Page 120 of Theoretically Straight

“Harrison is taking some shots before it gets dark,” I explain, pointing him out across the lot. “Wren is almost here, and Theo is taking a moment to himself, I think.”

Oliver nudges me with his shoulder. “Are you excited to see Hudson in the flesh?”

I hesitate, not really sure how to answer that. If he’d asked me yesterday, before I was standing by myself, before last night’s double date where Theo hardly said two words, before all this weird energy got in the way of me enjoying what was supposed to be an incredible moment, I would have said “hell yeah!”

“Yes,” I settle on, because there’s not enough time to get into all the other things I want to say.

“Are you good?” Oliver asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

“Yes,” I say again, shaking my head to try and cut through the noise of my thoughts. “I think I’m just nervous for Theo. I’m going to go find him. Will you guys grab Wren when they get here?”

“I’m on it,” Oliver says with a grin.

“Thanks.”

I head over to the row of blue portable toilets, but they all say “vacant,” so I scan the parking lot, searching for Theo’s jacket, but I come up empty. Where could he have snuck off to? Circling the church, I still can’t find him, and I’m starting to worry. But then I spot the side door of the cathedral cracked open.

Maybe he’s inside?

The door creaks as I push on it, echoing up the angled ceilings. Rows of worn wooden pews sit in the dim light, and at the very back, I spot a familiar head of dark curls.

Sliding into the seat beside him, Theo barely even registers my arrival, his arms folded on the pew in front of him and his chin resting on them.

“You found me.”

“I found you.”

The silence settles over us like the layers of dust covering our surroundings. It’s peaceful here, even in the twilight. I should feel uneasy–this place is literally about to be filled with people trying to capture evidence of a haunting–but with Theo beside me, there’s not even a drop of fear in my veins.

“It’s weird being back here,” Theo says, his eyes trained forward, staring at the stained glass that hangs over the altar. “The place we met. Everything's so different now, and yet I still feel the same as I did back then.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was looking for something that night. I didn’t know what it was at the time–or maybe I thought I did. But what I actually found ended up bringing me back to this place.”

“The orbs,” I say.

Theo leans back against the wooden seat. “No, it was you.”

My breath catches as he wraps his hand around mine.

“You crashed into my world that night, Caleb, and just by grabbing my hand, you set off this chain reaction that led me here. And I don’t think I’ll ever be able to express how much you mean to me.”

“I was so scared after it happened,” I say, tightening my hold on him. “I kept thinking you were going to punch me or something.”

Theo smirks. “Wow, glad you thought so highly of me.”

I bump my shoulder into his. “Can you blame me? I didn’t know anything about you. And now… well, I won’t say I know everything. That would be wild, but I know enough. And I love it all.”

Theo laughs again, and I can see his face flush, even in the dim lighting. “I don’t know how you do it, but I’m not complaining.”

“Loving you was never the hard part,” I assure him. “Sure, there’s been challenges. There’s going to be a whole lot more of them waiting for us down the line. But they never change how I feel about you, Theo. They never take away from this–” I hold up our intertwined hands, ''or how happy you make me, just by smiling.”

And he gives me what I want, that half-cocked smile that stokes the fire in my chest and draws me close. Before I can think, my lips are on his, and I feel that smile spread against my skin, morphing, changing into something more, something sacred in this dilapidated place of worship.

It’s the closest thing I’ve ever felt to a spiritual experience.

And when Theo pulls away from me, the electricity he leaves on my lips surges through my veins. And when he kisses me again, this time with an open mouth and hot breath, and an urgency that doesn’t scare me but shakes me to my very core–I want nothing else in this world.

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