I got home in a daze. 

Sam and I entered the apartment in exhaustion. It was probably only around eight o'clock and we were pooped. Which is amazing for teenagers. 

"Hey, you said you saw Colby too, today?" Sam asks, as we walk out the elevator. 

"Yeah, he was with Brennen Taylor, who I consequently met," I say, "He's a pretty big flirt."

"Brennen's not a douche for being super flirty, just for the record, he's a great guy," Sam laughs, knowingly. 

"Aight, well I'm just gonna have to get to know him better," I grin.

"Just watch his vlogs, you'll learn everything about him from there."

"Duly noted," I nod, amused.

We make our way to our apartment doors and Sam opens his, but as I try to dig into my pockets, I totally forgot I never grabbed my car keys that have my house key. 

"Crap, I forgot to bring my key so it's in the apartment!" I facepalm.

"Knock, see if Ellie's home," Sam suggests.

I bang on the door and shout for Ellie but no answer. I turn over to Sam and shake my head.

"Nothing," I reply. 

"No big deal, just come hang in my apartment then, might as well get used to seeing me before you get sick of me," Sam offers. I walk over to him and kiss hiss cheek. 

"I can't get sick of you, Sammy," I smile, entering in. He smiles back, placing a hand on my shoulder. 

"So what ya want to do?" Sam asks, closing the door and walking over to me. 

"Don't know. Chill? I'm fucking tired," I reply, collapsing onto the couch.

"Same," He replies, crashing right next to me.

"Thanks for helping me have a pretty lit day," I say, looking at him. 

"Anytime, you needed a 'fwend' today and I hooked you up with three," He smiles. 

"Are you and Colby kinda rough?" I curiously ask.

"Nah, we're guys. We don't really do drama. We get mad at each other sometimes but we're okay right now," He sleepily says, "He'll always be my best friend like you and Ellie."

"Ugh, sometimes I wish I were a dude," I sigh.

"What! I don't!" 

"What, why?" I giggle. 

"Because cuddling on a couch with a guy would be messed up, when I would rather do this with a girl," Sam kisses me softly and I grin. 

"Ellie and I are just in a tough patch at the moment, and I hate it so much," I sadly respond. 

"Girls can get over things. Grudges suck."

"It's not a grudge though! It's more like, why would you date my enemy," I persuade. 

"Why do you hate Colby so much again?" Sam asks.

"Have you not heard the story?" I ask, puzzled. Everyone at Blue Valley High knew the story of how the rivalry of Ashlyn Neil and Colby Brock came to be. 

"Well, I heard Colby's side of the story... not yours," He cheekily says.

"You're just peachy, I think that was one of the worst days of my life," I deadpan.

"Do tell why!" 

"If I must, it was the first day of Freshmen Year. I was in the lunch line, and I was waiting perfectly fine and still. Then all of a sudden, a boy hits my foot and falls face first into his mashed potatoes," I laugh.

"Colby said you purposely tripped him," Sam chuckles.

"WRONG. He keeps saying that but he was just clumsy! Anyways he fell and I couldn't help it but start laughing. But you know what he did? He got up, picked up the rest of the mash potatoes that weren't already covering him, and DUMPED IT on ME!" I shout. 

"Now, I remember that!" Sam laughs hysterically. 

"WHO DOESN'T!" I exasperate, "It was so embarrassing, and I hate how this story continues." 

"Go on!"

"Kay well we got in trouble, mostly Colby, and he hated me for it all. Next period I find out he was in my class. Now, we did get cleaned up but I didn't notice there was mashed potatoes still left on my butt, so he took a picture and sent it to the whole class during that same period!" 

"Right, word of that picture spread like wildfire!" Sam grins.

"NOT FUNNY!" I shout. "I got back at him though. He was in my free period, study hall. I cut out a black skirt to put on the boy's restroom sign and a white slits of paper to fit over the girl's bathroom sign. When he was about to go to the bathroom, I went and sprinted to the boy's bathroom first to put on the skirt and taped the white slits of paper over the girl's. IT WAS GENIUS." I say, evilly. "I hid behind a corner and watched as he walked straight into the girl's, he came out so quickly. I heard the screams of poor girls. I videotaped the whole thing and posted it on Instagram."

"Smooth, but tell what happened next..." Sam trails, he knew what Colby did as revenge, sadly.

"THAT WAS PURE VILLAINY," I retort. 

"Speak! It's great to hear every time."

"Well when you're in your last period class and you suddenly hear that your Mommy urgently left an anti-foot fungus ointment and box of tampons for you in the main office, your day just suddenly gets so much brighter!" I sarcastically say. 

Sam bursts out in a fit of laughs, "I CAN'T BELIEVE HE PULLED IT OFF!"

"I still don't understand how he got that announcement up!" 

"You'll never need to know," Sam chuckles. I laugh too, that was the worst first day of school ever and all of those petty pranks just turned into in-class annoyance because it's hard to find pranks that won't get you in trouble. We both wanted to be valedictorians, and we both were so consequently, nobody wanted to make a fool out of themselves. But the thing is, Colby still became a Valedictorian even when some of his teachers did hate him for doing things for Vine. Like that one fire drill vine... (Go to the Vine and skip to 1:56!)

Sam yawns and closes his eyes. I lean my head on his shoulder and he wraps an arm around my side. We sat in comfortable silence for what felt like awhile for me because Sam was now asleep. It was cute nevertheless.

A knock sounds at the door, "SAM! I forgot my keys, open the door!" 

