Bad Taste (Part I) // Colby Brock

76 - Rebecca

          I didn't know how long it had been, but I heard the backdoor and footsteps to my left, and my entire body froze. I felt a little rush of anger flow through me, which had been kept at bay for a while. My eyes were closed as I rested, thinking about feelings that I didn't want, and I didn't bother opening them when the footsteps got closer to me.

"If you're Colby"—I doubted it—"fuck off."

A female voice replied. "Think hotter and secretly likes pink." It was Tara. My eyes flickered open as she sat down on the sunbed next to me, stretching her short legs completely out with her hands behind her head. She looked completely at ease.

"So you can hear," I whispered. She glanced at me but didn't say anything. I felt angrier now, knowing that the rejection would be well known around the house. Some people—Kevin—had very little filter with the jokes they made. No one would think this had actually upset me.

"Look, Beck." Tara spun on the sunbed to face me, leaning forwards with her elbows on her knees and her back hunched. "I'm here to tell you not to be angry." I scoffed. "Hear me out."

"Rather not," I muttered.

"Don't care," she snapped back. She had my full attention, admittedly. I wanted to know why Colby had done what he had done, because he obviously wanted to do something with me and it wasn't as if he had said 'I don't want to'; just 'I can't'. He wasn't off the hook just yet, though, no matter how easily I debunked that little bit.

Tara looked partly desperate when she spoke next, almost begging me to listen and accept what she was going to say. I hadn't decided if I would yet. "He had good reason, Beck. I can promise you that much." Tara paused. "Jake and I did that too early and I ended up like this." She pointed to her eyes, the silver ring as prominent as it had ever been. It expanded suddenly under her control but she didn't let it go much further than that.

"The fuck are you talking about, Tara?" I asked, exasperated.

Tara sighed. "You don't know enough about the secret to explain it, and I'm not going to steal that pleasure from Colby. So all I can say is that I changed into this after my first time with Jake because we did it too soon when he wasn't ready. Colby isn't ready. For your sake, he isn't going to let anything go too far. Probably won't really let you touch him either."

"Explain."

"There's not much more I can say."

"Explain," I repeated.

Tara glanced up at the house behind us before she brushed her hair back with her one hand. She pursed her lips, too. I thought I could see her move them before that. It was some sort of secret way the non-human people in the house talked. So she was most likely talking to Colby right now rather than me and that made me angrier again—I had calmed down a bit without realising.

Finally, she opened her mouth. "When any of us get too excited, we lose control. That's the easiest way to put it without telling you everything. And when we lose control, there is a very high chance we will kill someone. Lucky for you, Colby doesn't want to kill you, so he didn't let it get very far."

"Are you saying Jake wanted to kill you? Because I'll kick his ass right now. I need to punch someone."

Tara snorted. "No, he didn't want to kill me. We fell in love fast—that's another thing that's going to happen, by the way." She looked me up and down. "May have already happened."

I scowled as I turned to lie on my back instead, avoiding her eyes. The stars glared right back at me in the sky. There was a little silence between us and I couldn't help but wonder what else she was saying to Colby right now. Was he mad that I had left, maybe? Upset even? Or just passive about this whole thing because he had reason? None of those options seemed right.

"So, are you gonna keep sulking out here and depriving yourself of sleep, or are you going to go back to bed with your boyfriend and get over it?"

"Fuck off," I muttered.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tara smile knowingly. She had sensed what my decision would be; her work was done here. "See you tomorrow at the pool. Wear something tempting, eh?" Then she stood up and disappeared in front of my eyes. I knew she was the same species as Colby, whatever that was. I had tested a few theories but unless he was good at control, I'd been wrong.

My body wanted to stay on the sunbed but my brain was forcing myself out. She was right about the sleep deprivation and my annoying, stupid feelings were making me miss Colby. So I forced myself onto my feet and walked lightly for once. Even if everybody had heard both events that had happened tonight, I didn't want them to hear my retreat back to Colby's room.

When I got to the double door, I silently flipped it off and went inside. By only the light in the hallway, I could see Colby lying in his bed with his back to most of it. There was no way he was sleeping, but he didn't respond when I walked in. I slammed the door on purpose; he didn't jerk awake or jump. I walked loudly now to the other side of the bed; he didn't move or look at me. I slid in; he ignored my entire existence. A part of me was glad about that: it made being angry at him easier.

I laid down facing away from him half on my front with one hand beneath the pillow and one whole arm beneath the pillow. My legs were bent under the covers, curled in towards my torso.

As I laid there half-hating myself, half-hating Colby, I slowly started to drift. Colby made it easier to sleep even when I was mad at him and just knowing that I was in the same bed as him made it easier than it had been on the sunbed or during that time when we were broken up. The darkness was consuming me quickly, taking me away.

I was so close to escaping when something slid beneath my waist and met up with something over my waist. And then something pressed against the entirety of my back and legs. And then lips touched my shoulder. I felt intense tingles all over my body. Colby knew I was mad yet he dared to come over and cuddle me.

My first reaction to that was a familiar one and his response was just typical. "Fuck off, Colby."

He didn't.