Page 5 of Stop and Seek
“Hear what?” he muttered, tilting back the rest of his drink. A few warm drops. That was it. There wasn’t enough alcohol in the world to deal with the two of them.
“It’s all over social media. Our reunion? Ten years, baby!”
Across the table, Liam perked up. “Wow, ten years? That’s so exciting.”
Theo looked at him. Just looked. And Liam’s mouth snapped shut like he’d never said a damn word.
A high school reunion.
The absolute last thing he needed.
No way.
He’d barely survived those four years—hallway whispers, pranks that felt like hate crimes, locker-room laughter that was alwaysabouthim. Getting carted off in an ambulance senior year had sealed the coffin on his shit reputation.
So many rumors.
So many fucking sympathetic looks.
And not a single word from theoneperson who mattered.
Theo’s tongue pressed against his bottom teeth as he locked eyes with Alyssa, her compact now out, patting herself down with translucent powder.
“Yeah, no. I don’t think so.”
“You aresucha buzzkill, babe,” Alyssa said.
The spiderweb design on her cheeks caught a flicker of blue neon and made her look alien. She swiped at her under-eyes, smearing the shimmer even worse. “Everyone else is going. Plus, like, Noah posted that he's going, so you know the rest of the football team’s going to show. Didn’t you have a thing for Aaron way-back-when?”
God.
Aaron’s name made Theo’s stomach plunge to his feet.
“One of my shows is coming back,” was all he managed to say, barely audible over the music and shouted drink orders.
“Theo.” Rachel grabbed his shoulder again, squeezing hard enough that her nails dug through the thin material of his jacket and hit bone. “No one cares aboutThe Housewives of blah blah blah.You want something from the bar?”
Theo shrugged.
With an over-the-top sigh, she finally let go, and the girls disappeared into the crowd.
“Do you actually watch reality TV?” Liam asked, too loud. He finally tore his face away from whatever flashing, pixelated game he’d been tapping at.
Where was this going? It didn’t sound like a conversation, it sounded like a jab.
“Yeah.”
“Really? I always thought those shows looked cringe.”
And there it was.
Theo’s jaw clenched. The music throbbed behind his eyes, through the plastic cup in his hand. The dull ache building in his temples wasn’t migraine worthy. Yet.
“You’re wearing a dinosaur shirt and you talk like a fucking toddler. You want me to keep going on yourcringe factoror are you done?”
Even with the chaos around them—glass clinks, shouting bartenders, the reek of sweat and spilled tequila—he still heard Alyssa’s laugh.
It cut straight through the haze. Bounced around the walls and back at him, ten times louder.
