𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 • 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐛𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤

forty-three

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Colby asked me for what seemed like the fiftieth time, watching me with an uncertain look on his face.

I rolled my eyes. "Absolutely not but we're proceeding anyways."

Sam chuckled. "Don't worry man, I got your back if anything happens."

"Wow Sam that's very comforting, thank you," Colby replied, his voice laced with sarcasm.

"Since when are you scared of one guy?" Kat snorted, patting his back. "Let's just go."

Colby sighed out as he watched Sam and Kat walk ahead of us, entering my house for the long awaited houseparty that I had invited them to. "I'm not scared of one guy, it's just the fact I know that entire house will come for my ass to back Hero up."

I took a hold of his shoulders and turned him towards me, sneaking my hands behind his head to find the cap of his hoodie. I lifted it up and over his head, then held onto both sides of the cap and pulled his face to mine. I placed a gentle kiss onto his lips, before letting go and taking a step back. "You'll be fine, and if at one point you feel uncomfortable, we can leave, okay?"

He nodded. "Fine. But I'm only doing this because I love you."

A sad smile spread across my face. "I love you too. Now let's go."

He nodded and I reached for his hand, holding it as we walked inside, side by side. I honestly wasn't really planning on coming but it's a houseparty in my own house, so why wouldn't I? I wasn't letting Hero stop me from coming to my own party.

The music was loud and there were so many people, I almost couldn't make out where the kitchen was. Suddenly I was glad I had locked my room when I left with Colby the previous night after our Christmas party was over. I didn't need random people finding my room to have sex in my bed.

"Wanna go get a drink?" I shouted over the music so that Colby could hear me.

He nodded. "Yeah, sounds good."

I tightened my grip onto his hand a little as I pushed through the crowd, shoving various people I didn't much care for out of the way. If anyone was gonna try to fight me in my own house, you bet your ass I would knock the bitch into my haunted ass basement and lock the door until tomorrow morning.

When I finally got to the fridge, I opened the bottom drawer where I usually stashed my shit and pulled out two cans of beer, handing one to Colby.

"Thanks," he said as he cracked open the can. "I needed it."

I let out a chuckle and cracked mine open as well. "You're welcome."

Sam and Kat were nowhere to be found, and we spent a good fifteen minutes searching. Maybe they found their way into another part of the house that Hero forgot to lock. Colby shot them a quick text and then joined me to dance in the living room. Wherever Hero or any of his minions were, we had yet to see them.

"Me being here right now is literal insanity," Colby laughed as he threw his arms over my shoulders.

I smiled. "Maybe."

He leaned in to kiss me for a few seconds, before pulling back as his phone buzzed. He pulled it out and read the text out loud. "We found a cool book room."

"You mean the library?" I snorted.

"Hey, I'm only reading the text," Colby laughed. "The stupidity is on them."

I chuckled. "Let's go find them. I do wonder how they got back there."

Colby nodded and followed me into the hallway, and upstairs to the third floor. After going through the work space - which was some kind of open, second office - I opened the door to the library.

"Yo," Kat started off as soon as she saw us enter. Sam and her were sprawled out across the couch in the corner. "This house is so cool, new rooms everywhere."

I chuckled. "How did you guys even end up here?"

She shrugged, a smile on her face. "I told you yesterday I was gonna explore this house, and that's what we did."

Sam sat up again. "Your brother did take precautions and locked almost everything, I think he just forgot this room."

"At least that's good," I spoke, watching them. "Y'all wanna go back downstairs or are you genuinely interested in my family's book collection?"

"Let's go," Kat giggled, as she jumped up from the couch.

At that moment, the door opened. "I almost locked y'all in, good thing I checked before locking the door," Tyler revealed himself. His eyes widened a little as soon as he saw who I was. And, who Colby was. "Oh. Hey Ara."

"What are you doing?" I asked even though it was pretty obvious.

"Locking the door that Hero forgot," he explained.

I shook my head. "And here I was thinking maybe I could go the entire night without having to see any of you."

"Listen, Ara," Tyler said as he walked into the door, closing the door behind him. "I'm really sorry for everything I did. And you too, Colby. I'm sorry. I just did what I had to do for my best friend, you would've done the same."

"You don't know shit about him," I sneered, taking a step towards Tyler - only one, as Colby held my arm to prevent me from going further.

"It's fine, Arabella," his voice soothed me. "Let him apologize so he can leave."

I huffed and crossed my arms like a little kid, but listened and stayed by Colby's side. "Alright. You apologized, now leave. And don't you fucking dare tell Hero you saw any of us."

"Are you kidding? If he knew I was apologizing to you right now, he'd have my fucking head severed from the rest of my body," he snorted and shook his head. "I'll leave you alone, I hope you have a great night. Hero and the other guys are by the pool so if you stay away from that area, you'll be fine. Also, close up behind you, I'll leave the key."

I rolled my eyes and watched as he left, then waited for a minute before I turned to Sam and Kat. "Let's go back and make this party better."

"That's the spirit, girl," Kat smiled as she threw an arm around my shoulders, walking us out of the library.

• • •

[ author's note ]

sorry it took so long, guys. i'm just genuinely having a hard time finding the inspiration and drive to do anything lately, i hope you understand. again, i'm sorry. hope y'all enjoyed this chapter tho. ♡