9
Collin used our room for studying after classes and nothing else the remainder of the week. If and when I saw him, he’d only glare at me briefly before giving me a snippy response if I bothered to try and speak to him. I’d like to say I was surprised by his behavior, but we’d had arguments before. After two years of rooming together our freshman and sophomore years, we’d had plenty of disagreements. I’d gotten used to his form of communication when he was in the wrong and simply couldn’t bring himself to apologize immediately.
Experience told me that if I waited long enough, he’d realize that he was being stupid, that he had been wrong, and he’d apologize. I’d simply have to put up with his attitude until he figured things out on his own. Eventually, I hoped that he’d start to self-reflect and future arguments wouldn’t require days or weeks of being iced out.
However, when he was mad at me, he spent his nights with his fling of the moment, so I kind of enjoyed those periods after arguments. I got to enjoy the room to myself in the evenings, jerk off at night when I wanted, and sleep better without anyone to disturb the vibe of the room. So, while I hoped he’d get better at communicating, I was going to enjoy the pros of his nonsense while I had the opportunity.
Even though I should have kept my curiosity in check, I did log in to Peepers a few times throughout the week. I’d check out Theo’s account to see if he’d made any new videos, of course, but mostly, I was spying on Collin. If he made any other questionable videos with our “friends,”
I wanted to be on top of it. Having Theo surprise me with another embarrassing video from Collin wasn’t something I wanted to experience a second time.
Fortunately, Collin’s account stayed inactive. At least when it came to video creation. I was certain he was watching other creators’ videos, but I had no way to know for sure. However, knowing that he wasn’t spouting more lies about Theo or me was comforting. I figured out how to check videos that tagged or “mentioned”
Theo, so I was able to catch anything that I might have missed. Yet again, I was relieved to find that things had kind of died down on the bullying front. At least on Peepers.
By Friday, it was apparent by the rarity of my Collin sightings that he was sneaking into the room for anything he needed while he knew I’d be gone. It should have hurt, having my best friend avoid me, but I found that I was relieved. His dramatics, his squealing, his snippiness—it was nice to be free of it for a while. So, I didn’t bother texting him to extend an olive branch. He’d either come to his senses like he had dozens of times before, or we’d end up avoiding each other until the year was over and we could go home for the summer.
That morning, I got up early enough to hit the bathrooms and thoroughly shower, shave, and groom myself for the day. Leaving the dorms thirty minutes early, I hoped that I’d have time to stop in Midway Roasters for a coffee before American Lit. However, when I breezed by the shop, the line wasn’t quite out the door, but it was long enough that it felt risky to hop inside. Instead, I went by the dining hall and grabbed a bottled cold brew.
By the time I got to class, there was plenty of time to spare, and our professor hadn’t even arrived yet. I got my binder out, read over my notes, and waited for the class to fill up in the remaining ten minutes. Noticeably, Theo still hadn’t arrived when only five minutes remained until the start time, so he hadn’t taken my advice to get to class earlier. However, he surprised me when he showed up before all of the seats had filled up.
Two coffee cups in hand, he zipped through the crowd of students and slid into the seat next to me. The fact that he had other options, but chose to sit with me made a smile bloom on my face. He turned in his seat to me, holding out one of the coffee cups to me.
“Hi,”
he said with a grin.
“Good morning,”
I replied, taking the cup from him. “Look at you.”
“Decided to brave the coffee shop,”
he leaned over to whisper as students began to fill up the other tables. “When it’s busy, and everyone’s worried about getting to class on time, they care less about who’s next to them in line.”
I chuckled. “Smart thinking. But still brave.”
He shrugged and his cheeks turned rosy. I took a moment to slip my bottled cold brew—which I had yet to open—back into my bag. If I put it in our fridge in the dorm after class, I’d have a coffee waiting on me first thing on a Saturday morning. That was never a bad thing.
Within moments, Theo had pulled out his materials and our professor was beginning class. It took a minute for everyone to settle into their seats as the professor began. When I glanced over at Theo, I was pleased to see that he was sipping his coffee and watching the professor eagerly. Any sign of anxiety or nervousness was gone, replaced with the confidence his brave venture into Midway Roasters had given him.
