"Either she moves out or I do!" I yelled, my chest rising and falling rapidly.

"Colby, you're being ridiculous!" Sam argued and I just stared at him.

"You don't agree with me!?" I yelled, feeling frustrated.

"Colby, she hasn't done anything wrong!"

Before I could reply, I heard quick pitter patter footsteps hitting the tiled stairs.

My eyes widened as I watched Leighton quickly turn the corner, bag and car keys in hand. The door slammed shut and Sam narrowed his eyes at me before running after her.

Fuck.

I quickly followed after them, feeling torn between how I felt and protecting someone else's feelings.

"Leighton please don't leave" Sam was begging outside her car door when I made it out to the porch.

"No! Clearly, he doesn't want me here. I'll send my brother to come get my stuff while I'm at work" I heard her say and then she drove away, and Sam quickly turned towards me.

"YOU!" He yelled, pointing his finger at me.

"What?! I didn't do anything!"

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!? YOU'VE BEEN RUDE TO HER SINCE WE MET HER! IT'S NOT HER FAULT YOUR GIRLFRIEND THINKS YOU'RE CHEATING ON HER WITH LEIGHTON! SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Sam yelled and I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest. "You knew I wanted this one to work out! She's gotten really close with Kat, and I love seeing Katrina happy. I can't believe you! You're being so fucking selfish Colby! You can't just run her off because your love life is a mess!" Sam shouted, his arms flared out towards his sides.

"You act like Kat won't hang out with her still" I grumbled, annoyed that he's been ignoring my feelings about her moving in since the start.

"COLBY THAT ISN'T THE POINT!" Sam shouted

"YOU WON'T LISTEN TO ME! You haven't listened to me from the start! We never agreed on her moving in, you just basically handed her over the keys!" I shouted back, breathing heavily.

"NOTHING WAS WRONG WITH HER! Tell me Colby, what has she done?! SHE PAYS US RENT, SHE BUYS FOOD, WHICH YOU ALSO EAT BY THE WAY! SHE'S NEVER HOME, SHE PICKS UP AFTER HERSELF! SHE'S EVERYTHING YOU WANTED IN A ROOMMATE WHEN I ASKED! So, tell me, what did she ever do to you! Why are you being a dick? It isn't her fault your girlfriend has trust issues! You haven't even been together that long and honestly, you've been a douche since you met her! It's your friends or that bitch who is changing you. You pick. I'm tired of you running people away because you feel threatened! It's not my fucking fault the fans don't like when you're with people, but I'm sorry to break it to you Colby, Sadie's a walking trash can and if you can't see it then I don't know if we can still be friends. I'm tired of you treating us like crap this past week. We get it, your relationship isn't going how you thought it would, but that doesn't mean you get to be a dick because you're frustrated over someone who really doesn't matter! How the fuck am I supposed to get her back! I don't even know where she went!" Sam shoved past me and walked back into the house.

"Why do you care so much!?" I yelled back, stopping Sam from walking away.

"Because she seems like a good person, Colby. She seems like someone I want to get to know. Someone Kat and I want to hang out with and befriend. Hell, I would bet she'd end up as one of Katrina's bridesmaids with how highly she talks about Leighton. I'm tired of you scaring people off." Sam explained but it was written all over his face that he knew something, and that was pissing me off even more.

"YOU CAN HANG OUT WITH HER WITHOUT ME!" I yelled, frustration raging throughout my body.

I could feel my hands shake and my vision blur slightly.

Why wasn't he seeing my point?

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT! THE FUCKING POINT IS YOU'RE CHOSING SOME BITCH OVER YOUR FRIENDS! YOU MET HER A MONTH AGO AND HAVE ONLY BEEN DATING FOR 2 WEEKS AND SHE'S ALREADY CAUSED US ISSUES! You act like Leighton can't live here because she's a girl! Which is complete bullshit! You've lived with females before! I'm tired of your lame ass excuses! You can talk to me when you're ready to tell me the truth!" Sam walked away and I sat on the front porch, replaying Sam's words in my head over and over again. I replayed the past month as well, from when I first met her and how things had changed. How I had changed.

Maybe he was right.

Maybe she wasn't worth it.

