Page 14 of Truth or Spare

“Because I’ve already been to the other Oslo. I’ve been to lots of places, all over the world, but I haven’t experienced much of America outside of Manhattan, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.”

“We’re certainly different from all of those places,” Dewey said, then took a sip from his bottle.

“Any other probing questions or conspiracy theories you’d like to run by me?” Theo asked him. “I’m not an alien or robot either,” he whispered out of the side of his mouth, earning a wry chuckle from Dewey.

“I haven’t figured out what you are yet, but alien and robot weren’t at the top of my list.”

“Hmmm…” Theo tapped his fingers against his bottle, considering how much he could say without giving too much away. “I was born a month early, while my parents were in Italy visiting my mother’s family. My father was Austrian and I grew up rather modestly in the countryside until I went to university in England.”

“What did you study?” Dewey asked, suddenly alert.

Theo paused and winced. “Mostly business and finance,” he said vaguely and leaned away as beer sprayed from Deweys’ lips.

“What the almighty fuck are you doing here, Theo?” he laughed as he sat forward, wiping off his shirt and sleeves.

“I told you, I’m figuring out who I am and trying to be useful.”

“Come on! Youwent to universityand studied business and finance,” Dewey said, mimicking Theo’s accent. “You should be anywhere else but here.”

“And yet, here is where I am,” Theo said as he gestured around them. “Iwent to universitybecause it was expected, but I never really applied myself. I assumed I’d stay with my brothers and help them with their lives. Then, Elio started school and they all went in different directions. So, I started traveling whenever I felt like I was…” He rolled a hand as he searched for the proper expression. “Eine Ablenkung. Jemandem auf den Keks gehen. Irritating or underfoot?” he attempted.

“I can’t imagine that,” Dewey murmured. “Have you tried asking them about it? They might not feel like you’re in the way,” Dewey suggested and Theo gave him a severely skeptical look.

“I doubt very strongly thatyouwould ask.”

“Eh, you’re smarter than me,” Dewey said dismissively. “You don’t have to suffer in silence or pretend it doesn’t hurt.”

Theo groaned and shook his head. “Matteo was the one who told me to get a life. Leo probably knows because he knows mebetter than I know myself. He would have me stay with him and Jonathon, but who wants to be trapped with two love birds?” he asked, sticking out his tongue. “And why should I trouble Matteo or Eli? They’re young and should have their own adventures.”

“That, I understand,” Dewey said as he tapped the neck of his bottle against Theo’s. “I don’t want to be a burden on anyone and I don’t want people’s pity.”

“Pity about what?” Theo asked, but Dewey waved it off.

“What’s to pity? I have everything I could possibly want and my kid is going to be the world’s best engineer,” he stated.

“Prost!” Theo said, giving Dewey’s bottle another tap. “What is that?” he asked and turned in his seat when he heard a bit of a song. It had been popular in America and a novelty in England and Austria when Theo was still a student.

“Just a car driving by,” Dewey replied.

“I assumed but what was that song?”

“Oh. ‘Friends In Low Places,’” Dewey said with a chuckle. He hummed and began to sing in a low, deep rumble, causing goosebumps to spread down Theo’s arms as his hair stood.

“Brooks!” Theo jumped to his feet. “You can sing?”

He just shrugged and rumbled a lazy “I’ll be okay,” that went straight to Theo’s boxers.

“Hold on!” He yanked his phone out of his pocket and quickly found the song. “Come! Bitte!” he said and held out his hand.

“Come, and what?” Dewey asked, cocking a brow up at Theo while stretching and crossing his legs.

“I want to hear it from the beginning. Dance with me!” he urged but Dewey shook his head.

“Not much of a dancer. Not much of a singer, either.”

“You are lying!” Theo said as he pointed. “I heard you and it washot.”

Dewey shook his head quickly and squirmed. “No, it wasn’t. I was just goofing around.”

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