Page 13 of Totally Geeked

“You knocked the table with your cast. It’s not like you meant to do it.”

“You don’t get it. This is what happens all the time. Did Gordon tell you how I did this?” he asks, holding up his casted hand.

“No.”

“I was walking in my own living room, tripped on my own feet, and fell onto my hand. I broke two fingers and my wrist. There's metal in there now.”

“Cool. So are you part cyborg now, orrrr.”

He smiles for the first time in what feels like hours. “Actually, yes, I mean to be a cyborg, you technically just have to be made up of both biological and mechanical parts.”

He picks up his coffee and takes a sip, the embarrassment lifting, and the relaxed happy Arlo slowly returns.

He widens his eyes making a“mmmm mmmm mmm” noiselike he’s just thought of something, and I wait as he sits his coffee down slowly and pulls out his phone.

“They’re doing a Terminator movie marathon thing at the old theater in two weeks. I could get us tickets. It can be my thank you for taking me to readings.”

He turns his phone to face me, a wide grin on his lips. I don’t answer right away, mostly because I’m trying to figure out if Gordon is going to try to whip my ass if I say, yes, and he findsout I’m going to the movies with his little brother. The longer I take though, the quicker his smile starts to fall.

“I’ve totally geeked out on you now, haven’t I?”

I laugh. “No it’s not that. I was just thinking of…what I have on then, but there’s nothing. Let’s do it.”

“Really?”

“I mean, as long as you agree number two is the best.”

“Oh, yeah. Eddie Furlong all the way. Second only to Genisys, but I really only like that one because you get to see Jai Courtney naked.”

His cheeks blush like he didn’t mean to say that part out loud.

“I think that's the reason we all watched that one,” I say.

Chapter six

Arlo

I climb out ofhis truck, and it's not until he’s driving away that I remember my shirt in his back seat. Fuck.

“That wasn’t a cab,” Noah says, leaning on the wall outside my apartment building. “Are you wearing someone else's shirt? Did you just hook up with someone you met at your reading? I knew I should have gotten up and taken you.”

“Why are you outside?” I ask, my eyes moving from his raised eyebrows to the bag at his feet. “Are you going back to school?”

“I’m the one asking the questions. Hey, Gordon, you want to know whose shirt he’s wearing, don’t you?” Noah asks, and Gordon’s voice comes from the speaker on Noah’s phone.

“Are you really wearing another guy's shirt?”

I walk over and take a seat on the step. Noah sits beside me and passes me his phone. Gordon’s furrowed brow stares back at me from the screen.

“I am, but only because I spilled coffee on mine right before I was supposed to do the reading, and there were no shops nearby open to get a new one.”

Noah scoffs, but Gordon nods along on the screen like he believes me. I mean, why wouldn't he? It’s not like I make it a habit to wear other men’s shirts, though this one smells so sweetly of cinnamon that I might need to start making it one.

“So, who was it?” Noah asks, nudging my side with his elbow.

“It should have been you, but you hit the drinks a little hard last night and were passed out when it was time to leave,” I reply.

“That isn’t an answer. But yeah, sorry, it was a…big night,” he replies with a slight smirk creeping onto his lips. “Who’d you call though?”