Colby.

"Ashlyn, can you please get that?" Sam says, burying his tired face in the couch seat. I reluctantly stand up and trudge over.

"You forget your keys too, Brock?" I raise an eyebrow, swinging the door open.

"Yeah... not my best move," He says, a little surprised I am here.

"Mine too," I agree, letting him in. 

He asks, "So, where's Sam?" 

"Right here," Sam muffles loudly through the couch.

"Yep, we're just chilling since we suffer exhaustion," I add.

"Ah, well Ellie's about to come over, she just got back from going grocery shopping," Colby murmurs, looking down at his phone.

I walk to sit by sleepy Sam and mumble under my breath, "First time Ellie being productive."

"Are you and Ellie still mad at each other," Colby asks me.

"I hope not, I really don't want to be if she just stops talking about every single bad night we've all had," I reply.

"Kay, I agree," Colby responds.

"Ditto," Sam adds.

 A hard knock booms on the door, "I'm here!" 

Colby walks over and opens the door to greet Ellie. 

"Hey baby!" Ellie says, hugging Colby. Colby just hugs back with no words. "Is everyone so tired nobody can speak?"

"Yeah," Sam loudly mumbles, deeper within the couch. 

"Well okay, what did you guys do all day?" She asks.

"Parkour, you wouldn't have liked it," Colby says. 

"Did you go, Ash?" Ellie turns to me. 

"Yeah, it was fun..." I reply. 

Ellie squints and turns back at Colby, "If Ash went, why couldn't I be invited too! If she thought it was fun, why couldn't I?" 

"El, you're not too athletic..." Colby murmurs. 

"I could try!" She defends. 

"El, I know you. Stop," I half laugh. 

Her expression changes quickly to an excited one, "Well I have an announcement."

"You're buying us cake? Thank god, I was hungry," Sam says, sitting up. 

"No, I didn't buy freaking cake, I got us invited to a college party in UCLA!" She exclaims. 

"What, we don't go to college yet," I say.

"I know, but lets go get the taste, it'll be fun, you can scout out your grounds before all the other incoming freshmen. We'll party and it'll be amazin, I feel like we all could use a let loose night," She smiles.

"I'm down," Sam shrugs.

"I guess so," I comment.

Colby was quiet, seemed like he didn't want to do anything. 

"Colby baby, you wanna go? Please?" Ellie pleads.

"Sure, fine," He obliges. "How'd you even get an invite?"

Ellie answers softly, "Well the cashier girl goes to school in UCLA, and I overheard her talk about two guys named Sam and Colby with her co-worker...and I kind of said that if she brought us, she could meet a certain pair of viners named, coincidentally, Sam and Colby."

"Great, did you tell her we were dating?" Colby asks.

"N-no. Why?" Ellie asks, taken aback. 

"Just don't really want fans to get into my personal life yet, El," He says. I was studying Colby the whole time, and I could tell he was lying. I know all his expressions, because I've been studying him since high school. Sounds creepy, but it's lo-key true. 

I just couldn't figure out, 

why would he lie?

"Right, well you both are going to meet two UCLA girls for us to get in," Ellie exclaims. 

"I hope they're cute," Sam pipes in.

"SAMMY, they're older than you!" I laugh.

"Oh right, true," He realizes.

"Aren't you two together anyways," Colby rolls his eyes. 

"No," We both say. It was funny, since we said it at the same time. We all just continuously laugh.

"Okay well, party this Friday guys! Let's be ready, hyped and rested. Definitely not like how ya'll are now," Ellie claps. 

"I'm going to bed now," Sam says, fake collapsing back onto the couch. 

///// 

It was now about eleven and the four of us just hung out, ate food, and watched stuff on Netflix. I'm about to go to sleep and I've been thinking so much about my time in California, Colby, Sam and Ellie. Then there's the fact I got YouTube as a possible career but I want to be a pediatrician so I'm majoring in the medical field. I think California was a good change but with the guys moved in, drama is what they carry with them. I mean, Colby's balls are literally just full of drama. Ellie is a hormonal mess, and Sam well, he's the best guy ever. 

But why can't I like him and not Colby!

 I'm getting the feeling Sam and I might just be best friends than boyfriend and girlfriend, to be honest. 

It also makes me feel real guilty that every time we kiss, I think of Colby.

Sam could become my boyfriend and maybe I'll eventually fall for him? 

I don't know. Colby is just a reoccurring theme in my mind that really shouldn't be there.

He should be a reoccurring theme in Ellie's mind. 

How did my life get so abstract that my best friend is dating my crush? This is a plot to a terrible cliche movie!

I'm an independent girl woman that should not need any man now. I'll meet a fellow hot doctor in University one day and we'll fall in love, get married, and have beautiful smart-ass children. 

That's the plan.

But will it ever follow through?

Because I'm still hung up.

Hung up on Colby Brock.

I hate liking my rival.

--------------------------------------

THANKS FOR 2K READS AHHHHH! Also, a little snoop to my personal life, I have a boyfriend who, which I didn't realize til after my friend pointed out, that he looks like a miniature colby brock and I DIE LAUGHING every time my friend mentions that. One time we went to the mall and I picked out an outfit for him, so I recorded him coming out and my friend was there too and my boyfriend came out looking like a mini colby and it was so adorable, in the bid my friend literally yellls YOU MADE COLBY BROCK. So I guess I like my boys like Colby Brock lmao. Just thought that was too funny to not share sorry hahaha.

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hugs, kt