13
“Well, this man acted as though I should be terrified. As though I’d never heard some musty white dude call me a before,”
Arthur’s voice came from my phone as I stared at the video. “You’d think that kind of would be less common in New York City, even back then. But I’d say it could be even worse than rural parts of the country at times. Too many crazies in too little an area. Not enough law enforcement and the wrong kind when you were unlucky enough to run across them.”
I was annoyed at the way Peepers’ artificial intelligence censored bad words. Understanding the reasoning behind it, I still felt that when a queer person was giving what was ultimately a queer history lesson, nothing should be beeped. Especially when the race issues intersected with queer issues. And vice versa. With no way to change that, I continued to watch as I sat in the quad with my phone and earbuds Friday morning.
“That’s when he threw the bottle. When he realized I didn’t give a good what he thought of me. He saw the look on my face and threw the bottle. Leaned further out his apartment window and just threw it like a fastball. Missed my shoe by inches. And I wasn’t wearing no busted shoes, either! They were Prada! If Bang Bang hadn’t stolen them and given them to me as a birthday gift, he would have ruined hundreds of my hard-earned dollars!”
Theo’s and my laughter could be heard in the background of the video. Encouraged by our reaction, Arthur smiled and continued.
“Now, child, there comes a time in all of our lives when we all have to rise above the insults and slurs and violence. We have to turn the other cheek. Be the bigger person. Hold our heads up high, straighten our backs and be the person we promised our mommas we’d be. Well, this didn’t feel like it that night.”
More laughter in the background and more grinning from Arthur.
“When I was looking down, making sure my Prada was okay, I saw a toaster laying alongside this trashcan. I snatched it up, and—I guess ole musty white man realized what was up—and he started pushing his window down. I hurled that right through his window. Shattered the whole pane of glass. ‘Who’s the now???’ I screamed up at him. He didn’t even have the nerve to come back to the window or run downstairs and confront me. Punk .”
The laughter swelled in the video, then slowly died off as Arthur grinned. Finally, he took on a serious look and leaned in to the camera.
“Let me tell you something I figured out that night and I still live by today, boy. You hear me?”
“Yes.”
Theo’s voice came from the phone.
“They’ll tell you that you catch more flies with honey. You ever hear that before?”
Theo didn’t verbally respond, but by Arthur’s body language in the video, you could tell Theo had nodded to him.
“You’ll definitely catch flies. And those flies will tell other flies where they can get a free meal. If you want that, go right on ahead. Personally, I don’t want flies. Get the out of here if you can’t treat me right. You aren’t getting any honey from me. You can have some when you learn how to act right!”
Arthur took that moment to sit back and let that sink in with Theo and me. Finally, he said one final thing.
“Throw the toaster. Flies aren’t worth having around. And keep the honey for yourself.”
The video ended, leaving me with the thumbnail. I wanted to watch it again, but I’d already watched it seven times since Theo had edited and posted it the night before. He had added on a clip at the beginning of himself speaking to the camera in his dorm room, explaining who Arthur was and how he was a writer he’d learned about at Blaze University that he admired. Then the video he’d taken of Arthur telling his story began.
Theo hadn’t mentioned Ben, the new controversy, or anything to do with the bullying he was experiencing. He let the video speak for itself, and carried on with everything as though it was a typical day for him. As we had discussed. Having watched the video so many times since getting up Friday morning, I felt he’d made the best choice.
I removed my earbuds and stowed them in their case before slipping it into my backpack. Checking the time on my phone, I hopped up from the bench and slung my bag over my shoulder as I slid my phone into my pocket. Rushing across the quad, I got to Midway Roasters just as the line was beginning to form. Fortunately, my trip from the back of the line to receiving the two mochas was less than fifteen minutes, and I was dashing off to American Lit with ten minutes to spare.
When I got to class, I was surprised to see Theo already seated at our table, pulling his supplies out of his backpack. A few students were already filing into class, so I weaved through them down the aisle and plopped down in the seat next to him. He looked up, a smile blooming brilliantly on his face when I held the mocha out to him.
“No way!”
he said with a laugh. “I stopped by the dining hall and got us cold brews.”
He reached into his bag and held a glass bottle of the nearly black liquid out to me. I laughed as I took it from him.
