Theo’s Epilogue #11
“We’ll have to retrain your gait,” Andy said with a pensive hum. “You walked with a limp longer than you should have, and you don’t need to anymore. But you’re in the habit of it now, so we’ll work on it. It’ll suck, but we’ll train up your muscles and get you back into proper form.”
It did suck.
But after six months of work, Theo walked almost normally again. Almost—but not quite—like he did before the accident. He hardly ever needed a cane anymore, and didn’t mind so much when he did.
It happened so slowly, he didn’t even notice.
And something else happened so slowly, he didn’t notice—until he finally did.
It was eight months and thirteen days since he found himself in an optometrist’s office, staring at a mirror while wearing a new pair of glasses, all because he was out for a run one morning and the street signs were a little too blurry for him to read.
He didn’t think he could hate having something on his face more than his scar.
But he was wrong.
He may or may not have been scowling deeply at his reflection when Dr. Hamilton came up behind him and patted him on his shoulder.
“That’s a good pair Willow helped you pick out,” the older man said kindly.
“They really suit your face.” At least he didn’t completely hate the design of the rounded, plastic, tortoiseshell frames.
At least they were classic. It was the fact that they had to be on his face that bothered him.
Why was everything aimed at his fucking face these days?
What did he ever do to deserve that?
Constant insult to injury. Or even injury to injury.
“I can’t wear these all the time.” Theo shook his head and pulled the glasses off. “I can’t wear these in my studio. I work with too much fire and heavy machinery, I need to be able to wear goggles and welding shields, I need—”
“It’s only until your contacts come in. They’re on order, and it’ll be good to have a pair of glasses in case you need them as a backup, or for around the house.”
He gave the doctor a pleading look. “Can’t I have LASIK?” The fact that something else was wrong with him bothered him more than anything. What was it now? Glaucoma? A brain tumor? Some other degenerative disease? Was he going blind?!
With his luck, he’d lose his sight within the year.
“Son, you’re slightly nearsighted. LASIK is a more serious surgery than most people think, especially for something so small. This isn’t a big deal. And your eyes may actually improve over time. I don’t want to sign off on something if you don’t need it.”
“I’ve never needed glasses before.”
Dr. Hamilton huffed. “You’re, what? Thirty-three? It’s just a consequence of getting older. It happens to most people.”
“But—”
“Growing older is the goal, you know. You want to get glasses, Theo. You want to make it long enough to need them. It’s a privilege.
Every year you make it is a victory. Growing old is an honor, not a right.
It’s never a guarantee. You know that better than most. Plus, it keeps me employed.
” He patted him once more and then moved on to his next patient, leaving a quiet Theo behind with his thoughts.
He was still sitting with those thoughts when Audrey came home from work that evening. He was dreading showing her. He hadn’t even told her he had the appointment.
But he did appreciate how he could see every one of the stray hairs escaping from her bun as she bustled inside, her face sweaty and red from the summer heat.
“Theo, I’m home! How was your—”
She stopped abruptly after she locked the door and turned to look at him. Her mouth dropped open and she let her work bag fall to the floor, forgotten.
“You…got glasses.”
“Surprise,” Theo deadpanned while he threw up his arms in a halfhearted, mocking celebration.
When Audrey didn’t say anything, when she only walked toward him slowly, he let his arms fall and his shoulders slump.
He couldn’t read her expression. That couldn’t be good news.
“Oh no,” he groaned, hiding his face in his hands.
It was more awkward than it usually was, given how hard he was trying not to smudge his new lenses.
“They look terrible on me, don’t they? I knew it. I hate them.”
He glanced up at her through his fingers when she stepped in front of him. Her eyes were wide as she continued to stare down at him, and the faintest of blushes was beginning to tinge her cheeks pink.
She swallowed.
Theo frowned and shook his head. “You don’t like them either, do you? I’m only going to wear these until I get my contacts. I—”
“You look so fucking hot.”
“I—” He stilled. What?
“Who the hell helped you pick those out?” Audrey’s voice was oddly strained and her breathing had quickened. Something prickled in warning at the back of Theo’s neck. He lifted a hand and rubbed at it nervously.
“Uh…Willow? Some girl who works at the glasses fitting desk at the optometrist’s office? She—”
Before he could finish that thought, Audrey pounced.
