Page 52 of Talk to Me

I shimmied my shoulders and leaned back slowly as Theo mirrored my movements, but leaned towards me. Then we repeated the action with me shimmying and leaning towards him as he leaned back. We repeated the dance twice to make sure we got enough video for him to edit. However, when we went for a third back and forth, we misread each other’s body language. I thought Theo was stopping, and he thought I was going to continue. The end result was us bumping heads.

Actually, my forehead bumped his chin due to our height disparity, but heads still collided. Laughing, Theo grabbed onto my shoulders as I reached up to rub my forehead with a laugh. He gave my forehead a rub when I pulled my hand away and stared down into my eyes, smiling widely.

“That was dumb,” I said, looking up at him.

“It was.” He agreed.

He chewed at the corner of his lip for a moment, then his arms slid from my shoulders. He jogged over to the table and grabbed his phone. I waited for him to end the recording and save it before he slipped his phone back into his pocket. Theo came back over to me and nudged my arm with his.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Just,” I cringed, “try to make me look not stupid.”

“Oh,” Theo said, lacing his arm through mine and pulling me back onto the path, “you’re going to look absolutely ridiculous.”

“I expected as much,” I said with an amused sigh as we continued on to the bonfire.

Theo was lying on my bed on his stomach, my pillow under his chest to prop him up as he held his phone in both hands, scrolling through it. I was doing some last-minute homework before I officially started my vacation. Everyone else at Midway University had been relaxing since the following Friday afternoon. Most had even left campus to go home for Thanksgiving already. However, I’d opted to stay through the weekend so that I could have uninterrupted study and homework time before enjoying a few days away from school. Driving home only took a few hours, so I didn’t have to catch flights and travel great distances like a lot of my fellow students.

Though I had only seen Collin a few times in the weeks since Halloween, my intel told me that he’d caught a flight home for the week. He was already gone for Thanksgiving and wasn’t planning to return until the Sunday after. It pained me to realize how relieved I was to know that he’d be gone and wouldn’t be able to pop in and anger me for the few days I took before going home. At one time, Collin was my constant at Midway, a friend to keep me sane when things were difficult with school. Now, he was simply another stressor I hoped to slough after my junior year.

“I don’t get it,” Theo said casually. “People are still watching our Halloween video and liking it.”

I smiled.

“It’s like they can’t get enough of it,” he added. “It has over four million views and four-hundred thousand likes.”

“I don’t even know, like, forty people,” I said.

Theo laughed. “The only video competing with it is Arthur’s.”

After the Halloween bonfire—which had ended early because a bunch of frat boys decided to try and leap over parts of the fire barefoot—Theo had edited the video we’d created. Over the sounds of Wild Sex by Oingo Boingo, Peepers’ viewers were treated to the picture of me in my costume, then Theo in his costume, several pictures we’d had taken during the bonfire together, and then the dance we’d done outside Midway Roasters. Against all of his doubts, Peepers’ members completely got the movie reference, and adored the video we’d made. Many of the commentors were talking not just about how much they loved the video, but about now having to watch the movie. Some were talking about starting a petition to have Sixteen Candles shown as the next free movie in the auditorium. I cringed, thinking about how some students would only point out how problematic the movie could be if a viewing was approved. Several commented about texting their parents to talk about it since it was “their generation.”

While I was glad Theo’s views were soaring and everyone was being kind to him on Peepers and around campus, it made me nervous. His followers also having something to connect with that we’d created was nice as well, but that didn’t help my anxiety. People began stopping me on campus to talk about the video. Peepers accounts were following me in record numbers, though I literally had not posted a single video of my own. Of course, I felt compelled to put my picture and bio info on my account so that people who truly wanted to follow me found the correct account and not a bot. However, I wasn’t entirely happy about it.

Telling Theo I didn’t even know forty people wasn’t simply a statement of fact, it was also an unuttered wish to not know more than forty people. Living quietly and without having millions of eyes on me was ideal. Knowing that so many people were now aware of my existence made me uneasy. In my opinion, no one was mature or wise enough to live their life under such scrutiny. It made me wish that we actually were in Sixteen Candles. You know, the eighties, when no one had camera phones, social media, and knowing only forty people was actually a big deal.

“You okay?” Theo asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Huh?” I turned in my desk chair to look at him.

“You look pale. A little green,” Theo said, turning on his side and propping his head up with one hand.

I shook my head. “Just thinking about the video. It’s a lot.”

Theo frowned. “I can take it down if you want?”

Sighing, I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I opened Peepers and pulled the video up via the tag that showed up on my account. It played as I scrolled through the comments.

This is soooooo cute! I wish I thought of doing this!

O.M.G! I haven’t seen that movie in forever! My mom luuuuuuuuuuvs it!

Is that your new boyfriend??

Leave him alone.

I hope this one works out. Lulz.