Page 73 of Talk to Me

Theo yanked his phone away with a laugh.

“Stop it,” he said. “I’m just going to rip off the bandage and see what he’s complaining about now.”

“Don’t,” I said. “It’s been such a nice week.”

“It can’t be that bad,” Theo said. “I’ll just get it over with because I’m going to find out eventually anyway.”

“Fine,” I said, rolling my eyes.

Theo reached over and tapped my phone to pause the music, then tapped on the video on his phone. He pushed his thumb against the side of his phone to turn up the volume so I could listen along. Ben’s voice filled the car and I cringed.

“Well, well, well,” he was saying. “It looks like history just keeps repeating itself. Some people can’t just ruin one person’s life—they have to ruin the life of every guy they’re dating.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Theo wasn’t dating anyone, so obviously the video couldn’t be about him. Even if listening to Ben killed the mood, it wouldn’t ruin our holiday.

“One of my followers sent me this,” Ben said.

There was static-y noise and garbled voices in whatever video was stitched into Ben’s, but I couldn’t tell what was happening. Taking my eyes off the road to watch was out of the question.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Theo didn’t respond. He stared blankly down at his phone.

“That’s Thoe Hendrix,” Ben’s voice filled the car again, “getting a phone number from some guy at the Midway University Halloween Bonfire. So…even though he’s got that new boyfriend, he’s still playing the field. I wonder if his new boyfriend knows? He probably thought Theo had changed his ways…but a leopard never changes its spots. I think that—”

The video was cut off. I glanced over to find that Theo had closed Peepers.

“A guy gave you his number at the bonfire?” I asked. “Sweet.”

I wasn’t sure if I thought it was “sweet,” but I didn’t know what else to say to Theo.

“Yeah,” Theo said quietly, staring down at his dark phone.” I threw it away later.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Someone actually recorded some guy flirting with me and sent it to Ben,” Theo mumbled. “Who does something like that?”

Trying to be cheerful, I said, “Well, it’s not a big deal. Ben thinks you’re dating me, but that’s not true. Everyone will know this is an obvious ploy for attention. Who cares?”

“Everyone thinks we’re dating, Josh,” Theo said, glancing at me as he chewed at his lip. “I’ve never corrected anyone. I’ve just let them think whatever. Now they’re going to believe what Ben just posted.”

I scoffed.

“That’s ridiculous. I think if you wait, you’ll see that—”

As I spoke, notifications began popping up on Theo’s phone.

“What is that?” I asked.

Theo looked down at his phone for a moment, then turned his phone over so he couldn’t see the screen anymore.

“What were all of those?” I asked again.

“Peepers comments notifications,” Theo said quietly. “The first two were enough to tell me what’s going on.”

“What is going—”

“Let’s,” Theo cut me off, took a breath, then restarted, “let’s just not talk about it.”