“I thought the coffee shop would be too busy to stop for a real one,”
he groaned. “Thank you for being irresponsible for the both of us.”
“You’re welcome,”
I said, knocking my to-go cup against his. “Good morning.”
“Good morning,”
he said, smiling wider.
The two of us set about getting ready for the impending lecture, getting our materials out of our bags, sliding the bags out of the way under the table, and sipping our coffees. Once we were settled, I leaned over slightly and spoke out of the corner of my mouth to Theo.
“I watched the video about thirty-seven times this morning,” I said.
He turned his head to grin at me.
“Arthur’s story is even better than I remember him telling it,” I added.
“Thirty-seven times?”
Theo chuckled.
“Okay,”
I said. “Probably seven. But it’s a really good video.”
“It’s probably my favorite video I’ve ever posted,”
Theo said. “And I had almost nothing to do with it. Arthur makes for great videos.”
“Don’t tell him that,”
I said. “He’ll be preened and ready every time you visit him.”
Theo shared a chuckle with me as we sipped our coffees. Our professor finally arrived as the last student was sliding into an empty seat and quickly began her lecture. As class went by, I realized she was not opening the floor to discussions. I couldn’t help but wonder if she was a bit tentative after the previous week’s disaster. However, she kept things moving, discussing the second act of Waiting for Godot. Seeing that we were required to write a paper over our thoughts on the play, a discussion wasn’t absolutely necessary. She’d get all of our thoughts eventually.
But it made class feel odd. The fact that we were all missing out on an aspect of the classroom experience because of one dumbass’s behavior was obvious, too.
The other obvious thing in class was that people were still brave enough to turn and look at Theo and whisper. However, something was different. No one was sneering or turning up their noses or giggling. When someone turned to glance at Theo, if he turned his head to look at them, they’d actually give him something akin to a smile. They wouldn’t hold his gaze for long, but they didn’t immediately look away, whisper to a neighbor, then giggle quietly.
Halfway through class, after the fifth incident of someone turning to smile at Theo, he bent his leg to tap his knee against mine. I looked over to see him giving me an amused, quizzical look. I shrugged and turned my attention back to our professor. For the rest of class, we would look at each other and shrug each time another student would look at and smile at Theo. It made listening and taking notes harder, but less difficult than when people had been rude during classes.
When class ended and students were pushing their way out of class, rushing to get to their next classes on time, Theo and I hung back. Since American Lit was our only Friday class, we weren’t going to fight against the tsunami of bodies for no reason. As I was packing up, Theo had pulled out his phone and was flipping through it. When I looked over at him, he was smiling down at his phone.
“What’s got you so happy?” I asked.
Theo smiled at his phone a moment longer, nearly to the point that I was going to repeat my question. Finally, he spoke.
“Arthur’s video has six hundred and twenty-seven thousand views. And, like, seventy thousand likes,”
Theo said.
“That’s…good…right?” I asked.
He chuckled. “Yes, Josh. That’s good.”
“The comments,”
Theo said, looking up at me. “Everyone loves Arthur.”
“I’ve got to text him,”
I said. “He’ll absolutely shit himself knowing he’s an internet celebrity. He might already know since he keeps up with the queer news, but I don’t know how current he stays.”
“And I haven’t seen one comment calling me a dick so far,”
Theo said with a laugh as he scrolled. “And there’s thousands of comments.”
“Do you need me to do it?”
I asked, bumping him with my shoulder as he packed up his bag and rose from the table with me. “Because I don’t mind.”
Theo gave me a tooth-filled goofy grin and made a “har-har”
laugh as we exited class. Laughing, I walked with him down the hall and outside once again. Back in the sunlight, we both turned on the path towards the dorms without discussing it. I began to notice immediately as we walked that students who looked over at us were smiling, not sneering. So, I smiled back. Theo seemed oblivious, but his head was up for once.
“We should go to Pizza Insanity tonight,”
I said suddenly. “To celebrate your viral video.”
Theo chuckled. “That’s the place we always order from?”
“I forgot this is your first year here,”
I said. “Yeah. It’s really the only place around here to go eat unless you want to eat drive-thru food in your car. But you’ve had the pizza. You know it’s amazing. It’s my treat.”
“Hmmmm.”
Theo stopped and reached up to rub his chin. “I don’t know. What’s in it for me?”
I laughed at him.
