7. Torrid Love Affair #3
“Yes. Group thing. The campus pub has too many people for you, and the park doesn’t have enough to do, which would put too much pressure on you to talk.
What about a café or book store?” His phone buzzed, and he took it out of his pocket, prepared to press ignore, but then he saw who it was.
If he didn’t answer his dad’s call, there was no telling when he would hear from him again.
Which was fine, of course. He didn’t need to talk to his dad often.
But still. “Sorry. One second.” He answered. “Hey.”
“Heya, kiddo. How’s school?” His echoing voice was almost drowned out by traffic. His dad almost never called anyone standing on solid ground.
“Good.”
“Living with those boys again?”
“Yeah, we got a house near campus.” A house which suddenly felt way too hot, so he got up and opened the window, resisting the urge to stick his head outside.
“Oh, that’s great. Really great. It’s important to make solid friends in university, because let me tell you, it doesn’t get any easier once you’re older. What about dates? Any boyfriends I should be meeting?”
“Early days, Dad.”
“Right, right. Don’t want to tie yourself down.” The silence that followed was likely him wincing. Reminding your son that you left his mom when you were a baby wasn’t a stellar conversation tactic. He recovered quickly, though. He always did. “Still doing communications, right?”
“Yep.”
“Ah, great. That’s really great. And ah, your friend Dae… Still doing languages?”
“Linguistics, yeah.” He could hear his dad tapping on the steering wheel, probably psyching himself up for something. Outside, a muscular woman walked by with an enormous dog marching in front of her, its tail in the air and ears up. Theo wanted to be that woman. Wanted to have that dog.
“And Jason… He’s doing nutrition stuff righ—”
“What’s new with you, Dad?” He couldn’t stand it when his dad tried to prove that he actually listened when Theo talked.
“Well, I’m working on a proposal right now for a picky client.
Really have to dig into my old school days to remember how to write properly.
” His laugh was rough and forced. “This could be important for the company, so of course I’m a big ol’ ball of stress, if you know what I mean.
My brain is mush from staring at it so much. ”
Dae was focusing way too hard on his laptop not to be listening. He hadn’t even turned the show back on. Theo should’ve left the kitchen for this conversation, but he didn’t want to seem like he had something to hide.
“Do you want me to read over it for you?”
“Oh, Theo, would you? You’re so great with words, so I know you could spice it up a lot better than your old man.”
“Yeah, no problem.”
“Thing is…” His words were drowned out by a siren and then they came back rushed and almost breathless. “...so I have to send it to my client by tomorrow. Is that doable? I could pull over and send it right now.”
“Okay.” Theo’s face was hot, and he couldn’t figure out why.
“You’re sure you have the time? I don’t want to get in the way of your homework or anything.”
“Classes haven’t started.”
“You’re a lifesaver, an absolute lifesaver. I owe you.” A horn blared, and his dad swore then tried to laugh it off. “Never buy a car, Theo. It’s not worth it in the city. Anyway, thanks again. You’re the best!”
The line went silent, but for some reason, Theo felt the need to put on a show for Dae, so he smiled into the blank phone.
“No problem. See you later.” If Dae had heard and knew Theo was full of shit, he was gracious enough not to call him on it.
“He just needs me to proof something. Won’t take too…
” He opened the email and nearly dropped his phone.
“Jesus. It’s fifty pages long.” How was he going to ‘spice it up’ in one day?
This was going to take an all-nighter and a dangerous amount of caffeine. “Oh shit. The group thing.”
“Right.” Dae’s expression was so vulnerable, it made Theo want to throw his phone out the window. “Theo, you’re busy. Changing your life so I can go on a date falls into the category of babysitting, which I told you not to do.”
He hated this so much. “Promise me you’ll still go.”
Dae whispered something in Korean that came out as more of a sigh, then, in a voice that was so, so small. “You really want me to date?”