I sat there for a while, calming down and thinking about what I was going to say to Sam. After about 45 minutes, I got up and went inside to find him.

Would he believe me? Would he yell at me? Would he trust me?

I found him in the kitchen, on his phone ranting about me. I rolled my eyes and stood in front of him, waiting for him to look up, but when he finally did, he just glared at me.

"Sam, can we please talk. I'm sorry brother!"

"You can't just fix this with an apology! I'm tired of your actions" Sam grumbled, turning his back towards me and I sighed, sitting down at the stool that was up against the kitchen island.

"You sound like a girl" I laughed and he just shook his head at me and I sighed. "Please Sam" I begged, wanting to fix this. I hated when we fought, and lately we had been arguing a lot. Especially on our trip, which has been hell for Katrina since she was usually in the middle.

I was kind of in my own world, when Sam thrusted his phone into my face, startling me.

"What?"

"Katrina wants to yell at you" Sam spoke, leaving me with his phone.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" She yelled through the phone, and I just set the phone on the counter, putting it on speaker.

I listened to Katrina tell me off whilst Sam made a sandwich, not looking at me.

Once she was done yelling at me, I finally asked "Do you know where we could find her?" And adding onto my frustration, she told me she didn't.

"Well, I have to get her back or Sam will cut off my dick, please help me" I begged, and I could practically see Kat roll her eyes.

"I don't blame him! We like her, Colby!"

"I GET THAT! I'm sorry, okay! It wasn't my intention for her to hear me!" I snapped and Sam glared at me.

"You weren't exactly whispering Colby!" He hissed and I glared at him.

"Can someone tell me why we are arguing over some girl who has lived here for a month?" I asked and I swear if looks could kill, Sam would be on trial right now.

"Are you kidding me Colby?" Sam growled and I shrugged, looking back at the phone.

"WE'RE MAD BECAUSE WE LIKED HER DUMBASS!" Kat yelled, making me flinch.

"I don't understand what that has to do with me! We don't all have to like her!"

"Tell me something Colby, why did you buy her fucking French fries at the bowling alley if you hate her!? Why did you send me to go find her because she had been gone too long? Why did you care so much to help her, if you're claiming to hate her?" Kat quizzed

"Am I not allowed to be a good person?"

"YOU DIDN'T WANT TO LET HER PAY YOU BACK!" Kat yelled and Sam stared at us, confused.

"How do you know that?"

"She was talking about how nice you were to her that day, after completely ignoring her and how she was grateful you offered to buy her something else and how she wanted to pay you back and you wouldn't let her, but she did it anyway because she doesn't like to be in debt to people. You very rarely brush that off Colby!"

"You make me sound like a dick who is money hungry! It was 3 dollars! It's not like I bought her a fucking TV! I didn't want her to pay me back, but she did before I could give it back. I still have it in my wallet, I was planning on spending it on her-"

"COLBY!" Kat squealed, making me wince.

"What?"

"YOU LIKE HER!" She yelled and I rolled my eyes.

"Katrina guys can be friend girls and not want to fuck them"

"BUT YOU WANT TO SPEND THE MONEY SHE GAVE YOU, ON HER!" Kat yelled and I glanced up towards Sam who seemed way too intrigued in this conversation than I would like.

"I barely know her! I don't like her!" I defended myself and I heard Kat scoff.

"That's not how you act when you want to sleep with them!"

"Why do you know that? How do you know that?"

"WE'VE BEEN FRIENDS FOR YEARS!"

"I don't know her. I don't care about her. I can't like her" I said nonchalantly.

"THEN GET TO KNOW HER!"

"I don't want to get attached, Kat!"

"Colby, why can't you just tell us what the actual problem is?" Sam groaned, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"She just seems really closed off. Like she's never here, she doesn't hang out with the group, we only ever see her before she goes to bed-"

"Okay but we could say the same about you when you're up in your room editing all day and night. Why are you being so judgmental?" Sam spoke up and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Colby, have you ever considered that maybe she doesn't hang out with you because you ignore her? You showed interest when she had something to offer. The only time you paid real attention to her, is when she said her cousin worked at whatever that place was. You pretend she isn't there, and she does the same to you. She's not some whore you found at a club. She's a girl with feelings and lots of them and I don't know, maybe you should've thought about how YOUR actions would emotionally affect her! Sam isn't close to her like I am, hell I'm not even very close to her but you don't see him ignoring her. He invites her to things and texts her. We make her feel included! She's not even in our friend group chat because you talk shit about her! She literally is never home! I don't even know how you find things to complain about! Here, I'll send you a video I took of us whilst you guys were filming in the tunnel, because we see two very different people" Kat explained and I heard my phone dig, forcing me to fish it out of my pocket.

