Page 45 of Talk to Me

“That’s…good…right?” I asked.

He chuckled. “Yes, Josh. That’s good.”

“The comments,” Theo said, looking up at me. “Everyone loves Arthur.”

“I’ve got to text him,” I said. “He’ll absolutely shit himself knowing he’s an internet celebrity. He might already know since he keeps up with the queer news, but I don’t know how current he stays.”

“And I haven’t seen one comment calling me a dick so far,” Theo said with a laugh as he scrolled. “And there’s thousands of comments.”

“Do you need me to do it?” I asked, bumping him with my shoulder as he packed up his bag and rose from the table with me. “Because I don’t mind.”

Theo gave me a tooth-filled goofy grin and made a “har-har” laugh as we exited class. Laughing, I walked with him down the hall and outside once again. Back in the sunlight, we both turned on the path towards the dorms without discussing it. I began to notice immediately as we walked that students who looked over at us were smiling, not sneering. So, I smiled back. Theo seemed oblivious, but his head was up for once.

“We should go to Pizza Insanity tonight,” I said suddenly. “To celebrate your viral video.”

Theo chuckled. “That’s the place we always order from?”

“I forgot this is your first year here,” I said. “Yeah. It’s really the only place around here to go eat unless you want to eat drive-thru food in your car. But you’ve had the pizza. You know it’s amazing. It’s my treat.”

“Hmmmm.” Theo stopped and reached up to rub his chin. “I don’t know. What’s in it for me?”

I laughed at him.

“We should invite Arthur,” he said as we started walking again. “If we’re celebrating the video, then he should be involved.”

I walked alongside him, my head turned, smiling at him.

“That’s really thoughtful,” I said. “I’ll ask him to go when I text him to tell him he’s famous.”

Reaching the dorms, we split up after I told Theo I’d text him once I’d gotten an answer from Arthur. Up in my room, I put my bag down and flopped onto my bed. I laid on my back and shot off a text to Arthur, telling him of his newfound fame and the invitation to celebrate with free food at Pizza Insanity at whatever time was best for him. When his reply text came back, it was as blunt as an in-person response from him would be.

Free? Reasonable, maybe. But never free. Any time before seven is fine. I’m old.

Laughing, I shot back a text that we’d pick him up at five o’clock. He didn’t respond, but I knew that didn’t mean he had changed his mind. I shot off a text to Theo, telling him we were going to pick Arthur up at five and then we could go have dinner. I apologized for the senior citizen dining hour, but I knew he understood.

I spent the rest of the morning studying and doing homework. Instead of having a late breakfast, I opted for having lunch at a reasonable time, but did my best to not eat too much. Thinking of the delicious food at Pizza Insanity, I decided to save my appetite for dinner. Dinner coming so early, thanks to Arthur, also made me eat less during the morning and afternoon.

When it came time, Theo and I met up in the lobby of the dorms building and raced out to the parking lot together. Excited to pick up Arthur—and for pizza, if we’re being honest—we jumped into my car and headed to Spice House. Fortunately, Arthur was sitting on the bench outside when we arrived. Without prompting, Theo jumped out and offered Arthur the passenger seat. Arthur curtsied like a princess, making us laugh, and wiggled his way into the seat.

Theo closed the door for Arthur and hopped in the back. Once our seatbelts were fastened, we were on our way to dinner. I couldn’t say that Arthur was a fan of all of the songs I played on our trip to Pizza Insanity, but anything with a beat to dance to seem to please him. Even if he had never heard the song, he seemed to connect with those songs more than others. I wasn’t incredibly surprised by this as I’d heard all of his clubbing in New York with drag queen friends stories.

Arriving at Pizza Insanity, Theo immediately hopped out and held the door for Arthur, which again, earned him a curtsy. Arthur wiggled out of the car and stood in the parking lot of Pizza Insanity, staring up at the neon sign over the door of the industrial building. Theo held his arm out grandly and Arthur laced his through with a flourish, giggling like a school girl. I laughed at the both of them as we headed inside.

I held the door so my two friends could make a grand entrance for what was now apparently a May-December date. Being earlier in the evening, there were still plenty of seating options, though I could tell that the restaurant was going to fill up quickly. Eyeing a corner booth, I motioned for Arthur and Theo to follow me. Though the table could hold two or three more people, I chose the booth so that Theo and Arthur wouldn’t be in the center of everything.

Knowing Arthur very well, and having gotten to know Theo fairly well over the last few weeks, I knew both preferred to not be in the center of things. Social anxiety could make dining out difficult for tons of people, so the booth seemed the most reasonable. Arthur and Theo gazed around the large warehouse space full of rough wood, metal, and Edison bulbs interspersed amongst the neon and bar signs as they settled into the vinyl cushions of the booth.

“So,” I said, picking up a menu, “I’m driving, so I’m getting a soda. But they serve lot of good beers. They have some house wines, Arthur. What would you guys want?”

“House wine?” Arthur repeated comically as he pushed his jacket off and let it fall fashionably behind him onto the both seat. “My favorite words.”

Theo chuckled. “Can we get like a pitcher of Mountain Dew? I’ll do soda with you.”

I reached across the table to bump my fist against his.

Arthur sniffed as he gazed at the menu briefly.

“I shall have the Chablis,” he said.