"Dude!" Sam gave me a look and then looked at Chloe and I rolled my eyes, grabbing milk from the fridge.

"Are we hanging out today?" Chloe asked, sipping on a drink that I didn't even know we had.

It better not be Leighton's.

"I can't, sorry. Sam and I have plans"

"Oh" She pouted and looked over at Sam, almost as if to see if I was lying or not.

"Yep! Got to get ready for the trip!" Sam patted my back and I nodded my head, looking back over at Chloe who was glaring.

"She's a bitch, I don't know why you live with her" She huffed and I was taken aback.

"What?"

"She was such a bitch to me!" Chloe exclaimed and I glanced over at Sam who rolled his eyes so I knew Chloe was just being extra. "I said good morning, and she wouldn't look at me"

"Chloe, that doesn't make her a bitch. It's 9am. I'm surprised I'm even awake" I chuckled, pouring cereal into my bowl.

"Yeah so am I" Sam tilted his head, raising an eyebrow at me with a knowing look written all over his face

"Dude! Shut up" I glared, not wanting to hear his shit so early in the morning.

"Trust me, I'm not the loud one" Sam muttered, leaving the room and I saw Chloe blush.

I ignored her, Leighton's look of disgust replaying over in my head. "Why did you call me babe? You know we aren't dating" I asked Chloe and she bit her lip, holding back a smirk. "It's fun to tease people" She winked and I shook my head. "Don't mess with Leighton"

"Why?" She pressed, getting on my nerves.

"Just don't"

"Why?" She asked again.

"Chloe stop! I said not to mess with her, leave it at that" I snapped and she frowned.

"Do you like her?" She asked and I almost choked on my cereal.

"Why do people keep asking me that? I'm trying to get on her good side, and you messing with her isn't helping me. She already thinks I only befriend girls to sleep with them. You aren't exactly helping me paint a different picture in her head."

"What does that have to do with me calling you babe? If you don't want her to think that, stop doing it"

"Chloe, please just drop it, okay?" I sighed and she nodded, picking up her phone. "Are you going to be ready to go home soon? I got to go pick up our friend, Sam and I have something to show him"

"You aren't seeing me again, are you?" She asked, catching me off guard.

"What do you mean?"

"You hit it and quit, don't you?" She asked and I sighed, not wanting to have this conversation

"Chloe-"

"No, I get people like you. It's fine" She hopped off the stool and walked upstairs making me sigh

~

"Daddy harder" Jake moaned out and I was about to smack him, extremely over people picking on me today. "Stop it!" I hissed and he started laughing.

"Fuckkkk daddy" He moaned again and this time I punched him. "Cut it out Jake!" I hissed again, not in the mood for his antics.

"We've been telling you that for the past 14 hours!" Jake laughed, smirking at me.

"We did not have sex for 14 hours" I laughed and Sam raised an eyebrow, turning to face me "Bet" He said and I glared at him

"Why did you guys have to talk about it in group chat? Leighton already thinks I'm a jerk" I grumbled, frustrated that even they weren't trying to help me fix this.

"You are!" Sam laughed and I gasped. "No I'm not!"

"You are to her" Jake said and I turned my head so fast, that I thought I was going to break my neck.

"Is that what she tells you?" I asked and he shrugged, looking at the window.

"Jake, what does she say about me?" I coaxed, wanting to know the inside details about if she still sees me the same way she said she did, or if anything had changed.

Leighton had been spending a lot of time around Jake lately since he's been the only one home when she was home, and I couldn't help but feel obligated to get some info out of him.

"She doesn't talk about you, Colby." He spoke in a flat tone, confusing me

"Why not?" I muttered, and Jake gave me a weird look "Do you or do you not want her to talk about you? I'm confused" He laughed and Sam smirked, keeping his eyes on the road.

Sam was annoying me with how cocky he seemed.

Why did he keep looking at me like he knew something?

"You guys are assholes" I faced back towards the wind shield, ignoring their snickers.

"Dude! Just admit you think she's hot" Sam chuckled and I shook my head.

"You guys wanted us to be friends. I'm trying"

"No you're not" Jake said bluntly.

What did they want from me? It's not like she was trying. Why did I have to try so hard?

I wouldn't have to try so hard if I didn't think everyone was lying to me twenty four seven.

