Two
sadie
My heart kept beating faster as the conveyor belt slowed, and by the time I stepped onto the tiled floor, I was on the verge of palpitations.
With every part of me taut and ready for confrontation, I turned and faced Theo. He hadn’t moved from the spot where Laura left him, hands deep in his pockets, expression unreadable.
When I didn’t immediately bolt for the door, a flicker of surprise lit his features, and he pushed off the boundary wall. “Hey,” he said.
“Hey.” I lowered my headphones, my smile disappearing as fast as it came.
I should have been messaging my sister and making sure the violence in America hadn’t impacted her, but I left my phone tucked in my pocket.
“So… I need to apologise,” I said. “I didn't mean to be rude. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
With rumpled hair the same shade as toffee and a permanent dusting of stubble on his jaw, Theo looked like he’d just rolled out of bed at any given time of the day. Paired with relaxed jeans and an oversized black tee, he gave off the vibe of someone completely comfortable in his body.
Rather than making me earn his forgiveness, a hint of humour passed over his features. “Makes sense in a pandemic,” he said. “But you were like this before everything went to shit.”
“I know, it’s just… whenever I try to say something, it always comes out wrong.”
He came closer, but not too close, taking careful steps as if he didn’t want to frighten me. His hesitation might have been funny if I could have gotten over myself. “Only with me though, right?”
“Not only you... but only you in this building.” The words slipped out before I could stop them.
He halted a couple of metres away, and a line formed between his brows. “I don’t know what that means.”
I tucked a damp tendril of hair behind my ear, wishing I’d thought to shower and change before I talked to him the first time. “I told you I don’t make sense.”
Theo smiled. “I don’t mind being confused, Sadie.”
He’d never said my name before, and hearing it in his deep, husky voice had the hairs on my forearms rising. “Well, there’s plenty more where that came from.”
“I don’t care. I’m just happy you’re talking to me.”
A siren wailed somewhere in the distance, the sound so commonplace now it should have become background noise. Every time I heard it, my stomach flipped. “If it helps, it was never about you.”
“It’s not you, it’s me.” His eyes warmed with affection. “I expected a more original line from you.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“Based on what I’ve seen,” he said, “and in my defence, getting to know you is like trying to hug a cactus.”
A laugh burst from me when I least expected it, and I looked him over in appreciation.
He seemed less hesitant today, and the tension in my shoulders loosened. “I’ll work on that,” I said.
“Good.” Theo tilted his head a fraction. “Want to share why you’ve kept your distance all this time?”
“No,” I blurted.
“Fair enough.” He grinned at my lightning-fast response. “Another time, maybe?”
“Maybe.” His t-shirt revealed the intricate artwork travelling down his arms to the backs of his hands, not a single glimpse of bare skin to be seen. I caught myself staring and forced my gaze upward. “Want to share why you stepped in with Dustin?”
The humour lingering in his eyes quickly faded. “It’s the way he gets into your personal space,” he said. “He wouldn’t do it to a man.”
I blinked in surprise. He’d noticed from the other side of the rooftop?
Dustin’s behaviour had changed in recent months, sneaking up on me in small, subtle ways.
We’d all become different people during lockdown, but where the rest of us were learning new hobbies or growing closer as a group, he’d perfected the art of pushing boundaries and dialling up the creep factor.
“If it makes you feel any better, he hasn’t been obvious about it before,” I said.
Theo’s hands remained in his pockets. A muscle twitched in his jaw. “He shouldn’t be doing it at all.”
The truth hit me hard, and I couldn’t think of a single reason to disagree with him. “I’ve been ignoring it in the hope it’ll go away.”
“How’s that working out for you?”
I blew out a loud breath. “His weird behaviour at the treadmill should tell you everything you need to know.”
We both went quiet for a moment, with only the swirling breeze and the barking of a neighbour’s dog keeping us company.
Theo pressed his lips together and directed his gaze at the TV behind me. Low voices relayed the same stories I’d watched before, a constant loop of stress and sickness that only made me worry even more about my sister. I kept my attention on Theo and shut out thoughts of Ava.
“Look,” he said, meeting my eyes again. “I know this is the first time we’ve talked, and I have no business making this request, but… promise me you won’t be alone with him?”
I glanced at the rooftop door as if Dustin might come slinking through any second. “Why would you say that?”
“He’s weird around Laura and the girls, but he’s fixated on you.”
