XPLR | Colby Brock

~16~

"No. Fucking. Way," Hayden said as I walked up and the officer closed the door behind me.

"Hayden? What the hell are you doing here?" I asked as I sat down next to him. His face was bloodied, his lip and eyebrow were cut and one of his eyes were swollen shut. He reeked of alcohol.

"I... got in a bar fight," he said, tugging on his shirt collar nervously. "What did you do?" he asked.

"Trespassed for one of Elena's videos," I said without thinking. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I grabbed my hair band and took my hair out of the ponytail. It felt so good, since my hair had gotten used to being in a tight ponytail.

I shook it loose and parted my hair the opposite way than usual, sighing. "Elena's here?" he asked nervously.

"No... but she's on her way to pick me up. She didn't get caught," I looked at the ground, leaning on my hands.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god."

There was a few beats of silence between us before I finally summoned the courage to say, "What are you guys?"

He leaned back and crossed his arms. "God, I don't know. She said she wanted to take time off... but I think she just left me." He looked around the room, anywhere but my eyes.

"Oh..." I said almost too quietly for him to hear.

"I still love her. I wouldn't have gone to the bar tonight if I didn't miss her as much as I did. God I'm a mess over that woman," he leaned over and rubbed his face. "Now I'm hungover and beat up with a ticket."

I wanted to warn him about what he'd see when she got here. I didn't know how at all.

I wanted to warn him about what he'd see when she got here, but I just didn't have the heart. Here he was, bent over, rubbing his eyes. He was broken without her.

I touched his back gently. "It's alright," I said softly. He looked back at me suddenly, with hard eyes. "Does she miss me?"

I thought about what I should say for a second. "I don't know... I didn't know you two were having problem."

He leaned back and sighed. "Great..."

I patted his shoulder.

There was nothing I could say or do to stop whatever was going to happen. So I just sat back and braced myself.

Twenty minutes later, Elena came to the bars, sweating. "Rose! Thank god!" she said, but then she saw Hayden. She froze, and so did he.

"Hayden?" She asked softly. He stood up quickly. "Elena, I just need to talk to you. I'm a mess with out you, I miss you so much I can't breathe some-" he stopped.

I stood up, already knowing what was going to happen. "Elena? Is she there?" Elton asked as he and Colby walked up. The second Hayden saw them, you could practically see his blood boil, but in his eyes you could tell he was hurt.

Colby recognized him, Elton didn't. Colby immediately glanced at me, and I just gave him a look that said, I don't know what to do!

He stood to the side and watched just like I was. "Elena? What are you doing with them?" Hayden asked slowly. She looked between and Elton, caught in her lie.

"We were just filming a video," she said softly, panicking. She was only talking to Hayden. All her attention was on Hayden. The act she had before was gone now, and her true thoughts were coming out.

Hayden looked to Elton, with eyes full of hatred. "What did she tell you?"

"She told us you two weren't together, honestly. It was just a video man."

It didn't matter. The damage was done. He was hurt. "Just go. We'll talk about this later," Hayden said, looking away.

Elena sighed and listened. "Come on, Rose, lets go."

And like that we left, going back to Elton's car that they'd managed to get to before it got towed. I sighed and got in next to Elena. All the confrontation was making me anxious. By now it was late into the night, close to midnight. And here we were, Elena and I in the back seat. The only sound in the car was the faint sound of the radio playing through the speakers, and the occasional sound of Elena's sniffling.

"I'm going to go see my sister," Elena said when we got back to the mansion. "Let's hurry and go," she said softly, tugging on my shirt. I sighed a little, then Colby came up by my side. "Go ahead, Elena. I'll give her a ride home." He smiled at me.

I looked up at him then back at Elena. Elena gave him a weak smile. "Okay. Thank you, Colby, I owe you one."

He shook his head. "No you don't, I don't mind." He smiles sincerely, looking at me. Elena left, and I knew she was crying the second she got to her car.

Then I turned to Colby, and he was smirking. I looked up at him, then back down at the ticket in my hands. "What is it?" I ask softly.

"I'm not taking you home just yet."

I looked up at him now. "What do you mean?"

While I was still looking up at him, he took the ticket out of my hand.

"I could tell you were stressed earlier, but you're definitely stressed now. So... starting with paying off this ticket, you and I are going to have the best night ever."