Chaos (Colby Brock)

56

I stood there in silence for a second.

Could I fathom the idea of having my first boyfriend be the man who kidnapped me and turned my life completely upside down?

Was I willing to let him take that from me?

"You don't have to say yes." Colby said quietly. I frowned and looked up at him, bringing my hand to his cheek.

"This is complex." I whispered and let my eyes move through his features.

His eyes were darker than usual, a hint of anxiety present. He was vulnerable and his lip was caught between his teeth just before he spoke.

"Don't answer. Not yet." He whispered causing my eyebrows to scrunch with confusion.

"I wanna show you something..after our walk." He said with a reassuring smile. "Okay." I said then took his hand again so we could walk.

I could hardly enjoy the walk because I was nervous about what he wanted to show me.

"Don't be so stressed, sweetheart." Colby said quietly, breaking the silence. "I'm not good with surprises." I said with a shrug.

"It'll be okay. I think you'll like it." He said then squeezed my hand gently.

We walked for a while before we decided to head back to the house.

"Stay here." Colby said, stopping me from going into our room.

"Huh?" I asked as he chuckled. "Just do it." He said then went into the room and closed the door.

I huffed out a breath then crossed my arms, looking around.

"Uh...are you locked out?" Sam asked as I shook my head. "He's being weird." I said and pointed to the door.

"Says he has a surprise for me." I said as Sam pursed his lips. "Ah..that." He said causing me to cock my head to the side.

"You know about it?" I asked as he nodded. "Yep." He said as Colby opened the door. "Ready?" I asked as he nodded.

"Come on." He said then looked Sam. I couldn't figure out the expression on Sam's face but it wasn't happy or excited.

He did however smile at Colby and give him a small nod before walking away so maybe I was looking into it too much.

When we got into the room I looked around to see some very familiar drawings on the walls.

I felt my eyes sting with tears as I walked up to the drawing Jenna drew me for my birthday one year.

She was maybe five or six so her drawing wasn't very good but I loved it.

I always loved art so she looked up to me and wanted to try it. She thought I would want a drawing for my birthday and she was absolutely right.

It was the only thing I got that year.

Next to it was a cat Sam drew me. I was drawing a stray cat in the living room one day and he asked me to show him how to draw so I showed him how to draw a cartoon cat.

He was so proud of it and insisted I kept it.

Next was a drawing from Carter. He was more of an artist than the others. He never wanted to admit it because he thought art was for girls, but when I asked him one day to draw me something he did.

He chose to draw a vase of flowers my dad had gotten my mom. It was an assortment of roses and sunflowers, which were my favorite combo.

I felt my eyes watering as I looked at all the drawings.