Sam and Colby: The Asylum

Chapter 22

I looked back down at my phone and started a new race, having lost the one I was about to win. After about an hour of us all just sitting there, playing on our phones, my eyes started to hurt from staring at the screen for so long. I set my phone down and rubbed my eyes carefully around my makeup, trying to ease the stinging I felt when I'd closed them, realizing that I hadn't been blinking nearly enough and now my eyes were dry. I looked to my left, the three boys still on their phones. I looked to my right, Colby still on his. I looked down to see his hand resting on my knee. I leaned over and put my head on his shoulder. He leaned his down to rest on top of mine.

None of us said anything for another fifteen minutes. I had my eyes closed, my head on Colby's shoulder and his head on top of mine. I was close to falling asleep when I heard a little boy talking to Sam. I sat up and leaned forward, Colby's hand falling off of my knee.

"Excuse me, mister?" he asked. The kid couldn't me older than seven.

"What's up, little dude?" asked Sam, putting his phone down to look up at the kid standing in front of him.

"Are you Sam?" he asked. Sam smiled.

"I am. What's your name?" Sam asked.

"I'm Vinny," he said.

"Do you watch my YouTube?" asked Sam.

"I watch you and Colby," said Vinny.

"Well, Colby's right down there if you want to meet him, too," Sam said, pointing at Colby.

"Okay! Thank you mister," Vinny said, holding his arm straight out for a handshake, locking his elbow, clearly not having done it many times. I couldn't help but smile. He was being so respectful. Vinny and Sam. They were both so sweet. Vinny made his way down to Colby, who had also looked up.

"Hey little man. How you doing?" Colby asked, smiling at Vinny.

"I'm awesome, mister. How are you?" Vinny asked.

"I'm doing pretty good. How old are you?" Colby asked.

"I'm six. My sister likes you guys a whole lot. You're always on her TV," Vinny said. He turned to me.

"And you're on her wall, miss," he said.

"What?" I asked. Why was I on some random kid's sister's wall?
"Because you're Colby's girlfriend. She has a picture of you guys holding hands walking into a building together. It's taped on her wall next to her other pictures of people," said Vinny. I smiled warmly at him.

"Your name is Vanessa," he said, more than asked.

"Yes, it is," I said.

"My sister likes you a whole awful lot, too. She colored her hair to look like yours," Vinny said, pointing at my head. I blinked.

"What?" I asked.

"She looks real nice with it. Can I take a picture with you guys?" he asked. He held up a phone.

"This is my mom's phone. My sister isn't here but I thought she would like to see you guys in a picture with me. Because then maybe I could be on her wall, too," he said. I got goosebumps all over my body. That was so, so sweet. But I was hung up on her wall, and her cute little brother wasn't?

"Of course, Vinny. Who do you want to take the picture with?" asked Colby.

"Can I take one with everyone? You're all on her wall," he said. "I only know you guys' names though. Not them," Vinny said, pointing at Corey and Jake, who were still looking at their phones.

"This is Corey," I said, elbowing Corey. "And that's Jake," I said, pointing to Corey's other side. "Guys, this is Vinny. He wants to take a picture with us," I said. Corey and Jake smiled.

"Of course, big guy," said Corey.

"I'd love to," said Jake. Vinny waved a woman over, his mom, I'm assuming. He handed her the phone.

"They said yes, mommy!" he said, hopping back over to us excitedly. We all stood up and crowded together.

"I'm so short. Can someone come down here with me?" Vinny asked.

"You want to come up here instead?" I asked. "Piggyback ride?"

"Oh boy! Yes please!" Vinny exclaimed. I bent down and let him climb up on my back. I moved into the center of the boys and we all smiled while his mom took some pictures.

"All right, Vinny. All set. Sarah will love these," she said.

"Yay!" Vinny said. I squatted down and he hopped off my back.

"Thank you miss!" he said, hugging my legs.

"Of course!" I said, smiling down at him. Vinny ran over and held his mom's hand and they started walking away.

"Thank you guys," the mom said, looking over her shoulder. We all sort of waved back as a response. The guys all went and sat back down, but I grabbed Colby's arm before he could.

"What the fuck!" I whispered. "Some girl has a picture of me on her wall and not her cute little brother! She dyed her hair to look like mine because she thought I was your girlfriend!" I whisper yelled. "And then he wanted to take a picture! With me in it!"

Colby smiled.

"Yup, welcome to my life, baby," he said, sitting down. I stiffened for a second. What did he call me? Before I could turn back to look at him, the woman's voice came over us again.