Chapter Text
Sam, Colby, Corey, and Elton are on their Utah trip, and so far, their trip had been great. They had visited national parks, done an overnight in a bowling alley, gone snowmobiling, and climbed frozen waterfalls. Now, they were at Canyonlands National Park, taking in the views, and enjoying a small break in their hectic trip. Corey, as usual when it came to anything with heights, was nervous, especially because everyone else was wanting to get closer to the edge.
“Should we go?” Colby asks, swinging his legs over a railing as Corey reaches for him to pull him back.
“What are you doing?” Elton says, panning the camera over to the two.
“Woah, woah!” Corey fully grabs onto Colby’s arm, and pulls him before looking down and seeing a large flat rock that was right below Colby. “Oh, ok, ok, there’s a, there’s a rock.” he says after seeing it. Colby simply laughs in response and situates himself on the stone the railing is attached to.
Sam, although he would not admit this outloud, was nervous at Colby’s actions. It was no secret that his best friend would get himself into some potentially dangerous scenarios. Sam, usually the more cautious of the two, would always be there to help Colby out of it, but here, now? If Colby made one wrong move, it could be over. If any of them made a wrong move, it could be over.
As Colby, Sam and Corey were over taking pictures, Elton excused himself from the group to ‘go get the drone’ from the car, but he was really breaking away to set up a prank he had pulled on Heath and Amanda before. Elton was hoping none of the roommates had watched the video, or, that he could make his prank seem real enough they didn’t think of it. Elton pulls his camera up to get them into frame.
“Hey guys! The view out here is way cool- ahh oh no! Ahhhhh!” Elton screams as he jumps down to a lower ledge, ducking under a rock ledge. He hears the roommates running over, to what they believe is an accident.
“Elton!” Colby screams.
“I can’t see him!” Sam responds, panic evident in his voice.
“Elton?” Corey calls.
“Where did he go?” Sam asks, looking around for Elton, still panicked.
“Dude,” Corey says.
“Oh, my god. Elton!” Sam screams over the edge, stepping closer to where Elton “fell”. Colby grabs Sam’s arm, dragging him back further from the edge. After watching Elton fall, he was not about to take even a slight risk losing someone else, especially not Sam, and Sam was pushing his luck getting close to the edge. Sam just simply put his hand over Colby’s, before ripping it off his arm.
“Someone call 9-1-1, I swear to god, what the hell.” Sam ignores Colby’s actions, only concerned about Elton. “Elton!”
“Elton!” Colby yells now, focusing not on the hurt that shot through him, but on Elton.
“I can’t, I can’t even see him! Elton!” Sam says, voice on the verge of cracking.
“This doesn’t even make sense!” Colby replies, moving over to the side to try and see Elton from a different angle. “Elton!”
“I swear to god, is he playing a trick on us?” Sam asks now, voice starting to level. “Oh, I see him! What the heck? Elton, oh my god.”
“Is he under there?” Corey asks, voice dripping with concern for his friend.
“Ohhhh!” Colby laughs.
“No he’s not!” Corey asks, still unable to see Elton.
“Yeah he is!” Sam says, joining the laughter.
“No way.” Colby says, exasperated.
“I’m gonna kill you.” Sam replies, walking around the edge again. Colby closely watched his actions, making sure he didn’t slip. Just because Sam had hurt his feelings, didn’t mean that he would stop caring about his friend.
Elton starts laughing, and crawls out of his hiding spot, still filming the whole ordeal.
“My heart is racing so fast.” Corey says, clutching his chest.
As Corey is talking, Colby starts walking towards the edge of the cliff, and spreads his arms out to the side, leaning forward. Sam watches, and his face hardens. Colby was all concerned about him being near the ledge while looking for their friend who had presumably fell, and now he’s out here risking his life for real? Yeah, Sam was upset now.
“Colby, don’t do that.” Corey warns.
“Hey, let’s do it for real this time.” Colby says, stepping down closer to the edge.
“Don’t do that!” It's Corey who repeats himself.
Sam didn’t say a word. He sees red as he watches Colby so carelessly play with his life.
“Colby, Colby” Elton says, as Colby brings his arms behind him as if to jump. “Now you’re scaring me Colby.” Colby crouches down and screams. “Colby!” Elton screams back. Colby gets up and starts walking back.
“Get the fuck back dude, oh my god.” Sam says, as Colby runs away from the ledge laughing. “Can we get away from this place? Seriously?” Sam is not happy, he just wants to go home. He’s pissed off, annoyed, and stressed, and Colby isn’t helping his mood.
They finish filming a bit for the video before calling it quits for the day. Sam is still upset, but unknowingly, so is Colby.
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The Utah trip is over, and they are back in the house. Sam is in his room unpacking. He still hasn’t fully gotten over his feelings from Canyonlands. He knows it’s a bit childish, but he’s still upset with Colby for his recklessness, and as a result, he’s been short with the friend.
Colby, while sorting through his laundry, notices he can’t find a shirt. He, himself, is still brooding over the “rejection” from Sam. He knows on a surface level that Sam didn’t reject him, but that’s how he feels. He isn’t sure why, but ever since he has also been quiet around the other boy. He still needs his shirt, so he goes over to Sam’s room to see if Sam has seen it.
