Page 58 of Septembers

“Like what?”

“Like you’re being told to smile at gunpoint.”

Damn, Theo thought he was a better actor. He dropped the manic smile. It was always weird seeing himself in the corner of the screen; so different than his reflection in the mirror. The new environmentally-friendly LED bulbs his mom had insisted on buying made his recently-dyed hair appear orangey-pink, and his skin porcelain-white.

Dae’s dark hair hanging over his forehead had a slight wave to it, and the ‘I ♡ Toronto’ t-shirt Theo had given him was snug across his chest and arms.

I was buying myself one, he’d said to him that day with a smirk. It would’ve been rude not to get two. They wore them around the city pretending to be tourists, pointing at large buildings and exclaiming, How many floors do you think this one has? Or, My goodness, another coffee shop? Well, Theo did. Dae spent the day holding back his laughter and shaking his head.

“Do you actually wear that?”

Dae glanced down as if he’d forgotten what worn-out fabric was hugging his upper body. “Only to bed.”

“Aw. Does it make you dream of me?”

His lips quirked but didn’t quite make it into a smile. Theo stared at him, trapped in his phone, two dimensional. For a few seconds, he thought the screen had frozen again, but Dae blinked and Theo realized he was staring back.

“So.” Theo cleared his throat. “Subtitles.”

Dae nodded. “It’s a great opportunity.”

“Yeah, I mean, you get to watch movies all day.”

“You would love it. They said I’ll get invited to premiers.”

The words, he’s never coming back, swam through Theo’s veins, freezing his blood. He wasn’t sure how actual, normal words were still coming out of his mouth. “Will you go to them?”

A tiny lift of his shoulder. “Maybe.”

Theo wished he could go there and help him. Bring him out of himself. Make sure everyone knew what a treasure they had in their midst. He wondered if the people in Korea knew how creative Dae was, or how funny and kind. He wondered if they knew that he made delightfully weird stickers, or that he loved to cook, or that his humour was dry and witty. He wondered if they appreciated him enough.

They’d been quiet for a while, and finally, Dae shut his eyes, his voice barely a whisper. “I’m sorry.”

“Stop. You were offered an awesome job. We’re all happy for you.”

“I thought a year would be enough.”

“For what?”

He seemed to steal himself before looking back at the screen. “To, you know, experience Korea. But I feel like I’m not done here.”

That made sense, and the fact that ‘done here’ was a possibility gave Theo a glimmer of hope. “Makes sense. Home of Korean barbecue.”

“It’s just called barbecue here.”

“Right.”

The curtains behind him fluttered and silver moonlight filtered through the browning leaves of a tree outside his window. Theo had the strangest fear that someone would climb that tree Romeo-style and crawl inside his room.

“Are you going to be okay?” Dae asked. “I mean, you and the guys. With the apartment?”

“Yeah, Caleb’s moving in with Avery, and Jason needs to be in North York.”

His face scrunched like he’d smelled something foul. “Give you downtown or give you death.”

“Exactly!” Dae knew him well.

“So what’ll you do?”