Smiling, I tore my eyes from him and sipped my coffee, listening to the professor as well. For the first ten minutes of class, our professor lectured briefly over the first act of Waiting for Godot, which had been our first reading assignment. Theo and I listened intently as she talked about theme, the characters, and general plot of the play, as well as a brief history of Beckett’s career. Then she opened the floor to questions and thoughts from us.
“Overall,”
our professor asked, “and so far, what do you feel the purpose or theme of the play is?”
Theo’s hand shot into the air, which pleasantly surprised me. I turned my head to look at him with a smile. He was eagerly waiting to be called upon.
Our professor smiled at him and gave him a nod.
“Yes?”
she asked. “I don’t know all of your names yet.”
“Theo,”
he said, lowering his arms.
Of course, at the sound of his voice and his name, several students turned to stare at him. Somehow, Theo seemed unaware of the sudden attention.
“Thank you, Theo,”
she replied. “Go ahead. What are your thoughts on the overall theme of the play so far?”
Theo cleared his throat.
“So far,”
he said, “it feels as though the play has no central theme. Intentionally.”
I grinned at him, watching him speak.
“It’s pointless without the audience, in the way that an audience doesn’t exist without a play to watch as a group. It aims to elicit an emotional response from each viewer in whichever way they choose to interpret it, so the theme can be different for everyone. It begs for attention from the audience, but doesn’t force itself on them.”
Our professor gave a small smile. “That’s a very—”
“He’d know a lot about begging for attention,”
a freshman a few rows in front of us mumbled, but was loud enough for absolutely everyone to hear. “Dick.”
The professor stopped and stared at the student, an angry expression bursting onto her face. Theo’s head fell and his cheeks immediately turned crimson. Without willing it, my head snapped around to glare at the freshman who had spoken up.
“You’re going to be begging for medical attention if you don’t shut up.” I hissed.
The entire class erupted into a cacophony of “ooooohs”
and hoots as the freshman seemed to shrivel in his seat. In the chaos of the eruption, Theo grabbed his materials off of the table, stuffed them into his backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and pushed away from the table. Before I could blink, he had dashed to the front of the class and out the door. He even forgot his coffee cup in his hurry to get away.
Our professor, completely flustered by the incident, and how quickly it had happened, stared at the door, her mouth moving up and down. No sound came out, but she was obviously trying to think of something helpful to say. When she realized Theo was gone and her moment with him was over, she turned her gaze to the freshman and glowered at him. I didn’t wait to see what she would say to admonish him. I stuffed my materials into my bag, slung it over my shoulder, and grabbed the two coffee cups. I walked down the aisle and gave the offensive freshman a gesture that I hoped looked like a Voodoo curse, but not threatening enough to get me called before a tribunal.
As I raced from the room, our professor ignored my departure as she ripped into the rude freshman. I could still hear her admonishing him as the door swept closed behind me and I raced down the hall to find Theo. Mentally, I knew that Theo had too much of a head start to catch him. However, I was going to do my best before he disappeared and wallowed alone in his embarrassment.
When I dashed through the doors of the English and Language Arts building, I was shocked to find Theo sitting on one of the concrete planters, his hands in his lap as he stared down at them. I’d assumed he would race all the way back to his dorm to hide. Of course, with classes still in session for another forty-five minutes, he probably felt safe sitting down for a moment to collect himself. Running into someone within the next few minutes was unlikely since everyone was in a class.
“Theo?”
I muttered as I walked over to him cautiously.
He didn’t look up, but he didn’t indicate I should leave him alone. Instead, he sighed so deeply his whole body seemed to turn into one big shrug. Not knowing what to say, I held his coffee cup out to him.
“I got your coffee,”
I said gently.
He looked up briefly, doing his best to give me a smile before taking the cup from me.
“Thanks,”
he said, and then looked down at his lap again.
“You all right?” I asked.
He gave me an actual shrug. His voice was shaky when he spoke, but he did his best.
“Yeah,”
he said. “I’ll be okay. I just…yeah. I’m fine.”
