Page 2 of Stop and Seek
Sighing, Theo dropped onto the couch and ran his fingers through his hair.
It was fine.
Everything was fuckingfine.
All he wanted to do was get out of run-down Podunk-ass Eunice. That was it. Get. Out. He could get his shit together somewhere else. Anywhere else.
Nothing happened here.
Ever.
The biggest headline was the overcrowded high school parking lot, because the kids didn’t go back for another month and apparently people hadopinionsabout that.
Wow. Fuckingthrilling.
If rent wasn’t so high everywhere else, he’d pack up and leave tonight.
He untangled a knot in his hair with a grimace and pulled out his phone. The screen glared back at him: junk emails with subject lines that screamed in all caps and a lone notification from an app he didn’t remember downloading. Probably another ad for snuff porn.
Said a lot about his life.
He scrolled until he found Rachel’s texts.
Theo
wat time?
Rachel’s reply was immediate.
Rachie
10. you driving or me Teddy?
He groaned.
Teddy.
No matter how many times he told her to stop, she insisted on calling him that. Like he was someone’s grandpa. Or a Golden Retriever with separation anxiety. Which—fine,fair—wasn’t entirely wrong, but still.
Theo
u pls car is screwed
He didn’t wait for the next message. Stuffing the phone back into his pocket, he slumped deeper into the couch until the cushions wrapped around him like a worn-out body bag.
There was enough time to nap. At least for a little while.
The constant all-nighters were getting harder and harder to maintain. As a teen? No problem. He could stay up for days and still somehow ace a history quiz blasted out of his mind on someone else’s prescription of Adderal.
As a semi-functional adult on diet made entirely of caffeine and delivery food? Not so much.
“Wakey wakey snuggle-bunny.”
Rachel’s voice slid into his ear. Her nail jabbed at his cheek—sharp and annoying as hell. He was already awake, thank you very much. Had been for a few minutes, staring at the inside of his eyelids like they could swallow him whole. But then her fingers dug into his chin and pinched, hard.
“Stop, dammit.” Theo hissed and yanked his head away. He squinted up at her, blinking until the light stopped burning. Her face never came into focus.
He patted blindly across the couch cushions until his fingers found the familiar bend of his glasses. One temple slightly crooked from the last time he’d rolled over them in his sleep. Still wearable. Kinda. He shoved them on.
