December 8th, 2020
2:45am
Jake ignited the engine of his car as he waited for Colby to get in the seat beside him. They both knew Colby had been arrested just the year prior, but they were too drunk and too tired to even care.
"aren't we gonna... get arrested... or something?..." Colby murmured. "We'll be fine." Jake said, foreshadowing what was to come.
They had almost arrived at Colby's house as Jake noticed red and blue lights from around the corner.
"Fuck." Jake spat out. "What's up?" Colby replied, clearly drunk enough to not notice the police car approaching them. "Cops." Jake said sternly, as he pulled up to the sidewalk, since he knew he would get pulled over anyways.
3:20am
As the police car pulled up into the police station, Jake shook Colby awake, as Colby flinched and slowly opened his eyes.
"Ow, what the fuck?" Colby muttered as he was about to rub his eyes, but the handcuffs had stopped him from doing so.
Colby's eyes widened as he realised what was going on. He shot a glance at Jake.
"Is this a prank, Jake? Where's the camera?" Colby said, in a serious tone.
If it were a prank, Jake would have definitely said so.
"I wish it was, brother. I wish it was." Jake shook his head. "I'm sorry. It's my fault, we should have waited it out more." Jake sounded sincere. Colby could tell it definitely wasn't a prank this time.
"Shit, man. I'm not mad at you or anything... Well... Maybe a little, but it's not just you. If anything, you were less drunk than me, you're fine, bro. I'm just pissed I'm here again." Colby looked out the back window. He let everything sink in as he accepted his entrance to prison, yet again.
The door to the car opened, as the officer pulled both Jake and Colby out, and brought them into the station.
7:30am
Sam had woken up to his alarm. He reached over to grab his phone and turn off his alarm, as he sat up in his bed.
All of a sudden his head started pounding. He dropped his phone and placed his head in his hands, gripping his hair roughly. After about ten seconds of immense, non-stopping pain, he managed to pick his phone back up in one hand, his head still in the other.
He slowly took off his blanket and attempted to stand up, but immediately crashed back down on the bed. He lay there, arms wide, staring at his ceiling as memories from the prior night began flooding back into his head.
He let out a sigh as he tried getting up again. He managed to stand up, yet he almost tipped over immediately. He swiftly moved towards his door and put his arms up in front of him, so that he wouldn't topple over. He felt as though his legs had given up on him.
Almost like Jell-O.
After a while of standing beside his door, Sam managed to regain control over his legs. He stepped in his place a couple of times, to get used to the feeling of, well, walking again. He took his phone and moved to his bathroom, turning on the faucet and washing his face with the cold water of Winter in Los Angeles.
As he stepped out of the bathroom, wiping his face dry with the fabric of his shirt, he recieved a phone call from Devyn.
"Yello?"
"Sam?"
"Yeah? What's up?"
"Turn on the news, asap"
Devyn said in a stern tone. Sam was confused.
"Wait, why?" Sam questioned.
"Just do it" Devyn responded ending the call, leaving Sam to hear the news alone.
The TV screen lit bright blue, as it was turning on.
"Reporting live: two YouTubers, Colby Brock and Jake Webber, arrested under D.U.I at three in the morning today. More details at ten"
Sam just stood there. Frozen. He wasn't even sure how to respond. His eyes still staring at the now turned off tv, he stepped back and sat down on his couch.
The seat caved in under Sam.
He really needed to buy a new couch.
Still in shock, he reached for his phone and called Colby, not even thinking about his number showing.
"You have reached the voicemail for-"
He pressed the red button before the voicemail could finish its sentence.
About five minutes later, Sam had realised that he needed to go to college.
He didn't want to.
Not that day.
He wanted to figure out how to bail Colby and Jake...
...But mainly Colby.
As he packed his laptop, notepads and the little baggy he called a 'pencil-case', he took his keys and left.
8:07am
As Sam pulled up into his college's parking lot, he stepped out of his car with his 'Tender Greens' breakfast and small bag.
He locked his car, put his keys in his bag, and entered the building.
To his surprise, he saw that Corey was already there; he could recognise that manbun from miles away.
crouching in the hallway, Corey was rummaging through, what Sam guessed, his bag looking for something.
Sam walked up slowly behind his best friend in an attempt to scare him. To Sam's surprise, Corey suddenly stood up, bumping his head into Sam's chin.
Sam hissed in pain, quickly placing his hand on his lips, removing it to see a bit of blood on his fingertips.
"Holy shit dude I'm so sorry", Corey immediately aplogised as he had seen what happened.