The video loaded and Kat was filming from the passenger side of the car, music blaring.

I heard Kat sing along to the radio and show herself having fun, but then there was a second where Kat stopped singing, and it felt like time froze as she looked over at Leighton with a shocked expression.

"OKAY VOCAL CORDS!" Kat squealed and I saw Leighton blush which made a smile creep up onto my face.

"STOP!" She laughed, her fingers tapping against the steering wheel while she drove.

"YOUR VOICE IS SO PRETTY WHAT THE HELL! Why haven't you sung before for me!" Kat exclaimed,

"I didn't know you were filming or that you'd notice" She replied back shyly, turning her head to look out her window before turning around a corner.

"LEIGH!"

"What?"

"SING MORE!"

"No!" She laughed and her cardigan rolled up a bit and I noticed she had more tattoos on her wrist that I had never noticed before.

She was always in a sweatshirt.

"Sing this last bit with me please!" Kat begged.

"No!"

"Please!"

"No!"

"Pretty please!"

"Fine" She groaned

"I hope she comes along and wrecks every one of your plans. I hope you spend your last dime to put a rock on her hand. I hope she's wilder than your wildest dreams. She's everything you're ever gonna need and then I hope she cheats like you did on me" They both sang with as much sass as they could muster, and it ended up in them in a fit of giggles making me smile to myself.

"Leigh we're going on Broadway!" Kat squealed and Leighton wildly shook her head.

"I'll stick to painting, thanks" She replied, and the video ended

She liked to paint?

The video ended and I shut off my phone "How is you guys singing supposed to show me she isn't some closed off bitch?" I asked and Sam glared at me. "Why do you guys care so much if I like her or not?" I was feeling extremely frustrated, and Sam just grabbed his phone and walked away whilst Kat rambled.

I was about to go upstairs and finish editing when the gate buzzer went off.

I was confused but let them in and waited on the front porch to see who it was.

A guy with blonde hair and blue approached me, keys and phone in hand and behind him with Leighton, her eyes fixated on the ground.

"I'll follow you Leigh" He spoke before I could even say a word, they walked past me.

I followed him, extremely confused.

"Leighton, can we talk please!" I called after her and I heard Sam quickly enter the room.

"Leighton please don't leave!" Sam begged and I saw Kat was still on the phone making me roll my eyes.

"I'm just grabbing the rest of my stuff" She huffed, and I saw the guy put his hands on her back and my chest tightened.

"Leighton please don't let Colby be the reason you leave!" Sam called out, following them up the stairs.

"If he doesn't want me here then I won't invade his home" She replied and I finally made it up the stairs to see her sit on the floor, throwing stuff in a box.

"Leighton, can we talk please?" I begged, not wanting Sam's glare to burn into my soul any longer.

"I heard enough Colby. I'll get out of your space. You said you or me. I choose me"

"Leighton please can we talk alone for two seconds?"

"Fine" She huffed, and the guy helped her stand up which I thought was odd.

Leighton followed me to my room, and she stood in the doorway.

"I'm sorry that you heard me yell about you. Sam's beyond pissed at me, please know he really wants you here"

"And you don't. I get it. I'm packing" She turned to walk away but I quickly grabbed her bicep, stopping her. "WHAT!" She yelled, turning around quickly, making me flinch.

I saw her sweatshirt rise up again, showing me a couple more of her tattoos. My eyes traveled over the ink work before she moved her arm and glared at me, pulling her sleeve down.

"Stop being dramatic!" I spoke loudly and I saw her eyes darken.

"I'M NOT BEING DRAMATIC! I'M DOING WHAT YOU WANT! You don't want to live with me, so I'll move out! Shouldn't you be happy right now!?"

