Page 122 of Stop and Seek
“It’s the least cursed part of my brain.”
The new phone was a piece of shit. Not in the oldI upgraded and I have no clue what the hell I’m doingsort of way, but it took him fifteen minutes to figure out how to take a fucking screenshot. All he wanted to do was hold the same button he’d been holding for six years and have it work. The swipe and gestures were pissing him off.
Theo chucked the phone onto the couch, eyeing at the re-runs of the reality show flashing across his television. He could quote most of it.
How sad was that?
How sad was his fuckinglife?
It wasn’t doing it for him. He loved watching the luxury when it was onscreen, but after experiencing it up close? That was scary. The high life wasn’t all about lunches and shopping and petty drama with a camera crew discreetly documenting it. There werea lotof people everywhere, watching what he did at all times. If he wanted to live under a microscope, he would’ve considered becoming a scientist.
Alyssa had invited him out. He kept thinking about the text, her anime GIF taking up sparkly space on the screen.
Did his mood have to do with the fact he texted Noah and got no response?
No.
Maybe.
Probably.
Yes. Yes it did.
God. I miss him. What the fuck.
Theo wasn’t going to do this again. He wasn’t going to die on his couch, waiting for a guy to text him back. He wasn’t this sad, little kid anymore.
He was an adult.
Theo
ill go w/ u
Alyssa’s response was instant.
Alyssa
Hell yes!!!
Of all the nights forAlyssa to pick a new damn place, this was probably the only time he wasn’t going to tear into her. Theo sat frozen in her car, staring up at the sign hedid not recognizein a part of Cleveland hedid not recognizeuntil she dragged him out.
The weed they’d smoked—going seventy miles an hour down the highway—was probably messing with his perception, but it looked a hell of a lot bigger than their usual haunts.
“It’s packed,” Theo said, eyeing the mess of people in the endless goddamn line.
“Yeah, it’s kinda fun, right?” She grinned up at him and looped her arm through his. “Come on. You sounded so like, sad in your texts,andI counted six death threats on the way here. You need this.”
“But it’s—it’spacked,” Theo repeated. He knew Alyssa heard him the first time, but he couldn’t get past it. Suddenly, this didn’t feel like such a good idea anymore. He assumed they’d be at The Rat’s Nest, or a different dive bar, not the busiest club in the city.
He checked his phone and—low and behold—three messages from Noah.
Finally.
Theo chewed on the inside of his cheek, tapping out a few lines. Deleted them. They sounded too clingy.
“Theo.Earth to Theo!” Alyssa snapped her fingers in his face. “You lightweight. I don’t see you for two days and now you can’t handle some Mary Jane?”
“No, no. I’m good,” he mumbled.
