Next Day

Sitting on the bench outside her job Devin waited for her cousins to arrive.

"Hey Dev." A voice says from behind her.

Looking back Devin said.

"Yeah?"

"I heard you and Joe might be getting a divorce?"

"Who told you- let me guess, Stacy and Samantha?"

"Yup, the family gossip."

Devin looks down and plays with the dirt with her feet.

"Devin?" Jez called.

"We`re fine, I mean we`re not fine, but we`re going to be, my therapist recommended a good marriage counselor." Devin lied.

"That`s good to hear, I`m happy for you."

Devin laughs and says.

"Nnnno you`re not."

"No, I am."

"Dev no matter how much we argue or how much I claim to hate you, which I really do, at the end of the day we're cousins and I`m here for you, and I want to be able to talk to you how you talk to Bree and I want you to be able to talk to me how Bree talks to you, if you want to talk about ponies and rainbows we could talk about ponies and rainbows, if you want to talk about your marriage we can talk about your marriage." Jez says.

"I know, so you could rub it in my face that my perfect marriage failed?" Devin asked.

"No because you`re my cousin and I love you, just like you took me out of that bar last month when I was sloppy drunk because you love me, I love you just the same, I might not say it a lot, but I do and I never got to thank you for that so I guess this is my way of saying thank you."

"Your welcome."

"Why did we start hating each other- like seriously?" Devin asked.

"I know you said it was because we were like wolves and never included you but I feel like it`s deeper."

"You don't remember?" Jez asked.

Devin shakes her head.

"Neither do I." Jez says laughing.

"No, I`m lying I do know why."

"Why?"

"We were all really close when we were little, but then my parents got divorced and my mom took me and left, my life was crazy when I was with her, I couldn't wait to come back to California to be with my favorite cousins, that I had all these good memories with, but whenever I did come to visit, everything was different, and you guys scooted me out of the group like we were friends and not cousins, every time I visited I was pushed out further and further, until I was an outsider looking in…."

"They were so focused on protecting you from everything…."

Cutting her off Devin looks back to the ground and says.

"They had to protect me, my mom broke me down so low, I became numb to everything, if they didn't protect me or my feelings people would have taken complete advantage of me."

Staring at her cousin who had her eyes fixed on the dirt beneath them Jez says.

"But you`re not the only one with feelings."

Shrugging Jez continued with.

"I guess I got bitter and jealous."

"Well we shouldn't hate each other, were cousins, we should be having each other's backs and other weird cousin things." Devin says.

"Yeah, I know." Jez says pausing.

Bumping her with her shoulder Jez continued with.

"We have more in common then we think."

Looking up and over at her Devin says.

"Like?"

"We both suffered from a mental illness."

"You- suffered from a mental illness?" Devin asked lifting her eye brow up.

"I did and I even spent time in a hospital, just like you did."

"What for?"

"Depression- when I was younger I kept trying to kill myself."

"I`m sorry."

"Yeah, well that`s not the only, thing we have in common, we both had crazy a** mom`s." Jez explained.

"Auntie Melonie was crazy?"

Jez`s Dad and Devin`s mom were brothers and sisters.

"My mom was a drug addict and she use to sell me for a fix, which is why your mom would always take me when she could, until I finally moved with our grandparents and then into the state hospital, right around the same time you went."

"But did anyone notice, did anyone care that I wanted to die, nope, they thought I was doing it for attention, and not as a cry for help, aunt Bev and Grandma were the only ones to take my threat seriously, my own dad didn't pay any attention to me until our grandparents died, because then he had to take me to live with him, in Alaska with his new wife."

"I`m sorry Jez, I didn't know." Devin says finally understanding her cousin for the first time.

"Your mom might have been a monster to you but she saved my life, taking me from my mom was the best thing that happened to me."

A/N: I guess we finally got to the root of the war between Devin and Jez. Also I decided since we`re now down to the last six chapters I will be posting more than one chapter today (34-37)