Page 103 of Talk to Me

Starting to sit up, I nodded.

“Yes,” I said shakily. “What has you up in the middle of the night on your phone? Did something happen?”

Theo laid his phone in his lap, but didn’t lock it, so the blue glow of the screen kept our faces illuminated.

“Josh,” he said softly, “I don’t know how to tell you this. I don’t even know if I want to tell you, to be honest. But you’re going to find out.”

I stared up at him, my guts twisting more.

“I know how shit like this feels,” he continued, “and I want you to know that I’m here for you, okay? No matter what, I’m not going to go away. But—”

“For fuck’s sake.” I sat up and glanced down at his phone screen before looking back up at him. Theo had put his phone on the home screen, so all I saw was little square apps. “Just tell me what’s got you acting all crazy.”

He chuckled nervously.

“Um,” Theo said, “I’ll just show you. Okay?”

“Fine,” I said, rushing him. “Just show me.”

Theo picked up his phone and began tapping the screen.

“Someone screen recorded this video,” Theo began, “so it’s not the actual video, but…well, it’ll tell you exactly what happened.

Once Theo had found exactly what he was looking for, he handed me his phone. There was a paused video pulled up in the Peepers app on the screen. I took the phone from him and stared at the screen. Collin’s frozen face was staring out at me and someone had typed a title across his face that said “Exposed!” in all capital white letters. Swallowing hard to keep the bile from rising in my throat, I tapped the screen to start the video.

Collin’s face began to move and he started speaking in what was obviously the middle of some speech he was giving to the viewers.

“—and so, he’s inviting Theo over right now to talk,” Collin whispered urgently into the camera. I could tell from the wall behind him, he was in the bathroom down the hall from our room. “I’m going to sneak a phone in there. Once and for all, we’re going to prove that Theo Hendrix and Josh Montag are truly the pieces of shit Ben’s been telling you they are. All of you that have been defending them online are going to see what he’s been telling you all along is true!”

Clenching my throat, I watched as the phone moved and the scenery became jumbled and blurry as Collin began to move. I could catch glimpses of the bathroom, then the hallway, and finally, I heard the noise of our dorm door opening as he stepped inside.

“Sorry,” Collin’s voice said quickly. “I forgot something. I’ll be quick!”

Then my voice on the phone replied, “Okay.”

The scene in the video was blurry as Collin approached his desk and then the view went still, and I saw myself sitting on my bed, staring down at my lap.

“Sorry,” Collin said in the video. “I’m going. Good luck with Theo. Whenever you talk to him.”

The me in the video looked up at him. From the way the camera was positioned, it looked like Collin had hidden it behind one of his books in the stack on his desk.

“He’s on his way,” video me said before Collin said, “Okay, I’ll get out of the way. I really am sorry. Again.”

Then Collin’s side showed in the video briefly and then I heard the sound of the door. A second later, Theo entered the room.

“Hi,” Theo said in the video.

I tapped the screen and groaned. Then I tossed it to Theo. The phone landed in his lap, screen side up, casting our faces in blue as I stared at him. For some reason, Theo was grinning widely.

“What are you smiling about?” I demanded, my stomach churning.

Theo shook his head in disbelief as he smiled. “You don’t get it. Your stupid ass roommate came in here, set up a phone to catch us talking to expose us, but all it did was catch me telling you about how Ben and I never dated and I never cheated on him. That’s why he rushed in here and rushed back out. If you watched it all the way through, you’d hear the whole conversation again, then him coming to get the phone, rushing out, then turning it off without saying anything.”

“Oh,” I said, suddenly realizing that anyone who heard our conversation wouldn’t have heard anything bad—just personal. “Wait. Why the hell did he go ahead and post it? Also, oh my fucking God, what a fucking creep!”

I sat up straighter.

“He came in here and fucking recorded us—in my bedroom—without asking us!” I exclaimed.