Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 99949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
I hadn’t spoken to Theo, nor had I seen him in seven excruciatingly long days. After the first few days, once I’d said he was no longer infectious, Ford had immediately gone to his friend’s room. I’d been in my own room at the time but hadn’t been able to listen in on their conversation. I wouldn’t have even if I could. I didn’t want to hear Theo’s voice. I didn’t want to listen to whatever fake version of himself he dug out of his internal trunk of ready-made facades. But it had been hard to miss the fact that Ford hadn’t stayed in Theo’s room for more than a couple of minutes. No doubt Theo had escaped talking to his friend by feigning exhaustion or something similar.
For the past week, there had always been a place setting for Theo at the kitchen table, but he’d never come down, so Ford had taken him his meals.
When the unexpected event did happen, I was the first to see him as everyone settled into their places at the table. My chair was the only one facing the entryway to the kitchen. I’d felt rather than heard Theo, which shouldn’t have made sense but did. When it came to Theo, I was hyperaware of him. Whenever he was in our joint bathroom taking a shower, I wanted to plug my ears like a child because I couldn’t stop thinking about how slick his skin would feel beneath my fingers as I washed him. No… not washed him, worshiped him. To make matters worse, I’d spent the last seven nights listening for the tell-tale sign of his bedroom door opening and his footsteps on the creaky stairs as he sought to make his escape to God only knew where. I hadn’t heard them, but I knew what would have happened if I had.
I wouldn’t have let him go.
And therein lay the problem.
Somehow, without even really trying, the younger man had burrowed himself so far beneath my skin that there was no escaping him… no releasing him to face a future that would likely leave more scars on his soul than the ones that his past had left on his body.
As our eyes met when I looked up from my plate, I saw a glimpse of uncertainty before his mask fell into place and he greeted everyone with a warm smile and apologized for his tardiness. While everyone welcomed him and urged him to sit in the empty seat across from me, it was all I could do to keep my shock to myself as I took in his pale skin and gaunt frame. He was wearing a loose sweatshirt and baggy jeans, probably in an attempt to hide his body.
Ford, who was sitting next to Theo, automatically began passing the various bowls of food to him. Within seconds, Theo had a huge plate of spaghetti and meatballs in front of him along with a hefty portion of garlic bread and a small side salad.
“Are you still a milk man?” Ford asked.
Theo remained silent as he stared at the food. I could practically hear the wheels turning in his mind as he tried to figure out how he was going to get out of eating even a fraction of the meal.
“Theo?” Ford said more softly.
Theo’s silence hadn’t gone unnoticed. Everyone at the table was watching him. When he finally lifted his eyes and saw that all the attention was on him, he briefly looked like a deer caught in headlights.
“I’m sorry, what?” Theo managed to say as he turned his attention to Ford who was holding the carton of milk in his hand.
“Do you still like milk with your spaghetti?” Ford asked.
“Oh, yeah, I do,” Theo murmured as he fiddled with his fork.
Ford handed the carton to Theo before announcing with a smile, “When we were kids, Theo absolutely refused to drink milk with the exception of when we were eating spaghetti either at his house or…”
Ford’s voice dropped off before he whispered, “…mine.”
It was painful to watch Ford’s discomfort. I saw his left hand disappear below the table, no doubt so he could squeeze Cam’s hand for support. I wondered if Ford and Theo had come to some kind of agreement not to speak about their childhoods.
Theo grinned and turned his head to make sure Ford could see his fake smile before saying, “That always made my mom crazy… that and when I’d eat my cereal with orange juice.”
Everyone laughed and just like that, the tension was broken. The conversation turned to all the odd food choices everyone else had made as kids. I used the time to study Theo as he ate… or as he pretended to, anyway. A few noodles made it into his mouth here and there, but he spent most of the time using his fork to discreetly mash up the meatballs into little bits of ground beef which he then covered with noodles. He kept up with the conversation around him and occasionally added a comment or a chuckle.