The Best Night of Our Lives (Solby)

Chapter 3

Colby's POV

As Sam lays in my lap, I continue to play with his hair like I've been doing this entire time. An hour has gone by since the movie started playing, and I've noticed that Jake has been texting his girlfriend, Tara, off and on for the last half hour. Usually, he's never on his phone while we watch movies. But this time, he's been texting her nonstop.

Sam glances over at Jake and looks up at me with a look of recognition on his face. It's obvious that we're thinking the same thing.

By the time the movie ends, Elton's phone rings, and Jake leaves the room to call Tara. Once they're both gone, Corey gets up to go to the bathroom while Aaron remains asleep on the couch.

I grab my phone and start scrolling through the comments on my last video. When I first saw the comments, I was laying in bed, crying because of how happy I felt to have all the support from the fans. The positive comments have increased since the video was uploaded, and it's nice to see what everyone has to say.

Sam and I realize we can hear Jake talking on the phone to Tara. "I've been looking forward to going back to the witches forest, but I understand that you're worried. My parents are worried, too, and they think it's not a good idea for me to go back there."

Sam sits up, gets off the couch, and walks over to the hallway. He stands there, listening to the conversation for a few seconds before turning back to face me. He grabs his camera off the kitchen counter and turns it on. We've been filming periodically throughout the day, and we want to make sure we capture as much footage as we can for the second movie on the witches forest.

Sam puts the camera on me, and I look up at him. "Time for an update. This is the fourth time that Jake's been on the phone with Tara."

"Dude, he's been on his phone all day," I whisper. "He's been constantly texting her."

"And every time we ask him what he's talking about, he won't tell us. He's like, I don't know. It's not a big deal."

I put my finger to my lips and point in the direction of Jake's voice, which is coming from down the hallway. "The fans really want us to do it, and I know everyone else is down. But I don't know. I want to talk to Sam and Colby about it."

"I feel bad, like, listening to their conversation," I say.

"Yeah," Sam agrees. "I'll just ask him what the hell he's talking about."

"Yeah," I say.

A few minutes later, I'm on my phone, scrolling through my Instagram feed when Sam turns on the camera again and starts talking to the viewers. Jake is sitting on the opposite side of the couch with his phone in his hand, and I can tell by the look on his face that something is off.

"So we have to decide what's next. Obviously, Corey's not going to the witches forest with us because he backed out at the last minute. And now, we have to take into consideration how that's going to affect us moving forward."

I click the lock button on my phone, toss it to the side, and look up at Sam. "I was thinking about this today. Just an idea. So obviously let me know if you don't, like, agree or want to do something else. But, uh, we can still go, even if Corey's not going to be there. Yeah, it won't be the same without him. But we can still do it. Why don't we just go to the witche's forest tomorrow?"

"Oh, so we should just do it anyway?" Sam asks.

I nod. "Yeah."

"Do you think that I, like, I should even come to that?" Jake asks. "Because I, you know, there's no reason for me to be there."

"You usually come with us on these trips, right?" I say, laughing. "Don't you want to come?"

"We probably should stick with the group," Sam says.

"Tara's worried. My parents are worried," Jake says, looking between Sam and I.

"Is that who you've been calling all night? We heard you on the phone explaining some stuff," Sam says.

Jake nods. "Yeah. It's just a lot has happened since the last time we went there. If it's cool with you guys if I could just, like, you know, just stay here with everyone else while you guys go figure it out."

"So you don't want to go get haunted again, is what your saying?" Sam says, laughing.

"Yeah," Jake says.

"So you don't want to come, is what you're saying," I say.

"If that's cool. I mean, I just..."

I'm kind of pissed off right now, and the look on my face clearly shows how I'm feeling right now.

"I just have a lot of reasons not to," Jake says.

Sam looks at me. "I mean, the only thing I'll give him is that everyone we've talked to about what had happened the last time we went there have all collectively said the same thing. It's me and you who have been affected the most."

"Yeah. I feel like it would be so much more important if you guys took it on yourselves."

"I mean, obviously, we want you to come with us," I say. "You've been a part of every trip, but we can't force you to do anything. If you don't want to come, you don't have to."

"Okay. I just feel like with everything that's happened between you guys, everything stems back from the witches forest. First Sam got into a car accident. Then Colby's depression got so bad that he tried to kill himself. I want to come, but Tara and my parents have strongly advised that I don't."

I look up at Sam. "Sam, can I talk to you outside? Just for two seconds."

Sam nods. "Yeah."

I get off the couch, and Sam and I leave the house together. As soon as we get to the front yard, I Sam turns the camera to me. "First Corey. Now Jake. Jake was out of the blue. He was down, and now just like, randomly wants to bail out. What's up with that?"

"I see where he's coming from, though. Technically, we are the one's getting into bad stuff, and Jake is obviously not haunted. Maybe Corey was haunted because of the way he interacts with negative energies. But we are definitely the instigators of this. Why would we take him back to the place where we got haunted and not him? That actually does make sense."

"So we're just going to go on this trip without him?" I'm obviously annoyed, but I can't help it. "It just sucks. I understand why they're upset, like it makes sense. But we're not forcing them to come. We offered to take him to the witches forest for a return video just for him to bail? It just kind of pisses me off. But at the same time, are we selfish bringing our friends on scary trips like this?"

"Yeah. At the same time, we're the ones putting them in danger. But I don't want to put him in anymore danger if he's not down."

"Damn, dude."

"Let's talk to him about it one more time and ask him, and if he's still in the same boat, then I guess we'll just peace."

"Okay. Can't do anything about it, really."

"Alright. The show must go on."

Sam and I head back inside, and all I can think about is how bummed I am that two of my best friends aren't coming on the trip with us.