"What do you mean I'm not? I'm trying very hard!" I defended and Jake scoffed "You need to try harder brother"

"Fuck off, I am trying" I grumbled, tired of everyone being on me about befriending her.

We picked up Nate from one of his LA booty call's house before dropping Jake off at Tara's, and then drove to Brennen's moms house.

When we got to Brennen's moms, we were met with Jake who was Brennen's brother, and his girlfriend.

"Hey! We were just heading out, front door's open, Brennen's upstairs!" Jake waved before hopping into his car.

I laughed and we opened the front door. "Hello!" I yelled throughout the house, triggering their dogs.

"Hey Kobe!" I cooed, petting my soulmate.

"Hey Colby!" His mom yelled from the kitchen. "Do you want any of the food before I put it away?" She asked, peaking my interest.

"The whole gang's here!" Brennen called out, meeting us in his kitchen.

"Brennen this is Nate, Nate, Brennen" I introduced before stealing some of their leftovers.

"Let me finish exporting my video and I'm ready to go!" Brennen called out before running back upstairs.

We all hung out for a while before dropping Brennen off at a filming location, where he was meeting up with one of his friends.

Sam, Nate, and I met the girls at Katrina's new favorite secret spot, telling Brennen to text us when he was ready to join us again.

We walked in, and saw the girls sitting on a bench. "Are we waiting for a table or?" I asked and Kat shook her head, seeming annoyed.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked and Kat huffed.

"Leighton's just being difficult. She's in the bathroom"

"Kat, humans need the bathroom, that doesn't make her difficult" Sam laughed and Kat glared at him, making me glance in the other direction.

What happened?

Once we were all sat at the table, I noticed Leighton was keeping to herself.

I decided to ignore it since we knew she had a lot going on right now, but when she excused herself from the table and never came back, I began to grow worried.

"I'm going to go check on her" I stood up and Sam nodded, being the only one to acknowledge me.

I walked towards the hostess area, realizing that a male couldn't just waltz into the female bathroom, and it wasn't like I could ask Kat, since Kat seemed to be mad at her.

"Hey, can you go into the female bathroom and ask if Leighton is in there?" I asked and she gave me a weird look "Please. She seemed upset and ran off"

"Sir, if a girl runs off on a date, it usually means you're done for" She said, and I immediately shook my head.

"We aren't on a date. We're here with our friends. Can you please go check for me?" I asked and she sighed, but nodded.

I waited patiently for her to come back, and my heart dropped when she gave me a sympathetic look and shook her head.

"She's not in there. Sorry"

Fuck, where did she go?

I looked around a little bit before walking outside, and let out a sigh of relief when I saw her sitting there.

~

Watching Leighton drive away, I felt defeated. I rubbed my hand over my face in frustration before walking back inside.

The second I entered the restaurant, I heard someone gasp and go "Oh my god is that Colby Brock" in a loud whisper to whoever was next to them.

I decided to ignore them, letting them think they were quiet whisperers, and walked back to the table.

"Alright who told her" I asked, once I sat down, forcing everyone's attention to be on me.

"Who told who what?" Sam asked and I looked towards the girls.

"Who told Leighton about the trip?" I watched Sam's eyes widen and Kat looked at Stas.

"It was me, but to be fair, no one told me she didn't know!" Stasia confessed and defended herself.

"Is that why you guys were fighting?" I asked Kat and before Kat could answer, the same person I heard earlier spoke behind me.

"I'm extremely sorry to bug you, but can I get a quick picture for my lock screen?" The girl asked and we all chuckled, fake smiles lighting up across the table to hide the current discussion.

Sam and I took a couple pictures with the fan before she left with her family, and then my eyes went straight back to Kat.

"So what happened? Because Leighton left" I said and her eyes widened.

"Left? What do you mean she left? Left where?" Kat asked, her face showing surprise and confusion.

"She got into a car, and left" I said and Kat pursed her lips, reaching for her phone.

I glanced over and saw everyone was snacking on the appetizers whilst watching us, like we were some reality TV show they stumbled across.

"She was upset you guys didn't tell her about the trip, and she made it about how it would be that she would be home alone and you guys didn't tell her but I think it hurt her to not feel included" Kat said, and I could just picture Leighton's face as she told me how it felt to not be included in the conversation. But why would she want to be included? She's never wanted to hang out with us. She always hung out with Jake or Kat, so why would she want to go on a trip with a bunch of people she doesn't know?

