Page 87 of Stop and Seek
“Tease,” she huffed, swatting at him. “I’m like, super excited for today. I was telling Theo my plans for the cash.”
Theo didn’t even look up from making his coffee when he mumbled, “mhm.” Just tore open sugar packet after sugar packet like a robot. One, two, three, four—jesus christ, how many was that? He dumped so much cream in the cup it changed colors completely.
Noah made a face.
“How much of your diet is sugar?” he asked, laughing a little too loud.
Theo finally glanced over and shrugged. “I don’t know.” Then took a sip, winced, and dumped in evenmoresugar. His expression didn’t change once. Nothing behind the eyes.
Blank. Distant.
Noah’s smile twitched. Something was wrong.
“Are you still half dead?”
“He’s always half dead, my poor Teddy,” Alyssa chimed in, patting Theo’s back.
“What would you use the money for, Theo?” Noah asked, trying to pull him back in. Trying to getsomething.
But all he got was another shrug.
His stomach tightened. Theo wasn’t even looking at him now—just scanning the crowd like he was hunting someone else.
“I don’t know,” Theo said eventually, voice flat. He turned to Alyssa. “I have to let Rachel know when we’re leaving before I lose her.”
And then he was gone.
Gone.
Noah stood there, hand still halfway in the air like he’d been about to touch him. Like an idiot. He blinked at the space Theo used to be, then at Alyssa, then at the crowd.
What the hell just happened? He wasfinea half hour ago when they were texting.
What the fuck changed?
It wasn’t like he expected Theo to bebubbly,but this was different.
He hated it. Hated the way it made his chest feel too tight and his stomach weirdly hot.
Alyssa smacked his arm.
“You saw it too, right? Like, that was freakingweird. He was totes cool when I ran into him, and we were talking and then,bam!Nada. He’s suddenly a damn wall.”
“What were you talking about?” he asked, sharper than he meant to.
“Nothing special? Max and I running around Cleveland.” Alyssa flopped her head back dramatically, giant spike earrings dangling over her shoulders. “Maybe he’s hungover. Who knows? It’s just… weird.”
Maybe she was right. Maybe he was hungover. Theo wasdefinitelydrunk last night.
Noah’s phone buzzed before he had a chance to think too hard, and Kyran’s message flashed across his screen.
Five minutes.
Noah skated around the edge of the stacked chairs, lifting the yellow construction tape over his head like it was no big deal. He shouldered open the door to the audio visual room.
First one here.
The only thing Noah could do was stare the camera feeds.
