Chapter 3
Diccon
Open mic nights were always a ton of fun.
Glenside was an eclectic community, and since we had the Keswick Theater right down the street, it was popular with a lot of indie acts.
We never knew who would show up to play when we opened the floor to anyone who wanted to sing, play, or even slam some poetry on the tiny stage of our back room.
That night’s set list wasn’t what had me more energized than usual as I helped Sam and Gilbert set up chairs, though. Every time the front door opened, I glanced over my shoulder to see if Theo had finally arrived.
“You’re going to give yourself whiplash if you keep looking at the door like that,” Chase, one of the baristas who worked in the evenings and during events told me when I pivoted back to check the door for the dozenth time. “Waiting for someone, are you?”
I grinned sheepishly and ducked my head a little as I straightened the row of chairs in front of me. “Maybe.”
“I knew it,” Chase said victoriously. “It’s that hot red-head who always comes in during your morning shift, isn’t it.”
I stopped what I was doing entirely and stared at him. “How do you even know about that? You’re never here in the mornings.”
“I have ears,” Chase said, crossing behind me to clear off one of the tables at the edge of the performance space where earlier customers had left their dishes. “You know everyone in here gossips like aunties on a Sunday morning.”
I snickered. “Yeah, we do. That’s what found family is for.”
Although as soon as I said that, I wondered what, exactly, my brothers and the rest of the gang at Common Grounds were saying about me.
We were all pretty open and supportive in our family and no one bugged anyone about when they were going to get a boyfriend or girlfriend.
That didn’t mean people didn’t want me to find someone and be happy.
“Brian told me earlier that your architect friend spent most of the day working from the front table,” Chase went on.
“Yeah, the sprinkler system in his building went off, soaking everything, and it’s going to take a while before—”
My explanation was cut short as the café door opened and Theo stepped in.
He looked great. The business casual he usually wore was gone.
Instead, he was dressed in a nice pair of jeans and a crisp, blue button-down that accented his natural coloring.
He looked nervous and completely out of his depth.
A few feet inside the café, he paused and looked around, rubbing his hand on his jeans as if it had gone clammy.
A few seconds later, he spotted me across the growing crowd milling around the tables and making their way back to the performance space once they had their coffees for the night. His eyes met mine, and he smiled tentatively.
There was no such thing as tentative when I smiled. I raised a hand to wave at him, beaming triumphantly. He’d come after all.
“Yikes,” Chase said, snagging my attention before I could give all of it to Theo. “You’ve got it bad, don’t you.”
“Who, me?” I glanced at him with a grin.
“Don’t let me stand in your way.” Chase walked past me, taking his tray of dishes to the counter. “I wouldn’t want to get in the way of true love.”
“It’s just an open mic night,” I said, shaking my head, but following him into the main part of the café. I stepped closer to him and lowered my voice to say, “I’m still not a hundred precent convinced he’s gay.”
“You’re not?” Chase raised one eyebrow at me, then snorted and shook his head.
I ignored his teasing with a laugh and crossed the rest of the café to greet Theo. “Hey! You made it.”
“I couldn’t pass up the invitation,” Theo said, glancing around like he didn’t quite recognize the place with evening lighting. “Especially since I took up so much space earlier today.”
“You can take up all the space you want,” I said, flirting a little more than I should have in an attempt to solve the “is he gay” puzzle as quickly as possible. “I definitely don’t mind.”
Theo laughed nervously, then shoved his hands into his pockets and shuffled his feet.
It was the most adorkable reaction ever.
“Is there anything I can help with?” Theo asked. “You know, to make up for my butt claiming all that real estate today.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he flushed wine-red as his eyes went wide. “I mean—”
“You really don’t have to make up for your butt,” I laughed, though I wouldn’t have said no to getting another look at it. “But we always need help with chairs and things.”
“Just point me in the right direction and tell me what to do,” Theo said with an amiable shrug.
I loved how easily Theo blended in with the core group of Common Grounds as he followed me into the performance space to finish with the chairs.
Of course, by that point, everyone else had helped with the chairs and there wasn’t a lot left to do but find seats of our own on the far side of the room.
