Left Behind (Completed) *editing*

Chapter Twenty-Three

Left alone with the three boys after Dylan departed, I made my way up the stairs. They all seemed to smirk in a mischievous way that made me think that they were talking about me. My eyes met Riley's and when he immediately looked away, that confirmed it. I hesitated, not even sure if I wanted to know.

"What's up?" I asked them, pulling a chair alongside Colin.

"Nothing," Riley responded.

"I'm not intruding on anything?" I asked.

"Nah," Mark denied.

"Cool," I said.

"I had invited them over because I thought you'd probably stay over Dylan's," Colin said softly. "We were going to head over to Jesse's end of summer party."

"Oh," I replied flatly. Colin knew that'd be awkward for me.

"I won't go though... if you want me to stay with you," he offered.

I smiled appreciatively. "You don't mind?"

"No. I'd rather be with you," he told me.

The other two boys busted on him for a few minutes but oddly enough left together. I waited for Colin inside the house until he came in smirking. His eyes lowered for a moment while he shook his head.

"Do you want to go to my room and watch movies?" Colin offered.

I couldn't remember the last time we had a movie night. I nodded. "You make the popcorn and I'll go get changed," I told him.

Rushing down the stairs, I opened my top drawer where I had left some pajamas I was leaving behind. I had brought pretty nightgowns to sleep next to Dylan in and left behind anything with plaid, fleece or that had a matching top. I found a long sleep shirt that was pale green and short sleeved.

It was very warm out and I decided that would do. I changed and headed back up the stairs, smelling the butter of the popcorn. I grinned at Colin and retreated up the stairs and into his bedroom. I made myself comfortable on his bed.

Colin came upstairs with the giant bowl of popcorn and see it down next to me. I looked away as he changed his pants and picked up the remote.

"Want one?" Colin asked me. I nodded and he handed me a beer. "So what to watch? Nothing with Ryan Gosling, pretty please!"

"No! Something scary," I insisted. Colin laid down next to me and we shuffled through his Netflix until we found something that sounded decent.

I rested my head on his shoulder, snacking on the popcorn and drinking beer. Colin protected me through the parts of the movie that made me jump like always did. He always looked out for me in general. This was practically the only hard part about leaving. He'd be thousands of miles away.

Several beers and a bowl of popcorn later, the movie ended. Colin looked at me and yawned. His arm was underneath me and he pulled it away, sitting up and looking at me silently. I stared back. It was so quiet I could hear the clock on his wall ticking.

"Can I sleep with you?" I asked.

Colin looked down for a moment then nodded. "Yes," he whispered.

"This'll be the last time we share a bed, huh?" I asked him.

Colin pulled a light cover over us and shut off the lamp next to his bed before rolling over to face me. "I have a girlfriend now... so yeah," Colin told me.

I jumped up a little. "You asked Emma to be your girlfriend? That's huge!" I said, happy for him.

"Yeah, I did," he admitted. I poked him in the stomach which made him laugh a little.