“I just ordered pizza.”
“Great,” Seth said. “We’ll have a choice.”
I knew it had been a mistake giving mum and Seth my address, but it was also unavoidable. I sighed, smiled and shook my head at both of them. “I was planning on inviting you guys over,” I said. “It’s just that things have been a bit hectic with finals and work.”
“Excuses, excuses,” Seth said teasingly.
“So,” mom said, cutting in. “Where’s the boyfriend slash roommate?”
“That’s the real reason you’re here, isn’t it?” I asked.
“Duh.”
I laughed. “Oh, mom, no one says ‘duh’ anymore.”
“I just did,” she retorted. “So that’s obviously not true.”
I shook my head at her and smiled. “He’s at work right now, but he should be back soon.”
Just then I remembered what Devlin had told me about Seth and the fact that he might not be too happy to learn that Devlin was my roommate and that we were dating now. I still found that odd, but I decided that since we had discussed waiting to tell my family, I should at least give him a heads up before he got home. So while Seth and mom got comfortable in the living room, I snuck into my bedroom and dialed Devlin’s number. I waited for a while, but he didn’t answer. I tried again, and this time the dial tone was different. I frowned, but the line went dead, and I realized that his phone had probably died on him. I sighed and headed back to the living room.
“I must say… the apartment’s nice,” Seth said, looking around.
“Isn’t it?” I nodded.
“I like what you’ve done with the place too,” Seth said, looking around at all Devlin’s paintings hanging around the walls. “Are these his or yours?”
“His,” I replied. “And by his, I mean that he painted them.”
“No way,” Seth said, looking impressed. “He’s an artist.”
I smiled. “He is.”
“Huh… there was a guy who volunteered at the station who was an artist too,” Seth said, in an off-handed way.
He had to be talking about Devlin, but why would he say that Devlin had volunteered to be a firefighter?
“He volunteered?” I asked.
“Yeah… well not exactly,” Seth corrected himself. “Volunteering implies he had a choice. It was community service.”
I felt a little spasm of shock for a moment, and then I reminded myself not to panic unnecessarily. “What was his name?” I asked.
Seth looked at my face and paused. “Why… Zo… are you alright?”
“What was this guy’s name, Seth?” I asked.
“Devlin,” he replied. “Why?”
I felt nauseous instantly and then a second later, I felt a wave of anger. He wasn’t a firefighter. He never had been. He had lied to me for months.
“Oh God,” I breathed.
Seth and mom were both looking at me with worry. Seth took a step forward and put his hand on my shoulder. “Zo… is everything alright?”
“Why was he required to do community service?” I asked.
Seth looked at me in surprise, but he didn’t push to get his own questions answered just yet. “He was caught dealing drugs,” he replied. “From what I heard of his case the judge presiding gave him a lenient sentence because he didn’t want Devlin to end up in the system.”