"someone pick a movie already," sam groaned.

it was sunday night and harlow was currently sat on one of the couches in the living room at the boys' house. colby had invited her over for "family movie night", with his roommates and a few friends.

since her first experience in the house, harlow now felt immensely more comfortable. the first time in the house she felt uncomfortable even sitting down, and how she was sat with her legs stretched out and her feet just barely tucked under colby's thigh. harlow had perpetually cold feet, and of course, she didn't mind the contact with the boy either.

"shrek!" jake yelled out for the fifth time, as sam kept ignoring his loud friend.

the group had already watched one movie, and a few people ended up leaving after it was done. it ended up being jake, tara, sam, kat, colby, and kevin left sitting in the room ready for a second movie. corey and devyn had gone to bed, elton had left as he had to get up early the next day to edit, and mike and aryia left mumbling the things they had to do the next day.

"just give the guy what he wants," kevin replied, obviously growing tired of waiting.

"i mean, the soundtrack low key slaps," katrina piped in, defending jake's choice.

sam looked over towards colby and harlow, waiting for them to give their consent. colby looked towards harlow, who shrugged in response. "yeah, just put it on," colby responded.

as sam looked through the netflix titles for shrek, harlow saw her phone light up beside her.

so u 2 communicate with just looks now

cute couple things

don't text me u ass

we're in the same room

would u rather me tell everyone how cute i think u 2 r

u got me there

also

we're just frenzz

fuck outta here

harlow looked at the last message her blue-haired friend sent her and rolled her eyes.

sam started the movie and jake began to instantly cheer. between him and tara was a stuffed shrek that the two were coddling like a child. harlow couldn't help but smile at the two, and their comparability in almost everything.

the friends managed to sit through the movie with minimal distractions from jake, who would occasionally sing along to the soundtrack, respond to the dialogue, and hold up the stuffed shrek and move it like a puppet.

harlow watched the movie intently, sometimes glancing over at the boy who sat in front of her. colby was on the same energy level as jake, egging on his friend the entire time. she had been spending a lot more time with colby recently, because of kat. kat was able to force harlow out of her dorm most nights to hang out with the group of friends. most nights, it was the couples and a few other friends. harlow knew their other friends but wasn't as close with them as she was with the others. this led her to spend the majority of her time with colby, when she wasn't with kat or devyn. it also led to an increase of cigarettes smoked and red bulls consumed.

the movie eventually ended, leading kevin and tara to say their goodbyes to the group. jake headed upstairs to his room, leaving colby, sam, kat, and harlow together.

"well, i have a morning class tomorrow, so i should go back," harlow said, pushing herself up off the couch.

"come have a smoke before you leave," colby replied, holding out his pack of smokes and lighter towards the girl.

harlow couldn't say no to a smoke break, or to the beautiful boy. "yeah, okay,"

she began walking towards the back door, their usual spot when at the house. "let's go on the roof instead," colby said, walking past harlow and up the stairs.

"okay," harlow glanced back and sam and kat. "see you guys tomorrow, i'm sure," harlow gave the two a wave before jogging up the stairs to find colby. by the time she reached him he was already halfway up the ladder.

"i'll help pull you up," colby told the girl, not even glancing in her direction. harlow watched as colby disappeared through the ceiling hatch, "okay, ready."

harlow climbed up the ladder as far as she could, grasping onto colby's hand to steady her as she pulled her body through the hatch. harlow stood up and brushed off her black jeans, then pulled a smoke out of colby's pack. she held the smoke between her lips, shielding the smoke from the wind while she lit it.

"why have we never come up here before?" harlow asked, leaning against the half wall of the roof. "y'all have quite the view,"

colby shrugged, holding his smoke between his fingers. "i forget about it sometimes. and usually it's locked and we don't have the key,"

the two stood next to each other, looked out towards the street smoking in silence. harlow flicked her smoke out, squishing it underneath her shoe.

harlow pulled out her phone, glancing at the time. 1:07 read white letters over the background picture of her and kat in matching sweaters. "i should go, i have to be up in 7 hours,"

"that's basically a full night of sleep," colby stated. "plus, we haven't had our red bulls yet." after the first time the two hung out they jokingly said that red bulls and smokes were going to be their thing. what harlow didn't know, was that colby had a slight addiction to red bulls, and always had them near him. so the joke actually ended up turning into something that the pair regularly did.

"colby, it's 1 am. i have class. no way am i about to drink an energy drink and then sleep through my class,"

colby rolled his eyes, "don't be so dramatic, harley." he started walking back towards the hatch door. "don't move. i'll be right back,"

knowing colby wouldn't take no for an answer, she shouted back, "yellow, please," as the boy disappeared down the ladder.

harlow sat down, leaning against the half wall for support. a few minutes passed before colby returned with two yellow red bulls and a black, fuzzy blanket in hand.

"shouldn't you be like, remotely tired by now?" harlow asked, taking one of the red bulls and cracking it open.

colby laughed as he sat down next to the girl. "i probably should be," he replied. colby passed harlow the blanket, "i thought you might have wanted this,"

harlow smiled, "you know me too well, brock." she spread the blanket across her stretched out legs, then reached over to make sure colby was covered as well.

