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“You son of a bitch,” Auggie said. “I’m never going to walk again.”
“I think we already had a conversation about bad language and spankings, didn’t we?”
Auggie doubled down on the scowl.
“So, Leon disappearing isn’t quite as…dramatic as Colt and Ashley made it sound.” Theo frowned. “Are we even sure he disappeared? Or do these kids all think he did because he dropped out?”
Auggie limped in a circle. Moaning. Dramatically.
“Enough.” Theo caught his arm and sat him on the edge of his desk. He took Auggie’s thigh in both hands and began to rub. “You realize this is why people like bullying you? You give them exactly what they want.”
Auggie looked up from under fluttering lashes. “But Dr. Stratford, it doesn’t hurt right there. A little bit higher.”
Theo made a disgusted noise and let go of Auggie’s leg.
“Should I lie face down on your desk?” Auggie asked from under those thick, dark lashes.
“You’re going to hell.”
Of course, that only made him laugh.
“This has been very productive,” Theo finally said to his still giggling boyfriend. “I’ll see you at home.”
“No, no, no, wait.” Auggie composed himself. “So, Leon Purdue drops out of school in the spring, right? But Shaniyah didn’t start investigating his disappearance until recently. Why?”
Theo shook his head. “You’re sure she didn’t say anything to you about any of this? She didn’t show you any clips, or talk to you about ideas for an investigation, anything?”
Auggie gave him both eyebrows this time as he rubbed his thigh.
“Sorry,” Theo said. “I know. I’m just frustrated.”
“Me too. Honestly, the amateur investigation thing isn’t a bad idea; I wish she’d talked to me about it.”
“Do you want to think about rephrasing that?” Theo said. “If my memory serves, every time we got involved in an ‘amateur investigation’—”
“Don’t do air quotes. Air quotes are petty.”
“—it ended very badly, Auggie. Usually for you.”
A look Theo couldn’t parse crossed Auggie’s face; his hands, still massaging his thigh, slowed. “What I meant,” he said like someone building a bridge in thin air, “is TikTok investigations are actually…well, hot right now. That’s kind of a gross way to describe it, but you know what I mean.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“Not at all. It’s not really investigating, actually, but that’s what people call them. For the most part, it’s speculating. People do a video—maybe with a clip from news footage, a still from a video, a photograph—and they analyze it, or they point out something they think the police missed. Usually, it’s bonkers stuff, you know, totally far-fetched theories, or connections that would be impossible to ever prove. But people eat it up. If Shaniyah’s doing something like that about a boy from her own high school, well, it might actually be better material for scholarships, portfolio submissions, that kind of thing.”
“It sounds like a lot of people ‘creating content’—”
“What did I just say about air quotes?”
“—out of someone else’s pain and suffering.”
“Which is super shitty,” Auggie said. “Yep. ButDatelinehas been doing it for a lot longer, andForensic Files, and Truman Capote, and before that there were the penny dreadfuls, and the broadsheets—”
“All right,” Theo said, and it sounded a little like a growl.
Auggie smirked.
“Do you have anything else you’d like to add?”
