The Choice (a Painful Past)

186 Colby's POV

I fixed my hair, made sure that I had all of my rings and chains, hooked one of the chains to my jeans, then started looking for my wallet. When I found it, I grabbed my phone from where I had left it on the bed.

I had another text from Callie and a missed call.

"Damn it!" I exclaimed, as I sat down heavily on the bed.

"What's up?" Sam called out from the bathroom. "Did you forget your favorite chain or something?"

I rolled my eyes and checked the text. "Yeah, I'm up for talking. It's a school night though, and Mom has a doctor's appointment in the morning, so I can't stay up all night lol. Now?"

I checked the missed call, and it was from her, too. Guess she got tired of waiting on me to answer her. Jesus, I really just asked her if she wanted to talk, then dipped out on her.

"Cal, I'm so sorry! Sam asked if I would go somewhere with him and I needed to jump in the shower first. I'll call you back in just a few minutes. Wait for me." I texted her back quickly, then made sure that I had everything I needed.

"You ready?" Sam asked, as he watched me scan the room.

I nodded.

"Yeah, let's go."

I popped my headphones into my ears and called Callie from the car. It had been about 40 minutes since she had called me, so I hoped she was still up. It was only a little past 10 pm.

She should be.

"Hello?" She answered quietly.

"Hey." I replied, with a smile.

"Hey." She responded. "So, where are you guys going? It's Sunday. Everything is closed by now."

"Shit." I muttered. "I forgot about that. Sam?" He looked my way. "It's Sunday. Is this place even open?" I asked.

"Oh...damn, I don't know. I forgot what day it was. Let me check." He replied.

His voice was muffled from the headphones in my ears. I heard Callie's light giggle perfectly though. The sound warmed my chest, like I had taken a swig of whiskey on a really cold night.

"I told you it was a school night. That means that the entire town and surrounding areas close down by 9. 10 if you're lucky." She said, with laughter in her tone.

"Yeah, I didn't think it through. I'm not used to this. Plus, we've been so busy lately, I don't even know what day it is half the time." I chuckled.

"Nope, they're not open tonight. They don't open again until Thursday. Are you shitting me?" Sam said, in astonishment. "What the fuck are we supposed to do around here? Just go back to the motel and watch TV?"

"That might be our only option." I replied, as I hit the next right so that I could turn the car around. "We still have some whiskey from last night, if you're wanting to drink. We're here to relax, so let's relax."

He looked at me, skeptically. "I don't watch TV, Colby. You know that. There's only so much YouTube I can watch at one time, too. I know you're the same way, so what are we gonna do?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, Sam. We'll figure it out. You wanna go explore an abandoned place? We're all dressed up with nowhere to go. Might as well put it to use. We can always post it on the membership channel, if we find anything."

"Hmm." He replied, tapping his chin with his phone. "That's not a bad idea. Let's hope small town cops are in bed at this time. What about that old farmhouse that used to be off of Shingler Road? You think that's still there?"

"We can always check." I replied.

"You can let me go, Colby. Sounds like you're busy." Callie said, quietly.

"Oh, hey, no!" I responded. "I wanted to apologize for what I did today. I know you asked me not to get involved. I saw that Denise did and he was talking mad shit about you and her. I just...I don't know, Cal. I couldn't just let him say the shit he was saying. I am sorry if I made things worse for you though."

She was silent for a moment, making my anxiety kick up.

I tried to concentrate on the road and listen to Sam's directions on where to go.

"Here." He said, after I missed the second turn in a row.

He placed his phone on the dashboard, with the GPS already set up.

"Thanks." I mouthed silently.

"It's fine." Callie finally sighed. "I knew something like this would happen, after we saw him at the liquor store. He always gets pissy and mean when things don't go his way. He's always hated you too, so it probably pissed him off, when he saw me with you. I guess it'll all blow over. It usually does. I just hate the process of going through it. It's so stressful and I'm always scared that Ben will get wind of it."

"It's not fine, Cal. I probably should've minded my own damn business. I'm sorry that the fans got involved. I didn't actually expect that. Gotta be honest though. It was fucking hilarious watching kids cuss out a grown man, because he's a bitch." I replied, grinning as I thought of some of the things that they had said to him.

"Yeah, they really tore into him." She replied.

I could hear the smile in her voice, so that made me feel better about the situation.

"It's amazing that you have so many people that will have your back like that. People that you've never even met. That's special."

"It is." I agreed. "But people have your back too, Callie. You just have to step back and let them help you. You don't always have to do it yourself. I have a feeling that Denise is gonna have your back, no matter what you say."

She laughed and I pictured her smile, in my mind. The way her nose crinkled just a little and the small lines that appeared in the crease beside her eyes. God, she was so beautiful.

"Yeah, she is definitely a bad bitch. She's been there for me, even when I was a stupid ass bitch. She never sugar coated it, but she was always there for me. I've had to physically stop her from trying to kick Will's ass, just so she wouldn't go to jail." She replied.

"I can see that." I laughed.

We talked for a few more minutes, then she yawned.

"I guess I'm gonna go to bed. 6 am comes early." She said, sleepily.

I groaned.

"Ugh, that sounds horrible."

She giggled. "It's not great, but I'm used to it. I don't sleep much anyway. Last night was the best night sleep that I've had in a while, believe it or not."

I smiled, as I remembered waking up to her tired eyes. "Hey Cal?" I said.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"I liked waking up to your face this morning. Think we can do it again before I go back home?" I asked.

My voice sounded confidant to my ears, but inside, my stomach was twisting in on itself. I was terrified that she would shut me down quick.

"Oh, stop it!" She exclaimed. "But yes, we'll spend more time together before you go. It's just that Ben has school and I have Mom to take care of. Makes it hard to have time to do anything else. Maybe you can come hang out here...if you don't mind an extremely old, rickety house."