Page 59 of Stop and Seek
Noah leaned back some—
Good enough.
Theo slid under Noah’s arm.
Unlocked the door.
Andran.
Fresh air had never felt so good.
Claustrophobia? Never heard of her. Hadn’t crossed Theo’s mind. Until Benji asked him to come outside for a smoke and he almost started sobbing when he stopped onto the pavement. Outside wasgood.
As long as he wasn’t alone.
“You look like a sheet,” Benji said, chuckling when he tossed the lighter over. “Close encounter of the third kind?”
“You have no fucking clue,” Theo mumbled, lighting the cigarette and taking a drag. “I thought my heart was going to explode.”
He coughed, handed the lighter back. Nicotine wasn’t his thing. It tasted like he licked the inside of a grill. But it stopped the hamster wheel inside his head for a couple minutes.
“You told me earlier that the blueprint was wrong, did you mean it was out of date?” Benji asked. “Do you have a better one?”
Theo nodded. He pulled his phone out. Wiped his sweaty hands on his pants and held it out.
“Put your number in.”
“Thank you,” Benji murmured, eyes glued to the screen after Theo sent the file.
“I wanted to apologize for eleven years ago,” he paused. “Twelve? I’m sorry, I can’t remember if it was sophomore or junior year.”
Theo raised an eyebrow.
What the hell is this about?
Benji glanced up, crushed the dead filter against the wall and lit another.
Freight train.
“I wasn’t the greatest person in school,” Benji continued. “I remember a couple of times with you: the locker incident, the bathroom, your desk, the gym… I could go on, but we don’t have enough time. My parents were divorcing, and I ended up in the middle of a lengthy custody battle. I don’t think it’s an excuse, but it’s all I have.”
“That wasyou?”Theo choked. The cigarette burned down between his fingers, forgotten.
He’d assumed Benji was short for Benjamin, but it wasn’t an uncommon name, and that guy had been so damnround. Chunky. Bad, popular hair cut and glasses so thickTheoprobably wore a lighter prescription.
The Benji in front of him looked like he’d walked out of a GQ shoot—expensive clothes, slicked-back hair, lean as hell.
Goodgod, what did he fuckingdo?Sell his soul?
Where are the sign up forms?
“Rendezvous is up! Please gather back in the gymnasium!” Decker’s voice crackled through the ancient PA system, the speakers popping and hissing.
Theo snatched his jaw off the ground.
“That’s shit you had to go through that,” he said. “But thanks, I guess. We’re cool.”
“Thank you.” Benji smiled, blowing out the smoke. “I appreciate that.”
