26
“Do you think this is going to be problem at some point?”
Theo asked.
I was sitting at my desk in my dorm room a week later, Theo and I had once again had American Literature together, our usual coffee date, and then returned to the dorms. As I was getting my materials ready to start studying, Theo was changing the sheets on my bed. Since we’d both been sleeping in it together for a week, changing the sheets regularly was a good practice.
“A problem?”
I said, not bothering to look at him.
Theo shook out the comforter and let it drape over the bed before he began putting the pillowcase on my pillow, and then moved onto the pillow he’d stolen from Collin’s abandoned bed.
“I mean, I’ve practically moved in here,”
he said. “Your resident advisor—or roommate—might eventually say something.”
“Collin hasn’t been here in forever,”
I said. “And Dusty barely pays attention to what goes on around here. I think we’re good.”
“Good,”
Theo said as he sat down on the edge of the made bed. “Because I like staying down here with you.”
He grinned at me when I turned in my chair to look at him.
“You stay down here because your room smells like weed and dirty socks,” I said.
Theo leapt from the bed and darted across the room to me. He placed his hands on the arms of my desk chair and leaned down to put his face next to mine.
“I stay down here because of you,”
he said, grinning at me.
Then he pressed his lips against mine, letting them linger there for a moment, a soft moan rolling up his throat. When he opened his eyes, he pulled back and grinned wider.
“It does smell nicer in here, though,” he said.
I pushed him away playfully.
“I knew it!”
I exclaimed, spinning my chair back to my desk. “I’m being used for the cleanliness of my environment!”
Theo laughed and came to stand behind me, draping his arms around my neck and leaning down to place his chin on my shoulder.
“Do we have to get right into studying?”
he asked. “You don’t always have to be so responsible, you know.”
“If we get all of our work done, we have the rest of the weekend to—”
“Lay on the bed and make out and put our hands in places that—”
Theo’s hand slid down from my neck, past my chest, to my stomach, heading to lower places. I quickly grabbed his arm by the wrist and lifted it back up to my neck with a laugh.
“Taking things slowly, remember?”
I chuckled warmly, my cheeks flushing.
Theo laughed and kissed the side of my head.
Even though things had been awkward when we’d returned to my dorm after the night in the rain storm, Theo and I had ended up in my bed, half naked, kissing, and snuggling. I’d known immediately that boundaries and guidelines had to be set if we were going to embark on this new stage of our relationship. So, once things got too heated, I’d had to stop our activities to discuss with Theo how we should proceed. Though Theo seemed more certain that he was fine moving full steam ahead physically, I’d requested we take things slowly.
Kissing, hugging, holding hands, snuggling, a little light petting, I was definitely agreeable to physical intimacy to an extent. Everything else, however, would have to wait until we’d been actually dating for a little bit. Theo immediately agreed, though I knew he’d rather have gotten his own way. I didn’t blame him for his feelings. Sex feels good. Who doesn’t want to have sex?
Every relationship needs at least one person with a level head, though.
“Sorry,”
Theo said. “I know. But you didn’t say tummies were off limits.”
“If I thought that hand was going to stop at my tummy, I wouldn’t have stopped you,”
I said, spinning to face him, forcing him to back up a step. “But you and your hands possess the Devil’s mischief.”
Laughing, Theo knelt in front of me, folding his arms over my legs to look up at me. I was no fool—I knew the position he was putting himself in was to entice me, but I didn’t take the bait. Staring down at him, I said nothing.
“I’m really sorry,”
he said. “But I can’t help myself around you. Now that I got you to admit you like me back, I just want to touch you.”
“Flattered,”
I said blandly.
Theo growled up at me and I finally smiled.
“Fine,”
I sighed. “For once we don’t have to hit the books right away for the weekend.”
Theo whooped and leaned up to kiss me. I returned the kiss and laid my hands on his shoulders to look at him.
“What do you want to do instead?”
I asked. “And choose your words wisely.”
Theo grinned up at me evilly, but didn’t make any jokes.
“How about,”
he said, thinking, “we get some food, and we snuggle up and watch a movie?”
