When we entered the garage, Colby had his hand on the small of my back, leading me inside.
Everyone was here. Mike, Kevin, Aryia, Elton, Corey and Devyn, and Jake and Tara. Elton stood up when we entered, freeing Colby's bean bag for him. He removed his hand from my back and stepped around me, going to his spot. He and Elton clasped hands, then hugged.
"Did you hear what was going on?" Elton asked him quietly, nodding towards the door.
Colby nodded back, looked at me quickly, then back to Elton. Whatever that meant, Elton walked to the couch and shoved Kevin over, making him fall onto Mike.
"Bro, what the fuck?" Kevin exclaimed, as Elton took his seat, squishing Kevin against Mike and Mike against Aryia.
Elton just laughed, then caught my eye and winked.
"Good to see you back Chloe. It's been a while." Mike said, smiling at me sweetly. "Wasn't sure you would be back."
I was still standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, unsure of what to do. There weren't any available seats, besides the floor.
Jake and Tara were seated on Sam's bean bag, while Corey and Devyn were sharing an oversized camping chair.
"I wasn't sure that I was going to come back either." I replied, glancing at Colby.
He was staring at me, glaring a little, but I didn't know what that meant. There was no way that I had pissed him off already. I didn't do anything.
"Come sit down." He replied roughly, moving over on the huge bean bag to make room for me.
I bit my lip, wondering why he was acting kind of rude again, before I took a hesitant step towards him.
"Oh damn, Colby sharing his seat! Didn't think I would ever see that!" Jake exclaimed, while everyone laughed.
"Shut the fuck up, Jake. She needs somewhere to sit and I don't see any of you making her a spot."
I know that my face flamed up again, so I kept my head down as I made my way to Colby and sat down. The bag made me sink towards Colby, so that I ended up leaning against him.
"So where were you last night Brother?" Corey asked, grinning like he knew the answer to that.
Jesus, I felt like I was in a twisted frat house.
Colby sneered at him.
"You know where I was at. Elton has probably told everyone by now."
Elton laughed. "I did. Just didn't want anyone worrying."
Colby gave him a 'what the fuck ever' kind of look. "yeah, right. Anyways, that reminds me. I need to talk to everyone about something a little later. It's important. Elton, did you tell them about what we discussed?"
Elton shook his head. "Nah, figured you would get around to it. Wasn't my place."
Colby nodded at him.
"What's going on?" Aryia asked.
I hadn't really heard him speak much, so it surprised me. Colby glared at him.
"I said I'll tell you later. Just make sure that you stay home until we've talked."
He nodded and went back to his phone.
"So Chloe, how've you been? You rushed out of here so fast last time. Wanted to check on you, but Kat said you were doing fine and didn't want anyone around." Mike replied, leaning forwards on the couch.
I started to reply, but I heard Colby let out a soft growl before I did. He actually fucking growled.
"She's fine." He said in a hard voice.
I almost laughed.
"I've been doing okay. I was going through something but I'm good now. Thanks for asking though, that's sweet of you." I smiled at him warmly.
Mike seemed like a good guy, and I felt like we could be really good friends.
"I was just asking bro. Damn. Chill out." Mike replied to Colby, sitting back on the couch again with both his hands up in surrender.
"Are you two a thing now?" Tara asked bluntly, staring at me.
I didn't know how to answer that. I looked at Colby, then back to Tara.
I opened my mouth to say something, not sure what, but Colby answered before I could.
"No. Mind your business."
Okay, that hurt a little. I know that we didn't actually say that we were official yet, and that he had to talk to Sam or whatever, but that was just a flat out no.
"You're so snippy today." She said, laughing, then winking at me. "If you're not a thing, Jake and I have this friend that I think you would really like Chloe. He's super hot and-"
"Hey!" Jake exclaimed.
"Not as hot as you baby." She kissed his lips, then turned back to me. "He's really nice. I can give him your number or something, if you want?"
I looked at Colby again, but he avoided my gaze, not saying anything. What the fuck was going on??
Whatever, if you wanted to start acting like this again, then so could I.
"Yeah, that sounds great actually. I think it's time I start having some fun."
Colby's eyes shot to mine in a hateful glare. I bit my lip again, to keep from laughing. I swear, our 'relationship' was mostly just us pissing each other off on purpose and honestly, it was kind of fun.
Tara saw my interaction with Colby and grinned.
"Okay. Here." She tossed her phone to me. "Put your number in."
I started to, but Colby snatched it out of my hands. "Your friend doesn't need her number. He's probably bad news anyways."
"And you're not?" Tara fired back.
Daaamn. Colby just gave her a wicked grin, while Jake laughed.
"But I'm the best kind of bad." He replied.
He wasn't wrong.
Just then, Sam and Kat walked into the garage. Kat's face was red and puffy from crying, but also a little pale. Her eyes were wide and frantic, jumping around the room, landing on each person. She looked scared. Sam put his arm around her and pulled her to him.