“We should invite Arthur,”
he said as we started walking again. “If we’re celebrating the video, then he should be involved.”
I walked alongside him, my head turned, smiling at him.
“That’s really thoughtful,”
I said. “I’ll ask him to go when I text him to tell him he’s famous.”
Reaching the dorms, we split up after I told Theo I’d text him once I’d gotten an answer from Arthur. Up in my room, I put my bag down and flopped onto my bed. I laid on my back and shot off a text to Arthur, telling him of his newfound fame and the invitation to celebrate with free food at Pizza Insanity at whatever time was best for him. When his reply text came back, it was as blunt as an in-person response from him would be.
Free? Reasonable, maybe. But never free. Any time before seven is fine. I’m old.
Laughing, I shot back a text that we’d pick him up at five o’clock. He didn’t respond, but I knew that didn’t mean he had changed his mind. I shot off a text to Theo, telling him we were going to pick Arthur up at five and then we could go have dinner. I apologized for the senior citizen dining hour, but I knew he understood.
I spent the rest of the morning studying and doing homework. Instead of having a late breakfast, I opted for having lunch at a reasonable time, but did my best to not eat too much. Thinking of the delicious food at Pizza Insanity, I decided to save my appetite for dinner. Dinner coming so early, thanks to Arthur, also made me eat less during the morning and afternoon.
When it came time, Theo and I met up in the lobby of the dorms building and raced out to the parking lot together. Excited to pick up Arthur—and for pizza, if we’re being honest—we jumped into my car and headed to Spice House. Fortunately, Arthur was sitting on the bench outside when we arrived. Without prompting, Theo jumped out and offered Arthur the passenger seat. Arthur curtsied like a princess, making us laugh, and wiggled his way into the seat.
Theo closed the door for Arthur and hopped in the back. Once our seatbelts were fastened, we were on our way to dinner. I couldn’t say that Arthur was a fan of all of the songs I played on our trip to Pizza Insanity, but anything with a beat to dance to seem to please him. Even if he had never heard the song, he seemed to connect with those songs more than others. I wasn’t incredibly surprised by this as I’d heard all of his clubbing in New York with drag queen friends stories.
Arriving at Pizza Insanity, Theo immediately hopped out and held the door for Arthur, which again, earned him a curtsy. Arthur wiggled out of the car and stood in the parking lot of Pizza Insanity, staring up at the neon sign over the door of the industrial building. Theo held his arm out grandly and Arthur laced his through with a flourish, giggling like a school girl. I laughed at the both of them as we headed inside.
I held the door so my two friends could make a grand entrance for what was now apparently a May-December date. Being earlier in the evening, there were still plenty of seating options, though I could tell that the restaurant was going to fill up quickly. Eyeing a corner booth, I motioned for Arthur and Theo to follow me. Though the table could hold two or three more people, I chose the booth so that Theo and Arthur wouldn’t be in the center of everything.
Knowing Arthur very well, and having gotten to know Theo fairly well over the last few weeks, I knew both preferred to not be in the center of things. Social anxiety could make dining out difficult for tons of people, so the booth seemed the most reasonable. Arthur and Theo gazed around the large warehouse space full of rough wood, metal, and Edison bulbs interspersed amongst the neon and bar signs as they settled into the vinyl cushions of the booth.
“So,”
I said, picking up a menu, “I’m driving, so I’m getting a soda. But they serve lot of good beers. They have some house wines, Arthur. What would you guys want?”
“House wine?”
Arthur repeated comically as he pushed his jacket off and let it fall fashionably behind him onto the both seat. “My favorite words.”
Theo chuckled. “Can we get like a pitcher of Mountain Dew? I’ll do soda with you.”
I reached across the table to bump my fist against his.
Arthur sniffed as he gazed at the menu briefly.
“I shall have the Chablis,” he said.
They have Chablis?”
I stared down at the menu, surprised. “Holy shit, they do. I’ve been here a hundred times and never even noticed. Leave it to Arthur.”
Theo and Arthur were chuckling at me as the waitress arrived. Moments later, we had our drink order placed. Arthur quickly informed the waitress we’d also be sharing a jumbo Supreme pizza because “these children need their vegetables,”
eliciting a laugh from Theo, me, and the waitress, then she dashed off to place our order.