“Of course I do.” It came out too fast, too loud, too desperate to replace the barrier he’d lost last night; the one he’d thought would keep their friendship safe. “You deserve to be with someone amazing, Dae.”
His smile was sad. “Trying to get rid of me?”
“What? No. We’re friends for life. You’re never getting out of this.”
“Friends for life.” He locked onto Theo’s eyes, studying.
He did that sometimes, looked straight into him and read everything Theo was trying to show him, and probably everything else too.
It was unnerving, making his heart kick and his skin burn, but he held on anyway, because not being able to hold his gaze would’ve fallen under the weird category, and Theo was being so fucking normal.
Dae finally nodded and pointed up the stairs. “Go be a dutiful son. I promise I’ll charm Jacinda the only way I know how.”
“By not saying a single word.”
He shrugged. “It worked so far.”
??? ???
It took Theo a while to focus on the proposal once he sat at his desk.
It was an absolute slog, and he kept thinking about Dae’s sad smile.
Did he really think Theo was bored of him?
That he wanted to pawn him off on someone else?
Impossible. Dae was still wildly intriguing, even now that Theo knew he wasn’t a spy or superhero or champion yodeller.
Theo’s track record of keeping people in his life wasn’t great.
He supposed he inherited that from his dad.
But with Dae, Jason, and Caleb, he felt like he finally had something solid.
All he had to do was keep himself in check, and they could stay this way for as much of forever as they were given.
So, sure, helping Dae with his love life was self-serving, but it would also make him happy, so Theo refused to feel bad about it.
He worked on his dad’s proposal all day, pausing every so often to eat some toast or do some jumping jacks (okay, exactly four jumping jacks) or give input about outfits for the group thing. Dae didn’t even need to be convinced not to wear a sweater.
Growth.
Spicing up the proposal meant chopping his dad’s long-winded tangents and making sure he wasn’t burying the lead. He had to look up most of the terms, and by the time he got to the risk management portion, his vision was blurring and his back ached.
He could imagine the eye-roll his aunt would give him if she knew he was helping his dad yet again. He’d never do it for you, she’d say, and his mom would click her tongue, but not deny it. And Theo would nod and promise this was the last time.
Every single time.
The smell of hazelnut announced Dae’s arrival before he softly tapped on the door. He was dreamy in fitted jeans, a button-up shirt, and a fall jacket. One strand of hair fell over his forehead and he brushed it back like some kind of unattainable lead in a romcom.
“Still alive?”
“Sort of. You’re back early. Did it not go well?” Dae cocked his head in confusion, and Theo swivelled to look at the clock. One in the morning. He was barely three quarters of the way through. “Fuck me.”
“I thought you could use this.” Dae set the Learning is a Hoot mug down on the desk, then sat on the reclining chair they’d scored at a yard sale.
The footrest wouldn’t stay tucked in anymore, so he had to sit on the arm and then fall into the cushions.
Only Dae could make it seem like a perfectly natural thing to do.
“How’d it go?” Theo needed something—anything—to distract him from the jargon on his screen.
“Fine.” His tone was matter-of-fact. “Jacinda’s nice. Her friends are funny. Jason and Caleb made sure there weren’t any weird silences.”
“And do you like her?” It sounded like a loaded question, even though there was absolutely no reason for it to be.
Dae thought about it, then nodded. “I think I could like her.”
“How romantic.”
He shot him a sardonic glare. “We don’t all make romantic decisions within the first ten seconds of seeing someone.”
“Yes we do; some of us just don’t admit it.”
Dae went somewhere in his mind, or heart, or the depths of his soul, then his mouth was tight, one corner turning up, swallowing the freckle under his lip, his dimple flirting with the idea of appearing.
Theo wanted so desperately to know what was going on in his mind to produce that almost-smile, but Dae shook it off and somehow climbed out of the chair with the kind of grace Theo would never, ever be able to master.
“I’ll leave you to it.” He nodded to the latte. “Take your medicine.”