𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 • 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐛𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤

nineteen

I groaned as I woke up the next morning, sitting up in my bed with a sigh. I dragged my hands through my hair, trying to remember what had happened yesterday evening.

I didn't have to try very hard, though, the memories of Colby flooding my mind. Colby, who was currently asleep in my guest bedroom. Colby, who my brother would murder if he found out this person was in his house.

Standing up, I walked out of my room and over towards Hero's bedroom. His door was wide open and he was nowhere to be found, so I supposed he didn't sleep at home last night. I continued over to the guest bedroom, knocking before opening the door.

Colby was still asleep, his hair laying tousled over his forehead. I had given him a shirt of Hero's to sleep in, one that he never wore anyways, and to be honest - it looked better on the guy in front of me.

...except I wasn't supposed to be thinking about that. Or about the fact he looked pretty cute, asleep and not as bothered as he always seemed to be.

"Are you just gonna keep staring or what?" he mumbled, apparently not as asleep as I thought he was.

I cleared my throat. "I, uh, I hate to wake you but I don't know when Hero's gonna be home."

"So he's not?" the brunette asked as he sat up, rubbing his face with one hand while supporting his weight on the other.

I shook my head. "No, he probably slept over at Tyler's or something."

"Yeah, right," Colby snorted. "Keep telling yourself that."

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. "Anyways, I'm gonna take a shower to get this weed smell out of my hair, you can do the same. That door leads to a bathroom," I explained, pointing towards a door in the corner of this bedroom.

"Do you seriously have separate bathrooms for each bedroom?" he asked, eyebrows raised. "No, you know what, I don't even wanna know."

I huffed. "Go shower. I'll get you a clean shirt."

It was his turn to roll his eyes, venturing off into the bathroom anyways.

I got up onto my feet and dragged myself once more towards Hero's bedroom, opening the drawer with all the shirts he didn't wear anymore. I just grabbed a random, plain black one and chucked it onto Colby's bed when I dropped by, before getting myself into my own bathroom.

What the fuck was I even doing? Why was this guy in my house? Well, clearly, I was intoxicated and not thinking straight. And it is true I'm a clingy drunk. But why was I not clinging onto Tyler or Emilia? Why Colby?

Obviously because he was the only one actually paying attention to you, lol.

I pouted to myself, thinking about how my friends had ditched me without thinking twice. Without one text. I could have been kidnapped or something, and no one would have known.

I took a quick shower and dressed myself, blowdrying my hair and fixing my daily makeup. As I walked out into the hallway, I found Colby waiting.

"Oh, uh, where do I put this?" he asked, motioning to the shirt he had slept in.

I took it from his hands and flung it into my room, onto my bed, then closed the door. "I'll get that to the laundry room later."

"I can't believe how big this fucking house is," he remarked, looking around. "This is literally a mansion."

I shrugged, looking around myself. "I wish my parents would be hone more often, though. That would make it a real home."

"So, where they at?" Colby asked, leaning against the wall.

"Well, they were on some city trip but they're coming back tonight. Probably will be here for a few days and then leave again," I explained. "But we're not here for the story of how I never see my parents."

He sniffed. "You've got some serious issues."

I snorted. "Wow, thanks."

I watched him as he shrugged. "I'm fuckin' serious, though. You don't like hanging out with your own friends anymore, so you hang with me, getting high in a deserted fucking playground. Then you're also telling me you've got, what, daddy and mommy issues?"

"Fuck off," I replied, rolling my eyes. "Seems to me you're so invested in my problems because you can barely cope with your own."

"Hey now," he chuckled. "We weren't talking about me, but go off, I guess."

I let out a sigh. "You're fucking annoying."

"So you've told me, about ten times already," he snorted. "Anyways, I'm gonna get going. Try not to miss me too much."

"Such a jokester," I retorted as I marched ahead of him down the stairs. "As if I would."

He shook his head, still laughing a little. "Just so you know, this doesn't make us friends. And it also doesn't mean we'll be hanging out again."

"Yeah, yeah," I sighed. I didn't even know why I decided to hang out with him myself. "Just go."

"Yeah, man, I'll see you Thursday or something. Maybe," Colby declared as we reached the hallway and he opened the front door.

I huffed. "You better be there, Brock, because as said before - I'm not giving you a another chance at this tutoring."

"Fuck off, Arabella," he snickered, before walking off.

"No," I called after him as he started the walk back to the park where his car was still at. "I live here, so you fuck off!"

• • •

[ Author's note ]

i am so incredibly sorry for this god awful piece of writing but it's one in the morning and i'm fucking crossed right now, i still wanted to give you guys a new chapter. as you may or may not know, i'm in my january finals week and i don't know when i'll be able to write again. 🥺 hope u can enjoy it anyways, though it's pretty shitty x

love u always,
♡