[❀]
"I don't live in NYC anymore, Colby."
I say with a soft and gentle smile. He faces me a confused look. What else could I mean by that?
"What?" He asks with his eyebrows furrowed as I continue to smile at him.
"Where do you live then?" He continues to ask as we stop next to a shoe store that was surprisingly still open.
"LA." I say simply, just smiling at him. Colby's facial expression completely changes from confused to happy.
"Wait. REALLY?! When? Did you move in with Ainisa again?!" He says, surprisingly super cheerfully, which makes me really happy.
"Remember when I visited like 2 months ago and I stayed with Ainisa for like 2 weeks?" I ask him as we went into the shoe store.
"Welcome in." The tired worker says as he slumped down on his chair at the front of the store.
"Yeah, I remember. Why?" Colby says as he greets the worker and brings his attention back to me.
"The entire time I was there, I was decorating my room." I laugh and look at the all the rare shoes that the store has.
"That's crazy. Wait. So, you just lied to Kat and Sam about not moving back?" He asks. He made it sound like I was doing something wrong, which in a way I kind of was.
"I wouldn't say I exactly lied, I just wanted to surprise them. More specificity Kat. She's been begging me to move back since I even had the thought of moved away." I smile while grabbing a pair of shoes then putting them back down. I look at the large display of shoes as Colby watches me gently.
"She's always whining about you having fun without us every time you post something in NYC with your friends." He laughs, almost admiring everything that I was doing. I just hum a response with a smile. I understood why she would be upset.
Hell, if she moved away and started to post about having a good time with new friends, I'd be pissed.
"I know. Oh! Look at these. Do you think these would look good on me?" I ask him showing a pair of shoes that I thought were cute.
I've been trying new styles lately and these would really fit the new clothes I've been buying, not that I need anymore pairs of shoes.
"Yeah! Those are sick. I'm sure they'd look incredible on you. Do you want me to ask if you have your size?" Colby asks, holding the shoes in his hands as I nod. He goes off to the front of the store to ask the worker for my shoe size.
I smile and look around at the other shoes that caught my eye but none that I really wanted like the ones I had showed Colby.
"Niko!" Colby calls to me from the counter as I stare off at the wall. I snap out of whatever trance that I was in and walk over to him.
"Yeah?" I say standing next to him. "They have your size." He says smiling softly at me.
"Oh! Okay, thank you." I say as I suddenly realize that I don't actually have my wallet with me.
"Shit." I mutter to myself as I remember Colby telling me to leave it in our hotel room.
"What?" Colby says pulling his wallet to pay for me again.
"Colby, don't you dare. I'm just not going to get them." I say placing my hand onto his, lowering his wallet down.
"Are you sure, Niko? I'll buy them for you. It's no problem, I promise." He says with his wallet still out.
"No, no. I'll just come back tomorrow morning. I don't need them right now." I'm a liar, I'll probably not going back and whine to Ainisa about not getting them for the next week.
I would feel like shit if I allow Colby to buy me all of these things. I'm not his girlfriend and I don't need him to treat me like I am. (yet)
"If you're sure." He sighs, putting his wallet back in his pocket and following behind me out of the store.
"Thank you." I say to the tired worker.
"Have a nice night." He says in a quiet voice while watching us leave the store.
"Are you really going to go back tomorrow?" Colby asks as we walk around the mall some more.
"No." I say quietly. If I really wanted them, I'd run for my wallet right now. But, I only want to spend as much time with Colby as I can.
I haven't been the best at being around. I guess it runs in my family.
"Then why did you say no for me to pay for them then?" He says with a frown. "Because they were $450, Colby." I respond to him. I will not let him waste his hard earned money on me.
"What? You think I can't afford them." He kind of laughs sarcastically.
I know he made more than enough money. His clothes, his cologne, his body are all more than enough proof to show me that he can afford to buy me anything I please.
But, so could I. I've worked my ass off to be in the position that I'm in right now and I am not going to let him paying for some $400 shoes and ruin my pride.
"I know you can, but I don't want you to." I sigh, hoping he would just drop the topic. He huffs trying to get another word in but I interrupt him.
"Just.. forget it. Okay?" I say as we stop in the middle of the casino. He gives me a harsh frown before he sighs, his face retiring back to a calm tone.
"Fine, I will for now Niko." He sighs before continuing.
"So, what should we do next?" He asks as I start to yawn while trying to respond.
"I guess that's my answer." He laughs. "Come on, let's get you to bed." He says, almost like he's cooing to a child.
"Yeah, I guess so." I yawn again as we change our direction of where we were walking to head back to the hotel lobby.
"Are you just going to sleep when we get to your room?" I ask Colby as we walk into the elevator. He shakes he head but still yawns.
"Maybe you should." I laugh and look at him.
"Yeah, I guess so." He sighs as we head up to our floor. I look down at my phone to see a message from Ainisa.
aini ;p
how's your date with your
boyfriend? 😘
I scoff jokingly at her message and just leave her on read. She had sent me it about an hour ago, she must be pasted out by now. As we reach our floor, me and Colby continue to talk about random things.
As we reach the doors to our hotel rooms I turn to him. "Well. Thanks for coming with me." I smile at him.
"Yeah, of course! Anytime you want to go late night shopping again you know who to call." He smiles back as me as we just kind of stare at each other. Not awkwardly, but in a way that makes me feel something.
Something different.
"I. Uhm. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Good night Colby." I flash a quick smile at him before I open the door and walk inside the hotel room, closing it quickly behind me.
"Goodnight Niko." He says in a quiet voice behind the door.