"thanks,"

harlow smiled at the boy once more. "so is this what you thought your life would be like when you were little?" harlow asked, propping her head against the wall that was holding her upright.

colby laughed in response. "not at all," he gestured towards the mansion they were sat on top of, "i never thought i would have all of this just because i post shit online that i normally do. it's kinda crazy to think about,"

"it's definitely crazy," harlow responded.

"yeah, you're right," colby said. "i mean, i'm obviously super thankful for everything i have. but at the same time, it sucks sometimes. most of my private life manages to find a way into the public eye, even if i don't say anything about it. it was off-putting at first, but i guess i'm used to it now."

harlow just nodded, sensing that colby wanted to continue. "okay, so for example, my fans are really intrusive when it comes to girls in my life. even if we're just friends, or they have a boyfriend, they sometimes push it a little too much. so i try just avoid posting about anything like that, which is shitty sometimes. but i also owe everything i have to them so i'm just kinda stuck,"

harlow sat in silence for a moment, trying to compose her thoughts to form a thoughtful answer. "yeah, that is shitty. i can't imagine what it would be like to have people digging into my private life like that. but you shouldn't feel like you can't share it with them in fear of what they might think. because who really cares what they think about that at the end of the day. it's not their relationship." harlow paused. "that's not really good advice, cause i don't really know what it's like to be in your shoes,"

"no, you're right," colby answered. "it's just hard to remember that sometimes,"

harlow smiled, leaning in to press her shoulder against colby's. "well, i'll always be here to remind you, then."

"with your good advice and you bad habits,"

the two sat underneath the blanket on the roof and chatted about life for another two hours. colby and harlow seemed to have no concept of time when it was just the two of them, as hours only felt like minutes.

the two seemed to connect like two puzzle pieces. the connection they had made was quick but incredibly real. harlow knew she had feelings for colby, and she knew her feelings only got stronger each time the pair hung out.

she realized after the conversation that no matter what she felt for the boy beside her, she wouldn't tell anyone. the situation was already complicated with elton being one of colby's close friends, but after the conversation the two had tonight, it had gotten even more complicated. colby basically told her that he would never have somebody in his life because of all the people around him that would tear it apart.

pushing the thought aside, harlow turned to the boy beside her. "i really should go now," she looked at her phone, and then yawned. "it's 3:41, fuck,"

"shit, sorry. i kinda forgot about the time," colby apologized, standing up. he held out his hand to help harlow to her feet. colby held on to her hand once she stood standing, just slightly longer than he should have. harlow glanced at their hands, ignoring the butterflies that were growing in her stomach. "why don't you just crash here? it's kinda late to be driving home,"

harlow bit her cheek to stop from smiling. "i really should just drive back, i do need to go to class tomorrow,"

colby picked up the blanket and empty cans of red bull. "just leave early. i'd rather you sleep here so i know you're safe, harley."

harlow already struggled to say no to the boy, even more so when he called her by her nickname. "okay, fine," she gave in quite easily.

the two made their way down the ladder back into the house. all the lights were off in the house, so harlow assumed everyone was sleeping. "you can stay in my bed if you want. it's kind of my fault, so," colby trailed off.

"oh, no that's okay. i can just stay on the couch downstairs," harlow replied, not wanting to put colby out.

"harley, don't argue with me," colby replied sternly. "you sleep in my bed. i have a couch i can use."

before harlow could respond, colby was leading her to the only bedroom that had the door propped open. the bedroom was messy but quite typical for what she expected, other than the neon-colored sticky notes adorning the walls.

colby rummaged through his closet, before holding out a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. "does this work?"

"oh, yeah. thank you," harlow replied, nervously taking the clothing out of his hands.

colby left her in the room to change out of her jeans and top, quietly knocking on the door before he came back in.

harlow was sat half underneath the covers on his bed, on the side away from the wall. both colby and harlow were slightly awkward as colby made a bed for himself on his couch, while harlow watched. just as colby was going to turn the light off, harlow spoke up, "look why don't you just sleep in the bed, colby."

"because i'm giving you the bed,"

harlow grabbed a few of the pillows that were tossed on the floor, making a barrier beside her. she patted the pillow barrier, "all safe, now." colby laughed, making harlow smile. "i don't have fucking cooties colby, just don't go past the barrier."

"fine,"

the light went out, and harlow could feel the bed shift as colby moved across his side of the bed. "night, colbs," harlow whispered sleepily, turning to face away from the boy beside her.

colby laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling for at least twenty minutes until he was absolutely sure that harlow was asleep. he propped himself up on his elbow, peering over the pillow barrier she had created. her hair was fanned around the pillow, and the blanket was pulled closely up to her face. her lips were slightly parted as she slept, her breathing quiet.

as much as colby wished to be closer to harlow at that moment, he wasn't going to remove the barrier between them. he would happily have a stack of pillows dividing the two if that's what harlow wanted. colby was sure he had never been more content in his life, with the brown-haired angel sleeping beside him.

"night, harls."