Page 95 of Talk to Me

Arthur made a noncommittal sound with his throat and watched me as I settled myself down. I patted my hair back into place, took a deep breath, and laid my hands in my lap. Finally, I looked back over at him, hoping I didn’t look crazed.

“I haven’t spoken to Theo in a month, either,” Arthur said, trying to sound less accusatory. “Has he said why he won’t talk to you?”

I shrugged. “Kind of. When he will talk. His text responses are short and…formal? And when I find him around campus, he does everything he can to keep distance between us so no one sees us too close to each other.”

“And?”

“The only time he really said anything meaningful was when I went to his dorm and knocked until he answered the door,” I said. “Which was a really cute look to everyone passing by in the hall and sniggering at me.”

Arthur shook his head. “What did he say?”

“He told me that he just couldn’t do this. He said he’d promised he wouldn’t hurt me and…I was going to end up hurt if we kept dating. Until Ben gives up on harassing and bullying him, there’s no point in him trying to date.”

Arthur was frowning at me, but he let me talk.

“But he won’t actually discuss it with me,” I said, having to stop myself from throwing my hands up again. “It’s like, that’s his final word, and there’s no discussion. That’s it. Period. The end. Which just really pisses me off.”

“I can imagine.”

“Not for the reason you think,” I said. “I’m pissed because before Theo asked me if I wanted to date him—when he asked if I liked him back—I’d known for a while I liked him. A lot. But I was never going to move things forward because I wasn’t going to get involved with a guy who had cheated on a partner. I knew I’d get my heart broken if I did. And here we are. My heart is broken for a totally different reason than I expected—and the sonofabitch won’t even talk to me.”

I slumped.

Arthur made a clucking sound with his tongue.

“You know,” Arthur said slowly, “there’s something I don’t understand.”

“What’s that?” I sighed.

“The only person who ever talks about Theo cheating is Ben,” Arthur said, making me look up at him. “Well, and all those little fools on the internet with opinions. And opinions about other people’s opinions. Yes, I’ve watched all of Theo’s and Ben’s videos. I keep up with my—”

“Gay news,” I said.

“Precisely,” Arthur grinned. “And Theo never says anything about Ben. He’s never talked about their break up, why they broke up, never says one snide word about that other boy. Not even to defend himself.”

“How do you defend yourself in that situation?” I asked.

Arthur shook his head as if I was dense.

“Some people are dumb,” Arthur said.

“Are you calling me—”

“Not you.” Arthur waved me off, suddenly looking exasperated as well. “I’m talking about people online. They all congregate on those sites—”

He waved an exhausted hand at his phone.

“—and they just lose all sense. Who knows why people believe the things people say on the internet when absolutely no proof is given for their claims. Are they jealous of the person being talked about? Want to believe the worst things they think about that person because it makes them feel better about themselves? Are they entertained at seeing someone get knocked down a peg? Does it reinforce their belief that no one out there is truly a good person? Confirmation bias? Or, are they just assholes who love watching someone else get shit on because that means no one is paying attention to them and their big bag of bullshit and bullying them instead? Back in my day, if you had something nasty to say, you said it to someone’s face and moved on. You let them know how you felt and it was done. Or you talked to your friends privately, came to terms with your butthurt, and moved on. Either way, it wasn’t all…this.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Y’all had carrier pigeons. Not the internet. Different times.”

He glared at me for a moment.

“No matter the reason,” Arthur continued, “you can’t keep people from believing whatever the hell they want to believe. They can say the sky is red and you can show them an actual picture of the blue sky and they’ll tell you you’re lying.”

“Well, sure,” I said. “Yeah. People are dense sometimes.”

He nodded. “You ever hear about Alice Fortner?”