Page 57 of Weak Side

Theo must have felt the way my body went rigid, because his hand rested over mine for a brief second, and he squeezed it twice, bringing me back to the present. I pulled myself away from Chad’s hand around Iris’s back. He was coming in here on purpose. His small smirk in my direction told me he was enjoying this little game he was playing with me, and he thought I’d be his prize when it was all said and done. That was why he wasn’t bothered by Theo.

“See you tonight in our room?” Theo asked, tapping the inside of my leg. I looked back at him, and his eyes bounced between mine, like he was trying to read my emotions from seeing Chad. His brows folded in on themselves, and his eyes dipped down to my lips.

“Order up!”

I nodded to Theo and faked a smile. “Yeah,” I lied. “Now let me go so I can go get your fries.” I spun around and told myself not to look, but sure enough, everyone was watching us, including the lonely man in the corner booth. He eyed me suspiciously, but I didn’t focus on that as I moved on to Chad and Iris. The anger rushed in, and I gritted my teeth before standing up and leaning down to kiss Theo on the cheek. I squeezed past Rush and the groupies quickly, all while keeping my face even.

“Shit, man,” I heard him say. “I thought you didn’t date.”

I didn’t wait to see what Theo’s response was. Instead, I focused on putting on a brave face for the rest of my shift, especially in front of Chad.

The music blared from my phone as I focused on keeping my back engaged and my head up, waiting for the count to start my jeté—a leap I’d been practicing nearly all my life.

I was preparing for two different auditions. My duo with Adam, which was hard to perfect when he didn’t put in nearly as much time as I did. I didn’t blame him, though. He didn’t have as much at stake as I did. And then my solo, which was the number that I was most in tune with.

A ding came from my phone as I landed on the opposite foot, ignoring the slight sting on the outer part of my ankle. I wiped my sweaty forehead on the back of my hand and huffed my way over to my bag, hearing two more dings throughout the melody of “She”by Jake Scott. I paused the song, and silence erupted around me. I was the only one here, which wasn’t a surprise, but it did get a little eerie after hours.

Taytum: Emory just texted me and asked where you were. I’m assuming he is asking for your boyfriend.

I texted back quickly.

Me: Theo isn’t my boyfriend, and I’m practicing.

Taytum: You’re gonna end up killing yourself from exhaustion. It’s almost 10. Go back to your room. Or are you avoiding Theo?

The little voice in the back of my head taunted me as I typed.

Me:Why would I be avoiding him?

It wasn’t like we were going to be touching or acting like boyfriend and girlfriend while in our room, alone. It was all for show. No one would be watching us. We could just be platonic.Friends, even.

I sighed and clicked my phone off, not wanting to read her response. Just as I was about to press play on the song, I got another text and did a double-take at the name.

Theo: Didn’t you say you’d see me later in our room?

A drop of sweat fell onto my phone from my forehead, and I quickly wiped it off, rereading the text.

Me: Did you put your number and name in my phone?!

Theo: …where are you?

Me: When did you steal my phone? How did you even manage that?

Theo: Shouldn’t your boyfriend have your phone number?

My stomach dipped so quickly I confused it for butterflies.

Me: You are not my boyfriend, Theo.

Theo: Campus thinks I am. ;)

The next text that came in was a news article from The Bexley University Newspaper with an image of Theo in his hockey gear, storming the ice, from the last home game. I quickly read the contents and exhaled when I realized that I wasn’t in there by name. Not that my mother or Chad’s parents were even interested in Bexley U’s newspaper, but I knew there would be many questions if I was pictured with a hockey player or, even worse, if my name was listed.

Theo texted again, and I quickly closed out the article.

Theo: Where are you? I thought you nodded when I asked if I’d see you in our room later.

Me: I only said that because everyone was listening. Thought it would be a good way to keep the puck bunnies out of your bed for the night.

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