I looked around, seeing that we were completely alone. There was no one to witness Theo having a few moments to collect himself. There was no obvious way forward to help him, though. What could I possibly say about the embarrassment he had to feel in that moment? He’d gotten brave enough to engage in the class discussion—and make a good observation on top of it. However, there’s always the one dickhead that wanted to knock him down a peg.
“Look,”
I said, “American Lit is my only Friday class. If you want to go talk, I can—”
Theo stood from the planter slowly, interrupting my thoughts. He gave me another quick look and the best smile he could muster.
“I think I just need to be alone,”
he said. “If that’s okay?”
I quickly nodded. “Of course. I understand.”
He nodded back and turned to head towards the dorms. Before he could leave, he turned to speak again.
“Thanks,”
he said. “For, you know, sticking up for me.”
“Anytime,”
I replied. “Thanks for the coffee. My treat next time?”
He simply smiled and turned to walk away. I watched as Theo made his way down the path, away from the English and Language Arts building and out of sight. I gave him a few minutes head start on me, since I planned to go back to my dorm, too. Since he obviously didn’t want a walking partner, I wanted to give him time to get far enough ahead before I followed.
Going back to American Lit was probably a bad idea, anyway. It would only further disrupt our professor’s planned lesson for the day. I made a mental note to email her later to apologize for the disruption and for not returning. Hopefully, she’d understand enough to not count it towards any future grading. Of course, from the look she’d given the kid who had insulted Theo, I smiled at the thought that she might give Theo and I an automatic “A”
for what had happened.
After a few minutes, I headed off to the dorm. Fortunately, I had timed things well, and Theo had gotten back before I could accidentally bump into him again. I spent the rest of the late morning doing homework and listening to music as I cleaned my side of the room. At lunchtime, I decided that going to the dining hall was too big of an ordeal and sated my hunger with ramen from my snack cabinet and a soda from the fridge.
When lunch was consumed and I’d cleaned up after myself, I stripped down to my boxer briefs and laid in bed and read my library books for fun, ignoring my studies. I was at least caught up in every class, and for once, I decided I didn’t have to rush into the “get ahead of things”
procedure I had during the weekends. Before I knew it, I’d read half of my book and the dinner hour was approaching.
I slipped back into my shorts and t-shirt and gave myself a once over in the mirror. My hair had gotten a little tousled while reading in bed, so I gave it a brushing. I went down to the bathrooms and brushed my teeth, then came back to the room and applied deodorant in case. Grabbing my lanyard and wallet, I planned to go to the dining hall and see who I might run into there. I was hungry and wanted someone to eat with, but trying to plan something with my usual group of friends was out of the question.
Until Collin apologized, I was going to steer clear of them.
When I opened the door, I nearly ran face first into Theo. He was standing outside, his hand raised to knock on my door. We both jumped back slightly in surprise, then smiled and chuckled at the situation.
“Hey,”
I managed. “What are you doing here?”
“Four twenty-eight,”
Theo shrugged. “I remembered your room number from the other day.”
“Yeah?”
Chewing at his lip, Theo looked down at his feet, then back up at me.
“I thought,”
he began, “if you have nothing going on, maybe you’d want to study or…you know…hang out or something?”
“Sure,”
I said, which immediately brought a smile to his face. “I was going to head out to the dining hall for dinner before I studied. Do you want to come with?”
Theo’s smile disappeared.
“I’ll wait,”
he said quickly. “Just, uh, message me or something when you’re done, yeah?”
Giving him a once over, I realized that being humiliated once in a day was enough to make going to the dining hall a nerve-wracking consideration for Theo. I stepped back, pulling the door wide.
“Or,”
I said, “you can come on in and we can order a pizza for delivery?”
Theo studied me, as if wondering if I was showing him pity. I could tell he didn’t want to keep me from going to the dining hall if I was really set on it.
“Or two pizzas,”
I said. “I don’t really like sharing and it’s better than anything the dining hall will have.”
Finally smiling, he stepped into the dorm and I shut the door behind him.
“Can we at least share a two-liter of soda?” he asked.
His tone had a hint of teasing to it, which made me hopeful that he was going to be okay.
“As long as it’s not diet soda.”
I cringed.
Laughing, Theo gave me a nod. I found myself relieved that I suddenly had no reason to go to the dining hall and search for a friend to have dinner with; one had come to me.