Frame Eight #2
To the left was an open kitchen with an island and two barstools, directly connected to the living room.
A couch framed the TV, and behind it stood a desk with a large monitor and a shelf displaying several cameras, from modern professional models to antiques.
Photographs covered the walls, turning his apartment into a gallery.
I couldn’t wait to check it out once I had rested.
“Did you sleep at all last night?” Theo asked as he closed the door behind him.
“Not really. I wanted to stay awake in case things got worse.”
He shook his head and pointed toward the two doors between the kitchen and the living room. “Bathroom’s straight ahead, and the bedroom is next to it. Make yourself at home.”
“A short nap on the couch is fine, really.”
“No, you need to get some proper rest. You can have the bed. Who knows, maybe I’ll climb in there with you if you behave.”
“That sounds both inviting and like a terrible idea. Do you know how dirty I feel—and probably am?”
“Take a shower, then.” Theo pointed to the bathroom. “Bath towels are in the closet on the left. I’ll make us breakfast in the meantime, and then you can take that nap.”
Twenty minutes later, I was sitting at his kitchen island, freshly showered, with a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of me, wearing his sweatpants and a green shirt that read, “This guy has a PhD,” which, in his case, I could only assume meant pretty huge dick.
My stomach demanded the food, and the shower had given me enough energy to finish the plate without falling asleep.
Once it was empty, though, Theo basically dragged me into his bedroom and onto the comfy mattress.
I lay down on the green-striped sheets and watched him pull off his shirt as he headed to the bathroom.
I told myself I would stay awake until he was done and join me, as he had promised, but I drifted off shortly after hearing the shower turn on.
When I woke up, Theo’s blanket offered a comforting warmth, but he wasn’t around. The bedroom door stood wide open, and I heard clacking and clicking in the other room, letting me know he was still there, likely working on his computer.
I hauled myself out of bed, needing two attempts to sit up. The moment my feet touched the floor, Theo appeared in the doorway. He had switched to black sweatpants—ones that actually fit him—but he was still wearing my gray shirt.
“Good morning,” he announced, contradicting the clock on his nightstand, which proclaimed it was shortly past one in the afternoon.
“Mm-hmm,” I grumbled, forcing a smile. Every muscle I moved ached, making it difficult to maintain the expression even though I was happy to see his face. Somehow, I felt even more tired after sleeping than before. “I’m getting too old to stay awake all night.”
“Don’t say that. You’re not old.” Theo jumped onto the bed and crawled toward me.
“Older than you.”
“Like, what, five years?”
“Five years can make all the difference.” I stared at my hands, the wrinkles cutting deeper than I liked.
Theo wiggled closer and wrapped his arms around my waist. His hands settled over mine, trying to interlace our fingers.
While I let him do so with my left, I took his right hand and turned his palm up to compare.
His fingers were slightly longer and thinner than mine.
His skin seemed firmer, but in comparison, he had no fewer wrinkles, neither on his palm nor on the back of his hand.
“Those years are nothing. At least at our age,” Theo said.
He stretched his legs out on the sheets, the crown of his head resting against me.
“Once you turn thirty, age doesn’t matter anymore.
You’re not thirty-four or thirty-nine; you’re just in your thirties. Didn’t you know? We are the same age.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that I feel utterly destroyed.”
“You sure that’s not just me stuffing your ass last night?” Theo said, pressing his face into my lower back, his words muffled.
“If anything,” I replied, “then that’s the thing that made me feel younger again.”
“Then there’s your solution! Just let me be your Botox.”
“Oh my—”
We both burst out laughing. He rolled onto his back and pulled me on top of him, our chests shaking together.
His hands searched for my back, holding me secure, feeling my chest tremble with laughter that didn’t want to end.
It took us a minute to calm down, but even then, we kept beaming at each other.
“Brian?” he said, caressing my shoulder blades, infusing them with warmth.
“Theo?”
His hands stopped moving. The apartment’s air conditioner whirred, filling the silence as he took a deep breath. “I like you.”
Instinctively, I closed my eyes. My brain needed to shut off every sense in order to process what he had just said. This was no casual remark; it was an invitation to something more.
I blinked my eyes open again. The smile on my lips reflected in those eyes of his that couldn’t stop looking at me, that couldn’t stop seeing something in me that I couldn’t even see in myself. Whatever this was between us, it no longer felt temporary.
“I like you too.”
His beaming face lit up the room. I pressed a kiss to his cheek and nestled my head against him, tucking my chin into his collarbone.
“I’m not sure anymore if I had said it last night already, but…” Theo mumbled into my shoulder. “Thanks for saving me. Without you, I would still be clinging to that bush.”
“You’d never have been in that situation if it weren’t for me.”
“Not true. I insisted on going up there, and I ran after the backpack when you tried to hold me back.”
“I should’ve known to leave while it was still safe, or spotted the overflowing river sooner, or realized that waiting things out in the clock tower would’ve been the safest choice from the get-go. But… I’d save you any other day too.”
His hand pressed deep into my back. “That’s one of the reasons why I like you.”
“Still, I promise that from here on out, I’ll take our safety even more seriously. If you ever want to join me again.”
“Of course I want to.” His fingers dug into my back as he lifted his head and buried it in my shoulder. “Damn. That just reminded me that my camera is still out there.”
“It will turn up somewhere. I’m sure of it.”
“Not intact,” he groaned. “I don’t want to call my insurance company. They’re always such a pain in the ass.” His head flopped back onto the mattress. “Anyway… You know that you basically just said that you will take me storm chasing again?”
“I… did, didn’t I?”
“I thought you’d refuse to take me ever again after this. But let me tell you, I can’t think of anything I want to do more.”
“Me neither. I can’t wait to see the world through your eyes.”
“Same here.” He angled his legs under my butt and lifted me enough to make me brace my arms against the mattress so I wouldn’t squash his face. He blinked his right eye shut as if searching for the next picture to take of me. “There are a lot of other things I can’t wait to do with you too.”
“Do I have to be naked for them?” I teased.
“For some, yes.”
His eyes locked on mine, and I held his gaze, trying to picture all the things he had just invited me to—not just the sex or photo shoots, but the meals we could share, the nights we could cuddle up together, the gray hairs we could spot on each other’s heads, and the pictures we would take to document it all.
There were so many pictures I wanted to take of him in the most ordinary settings.
More than anything, though, I wanted him to never take his eyes off me, whether a camera was in his hands or not.
“I’m in,” I replied, brushing my thumb over his hair. “For everything.”