10
“I’m pretty sure that’s cheating,”
Theo said.
“How is that cheating?”
I asked. “You threw down a Wild Draw 4, and I threw another down on top of it. It doubles the amount you have to draw and I pick the color.”
“That’s against the rules!”
he demanded.
“How?”
I barked back. “How is that against the rules? That’s how everyone plays the game!”
“It’s against the official rules if you would bother to read them!”
“Official rules?”
I scoffed. “Nerd. I bet you always return your cart to the corral and refold the t-shirts at the store after you look at them.”
Theo cocked an eyebrow at me.
“Well, yeah,”
he said. “Only dicks leave their carts all over the lot or just throw clothing back on the rack like an asshole.”
“Oh my god, I know,”
I sighed, admitting defeat. “It’s so annoying. Call me a nerd, too.”
“I would,”
he said, grinning evilly at me. “If you played by the official Uno rules!”
We both laughed. I was sitting at the head of my bed, cross-legged, facing Theo, who was sitting at the foot, mirroring my position. Between us on the bed lay a pile of Uno cards, the game we had been playing for over an hour.
Friday night, we’d spent hours studying before Theo went back to his dorm in the wee hours of the morning. We’d eaten nearly an entire pizza apiece, slugged down a liter of sugary soda each, and had a really good time doing it. By the time he’d left, we were practically set for the next several weeks for American Lit reading and homework. Before Theo had left, we exchanged numbers so we could message each other without opening Peepers to do it.
Which is why I woke to a text from him on Saturday morning.
Want to go to the dining hall for breakfast? Text me when you get up.
Smiling, I’d showered and primped quickly after texting him back. We ended up in the dining hall together, having breakfast like a couple of normal college students. Due to it being early-ish on a Saturday, the dining hall wasn’t all that busy. Theo had been anxious on the walk over and upon entering, but seeing the light crowd, he seemed to loosen up a bit. We were able to get through the food line and check out, then find a seat without any problems.
As we ate, I noticed a few students at other tables were staring and whispering, but we didn’t have to endure any shouted insults or name-calling. I could tell throughout breakfast that Theo was on edge, as most of his responses to the conversation I tried to keep going were monosyllabic. However, he didn’t make a dash for the exit in the middle of the meal, or try to rush through eating breakfast. As far as I was concerned, he did a great job putting on a brave face and claiming his rightful space in the dining hall for the thirty minutes we were there.
The rest of the morning, we spent roaming around campus. We grabbed a coffee at Midway Roasters, which required a bit of bravery from Theo as well. However, we only had stares and whispers again. We took our coffees and books to the quad and sat under the tree Theo loved and read a few chapters for fun. Lunch was in the dining hall again with no further incident. Saturday afternoon we went to a free showing of Amelie in the student auditorium. Sharing a bag of stale popcorn and room temperature bottled sodas, we found ourselves engrossed in the French film.
Afterwards, of course, we had to discuss how much Americans miss out on by eschewing foreign films with subtitles. Then we laughed at our pretentious proclamation, admitting that we had no idea what percentage of Americans watched foreign films. We could only make a judgment based on the fact that the auditorium had only been a third full. A nearly empty movie screening on campus probably had more to do with the beautiful weather and it being a weekend more than the fact the movie was a foreign film with subtitles.
By the time Saturday evening rolled around, we had to venture to the dining hall a third time to have dinner. Theo was feeling bold and confident after two trips to the dining hall had gone by without incident. Obviously, that meant that someone was going to try to ruin our streak. A student at a nearby table actually turned in his seat, looked directly at Theo, and called him a “dick.”
Theo, sighing, started to put his fork down, but I spun in my seat and stared the kid down.
“For God’s sake, get a life, kid.”
I waved a hand at him, indicating he should turn around “Find a better hobby than harassing strangers.”
The kid scowled at me, but having not expected any pushback, turned around. When I turned back to Theo, his cheeks were a little rosy, but he continued eating his food. The incident had killed our conversation a bit, but Theo didn’t let the rude comment completely ruin his dinner. Afterwards, we found ourselves back in my dorm, going over Economics of Information homework, trying our best to get ahead in class.
After a few hours of that, the Uno cards came out and a late-night pizza was ordered. Snacking on pizza and chugging soda again, the clock crept towards midnight as we sat on my bed, chatting and playing cards.
“I’m going to take a poll—” I began.
“And shove it up your ass, I hope?”
Theo quipped.
I laughed. “A vote, you turd! I’m going to find a sampling of students, ask them how they play Uno, and then you’ll see that everyone, or most of them anyway, play Uno my way.”
“That still doesn’t make it right.”
Theo snorted, laying his cards face-down on the bed. “It just means they also cheat. What does that prove at all?”
“Ugh,”
I groaned as I laid my hand down as well, “nothing, I guess. But you still know that I’m right. I didn’t just make those rules up. That’s how everyone plays.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
Theo stuck his nose up in the air comically. “I don’t play with cheaters and swindlers.”
“Swindlers?”
I scoffed. “Swindlers? What are you? An ole-timey bartender in an Old West saloon?”
Theo laughed, holding his stomach.
“You got a lot of nerve calling me a swindler without proof that I’m wrong,”
I said, laughing with him.
“Okay, okay,”
he said, waving me off. “Fine. Maybe a lot of people play that way. However, if I can admit that, you can admit that it is against the official rules and everyone knows it.”
“I concede nothing.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “I doubt anyone even reads the official rules. Uno is a game that has been tearing families and friend groups apart for decades, whose traditions and rules have been passed down orally since the dawn of time.”
He rolled his eyes, but I could tell Theo was amused.
“Don’t believe me.”
I shrugged. “I don’t care. You can’t prove me wrong.”