Fixated seemed a little over the top. I opened my mouth to protest, but Theo had nothing to gain by exaggerating, and I didn’t want to be alone with Dustin anyway. “All right,” I said slowly. “If he comes up here when I’m the only one outside, I’ll text someone or leave.”
His posture relaxed, and he smiled. “Thanks.”
We’d been strangers for nearly two years, so it would take longer than two minutes to become friends, but talking to him without stumbling over my words was more progress than I expected. “You know, you’re not that hard to be around,” I confessed, realising too late it might sound like an insult.
He laughed and took me in from head to toe. “You’re not as prickly as you seem, either.”
I’d heard his easy laughter in the common areas of the building more times than I could count, but I’d never been the inspiration for it before.
“I’ll try not to be a cactus anymore,” I said, amusement tugging at my mouth.
The breeze reminded me of my damp workout clothes, and the urge to call my sister nagged at me.
“I need to go get cleaned up,” I said, “but it was nice finally talking to you.”
“Likewise. Don’t be a stranger.”
“I won’t.”
Theo’s gaze lingered, and the corner of his mouth lifted. “We’ll see.”
Nerves stirred in my stomach, and I gave him a small smile, afraid to ruin our tentative beginning.
I didn’t know if his eyes were on me as I walked away, and it took every ounce of restraint not to turn my head and find out.
As soon as I pushed through the rooftop door, the memory of our banter faded, and I jogged down the dimly lit steps, my heartbeat quickening to match my pace.
No matter how much I’d enjoyed our conversation, I couldn’t think about Theo anymore.
I needed to know Ava was safe.
I stood at my lounge room window and stared at the message thread on my phone, willing those three little dots to appear. I hadn’t spoken to my sister for almost a week—officially the longest we’d ever gone without communicating.
She was okay as far as I knew, but the distance between us made it hard not to worry.
I let my gaze drift to the street four floors below.
A chill hung in the late autumn air, and a few stubborn leaves clung to the trees. The row of single-storey houses opposite sat still and quiet, with cars parked in driveways after the owners had been stood down from their jobs or succumbed to the virus.
Mrs Chapman was no longer letting her poodle crap outside our building. There were no men in Lycra cycling in a pack to take over The Cosy Brew on the corner. Kids had stopped passing by on their way to school.
A single plastic bag floated through the air, catching on a branch before it continued its journey.
After living pandemic life for so long, the ghost town feel should have been normal. But I hadn’t adjusted—and I wasn’t even close to accepting it might stay this way.
Out of habit, I checked my phone again, then sighed and bypassed the green velvet couch on my way to the kitchen.
As I filled the kettle and waited for it to boil, the thud of heavy bass kicked in nearby, right on time. I dropped a tea bag into the vampire-themed mug Ava had given me and smiled. “There he goes again,” I said to my empty apartment.
Theo and I were the only two residents left on our level. He had the music taste of a tween girl and threw dance parties for one a few times a week, often belting out lines that made me laugh. The sessions went on for half an hour or more at a time, and I missed the activity as soon as it stopped.
We hadn’t seen each other since our chat on the rooftop a few days ago, but not because I was avoiding him this time around. We just hadn’t been in the same place at the same time.
I poured boiling water into the mug and recalled the way he’d stepped in when he thought Dustin was crossing invisible boundaries. He didn’t need to get physical to make Dustin back off, but I knew he would have gone there if it had escalated.
All of this for a woman who wouldn’t even speak to him until now.
What did that say about Theo?
God, what did it say about me?
While the tea steeped, I leaned my hip against the bench and tapped the banking app on my phone, staring at a pile of money just sitting there with no purpose.
It was crazy keeping it all to myself when I knew someone who needed help.
Theo's tattoo studio had been shut for a couple of months now, and it wouldn't be opening again anytime soon. I puffed out my cheeks and released a loud breath, entering the amount in the blank field. It didn’t mean I had to follow through.
I could just spend a few minutes standing on the precipice and see which way my gut took me.
I dropped Theo's name in the reference field and moved my thumb over the confirm button.
This was something you did to help a friend, not an acquaintance—and usually after they’d asked to be bailed out. But Theo wouldn’t ask, and Dustin would continue making him out to be a failure for his missed payments.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I tapped the screen and let out a little screech.
Too late to change my mind now.
He might be angry with me, or if it all went my way, he'd never find out it was me.
I fired off a one-line email to Dustin explaining the payment, then slipped my phone into my pocket in case Ava called.
With my mug in hand and a lived-in cardigan keeping me warm, I headed up to the rooftop to see if anyone was around.