Page 72 of Cross the Line

“Uh-huh.” Theo hums, slipping Alec’s arm around his waist.

“Did you get bigger?” Alec grumbles, patting Theo’s side.

“Maybe you shrunk?”

“I don’t have room to shrink,” Alec moans pitifully. “I don’t wanna shrink.”

“You’re not shrinking,” Theo assures him, slipping his arm around Alec’s waist so his bare fingers rest on Alec’s belly, just under his crop top. “Just hold on to me and let's get you to the car.”

They make it two steps before Alec nearly falls on his face. “Stop tripping me,” Alec grumbles.

“I’m not,” Theo says, sounding like he’s trying not to laugh. “I think you forgot how to walk.”

“I’ll have you know I’m very…very…what the fuck is that word?”

“Coordinated?”

“Yes, that.” He pats Theo’s tummy. “Good man.”

Theo doesn’t argue with Alec, not even when he proceeds to trip over his own feet four more times before they make it out of the club. It’s only when they’re standing in the middle of the street that Alec stops to appreciate how good the cool night air feels on his flushed skin.

“Stop walking,” Alec says, pushing Theo away.

“What’s wrong?”

“M’hot,” Alec answers, struggling with his shirt. He yanks on it, but it gets stuck around his neck, his necklace tangled as he tugs pathetically. A moment later, big hands are smoothing the cotton down, untangling his necklace so he can yank his shirt off. He sighs in relief, throwing out his arms and taking a deep breath.

“Happy now?” Theo asks.

“I’d be happier with a Coke.”

“You had enough to drink.”

“Coke isn’t beer. I want a Coke.”

“I’m taking you home.”

“But I want a Coke.” Alec is pretty sure he’s whining, but he doesn’t care. He really wants a Coke now that he’s thought about it. Maybe the carbonation will help him feel less like someone ran over his emotions with a lawn mower. “Take me through a drive-thru.”

“I have Coke at home.”

Alec stumbles, staring at Theo through squinted eyes. “You don’t drink Coke.”

“No I don’t,” Theo agrees, his touch gentle as he spurs Alec to keep moving. His feet go forward, one after the other. Theo’s body is slotted against his own once more, his big steady hands the only thing keeping Alec from crumbling.

“Why do you have Coke, Theo?”

The answer seems obvious, but the idea that he bought it for Alec, that he thought about what Alec liked and then went and got some just in case Alec came over, is more than Alec’s alcohol-addled brain can handle. Had he thought about Alec when he bought it? Does that mean he wanted Alec to come over again?

“For you,” Theo answers.

It’s only two words, but they break something in Alec. For the longest time, he thought his heart was held together by duct tape and glue, but he knows better now. It was fused together with the lies he told himself. I can be casual. I can just be his friend. I can get over him. Those lies shatter into a million and one pieces, because of a goddamn can of Coke.

Unable to move, Alec stops walking. He pulls himself out of Theo’s hold and sits down in the middle of the road, lying on the macadam. He looks up at the sky and stares at the moon, so big and bright, and he knows without a shadow of a doubt that there is no getting over Theodore James. He can spend the rest of his life lying and running and fighting against his heart, and none of it will make a goddamn difference because he is in love with Theo. Somewhere along the line while Alec was growing up and learning how to be a person, Theo’s presence solidified itself so that Alec’s heart grew around a Theo-shaped hole that no one else will ever fit into.

“What are you doing, Alec?”

“I’m going to live here now,” Alec answers, throwing out his arms and legs so he's spreadeagle in the middle of the street.

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