The Choice (a Painful Past)

130

"Dude, have you been eavesdropping?" I asked him.

He shook his head, grinning from ear to ear.

"No ma'am. I borrowed your phone because mine was dead. I saw all the FaceTimes."

"Well then." I said, quietly, still surprised.

"Yeah, I asked her to introduce us, man, but she never did." Colby said, throwing me under the bus.

"I forgot!" I exclaimed.

Truthfully, I had thought about it a few times, but there was always something going on, when I did. I usually forgot by the time there were actually nights when Ben was still awake.

Maybe I was subconsciously avoiding it. I don't know.

"It's okay." Ben replied. "Thanks for coming to my party! You guys can help us ghost hunt!"

"Wait a minute." I murmured, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Sam and Colby were actually in front of me. "How did you know we were going to be here? I never told you this part."

They both grinned, like the cat who ate the canary.

"Thank Denise. Ben told me that he was having a party with the XPLR theme. Thanks for that, by the way! Awesome idea!" Sam said.

"Yeah, and you told me about the party too. I knew that you had a best friend named Denise, so I looked her up on your Instagram. I messaged her, and she told us everything she knew. She was even able to talk the owner of this place into letting us in early, so that we could surprise you guys."Colby replied.

I turned to look at Denise, with my mouth hanging open.

"Close your mouth, before you let in the ghosties." She giggled.

"How did you keep this a secret from me? I had no clue!" I exclaimed.

"That's the point of secrets." She replied, wryly. "I thought this would be a nice surprise for you and for Ben. Was I right?"

I looked back up at Colby, who still had his arm around me, and felt a slow grin cross my face. "Yeah, you were right." I murmured, while I admired his jawline.

When I looked back at her, she had a knowing grin on her face. I walked the few steps over to her and wrapped my arms around her tightly.

"Thank you." I whispered.

"You're welcome." She whispered back. "Now, let's get this party started!" She yelled to the rest of the people there.

The small room erupted in cheers, which resounded off the old brick walls.

"We brought our own supplies for the ghost hunt." Sam said, as he took off the bookbag that was strapped to his back. "Everything that we use when we film." He pulled out cat balls, a REM-POD, EMF readers, a spirit box, and a few other things that I didn't know the name of.

"Yo, are we gonna do the ESTES method?" Ben asked, excitedly.

"We sure are." Sam replied, grinning at the boy who idolized him.

"Awesome." He whispered, staring at all the stuff that Sam had laid out.

"Here. You can use one of our EMF readers." Sam said, as he passed one of the small, handheld items to Ben.

"ARE YOU FOR REAL?' He yelled.

"Hey, shhh." I said, tapping him on the arm. "Quiet down. You're gonna wake the dead."

He smirked at me, then cracked a full grin. "Isn't that the point though?" He asked.

I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, smart butt, we'll see how you act when you're haunted." I replied.

"Nah, this is just for fun. I don't think this place is really haunted." He said, haughtily.

"Whaaat? Dude, do you not know the stories of this place? Sam and I were terrified, standing here in the dark. Isn't that right, Sam?" Colby said, looking over to his best friend.

Sam nodded his head, making his blonde hair fall into his eyes a little.

"Absolutely." He replied. "I swear I felt someone breathe on my neck!" He leaned down a little, so that he could mock whisper into Ben's ear. "I almost pooped my pants." I heard.

Ben laughed, and rolled his eyes, but then I saw those eyes start roaming around the room. I could hear disbelieving whispers from some of the guests.

It wasn't the ghosts that they didn't believe in though. It was the fact that Sam and Colby were actually there with us. That was so weird to me, to see this adoration, in person, by people other than Ben.

Most of the kids stood there with wide eyes, just staring at the guys, openly. I did, however, catch a few of the girls with small smiles on their faces, as they took in how handsome the guys were. They were both incredibly handsome, too.

A far cry from the two dorky kids that I had known. I knew that they were going to be pretty. I could see it back then.

In their eyes, their smiles, their personalities. I wondered how much those personalities had changed. I hadn't known Sam quite as well as I did Colby, but I knew enough.

"So, if you really believe this place is haunted, then why aren't you filming it for your channel?" Ben's friend, Cason, asked.

"That's easy." Colby replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Because we didn't ask for permission and neither of us are ready to experience jail again. Don't break the law, kids."

He removed his arm from around my shoulders and stepped towards Sam. My shoulders felt cold, already missing his warmth. God, I was as bad as the kids.

I couldn't believe that they were standing right here, in front of me. I watched Colby lean down and start digging through their bag.

I took that moment to grab Denise's arm and pull her a few feet away.

"I can't believe you didn't warn me about this!" I hissed, as I ran my hands down over my flyaway hair. "I look a total mess!"

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You look beautiful. You always do. Why do you care so much, if they're just friends?"

"I-" I replied, then snapped my mouth shut.

I didn't have a good answer. She smirked at me, which kind of annoyed me.

"Because I haven't seen them in a long time. I don't want anyone to see me looking like this." I replied.

"Right, because you didn't just come to a party full of people, looking exactly like that." She answered, as she crossed her arms.

She knew she was right, damn it.

"That's different." I hissed, as I heard Colby call my name.

I glared at her, then turned to him with a smile. Stupid fucking best friend, that I loved more than life, and would forever be grateful to, for bringing my old best friend back into my life.

Fuck her. I loved her.

"What's up?" I asked, as I ran my hand over my hair one more time.

Colby stood there, in the glow of Sam's flashlight, looking just as handsome as he did in his Instagram pics. Maybe not as polished, or unreal, but just as fucking handsome. He was a little more emo now, in the way that he dressed, but it worked for him.

The edge that it gave him, just made him sexier.

Wait, what? No. Not sexy.

It just worked for him.

I had to get my head on straight. It had apparently been way too long since I had had sex.