Old Friends (Colby Brock x Reader)

Chapter 4 - Mountain Air

There is some cursing in this chapter, you have been warned! :)

Enjoy!

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"Woah..." Colby stopped as you both reached the top of the hill that you had trekked up. "I never realised the view was so beautiful up here." You looked out across the city, and yeah, it was pretty amazing.

"When's the last time you came up here?" You asked him.

He thought for a moment "I'm not sure, not since we were last here, I don't think." He turned to look at you "What about you?"

"A few years at least. Me and my ex used to spend a lot of time up here..." You shifted uncomfortably "I haven't come out here since we ended it."

Colby's gaze turned sympathetic "why didn't you say anything? We didn't have to come here if you didn't want to."

"No, no, it's okay." You assured him "this park was our place way before he came along." You smiled, before continuing "and besides, I'm over him."

"You sure?" His eyes searched yours.

"Yeah, I'm good!"

"Well then, here!" He said as he pulled out a blanket from his bag and laid it on the ground. You laughed fondly as he sat down. He looked up, confused.

"What?" He asked as he soothed out the blanket.

"Forever the boy scout, huh Colbs? Always come prepared!" You joked as you sat next to him, pausing slightly as you realised your old nickname for him rolled off your tongue like you only spoke it yesterday.

"Well one of us has to be." He retorted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" You questioned, pretending to act angry.

"Come on, you were the least organised person I knew when we were younger." He joked.

"Was not!" You scoffed, although still smiling.

"Were too!" He whined back "you used to lose everything!" He emphasised the 'everything'.

"I did not!" With that, you grabbed as handful of sticks and leaves from the ground to your side and threw it at him, bursting out into laughter as some of it hit his face, surprising him.

"Hey!" He shrieked, which caused you to laugh even more. He picked off some of the leaves, gathering them into his hand. A smirk came across his face and you knew his intentions.

"No! Don't!" You shouted as you jumped up, the sticks hitting your back as you turned around to face him.

"What? It's only fair!" He said back whilst laughing.

You caught him off guard as you bent and grabbed another handful of foliage and dirt, raising your hand to throw it at him again.

"Oh no you don't!" You screamed as he charged at you, you turned and ran. You didn't make it far before he caught you around your waist.

"Colby!" You giggled as he picked you up and swung you around. You heard him giggling as well as he set you back on your feet. You turned around to face him, noticing that you were very much in each other's space. You looked up at him, and he grinned back at you briefly before a weird expression came across his face. You glanced away

You weren't really sure what came over you, but you moved closer, feeling Colby do the same until your bodies were almost touching chest to chest.

You looked back up at him, focusing on his lips for a moment before you both seemed to come to your senses.

Quickly moving away from each other, you heard as he cleared his throat as an awkward silence fell over the two of you.

Fuck... Was I about to... Were we about to kiss?

It took a few seconds to pull yourself back together. Your eyes found Colby, who was staring at the ground.

"So..." that almost happened you thought as you tried to find something to say. Colby meet your gaze, he looked uncertain.

"Tell me more about your friends." You said, and yeah, that was stupid.

It seemed to work though. "Uhhh... Shall we sit?" Colby asked as he shifted from foot to foot. You nodded, and you moved towards the blanket.

There was more of a distance between you both now, you realised as Colby flopped down next to you.

"Well Sam... Sam uhh.." Colby hesitantly launched into a story of how he used to live in a mansion with a few of his friends.

"You and Sam are still pretty close then." You commented when Colby paused for a moment. "You talk about him a lot." You added.

"Yeah... I mean... He's my best friend." Colby replied with a soft smile.

Then he went stiff "listen... There's something... I always wanted to ask you... Or say to you, I guess..." He stopped.

"What's that?" You questioned, frowning as Colby looked at you, almost guiltily?

"I'm sorry if I ever made it feel like I ditched you for him, Sam, I mean."

"What?" It caught you off guard, because in all the years that you knew Colby, did you ever once think that. "Why would you think that?" You asked him.

"Well, because I kinda did! We were so close, and I know I didn't hang out with you as much after I met Sam, especially when we started the Vine stuff." He paused, before continuing "I'm sorry that I didn't even really realise. I used to think that we just grew apart, y'know? At first I was kind of sad that you just suddenly stopped speaking to me, but then I started thinking about it, after I moved to LA, and I realised that you probably thought that I ditched you." He explained.

It left you stunned, because was that what he really thought happened? And what was worse was that he still felt bad about it even to this day.

"Colby..." You breathed out his name. "Colbs, that wasn't what happened!" You tried to assure him.

"Wasn't it? Then why did you stop talking to me?" He asked.

"It was my parents, man..." You huffed out, because apparently this still upset you even now, almost ten years later. You remembered the arguments, the long conversations where you had tried to convince them that he wasn't a bad kid.

"Your parents?" Colby looked confused.

"Yeah. When you and Sam started getting in trouble for that stupid shit you used to do, they didn't approve. They told me to cut ties with you, basically."

"Shit.. That's..." Colby stopped, probably before he said something about your parents.

"Yeah... I should've explained that to you, ages ago, but I was heartbroken."

"Heartbroken?"

"You were my only friend, Colby." You said simply, and he nodded his head in understanding.

"Do your parents know that you're with me now?"

"My mom does, she was okay with it. She said not to tell my dad though..."

"I'll have to remember not to tell mom about the whole you being arrested thing though." You joked.

Colby laughed too.

You two spent another two hours talking, the awkwardness long gone.

You wanted to spend more time in Colby's company, but then he checked his watch and realised that he needed to get back for his show.

He drove you home.

"I'll text you in the morning to let you know the plan. I'll mention the lake to the guys." Colby said as he pulled up outside your house.

"Okay. I'll hopefully see you tomorrow then!" You smiled.

"Oh for sure, I want to hang out even if we don't end up going to the lake." Colby reached across the car with one arm and gave you a hug. You bought up an arm to squeeze him tightly.

You exited the car and walked up your drive, stopping at the front door to wave back at Colby, who was waiting to see that you got in okay.