Theo frowned at me and reached up to run a hand through the flop of hair on his head, pushing it to the side and out of his eyes.
“I can prove you wrong,”
he said slowly, as if thinking hard.
“How?”
A grin bloomed on Theo’s face and he grabbed his phone from the bed where he’d laid it next to his knee. He tapped the screen and unlocked it, then scrolled on his phone for a moment. Finally, he tapped the screen once, brought his phone up level with his face, and began to speak.
“Hey, everyone!”
he said to…God knows who. “I’m playing late-night Uno with a friend. We’ve been beefing over whether or not you are allowed to play a Wild Draw 4 on another Wild Draw 4 or not. My friend says you can—because he’s a cheater. I say you can’t, because I read the official rules. Who allows this nonsense? Or are you like me and know the actual, official Uno rules?”
Then he tapped the screen again. I laughed as both hands went to Theo’s phone and he set up the video to post on Peepers.
“I’ll take a poll,”
Theo mumbled as he worked.
“The one you pulled out of your ass?”
I asked innocently.
Theo shot me a grin over the top of his phone as he posted the video. I finally heard a whooshing noise, and I assumed the video was posted.
“Now we’ll see,”
Theo said. “We’ll find out how many people agree with each of us, and you’ll be begging for my forgiveness before it’s all said and done.”
“Like fuck,”
I said. “You’re just going to embarrass yourself.”
Theo chuckled, then screwed up his mouth.
“Well,”
he said, “I mean, it is likely that most of the comments will be insults, but maybe some of my followers will give real answers.”
I reached out, intending to pat his knee, but pulled my hand back.
“Hey,”
I said. “Some people are dicks, right?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I won’t worry about it.”
We both sat there, the pile of cards, the deck, and our two hands between us on the bed. When I glanced at my phone, I realized that it was after midnight, and I suddenly realized how tired I was getting. When Theo did his best to hide a yawn, I knew that we needed to call it a night. Even if we were having fun and didn’t want to end things, sleep can’t be avoided forever.
“I saw that,”
I said. “It’s late.”
Theo smiled. “Yeah. I’m getting a little sleepy.”
“Should we call it a night?” I asked.
I didn’t want to chase Theo away. Spending time with a new friend is always exciting, but if I didn’t sleep, I would fall asleep in the middle of a round of Uno. Surely, that would not look good.
“I guess,”
Theo said. “I had a really good time today, Josh. Thanks.”
“Me, too,”
I said. “So…thank you.”
He chuckled.
“I just hope my roommate hasn’t hotboxed the room again,”
Theo said, sliding from the bed. “He thinks that toilet paper roll and dryer sheet trick keeps everyone from smelling the weed, but he’s too stoned half the time to realize it doesn’t. Thank God our advisor looks the other way.”
“Gross.”
I turned my nose up.
“Yeah,”
Theo said. “I keep all of my clothes in the wardrobe tied up in trash bags, but sometimes I still have to Febreze the shit out of them before I can wear them. It’s the worst. Smelling it all day and night sucks.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of having to keep one’s clothes practically hermetically sealed in a closet to avoid having them smell like weed.
“You can stay here,”
I said with a shrug. “If you want.”
Theo considered that for a minute.
“What if your roommate comes back?” he asked.
Snorting, I said, “Collin’s with his boyfriend. He won’t be back until tomorrow afternoon. If he comes back at all. But we can go top and tail in case?”
“Top and…tail?”
“You can sleep in my bed but each of us with our heads at either end,”
I said. “Top and tail. Your feet don’t stink, do they?”
Theo laughed. “I don’t think so?”
I gave him a once over.
“You’ve got jeans and a t-shirt. You going to be comfortable?”
He shrugged. “I’ve slept in worse.”
I rolled my eyes and went over to my dresser. Within a second, I’d yanked out a pair of basket shorts and tossed them to him.
“Come on,”
I said after digging around in my bathroom supplies.
Theo followed me out of the dorm and down to the bathrooms. He changed out of his jeans and into the shorts, then joined me at the sinks. I gave him a fresh toothbrush from my stash and we brushed our teeth. Then we headed back to the dorm and cleared the cards from the bed. I couldn’t help but laugh at the trouble we were going through to keep Theo from having to go up one floor to bed. However, it was really his roommate’s smoking that he was avoiding.
Once the bed was clear, we both crawled in, my head where it normally rested and Theo’s down at the foot of the bed. I reached over and turned off the bedside lamp, casting the room in near darkness. I was about to say “goodnight”
when the glow on Theo’s face illuminated the room.
“Well,”
he said softly, “someone already commented that I was a dick on my video.”
“Oof,”
I groaned.
“But someone else told them to get a life.”
I chuckled. “Good for them.”
“A few people have commented,”
Theo continued in a whisper. “Do you want to know how we’re starting out, or wait until we have a better sample size?”
“Hit me,”
I whispered.
I don’t know what it is about being in bed in the dark that makes humans feel as though they have to whisper.
Is it fear of attracting attention from the Boogie Man? Some innate feeling we get about not drawing attention to ourselves when we can’t see well and are vulnerable? I had no idea.
But whispering back and forth in bed with Theo felt highly intimate.
If our friendship didn’t get a boost from the activity, I was going to be surprised.
“Five people have said you are right,”
he whispered, “one has said that they’re with me and have read the official rules.”
“Told you.”
I chuckled.
Theo shifted his leg to nudge my arm with a laugh.
“Don’t touch me with your nasty foot.”
I teased him.
Theo laughed, but didn’t defend himself.
“Thanks again,”
he said finally. “I had a really good day.”
“Same,”
I replied. “Even if you are a stickler for rules.”
He laughed. “Goodnight.”
“Night.”