24
“I don’t believe in it,”
Theo was saying as we slid into the chairs at a two-top in Midway Roasters. “I think that you made that up. You spent all of Christmas break and this last week devising that factoid. You should be ashamed.”
I chuckled as I pushed my coat off onto the chair behind me. Midway Roasters was practically empty, save the baristas behind the counter. Theo and I only had American Literature on Friday mornings. Going to the coffee shop directly after class, and as next classes were starting, basically meant that most of the other students at Midway would be occupied. They weren’t in the coffee shop taking up space, leaving it all to us.
“It’s the barycenter,”
I said. “I swear. Earth doesn’t actually revolve around the sun. Everything in the solar system revolves around a point in the galaxy called the barycenter. Even the sun. Sometimes the sun occupies the same space as it, but the sun isn’t what we’re all circling.”
“Lies!”
Theo exclaimed dramatically. “You’re trying to hoodwink me!”
I laughed at his dramatics.
“It’s a Google-able fact, bro,”
I said. “You don’t have to believe me. You can look it up.”
Theo shoved his coat off onto his chair back and took a sip of his coffee before leaning in to stare directly into my eyes.
“Where did you even learn this?”
he asked, playfully. “You’re not even a science major. I doubt you watched any documentaries over break.”
“I saw it in a journal article I was reading…for fun.”
I blushed.
Theo grinned at me.
“You read science journals?”
Theo asked. “For fun?”
“Shut up.”
I waved a dismissive hand at him and picked up my coffee for a sip.
Theo stared at me for a few moments, the grin on his face widening.
“Stop staring!”
I barked playfully.
“All right, all right.”
Theo sipped his coffee. “I won’t mention what a nerd you are. For now.”
“Thank you.”
I sighed and shot him a grin over the rim of my coffee mug.
“So,”
Theo said, “we’ve barely spoken this entire week! We haven’t caught up. How was Christmas? Did Santa think you were naughty or nice? Did you eat a lot? How’s your family?”
“Whoa,”
I said. “Calm down, sir.”
Theo grinned.
“Yeah,”
I said, “I made the Nice List. Got some new, fancy earbuds, a phone case, money, snicky-snacks. That kind of thing. New underwear and socks. You know how moms are.”
“New underwear, eh?”
Theo gave me an odd look.
I shrugged. “Yeah. We have to get practical gifts every year so Mom and Dad don’t feel like they’re spoiling us too much.”
“What kind?”
“What kind of what?” I asked.
“Underwear.”
Theo clarified, looking away casually to sip his coffee.
I stared at him blankly for a moment, wondering if it was my imagination that he was acting too nonchalant.
“The kind that keeps my junk and my butthole from having direct contact with my britches,” I said.
Theo snorted into his cup and I grinned.
“What about you?”
I asked, nudging his shin under the table with the toe of my sneaker. “Did you get anything cool from Santa?”
He shrugged and rolled his eyes.
“Mom and Dad threw some cash my way, we had Christmas lunch and they disappeared. I barely saw them the whole time I was home. I spent most of my nights going to shows or watching movies. I should have just stayed here, to be honest.”
My heart hurting for Theo, I started to reach across the table to take his hand. Thinking better of it, I grabbed my coffee cup instead. Unfortunately, Theo had noticed the gesture and smiled at me.
“It’s okay,”
he said. “I’m not all that broken up about it. We’re back now, baby!”
He lifted his hand and I gave him a high-five over the table.
Having finished our only class of the day, and it still being so early, Theo and I finished our coffees in record time. Without him requesting it, or my even thinking about it, I rose from the table and went to the counter to order a second round for us. Of course, we both had weekend homework to get started on, especially with the new semester starting, but taking advantage of the quiet coffee shop while we could was paramount.
The menu above the coffee counter proclaimed the “new flavor for a new year”
was a “Winter Wonderland Latte.” Figuring that a little adventurousness never hurt anyone, I ordered us each a cup of the beverage. I watched the barista closely as she made our drinks, but I couldn’t quite tell what was going into each cup. Deciding that Theo and I didn’t have to wait long to find out what a winter wonderland tasted like, I gave up.
