where i belong

bonus chapter

Bonus Chapter

Colby was away getting some food for me when his video uploaded. Either he didn't realize that he had automatic upload on for it, or that was his plan all along. I was having a really hard day today. It was the first day of my period and the hate hasn't stopped. I guess the hormones are making me overemotional. Colby could tell something was up, and after opening up to him, he offered to go get me something to help. I wanted a smoothie and he suggested that we make smoothies and dinner and have a Hulu night.

    I was laying in bed with the lights completely off, curled in a fetal position when my phone dinged in a YouTube notification. I didn't think anything of it and looked at my lock screen to see who uploaded. As soon as I saw the title and the thumbnail, I clicked on it and started watching the long video.

    "So, I've been seeing a lot of hate recently. And by recently, I mean the last five years," Colby started the intro to his video. I started chuckling, "And there's no reason for it. I was going to quit YouTube this week because I couldn't stand seeing everyone hating on the girl I love. Leslie wouldn't let me. Even with all the hate she receives from fans, she still told me to stay with YouTube because "that's what the fans would want"," he said in air quotes to show I said it, "Even through all the negativity, this angel still thinks about how other people would feel. Even the people that hate her—" As soon as he stopped talking, I popped into frame. I remember, that's when I was coming in to get clothes after the gym. He kept in the small interaction, then continued talking when the door closed, "That's why I decided to make this video. If you guys hate and can't see the kind human she is, I'll show you, on and off camera. This girl never deserves any of this."

    And that's what he did. The next twenty minutes of the video was him showing clips from the past five years. He showed videos of me not realizing I was being filmed. He showed clips of me sleeping and him either kissing my forehead or attempting to lick me. He showed a video of Kat and I battling on Just Dance like idiots; the video zoomed in on me with hearts all around. He showed a video of me dancing on the counter in our old apartment, crappily singing along to disney hits. He even showed one video of me crying because a squirrel came up to me at the park and took a nut from my hand. I remember that day so vividly. I was so happy about being able to pet a squirrel for two seconds that I started crying.

    Colby described each video, reminiscing on each moment and explaining why he loved me each time. By the end of the video, I was crying and in screen Colby was shedding a few tears. He hates showing vulnerability on camera, so the fact that he's showing it for me, means a lot. He concluded the video and had a teary sign off. I was bawling my eyes out—in a good way—after clicking off the video. I didn't want to look at the comments. I didn't want to see any negativity if there was some, because I didn't want to ruin the moment.

    "Leslie, I'm home!" I heard Colby's voice ring out through the house. I slipped my feet into my fuzzy slippers that Colby got me for Christmas last year. I complained about how cold the floors were in the dorms like almost a year ago and he sent me a pair of Bearpaw slippers and fuzzy socks for Christmas.

    I shuffled downstairs and his head turned towards me when he heard my slippers scuffling against the floor. He saw me crying and immediately ran over to envelop me in his arms. He started panicking, hugging me, then looking at my face, then hugging me again.

    "What's wrong?" He asked.

    "I saw the video," I replied quietly. His worry turned to happiness and he smiled at me widely, "Now I know why I wasn't allowed to watch you film or edit it."

    "I just wanted to give the fans more reasons to love you."

    "It was the sweetest thing ever. I haven't even seen half those videos. And now there's a time capsule of all our favorite memories."

    We rocked back and forth in each other's arms for a couple minutes until we silently agreed to start making our smoothies. I pulled all the supplies out of the bag, then asked Colby to get me some ice while I plugged in the blender.

    "Catch!" I heard Colby shout. As I turned around, cubes of ice came flying at me in all directions. I tried my best to catch them, only being able to catch one. When I caught it, though, I dropped it immediately, hissing about how cold it was.

    "It's ice, of course it's cold," Colby laughed. I pouted and heard his voice ring "catch" again. I looked over and saw that he recorded the video on snapchat. I jumped onto the island and sat at the edge while he showed me the video.

    "I look so bad!" I whined. My hair was in a messy "I don't care" bun. The kind you throw up in two seconds, with a third of your hair hanging out of the bun. I had on one of Colby's old tee shirts that he never really wears anymore and a pair of short shorts that you couldn't see unless I lifted the shirt.

    "I think you look adorable," he replied, hugging me.

    "You're only obligated to say that because you're my boyfriend."

    "Nuh uh!" He objected in his baby voice.

    "Yeah huh," I responded in my baby voice.    

    We both laughed afterwards and walked over to the blender. I got the ice this time, since the ones he got were melted on the floor. As I was placing ice into the blender, Colby whined about his feet being wet. I shrugged. It's not my fault he chucked ice at me.

    We made our smoothies and sang songs at the top of our lungs every time we had to turn the blender on. I hate loud noises and Colby started singing my favorite songs three years ago to make the noise seem less loud. Now it's become our thing.

    I made a strawberry banana smoothie and Colby made a peanut butter banana smoothie. We laid down in one of the recliners of the couch and decided we would make food later. I picked the first show, so I put on an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. I had him raise his drink and I raised mine in front of the camera to get a picture. You could see the blue and red letters of Law & Order on the TV in the background. 

    He slurped loudly on his drink and as much as I hated anyone else doing it, I loved when he did it. He's just so goofy and always knows how to make me laugh or smile.

    "In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the special victims unit. These are their stories," Colby and I recited simultaneously as the opening line spoke.

    "Bum bum!" I shouted.

    We laughed and just hearing his laugh made me smile.

    I knew this is where I'm meant to be. It doesn't matter where I end up as long as it's with him. I don't care if we live in California, New York, hell even Antarctica. As long as I have Colby by my side, everything will be just dandy.