Page 6 of Stop and Seek
A reminder.
He should’ve been nicer.
Heneededto try. Really, really needed to claw his way out of this six-year-deep pit he’d been stewing in. But—god—not with this damn twink.
Liam’s mouth sagged open. Red, purple, and blue lights flickered across his face, making his skin look bruised and cartoonish.
“I was… n-never mind,” he said, retreating back to the glow of his phone like it might protect him.
Before the silence could go fromfuckedtoapocalyptic, Rachel and Alyssa came back, weaving through the crowd with drinks balanced in their hands.
Rachel slid into the seat beside Theo and raised one eyebrow. She brushed the red curls over her shoulder. “You guys good?”
Theo didn’t even try to fake a smile. He glanced at Liam, who was now fully absorbed in whatever dumb mobile game. “Super.”
Alyssa launched into another story, Rachel screeching andooh-ingandaah-ingat the right moments.
Theo leaned back, jacket stuck uncomfortably to his spine, and swallowed the drink Rachel handed him. She pushed another glass over and he tossed that one back too.
Burned all the way down. Didn’t help.
Worst blind date ever.
The next time he came out, he’d go alone. At least then, if he hated everything, he’d only have himself to blame.
On the drive back to Theo’s apartment, Rachel wouldn’t speak to him.
She hunched forward in the driver’s seat, stiff as a mannequin, her hands locked around the wheel. The faint, sticky pink scent of her perfume—cotton candy laced with cigarette smoke—curled in the air between them.
He tried to catch her eye. Nothing. Only the soft line of her jaw and the tremble in her nostrils when she inhaled too hard.
Theo rolled down the window instead. Warm, diesel-tinged air rushed in, carrying the hum of 1:00 a.m. highway traffic.
Nothing helped.
Ever.
“Alyssa’s taste in men is shit,” Theo tried after a while.
Rachel didn’t answer. She flexed her fingers on the steering wheel—thin silver rings catching the dashboard lights—and lit another cigarette. Menthol filled the car.
She waspissedpissed, then.
Damn.
It wasn’t his fault Liam was a whiny prick. But Rachel clearly wasn’t in the mood to hear that.
If she had screamed at him—just once, justsomething—he would’ve felt better. Would’ve known what to do.
The quiet sounded louder than any insult.
When she stopped in front of his building, the engine idled.
“Text me when you’re home,” he said, already opening the door.
Rachel didn’t look at him.
He left his hand hovering in the open window for a second longer—long enough to catch the tight, jerky nod she finally gave.
