The Piano || 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬

|31| I just want this to end, but I can't let go, you know?

Colby recognized the picture Ashley posted on Instagram the next day. It was the one she had shown him before the party when telling him about her piercing. When he swiped, he saw another, very similar picture, obviously the try to recreate the first one. It had been taken yesterday; she had been wearing the same shirt as she had come over.

And Ashley had a piercing in it. It was a simple silver ring through her left nostril. The caption said, "going back to old ways". He automatically moved to the comment section, about to type a compliment, when he remembered what Ashley had said. They should seem like they were drifting apart. But how does one make it seem like that?

His fingers hovered over the keyboard before he put it away. Sam thought they had had an argument the day before, maybe this was an appropriate reaction. Ignoring each other for some time, and then finally seem like everything was okay before going back to ignoring.

Colby hated the fact that he was thinking about it so much.

Ashley hated the fact that she was trying not to think about it.

It was easier to just pretend that they could continue like they had for several weeks. But speaking about it had made the thought intrude into her brain that there was an end to all of this. Or that "this", whatever it was, had ended already.

She also hated the fact that she was checking her comments for the fifth time to see if Colby had commented yet. He was online, that was for sure, but there was no sign of him. Maybe it was better this way. Realistically, they would try to cover the argument up on social media by continuing in the same way, but there was nothing to hide, nothing to cover up. The whole thing was a play, a trick, a charade. Something to get the haters to shut up.

A few hours later, when she was already concentrating on something else, she finally saw Colby's comment pop up. A simple, "told you it would suit you" that made her smile more than it should.

They still posted pictures and TikToks with each other after that afternoon, but less frequently. At first, no one seemed to notice, but then Ashley saw more and more posts saying, "Don't Ashley and Colby seem a little less close to you guys?" and similar things. Most of the replies defended the two but it was evident that people started noticing the uncomfortable atmosphere in most of the videos, Ashley's glances at her own hands when she didn't want to look at Colby.

In one of their more recent videos, it was only a short TikTok, there had been a moment where Colby looked at Ashley, who lowered her eyes immediately as he turned his head. The moment was edited by so many people, saying that they could see the affection in Colby's eyes while Ashley just looked away.

She spent too much time scrolling through those edits.

Rumours were inevitable, and it was what Ashley and Colby's relationship was based on, but it still hurt when she saw people saying that she didn't deserve him or that she was only using him. Because they made her realize that she did. Since they had started lying about their relationship, her follower count was going up like rarely before. Since they kissed, they had filmed a ton of TikToks and YouTube shorts together, making her popularity go up even more. After the ghost investigation, they hadn't made a full-length YouTube video together, but the short clips seemed to be enough for the fans. The ones with Colby always blew up. Every. Single. Time.

She hated all the attention she didn't even deserve. It made her grow frustrated that a boy appearing in her videos made them so much more popular than when she was alone. And suddenly, she wasn't even trying to seem distant anymore, she just was. The bitter glances, hidden behind fake smiles, were real suddenly. The scooting away when she felt him too close to her. And the silence after filming, right before they swiftly nodded at each other, and then one of them left.