“Can I get you anything before they get started?” I asked, as we claimed two chairs in the back corner of the space. “Disgusting blueberry coffee maybe?”
Theo dropped his shoulders and bit his lip in defeat, which was one of the sexiest gestures I’d ever seen anyone make. “You’re never going to let me live down my coffee ignorance, are you.”
“Nope,” I said, sitting and inching a little closer to him than was strictly professional. “I still can’t believe you actually liked that stuff.”
“It’s really not that bad,” Theo said. He didn’t put more space between us. In fact, he might have angled his body so our feet touched briefly. “I mean, it was different, and different is usually a disaster for me.”
“Oh, really?” I used the excuse of turning to look more fully at him and resting a hand on the back of his chair for balance as a way to touch him more.
“You have no idea.” The look in Theo’s eyes was both comical and heart wrenching. It made me wonder about him, because no one who was as cute as he was ended up so shy unless something had gone wrong in his life at some point.
“Try me,” I said, hoping he would trust me with a little bit of himself.
He gave me a smile like he was sure I would laugh at him, then said, “I blame the coffee for the disaster at Gershwin and Anglesea today.”
My eyes went wide, then I burst into peals of laughter. “How is it horrible coffee’s fault that your sprinklers went off?”
“I broke my routine,” Theo said, unable to stop himself from smiling. At least he had a sense of humor about his quirks. “Every time I break my routine like that, I regret it.”
“That can’t be true.”
“No, seriously, it is. I don’t make the rules, the Universe does.”
I liked him so damn much that I didn’t know what to do with myself. I wanted to hug him, but I couldn’t justify that at all. I could only keep the conversation going. Theo Callihan was so easy to talk to.
“So what do you think is going to happen next?” I asked, leaning closer to him like we were sharing a secret when really I just wanted to smell the faint, woody notes of his cologne.
“Coming to open mic night isn’t part of your routine.
Should we expect our fire alarms to go off in the middle of someone’s set? ”
“If they did, it would only be because you’re hot,” Theo blurted.
He immediately looked like he might die.
“I mean, shit. No. I didn’t mean to say that at all. See?” he shoved a hand through his hair, then covered his face with both hands. “This is the curse. This is what I have to deal with all the time.”
“Hey, now,” I said, raising my hands and trying to put him at ease. “Are you saying it’s a disaster for you to compliment me? Frankly, I’m surprised people don’t compliment me more often.”
Theo peeked at me through two fingers. “You really need to stop now,” he mumbled.
I just laughed, too giddy to handle the whole exchange reasonably. There was the answer to my question about whether Theo was gay or not. He definitely was.
Gay, yes. Game? Not at all. But I kind of loved that about him.
I also loved the fact that nighttime Theo was a whole different chapter in the book than morning Theo.
Morning Theo was all business and button-down shirts with striped ties.
Nighttime Theo still wore a button-down, but it was soft, and he had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
It was a look I could definitely get used to.
“Promise me you won’t hold anything I say tonight against me,” Theo said, finally lowering his hands. “I swear, I do get out now and then, but I’ve always been so awkward around people I…around people.”
“I won’t hold anything against you,” I promised him. “Unless you want me to,” I added with a wiggle of my eyebrows.
Theo snorted with laughter, immediately looking embarrassed about that, too, but before I could continue our banter, Gilbert stepped up to the mic.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” he said loud enough to interrupt everyone’s conversations. “Welcome to Common Grounds’ open mic night!”
The decent-sized audience broke into applause and hoots. They were mostly all locals and regulars, but I spotted a few people I didn’t recognize sitting here and there in the increasingly crowded space.
“We’re going to get started tonight with the guitar and vocal stylings of our very own morning baker, Hannah!” Gilbert announced.
Hannah took the stage with her acoustic guitar as everyone greeted her with enthusiastic applause. “Thank you, everybody, thank you!”
“You’re going to love Hannah,” I leaned over to say against Theo’s ear. I had to just about put my lips on his lobe to make sure he heard me. That was totally why I got so close. “She’s got real talent.”
Theo turned his head toward me faster than I could move away. For a few seconds, our mouths were only inches apart.