Chapter seventeen
Devyn
I was still smiling when I set my phone down. Dylan got his driver’s license today. For some reason that made me prouder than I probably should have been. Maybe because I remembered the first time Rico put him behind the wheel.
Or because I remembered him complaining every single time Rico made him practice. Or maybe because it was proof that life was moving forward whether either of us liked it or not.
Either way, I couldn’t stop smiling for him.
“What are you grinning at?”
I looked up and Sahara was sitting across from me on her bed.
“Nothing.”
“You are such a liar.”
I rolled my eyes. “Dylan got his driver’s license today,” I informed her.
Her face lit up the same way mine did when he told me. “Oh wow! Seriously?”
“Yeah.” I nodded.
“That’s so cool.”
I grabbed my phone and walked over to her bed. I showed her the pic of Dylan behind the wheel.
“Aww.”
“What?” I asked.
“He looks happy.”
I smiled. “Oh, he is.”
“Lemme see the tattoo,” she said excitedly.
“What tattoo?”
“Didn’t you say he got a tattoo today too?”
“Yeah. But I don’t like it,” I said.
“Lemme see it,” she pressed.
I scrolled to the picture on my phone and handed it to her. “Oh my God!” Sahara shrieked.
“What?” I asked.
“That’s hot!” she stated as she pointed at it.
I stared at her. “Girl be for real!”
“Well, it is.”
“Sahara.”
“What?” she asked innocently.
I shook my head then immediately regretted showing her the picture. She zoomed in even more.
“Wait.” Her eyebrows pulled together as she looked up with a confused expression. “I thought his name was Dylan.”
“It is.”
“Then who the heck is Dreco?” she asked as she pointed at the name.
I rolled my eyes so hard they nearly got stuck in my head. I scoffed and replied, “Girl, his street name.”
For a second Sahara just stared at me then she started laughing hard. It was the kind of laugh where she had to grab her stomach while tears threatened to fall. I laughed even though I wasn’t sure what we were laughing at.
“Oh my God!” she cried through tears. “Are you serious?”
“Dead ass.”
“So, your man has a street name now,” she asked with a smirk before she started giggling.
“It is not that funny,” I said.
“Dreco?” she inquired. “Dreco. Like it rhymes with gecko.” Then she started to laugh again.
I snatched my phone back. “Stop it.”
“Dreco,” she said it again. This time with dramatic emphasis. “Dreco.”
I laughed so loud. “Girl, stop.”
“Dreco.” She pointed towards me. “So, you’re telling me Dylan woke up one day and decided he needed an alter ego.”
“It’s not an alter ego,” I replied smartly.
“It sounds like an alter ego.”
Now, I couldn’t stop laughing. “It’s a nickname the guys who work with him gave him.”
“Well, tell him it’s a terrible nickname,” Sahara said.
“It’s not terrible,” I countered.
“It absolutely is.”
I shook my head then looked back at the picture. The tattoo itself wasn’t bad and that wasn’t my issue with it. My issue was that Dylan was spending more and more time around grown men who thought tattoos and street names were normal and cool.
Meanwhile, I was sitting in Switzerland taking piano lessons. The contrast between our two lives was ridiculous. But I still love him.
“What?”
I looked up to find Sahara watching me carefully. “Nothing,” she said. “You don’t actually hate the tattoo.”
“Yes I do,” I said.
“No, you don’t.”
I opened my mouth. then closed it because unfortunately, she was right. I didn’t hate the tattoo. I hated what it represented or what I thought it represented.
Sahara smiled. “Aha.”
“Shut up,” I said.
“Did you tell him that you like it?” Sahara asked.
“No, I didn’t because I don’t.”
“But I think you do.”
“Whatever.” I scoffed.
I threw a pillow at her and laughed.
Of course, she dodged it and we both busted out laughing. A few seconds later, she flopped backwards onto her bed.
“So…”
I already knew that tone. “So what?”
“Do you…”
I groaned immediately. “No.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to ask you,” she said.
“Yeah I do.”
She laughed and said, “No, you don’t.”
I crossed my arms and said, “Okay ask away.”
Her grin widened. “If Dylan were here, do you think the two of you would still be together?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “That’s a hard question to answer because he’s not here,” I said.
“But if he was here, would you still want to be with him?” Sahara asked.
I thought for a moment and nodded my head. “Yes.”
No matter how far apart we were, I still thought about Dylan every freaking day. I still remember the times we sat in the stables reading and how happy he was when he got his first A.
Dylan meant a lot to me, so of course, if he was here, I’d want to be with him.
“Do you still love him?” Sahara asked.
“Do you still love Lincoln?” I countered.
“I asked you first,” she said.
“Yeah. He’s my first love,” I said with a smile. “Your turn.”
“Yes! I miss him so much,” she said.
“I know the feeling,” I said.
I opened the text of Dylan behind the wheel and couldn’t help but smile. He was so handsome.
“Have you and Dylan…” she paused with a smile. “You know.”
“What?” I asked as I giggled.
“Have y’all gone all the way?”
I couldn’t even answer her. I just put my face in a pillow and laughed. I had never spoken to anybody about me and Dylan being intimate before.
“I knew it!” she said as she clapped her hands together.
“Whatever!” I shrieked as I laughed. Once we calmed down, I asked, “Have you and Lincoln?”
“Sure did, and I have no problem saying it either. He was my first love, so it just made sense,” she explained.
“Yeah,” I agreed as I nodded my head. I leaned back against the wall and smiled. “I think about Dylan every day.”
“I do the same with Lincoln, but unfortunately, we are going to have to get those boys out of our heads. It’s obvious our parents want them out of our lives, or they wouldn’t have sent us here.”
“Right,” I agreed.
“We have to move on Devyn.”
“What does that even mean?” I asked.
“It means we have to forget about them.”
“I can’t forget about Dylan. I love him.”
“I love Lincoln too, but when do you think I’ll ever get to see him again?” Sahara asked. “We have to be realistic about this. Our parents have all the power.”
Just the thought of never seeing Dylan again caused my chest to hurt. Sahara may not see Lincoln again, but that had nothing to do with me and Dylan. As long as he worked for my daddy, I’d be able to see him.
A few minutes later my phone buzzed and I immediately reached for it. Of course, Sahara noticed. I could tell by the way she sat on her bed with that smirk on her face.
“Uh huh. There he is.”
I rolled my eyes and smiled.
“Hush up.”
“Is that Dreco?” she asked with a teasing smile.
I threw another pillow and this one hit her directly in the face. The scream she let out could probably be heard across campus.
And for the next several minutes, the two of us chased each other around the room laughing until neither of us could breathe.