When our waitress arrived, putting the small chalice-like wine glass full of Chablis in front of Arthur, and the pitcher of neon green liquid and two cups full of ice between Theo and I, the party had begun. Theo was expertly pouring us sodas and Arthur was smacking his lips at his first taste of the wine when I noticed we were getting attention. I’d looked up at Theo, and a fluff of hair and a pair of eyes caught my attention over his shoulder.
A woman was in the booth behind him, turned in her seat, staring at us. Frowning, I stared back at her, though she didn’t notice. Her eyes were on Arthur and Theo. I suppose she stared so long, and I stared at her so long, that Arthur finally took notice. He looked over at me, saw my expression, and followed my eyes to check out what they’d seen.
“Well,”
Arthur spoke up, “little girl, if you have something to say, say it.”
I jerked at the sound of his voice. As did the woman behind Theo.
To her credit, the “little girl”
didn’t get offended, or dip away out of sight. She’d been caught, and she wasn’t going to pretend she hadn’t been. Instead, she rose higher so that her whole head came into view. Her tight, dark curls bobbed on her head as she smiled over the booth divider at Arthur.
“Are you Arthur Thompson?”
she asked.
“I am,” he said.
She let out a short squeal, then turned her head to speak to her table. “I told you guys that was him!”
Arthur, Theo, and I exchanged looks.
“We just love your books so much!”
The girl had turned back around and was fully kneeling in her booth to look over at Arthur. “And I looooooooooved the Peepers video!”
Before Arthur could respond, or anyone could do anything, really, the girl was practically pushing her friend out of the booth so she could slide out. Suddenly, she was standing at the end of our table and vibrating with joy. As if she couldn’t help herself and had lost all manners, she slid into the booth next to me so that she could speak to Arthur across the table. I looked over at Theo and we both grinned goofily as the girl laid a hand on the table close to Arthur.
“My book club,”
she said dramatically, the curls on her head bouncing, “loves your books so much. I just saw your video on Peepers this morning and I was thinking all day about how lucky I would be if I’d gotten to sit and talk to you like that and—”
“This is the young man who had the good fortune.”
Arthur interrupted her to nudge Theo.
Theo sat up in his seat and smiled. The girl’s attention was suddenly on him, and as I examined the girl, I realized I vaguely recognized her from Midway. We’d been in one or two classes together over the course of the last few years. Searching my memory, I realized she also ran the monthly student book club on campus as well.
“Oh my gosh.”
She shook both of her fists in front of her chest with glee. “You’re Theo Hendrix! I love your Peepers account! The animal videos are sooooooo cute!”
“Thank you,”
Theo said.
Then her attention was back on Arthur, and Theo and I were exchanging amused looks once again. Before I knew what was happening, the other students who were sharing her booth had slid out of their seats to come over to our booth. A couple pushed in, filling our booth to capacity and the others were pulling up chairs at the end of the table.
I sat back in my seat, wedged against the wall, smiling as Theo and Arthur answered all of the questions the group had for them. Most of the questions were for Arthur—this was a book club joining us, after all—but several of the appreciative comments were also about Theo’s Peepers account. Our pizza arrived, and somehow, our two tables became one, their food and our food becoming everyone’s food.
When I’d invited Theo to dinner, and then we invited Arthur, I’d expected to spend an hour having pizza, drinks, and then going back home for an early Friday evening. When more students began arriving at Pizza Insanity for their Friday night fix, they were drawn to us like moths to a flame, curious as to what was going on in the corner of the restaurant.
As everyone began to discover that Arthur and Theo were trapped and available to answer all of their questions, the crowd swelled. In the end, we spent more than four hours at Pizza Insanity, sharing drinks, food, listening to comments and answering questions from a rotating group of college students. At first, I could tell that Arthur and Theo were overwhelmed. Maybe even a bit anxious from all of the attention. In the end, they were both laughing and enjoying the nice things that all of the students from Midway had to say.
I was happy to sit and eat and listen to Arthur’s stories about his writing career and his time in New York with everyone. There was plenty of soda and food, and no one was calling anyone names. Theo and I kept exchanging looks across the table, amazed at how quickly the shift in opinions about him had come. Regardless, it was a nice change from what we’d experienced on campus so far in the year, and a huge change for him overall.
