Page 92 of Talk to Me

“Flattered,” I said blandly.

Theo growled up at me and I finally smiled.

“Fine,” I sighed. “For once we don’t have to hit the books right away for the weekend.”

Theo whooped and leaned up to kiss me. I returned the kiss and laid my hands on his shoulders to look at him.

“What do you want to do instead?” I asked. “And choose your words wisely.”

Theo grinned up at me evilly, but didn’t make any jokes.

“How about,” he said, thinking, “we get some food, and we snuggle up and watch a movie?”

“Okay,” I said. “I can order us a pizza so neither of us has to get back out.”

I shot a glance at the window and the winter wonderland beyond. Over the last week, we’d gotten six inches of snow and the campus was like a blanket of white. The edges of the dorm window were iced over, and looking at it made me want to shiver. Not having control over the thermostat for the dorms, both Theo and I were in sweats, t-shirts, hoodies, and thick socks. Going out in the snow was completely unappealing now that we were indoors after spending the morning in the cold.

“I don’t mind going and getting us something from the dining hall,” Theo shrugged. “It won’t take too long.”

Theo patted my knees and stood and I rose from my chair to get my student I.D. for him to swipe in the dining hall. He waved me off as he pulled on his coat and slipped his feet into his sneakers before kneeling down to tie them quickly.

“I’ll just put everything on my plan,” he said. “How are they going to know I’m not eating it all myself?”

“Fair,” I said, returning my I.D. to my wallet.

As soon as his shoes were tied, Theo jumped up and dashed over to me again. Before I could stop him—not that I would’ve wanted to—he gave me another kiss and a grin. Then he headed for the door. As he stepped out into the hall, he turned in the doorway, students milling around behind him, to look at me.

“Since you’re such a great guy and you’re agreeing to be lazy instead of studying,” he said with a wink, “you can pick the movie. Have it ready when I get back!”

Then he dashed away, shutting the door behind him.

Smiling to myself, I kicked my shoes off and put them in their spot by my closet. I stripped off my hoodie and hustled over to my bed, grabbing my laptop from my desk on the way, then slid under the fresh sheet and comforter that Theo had put on the bed. Pulling the covers up to my chest under my arms, I balanced my laptop on my stomach.

I flipped through the streaming services I had available—thanks, Mom and Dad—and began to sort through movies. At first, I wasn’t certain if I wanted to go with a good, reliable movie I’d seen a million times or not. Since Theo and I would be eating—and likely paying more attention to each other than the movie—something old might be best. However, I had a list of movies I was dying to watch, and I always felt like watching something new was somehow more productive than watching something I’d seen a million times.

In the end, after flipping through everything I could think of, I decided that I’d go with a reliable movie I could watch anytime that I had the time. So, I cued up the extended edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, and set my laptop to the side. I pulled my phone out and began to flip through apps, settling on a game while I waited on Theo.

I could hear my fellow dorm dwellers out in the hall, screaming and hollering jovially to each other, making their way to their rooms. Apparently, a group of students had decided that having an impromptu meet-up nearby was ideal. I could hear several voices carrying on excitedly as I laid there, flipping my thumb across my phone, moving pieces of candy in the puzzle game.

After a while, listening to the voices in the hall and flicking candy pieces around on my phone until my battery was nearly dead, I realized Theo had been gone a while. Checking the time, and unsure of exactly when he’d left, I quickly shot him a text, asking where he was. I laid my phone on my chest, not wanting to waste the remaining battery, nor get up to charge my phone. However, after a few minutes with no response, I decided to give him a call. It was possible he hadn’t heard the single ding from receiving a text message in the loud dining hall.

I held the phone to my ear, listening to the ringing go on and on until Theo’s voicemail picked up. Frowning, I hung up my phone and stared at the screen. No text messages had come in, but I had full bars and there was nothing to indicate that I was experiencing network issues. With the snow outside, the cold weather, and the fact that the campus was abuzz with students, it was possible Theo had simply been held up. Or he’d stopped to talk to a friend or someone who wanted to be in a video on his channel.

As I began to convince myself to try calling him a second time, a notification banner popped up on my phone screen, a chirping sound accompanying it. I sat up at the sight of the Peepers notification and stared down at my screen, my brow furrowed.

I’d been tagged in a video.

A video from Ben.

With a sinking pit in my stomach, I tentatively tapped the banner with my thumb and waited as the Peepers binoculars appeared on my screen for a few moments. When the video popped up, and Ben’s face came onto the screen, I had a mere two seconds to register the picture he was sharing at the bottom of his video screen before my phone went dead.

Those two seconds had been long enough.

Shit.

“Hey, everyone!” Ben’s voice announced, saccharine sweet. “Well, we all know that I’ve tried to rise above everything and be the bigger person. I’m on my healing journey. I’m doing my best to be my best. For the last month or so, I’ve let things go in the interest of what’s best for my mental health. However, when it comes to making sure that you guys are also protected, I have to be strong and do what’s best. You guys know I love you all and wouldn’t want to keep information from you—especially information about how you’re being lied to, right?”

The picture under Ben on the screen was a somewhat fuzzy picture of two men, kissing under an awning outside of the Midway University bookstore in the rain. Theo and me.