XPLR | Colby Brock

~80~

When I woke up the next morning, still in my dress, Colby's arms were still wrapped around me and I could feel him breathing on my neck. We'd fallen asleep watching Phantom of the Opera. Like he'd promised.

I pulled my dress down as I pried myself away from his arms and it woke him up. "Rose?" He asked groggily. I nodded as I picked out clothes for me to wear today. "Yeah?" He asked. "It's early, let's go back to sleep," he whined.

"I have class today," I said. Colby groaned. "Just drop out already, I can take care of you," he said as he stretched and yawned, doing his normal routine. I chuckled and took out a band t shirt and jeans and a hoodie, a blue one Colby gave me. I saw it in his Queen Mary videos. That way I don't have to wear a bra today.

"I'm not really in college for money," I said with a chuckle and picked up my phone.

Missed call: Elena.

1 New Voicemail.

Elena's never been the kind of girl to leave a voicemail. So hesitantly, I picked it up. She'd called me around ten pm, so I was curious. I was a little nervous that I would be mean, but otherwise I didn't care much. I put the phone to my ear and listened. There was a noise and the Elena's voice said, "Hey... I know you probably don't want to hear me right now, but you got a letter a few days ago I just found. It looks a little important. And hey... I'm sorry for the way I acted today. It was rude, I should've been more careful. It was the meds I was on. I'm sure Colby's told you everything... but it really wasn't a big deal what we had. He really likes you, and I'm really happy for you. I love you. Bye."

I pulled the phone away from my ear and placed in my back pocket. "Take me by my apartment first, I forgot something," I said Colby. I didn't want to get my hopes up about it being a college acceptance. It's prolly just a letter about how I'm about to go broke and my bank needs twenty dollars because I went under my account minimum.

"You got it," he said as he wrapped my arms around me from behind. He kissed my cheek gently, and I looked to where he was, the mirror in front of us. He reached down and took my left hand, the one that wore the rose gold ring. He held it and just examined the ring as I watched.

"You wanna make that a promise ring?" He whispered in my ear. I felt my heart lurch when he said that, and I started to second guess if that's what I heard.

"Hm?" He asked after I was quiet for a few seconds. "I think so," I answered. He smiled and kissed my cheek. "Close enough," he said and smiled. He still held my hand and smiled. "I love you," He said. "I love you too," I said softly and turned around so I could kiss him. He smiled and held me closer.

Once we were dressed, we went down stairs and said goodbye to everyone, including Tori, Aaron's girlfriend. She and I are going to be friends, she's funny and gorgeous, I'm so glad Aaron got her to be his girlfriend.

Colby and I drove towards our apartment, stopping by Chick-Fil-A like he had promised and getting breakfast. Their breakfast will always be amazingly good. It's a real comfort food.

Colby and I sat inside. I leaned back against the seat and looked out the window. It was easy to be his girlfriend, it's easy to be with him at all. We don't have to talk. Then I felt my phone buzz. I had turned on Colby's post notifications, as I did with the rest of the house, when Elena wanted to know if they were talking about her and her video when we met them... back in May.

Six months ago.

I looked up at him, seeing the notification and raised an eyebrow. He read my mind and nodded to my phone. "Go ahead, check," he said with a smirk. I slid the notification open and Instagram opened. It was a story notification which I never usually checked. There I was on his story, just looking out the window and chewing on my straw.

In the corner of the image and small letters were the words: Look how gorgeous she is. Wow.

I smiled at him and he smiled back. "I love you, Rose," He said. He must be a words kind of person, he says that a lot.

"Would your mom like me?" He asked. I thought about that question a lot, but I never thought he would ask that. "She'd love you. Because you love me," I said, relaying the same answer I thought of every late night in bed when I asked that very question.

He smiled. "What about your dad?" He asked. My body went cold. I'd gotten so used to my father only existing in my mind, since no one asked about my father. No one in California, no one in this world knew about my true father. The abusive, murderer asshole he was. I haven't spoken to him in years and I'm ready to continue, because I'm not alone anymore. I have Colby now. And I wear his promise ring.

"My father wouldn't like you because you love me," I said. Colby's face changed remembering something about me. "What do you mean?" He asked. "My father resented me, Colby. He hated me. He hit me," I said with almost no emotion. It's something that haunts me, but it's something I've come to forgiven.

When my mother worked the Al-Anon program, she always told me it's important to make amends with those you've harmed, but it's also important to make amends to yourself. Which is still something I'm coming to terms with.

I could see Colby's demeanor change. "Oh, Rose, I'm so sorry.." he started. "We can get into the bloody details later," I said. Ironically bloody.

He took me back to my apartment after we ate, and I checked the mailbox, that was empty, then went upstairs. I unlocked the door and the mail was sitting on the key table. Elena's bill was sitting on top, so I lifted up the stack and flipped through it. Bills. Bills. Then my eyes landed over my name.

Rose Romano.

At the top corner of the envelope in blue letters read the word Juilliard.

I screamed.