Chapter 18- Devin is Here to Stay

Taylor groggily rolled over on the bed and slammed his hand on the alarm clock's snooze button. He rubbed his eyes and sat up as Isaac put a pillow over his head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up too." There was an incomprehensible mumble from his brother, along with Ike tightening his hands on the pillow in hopes of drowning out the sound from his brother getting up for work. "Oh man," Taylor mumbled as he opened the door to go and take a shower, "I feel like I haven't slept at all."

He entered the bathroom and let out a sigh. Casey was sprawled out over the bath tub in a tank top and her underwear. "Casey," Taylor shook her arm, only to have it fall down on the floor. "Come on Casey, wake up," He shook her shoulders and she didn't move. "Oh boy," Tay sighed as he moved her other arm so that she was on the floor in front of the tub. "Can't say I didn't try." He got into the shower, leaving Casey on the floor.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Taylor asked the kid standing in the kitchen making himself breakfast. "Who the hell are you?"

"Name's Devin," he answered, without looking up. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Oh my God," Tay sighed, putting his head in his hands. "Could this morning get any worse," he mumbled to himself.

"You leaving?" Devin asked.

Taylor looked at him and sighed. "Casey's on the floor in the bathroom if you need her. My brother's sleeping in my bedroom." He turned and quickly left the apartment.

"Believe me, there is no way you're day could have been worse than mine," Taylor told Chris and Greg as the three sat at the bar after work. "Casey wakes me up at 3 in the morning when she comes home raging drunk with an emo kid tagging along. My brother has to stay in my room so he can sleep on the couch. I get up at 6 for work, and I go to take a shower but Casey is passed out and hanging over the side of the bathroom."

"She what?" Chris incredulously replied, "What did you do?"

"I moved her to the floor and took a shower, what was I supposed to do? It's not like I could carry her to her room or anything." Taylor paused to light a cigarette. "When I'm about to leave, the kid she brought home is in the kitchen making himself breakfast. I get to work and my boss is not in a good mood, I had to a new file today for some company he just bought stock in so I worked 7 hours straight without a break. Josh was pissed off that he couldn't get in touch with my since I was so busy because Casey woke up, didn't remember coming home last night, and lashed out at my brother for god knows what, then called the office to yell at me. I'm like, afraid to go home. My brother is supposed to meet us here, though. I don't know where he is."

"Ouch, that's tough." Greg shook his head in sympathy as he put his arm around Taylor. "That's like three bad days in one."

"Oh man, I know," Tay replied, taking a drag of his cigarette. "Oh look, there's my brother now, " He pointed towards the door of the bar. "Hey Ike, I'm so sorry about the way Casey was to you today. If I knew she was going to act like that I would have stayed home or done something."

"Don't worry Tay. I've known Casey for years too. She acted like that when she was 10, she still acts the same. I'm used to it."

"What happened with Devin or whatever his name was."

"Well, at about 2, when Casey woke up and she yelled at me, he tried to calm her down and she went with him to work."

"Where does he work?"

"I don't know, one of those piercing places around here. I don't remember which one. He's probably still there now, but I don't know where Casey is."

"The was she's been acting these past few days, I don't even care where she is."

"Oh my god, Devin, that's so kinky," Casey giggled before kissing him again. "You remind me of those vampires in movies or something."

"So I'll take it you've never done anything like this before, right Casey?" he smiled and tilted his head back as Casey watched the muscles in his arms move.

"Are you sure you're not a vampire or anything?" she giggled again before pulling him closer to her.

"Casey, vampires aren't real. They wear capes and have fangs. I drive a Mazarati and spend an hour a day in a tanning booth." He smiled once again before kissing her fiercely.

"Hi you two, did you have a nice day?" Casey asked as Taylor and Isaac walked into the house at 11:30.

"I see someone's in a better mood now," Ike commented, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Casey sarastically replied. "I made cookies if you're hungry."

"Cookies?" Taylor asked. "When was the last time you made cookies?"

She came over and gave him a hug. "The last time I really didn't want you to stay mad at me?"

Tay laughed. "You are something else, Casey. What did you do that you think is going to make me stay mad?"

"Nothing, Tay, why would you think I would do something like that?" she smiled as her eyes looked everywhere but at him.

"Spit it out," he replied.

"Devin is staying again. I hope he'll be staying for a while. I swear though, I'm sober tonight, and I'm not going out? Ok?"

"Taylor looked incredulously at his friend. "Ok..." he eventually replied. "Right. I think you have had too much caffeine or something today."

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry for the way I acted this morning Ike. I didn't mean to be so mean to you and everything, I guess I was still a little bit hung over or something. You know how it is." She walked over to Ike and gave him a hug and a quick peck on the cheek.

"It's OK Casey, don't worry about it," he replied.

"Good," she answered. "Come on Devin," she called into the living room, "I'm going to sleep now, you should too, you have to open the shop tomorrow. Good night, guys," she called to them as she and Devin disappeared into her room.

"OK, that was weird," Taylor remarked to his brother.

"Very weird."

So what do we do now? Is this Devin thing a good thing, or a bad thing?" Taylor looked quizically at his brother.

"I have no idea, Tay, no idea." he answered, putting his hand on his brother's shoulder. "No idea...."

Chapter 19
Chapter 17
Home

Email: ike4meonly@aol.com