Emily
  We stood in front of the old house, we took in every detail. The house was a light shade of blue, with some flowers scattered throughout the yard. It was a nice house, but it was obvious that whoever it belonged to didn't take good care of it.

  Colby and I looked at each other, a wary look on both of our faces. I couldn't quite make out his expression. He seemed confident, but I could see the fear slipping through.

"Want me to knock?", I asked.

He gave me a grateful nod, and I gently knocked on the door. After about a minute passed, I knocked again, steadier and louder this time. Suddenly laughing came from the inside. A girl's laugh. Colby's face lighted up, and he pressed his ear against the door; I followed him.

"No, you!" The voice clearly belonged to a guy. But it definitely wasn't Stephenson's.

"I answered the door last time, you get it", the girl responded. For a second, it sounded like Lilly, but I didn't want to jump to conclusions. It would just freak me and Colby out even more.

  God, I hope she's okay. For once in my life, I found myself praying. You really have to be terrified to start praying to someone you don't even believe exists. And I was terrified, alright.

There was a rustling metal sound, someone unlocking the door. Colby grabbed my hand. I could feel his hand clamming up, but I didn't pull my hand away. He needed the support, and so did I.

The door opened, a tall, scrawny blond guy stood in the doorway. He was definitely attractive, but not on the same level as Brennen. This guy was attractive, in a weird way.

"Uh, can I help you?", he asked.

"We're Lilly's friends. Is she here?"

  Confusion spread onto the guy's face.

  "Sorry, who?"

  "Fuck it, we don't have time for this!", Colby argued, pushing the guy aside.

  I've never seen Colby this angry before. Actually I've never seen him angry at all. It took me by surprise, but I quickly shook it off and ran after him. He was storming through the house, checking all the rooms.

  I decided to check downstairs, to make the searching quicker. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea, given that the guy Colby pushed aside seemed pretty angry, and Colby wasn't there to help me if he decided to come downstairs.

  As soon as I pushed open one of the doors, I caught a glimpse of long blonde hair, before pushing the door open fully and seeing a girl laying on a bed, texting. She turned around, "Lucas?".

   Lilly. It was Lilly. She had a long shirt on, and from the way she was sitting, I could see that underneath, she only had underwear on, no shorts.

  "What the fuck? What's going on."

  "Em?! Is Cole here?"

  I gave a slow nod. "Lills what the fuck is going on."

  She gave me a scared look. "Please don't tell Colby, please. Emily you're my best friend, please. I'll do anything".

  "Are you, are you cheating on Colby?"

  Tears started sprouting in her eyes, which soon became a full sob in the matter of a couple of seconds. Every part of me wanted to hug her, to tell her that it would be alright, thats she's my best friend, and I would do anything for her. But I just couldn't. That would be wrong. Colby loved her, and it was clear by the situation that it didn't go the other way.

  "Why, Lilly? Why? Colby loves you, this dumbass could care less!", I lectured her, throwing my hand up in the air, pointing to upstairs.

  "I'm sorry Emily, but Lucas does love me, and I - I love him."

"How long? How long have you been doing this!?"

  She bit her lip, playing with the ring on her finger. "I met Lucas the week we moved to LA".

  I was about to ask if Lucas knew about Colby, but Colby burst into the room.

  "Did you - "

  He barely had the time to finish his sentence, before he spotted Lilly in a shirt and her underwear, on some strange guy's bed.

  They started arguing. That's all I remember. After I talked to Lilly, my brain just shut down, trying to put together what just happened. I knew what happened, but I just couldn't believe it. The idea of Lilly cheating on anyone seemed strange to me. She would never, but yet she did.

  Oh god. Colby. I was too wrapped up in my own feelings, that I had not even thought how Colby would feel, it was selfish of me. Looking over at Colby, I could see that the arguing was stopping Colby from breaking down.

  "Cole", I said softly, placing my hand in my arm, "Come on".

  I led him slowly through the house, past Lilly, past Lucas, not stopping until we reached the car. Colby was in no position to drive, and neither was I, but he was in way worse condition than me. So, I opened the door for him, and he got in; I don't think he noticed he was in the passenger seat.

  Thank god Elton taught me how to drive, and took me to driving lessons. He paid for them of course, given that I was still technically a high school student, and between online school and everything that's been happening since we moved here, I haven't had the time to find a job. Elton refused to be paid back, but I'm gonna pay him back anyway; it's the least I could do after everything he's done for me.

  The drive home was silent, nothing making noise except the soft sounds of rock music on the radio and Colby and I's occasional sniffling. I know it was dangerous to do, but once we pulled up to a red light, I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to Sam.

  If anyone could help Colby, it was Sam. I wanted to explain it to Sam, so he didn't get too freaked out, but I wasn't going to risk getting into a crash. Soon, the mansion loomed over us as we pulled into the driveway.

  "Do you think she ever loved me?", he asked, breaking the silence.

  "I don't know Colby, I don't know"

  He nodded.

  I felt horrible telling Colby that, but it was the truth. And I knew Colby. He hates when people tell lies to make him feel better, he'd rather have people tell him the painful reality.

  As I was about to open the car door, I was pulled into a tight hug. "Thanks Em, for everything".

  A small, gentle smile overcame my face. I hugged him back tightly, and we stayed like that for a good few seconds, not saying a word.

  "You're welcome. Let's get you to Sam".

  Colby's keys jingled as he tried unlocking the door. He sighed, handing them to me. I unlocked the door for him, and we walked inside. It looked like everyone but Sam, Devyn, and Corey were gone, probably out filming. I noticed Devyn and Corey watching us walk up the stairs to Sam's room, a concerned look on both of their faces.

  Sam's door was wide open, he was sitting on his bed, editing a video. He looked up from his computer, and when he saw both of our red, tear-covered faces, he jumped up and pulled us into a hug.

  "What happened?"

  Colby's face told me that he wanted me to do the talking, so I did. After I explained, I decided to give Colby and Sam some time alone to discuss it, guy-to-guy.

  I soon found myself in front of Devyn and Corey.

  "That's insane! I mean, I don't know Lilly that well, but I never thought she would do something like this!", Devyn explained.

  "Yeah", is all I could say.

  "Do you wanna stay here? You probably don't want to go back to you and Lilly's house. We have a guest bedroom, but you could sleep in Devyn and I's room tonight, you shouldn't be alone, and I'm fine with camping out on the couch".

  Fuck. I've completely forgotten about that. I'm so glad that I could stay here, because there's no way I'm going back to our house for a while. But I didn't want to kick Corey out of his room.

  Devyn smiled and grabbed my hands. "Come on! It'll be fun, like a huge party. We can invite Kat!"

  Her crazy eyes made me laugh. Out of all that was going on, she still remained positive; I adored that about her.

  "Sounds like a plan".

a/n: hey! it's been a while lmaoo. Told y'all I would update again. Like I said, I'm NOT stopping till I finish this book. 😂

I don't know who to specifically give this shoutout to, so I'm shouting out all the readers that somehow have stayed with me since chapter one, and all the readers that tell me they love this book and want updates, it honestly keeps me going and motivates me to write, so thank you so much, I love y'all!

Song: Goodie Bag - Still Woozy

Stay spicy, mis amigos 🔥🔥🔥