Sam and Colby: The House

21

"Oh, Nessa, hey. It's okay," Sam said softly. He leaned over the center console and wrapped his arms around my shaking shoulders. He held me for a couple minutes until my tears stopped flowing, leaving his light blue t-shirt dotted with navy spots.

"Sorry," I whispered, sitting back up. I quickly wiped away my tears and my face heated up with embarrassment a little bit. I'd never cried in front of any of them except Colby other than in the asylum's basement when Corey almost touched that poison and we all were at risk of inhaling it and dying. I also hadn't had that many one on one conversations with Sam even though we'd been hanging out almost constantly with the group for the past five months.

"No, don't apologize. They should apologize," Sam said. I shrugged shortly.

"They were just kidding. I just need to toughen up. I'm still not really used to y'all's humor. The girls are just different than you guys with how they joke around. I know you're being mean as a joke and that's how you show your love," I said, wiping away the new tears that were rolling down my cheeks.

"It's not a joke if it hurts your feelings, Ness," Sam said. I finally looked up at him for the first time since I'd pulled back from the hug and gave him a small smile. He'd never called me that before, only Corey and Colby. I really liked hearing it from Sam.

"Why are you so nice to me?" I blurted.

"What?" Sam asked, clearly taken aback by the question.

"Colby's not here right now. No one is. But you're spending your time talking to me. And why did you come over here instead of him?" I asked. Sam sighed and looked down at his hands.

"Look, I don't want to sound like I'm butting in on something that you might not want to talk to me about directly, but...," Sam started. He was picking at his nails, clearly a little nervous to say whatever he was about to. "I know that you've talked to Colby and the girls about feeling like you're replacing me in a way."

"Oh, God," I muttered. I put my face in my hands. He was right, I didn't want to talk to him about this. I suddenly felt like an insecure jealous little kid or something. I'd asked Colby not to tell Sam about it, though.

"Kat told me about it a couple weeks ago. I didn't really want to bring it up with you since I'm guessing you probably didn't want me to know, but I do have some things to say. Is it okay if I do?" he asked. God, what a nice, respectful guy. I nodded.

"Okay. So I guess I'll just start from when we met. You remember how Colby lied and said he invited you over instead of just telling us that he left his phone in your car hoping you'd come see him again?" asked Sam.

"Yeah," I said with a short chuckle. What a weird way to meet someone.

"When he told me that he'd lied to us, I actually got sort of mad. I hate when people lie to me, especially over little things that don't even matter and especially when Colby's the one who's lying. So I sat him down and we talked about it. You want to know why he lied?" Sam asked.

"He said it was because he felt a little awkward explaining the story in front of all of you guys," I said.

"Yeah, no. That was probably just his little cover up since he was embarrassed to tell you the real answer. He lied because he wanted us to like you. He wanted us to think that he'd known you for a little bit so that we'd trust you more and think of you as one of our friends too by association. He said on that very first night before you guys even went out to that club with some of the other guys that he liked you. A lot. And he really wanted us to like you so we'd support him with you. Those six days in between you guys meeting and you coming with us for the trip and seeing you for the second time, he barely talked about anything other than you. It was so weird to see Colby like that. He'd never talked about anyone like that, especially not any girls," explained Sam.

"Corey mentioned that. What did Colby even say about me?" I asked.

"I think it'd be easier to list what he didn't say about you. He said anything and everything. He loves how funny you are, your confidence, how you look. And he absolutely adores how smart you are," said Sam. I couldn't help but smile.

"But what does that have to do with you and me?" I asked.

"Colby is my best friend. If something is important to him, then it's important to me. But that's not the only reason I'm 'nice' to you. I really like you, Nessa. You're a cool girl. If I'd met you and Colby hadn't, I'd still consider you a really good friend," said Sam. "I know we haven't talked one on one a whole lot, and I don't really like that. I want you to know that I see you as my equal. I don't think I'm better than you and I don't think you're better than me. I think we're actually pretty damn similar. But just because we're alike doesn't mean that we're not both important. You're just as vital to this friend group as I am."

I couldn't help but laugh when he said that. "Me? As important as you? Yeah right."

"I mean it, Mom. You're important to me just like everyone else is. I love you just as much as the rest, even if we don't individually interact as much as everyone else," he replied. "Will you make a deal with me?"

"Yeah, sure," I answered.

"How about once a week for the next month or two, we try to do something together without the entire friend group. It doesn't have to be just us, but I think it'd be beneficial to both of us if we got to spend some more time together. We could go on some double dates with Kat and Colby or just chill together. And we keep doing it until you 100% feel like you're not replacing or threatening my friendships. Deal?" he asked. I gave him a big smile.

"Okay, yeah. Deal," I said.

"Awesome," Sam said.

"Have I ever told you what a good and wholesome person you are?" I asked.

"Once or twice, yes," he chuckled.

"Well good, because I mean it," I said.

"And I meant everything I said about you. You ready to go to the house now? They're probably already there by now," Sam said, pointing at the empty parking spot that the Tesla had been in. I hadn't even noticed that the guys had left.

"Yeah, I am. Are they going to give me shit for being mad?" I asked, starting the car.

"Nah. Colby's talking to them about it," Sam said.

"Oh, good. Thank you Sam. Really," I said.

"Of course. Now let's go watch Reggie and Kevin get scared, yeah?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied with a short chuckle as I pulled out of the parking lot.