The Choice (a Painful Past)

123

"Ew, no!" I exclaimed. "With the pics that I've seen, I'm sure those sheets have been filled with quite a few girls. Not a tally that I want to be added to."

I was just kidding, mostly, but I saw a shadow cross his eyes. It was gone, just as quickly as it had arrived. Maybe I imagined it.

Of course, I couldn't stop the image of me being one of those girls from popping into my mind.

"You're right. I'm a whore and proud of it." He laughed.

I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. It made me a little sad, but I managed to hide it. I shook my head and smiled at him.

"Sometimes, I really can't with you." I giggled. "Seriously though, has there been anyone that almost stole your heart? I wanna know."

"Since you, you mean?" He asked, with a sad smile.

I sucked in a breath, from the look in his eyes. It was like I had just been punched in the gut from the emotion that I saw there.

"Colby, I-" I started, but he cut me off.

"I'm just messing with you, Cal. There was one girl. I thought that we had a good thing, but something happened there. I'm still not sure what, but she wasn't ready to commit. Since then, there's only been friends, with the occasional benefits."

"Hmm." I replied. "Well, don't worry. I'm sure some lucky, sweet girl will come along and show you how amazing you are."

It was weird, because it felt the same as it did when we talked as best friends, all those years ago. It was weird, because something was different for me now. My stomach had an almost nauseas feeling in it, but in a good way.

Every now and then, my fingers would itch to reach through the phone and move his hair from in front of his eyes. I wanted to see if his lips were really as soft as they looked.

What the fuck was wrong with me?

Was I actually getting a crush on Colby?

I had completely lost my mind.

"Callie?"

"Huh?" I asked, coming back to reality.

He was staring at me with a little smirk on those full lips. I bet they were just as soft as they looked. Damn it, Callie!

What the fuck was wrong with you?!

"You kind of just zoned out on me." He chuckled. "Are you tired?"

I blushed and shook my head. "No, I'm not tired. I do that sometimes. Not sure why."

"What were you thinking about?" He asked.

"Oh, um, nothing really. Ben. I was thinking about Ben. He talks to Sam now, like they're best friends. He adores the man, and was one of Sam's biggest fans. Now, it's just normal for him to talk to him all the time. I don't know. I guess I was thinking how strange life is, and how things change." I sighed.

"Yeah." He replied, with a husky tone. "Time changes a lot, no matter how much we wish that it wouldn't. Change doesn't always have to be a bad thing though. Just like Ben and Sam. The kid probably loves the fact that he can tell his friends that he's besties with Sam Golbach. Rah!"The 'rah' was emphasized with him throwing his hand up and moving it like he was using a cheerleader's pompom.

I was shocked for a moment, then I started laughing so hard that I couldn't breathe. This led to me snorting. Of all the things that I could've done to embarrass myself, snorting wasn't one that I wanted to share.

I grabbed my comforter and held it over my mouth, trying to muffle the sounds of my squeaking, snorting, laughter.

"Oh!" Colby exclaimed, then started laughing along with me.

When I was finally able to calm down, tears streaked my red face and my ribs ached.

"Oh my God." I replied, wiping the wetness from underneath my eyes. "What was that? Rah!" I started laughing again and had to concentrate to stop myself. "Whoo!" I breathed out.

Colby laughed and shrugged.

"I don't know. Seemed like a cheer worthy moment."

"I needed that laugh. Thanks." I said, smiling at him.

"Anything for you, babe." He replied, smiling back.

I felt like something passed between us, but honestly, it was probably all in my own fucked up head. There was no way that Colby still liked me after all these years. Especially not after I had dropped his friendship for Will.

I was just grateful that he was my friend again.

We talked for a few more hours, about everything. Well, everything except Will. I told him all about Denise and how she reminded me of him sometimes.

I told him that Sherri and Shawn were still going strong and how I had no clue what was going on with Kat and the rest. I told him how Dustin and Dana were now drug addicts, like most of the people that I had went to school with, but I didn't know about his former friend.

Logan? I couldn't even remember the kid's name. He told me about an amazing party that he had at this huge mansion that he had shared with Sam and 3 other guys, and one of the guy's girlfriends.

He told me about stupid things that he and his friends had done, mostly him and Sam, but sometimes there were others added to it.

I learned about the drug scene there, and how it had been really in his face for a while and how he had made some really dumb choices.

"Oh, Colby, nooo." I moaned.

"Yeah, I made some stupid choices, but I finally realized how stupid it was to try and fit in with people like that." He replied.

I was sad that he had even went down that road in the first place, but I was proud of him for getting out of it.

I yawned hugely, after a while, and Colby chuckled.

"Why don't you get some sleep, Cal?" He asked.

"Because," I replied, sleepily. "I'm afraid that this is all just a dream, and I don't want to lose you again."

A pleased little grin crossed his full lips and that made me happy, in my sleepy daze. "You won't lose me. You never did. You just had to find yourself again. I'll be here, whenever you want to talk. Go to sleep, beautiful, crazy girl." He replied, softly.

I smiled and blinked. My eyes didn't open again, until the next day, late into the morning. I groaned and rolled over onto my back.

I was still lying sideways across my bed.

"Ow." I said, as I felt something hard press into the back of my head.

I reached around behind me and pulled out the offensive object. It was my phone.