In This Life (Sequel to 'In Another Life')

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"Not for how long we've been together. We've had so many things thrown at us, determined to keep us apart, including ourselves. I think that we're both a little scared of what might happen if we let in even just a little bit of disruption." Damn, I loved this man. He always knew just what to say. "You're right. I'm worrying over nothing." He grinned at me, letting it take over half of his face. "How about this? I promise to leave dirty dishes in the sink, and to never figure out where the laundry basket is when we live together. I basically do that now, so not much of a change." I laughed, and nodded. "I'm gonna hold you to that. I love you Colby." "I love you baby girl," he responded, before pressing his lips to mine. We didn't talk about the engagement anymore, for a while. Life went on, things changed as well as stayed the same. The company that Sam and Colby were using for their merch now loved the photos that I took and asked me on full time, with clients other than the guys. I got to do all of the friend group's pics, plus album covers. It was a whirlwind of amazing things that kept me going. Colby started filming so many moments that we shared and I thought nothing of it, because he always had a camera. I assumed it was just for memories...until he asked me to be in one of his YouTube videos. That was when I knew what was going on. "Oh my God, now?" I automatically became tense and nervous. He put his hands on my shoulders and started kneading them. "It's now or never babe," he replied, grinning softly at me. "Shit," I said, rolling my eyes. "Okay. Time to feed myself to the lions, I guess." I let out a breath, and sat down on the couch in his room while he got the camera ready. I sat there twisting the rings on my fingers nervously. "You ready?" he asked, sitting down next to me. He took my hands in his, and brought them to his lips, kissing them softly. "It's going to be okay. This is just the introduction. I've already filmed the rest of it by myself. This will only be a few minutes. Okay?" I nodded, and shifted on the couch. "Okay," he replied, then let my hands go. "What's up guys, welcome back to my channel. Now, the moment that you've all been waiting for is here. I have finally gotten a girlfriend, and it's serious enough that I want to share the news with the people that I would be nothing without. This is Terra. Say hi T." I was mesmerized, realizing that I hadn't ever watched him actually make a video before. It was so strange to watch him go from real life Colby, to YouTube Colby. There was just this slight difference in his attitude and his persona. I realized that I had been staring when he kind of motioned towards the camera with his head. "oops," I said quietly, then looked at the camera. "Hey you guys," I said softly, waving. "She's a little shy. We'll work that out of her, don't worry," he said, laughing. Then he wrapped his arms around me, and lay his cheek on top of my head. I froze, feeling like he was too close. The fandom was going to rip me apart and maybe him too. "Relax," he whispered, too low for the camera to pick up. I tried too, I really did. I wrapped my arms around his waist, and smiled at the camera. "So yeah, that's it. I just really wanted to share this part of my life with you guys too." He let me go, but took my hand in his, and lay it on his knee. I tried to act as relaxed as possible but honestly, I was still so freaking tense. I was scared. I remembered how the fandom was when I was a part of it. I made some amazing friends, some lifelong even, but the other side. The other side was so toxic, and hateful. If you breathed the wrong way, you would be mentally and socially ripped to shreds. He did his outro, then stood up and placed his palm over the camera lens to close it out. I let out the breath that I had been holding as he turned to me. "Not so bad, right?" I looked at him like he was crazy, widening my eyes. "Are you kidding? That was terrifying. I'm going to be destroyed. Your fan base is going to riot, and you're probably going to lose followers. I don't know if we should have done this." "Come here," he said pulling me close to his side as he leaned back on the couch. "The video is coming out this Friday. That means that we still have 3 days to prepare for the backlash, okay? It shouldn't be too much of a surprise to the ones that have been paying attention though. This isn't the first video you've been in." I jerked my head up and turned to meet his gaze. "What? What do you mean? Colby, don't play with me. I don't have a clue what's going on in the fandom and I haven't been watching the videos. What do you mean?" He put his hand over his heart, and pretended to be hurt. "Wow T. And here I was thinking that I fell for a true fan, but you don't even watch the videos." I smacked his arm, not in the mood for the jokes right now. "Colby, I'm serious. What videos have I been in? Besides, the Savannah one, where they knew Denise and I were just fans." He laughed at my overreaction again. "Corey's. Remember, we played the water balloon games. You've been in the background of Sam's a couple of times, Kat's, Jake's and Tara's. I think you might even be visible in one of Devyn's. There has been talk about who you are, speculation that you were my girlfriend because we were standing next to each other in a few shots." I clapped my hand over my forehead, and brought out my phone. "I can't believe you didn't tell me," I said accusingly. He just shrugged.