A Piece of Me

19

Elizabeth's pov

I took a look around the room, noticing the sticky notes on the walls for the first time. They were quite interesting, in different colors that matched each other but didn't necessarily match Colby.

The lamp in the far corner of the room was the only light source, the only thing that helped me find Colby with ease.

"Hey," I said weakly, leaning my body against the door to shut it.

"Hey," Colby muttered, not looking up from his phone.

He was shirtless on his bed, one leg covered by blankets and the other not, revealing his dark sweatpants.

I shuffled my way across his floor, not even bothering to lift my feet. Bending my legs adjusted the bandages, making it awful to try and move around.

Hesitantly, I crawled onto the bed, putting as much weight as I could on my arms.

I lifted his arms up, and as they stayed connected to his phone I layed my head on his chest, one hand resting on his chest and the other next to it.

He didn't say anything, staying focused on his phone. The only part of him that was touching me was the one I was laying on, and he kept his arms up to be able to stare at the device in his hands.

Oh yeah, he was definitely upset. I could guess why, and I'd probably be right. "I'm sorry," I muttered, trying to fight my eyelids to keep them open.

"I know," He muttered, his voice not raised from his halfhearted greeting.

"I didn't mean to not tell you about being an addict, Colby I swear," I sighed, silently wishing he'd just listen without freaking out.

Just try to understand where I was coming from, I internally begged, please.

"It's kind of important don't you think?" He asked blandly, "How is this supposed to work if you have to hide that you had a drug addction?'

"It never came up," I admitted, "I can't tell you something that I didn't think you needed to know,"

"So you aren't going to tell me how you knew the waiter- Isaac? Because clearly you did," He said, and I closed my eyes, trying to block him out even though it wouldn't work.

"You weren't going to tell me about your mom in the hospital? Or why you couldn't tell Stas about me? Huh?" His voice got louder, and I'm sure Sam and Kat were listening from their room.

"How did you even know about that?" I asked, pushing myself up to look at him, my head hitting his phone out of his hands accidentally.

He didn't bother to pick it up, instead folding his hands behind his head. "Because Stas told me. I asked her a couple of things, just to try and figure you out. All I got out of it were things I knew damn well you would never tell me,"

"I'm alllowed to have privacy Colby!" I pointed out, "Not everything about us is about me,"

"Yeah if you won't tell me those types of things, what's going to stop you from hiding other shit, huh?" Colby argued.

"I won't!" I swore, "Colby, I have no intentions of hiding things from you. I just really wish that you would have asked me about them instead of going to Stas. While we're at it, what were you even doing to get her to tell you? She keeps that shit secret, so if I'm a liar maybe you're a fucking cheating asshole!"

"That's the most insane thing you've ever said!" Colby objected, "I asked her cause I was worried about you,"

"Yeah or maybe you just wanted to get laid before you saw me again," I said, knowing that I probably sounded like a lunatic. But I needed to know the truth.

"Why do you even care, Liz? We aren't dating!" He screamed, leaning into my face.

"Well you're up my ass about shit I didn't really care to tell you so why don't I do the same?" I asked, "Did you find anything else out about me whenever you put your dick so far in it hit her brain? Huh? Tell me, I actually want to know,"

"God dammit Liz, shut up! Shut! Up!" He covered his face with his hands, and silence filled the room.

I stared at him, watching as his hands moved slowly, and I was confused as to what he was trying to do.

"I'm sorry," I repeated, my voice dropping from a scream to a whisper.

My voice couldn't handle anything louder, my eyes stinging and my throat aching.

He sighed, motionless for an eternity. I didn't want to think about what could be running through his mind, because I knew it wouldn't be very good.

I sat back on my legs, frantically wiping at my face to get the moisture away, "Please just stop," I whispered, "I don't want to deal with this right now,"

My legs were becoming itchy, the bandages and ripped jeans rubbing against my legs and hips.

The bed dipped, and I squeezed my eyes shut.

I was crying like a baby. If it was Isaac's bed and not Colby's that I was sitting on, he would have screamed and threatened to hurt me and promised htat he'd kill me.

Even though my body was here, my mind was there. It confused me, and I felt like my reality was slipping away.

My head felt like it was puffed up with helium, like it was a mixture of lightheadness and pain.

Something brushed my back, and even though it was gentle it was enough to cause my back to shoot up straight to try and get it away.

I opened my eyes, expecting to see something hoorrid but only found it was Colby. He had pulled the blankets back on the bed, and moved my hair behind my ear.

"I'm sorry alright?" His eyes blinked a mixture of annoyance and sincerity, but even though my brain should have known better, my heart believed him.

I sniffed, reaching up to wipe away my tears as I nodded.

He moved my hands away, replacing my fingertips with his lips. His mouth moved from my cheek to my lips to my jawline and down my neck.

It wasn't sexual, I just let him do it. I let him try and prove his words, and it was quite tempting.

Colby worked his way back up to my mouth, kissing me once more. It was tender, his soft lips hardly touching mine. There was no hunger, no desire besides the urge to be loved..

It didn't escalate, and it didn't need to.

We weren't in love, and shouldn't be. There was no love, only misguided lust and attraction.

But as he held me that night, I knew I could find love in him.

Maybe not now, maybe not for a long time. But I would.

And I would be happy about it.

For now.