Find Me Later, Brock

Head Over Heart

Rory's P.O.V.~
For the next three weeks, I was busy working on promoting my new album which left almost no time for socializing and romance.
I hadn't seen Brennen in almost a week and we really didn't talk much which I thought was kind of weird, but every time I texted him he wouldn't reply. I just figured he was busy.
The guys had thrown four party's in a three week span of time, and I wasn't able to enjoy any of them. I was exhausted from going to radio shows and putting the final touches on the album. All the hard work paid off and I was finally able to cross off the last final tasks of the album which was to take promotional photos for its release, and a week from now, release the album to the public. It was horrifying, but I was so excited about my album; and so any sort of fear couldn't hold me back from doing it. The day that the album was going to be released I was set to record a music video and then there was a small party in the evening celebrating the release.
I was getting ready in my room when I heard a knock on my door.
"One moment." I said curling the last piece of hair before standing up.
I walked over to my door and opened it, only to see Colby.
"Hey, what's up?" I say with a smile and he smiled back.
"Not much. That's kind of why I came to talk to you. What are you up to?"
"Well I'm almost done getting ready. I have to take some promotional photos for the album. Why, what's up?"
"Oh well, I just wondered if you wanted to hang out today, but your busy."
"Oh, well if you want you can come with me and then maybe we can go to the beach or go get some lunch after?"
He sticks his hands in his pockets.
"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude."
"No it's fine. The car is coming to pick me up in like ten minutes so if you want, I'd love for you to come with me. I need some reassurance and a friendly face, anyways."
"Okay, if you're sure."
"Colby, please. I'm serious." I say and he nods.
"Okay, sounds good." He says as he starts to walk away.
"But uh, Colbs?" I say and he turns around to face me.
"Yeah?"
"You may want to put some more clothes on."
Colby only wore his sweatpants, and he wore them pretty low around his hips, which was very distracting but I figured that he didn't really realize what he looked like.
"Really, Rory? I was going to get dressed." He says with a laugh and I grin.
"Okay good. I'll meet you downstairs then." I say biting the inside of my lip as I shut the door.
I leaned against the door and day dreamt for a moment about how he looked. I realize what I'm doing and I shake my head.
"Snap out of it." I tell myself before I dig around for some clothes to wear.
Since I wasn't super well known, the budget wasn't very big so I had to pack my own clothes for the shoot; which was fine since I knew what I liked to wear.
I put on the main outfit I wanted to wear for the photoshoot then, grabbed a few other options and some shoes before walking out of my room.
Downstairs, Colby was already waiting for me.
"Hey, are you ready?" I ask and he nods.
"Sure am."
I see him look me over and I nervously touch my hair.
"Do I look okay? This isn't too much is it?" I ask.
"You look... well, you look great." He says clearing his throat and I smile.
"Why thank you. You don't look bad yourself." I say before grabbing my water bottle from the fridge.
In my head, I told myself to calm down on the flirting. Just because Brennen and I hadn't talked for a while, didn't mean we weren't still together.
My phone rang and I saw that the car was here.
"Oh it's the car, I guess." I say putting my phone away in my bag.
"After you." Colby says as he gestures for me to go in front of him.
We walk out and get in the car.
"Good morning, how are you both this morning?" Our driver asked.
"Good, man. How are you?" Colby replied.
"Well I'm doing just fine. Thank you for asking. I've been told where you both are going so just relax. We'll be there in only a few minutes."
"Thank you." I say and the driver rolls up the window that separates the front of the car with the back.
"Thanks again for letting me come with you, Rory."
"Sure. It'll be more fun anyways with you there."
"Really? I won't be in the way?"
"No. In fact, I bet if we ask nicely, we can get a picture of us together for Insta. You know, for when we're eighty and can't remember anything."
He laughs.
"That would be cool actually. We don't have any current photos with each other."
"Exactly. We've gotta do it before you guys leave. Are you excited to go to Florida?" I ask and his eyes light up.
"You have no idea. The videos are going to be crazy."
"Well, just be careful."
"We always are. Nothings ever happened before."
When we get to the warehouse where I'm taking my pictures, Colby gets out first and holds his hand out for me to grab and stand up.
"Are you excited?" Colby asks me with his phone up.
"Are you snapchating this?" I ask and he smiles before putting his phone away.
"Colby..." I say drawing out the 'e' sound.
"Rory..." He says mocking me.
"You're lucky I like you." I say and my eyes go wide.
"You know what I mean." I say following up immediately.
"Sure." He says wiggling his eyebrows me.
"Colby." I glare.
