Page 33 of Talk to Me

“You can stay here,” I said with a shrug. “If you want.”

Theo considered that for a minute.

“What if your roommate comes back?” he asked.

Snorting, I said, “Collin’s with his boyfriend. He won’t be back until tomorrow afternoon. If he comes back at all. But we can go top and tail in case?”

“Top and…tail?”

“You can sleep in my bed but each of us with our heads at either end,” I said. “Top and tail. Your feet don’t stink, do they?”

Theo laughed. “I don’t think so?”

I gave him a once over.

“You’ve got jeans and a t-shirt. You going to be comfortable?”

He shrugged. “I’ve slept in worse.”

I rolled my eyes and went over to my dresser. Within a second, I’d yanked out a pair of basket shorts and tossed them to him.

“Come on,” I said after digging around in my bathroom supplies.

Theo followed me out of the dorm and down to the bathrooms. He changed out of his jeans and into the shorts, then joined me at the sinks. I gave him a fresh toothbrush from my stash and we brushed our teeth. Then we headed back to the dorm and cleared the cards from the bed. I couldn’t help but laugh at the trouble we were going through to keep Theo from having to go up one floor to bed. However, it was really his roommate’s smoking that he was avoiding.

Once the bed was clear, we both crawled in, my head where it normally rested and Theo’s down at the foot of the bed. I reached over and turned off the bedside lamp, casting the room in near darkness. I was about to say “goodnight” when the glow on Theo’s face illuminated the room.

“Well,” he said softly, “someone already commented that I was a dick on my video.”

“Oof,” I groaned.

“But someone else told them to get a life.”

I chuckled. “Good for them.”

“A few people have commented,” Theo continued in a whisper. “Do you want to know how we’re starting out, or wait until we have a better sample size?”

“Hit me,” I whispered.

I don’t know what it is about being in bed in the dark that makes humans feel as though they have to whisper. Is it fear of attracting attention from the Boogie Man? Some innate feeling we get about not drawing attention to ourselves when we can’t see well and are vulnerable? I had no idea. But whispering back and forth in bed with Theo felt highly intimate. If our friendship didn’t get a boost from the activity, I was going to be surprised.

“Five people have said you are right,” he whispered, “one has said that they’re with me and have read the official rules.”

“Told you.” I chuckled.

Theo shifted his leg to nudge my arm with a laugh.

“Don’t touch me with your nasty foot.” I teased him.

Theo laughed, but didn’t defend himself.

“Thanks again,” he said finally. “I had a really good day.”

“Same,” I replied. “Even if you are a stickler for rules.”

He laughed. “Goodnight.”

“Night.”