I put on a pair of Colby's joggers and tied the bottom of his shirt that I was wearing so it wasn't halfway past my legs anymore, then turned to him.
"Come downstairs?" I asked.
"Sure," he said. He got out of bed and held my hand, leading the way down the stairs and into the kitchen. Sam, Kat, and Jake were all in there. They stopped talking when we walked in, their eyes moving down to look at me and Colby's hands clasped together.
"Well that didn't take very long," said Jake.
"What, you thought it would?" asked Kat.
"They're the most stubborn people I know," said Jake.
"Fair point," Sam said.
"Hah! I told you," Corey said, walking into the kitchen with Tara and Devyn.
"Yeah, yeah," Jake muttered.
"Wait, what?" I asked.
"Jakey poo owes me ten bucks," said Corey.
"Are you fucking serious?" asked Colby.
"What! I said it'd take at least two weeks and he said it'd take a max of two days," said Jake.
"You guys are terrible," said Tara.
"Hey, fuckers," Reggie said, walking into the kitchen. "Oh shit, that didn't take very long."
"Oh my god," said Colby.
"Do you just live here now?" I asked.
"No," said Reggie.
"Yes. Yes we do," Kevin said, coming in behind him.
"Okay, we don't sleep here," said Reggie.
"And that's basically it," said Kevin. "When did that happen?"
"Oh my lord," I said. "We're going to leave now."
"Where are we going?" Colby asked.
"I don't know, not here," I said.
"Fine by me," said Colby. I grabbed my keys off of the table by the door where I'd left them and went out to my car with Colby.
"Want to get some smoothies?" I asked.
"Sure, whatever you want," he said.
"Well I want a smoothie, so that's a yes," I said. We got into the car and drove a little bit before I parallel parked on the side of the road. Colby started laughing when I turned off my car.
"What?" I asked.
"You do that on purpose?" he asked.
"What? Do what?" I asked.
"This parking spot," he said.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked.
"Let me remind you," he said. "Stay here."
"Uh, okay?" I said. Colby hopped out of the car and then got into the backseat.
"Hey. I'm Colby. Go," he said, smiling at me.
"Wait, no way," I said. I was parked exactly where I was on the first night we met, when Colby got into my car on accident thinking it was his Uber.
"Yup. This is the very spot where you abducted me," he said.
"Oh my god, I did not abduct you," I said.
"Mmm... sort of, though. I was about to get out and you just drove away," he said.
"Okay, whatever," I said with a laugh. We got out of the car and started walking down the sidewalk to get to the smoothie shop I always went to. I felt like people were staring at us, but I convinced myself I just wasn't used to being back in LA. Until I saw someone take a picture of Colby and me.
"Why is everyone staring at us?" I asked.
"Oh, did... I guess you didn't really keep up to date with things when you were in Oklahoma," he said.
"Uh, what things?" I asked.
"You know. All of the stupid influencer news stories and drama and stuff," said Colby.
"What... what did they say?" I asked.
"I mean, no one saw you for three months. I didn't go out a whole lot, but I did a few times and people very quickly noticed that you were never coming out with me or anyone else," said Colby.
"So?" I asked.
"So everyone assumed we broke up and you moved away or something," he said. "Not going to lie, I got a lot of hate for it."
"You? Why?" I asked.
"In case you never noticed, people like you. People were pissed because they assumed I broke up with you and then basically kicked you out of the friend group," he said.
"Oh, god. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for any of that to happen," I said.
"I know," he said.
"Well, let's fix that then," I said. I held my hand out and he took it in his. We got even more looks from people after we did that. "Ugh. I wish we could just announce to the world that they need to fuck off and we're fine."
"Are we?" he asked. I looked up at him.
"Are we what?" I asked.
"Fine. Like, are we okay?" he asked. Well, shit. I guess leaving and not talking to him for three months was pretty much breaking up. Not technically, though.
"Did you think I was ever going to come back?" I asked, answering his question with mine. We walked silently for a minute, Colby staring down at the ground.
"No," he finally said.
"Oh," I replied.
"Did you think you were ever going to? Before Sam came to see you? He told me about that, by the way," he said. I knew that already, but only because I'd been listening in on their conversation.
"I think I knew that I needed to. I just tried to distract myself from who I am. When I saw Sam, it just... it reminded me of how happy I was with all of you guys, how happy I was living with y'all. He didn't really have to convince me of anything. I walked into my house after no more than a ten minute talk with him and told my parents it was time I headed back. Sam was gone the next day," I said.
"Well thank god for Sam," Colby said.
"You... you really didn't think I was going to come back? Ever?" I asked.
"No. You cut me off completely, took all of your stuff and your car and everything. I assumed you'd be back in a couple weeks, but the weeks turned into months and I just sort of gave up on hoping," he said. "Didn't give up on you, though. I never will."
"You better not," I teased.
"Oh, shut up," he chuckled, bending down to kiss me on the cheek.
"I fucking told you!" a girl said to her friend, pointing at us.
"Yeah, you tell her sis," I said with a smile before walking past them into the smoothie shop with Colby.