Into the Light

22 Anna's POV

It was that slow burning one. The one that started out like a little smirk, but then grew into that gorgeous smile that lifted his cheeks, and took over his face. It felt like the sun. Like, I couldn't stare too long at it's light. "Great! I'm going to pack, but I know you don't have anything, so don't worry about it. We'll take care of that when we get there," he said, and started to throw a few pieces of clothing into the suitcase. "Take care of what?" I asked, a little confused. "Your clothes. Obviously, you don't have anything besides the one outfit, and I know that asking Katrina all the time will get old fast. So, we'll just go shopping and get you a few things," he replied, paying attention to his task. "Wait, no!" I exclaimed, my mouth dropping open. "I can't just let you keep spending all of this money on me, Colby. It's not right." He looked up from the suitcase and met my gaze. "You are going to let me do this for you, Anna. I want too. I have the money. It's not a hardship and it's not going to affect anything. Please let me do this for you." He threw his on puppy dog look on me, and I caved. "Fine," I grumbled, and crossed my arms. I didn't like it when he used my own tactics against me. He grinned again, a quick flash of his white teeth, then went back to putting things into the suitcase. "So, what do I need to do?" I asked, standing there, swinging my arms. "Nothing, really. I've got everything that we might need, and you don't really have anything yet, so...I guess we're almost ready. Just need to see who else is coming with us, so that we can get our tickets. Come on," he said, holding out his hand for me. I took it, and he grabbed the suitcase with his other. We headed downstairs, and I could hear loud laughter and talking throughout the area. "Sounds like some of them are already here," he said, with a smile at me. "Let's go check it out." I started to get more and more nervous, the closer we got to the laughing voices. "Stop it, Jake! I can't take you anywhere," one girl's voice rang out. Colby laughed gently and shook his head. We bypassed the living room and went straight down the hallway, towards the 'dining room.' They obviously didn't use it for that, but that's what it was. "Hey guys!" I wasn't sure who had yelled out the greeting, because there were a lot of people in the room. Most I had already met...or had I? I knew that I had at least seen them a couple of times. "Hey, what's going on?" Colby greeted them all. "Has Sam already asked you?" Jake nodded. "Yeah, me and Tara are down for an overnight trip." Colby nodded, and clasped the hand of a guy that I hadn't met. He was kind of brown skinned, with a nice smile. Were they friends with anyone that wasn't ridiculously attractive? A girl could get a complex, easily. "Hey brother, what's up?" the guy said to Colby, then smiled at me. "Brennen, this is Anna. Anna, this is my boy, Brennen," Colby said. "Where had he been hiding you?" Brennen asked. "Oh, uh," I stuttered out. "Haven't been hiding her," Colby retorted. "It's just new and I didn't want her to meet you and decide that she didn't like me anymore." Brennen grabbed his chest, and his mouth fell open in fake shock. "Ouch," he said. "It's like that, huh?" Colby grinned. "It's nice to meet you, Brennen," I said, shyly. The others were talking a little around us, but I felt all of their eyes on me. "So proper," Brennen replied, making me blush. "What do you see in this fool?" I couldn't help but like this guy's laid back attitude and the way he and Colby teased one another. "He's kind of cute, I guess," I answered, flipping my hair back over my shoulder. "Damn, really?" Colby asked, feigning being offended. "You're both just gonna do me like that?" I snuggled up to his side and giggled. "Anna, it's nice to see you again! I was sure that Colby had messed something up, since we hadn't seen you for a little while," Tara said, stepping towards me. "It's good to see you too," I answered. Devyn greeted me next, then Corey, and we all fell into this comfortable comradery that I had never had with so many people before. Holley was the only one- Holley! "Hey Colby, can I talk to you for a second?" I asked, pulling on his arm a little. "Yeah, of course," he said, his brow furrowing in confusion. We walked about halfway down the hallway, then I stopped and faced him. "Do you think we can ask Holley to go? Not that I don't love your friends! I do, I just would really like to hang out with her too. Now that I'm...I don't know, a real girl, or whatever." He chuckled at my analogy, and took my hands in his. "We can ask her. I didn't because...well, she's got a family and a job that takes most of her time. Plus, I wasn't sure how she would feel spending a couple of days away with a bunch of kids that she doesn't know. I thought she might feel out of place." I pursed my lips and thought about what he had said. He was probably right. Holley was now thirty plus years older than me, with an entire life of her own. One that I didn't fit into anymore. Maybe if things had been different, then I would have my own family and our kids would have grown up together. Now, that wasn't possible. I felt a little melancholy about losing the life that I was supposed to have, with my family and my best friend. "We can ask her though!" Colby exclaimed, seeing my face fall. I shook my head. "No, you're probably right. I'll hang out with her another time. Does she know that I'm back?" He bit his bottom lip and shook his head. "No, I haven't told her. I guess I didn't think about it. Do you want me to tell her now, or wait?" "We can wait," I sighed. "There's no point in telling her right now, if we're just going to go out of town immediately after. We'll can tell her when we get back." He held my gaze for another moment, then leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. I returned it, just a soft, sweet pressure of his lips on mine.