Page 104 of Talk to Me

Theo grabbed my thigh and squeezed it.

“I know,” he said. “I know. But calm down. There’s nothing we can do about that. Right now. But the thing is, the dumbass had it on live—so it was being sent out over Peepers in real time. People were watching it as it happened, and a lot of people screen-recorded it.”

I stared at him, dumbfounded.

“Apparently,” Theo said slowly, grinning, “everyone is pissed at Ben and Collin. Pissed at Ben for lying and pissed at Collin for helping Ben do something this fucking creepy to expose us for something we never did. Ben has turned off all comments on his account and made it private. Collin deleted his already. People are out for blood.”

I couldn’t help it. I grinned—even though my stomach was still in knots.

“Everyone is dueting that video and others like it, talking about how Ben is a snake and Collin should be chased out of town and stuff,” Theo said. “And I had to turn off my notifications because the amount of people leaving comments of support is crazy. I’m sure your phone is probably full of notifications, too.”

I glanced over at the bedside table, finally noticing that it was vibrating nonstop on the hard surface. Reaching out, I was going to check my phone, but a knock at the door made both Theo and I jump. We exchanged a look, and I slowly slid out of bed, my bare feet connecting with the icy floor of the dorm room. Tentatively, I tiptoed over to the door and cracked it open. Light from the hallway poured through, and I was greeted with the faces of at least ten students crowded around my doorway.

“Josh!” A girl in the front exclaimed. “We wanted to come tell you how sorry—”

All of the other students around her started to join in, one message indecipherable from the next. I listened for a moment, squinting against the light of the hall, before raising a hand.

“It’s two o’clock in the morning, guys,” I said, stopping them. “It’s nice that you all came to say…stuff…but I want to go back to bed. We’ll talk later. Okay?”

All of them were nodding their heads, agreeing verbally and talking over each other to again tell me how sorry they were for us. I waved them all off in as friendly a manner as possible.

“Goodnight!” I announced, then shut the door.

Turning to face Theo, still on the bed, I shook my head in disbelief. I could hear the mob in the hallway discussing things amongst themselves. It was two o’clock in the morning on a school day, so I wasn’t sure what any of them were up for anyway. Maybe they were all late-night study buddies. Or maybe when one person saw the drama on Peepers, they all began a prayer chain. I had no clue. Regardless, it sounded like more people in the dorm hallway were exiting their rooms and joining the chaos. Another knock came to the door, but I simply shouted for everyone to let us sleep.

Theo grinned at me from his spot on the bed. Not knowing what else to do, I tiptoed back over to the bed and slipped back in next to him. We didn’t lay back down, but instead, sat together, our backs propped against the headboard, the covers pulled over us. Theo wrapped his arms around my shoulders, and mine went around his middle.

And we sat there, saying nothing, listening to the sounds of the mob in the hallway that was gathering and organizing to kill Collin and Ben. Even if we had wanted to go back to sleep, we never would have been able. Turning off our phones would have blocked out the buzzing sounds from all of the notifications, but the noise in the hallway only got louder. Apparently, our entire floor—and maybe students from other floors—were going to have meetings about the drama for the rest of the night.

Finally, as the sun started to come up, and the dark of the room melted away, the noise in the hall began to return to something that was normal. The sounds of students breaking up and rushing around to get ready for classes began. Theo and I continued to hold each other, wondering what it was that we were supposed to do. Going down to the bathrooms to get ready was probably not the best idea. We’d only get cornered by more people with questions and comments—which is the last thing you want to happen in a communal bathroom.

“Skip classes today?” Theo asked quietly.

“Might be best,” I responded quietly and squeezed him again. “Just today, though.”

He nodded, his chin rubbing against the top of my head.

So, Theo and I continued to lay there in bed until the sun was shining brightly through the windows, filling the room. Yawning, I held Theo as the sounds in the hall swelled, then slowly began to die off. When the sounds all but disappeared, I glanced over at the clock on the microwave again. It was a few minutes after eight o’clock. The first classes of the morning had begun.

Finally, I slid my arms from around Theo and turned to slide out of bed. He yawned and stretched as I stood up. Now that there were less people around to cause problems, I wanted to get a long shower, change into clean clothes, and figure things out. Theo and I would need to have some breakfast and talk out some kind of strategy for what we were going to do about Peepers, the video, and what everything meant.

Before I could say anything to Theo or grab my bathroom supplies, another knock came at the door.

“Ignore it,” Theo said from the bed.

I chuckled and headed to my closet.

When another, more demanding, knock came, I looked over at Theo. He shrugged. Sighing, I shuffled over to the door and swung it wide. Dusty, our resident advisor, was standing at the doorway, looking as befuddled as usual.

Cocking an eyebrow at him, I said, “Yeah?”

“I figured you’d be in here,” Dusty said, grinning impishly. “Student Affairs wants a meeting with you.”

He looked over my shoulder at Theo on the bed, a look of surprise on his face for a moment.

“And you,” he said, getting himself together. “At ten o’clock.”

My stomach sank and I glanced over my shoulder at Theo to see his face falling. Knowing there was no point in ignoring the request for a meeting with Student Affairs, I turned back to Dusty.