“Hey Sam?” Colby says as he knocks.
“What?” Sam asks. If Colby knew anything, and he did, he would’ve sworn there was an edge to Sam’s voice as he spoke.
“Um, I can’t find a shirt, have you seen it?”
Sam opens the door. “I don’t know, you can look for it though.” he sighs, and goes back to unpacking. Colby can feel the tension in the air before he fully registers that Sam invited him in. He cautiously steps in.
“Uh, thanks.” The silence is palpable, but Colby still decides to break it. “Are you ok?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Sam responds, but his movements are too sharp, too precise, not fluid enough for him to mean it.
“You’ve been quiet, and off, I just want to make sure you’re ok.” Colby responds, still only having taken two steps into the room.
“Yeah, make sure I’m ok.” Sam mumbles under his breath.
“Huh?”
“You didn’t seem to care too much about ‘making sure people are ok’ a few days ago!” Sam spins around, making air quotes with his hands.
“What are you talking about?” Colby raises his voice.
“I’m talking about YOUR careless recklessness the other day!”
“Mine? You were practically about to jump off the edge!’ Colby yells.
“Oh, I’M sorry! I was worried about Elton! While you were climbing over rails, and jumping on the edge!” Sam threw the jacket he was holding on the floor, taking a step closer to Colby.
“Oh yeah? And just WHO do you think it was holding your arm so YOU wouldn’t fall while looking for Elton? If YOU hadn’t noticed, the rocks were getting loose right under your feet!” Colby yells, jabbing his finger into Sam’s chest in an accusatory manner.
Sam slaps Colby’s hand away from him. “I was more concerned about Elton than watching some rocks, or in case you forgot, I thought he fell!”
“Oh trust me, I remember, but forgive me for not wanting someone else to fall! You don’t get to lecture ME about MY recklessness, when you are just as much at fault, if not worse!”
“Worse? How about you almost launching yourself off the side of a cliff? Yeah, like that’s any better!” Sam scoffs.
“You’re upset because of a joke? Damn, what happened to your sense of humor? Did you lose it with your common sense? Is it still on that cliff?”
“You know what Colby? Fuck you. Get the fuck out of my room.” Sam shoves him back towards his door.
“Don’t fucking touch me! You dramatic asshole.” Colby walks back to his room and slams his door.
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For the next few days, Sam and Colby were avoiding each other like the plague. Neither wanted to be in the same room with the other, which made filming difficult, especially when it came to filming for the Sam and Colby channel.
“Colby! Are you gonna be ready anytime soon?” Sam calls up the stairs.
“Calm down, I’m ready. Let’s get this over with.”
“Are you gonna be a dick the whole time?” Sam rolls his eyes and starts walking before Colby makes it down the stairs.
“Only if you’re not.” Colby mutters, mostly to himself, but still loud enough for Sam to hear too.
They packed up Colby’s car and got in. Colby started driving to their filming location for the video. They had chosen an abandoned park somewhere in the Hollywood hills, miles and miles from anything. Sam pulls the directions up on his phone, and turns away from Colby. They sit in silence for a majority of the drive there and it’s not long before they’re close and it’s dark out.
“Turn here.” Sam says, very quietly. Colby keeps driving. “Colby!” Sam shouts.
“What?”
“You were supposed to turn!”
“Well it would’ve been helpful if you told me, it’s not like I’ve been here before!” Colby slams his hands on the steering wheel.
“I did, it’s not my fault you don’t know how to fucking listen!”
“Oh yeah, because I’m gonna hear your faint ass whisper with music playing, makes so much sense Sam!”
“Just fucking turn around.” Sam mumbles, already wanting to be anywhere but where he was.
“Fine.” Colby slows down and makes a u-turn on the empty road. He drives back towards the turn he had missed. They’re getting closer to the turn, and still arguing about missing the turn.
They were coming up on the last bend in the road before the turn.
“Don’t fucking miss it this time, or we’re just going home. I don’t want to be stuck in the fucking car with you another minute longer than I have to be.” Sam says, crossing his arms and sinking lower in his seat.
“Well maybe, if you weren’t such a self-conceited asshole who’s only concerned about himself, I wouldn’t have missed it in the first place!” Colby shouted, fed up with Sam at this point.
It was then a car came flying up the road much faster than it should have been. The driver must have misjudged the curve in the road, and lost control. The car serves into the other lane, right where Sam and Colby are.
“Fuck, look out!” Sam shouts and points.
At the same time, Colby shouts, “Oh shit!”
The cars collide. Colby’s airbag goes off, Sam’s doesn’t. Colby’s car gets pushed off the road and slides into a tree, the passenger side door hitting. Colby catches his breath for a second, now with a nose bleed and pain in his legs.
“Holy shit. Sam, you good?” Colby tries not to turn his head too much in fear of hurting himself more. “Sam?” He turns his head and sees the airbag never went off. He sees blood on his dash, a broken side window, and Sam pinned to the seat by tree branches. “Oh shit, SAM!”