Bad Taste (Part I) // Colby Brock

199 - Rebecca

I could feel that Colby was doing better, so I didn't stay in the same position for long. Angela and I had news, after all, and it was news that was good enough to allow me to push away my anger for once. I could also feel her anticipation to tell everyone burning through the air in the room, which was starting to get frustrating in its own way. She wanted to blurt it out, I was sure—especially when I shifted to sit sideways on Colby's lap instead and glanced at her. She met my eyes immediately, waiting.

Colby pulled me over his lap to wrap his arms around me, making Sam's eyebrow raise. For once, he voiced his concerns loud enough for me to hear. "Are you good, brother?" he asked.

"Fine," Colby replied shortly. His voice wasn't mad or a snap, though, and Sam caught on and started to smile to himself as he gave Katrina a look. She was amused, too, but I didn't want to know who else had the same expression.

Taking Colby's hand in one of mine, I looked over to Angela once more. "Stop staring at me, Angela. You're the older one, take charge for once."

She grinned. "I thought you'd like to say it, but alright." She paused for dramatic effect and looked around to make sure everyone was paying attention to her—classic Angela. "The Woods, specifically our mother, are going to be a huge part of the Fashionista Gala once again this year, and I'm not the only Woods daughter to be invited." Angela looked at me, still smiling. "But it's going to be short-lived, huh, Becca?"

I rolled my eyes. "It fell at a bad time."

"Actually, it's the perfect time. Becca's announcing her leave from the designing community." I felt a couple of the others start looking at me now, wondering why the hell I was leaving it so soon. I knew I didn't have to explain myself. Colby was looking at me too—partially for unrelated reasons, I guessed—but I knew he knew why I was leaving.

"What's this gala like? It sounds fancy," Katrina said to take the attention from me as she shifted forward on Sam's lap to look at Angela.

"It is fancy—it's one step down from a black tie event. As Mom and I offer up our "services" to help plan the whole thing, we're allowed special rules, too." Angela grinned. "We're allowed to bring unlimited people."

There was a beat of silence.

The most excited of everyone about this prospect was Xepher, it was pretty clear, so she broke the silence to say, "As in... us?" Angela nodded without a word. "Holy shit, actually?"

"If you want to come," Angela giggled, glancing around for everyone's reactions. I found myself looking to Colby for his, only to find him watching me still. I smiled and he smiled back, squeezing me. I was pretty sure that was a yes.

"I'm really down," Xepher said.

"I'm not a suit and tie kinda guy, but it sounds fun to pretend for a night," Elton agreed.

"As long as Colby's fine with it," Sam added slowly, "I think we're all going to come." Colby held his hands up for barely a second, making Devyn, of all people, squeal in excitement. I could see she wasn't the only girl to be excited, but she was the only one so open about it—besides Xepher.

"Is it a good idea right now?" Mike asked Colby, ignoring all the girls with smiles on their faces.

"To get you all out of the house, yes. Julian's," Colby hesitated but I squeezed his hand to get him to continue, "gone for right now, so what's he going to do? He might not even know about the event and if he does, he wouldn't do something in front of so many people."

"He's a subtle attacker," Angela agreed, still smiling, "which means we can all go to the gala!" Her voice turned into a squeal toward the end and she jumped up from Aryia's lap to suddenly run across the room—surprisingly to me. She dragged me up, though I tried to resist, and held me at an arm's length in front of her. "You are helping me."