I was currently waiting for Devon to finish trying on some shirts and blouses that she had picked out and I spoke, “Almost done?”

I had annoyance in my voice, but it was in a humorous manor, then the dressing room door opened. Revealing Devon in her light blue blouse, I smiled, “I like that one a lot.”

She nodded, then gave me some jeans, “I need these in a 3, not a 5.”

I groaned, “Yes ma’am,” then I was heading toward the jean rack. I found what she was looking for and I when I looked up I saw a familiar flash of red hair. 

It took my back, and I took a second glance, but there was no one there. I blew it off, thinking that it was nothing but a figment of my imagination and I started toward the dressing room again. 

Then when I looked up I saw her, Samantha, pretending to browse through a rack of clothes. 

I practically ran back to Devon and I knocked on the door rapidly, “Devon let me in.”

She opened the door and I piled in, almost knocking her over. She looked up at me, “Amanda, what the hell…?”

“Sorry… here.” I handed her the jeans and she smiled. 

“Thanks.”

She began to strip out of her old ones and I sighed, trying to look away, and look at her eyes instead in the mirror. She had the nicest ass though…

She zipped and buttoned them and smiled, “I like these better.”

I heard her stomach growl all of a sudden and I looked up, “You hungry?”

She shrugged, “Not really. Why?”

She was lying, I heard her stomach growl! That’s the way your stomach tells you you’re hungry for Christ’s sake!

I shrugged, “Because I know you are and I am to.”

She looked at me, “Ok lemme change…”

She started to slip off her jeans and her foot caught at the end of them, causing her to lose her balance and trip forward. 

I caught her, holding her hips, staring into her eyes. There I was, the most intimate I’ve ever been with Devon, holding her naked hips as I tried my best not to look below her belly button. 

She stood, pulling away from me, laughing a very uneasy laugh, “S-Sorry…”

I smiled, “No biggie,” inside I was freaking out, I could slow my heart rate. I stood, opening the door for her and she looked down. 

My eyes were to fixated on her ass when I heard these words, “Oh hi Samantha…”

My eyes snapped up, meeting with Samantha’s instantly, she smiled, “Hey Devon, Amanda.”

I nodded, “Hey…”

She nodded toward the dressing room, “So y’all were having some fun in the dressing room or what?”

I groaned, “No, goodbye Samantha.”

I pulled Devon away from Samantha as fast as I could but I knew she was going to ask what all that was about. And I was right. 

“What the…?”

I shook my head, “She’s crazy.”

“She thought we were… messing around in the dressing room?!”

I rolled my eyes, “Like I said, she’s crazy.”

We made our way to the food court and of course, Devon ordered a salad. I groaned, “Devon… you need protein in your life.”

She shrugged, “I’m just not that hungry.”

“You have to be starving, you’ve lost weight, I can see it. Why are you not hungry?”

“I dunno, I just… don’t have an appetite.”

I looked at her from across the table, I really wanted to bother her about this one. It was worrying me, she was worrying me, and I needed to know what her deal was. Was she depressed? Was she starving herself for some other reason?

“Devon… are you depressed?”

She hesitated wit her fork, I could see I hit a nerve, and with that I knew the answer. She looked up, “I’m fine…?”

I shook my head, “I see where you’re heading, starving yourself… Devon if you need help…”

“I don’t need help…”

I grabbed her hand, pulling her eyes up to mine, “Devon, be honest with me, please…?”

She couldn’t hold the gaze long, she was uncomfortable but I didn’t care. I wanted to know the truth, I wanted to make her better, I wanted to make her happy, and healthy… I wanted to help her… 

“I am depressed… I mean I lost my best friend of four years three months ago. There’s questions… that will never be able to be answered, and my roommate reminds me so much of her. Sometimes my head psyches my heart out and I think you’re Rachel… when I met you, you were a completely different person. Now… it’s like Rachel Kidder, my dead best friend, is sitting in front of me.”

She had just laid a lot on me, but it was nothing I didn’t already know. I mean I knew that it freaked her out that I had changed dramatically over the last month, but I thought she had grown used to it. It’s not like I could control it anyway… 

“What can I do…?”

She stood, shaking her head, “Nothing, because you’re not Rachel.”

***

We were back home, and I was packing up my guitar while Trevor plucked at his. He looked at me, “You ok?”

I nodded, “I’m fine, Devon… she’s worrying me.”

“What’s going on?”

“Well, the whole me looking like Rachel thing, I don’t know why my hair changed, or why I grew and shit… it’s hurting her. She thinks I look a lot like Rachel, and she’s had a loss of appetite… she’s starving herself…”

“Dealing with a death… for someone that close to you… it’s tough.”

I looked at him, giving him a confusing look. 

“My best friend… he died two years ago… but anyways, yea, it’s difficult.”

“How’d you deal?”

He shrugged, leaning back into the tree, “Friends, a lot of therapy, why?”

“Because I need to know how to help Devon.”

“Well you told me she said she had a lot of unanswered questions… maybe talk to one of her good friends. Someone who was there that night?”

I shrugged, “Not like I can ask Rachel, she’s dead.”

He sighed, “Well there were plenty people at the party, plenty of people that know Rachel and Devon… track one of them down and ask them?”

I nodded, he had a good point, but who? Who would know what went down between Rachel and Devon? The one thing that caused Rachel to storm off at the party and leave?

Then it clicked in my head. 

Trenton.