said.

"Sounds like Devina. Always had to keep a close eye on her growing up."

"Bullshit," Devina fired back.

Torin and I chuckled.

"Well, I don't want to distract you from your brother. I'll be over there reading," I said to Devina.

"Okay," she answered. She gave me the first smile I had seen in a couple days.

I went back to the table and chairs but didn't reach for my book. Devina and Torin were back to talking German at the speed of light.

I missed my own family. I had no idea where they were and every time I asked Devina she said she didn't know.

Shoot. I should have asked Thomas. He probably wouldn't have told me. If he really hadn't told Devina, he was not going to tell me.

Defeatedly, I sighed.

This will all be over soon, I told myself as I went over to the room phone to order our dinner. Until then I would just have to hold on.