XPLR | Colby Brock

~90~

"Just live with me. You already do, just in my clothes," Colby said. There was still tension between us from our fight nearly an hour ago.

I might not even be in Los Angeles in a few months. I thought. I can't stay mad at Colby. Not when he cried, squeezing me to him and sobbing. Telling me how sorry he is and how much he loves me.

I know Colby better than anyone. And I could see how dreadfully sorry he was for what happened. And he's still blaming himself now.

"Forget Elena. We can live here together, without her," he said. "Never have to speak to her again," he pulled me closer to him in the bed and hugged me. Regardless of how sorry he was, I was still hurt and upset. Mostly by Elena.

It's a curse. Maybe I'm just too kind, but could you blame me?

Elena and I met almost two years ago, we were both freshmen staying in the Jester East dorms. We were stuck in that tiny room for the whole year. I had just escaped my father, I didn't even tell him goodbye, I just left. I haven't spoken to him in nearly two years. Good riddance, but at the time I was terrified. While my father was abusive and I was glad I got away for him, his abuse was the only life I ever knew.  Being alone and being accepted by another girl... that was new. It was terrifying, but exciting. Obviously Elena would become my best friend, despite our differences. I loved her and relied on her, she became the family I never had.

But I had never gotten in her way. I'm no longer her side kick.

I had already went through Colby's phone, reading the messages up to her nudes.

E: Where's Rose?

C: She's in class. I can't film anything today, Elena. I'm spending time with my girlfriend.

He explained to me that he had done a few videos with her before, but she made him promise not to tell me. He doesn't know what's happened to those videos since they haven't been uploaded. Only one was a bando, the others were challenge videos. There was a total of three they filmed in a month. And she posts weekly, so she must be saving the Colby videos.

E: when are u going to leave her

C: i'm not
I love her

E: I'll show you what real love feels like ;)

I stopped after that. I got all I needed from that. Colby barely let me leave his arms, even though he had plenty of work he needed to do. He insisted that we stay at the house, at least for a little while. Until night falls.

Colby was asleep when Sam let himself in, he seemed surprised to find me in Colby's bed. "Hey," Sam said, caught off guard. I sat up from Colby's arms, looking up at Sam. "Hey, What do you need?" I asked, standing up and adjusting my shirt. "I just wanted to know if he was busy. We were gonna go film a video with Elton, but.. I guess he passed out. Are you guys good?" He asked.

I looked over at the ugly sleeping Colby and chuckled. He's adorable. "We got in an argument," I said. "Did he tell you about Elena?" He asked. No remorse for the chance I might not have known. "Yeah," I said. "Good. I'm glad you know. You guys wouldn't fight about anything else. He's too in love with you for that," Sam said as he turned to leave the room. Despite my better judgement, I followed him.

"I need advice," I said. I've never really talked to Sam like this without Colby beside me, but this was a Sam-only question. He turned to me from his door and crossed his arms. "What's up, Rose?"

"If I had to move for school, do you think Colby would move with me? Or maybe we'd try long distance, do you think it would work?" I asked. Sam raised an eyebrow. "Well that depends, how much distance are we talking? Somewhere in Northern California, Oregon again, or what?" He asked.

I took a deep breath, and said, "New York City."

Sam blinked for a moment. "New York City?" He asked. I nodded. He leaned against the wall next to us and said, "I honestly don't know what Colby would do. He loves you, but he loves his job too. I'd imagine that he went with you, though," he said. Sam suddenly seemed sad.

I looked over at him for a moment, then at Colby's open door.

"I don't even know if I'll take the offer," I said and shrugged. "What would happen to our channel if Colby left?" Sam asked. Maybe I shouldn't have asked Sam for help.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I want him to stay here. To stay with the channel. But I want it to work, but I want to go to school in New York..." I said.

There was a moment of silence between us, until Sam turned to his room again. "Well, this sounds like one of those important decisions you have to make. If he goes with you, though, that means the end of his career. Career with me, that is..." he said. "Let him know we need to go meet Elton, he made a promise. I don't think you can come this time. It's exclusively us boys, for some reason. I'm sorry, I didn't make the no guests rule," he said. I shrugged and turned to Colby's room.

"I'll just hang out here until you guys get back," I said and went to wake Colby.

So.

Not only mine and Colby's life will be affected by my choice.