Back at our table, I pushed one of the cups across it to Theo as I slid into my coat-draped chair.
“It’s a Winter Wonderland Latte,”
I said. “If it sucks, it’s free anyway.”
Theo chuckled nervously and brought his cup to his lips as I took a sip of mine. We both considered the taste for a moment, smacked our lips, and looked at each other.
“Peppermint mocha,”
we said at the same time.
Laughing, we took another sip of the delicious coffee. As I was setting my coffee cup on the table, I was about to ask Theo if he wanted to come back to my room to do homework together. However, the barista who made our drinks stepped up to our table, drawing my attention.
“Are the drinks good?”
she asked.
Theo and I both looked up at her.
“They’re delicious,”
Theo said. “I never knew winter was so good.”
“Agreed,” I said.
She smiled and stood there. Theo and I smiled back at her for a moment, then glanced at each other, wondering why she was staring at us.
“I’m sorry,”
the barista said. “I—I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for everything you’ve been dealing with, Theo.”
“What?”
Theo asked, then glanced at me.
I shrugged.
“The online bullying stuff?” she said.
The barista glanced behind herself to make sure none of her coworkers were bothered by her taking a moment away from work. Then she pulled a chair over from another two-top and sat at our table.
“Everyone being mean to you,”
she continued. “I mean, it’s hard not to notice.”
“Harder for some,”
Theo said, then sipped his drink.
I wanted to shoot Theo a look to let him know he’d been unnecessarily snarky, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. After the months of abuse he’d put up with online and in person, I couldn’t really fault him. What he’d said was also true. If people looking in from the outside found it hard to ignore, one could only imagine how it felt for him. A little snark was forgivable.
The barista didn’t take offense.
“For sure,”
she said, nodding. “I’ve been thinking about saying something to you for months, but I didn’t know if…well, it never felt like a good time. I guess now is a better late than never situation.”
Theo gave her a smile, and she relaxed.
“Thank you,” he said.
“I went through something like this when I was in high school,”
she said, tucking into the table with us as if we were old friends.
“Oh?”
Theo said.
I leaned in, putting my elbows on the table to listen to the barista.
“Yeah,”
she said, waving a dismissive hand. “Another girl started a rumor. You know how high school kids are.”
A laugh that didn’t quite sound genuine escaped her mouth.
“Anyway,”
she said, “it all eventually blows over. I just wanted you to know I know how you feel.”
When I glanced over at Theo, he was frowning at her.
“What?”
the barista asked after Theo simply stared at her for a moment.
He sighed, sipped his coffee, set it down.
“You don’t have to act like you’re not bothered,”
he said to her. “You can actually be genuine if you want. I mean, of all people who might understand, here I am.”
The barista gave him a nervous smile and looked down, suddenly wringing her hands in her lap.
“If you want to talk to me about bullying,”
Theo said, trying to be gentle, “talk about bullying. Tell me how it made you feel. Be real with me. Don’t just give me the spiel you’ve created to tell people so you sound like you’re okay now that it’s over. You came over here because you knew I’d understand. Tell me the truth. Talk to me.”
I looked over at Theo, studying his face closely as he stared at the barista. Suddenly, I found myself equally proud of and awed by him. He’d obviously spent his Christmas vacation thinking about the conversation we’d had with Arthur before Christmas. He wasn’t going to endure disingenuous conversation with people at Midway. If they wanted to connect with him, he was going to demand authenticity. I wanted to grab and hold his hand for some reason.
Instead, I turned to look at the barista.
She chewed at her lip for a moment, then looked up to meet Theo’s eyes.
“Will you make a video for your Peepers?”
she asked.
Theo began to respond, but she cut him off.
“I want those bitches back home to know they didn’t win,”
she said, an evil glint in her eye.
Theo was suddenly smiling.