"No- Wait- Okay stop! Let me explain!" I spoke frantically, not wanting her to walk away. "The girl I've been hanging around with, I asked her to be my girlfriend because I wanted to try having a relationship again, I can tell you that I will be breaking up with her. I was upset and frustrated at my personal life issues, and I took it out on you and I'm sorry! She saw you as a threat because you live here, and she was making it really hard to be with her and try to get to know you. Sam and Kat really want me to get to know you for some reason, to the point they're threatening to stop being my friend! Do you know how frustrating that is? To have your best friend in the whole world pick some girl that moved in a month ago over someone he's known his whole life? Anyway, I was frustrated and upset and was venting to Sam, and Sam didn't agree with me. Sam didn't understand my issues and thought I was being selfish. He told me he doesn't like how I've been acting and that I would lose him as a friend if I kept dating Sadie. I'm sorry I didn't notice the change in behavior, but the relationship has been really hard and I'm only like two weeks in. I know that isn't an excuse, but I hope you can see where I'm coming from"

"No, I can't see where you're coming from. Sure, I'll let that explain away the past two weeks, which by the way you were barely here for! You and Sam were gone for a week! That doesn't write off your actions from before. I don't understand why you're ignoring me or why you want me out so bad! I'm barely here! I've been job hunting and seeing my family!"

"You're kind of sketchy! There I said it! How do I know you're not secretly some crazy fan who will leak our address and number?"

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?" She yelled which made me flinch at her quick change of tone. "HERE WATCH" she said, and she pulled out her phone , went to her contacts and deleted my number. "Goodbye Colby" Was the last thing she said before quickly leaving my room.

"Fuck!" I cursed.

Sam's going to kill me

"Leighton!" An unfamiliar voice yelled, and I quickly walked to where her room was.

I watched her quickly throw stuff into boxes, tears streaming down her face.

"What did you say to her!?" The guy growled, getting in my space.

"I didn't say anything!" I exclaimed, holding my hands up in the air.

"Get out" He said and I decided not to fight him, and I walked down to the living room and sat on the couch, running my hands through my hair.

"Colby what did you do!?" Sam yelled, quickly coming down the stairs.

I got up off the couch and b-lined for the front door, grabbing my keys.

"COLBY!" Sam yelled and I just slammed the door shut and speed walked to my car.

"COLBY STOP!" Sam yelled and I saw him running after me. He quickly opened the passenger side door and climbed in, and I noticed he wasn't wearing shoes. "What are you doing? Where are you going?"

"Sam get out" I grumbled, starting the engine.

"No! You're not driving when you're upset! You'll kill yourself!" He spoke in desperation.

"I'm not going to die" I grumbled again, frustration burning through my veins.

"Then get out of the car Colby"

Sam and I argued for about 5 minutes before we realized we left Leighton and some stranger alone in our home.

What if she trashed our stuff?

I quickly got out of the car, running to the front door.

When I opened the front door, I was met with Leighton carrying a box and had dried tear stains on her cheeks.

"Move please" She whispered, but I kept still. "Colby move" nothing. "COLBY MOVE YOUR ASS NOW! LET ME OUT!" She screamed and I crossed my arms shaking my head.

"I'm sorry for the things I said. I'm sorry for the actions I made and I'm extremely sorry for making you think you can't live here. Can we please just go sit down in the living room and all of us can talk? Jake is going to be home in an hour. Please. Sam and Jake love you. Please don't leave"

"I'm not going to live somewhere I'm unwanted" She stated, dropping the box to the floor making me wince.

"YOU'RE NOT UNWANTED!" I shouted and her eyes widened.

"You told Sam either I moved out or you did!"

"I WAS MAD! Leighton, they want you here please don't leave"

"STOP! You keep saying THEY want me here! Which means YOU don't! I get it! You don't want to live with me! Why couldn't you have just said that in the first fucking place! I wouldn't have moved in then!"

"Sam didn't let me!" I spoke loudly and I saw a single tear fall down her face and she quickly wiped it away.

"Let me leave Colby. I have work in the morning"

"Leighton please stay!" Sam begged and she just stared at him.

"Why do you want me to stay so badly? You barely know me!" She whined, more tears falling down her cheeks.

"Leighton, I know" Sam said softly.