A Piece of Me

22

Elizabeth's pov

It's been seven days since I've met Colby. It's been three days since I've seen Stas. It's been two days since I've been at Colby's house, and he hadn't bothered to contact me.

Until now.

I had spent those last two days watching Sam and Colby videos, since they apparently had one.

It was an alright channel, with exploration videos of abandoned buildings. They went to different states and did very iilegal things which is probably why so many people watched them.

But today was different, because my phone went off.

And it wasn't Jake telling me about how he's redying his hair and it wasn't my Postmates delivery dude.

It was Colby.

I dived for my phone, my blanket sliding down my legs and leaving me cold. But I didn't care, because reading his text was more important than me being warm.

I'm picking you up at 7

I didn't know what to do, I didn't know how to act.

My body wasn't letting me do anything besides rereading the text.

Colby, the Colby Brock, was picking me up in a half an hour.

"A half hour!" I exclaimed, pushing myself off the couch and shutting the TV off.

I did my best to hobble quickly up the stairs, speed walking into my room.

The bandages were now gone, and the swelling and white bubbles were gone too.

All that was left was the feeling of being burnt, like a rug burn sensation.

It was still really hot, even though it was October. Snow was practically nonexistent all year-round here.

He didn't specify where we were going, so I didn't know exactly what to wear.

After at least five minutes of me thinking, I slid into jean shorts, the little things hardly covered anything they really needed to. My shirt was a tight, dark red tank top that came to a halt at my belly button, and I threw a light black zip up on just for "decoration".

I let my hair down, deciding I didn't have enough time to do anything else besides brush it.

"Makeup, okay calm down idiot," I took a deep breath, trying to compose myself before walking into the bathroom.

I curled my eyelashes, put on mascara with a little bit of eyeliner. I finished with blush and some lip gloss.

I didn't know what else to do, so I put on my white converses and rebrushed my hair.

Colby came a bit earlier than a half hour, closer to twenty minutes. He shot me a little text, making me aware of his arrival.

Within seconds I was out the door, walking to his car. I didn't want him to think I was too excited, but the smile on my face hinted that I wasn't disappointed.

The sun had set about an hour ago, which led me to my first question, "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," He grinned over at me, turning his music up a little. I didn't recognize the song, no surprise there, but I knew it was the same guy we listened to with all the boys, Lil Peep.

"You really like this guy, huh?" I asked, causing his smile to widen.

"I love Lil Peep. Jake does too," He added, "Rest in peace,"

"Jake died?" I asked, the sudden news came as a surprise. That was practically impossible, Jake couldn't die.

"No, silly. Lil Peep did," Colby laughed at my horrified expression, "About a year ago,"

"Oh," I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

Why do I care so much about Jake? I mean, I guess my reaction was normal, if a friend were to die.

It just reminds me that life is precious.

It also reminds me that I haven't seen my mom since last week. I made a mental note to make sure I went to visit her.

"You alright?" He asked, his tone laced with concern. I could hardly see him, but I could see his silhouette, propped up on the center console.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about my mom," I sighed, shaking my head, "I haven't seen her in a while,"

"Do you want to go see her tomorrow?" He asked, "I can go with you if you want,"

"I probably should," I agreed, "I don't want you in there though,"

"That's fine," He maintained his tone as best as he could, except I could clearly hear his disappointment.

"It's not because you did anything wrong," I explained, "It's just so hard to see her as it is. I don't want your image of my mother to be someone who can't move, someone who is dying,"

"I get it," He said, turning onto a road surrounded by trees, "Do you want me to pick you up? It'll save you some money,"

"Yeah, yeah that'd be great," I grinned, "Thanks, Colby,"

I liked how civil he could be, how pleasant he was now.

Maybe Katrina was right, space would be good. I can't love someone if he's constantly down my throat.

Well, well, if you really thought about it, he could be.

"What's so funny?" Colby asked as I giggled. "Nothing," I tried my best to straighten my face, "Are we almost there?"

"Yeah," He answered, turning onto a gravel road.

Places in the middle of nowhere like this are hard to find. I never even knew it was here and I've been here all my life, a short ten minutes away.

But I never really left the city like this.

There were a couple of other cars in the gravel lot, but for the most part it was empty.

"This place reminds me of Kansas," Colby said as he stopped the car, shutting it off, "I grew up there, and every night I could look out my window and just see the stars like this,"

"Oh my god," I said, opening the door to look at it better.

Out of the many years I knew Isaac, he never did anything like this.

I heard the trunk click open, and I walked around the back of it to see Colby pulling out a blanket.

"Aw look at you, you little romantic," I teased, grabbing the blanket from his hands.

I pretended not to notice how dark his cheeks got, even in the dark.

But his smile showed that he knew I was right.