31
“Whatever,”
I snorted. “Like you’d know that.”
But I didn’t move from the desk chair.
“I’m working on figuring out all of your nasty likes,”
Theo said, waggling his eyebrows down at me. “And I’ll never get tired of the process.”
Flushing, I didn’t answer him, but I refused to play into his flirtation. I was already doing one thing to make him happy, so flirting back was out of the question. Though Theo was my first ever real boyfriend, I’d learned a few things over the last two and a half months. The list isn’t all that long, but the most important item on it is—you never want to be too agreeable. Then they expect that bullshit all of the time. You have to keep them on their toes.
Not to say that I tried being contrary to Theo for the sake of being contrary, but a guy has to make sure his boyfriend remembers he has a mind of his own. No matter how much you love each other, how much time you spend together, and no matter how much you agree, you still have to remember you’re two separate entities. So, being difficult at times only made our relationship better. That’s what I was telling myself, anyway.
Some people call that being a “brat,”
but I stay it’s simply keeping things interesting.
Most of my closet was empty, a lot of my clothes and belongings were already packed in the suitcases lying open on the spare bed in our dorm. The dorm that once belonged to Collin and me, but had been mine and Theo’s for the last few months. I’d already taken half of my books to the student bookstore and sold them back for a tenth of what I’d paid for them. With the summer break coming before our senior year, packing needed to be done, class materials I no longer needed had to be sold or tossed, and the dorm room needed to be cleaned out.
Theo and I still had Thursday and Friday classes to take before we could call it a wrap on our junior year at Midway University. Our finals over the next two days were the easy ones, so we were spending most of our time packing and cleaning and goofing around instead of studying. After finishing up the activity I’d promised Theo I’d participate in, we were going to meet a group of friends at Pizza Insanity for, of course, pizza and soda.
Theo shifted the ring light and it suddenly came on, blinding me.
“Sorry,”
Theo said sheepishly from behind the contraption.
“Turd.”
I shielded my eyes for a second until they adjusted to the light.
Typically, Theo didn’t film his new “Talk to Me”
series in our dorm room. He’d go to other students’ rooms with his ring light and phone to interview them. So, setting up in our room was taking him a few minutes. Being a part of the weekly series on his channel wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time, but even though I didn’t want to do everything Theo requested, sometimes I relented to his ideas.
“It’ll be just a minute,”
Theo said.
“Hurry up,”
I teased him. “Pizza is calling my name!”
He chuckled as he adjusted the ring light.
After Dusty had come to my room that fateful morning after Collin had illegally recorded us without our permission, things had changed drastically for Theo and I. As requested, we went to Student Affairs after showering and eating breakfast. Fully expecting to be kicked out of university over the scandal—that we had done nothing to instigate—we were surprised to find that administration had called us in to see what they could do to bury the scandal so as to avoid a lawsuit. From the second we’d walked into the meeting with the deans and president of the school, we were treated with kid gloves.
Apparently, so many of the people who had watched the live stream on Peepers had called and messaged the school about how violated Theo and I had been that administration had to act quick. The viewers of the live stream who called and messaged pointed out that we could have been caught on live being intimate, changing clothes, or doing any number of things that would have been highly illegal and violating. Administration knew a clusterfuck when they saw it.
Theo had told them that he was used to the nonsense, so he didn’t really know what to say. I considered their position and ours for a moment before responding. I told them that I didn’t care what they did to punish Collin, but I wanted the locks to my room changed immediately and for Collin to never have a copy. Then I told them that I wanted Theo to be able to move into my room from his. Lastly, I wanted them to make it clear to the student body that anyone screaming insults on campus would be punished for harassment. And anyone who interrupted our learning experience with points, whispers, or other kinds of distracting behaviors would be reprimanded.
Obviously, administration couldn’t keep people from talking or having opinions, or posting things on Peepers. However, they could ensure that we were safe on campus in our dorm and in our classes and that our education wasn’t impacted by other students’ behaviors. Additionally, I pointed out to them that the student code of conduct addressed bullying and harassment on and off campus. If students posted anything harassing or bullying us online, we expected them to address it with the student in question.
Furthermore, since the highly violating and illegal recording had been taken in the dorm that they owned, it would be right nice of them to make sure Theo and I left Midway University after our senior year with zero student debt. When I made this last request, Theo couldn’t help but snicker in his seat next to me. Even I thought I had asked for the moon. When administration immediately agreed to everything, Theo and I told them we would gladly sign forms saying we wouldn’t sue anyone as long as they stuck to those stipulations. We also agreed to never blame Midway University for anything that happened if we spoke publicly about the situation.
We walked out of Student Affairs, found a bench in the quad, far away from everyone and everything, and laughed our asses off.
In the end, nothing had to be done about Collin. He’d disappeared from campus and no one knew where’d he gone. I figured he’d run home to his parents or something, but I couldn’t bring myself to care too much or think about it at length. As long as he was away from me and I’d never have to see my ex-best friend again, I was okay with it.
Peepers ended up banning Ben from their platform after enough people made reports of harassment, bullying, and illegal activities. The fact that he was working with another user to illegally record other people wasn’t looking too good for him, either. Both him and Collin were possibly facing legal charges—though Theo and I weren’t sure if we wanted to participate in all of that.
We just wanted things to die down. Getting back to studying, living our lives, and figuring out where our relationship was going were the most important things to us. So, we focused on moving Theo’s stuff into my dorm—our dorm—and pretending the live stream had never happened. Of course, Mom and Dad called me days after to check on me. Apparently, Evie had seen everything online and filled them in on the gossip.
