Prom Queen (A Colby Brock Fanfic)

Long Time, No See

A/N: Hey y'all, finals are pretty much killing me right now so I'm procrastinating by writing a bit. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

I sip my drink and lean back against the refrigerator. Everyone else was in the dining room talking and catching up after a long time of not being together. Mom didn't tell me that the Golbachs and Webbers would be here too, so it's one big awkward reunion.

Jake walks into the kitchen with a smile and opens his arms. "How's my favorite emo?"

"Are you referring to yourself again?" I chuckle.

"Get over here, loser."

I nearly leap into Jake's arms. He squeezes me tight and spins me around a few times. He looks so different now; he has his hair dyed half red, half black and a couple of tattoos on his arms. But I know deep down he's still the Jake I knew in high school.

"I didn't know you were coming home." I say as he let's go of me.

"Same with you." He nods. "How have you been?"

There it is, that pesky little question. How do you answer that something tragic happened to you that made you live in a psych ward for nearly a month without making people worried about you?

"Good, how about you?" I reply with a fake smile.

"I've just been chillin'."

"That's good."

"Jade, get in here!" I hear my mom call from the other room.

Jake and I shrug and walk into the dining room. My heart sinks a bit when I see all of the mothers crowded around the one person that I wanted to avoid; Colby Brock himself. My mother smiles and motions for me to come over.

"See, I keep telling you, Ayana. Colby and Jade would make a perfect couple, just look at them!" Mrs. Golbach exclaims, and I throw up in my mouth a bit.

"Two perfect amo pássoaros, I can see it now." My mom smiles at the two of us and places her hands over her heart. (Love birds)

"Mãe, deixa pra lá, agora." I say sternly and give her a death glare. (Mom, drop it, now.)

"Meu amor, estou apenas falando a verdade!" (My love, I am just speaking the truth!)

"Okay, okay, now is not the time for this. I'm sorry, everyone but I think I need to go."

I storm out of the house and stomp my way down the walkway. Behind me, I can hear the front door of the Brock's house open and shut. I figure my mother is chasing after me, so I stop by the curb and feel myself ready to explode.

"Por que você não pode me deixar em paz, porra! Minha vida amorosa não é da sua conta, mãe!" I scream as I turned around, but I then saw my mother wasn't behind me. (Why can't you just leave me the fuck alone!? My love life is none of your business!)

Colby shoots me a shy smile and shoves his hands into his jean pockets. "You know I can't understand you when you're yelling in Portuguese." He chuckles.

"What do you want, Colby?" I huff and cross my arms.

"I know I'm the last person you want to see right now, but I really think we should talk."

"Talk about what? The fact that you screwed me over three years ago?"

"C'mon, Jade. What are the odds that we're both back in Kanas on the exact same week?"

I immediately become suspicious and shoot him a glare. "This dinner was your idea, wasn't it?"

"It was my mom's actually." He sighs. "Our moms are still best friends even though we... aren't."

I sigh and run and hand through my hair. "Come to my house and we can talk. I need a fucking drink."

...

Colby picks up the framed photo that sits on the mantel below the TV. He smiles down at it and turns it so I can see. It's a photo of Jake, Sam, Colby, and I at our eighth grade band concert. We all held up our instruments and made funny faces at my mom as she took the photo.

"Remember this?" Colby asks me.

"Of course I do. That was the night that Jake tried to prank me by farting into my guitar case and Sam tripped and knocked over an entire drum set on stage." I chuckle.

"And Jake's mom took us to Taco Bell after."

"Right! And you threw up in the trash can!"

We laugh together for the first time in a long time. When our laughter dies out, we just look at each other, and the feeling of discomfort returned.

"I wish things were still the way they were back then." Colby sighs and sits down on the couch.

"But they aren't." I say and take a seat across from him.

"What went wrong, Jade? Where did we fall apart?"

"I think you know."

"No, I really don't." 

I feel tears start to well up in my eyes, but I try to push my feelings down as much as possible. There's so much pain that lies in the past and it prevents me from healing in the present. But there it is, the type of the ice berg that my ship is crashing into.

Tears roll down my cheeks and my body begins to shake. But this isn't just crying, it's a full blown panic attack. Colby rushes over and wraps his arms around me gently, cooing sweet nothings in my ear to try to calm me. I bawl into his chest, not able to feel anything but fear.

In the moment, I'm brought back to the incident. The bathtub. The blood. The sharp pain in my head. It's all coming rushing back to me. It's like I can't breathe anymore.

I scream, wanting it all to stop.