After four hours, I played the bad guy for Arthur and Theo. I could tell they were getting tired, though the crowd had not shrunk any. I suggested that we had to get to that “thing”
we had planned, so the crowd was forced to let us exit the booth and vacate. The crowd of students was disappointed, but they were so pleased with getting to meet and speak with Arthur, they ended up paying our tab for us. Actually, Arthur made a fuss searching for his wallet, as if he misplaced it, and twenty college students fell over themselves, dying to help him out.
As he slid from the booth on our way out, he gave me a sly wink.
When we were dropping him off at Spice House, Arthur’s head was beginning to nod in the car as he rode in the dark in the passenger seat. Parking outside of his place, Arthur woke groggily with a yawn and a smacking of his lips. Theo held the door for him to get out once again, offering to walk him inside. Arthur waved him off as he stretched outside the car.
“Well, hopefully, the warden won’t be too mad,”
Arthur said. “I told them I would be gone for an hour or two for dinner.”
Theo and I laughed and waited until he was safely inside Spice House before Theo slid into the passenger seat. We rode back to Midway, mostly listening to music on the radio. After parking my car, we walked across the dark campus, dipping in and out of the glowing orange pools cast by the sodium lamps. Most of Midway’s students were still out at Pizza Insanity, at the movies, hanging out at frat or sorority houses, or doing anything but hanging out on campus.
When we reached the dorms, Theo stopped before going inside, instead opting to plop down on one of the concrete planters by the door. I stopped and turned to look at him, a smile on my face.
“I had a really, really, really good night, Josh,”
Theo said, smiling up at me. “Thank you.”
“I didn’t do much,”
I said with a shrug. “Couldn’t. I was trapped against the wall.”
He laughed and then stared at me, as if examining me.
“You should do some Peepers videos with me,”
he said. “You always seem to know what people want to see in my videos anyway.”
I shook my head violently.
“Noooooo, thank you.”
I held my hands out in protest.
He cocked his head to the side. “Why not?”
“That kind of attention does not appeal to me,”
I said, then realized how that might sound. “Not that there’s anything wrong with it. You know, wanting to be an influencer and everything, it’s fine. It’s just not for me. But I’m glad that anything I’ve suggested is helpful. I just…no. Fame of any level makes my skin crawl. I don’t even have any social media, really. I like just being me doing my thing and being left alone.”
Theo examined me a moment longer.
“Why were you nice to me?”
Theo asked. “You know, in American Lit?”
“Huh?”
“Aside from the whole argument in the quad, you were trying to be nice to me,”
Theo said. “When everyone else was being mean to me. I mean, obviously, I’m a horrible person. I did a horrible thing to my boyfriend. Everyone says so, right? So…why were you nice to me?”
I shrugged. “Everyone needs a friend.”
Theo cocked an eyebrow at me.
Laughing nervously, I said, “Okay. Maybe I know what it’s like to be the outsider. Growing up gay in rural Iowa, you know? It wasn’t horrible for me—it’s not the fifties or something—but I was never…people never went out of their way to make me feel welcome. I know how that feels. And you’re not a horrible person. And you needed a friend. So, that’s why.”
The smallest of smiles pulled at the corner of Theo’s lips.
“Okay,” he said.
“Okay?”
I asked. “And you’re not mad I don’t want to be in your videos?”
“No,”
he said. “Not at all. But you still have to give me your opinions on what you think I’m doing wrong and right.”
“I am very opinionated,”
I said as he stood.
Laughing, Theo didn’t make a move for the doors.
“You promised me you were taking me to dinner,”
he said, suddenly stern.
“I did. Are you trying to be an ingrate here or what?”
“No, no, no.”
He shook a chastising finger at me. “Arthur tricked everyone into paying for us. “You didn’t actually take me to dinner.”
“I drove you in my car,”
I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “If that’s not taking someone somewhere, I don’t know what is.”
“You still have to provide a free dinner,”
he said. “That you paid for.”
I stared up at Theo, unable to keep the smile from my face, even though I kept my arms aggressively across my chest.
“Okay,”
I said finally, “how about this? I have no plans. How about a couple games of Uno? We’ll even play by the official rules.”
Theo laughed. “Deal!”
I shook my head and dropped my arms. Then I jerked my head towards the doors to the dorm building.
“Let’s go, ingrate,” I said.