The Choice (a Painful Past)

179 Colby's POV

I ran my hand through my hair, with a small grin.

"I've missed the hell out of her though." I added.

"I know you have, man. Who knows, maybe she's the one you've been waiting for all these years?" He replied.

As much as that thought warmed my entire body, I shook my head.

"It would never work. Distance and all that. She has a life here and mine is in LA. Hell, we're even talking about moving to Vegas eventually. I don't really think she's all about raising a kid in places like that."

"Besides," I continued, forlornly. "I would never ask her to uproot her life, when we've always been just friends."

He looked up at me, with a skeptical expression. "Colby, you two have never been just friends. Not really. There's always been something there. That fucking idiot just got to her first and clouded her vision. I'm not saying that it has to be right away or anything. I mean, damn, you're just getting reacquainted. I just meant that, maybe, it'll work out in the future."

"Yeah, maybe." I murmured. "I'm gonna take a shower."

I didn't want to think about it anymore right then. The future was too far away. I wanted to concentrate on this week and the small amount of time I had to make new memories with her.

I grabbed a change of clothes and headed to the small bathroom. There was barely room to even turn around in this thing. After I got undressed and had the water to the perfect temperature, I stepped into the shower.

Then let the hot water beat down onto my tired muscles, to hopefully ease the stress knots out. I really needed to set up an appointment with a massage therapist when I got back to LA. We had so much going on there, with trying to figure out where to take our channel, making sure we had enough to cover our bills and new expenses with traveling, and dealing with people trying to break into our home, I was getting overwhelmed.

Not to mention, all of the meetings that we had to reschedule to make this trip, for our merch deals and collaborating with other creators. Life was hectic. This trip was supposed to be a little relaxing week.

Instead, I found myself even more stressed out, because of this shit with Will and Callie. I balled my fists up in frustration, until my nails bit into my skin. There had to be something that I could do, that wouldn't make things harder on her, and would, instead, hopefully make Will leave her alone. Or at least show her some respect.

I was getting tense again, so I tried to block all of those thoughts by singing one of my favorite songs by Three Days Grace. Thankfully, it worked, and I was able to get through my shower without wanting to punch a hole through the wall.

While I was getting dressed, I realized that I still had Denise's number. Callie didn't want to talk to me about Will, but I was sure that Denise hated him, just as much as I did. She would want to help me.

But should I cross that line? I wasn't sure. Maybe I could just call her and see what she knew about why Callie got so upset.

I needed to know what was said. I knew Sam would give me shit for it, so I lowered the toilet lid and sat down on it.

I hesitated, with my finger above Denise's name, for just a moment.

"Fuck it." I muttered, then pressed my finger down onto the phone screen.

It rang about 4 times, and I was just about to hang up, when she answered.

"Hello?" She asked, her voice laced with confusion.

"Hey, Denise." I replied. "It's Colby. Um, I was wondering if you had time to talk for just a couple of minutes."

God, this felt so fucking awkward, but I had to power through. I really just wanted to hang up the phone and run away.

"Sure, I've got a few minutes. I'm on my lunch break. What's up?" She replied, inquisitively.

"Okay, so, I don't really know how to say this, but something happened that caused Callie and I to get into a fight." I said, as I held the phone to my ear with one hand and twisted my helix piercing with the other.

"Oh shit, I was afraid of that." She sighed.

"Did she tell you what happened? What I did?" I asked.

I still felt a little guilty, but not that much.

"No, she didn't say anything about you. I just told her what Will had posted on Facebook. He's a nasty piece of work. Usually, I try to stay out of it, but not this time. I'm sick of keeping my mouth shut." She exclaimed.

"He posted something on Facebook?" I asked, with a sick feeling in my stomach.

Had Cal told me about that? I couldn't remember now. It was kind of a blur, since I thought she was going to hate me forever for snooping in her phone.

"Oh yeah, the worst one yet. This isn't the first time he's went to social media to complain about her and call her names, but this was definitely the worst one. About you and her, but it was clearly just shots being thrown at her. I'm going to rip his dick off and stuff it down his own throat, stupid little piece of fucking shit." She replied, angrily.

I found myself gulping from the malice I heard in her voice.

"Jesus Christ, remind me to never get on your bad side." I murmured.

She let out a laugh, but I could still hear the anger behind it.

"Just don't hurt my bestie, and we'll be good." She replied.

She may have said it a joking manner, but I knew she meant every word.

"No worries here. I would never do anything to hurt her." I replied, gently.

"Better not." She answered. "But yeah, so there's this giant post on Facebook, talking mad shit about her and none of it is true! I couldn't help myself. I had to comment on it. So, I've been having an argument with this prick for the last couple of hours. His little junkie buddies are replying to it, talking about how she always acted like a goodie two shoes, but now her true whore colors are showing, and other disgusting shit. I'm cussing every last one of them out too. They don't know her and they have NO RIGHT to say those things about her!"

I felt my anger building again, as I gripped my phone tightly. "You think it would make things worse if I were to comment on it?" I asked.

I prayed that she would say something that allowed me to do so without any guilt. I was still going to do it, but if Denise agreed that I should, then I wouldn't feel as bad about it.

"Who gives a fuck?!" She exclaimed. "I've got her back. That prick only calls on her when he wants something anyway. He hasn't stopped talking shit about her, or treating her like shit, ever since she dumped his ass. I'm sick of him. If Callie asks, then I'll just tell her that I called and told you about it. Get his ASS!" She was practically yelling into the phone, at this point.

A smile curved my lips up, as I thought about being able to actually 'get his ass.'

"Oh, I plan on it." I replied. "Thanks for the input, Denise. I appreciate it."