Metanoia *NOT CONTINUING*

Eight

Colby
"I woke up and the first thing I wanted was you." My voice was raspy as I sat beside Sarah on the couch. She was curled up in a semi-thick blanket with a bowl of cereal in her hands, her eyes didn't leave the television. "Shh, I'm really into this movie right now." she chuckled, playfully pushing my face away.

I nonchalantly squeezed my way under the blanket beside her as she sipped at the leftover milk at the bottom of the bowl, her opposite arm wrapped around my bedhead. I watched as she carefully set the now empty bowl on the coffee table before turning over and burying herself into my chest. "I'm still tired." Her voice was soft as I adjusted my body so that she was half on top of me and comfortable.

I looked down at her and she was already starting to doze off. My arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer to me as I calmly tried to retrieve the remote to turn the volume of the TV down. After a couple minutes, I found my eyes forcing themselves shut but I didn't try to fight it.

Sarah
I was awoken by obnoxious noises coming from the kitchen in which Sam and Lauren attempted to cook. I sat up, trying not to interrupt the sleep of the boy underneath me.

As I stood up from the couch, his tired joints reaching out for me. He gripped at my shirt and pulled me back down, causing my unsteady body to fall back onto the exposed edge of the cushions. "No." His voice dragged as he groaned into my back.

"Good morning, sleepy heads! You've already slept half of the day away." Lauren met us in the living room, handing me two plates of freshly prepared food. Colby sat up and adjusted himself beside me before I handed him his.
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"If you could have anything, what would you want?" Colby spoke as he used his foot to excavate the dirt from the ground on which we sat. "To start over." I focused my attention on each star that glistened individually.

My fingers chilled from the beer they wrapped around as my nose grew pink in color from the frigid night air. "What would you want to start over?" His curious eyes turned to me, but mine remained in the sky. "Everything." My answer was simple, but it held so much.

"Why?" His breath was warm against the cool skin of my neck as he moved closer. "I don't like who I am, I don't like the way that I am, I don't like me and I don't even know if I like this life." My hands were flailing with frustration, but I was still thoughtful enough to make sure I didn't spill the contents of the bottle onto him.

"Wh-" He started, but I forced my words over his. "Think about it, you can always tell exactly when broken clocks stopped ticking," I took another sip of beer, glancing at Colby before looking back to the detailed constellations. "but when it comes to people it isn't as easy and sometimes you can't even tell they're broken."

Seconds later, he pulled me to my feet and his hands tightly held my face. "Shut up, you're beautiful. You're so fucking beautiful. Your words, your ways, your optimism, everything about you is fucking beautiful. How can you not see it?" His tone held exasperation, but his eyes held admiration. "That's your opinion, what about the other 7 billion?" I broke the eye contact between us but it wasn't long before he forced me to return them to his.

"Open your damn eyes, Sarah." I struggled to comprehend his words as they moved ever so slowly. I was melting under his gaze and the vibrancy of his eyes grew to a color that you couldn't even put a proper name to. "Open yours." I still refused to accept the image of me that he seen, the image of the girl he thinks he knows.

His lips shaped to mine and the taste of alcohol on my lips intensified when mixed with his. Our lips were strangers and all they wanted was to know each and every detail of the others. His teeth nipping at my swollen, bottom lip craving more.

His hands were secured at my hips, his grip almost protectively tight. I dropped the half full beer bottle to the ground, it created a thud in the quiet atmosphere and left liquid splatters at the cuffs of our pants.

"Do you ever wonder how we fell into this? How it seems as though the way we reconnected had something to do with fate?" He fought to regain his lost breath. "Colby," I lightly laughed with a forced small beam. "I never believed in fate."

He ignored my negativity because he knew that it is just who I am. I watched as he smiled at me, stroking his thumb across my pink cheeks. I couldn't help but to smile back.

Colby
She held my hand and smiled the smile that always seems to take my breath away. She takes it all and continues to slowly destroy me. I felt something towards her and that is all she wanted. Nothing satisfied me, just what she was doing to me. It was then that I realized, the devil doesn't come dressed in a red cape and pointy horns...he comes  as everything you've ever wished for.