"We wanted to invite her! But then we learned her mom was having surgery, so we thought it would be a bad idea" I half lied and Sam shook his head.

"But you didn't invite her at all" Stas said with a frown and I narrowed my eyes at her. "You basically invited all of your friends, but her. You even let us invite some of our friends that you don't know. You basically excluded her"

"Colby, why do you keep excluding her from things?" Nate asked, catching me off guard.

"How do you even know that?" I laughed, confused at how someone who doesn't even live here, knows about our LA house drama

"Bro I have eyes and ears" He chuckled, shaking his head.

"If I invite her now it will look like I'm doing it so she isn't mad at me, not because we want her there" I sighed, feeling conflicted and defeated.

"Colby, that would be why you're doing it. You didn't want her to come. You're never a jerk to people, I don't understand why you're being so hard on her. She's done nothing. Either you have feelings for her, or you flat out despise her. I've never seen you act this way towards anyone" Sam pointed out.

"It's not that I'm going out of my way to be mean to her, it's that I don't want to commit my time to someone who won't be around. What does she want from us? All our old roommates hung out with us, filmed with us, they were always there" I defended

"Colby, she's a normal girl. You don't see that, that often. Everyone you're around are social media influences, and she doesn't have social media at all. She has what people consider to be a real job. She has family problems, messy relationships, she's human Colby. She isn't like everyone else you meet, and I think that's your problem. She's someone you'd meet in your hometown. Not someone you'd meet at a club. You need to let go of this idea that she is out to get you. She's done nothing wrong. All she is doing is being a normal person. Maybe you need normalcy in your life" Kat explained, raising her eyebrows at me.

"I have enough normalcy! I have you guys. I film with Sam, we have a routine. We have pizza night, we have game night. We have normal things!"

"Colby, maybe she'd give you a routine. There is a lot you could gain off of, by being her friend. She isn't some follower hungry girl. She didn't even know you guys had followers, she purely needed somewhere to sleep for a while but what's done is done. You can't change your intentions of not inviting her, and now you get to live with how that affected her" Kat shrugged, picking up her fork and I shook my head.

"I'm really sorry Colby" Stas frowned, reaching for her drink.

"It's fine. You didn't do anything wrong. We should've told her"

We all sat and ate lunch, but I couldn't stop thinking about the look on Leighton's face.

She seemed genuinely hurt, and I couldn't shake the guilty feeling. Kat was right. I can't go in the past and fix what I have done, but I can prevent the hurt in the future. I just don't know what to do, or where to begin.

She was never one to show emotion other than the times we've caught her crying, so the look of betrayal and hurt laced in her gaze was etched in my brain, making my heart ache.

I hated hurting people, and it sucked even worse when it was completely unintentional and I have zero way of fixing it.

~

"Has anyone heard from Leigh?" Sam called out, coming down the stairs and walking into the living room where Brennen and I were playing Mario Kart. We've all tried to get ahold of her since she ran away, but all our messages were unopened.

"Who?" Brennen asked once I paused our game, completely oblivious to everything that had happened whilst he was filming.

"Leighton, she's our roommate" Sam said and Brennen got a wide smile and a knowing look, turning to me. "Have you hit that yet?" he wiggled his eyebrows and I scoffed, shaking my head.

"Absolutely not! It's not like that" I defended and Sam laughed, walking into the kitchen. "What!? Stop acting like I want to sleep with her! I don't!"

"Colby can barely be in a room with Leighton, let alone get in her pants. I think if Colby even tried, she'd break his dick" Sam laughed and Brennen was still grinning, a mischievous gleam was in his eye, which made me worried.

"Oh, so she's feisty. She must be good in bed" Brennen smirked and I sat back against the couch, my hand resting on my ankle as my foot rested on my thigh.

"Dude shut up" I grumbled and Brennen's smirk turned back into a wide grin.

"Oh, so she's off limits?" He asked

I felt like Sam and Brennen were teaming up on me, making me annoyed.

Sam usually never cared about girlfriends I had, or people I slept with or hung out with, so why was he pushing so hard on Leighton and I being friends?

"Colby won't admit he thinks she's cute" Sam said and I heard the fridge close.