I shake my head and just completely kick off my shoes and walk toward mine and Ainisa's room.
I walk into the room and see Ainisa sprawled across her bed. I smile to myself a little before laying down onto the bed and completely pass out.
"Niko. Niko! Get up. Come on, the pilot is already at the airport." I open my eyes to see Carmen looking down at me while yelling at me to get up.
"Ugh. Five more minutes." I groan, turning away from her and covering my head with the blanket. As I do so, she rips the sheet off of the bed.
I sigh and sit up, not wanting to fight with her.
"Fine, fine. My god. Don't get your panocha in a bunch." I roll my eyes while looking over and noticing Ainisa wasn't in her bed.
"Everyone else, mostly, are ready. We're just waiting for you." I just stare at her as she talks to me. After she finishes her speech, I roll off the bed and crawl over to the bathroom.
"Oh! Hi sleepyhead." Ainisa laughs while leaving the bathroom and walks around my body.
"Hi." I grumble and standing up from the floor then walking into the bathroom and closing the door.
I do my business and notice Ainisa's makeup she had left on the counter so I decide put on some light makeup. Nothing too glamorous, being that we'll be on a plane for an hour and I'll probably just pass out as soon as we get home.
I walk out of the bathroom to see my suitcase on my bed and I walk over to it, opening it and rummaging around the dirty close to find something clean and cute to put on.
I find a really cute shirt and I decide to just put on Colby's jacket once again and put on a random pair of pants.
I walk out to living room to see everyone on the couch hanging out.
"Hi Niko!" Kat says as I walk over to the door and grab my shoes that I had kicked of the night before.
"Hi." I smile to Kat and wave to Sam and Colby then walk back into the room before coming right back out with my suit case.
"Oh! Niko. Here's your computer and your glasses." I smile at Colby as he got up to hand me my things. He looks down to see I'm wearing his jacket again and he slightly blushed but then it went away as soon it came.
"You all ready?" Sam asks as he got up from the couch, Kat, Carmen and Ainisa following along with him. "Yeah. Are you guys?" I asks.
"We've been ready for the past hour." Carmen rolls her eyes as she gets up and starts heading to the door. I just glare jokingly at her.
"Alright let's go." Carmen says as she leads the way out the door with all of her things in her hand.
As we're walking through the hallway Kat and Ainisa come up next to me. "What?" I ask them as they wiggle their eyebrows at me.
"What?!" I say a little louder. Being tired and hungry, I am not in the mood for any of their pestering right now. I just need some breakfast and coffee before I'm ready for what they're about to say.
"Oh, I don't know." Ainisa says rolling her eyes. I just blankly stare at them with a straight face.
"How was your date last night?" Kat winks at me. I sigh and ignore her and walk slightly faster to avoid the conversation.
"Niko, come back!! We're still questioning you!" Ainisa says as I walk faster away from them, walking next to Colby and Sam.
"What's that about?" Sam chuckles.
"I don't know. I'm trying ignore them." I say as he turns to Colby and he shrugs his shoulders Sam then walks back towards Kat, probably to ask her about what they were talking about.
I sigh and look at my phone as we continue to down to the lobby of the hotel where Carmen goes to check out. I take off my backpack and place it onto the luxurious couch.
I open Twitter to see the trending search was
#ukiyofacereaveal, I look through and read all of the tweets and comments about our looks.
Most of them were gushing about our appearances but one I saw was about my eyes.
All I read was "did you guys see her eyes?? they're freakishly unattractive and..." before I shut off my phone and put it in my pocket.
Usually hate doesn't fase me whatsoever, but lately everything has been so heavy on my soul that it just so effortlessly made me feel like shit.
"Niko, you okay? You know me and Kat didn't mean to poke that much into your relationship with him-" Ainisa starts before I interrupt.
"It's not-" I take a moment before trying to answer her again, trying myself not to get my panocha in a bunch.
"I don't care about that. It's just. Twitter. And we're not dating." I sigh as I look at her with a soft expression. I brush my ironed hair back in a nervous effort to try and comfort myself.
"I know, I know." She smiles softly before she starts rubbing my back, also an action to try and comfort my aching soul.
Ainisa knows me better than anyone, she can tell when something is bothering me more than it should.
"Just ignore Twitter. They don't know you like I know you and you're perfect just the way you are." At this moment in time I was so close to completely losing it, but I kept my composure.
Ainisa always makes sure of that.
"Thanks Aini." I smile at her as she hugs me.
"Niko?" Colby calls. Ainisa doesn't give me a expression in a annoying way but she just gives a slight smiles and pushes me gently towards him.
"Yeah?" I say as I almost tumble into him. He grabs my hand, keeping me from falling while I fix my composure.
"Do you want to go get those shoes now?" He smiles, still holding my hand.
"No it's fine, I don't need them. Don't worry about it." I smile back at him as I just kind of stare at him.
"Are you sure? I'm sure Carmen won't mind if we make a slight detour." He sounds genuinely concerned like if I didn't get them I'd probably die.
"I promise it's okay, Colby." I gently chuckle then with a soft sigh I stare up to him and he returns my chuckle and smiles.
I could have swore his face was completely pink for before he turned away.
"As long as you promise, Niko." Anyone could tell he was trying to keep his composure, but I'm blind as bat when it comes to my own and other peoples feeling towards me.
"I promise." I smile and he simply nods then walks back over to Sam before Carmen came back over.
"Alright kiddos, let's get going."
[❀]
♡ liked by colbybrock, samgolbach and 1,742,071 others
╰ ladnerla otw home :,(
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2461 words