"It's alright. How bad is it?"
"Oh it's pretty bad, bro. Your lip is bleeding a lot." Corey said, his eyebrows furrowed in worry,
"Can we just... Go to the bathroom real quick? I'll wash my face and see what we can do." Sam said, his palm resting underneath his chin, to catch any blood that might trickle down.
As they entered the near bathroom, Sam looked in the mirror to see that his bottom lip was swollen, and blood was dripping down it and a bit on his chin.
He washed his face, and pulled out a bottle from his bag.
As he gargled the water and spat it out into the sink, more blood came out.
"Fuck dude, I'm so sorry." Corey started pacing in circles, hand on his forhead.
"No it's fine bro, genuinely. It doesn't hurt that bad. I'll just wash it with more water" Sam said, as he continued to drink and spit out water from his bottle.
As they walked out of the bathroom to head towards their class, Corey had begun talking about the news.
"So uhm... I watched the news this morning. That's the Colby you talked about, right?" Sam took a moment to realise what Corey was talking about. "Huh? Oh yeah. Yeah that's him." Sam said, looking down.
"Wasn't he at your party? Sorry I couldn't come by the way, I was busy with family stuff." Corey said.
"Yeah, he was. So was Jake. I thought Jake was already sober enough, but I guess not. Also don't worry about it, there wasn't anything... erm... special" Sam said, hesitant to speak the last sentence.
"Sam that sounds like a huge lie. What happened, brother?" Corey said, stopping mid stride and looking at Sam, who still had his head down.
"Uhm... N-no, there really wasn't anything special." He said, chuckling and placing a hand on the back of his neck.
"Alright, bro. We don't have to talk about it. But If you wanna, you know where I am" Corey said, as they continued walking down the hall, entering the room.
10:00am
Jake and Colby sat in the police station's waiting room for hours now. They were both extremely tired, yet neither of them could fall asleep. They just had to wait.
Luckily, they both had recieved their phones. Although Colby's was on 10%, he still used it. He noticed the missed call from his editor.
"Yo, uhm... Could I make a quick phone call? I'll stay right here." Colby asked a police officer hesitantly. "Yes, as long as you don't attempt any funny business. You have three minutes." the officer replied.
"I won't, thank you" Colby said, dialing Sam's number and ringing the phone.
-----
Sam's phone rang in his pocket.
"Professor? Can I make this phone call really quickly? I'll come right back. It's urgent" Sam said, as he looked at the number dialing. "Yes, Sam. Just come back, please" the professor said, turning back to the other people in the room and continued talking, as Sam stepped outside the class.
"Hello? Colby?" Sam started as he answered the call.
"Yeah! Hi... Sam" Colby trailed off.
He recognised that voice.
It didn't make any sense though.
His editor was from Kansas, right?
Right?
"Colby?" Sam's voice brought Colby's mind back into reality.
"Yeah, sorry. Zoned out. Hey, can I ask you something real quick?" Colby asked.
"Uhm, yeah, sure." Sam sounded confused.
"You said you were from Kansas, right?" Colby stated.
Sam's heart beat faster.
"Uhm... Y-yeah" Sam stuttered.
"Huh. That's strange." Colby said.
"Doesn't seem like your number starts with 913 or 785" Colby added, in a stern tone.
"U-uhm... Yeah... I uh... Got my phone in uhm... Califo-" Sam started.
"Sam, don't lie to me, please." Colby cut him off.
"I'm sorry, Colby." Sam sounded... Sad? Colby couldn't exactly tell through the phone.
"It's fine. Can you just... Tell me the truth, please? Have we... Met before, Sam?" Colby asked, then went completely silent.
All that Sam could hear over the phone were Colby's breaths.
"Yeah" Sam started, stopping to clear his throat. "Yeah, we've uhm. We've met." Sam continued slowly, saying each word cautiously.
"Yeah I guessed so. Sam-" Colby started.
"Your time's up, put the phone down". Sam could hear an unfamiliar voice.
"Wait, Colby, what is happening there?!" Sam frantically spoke, realising he hasn't even asked how the other was feeling.
"It's fine, Sam. I gotta go" Colby said, hanging up the call.
"Colby? COLBY!" Sam shouted into his phone, a few students walking in the halls shot a glace at him, as he sighed and leaned on the wall.
"Goddamnit, Colby." He muttered under his breath.
Sam entered his classroom again, sitting back next to Corey and opening his laptop.
"Who was that?" Corey asked
"No one." Sam said sternly, trying to focus on his work instead of Corey, or the phone call.