“Okay,”
I said. “I can order us a pizza so neither of us has to get back out.”
I shot a glance at the window and the winter wonderland beyond. Over the last week, we’d gotten six inches of snow and the campus was like a blanket of white. The edges of the dorm window were iced over, and looking at it made me want to shiver. Not having control over the thermostat for the dorms, both Theo and I were in sweats, t-shirts, hoodies, and thick socks. Going out in the snow was completely unappealing now that we were indoors after spending the morning in the cold.
“I don’t mind going and getting us something from the dining hall,”
Theo shrugged. “It won’t take too long.”
Theo patted my knees and stood and I rose from my chair to get my student I.D. for him to swipe in the dining hall. He waved me off as he pulled on his coat and slipped his feet into his sneakers before kneeling down to tie them quickly.
“I’ll just put everything on my plan,”
he said. “How are they going to know I’m not eating it all myself?”
“Fair,”
I said, returning my I.D. to my wallet.
As soon as his shoes were tied, Theo jumped up and dashed over to me again. Before I could stop him—not that I would’ve wanted to—he gave me another kiss and a grin. Then he headed for the door. As he stepped out into the hall, he turned in the doorway, students milling around behind him, to look at me.
“Since you’re such a great guy and you’re agreeing to be lazy instead of studying,”
he said with a wink, “you can pick the movie. Have it ready when I get back!”
Then he dashed away, shutting the door behind him.
Smiling to myself, I kicked my shoes off and put them in their spot by my closet. I stripped off my hoodie and hustled over to my bed, grabbing my laptop from my desk on the way, then slid under the fresh sheet and comforter that Theo had put on the bed. Pulling the covers up to my chest under my arms, I balanced my laptop on my stomach.
I flipped through the streaming services I had available—thanks, Mom and Dad—and began to sort through movies. At first, I wasn’t certain if I wanted to go with a good, reliable movie I’d seen a million times or not. Since Theo and I would be eating—and likely paying more attention to each other than the movie—something old might be best. However, I had a list of movies I was dying to watch, and I always felt like watching something new was somehow more productive than watching something I’d seen a million times.
In the end, after flipping through everything I could think of, I decided that I’d go with a reliable movie I could watch anytime that I had the time. So, I cued up the extended edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, and set my laptop to the side. I pulled my phone out and began to flip through apps, settling on a game while I waited on Theo.
I could hear my fellow dorm dwellers out in the hall, screaming and hollering jovially to each other, making their way to their rooms. Apparently, a group of students had decided that having an impromptu meet-up nearby was ideal. I could hear several voices carrying on excitedly as I laid there, flipping my thumb across my phone, moving pieces of candy in the puzzle game.
After a while, listening to the voices in the hall and flicking candy pieces around on my phone until my battery was nearly dead, I realized Theo had been gone a while. Checking the time, and unsure of exactly when he’d left, I quickly shot him a text, asking where he was. I laid my phone on my chest, not wanting to waste the remaining battery, nor get up to charge my phone. However, after a few minutes with no response, I decided to give him a call. It was possible he hadn’t heard the single ding from receiving a text message in the loud dining hall.
I held the phone to my ear, listening to the ringing go on and on until Theo’s voicemail picked up. Frowning, I hung up my phone and stared at the screen. No text messages had come in, but I had full bars and there was nothing to indicate that I was experiencing network issues. With the snow outside, the cold weather, and the fact that the campus was abuzz with students, it was possible Theo had simply been held up. Or he’d stopped to talk to a friend or someone who wanted to be in a video on his channel.
As I began to convince myself to try calling him a second time, a notification banner popped up on my phone screen, a chirping sound accompanying it. I sat up at the sight of the Peepers notification and stared down at my screen, my brow furrowed.
I’d been tagged in a video.
A video from Ben.
With a sinking pit in my stomach, I tentatively tapped the banner with my thumb and waited as the Peepers binoculars appeared on my screen for a few moments. When the video popped up, and Ben’s face came onto the screen, I had a mere two seconds to register the picture he was sharing at the bottom of his video screen before my phone went dead.
Those two seconds had been long enough.
Shit.