I was used to everyone teasing me, but this time it didn't feel like playful teasing. It felt like they genuinely knew how I felt about her, when I didn't even know myself.

"I don't!" I shouted, reaching for the switch controller again.

"Oh, so you don't mind if I hit that?" Brennen asked and I felt my jaw clench.

"You don't even know what she looks like" I challenged and he kept grinning, turning to look past Sam to ask "You guys got a picture?"

"Yeah, Kat sent me a selfie they took the other day, trying to rub in my face that they got Chili's" Sam handed Brennen his phone and my eyes glared at the tiny device in his hands.

"Oh she's hot, brother. Are you sure you're not going to hit that?" Brennen asked me, and I nodded. "So you don't mind if I do?" He asked and I swear my heart stopped.

"I don't own her Brennen" I grumbled, getting off the couch and heading towards the bathroom.

"All you have to do is say you like her, and I'll leave her alone Colby!" Brennen called out before I shut the bathroom door.

I rubbed my hand over my face before splashing some water on my face.

I used the bathroom and walked out to see Sam and Brennen in some sort of hushed conversation.

I sat down on the couch and that's when we heard "front door open" spoken by the security system.

We all turned our heads to look and Leighton was quickly walking past us with her head down, before running up the stairs.

"Is that her?" Brennen asked and we nodded.

I looked over at Sam, concerned and he shared the same look. "Is she okay?" He asked and I shrugged. "Do we go check on her or leave her alone?"

"I'm sure if I checked on her, she'd slap me, so maybe you can?" I questioned and Brennen made a weird face.

"Why would she slap you?" He laughed and I sighed "I hurt her" I replied and I saw his eyes darken.

"Woah dude, what the fuck!"

"What?"

"You hit her!?" He yelled, his voice getting more aggressive and his shoulders tensed up as he stood up.

"Oh my god no! I meant that she's mad at me for not inviting her to the cabin! You know I'd never lay a hand on a woman!" I hissed at the end, offended he'd think I'd physically hurt her.

"Jesus Colby! I thought I was gonna have to beat you up!" Brennen laughed, his shoulders relaxing.

Before any of us could do anything, we heard Leighton's feet stomping down the stairs, a backpack in hand.

"Are you coming back home?!" Sam called out and the front door slammed shut.

"Okay, what the hell was that?" I asked Sam and he shrugged. "And you're telling me she isn't sketchy? Sam! She came in here, ran upstairs without saying anything, grabbed a backpack and left like she was the flash!" I exclaimed, pointing towards the front door.

"Colby-" He started and I shook my head.

"No! Sam what the fuck is up with her!? She's never home, and when she is, she's always in a hurry! She's pissed off Kat somehow, she abruptly leaves the restaurant in some unknown car-" I started rambling and Sam just stared at me.

"Colby stop!" Sam was now also standing and I shook my head.

"Why are you protecting her?!" I shouted, anger starting to boil through my veins, the feeling of being replaced was making my heart race.

"I'm not protecting her! I just know something you don't, and I can't tell you! We both know her moms in the hospital, so maybe something happened and she got a bag and left"

"What do you know and why can't you tell me?"

"It's her life Colby! You aren't exactly BFFs!"

"AND YOU ARE!?" I yelled and Sam sighed, and Brennen was just sitting there awkwardly watching us.

"Why are we fighting Colby? We never fight." Sam sounded so tired and defeated, but I wasn't having it.

I wanted answers, and wanted them now.

I was tired of being lied to, and deceived by everyone. Even my closest friends.

Maybe they really were replacing me.

"How do we know she isn't a criminal Sam?" I asked and Sam gave me a "are you serious" look, and I couldn't blame him.

I was really reaching now, wasn't I

"Colby you're being a dick about this"

"HOW!? By Wanting to know answers? Sam, everyone but me knows some sort of secret about her and now you're saying I can't know! You just admitted to knowing something! Do you know how that feels?"

"Colby, it's her life!"

"YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND!"

"Colby, we're helping her because she needs it. You guys don't really get along, why would she tell you anything?" He asked and I glanced over towards Brennen who was just looking between Sam and I

"Maybe I should head out" Brennen spoke in an awkward tone and I shook my head.

"Sorry" I muttered, sitting back down.