The Best Night of Our Lives (Solby)

Chapter 21

Sam's POV

We're almost to our destination when we decide to stop at McDonald's and get something to eat. It's just around the corner from where we are, but the light is red. I turned the camera off a few minutes ago because Colby wanted to talk about some personal stuff off camera. He's never felt comfortable talking about his depression or suicidal thoughts to the public, and he's still getting used to our fans being aware of his suicide attempt, his recent stay in a mental hospital, his self-harming, and his anorexia/bulimia.

Colby smiles at all of us. "You guys have no idea how grateful I am to have you guys as my friends. I know I haven't been the easiest person to be around, but I really do appreciate everything that you guys have done for me."

"We just want our Colby back," Corey says.

"I know," Colby says, nodding.

"We don't expect you to be perfect. We just want everything to be okay," Jake chimes in.

Colby smiles sadly, and I realize that he feels sad again. But I don't know why.

He looks straight ahead at the road, his blue eyes filled with sadness. Colby has very distinctive blue eyes. They're so blue that it's like looking at the ocean. They sparkle when he's happy and become gloomy when he's sad or angry. They almost look gray right now, which is something I've never seen before.

The light turns green, and Colby continues driving down the road. The mood in the car has shifted drastically from fun to tense all in the matter of seconds.

"Colby," I say.

"What?" Colby asks.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Colby smiles, but it's clearly fake. "Yeah. I'm okay." I give him a skeptical look. He glances at me with another fake smile. "I'm fine. Really. I just have a lot on my mind, and I've been thinking about a lot of things lately."

I decide not to push too much and just leave it at that. But I have a strong feeling that Colby is far from okay.