I reassured them that everything was fine. In fact, for all the embarrassment, Theo and I had come out better off than we were before. They were still concerned for me, of course, but they were glad to know things were going to be fine—and that Theo and I were officially dating. In the end, I had to make a promise to bring him home for a few weeks over summer. Pretending to be put out, I huffed out a simple “fine.”
Things went back to normal right away, surprisingly. Other students would talk to Theo in line at Midway Roasters or in the halls between classes like always. However, once it was clear that Midway University had taken care of business, and Peepers had banned Ben, everyone moved on. Justice was served, Theo and I were happy, and there was nothing to keep raging on about.
After a few weeks, and several students requesting it, Theo began a new series on his Peepers channel. “Talk to Me”
was a sit-down style interview segment where he highlighted interesting students from Midway University. Unlike before, when students were expecting to say unimportant things or act a fool when he tried to record them for Peepers, Talk to Me was totally different. Students talked to him about growing up confined by religious expectations, gender, sexuality, politics, their concerns and dreams. Talk to Me was becoming an internet phenomenon.
Theo ended up having to start a YouTube channel and cross-posting the videos on all of his social media so all of his followers could watch the videos. National news organizations mentioned his videos from time to time.
I was happy for us. I was happy for him.
Until he told me that he had one big dream for Talk to Me.
He wanted me to finally allow him to record me for his channel. Interviewing me about my experience over the last year was what he knew his followers really wanted. Theo actually wanted to hear what I had to say, too.
Though it wasn’t my idea of a good time, I couldn’t say no to him. Someone besides Theo and Ben had to set the story straight. Someone who had absolutely no desire to be famous or gain followers. I’d closed my Peepers account. Letting Theo interview me would do nothing for me, other than allow me to tell my truth.
So, I said “yes.”
“We’re almost ready,”
Theo said, giving the ring light another adjustment.
“Okay,”
I replied, taking a deep breath.
My phone dinged in my pocket.
“Turn that off!”
Theo demanded playfully. “Your social life is not going to ruin this!”
“Get your manties out of their twist.”
I teased him back.
He laughed as I slipped my phone out of my pocket. When I saw the screen, I didn’t immediately turn it off. I had a text from Arthur. I unlocked my phone and opened the text.
Are you kids still picking me up at four-thirty?
Smiling at the message, I tapped out a response.
Yep! Then straight to Pizza Insanity! Everyone is excited you’re coming with us! Turning off my phone. Theo is about to interview me.
I didn’t wait for a response from Arthur. He was one of those people who understood the need to disconnect from time to time. Besides, we’d be seeing him in a few hours. We couldn’t not get one last visit in with him before we left Midway for summer.
As I was sliding my powered off phone into my pocket, Theo was sitting down in the desk chair next to the ring light. His phone was clipped into a holder in the middle of the ring of light aimed at my face. Immediately, my gut started to knot up.
“Don’t get nervous.”
Theo chuckled.
“I’m not nervous,” I said.
He grinned at me. Theo knew me well enough to know that I wanted to run for it.
“I can see it all over your face,”
he said. “Take a deep breath. It’s just you and me here.”
“And the twenty million people who will see it afterwards,”
I said, taking a deep breath as suggested.
“I don’t think I have quite that many followers yet,”
Theo said with a laugh. “Are you okay?”
Theo waited as I collected myself and took a few steadying breaths. The last thing I wanted to do was look shaky or twitchy in the recording. Nothing says “I might be lying”
like twitching and shaking. When I finally settled down and laid my hands in my lap, Theo spoke up.
“Ready?” he asked.
I nodded.
“I’m going to start the phone recording and we’ll just start the interview. It’s no big deal. Okay?” he said.
“Okay.”
Theo leaned over behind the ring light and tapped his phone.
“Okay,”
Theo said. “Tell us your name and age.”
“This sounds like the beginning to some gay-for-pay porn video,” I said.
Theo barked out a laugh. “I’m going to have to cut that out. So, let’s start over.”
Chuckling nervously, I gave him a nod.
“Tell us your name and age,”
Theo said.
“I’m Josh Montag,”
I said. “I’m twenty-one years old and I go to Midway University. But…people probably know all of that.”
Theo chuckled. “Tell me what the last several months have been like for you.”
I cocked an eyebrow at him. “They sucked.”
Theo laughed. “Really?”
I stared at him for a moment. In the space of five seconds, I thought about where I’d been when I started my junior year at Midway. Living in a shared dorm with Collin. Spending all of my time studying and focusing on the future. Not caring about dating or romance or any of that. Not really having any real friends, simply getting by with surface-level relationships with everyone.
Even though I’d been betrayed, harassed, bullied, and violated—I was in a better place. And most importantly, I had Theo. I had no idea where I’d end up—and if I’d still be with Theo when I got there—but the journey forward looked promising.
“I suppose it’s all been worth it,” I said.
Theo stared back at me for a moment, smiling. Then, unlike all of his other interviews, he got out of his chair, came over, leaned down, and gave me a quick kiss. We stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, then he cleared his throat and went back to his seat. I shifted in my chair to get comfortable as he did the same.
“So,”
Theo finally began again, “what has the last year been like for you? Really. Talk to me.”
I took a breath, staring at my lap, taking a moment to collect my thoughts. Then I looked up at Theo for a moment, turned my attention to the phone, and stared directly at the camera.
“Well—”