The Best Night of Our Lives (Solby)

Chapter 10

Sam's POV

Colby looks at me desperately with his blue eyes. I always knew that what I'd done must have hurt him, but I was in denial about everything. Including my feelings for him.

"When I first met Kat, I thought I could get away from the fact that I had feelings for you. I thought if I immersed myself into that relationship, I wouldn't have to be confronted by how we feel about each other. However, I didn't realize that in doing that, I was hurting the person I care about the most."

Colby looks at me with understanding. "This is what I've been wanting you to do. All I ever wanted was for you to open up to me. You've always been vulnerable with everyone else, but never with me. Not like this, anyway. And I've always been vulnerable with you, but never anyone else."

He laughs, but there's pain in his voice.

"We almost lost each other," I say. "I almost died in a car accident, and you almost died because of a suicide attempt. I think both of those events happened because we took each other for granted."

Colby nods. "I guess we just assumed we'd always be there for each other. But it never occurred to us that something bad could happen, causing us to be split apart forever."

I look at Colby, the understanding look still on his face. "We have to go to the witches forest," he says. "Everything changed for us that night, and it was only for you and me. It affected Jake and Corey differently, but I think you and I were the ones who were the most affected by it."

He puts his hand on my face, and I can feel the coldness of his rings. "Don't worry about me, Sam. I'm okay. I feel better knowing that I have you with me to help me get through everything."

I don't know if I can believe that Colby is okay. He keeps a lot of his thoughts to himself, and he's very good at hiding what he needs to hide. But he looks so convincing right now. Maybe I should give him a chance. This conversation is a breakthrough for us because we're finally saying all the things we wanted and needed to say to each other.

"How do I know you're not going to do anything that's self-destructive?" I ask. "I hate seeing you when you're like that."

"I know," Colby says. "I don't want you see me like that."

"But how do I know you won't do anything self-destructive?" I ask again.

Colby looks at me with so much passion and love that I can't look away. "You just have to trust me."

We've always trusted each other on a friendship level, but this type of trust is different. This is a romantic kind of trust. It's the kind of trust that involves completely giving yourself to the other person and accepting the fact that anything is possible, good and bad. But regardless of what happens, you'll get through it together.

"You're the first real relationship I've ever been in," I say. "All my other relationships, I was lying to myself about how I really felt. This is the first one where I actually feel a genuine connection."

Colby nods again. "I know. That's another reason why I get sad sometimes. I don't want to disappoint you. I want to make you happy."

"You do make me happy," I say.

Colby's eyes light up, and he smiles genuinely. This is the side of Colby I love. This is the guy I met in summer band camp during our freshman year high school. The guy I fell in love with. That's what I thought, at first. Now that I think about it, I love every single part of Colby. The good and the negative. He's not perfect, but most importantly, he doesn't pretend to be.

That's why I love him.

"Do I make you happy?" I ask.

Colby laughs, the pain disappearing from his face and voice. "Of course you do. You always make me happy."

Without any warning, he leans in and kisses me. I kiss back, feeling the same spark I always feel whenever we kiss or make love to each other. I never felt that spark with Kat or any other girl I've been with. Only Colby.

Colby pulls away momentarily. "I trust you, Sam. And I need you to trust me."

I realize that I can't keep running from my true feelings about Colby. "I trust you," I say.

Colby smiles again and wraps his arms around me. "I can't promise I won't make mistakes because I definitely will. But I'll try to be better than what I have been."

I kiss Colby the same way he kissed me. When I pull away, he looks at me with an expression I've never seen before. It's like he just randomly got an idea.

"I want to show you something," he says. "I'll be right back."

And with that, he turns and heads for the stairs.