Solby | Give Me Love

5. Satellite

"Bro, you look like a zombie."

Jake's voice snaps Colby out of his thoughts and the brunette looks around. The whole crew's there, sitting around a table at Tender Greens for their weekly reunion, minus Aaron whose chair is occupied by Katrina instead, much to Colby's dismay.

"Thanks, Webber."

Colby makes sure to keep his tone playfully sarcastic, it's not like he has no idea that his appearance isn't currently at its finest but he knows Jake's only joking.

Colby catches the concerned glance Sam sends his way but decides to focus on the girl sitting across from the blonde instead. He can see why Sam loves her. First, she's a girl. Second, she's gorgeous, funny and probably one of the kindest people the boys have ever met. She's so fun to be around and has a smile brighter than the sun itself. She's like a ray of sunshine, Colby's like a dark cloud. One hides the other. One is despised, the other is loved. No wonder why Sam chose Kat over Colby.

"Always, bro." Jake replies, causing the whole table to laugh.

Colby forces a chuckle, ignoring how his throat burns from the lack of talking. He's only been awake for a little hour, Sam had let him sleep for way too long but the blonde just couldn't bring himself to wake Colby up. Sam could lay in the same position for hours if it meant he'd get to see that peaceful expression on his best friend's beautiful features. It seems like lately, all he's seen on Colby's face is either a frown or heartbreaking tears.

"That's what you get for sleeping in." Corey butts in, staring at Colby with a knowing look.

Colby raises an eyebrow at his friend, unaware that Corey had barged into Sam's room a few hours earlier, only to find out it was empty. It doesn't take a genius to know that the blonde was in Colby's room, his car was still in the driveway and Corey couldn't find him anywhere else in the house.

However, Corey didn't even check Colby's bedroom, instead he walked away, sighing at his brown-haired friend's stupidity.

Soon the group of friends moves on to another random topic, allowing Colby to get lost in his head once again but not for too long.

"Colby, you need to eat."

Sam's murmur fills Colby's ears, the blonde keeping his voice low so that it wouldn't drag the others' attention. Colby may think they wouldn't notice how he's only picking at his food, but he can't fool Sam. Not anymore.

"I'm not hungry."

Sam groans in annoyance but quickly sighs to cover it, the last thing he wants to happen is for Colby to close off again. He discreetly rests his hand on Colby's thigh under the table, moving his thumb in a soothing manner.

"I know but you can't keep going like this."

Colby wants to yell at Sam, to make him realize that it's not as easy as the boy thinks. Colby doesn't even see that he's slowly destroying himself, he's given up on trying to get his apetite back a long time ago.

"You don't understand, Sam."

And neither does Colby.

"I'm trying to but you're not helping." Sam mutters, staring intensely at his best friend.

His eyes are full of concern, maybe there's even too much of it. The brunette reaches for the male's hand and squeezes it, he doesn't know why but it's all he needs at the moment. Sam's support.

"Do it for me ?"

Colby weakly smiles at Sam's childish tone, the blonde is too good for this world. He ignores the way his stomach churns as he looks down at his food and shoves a bit of it in his mouth. Sam's face slightly lights up, making the other boy feel a tad better, and he lets go of Colby's hand to let him move freely. He doesn't stop glancing at him though and grins happily when he sees Colby's finished almost half of his plate. Meanwhile Colby feels like throwing up, it's not much but it's obviously more than he's eaten in the past days.

"I can't swallow any more of it, Sam."

The blonde shivers at Colby's weak voice, he sounds so broken.

"It's fine." Sam reassures him. "I'm proud of you."

Those words manage to bring a small but genuine smile to Colby's face, no matter what, he loves knowing that he made his best friend proud.

The rest of the group is oblivious to the whole situation, they just assume that the two boys are having a normal conversation. If only they knew.

Katrina, slightly annoyed that her boyfriend hasn't been paying much attention to her lately, grabs his hand over the table and flashes him a bright smile that causes Colby's to quiver. The brown-haired girl has noticed that Sam's recently started to stare longer at Colby and, although the brunette's her friend too, she can't help feeling jealous. Deep down a small voice tells her that something's wrong but she just pushes the thought away, Sam loves Kat, and Kat only... Right ?

"Hey guys, can we get out of here ?" She asks, catching everyone's attention. "We should go on a walk or something, it's so warm outside."

They all agree, none of them pointing out that they live in California and it's always warm here [i actually have no idea if that's true but it's what I've heard lmao]. After tossing everything in the trash, the little group walks out of the restaurant. Corey and Devyn are walking hand-in-hand, Sam and Kat are too, which leaves Colby in the back by himself since Jake's too busy talking to Corey. He shoves his hands in the pocket of his hoodie and takes a look around, it definitely feels great to get some sun. All the sun's been to Colby for the past weeks is a reminder of his sleepless nights. Today, it's like a breath of fresh air, that sadly flies away way too soon.

"Can I sleep over at your house tonight ?"

There's no doubt in Colby's mind that Kat has purposely spoken loud enough for him to hear and he clenches his fists, shutting his eyes tight as he prays that Sam refuses.

"Yeah, sure."

Fuck.