Colby let me stay on his lap. I thought about the promise I had made — that I was going to straddle him on this chair in front of his friends — and I was just waiting for the right time to do it.
I found out that Colby found his entertainment in this room through listening to other people, so that's what I did for a little while. Disguising our eavesdropping, Colby played with my hair and I stared at my phone. I reminded myself of when I thought he'd been eavesdropping on me and Tara because he'd never changed the screen of the news article. Now that was what I was doing, only over my YouTube feed.
I was listening to Corey and Devyn, who were the closest.
"She thought I was an alien," Corey was saying, laughing, "and she wouldn't stop staring at me. I thought she was going to faint, to be honest. I hoped she wouldn't because she sme-"
Colby cleared his throat. "Corey."
Corey's head jerked in Colby's direction, and in the process, he saw me. He gulped, lowering his voice to finish the story.
I turned to Colby, frowning at him. "You ruined my entertainment."
He only raised a brow.
"You're going to have to entertain me now." I crossed my arms and nodded at him.
"Entertain you?" he asked, mildly amused.
"Mhm."
"How?"
I shrugged. "Figure something out."
He stared at me for a moment, thinking. I didn't know what I expected from him. A part of me thought he was just going to say no and turn away, but instead, he subtly nodded towards Elton — a distracted Elton. I narrowed my eyes in confusion, but I didn't ask, going along with the subtlety. In silence, he pulled a miraculously-appearing pen lid out of his pocket and, with pin-point accuracy, threw it at Elton. It hit him right on the head while he was still distracted by his phone. The moment he felt it, his head jerked up, searching everybody in the room. Colby looked at me and I looked at him before we could get caught.
"Who did it?" Elton demanded.
Everyone looked up in confusion at him. He held up the pen lid, narrowing his eyes at Jake, then at Kevin, then Corey. "Who threw this at me?"
I noticed Sam glance in our direction in the corner of my eye but I was acting innocent.
"I didn't do it," Kevin said, his hands in the air. "I haven't used a pen in about ten years."
"And I don't know how to write!" Jake exclaimed quickly, going along with it. I glanced at Colby, who was trying not to smile.
"Hey, I can't confirm or deny whether it was me," Corey said.
They were playing along with Colby's game without even knowing it. It occurred to me that he thought seeing Elton annoyed would amuse me, and damn he was right. The look on Elton's face when he decided it wasn't the usual culprits was priceless: pure frustration.
"Someone did and I challenge them to a fight. Right now." Elton scanned his eyes around the room. He didn't even make it to Colby, because Reggie jumped up.
"I didn't do it but I wanna fight."
"I didn't know Reggie was suicidal," I muttered.
He looked at me — to my surprise — and Colby pulled my hair lightly to distract me. I glared at him. "Didn't know you were suicidal, too."
"You seriously wanna fight, Reggie?" Elton asked, standing up from his chair by the door. He started bouncing up and down on his feet, rolling his neck. Reggie nodded eagerly, about to walk to the space between all the couches and chairs and the big cinema screen, but he was stopped.
"Not tonight. Sit down, " Colby said sternly.
I rolled my eyes. "Hey, if they wanna fight, they can fight." I felt Colby glaring at me as I motioned for Reggie to move to the middle of the room. He hesitated, staring at Colby nervously. After a few moments, he sighed and sat down.
I elbowed Colby in the chest. "Spoiling my fun again."
He didn't reply, though, as he was too focused on Elton. I could have sworn that they were having some kind of conversation with their eyes — a conversation I wasn't invited to, which annoyed me more than it probably should have.
I huffed. Colby looked at me for a second, analysing my mood. I just had one eyebrow raised. Whatever eye conversation he was having with Elton stopped and he turned his attention to me. For the first time, I tried to fight the urge to say something bitchy, but failed miserably.
"Paying attention to me now?" I asked.
He fought with himself not to say anything, too, but I could see that he wanted to. He was making an effort to keep the peace. I felt a little guilty about that and had to fight the heat rising in my cheeks. The look I gave him was apologetic, but not so much that it was obvious to anyone other than him. He tipped my chin and kissed me — and this time, he didn't surprise me halfway through. I felt my body beginning to react to the kiss, my stomach twisting into a little knot. Colby's hand was on my thigh, getting dangerously close to my hips. I couldn't stop myself when I put one leg on either side of his and shuffled onto his lap, my hips almost meeting his.
He wasn't fighting me but he wasn't exactly encouraging me, either. At least, not until I let one of my hands slide down his chest. His hands circled to my lower back, pulling me closer to him.
The fact that we had an audience had completely slipped my mind; it was just me and him, connected. I reminded myself for the millionth time that this could work, as long as we both worked for it.
And then, suddenly, Tara shrieked.