This summer had turned out to be one of the most depressing summers on record. No, strike that. It was the most depressing summer on record, which, after much thought, I decided would eventually lead into a depressing life.

Fuck.

Here I was sitting in the back of a dark bar, sipping on a warm beer and watching my best friend getting mauled by some guy.

Again.

The guy grunted and shoved his hands into Devyn's blond hair. I wanted to cut the guy's fingers off, among other things.

A few of the patrons peeked at them and whispered, but most just rolled their eyes. They knew Devyn. Everyone knew Devyn. And if Devyn wanted to kiss a guy in a grimy bar, then that's what Devyn did. Only in my head, he was kissing the wrong guy. It was supposed to be me.

That had been my big plan, but my plans had a habit of unraveling before they even got started. I grumbled and drank more beer, trying to drown out the noise of Devyn sucking on the guy's tongue.

Almost four years of this shit. You'd think I'd be used to it by now.

The summer had started out as a great idea. My parents gave me the best college graduation gift ever. They gave me the gift of free time. They were heading off to spend the summer in Europe, leaving our lake cabin unoccupied. It would be time to have some fun before I got mired down in a job and everyday life. Time to spend with my best friend and figure out what I really wanted to do with my life. Sometimes I wondered if my mother knew about my crush on Devyn because she automatically included him in my plans.

It was perfect. I would take Devyn up to the lake away from his social scene and bare my soul to him. After I confessed my love, he'd tell me he loved me too and we'd live happily ever after. We'd spend the summer making up for lost time. I planned to lock the door and not let him out of my sight.

"Oh, baby," the guy groaned into Devyn's mouth.

I accidentally kicked his chair, moving him away from Devyn.

"Oops," I said sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I have to take a piss."

Devyn eyed me, raising a questioning eyebrow. I offered him a weak scowl and tramped off to the rest room.

My reflection stared back at me, laughing in my face. I frowned and pushed my bangs away from my eyes. My hair was too long and stuck up in all the wrong places. The guy Devyn was devouring had short blond hair. Maybe Devyn liked guys with short blond hair. Devyn's hair was a lovely mix of blond and gold. Mine was boring brown, but there was no way in hell I was going to dye my hair blond.

Who was I kidding? If Devyn wanted it blond, I would go blond, or Goth or punk or metro.

Metro?

What does that even mean?

"It's not your hair, dipshit," I said and threw a crumpled paper towel at the mirror.

"Enjoy your hair while you have it," some old guy with three strands of gray hair sticking up said as he strolled into the bathroom. "I've got more hair growing out of my ears than on top of my head."

"Right, I'll remember that," I said and bolted. The rest room was not a safe place to hide.

I crawled up on my barstool and downed my warm beer, signaling for another. I noticed Devyn and his new friend weren't kissing anymore. Instead the new friend was fiddling with the cuff on Devyn's shirt. Actually if I looked closely, it was my shirt the guy was touching. Devyn had this strange habit of always wearing my clothes. No wonder nothing I owned was ever clean. And now I would have to burn this shirt because some jackass was fondling it.

I sighed as the bartender slid me another beer. Did shit like this ever happen to other people?

"Kasey," Devyn said. "Order me one too."

I gaped at him, staring at his swollen red lips and wondered what it would feel like to slide my mouth over his.