Page 21 of Theoretically Straight

“This way!”

A voice echoes above our heads, reverberating through the empty space. I yelp, my foot catching on the uneven ground, and my hand grasps Theo’s before I can even think about it. He tenses at my touch, and I pull away from him as soon as I’m steady again, muttering a quick, “Sorry.”

What the hell are you thinking, Caleb? That’s a good way to get punched in the face.

Theo shines his light up at the ceiling above us. An uncovered vent filled with cobwebs recesses into the ceiling. The voice echoes again, fainter this time, and I realize I recognize it.

“It’s the tour guide,” I say as the footsteps over our heads get louder. “They must be coming back downstairs from the parish.”

“Damn.” Theo pauses, making a sour face like the word tastes bad. “You’re right. That must be what we heard earlier. Is it weird I was actually hoping for a demon?”

“Probably, but I won’t hold it against you.”

He lets out this weird, choked laugh and then falls quiet. I’m about to ask him if he’s okay when my phone buzzes in my hand.

“Hey, Freddy,” I answer.

“Where the hell did you go? I swear if you tell me you got dragged to Hell and you didn’t even have the decency to tell us, I’m going to be very upset.”

“I’m down in the basement,” I explain, turning away from Theo. “And not to burst your bubble, but there’s no portal to Hell. Sorry.”

“Well, good. We’ll just have to get in the old-fashioned way. Listen, the tour is about to end. Do we need to come rescue you or something?”

“No, I’ll be up in a minute. Meet you outside the cathedral.”

“Okay, sounds good. And I swear to god, if this is some demon pretending to be Caleb, I will annoy you so badly, you’ll rue the day you ever crawled out of your sulfur pit, you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, Freddy. Loud and clear.”

“Okay, byeee.”

The call disconnects, and I turn back to Theo, who’s looking around the room again.

“The tour is wrapping up, so I’ve got to head back upstairs. You may want to do the same.”

He nods, lowering his phone. “Yeah, Harrison and Elise probably haven’t even noticed I’m gone, but Oliver will be looking for me.”

I’m starting to feel creeped out by the idea of walking through the basement alone, so I ask, “Did you want to come with me? I figure if we are caught, at least one of us can run away while the other distracts them.”

Theo hesitates, his dark eyes wide. “Uh, sure. I’m just gonna take a quick video in here, and I’ll be out. Maybe people will find the chalkboard interesting, at least.”

“Sure, I’ll be in the hallway.”

I leave the classroom, stepping into the corridor. Out here, alone with my thoughts, I can’t stop from circling back to me grabbing Theo’s hand. I’m such an idiot. It’s not like I did it on purpose or anything, but that isn’t an excuse. I should be more careful. Even if he’s not one of the loud, antagonistic religious types, it doesn’t mean he won’t react badly if he thinks I’m trying to come onto him.

But no matter how much I try to shove it out of my head, I can’t stop thinking about how it felt to hold his hand, even if only for a split second.

Ugh. Annoying.

“You cool?”

Theo looks at me from across the hall, his light pointed down at our feet.

“Y-Yeah, sorry. Spaced out for a second.”

“Come on, I think I can hear the next tour group. We can sneak out while they’re in the cathedral.”

I nod, following his lead as he heads towards the end of the hall and the stairs. Light pours down the dusty steps as we make our way to the main floor, Theo checking to see if the coast is clear before we duck under the rope and sneak into the cathedral. Sure enough, another tour group sits in the pews, a mixture of bored and frustrated expressions on their faces as they all realize that it won’t be the ghost tour they expected.

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