She lunged forward and threw herself in his lap, straddling him while grabbing wildly at his hair to drag his mouth to hers.
“You look like a sexy professor in those,” she growled against his lips in between sharp nips of her teeth.
“You’ve been squinting for a long time. Why the fuck didn’t you get glasses earlier? ”
“WHAT?!” The word might have come out a little strained and confused, but it was because she’d already plunged her hand under the waistband of his jeans and was busy palming his cock while she writhed in his lap.
“Recite poetry to me again, Professor Sullivan.” When she sucked on his bottom lip and drew it slowly between her teeth, oh god, holy shit he was so incredibly hard, and—
“Oh. Oh, Audrey, I…” he gasped. “I, uh…I h-have an…an MFA. It’s a terminal degree, I could actually be a college professor if you wanted me to be.
” Her face turned even redder at that, and when she pumped her hand around him, he moaned.
“Poetry? You want poetry? Anything you want, sweetheart, I know some e. e. cummings, a lot of Rumi, I could—”
Before he could finish that thought, she pressed her lips to his neck and sucked on a particularly sensitive spot beneath his jaw, and words completely escaped him.
His brain short-circuited.
By the time Audrey was done with him, the buttons from his shirt were scattered all over the floor.
The shirt itself was nowhere to be found.
His pants were…somewhere, and his new glasses might have been sitting more than slightly askew on his face while Audrey lay beneath him, cradling his head against her bare chest and stroking his hair while practically purring in contentment on their couch.
And Theo thought that maybe, just maybe, he could live with wearing glasses after all.
It was seven months and two weeks ago that they had their first real fight.
And of course, it was about money.
Audrey’s student loan repayments had kicked in. Theo saw the statements where she’d left them out on the table—and confronted her about it.
It didn’t go well.
“I don’t understand why you just won’t let me pay them off for you!
” He held his hands out, pleading after who-even-knew-how-long they’d been arguing.
“It’s stupid, Audrey! I have plenty of money, fucking scads of it, and you’re paying a ridiculous amount of interest!
That’s how these banks get you for life, they’re predatory like that.
You’re not even paying the principal, and you won’t be for years. It’s a waste of your paycheck.”
“Stupid?!”
As soon as she repeated the word, all the blood drained from his face.
He’d fucked up.
“I-I didn’t mean stupid, Audrey. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it, I meant stubborn, I used the wrong word, I—”
Her face was red, and she’d already turned on her heel and ran halfway up the stairs. He followed, a strange, hollow feeling sinking into his stomach. “Audrey—”
“I’m not stupid, Theo,” she shot over her shoulder, tears already streaming down her cheeks. “I may not be as smart as you, but I know the fucking numbers! I’m the one who signed my life away for them.”
“You’re so smart, this has nothing to do with—”
She stopped and turned to face him fully.
“It’s my goddamn problem, and I don’t need you to save me!
Quit trying to steamroll me just because you’re so used to having your way.
Everyone’s right: you are spoiled. You have no fucking idea how privileged you are.
You’ve never had to really work for anything.
Everything has always been easy for you! ”
She disappeared.
He froze on the stairs and listened to their bedroom door slam.
She didn’t come down, and he didn’t try to go up. He didn’t bother sleeping in any of the extra bedrooms on the second floor either. Instead, he relegated himself to the couch.
That was what he deserved.
He stared at the shadows on the ceiling until long after midnight. It was no use.
He couldn’t sleep without her now.
The stairs creaked.
And when he looked over, Audrey stood there, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
She must not have been able to sleep either.
Her face was a mess.
It broke his heart.
When he held an arm out, she rushed over to him, throwing herself onto his chest and wrapping her arms around his neck while she sobbed into his shirt.
“I’m a horrible, stubborn bitch,” she finally wailed. “I’m sorry, Theo.”
“You’re only one of those things, sweetheart.
” When she jerked her head up to glare at him, he couldn’t help but flash her a crooked grin while wiping her tears away with his thumb.
“Stubborn,” he whispered. He kissed the tip of her nose when she wrinkled it at him.
“And I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have pushed. ”
She sniffed and wiped at her eyes with her sleeve. “Yes, you should have. You’re right. It’ll cost less if I let you pay them off now.” She held up a finger. “But you have to let me pay you back.”