Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

14

"Hey, do you... do you happen to know what today is? It's okay if you don't," Colby said.

                "Uh, Saturday?" I said, looking over at him in the passenger seat of my car as we pulled into the house's driveway. He gave me a sad smile.

                "Yeah. Saturday," he said, clearly a little upset that I didn't know what he had actually wanted me to say. "Not to pry, but you didn't really answer my question earlier."

                "Which question?" I asked.

                "About us," he said.

                "About... oh. Like, are we still dating or whatever?" I asked.

                "Yeah," he said.

                "I mean...," I trailed off. Were we? I certainly wanted to be, if that's what he was asking.

                "Never mind. Dumb question," he said. Before I could answer, he got out of the car and made his way inside.

                "Damn it," I whispered. I should have answered immediately. I followed after him into the house, but heard the door to his guest room closing before I could even close the front door.

                "Uh oh," said Devyn, walking over to me. I stared up at the staircase, feeling like an idiot.

                "What'd he do now?" Reggie asked, joining us.

                "He didn't do anything," I said.

                "Then what did you do?" he asked.

                "I took too long to answer," I said.

                "To answer...?" Devyn trailed off.

                "Oh, shit. I think I know what she's talking about. You don't know what today is, do you?" asked Reggie.

                "It's Saturday! What the hell are y'all getting at?" I exclaimed.

                "Uh oh," Devyn said again.

                "Will you just tell me already?" I asked.

                "It's—,"

                "No, Reggie. Let him tell her. We don't even know if... if it still applies," Devyn said.

                "Oh. Right," he replied.

                "I'm going to go talk to him," I sighed, starting up the stairs. I went down the short hallway to outside of his room. "Colby."

                "Can you please come back later?" he asked.

                "Open the door," I said. I was met with silence. "Baby, please," I said softly. I guess that made him feel better, because he opened it and then flopped back down onto the bed. I shut the door behind us.

                "What?" he groaned, covering his face with his hands.

                "Come here," I said. I held my arms out for a hug. He hesitated for a minute, but eventually sat up and came over. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and he wrapped his around my waist. We stood there for a minute, tightly holding each other.

                "Colby, I love you. So much. Of course I still want to be with you. I plan on always being with you. Clearly plans change sometimes, but I want you. And only you," I said quietly against his neck. He held me a little tighter after I said that.