"What?"
"You know what I mean, right?."
"I know! I know! I'm just messing with you." He says wrapping an arm around me.
We walk inside and I get jittery and nervous.
"Are you sure that I look okay?" I ask as I look at myself in the mirror and Colby rolls his eyes.
"You know what? You actually look like absolute shit." He says with a straight face.
My eyes narrow at him.
"I'm being serious, Colby." I cross my arms and he breaks and starts laughing.
"You look beautiful, Rory. You always do." He says and I can't help but feel my heart melt.
"Thank you."
"Go take some awesome pictures alright?" He says with his handsome smile that makes every girl die just a little bit inside.
The photoshoot is almost done and and I ask our photographer if she'd take some pictures of Colby and I.
"Sure. We've got plenty of film thanks to you being so photogenic."
Colby walks over to me and she directs us as we take some pictures.
"Are you two together?" She asks and we look at each other nervously.
"Uh no. But we've know each other since third grade."
"Oh that's great. I bet you know each other better than anyone." She says as she snaps more pictures.
"She's the kind of best friend any person would want. Always there when you need help." Colby adds in and I look at him.
"Thanks, Colbs."
He hugs me.
"You're welcome, Rory."
Later, we go get some lunch on the beach and eat while we sit and talk on the sand.
"You did great, those pictures will look amazing."
"You think?"
"I know."
"Colby?" I start to say and then I stop myself to think about what I want to say.
Thanks for really stepping it up. No that's too... harsh? Thanks for being such a good friend. Yes but, almost a lie to how I still felt. Thanks for being present and not afraid of trying to make our friendship how it was. Yes but less wordy.
"Rory? You in there." He says waving a hand in front of my eyes.
I nod and smile bashfully.
"I just want you to know I appreciate you being here. I see how hard you're trying to build our friendship up again, and I've had so much fun just in these past weeks- more than I've had in a while- and I just want you to know that I'm happy we're friends again."
He just looks at me and I wonder if that made him uncomfortable.
"Sorry, I-" I start but he just grabs my hand and smiles.
"All those years we didn't talk, I wondered if you would ever forgive me and would ever willingly be my friend again. Hearing that you recognize how badly I've been trying to show you that I can be that friend again, makes me so happy, Rory. But..." he says and he looks away. "I can't lie, I feel like there's something between us that only we could ever have and I wish... I wish that I didn't ruin my chances with  you ever exploring that with me."
"Colby, I've always known that you can be that friend. It's just, I don't know if we could ever be anything more. After what happened, it scares me to get to that close with you again. It brings back so many memories and feelings and..."
"I understand why it can't happen, but I can't lie to you and pretend that a friendship is all I want." He says looking at me again.
"Brennen and I,"
"I know." He says looking down at our hands.
"Colby, I need to go." I say slowly pulling my hand away from his.
I needed to leave before this got out of hand. Before any more mistakes were made and before I didn't have a chance to clear my mind. I start walking away and I hear him stand up behind me.
"Aurora,"
He only spoke my name but I felt every part of me break.
"We need to stay apart for a while. Really stay apart. Because this is too dangerous, Colby. I can't feel how I felt four years ago, again. It's still too fresh. I just need you to be my friend right now. Like you said, we have something that only we could ever have, but maybe it's just a friendship. Maybe we aren't supposed to be anything more."
When he speaks next, he's closer. Close enough to whisper and me still hear him.
"How do we know unless we try?"
"Because you tried at the airport, but it was too late."
"But you're here with me now, Aurora. You weren't going to be with me for four years. We've been over this." He says and a tear streams down my face.
He grabs my hand and I turn towards him but I don't look at him.
"I can't do it again. My pride is too big this time around."
"Rory,"
"I need to clear my head. Please leave me alone, Colby." I say closing my eyes shut hard.
He drops my hand and I look at him, tears welling up, close to falling onto my cheeks.
"I want to be with you, Rory, but I can't if you don't want to be with me. All I want to do when I'm with you, is push the boundaries and be more than friends. If you want to be with Brennen, you need to tell me now, so I can try and get rid of these feelings for you. Because believe it or not, it's tearing me up inside not being able to tell you how much I want to be with you every single day."
He walks past me and I watch him walk away. Everything in my head is telling me that he would hurt me if I let him in. But everything in my heart was agreeing with what Colby said. And in my heart I knew that if I didn't run after him right now and tell him I wanted to be with him that I'd never get to.
I could get over my fear though and I stood my ground, watching him walk away from me. I was fighting myself. So much of me wanted to run after him. But the other half was scared to.