Him and Me.

Him and Me- Forty Two.

“So,” Colby said, dragging the word out slowly. “What do you think?”

My expression must’ve said it all because he chuckled, and there were two pink spots that appeared on his cheeks.

“T-that was beautiful,” I stuttered, a hand over my chest. My mouth was agape, and I was pretty sure my eyes were overflowing with admiration and wonder. I couldn’t help it though, and it was definitely not my fault that I was reacting this way. The song Colby played just now was pretty freaking brilliant.

He smiled but slightly rolled his eyes. “You helped with the lyrics.”

“Yeah, but the melody—the whole song—it’s really good, Colby,” I said sincerely. “You were really good.”

And it was the truth, I was not just saying it because I liked the guy.

Colby set his guitar on the blanket we were sitting at. He then bowed his head and placed a hand over his own heart as a sign of gratitude, and I smiled. We were at Susan’s backyard, at our favorite spot, and he just sang me a song under the stars. It was a very romantic setting, and it seemed like he was serenading me just then. The thought made my cheeks burn, and I slapped my hands over them just as a breeze blew by.

“Why are you slapping yourself?” Colby asked, his voice teasing. I shot him a look, and averted my eyes quickly. He looked especially good today, with a green long sleeved shirt on and black jeans, a bonnet over his head. I decided to ignore his question.

“Ever thought of playing in a gig or something like that?” I asked, hands still on my cheeks.

He shrugged. “I’ve played in a café a few times in California.”

“I see,” I said, nodding. I wished I could’ve watched him play in that kind of setting.

“We should get back inside,” Colby commented. “It’s getting colder.” He rubbed one of his eyes, and wrinkled his nose as he did, and it was one of the cutest things I had ever seen.

“Okay,” I agreed, hoisting myself up. Colby picked his guitar up and together, we walked to Susan’s front door. The stars were out shining brightly, and coupled with Colby’s song, it was certainly a great Friday night. We reached the door in a short amount of time and hurried inside, both of us eager for warmth.

Just as the door closed behind us, loud laughter emanated from what seemed like the living room. Susan’s laugh mixed with a masculine one, and I could hear Cameron’s tiny voice, too, but I couldn’t really make out what he was saying. Looked like Susan had another visitor.

“I wonder who that is,” Colby murmured. He was standing close to me, his breath kissing my temple. It took a whole lot of strength not to shiver. Then his hand touched the small of my back and pushed me gently forward.

“Let’s go see who that is,” he said. I just nodded, not trusting myself to speak. I would probably stammer, for his hand was still on my back.

It stayed there the whole time as we walked to the living room, with his other hand still holding his guitar. It burned through my jacket, and it preoccupied me enough to not notice that my brother was in the room, laughing with Susan, Cameron on his lap, until Colby retracted his hand from my back.

Matty’s eyes roamed over to us and they narrowed a tad at Colby before he looked at me and smirked.

“Hi, kiddos.”

I shot a sideways glance at Colby and caught his eye. He shot me a small, unsure smile, and I felt like punching my brother right on that smirk of his. Susan was hiding her smile behind her hand, but it was so obvious that she was indeed smiling, judging from the crinkles around her eyes. I guess she found this amusing. I fought the urge to shake my head.