Page 46 of Talk to Me

They have Chablis?” I stared down at the menu, surprised. “Holy shit, they do. I’ve been here a hundred times and never even noticed. Leave it to Arthur.”

Theo and Arthur were chuckling at me as the waitress arrived. Moments later, we had our drink order placed. Arthur quickly informed the waitress we’d also be sharing a jumbo Supreme pizza because “these children need their vegetables,” eliciting a laugh from Theo, me, and the waitress, then she dashed off to place our order.

When our waitress arrived, putting the small chalice-like wine glass full of Chablis in front of Arthur, and the pitcher of neon green liquid and two cups full of ice between Theo and I, the party had begun. Theo was expertly pouring us sodas and Arthur was smacking his lips at his first taste of the wine when I noticed we were getting attention. I’d looked up at Theo, and a fluff of hair and a pair of eyes caught my attention over his shoulder.

A woman was in the booth behind him, turned in her seat, staring at us. Frowning, I stared back at her, though she didn’t notice. Her eyes were on Arthur and Theo. I suppose she stared so long, and I stared at her so long, that Arthur finally took notice. He looked over at me, saw my expression, and followed my eyes to check out what they’d seen.

“Well,” Arthur spoke up, “little girl, if you have something to say, say it.”

I jerked at the sound of his voice. As did the woman behind Theo.

To her credit, the “little girl” didn’t get offended, or dip away out of sight. She’d been caught, and she wasn’t going to pretend she hadn’t been. Instead, she rose higher so that her whole head came into view. Her tight, dark curls bobbed on her head as she smiled over the booth divider at Arthur.

“Are you Arthur Thompson?” she asked.

“I am,” he said.

She let out a short squeal, then turned her head to speak to her table. “I told you guys that was him!”

Arthur, Theo, and I exchanged looks.

“We just love your books so much!” The girl had turned back around and was fully kneeling in her booth to look over at Arthur. “And I looooooooooved the Peepers video!”

Before Arthur could respond, or anyone could do anything, really, the girl was practically pushing her friend out of the booth so she could slide out. Suddenly, she was standing at the end of our table and vibrating with joy. As if she couldn’t help herself and had lost all manners, she slid into the booth next to me so that she could speak to Arthur across the table. I looked over at Theo and we both grinned goofily as the girl laid a hand on the table close to Arthur.

“My book club,” she said dramatically, the curls on her head bouncing, “loves your books so much. I just saw your video on Peepers this morning and I was thinking all day about how lucky I would be if I’d gotten to sit and talk to you like that and—”

“This is the young man who had the good fortune.” Arthur interrupted her to nudge Theo.

Theo sat up in his seat and smiled. The girl’s attention was suddenly on him, and as I examined the girl, I realized I vaguely recognized her from Midway. We’d been in one or two classes together over the course of the last few years. Searching my memory, I realized she also ran the monthly student book club on campus as well.

“Oh my gosh.” She shook both of her fists in front of her chest with glee. “You’re Theo Hendrix! I love your Peepers account! The animal videos are sooooooo cute!”

“Thank you,” Theo said.

Then her attention was back on Arthur, and Theo and I were exchanging amused looks once again. Before I knew what was happening, the other students who were sharing her booth had slid out of their seats to come over to our booth. A couple pushed in, filling our booth to capacity and the others were pulling up chairs at the end of the table.

I sat back in my seat, wedged against the wall, smiling as Theo and Arthur answered all of the questions the group had for them. Most of the questions were for Arthur—this was a book club joining us, after all—but several of the appreciative comments were also about Theo’s Peepers account. Our pizza arrived, and somehow, our two tables became one, their food and our food becoming everyone’s food.

When I’d invited Theo to dinner, and then we invited Arthur, I’d expected to spend an hour having pizza, drinks, and then going back home for an early Friday evening. When more students began arriving at Pizza Insanity for their Friday night fix, they were drawn to us like moths to a flame, curious as to what was going on in the corner of the restaurant.

As everyone began to discover that Arthur and Theo were trapped and available to answer all of their questions, the crowd swelled. In the end, we spent more than four hours at Pizza Insanity, sharing drinks, food, listening to comments and answering questions from a rotating group of college students. At first, I could tell that Arthur and Theo were overwhelmed. Maybe even a bit anxious from all of the attention. In the end, they were both laughing and enjoying the nice things that all of the students from Midway had to say.

I was happy to sit and eat and listen to Arthur’s stories about his writing career and his time in New York with everyone. There was plenty of soda and food, and no one was calling anyone names. Theo and I kept exchanging looks across the table, amazed at how quickly the shift in opinions about him had come. Regardless, it was a nice change from what we’d experienced on campus so far in the year, and a huge change for him overall.

After four hours, I played the bad guy for Arthur and Theo. I could tell they were getting tired, though the crowd had not shrunk any. I suggested that we had to get to that “thing” we had planned, so the crowd was forced to let us exit the booth and vacate. The crowd of students was disappointed, but they were so pleased with getting to meet and speak with Arthur, they ended up paying our tab for us. Actually, Arthur made a fuss searching for his wallet, as if he misplaced it, and twenty college students fell over themselves, dying to help him out.

As he slid from the booth on our way out, he gave me a sly wink.

When we were dropping him off at Spice House, Arthur’s head was beginning to nod in the car as he rode in the dark in the passenger seat. Parking outside of his place, Arthur woke groggily with a yawn and a smacking of his lips. Theo held the door for him to get out once again, offering to walk him inside. Arthur waved him off as he stretched outside the car.

“Well, hopefully, the warden won’t be too mad,” Arthur said. “I told them I would be gone for an hour or two for dinner.”

Theo and I laughed and waited until he was safely inside Spice House before Theo slid into the passenger seat. We rode back to Midway, mostly listening to music on the radio. After parking my car, we walked across the dark campus, dipping in and out of the glowing orange pools cast by the sodium lamps. Most of Midway’s students were still out at Pizza Insanity, at the movies, hanging out at frat or sorority houses, or doing anything but hanging out on campus.

When we reached the dorms, Theo stopped before going inside, instead opting to plop down on one of the concrete planters by the door. I stopped and turned to look at him, a smile on my face.

“I had a really, really, really good night, Josh,” Theo said, smiling up at me. “Thank you.”