Page 87 of Talk to Me

A laugh that didn’t quite sound genuine escaped her mouth.

“Anyway,” she said, “it all eventually blows over. I just wanted you to know I know how you feel.”

When I glanced over at Theo, he was frowning at her.

“What?” the barista asked after Theo simply stared at her for a moment.

He sighed, sipped his coffee, set it down.

“You don’t have to act like you’re not bothered,” he said to her. “You can actually be genuine if you want. I mean, of all people who might understand, here I am.”

The barista gave him a nervous smile and looked down, suddenly wringing her hands in her lap.

“If you want to talk to me about bullying,” Theo said, trying to be gentle, “talk about bullying. Tell me how it made you feel. Be real with me. Don’t just give me the spiel you’ve created to tell people so you sound like you’re okay now that it’s over. You came over here because you knew I’d understand. Tell me the truth. Talk to me.”

I looked over at Theo, studying his face closely as he stared at the barista. Suddenly, I found myself equally proud of and awed by him. He’d obviously spent his Christmas vacation thinking about the conversation we’d had with Arthur before Christmas. He wasn’t going to endure disingenuous conversation with people at Midway. If they wanted to connect with him, he was going to demand authenticity. I wanted to grab and hold his hand for some reason.

Instead, I turned to look at the barista.

She chewed at her lip for a moment, then looked up to meet Theo’s eyes.

“Will you make a video for your Peepers?” she asked.

Theo began to respond, but she cut him off.

“I want those bitches back home to know they didn’t win,” she said, an evil glint in her eye.

Theo was suddenly smiling.

“I’d love to record it for my channel,” he said with a nod.

I grabbed my cup of wintry goodness and sat back in my chair as Theo pulled his phone from his pocket. Getting to watch Theo have a genuine interaction with one of his fans—and one who understood what he had gone through, and was going through—felt more intimate than anything I’d ever experienced in my life.

Afterwards, as we walked back to the dorms, I listened to Theo chatter on excitedly about having someone actually be real with him when being recorded for Peepers. I watched him, unable to process the feelings I’d experienced observing his interaction with the barista. By the time we got to the dorms, and I’d remembered to invite him up to study, Theo had calmed down.

We studied through the late morning and afternoon, only stopping to run down to the dining hall for food, which we brought back up to my room. Once Theo was tired of trying to keep up with my rigid studying schedule, he laid on my bed and edited the video for Peepers. By the time I finished my work to my satisfaction, it was well after dark and bedtime wasn’t just creeping up, it had lapped us.

Without discussing it, Theo and I decided he was camping out in my room again, so we made a trip down to the bathrooms to brush our teeth for bed. Back in my room, I loaned him another pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in, and I pulled back the covers to my bed. Theo took a moment to put his things away in his bag so as to keep my room tidy, then stood up, staring at me.

“What?” Theo asked.

“What what?” I asked, confused.

“You’ve been giving me weird looks all day,” Theo said. “Now you’re just staring at me.”

I laughed. “I can stare if I want. You’re my friend. I own you.”

Theo waggled his head. “Is that so?”

“Legal and binding,” I said, shifting in bed to get comfortable. “Besides, I sat through an hour of you recording a video with the barista. If I want to stare, you can let me have that.”

“Oooooh,” Theo said, stomping over to the bed. “Someone is feisty. Are you feeling neglected today?”

I laughed.

Before I could react, Theo pounced onto the bed on top of me. Laughing, I rolled onto my side, trying to get away from him. Theo wasn’t to be denied. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled back, keeping me on the bed.

“I’ll just hold you like a baby and snuggle you so you know how important you are to me!” he proclaimed.