“I’d love to record it for my channel,”
he said with a nod.
I grabbed my cup of wintry goodness and sat back in my chair as Theo pulled his phone from his pocket. Getting to watch Theo have a genuine interaction with one of his fans—and one who understood what he had gone through, and was going through—felt more intimate than anything I’d ever experienced in my life.
Afterwards, as we walked back to the dorms, I listened to Theo chatter on excitedly about having someone actually be real with him when being recorded for Peepers. I watched him, unable to process the feelings I’d experienced observing his interaction with the barista. By the time we got to the dorms, and I’d remembered to invite him up to study, Theo had calmed down.
We studied through the late morning and afternoon, only stopping to run down to the dining hall for food, which we brought back up to my room. Once Theo was tired of trying to keep up with my rigid studying schedule, he laid on my bed and edited the video for Peepers. By the time I finished my work to my satisfaction, it was well after dark and bedtime wasn’t just creeping up, it had lapped us.
Without discussing it, Theo and I decided he was camping out in my room again, so we made a trip down to the bathrooms to brush our teeth for bed. Back in my room, I loaned him another pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in, and I pulled back the covers to my bed. Theo took a moment to put his things away in his bag so as to keep my room tidy, then stood up, staring at me.
“What?”
Theo asked.
“What what?”
I asked, confused.
“You’ve been giving me weird looks all day,”
Theo said. “Now you’re just staring at me.”
I laughed. “I can stare if I want. You’re my friend. I own you.”
Theo waggled his head. “Is that so?”
“Legal and binding,”
I said, shifting in bed to get comfortable. “Besides, I sat through an hour of you recording a video with the barista. If I want to stare, you can let me have that.”
“Oooooh,”
Theo said, stomping over to the bed. “Someone is feisty. Are you feeling neglected today?”
I laughed.
Before I could react, Theo pounced onto the bed on top of me. Laughing, I rolled onto my side, trying to get away from him. Theo wasn’t to be denied. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled back, keeping me on the bed.
“I’ll just hold you like a baby and snuggle you so you know how important you are to me!”
he proclaimed.
Putting up less than half the fight I had in me, I tried to break free from Theo, but finally gave up as he snuggled me on the bed, holding me against him as he lay behind me. Finally, realizing that fighting him would only chase away any sleepiness and make it hard to drift off, I gave up.
“Fine,”
I said. “I give up.”
“That’s because you like it,”
Theo spoke directly into my ear. “You looooooooove snuggles.”
Laughing, I turned my head to look at him over my shoulder. Theo was grinning widely as he held me. Our eyes connected and I was suddenly aware how correct Theo had been. I didn’t mind being snuggled by him at all. Something of that must have shown on my face, because Theo’s smile melted away. It didn’t drift away from doubt. It seemed to transform into something that no longer held the playfulness from moments before.
His gaze was more intense. Penetrating. Theo was suddenly staring intensely into my eyes. I stared back for a moment, then turned my head around to lay it on the pillow.
“Well,”
I said, my voice cracking slightly, “at least if the blankets aren’t enough, you’ll keep me warm.”
Theo said nothing for a moment, then finally, clearing his throat, he chuckled.
“Yeah,”
he said simply.
He let go of me to pull the covers up and over us. I expected that once we were covered and he was laid behind me again, he would turn and face the other direction. Once we were under the covers, Theo tentatively slid his arm over me again, wrapping it around my middle. When he pulled me slightly back against him, I didn’t argue.
Theo laid his head down behind mine on the pillow, his breath warm on my neck.
“Goodnight,”
he said quietly.
I cleared my throat. “Goodnight.”
I reached over and hit the switch for the tableside lamp. Theo’s arm seemed to tighten around me. Before I could stop myself, I laid an arm over his, my fingers tempted to twine with his.
Instead, I sighed and forced myself to focus on sleep. Before long, I heard Theo’s breathing change, and I knew he was asleep. So, I twisted my fingers through his gently, and drifted off.