Page 33 of Theoretically Straight

“Thanks for meeting me, though. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Caleb smiles again. “See you tomorrow.”

Caleb

it’s Caleb, here’s my number :)

Theo

thanks man :)

* * *

Tuesday, September 12

Two afternoons in a row at Spookies isn’t too out of the norm for anyone living in Specter, but it certainly is for me. I try not to go out too often or spend money haphazardly—a habit my dad strongly ingrained in me—and Spookies is only a treat for special occasions.

My trip yesterday was a special occasion, but this next one is not.

I arrive exactly on time despite knowing for a fact that Sienna will be at least five minutes late. My anxiety doesn’t allow for tardiness, but Sienna is just one of those people who is perpetually running late no matter how hard she tries. I don’t resent her for it or anything—it doesn’t bother me to wait.

Besides, there are plenty of other things about Sienna to be bothered by.

Sorry, God—she’s a perfectly lovely person, and I know You both are close.

After I order my usual—a syrupy, sugary iced monstrosity called The Witches’ Brew because it’s Halloween year-round at this coffee shop, and I need all the sweetness I can get—I notice that the same table where Caleb and I sat yesterday is available, so I grab it and wait. I check my phone, seeing that even though another day has passed, I’m still getting thousands of new likes on that Saint Catherine’s video. I wonder for half a second if I should bring up the video to Sienna but immediately dismiss it. Sienna never understood my obsession with Triple H or with becoming TikTok famous. Only a handful of people do, and now Caleb has been added to that shortlist.

The thought of Caleb brings a tiny smile to my face, and I open my messaging app to send him a quick picture of my drink with a GIF of a cat with coffee jitters. About a minute later, he responds with a few laughing emojis, and I can’t help but imagine Caleb opening the text from me and chuckling softly to himself. As I picture Caleb laughing, however, my stomach does this weird swooping thing—almost as if I’m riding a rollercoaster.

Huh. That’s new.

Maybe I should add that to the ever-growing list of “Weird Things I’ve Felt Since Accidentally Recording Ghost Orbs.”

Glancing at the door, then at my watch, I decide I might as well multitask while I wait for Sienna by updating the symptom list on my phone. I still really need to determine whether or not I’m being haunted.

So far, my research has been inconclusive. Most of what I’ve found when googling things like “am I being haunted” don’t exactly line up with my experience. As I expected, typical haunting signs include objects moving on their own (none of that yet), strange sights (the orbs in the video but so far that’s been it), feelings of being watched (eh, not really), disruption in electricity (intriguing, but not quite accurate), unexplained sounds (other than the weird sound in the basement of the church, no), and cold spots (not unless getting inexplicable chills at skin touching counts).

I’ve also tried googling most of these physical symptoms themselves—skin tingling, chest warm, feeling dizzy—but these results mostly just trigger my hypochondria, and now I’m worried I might be having a heart attack every time I’m with Caleb. Which, obviously that can’t be it, right? So, I’m back at square one and thinking perhaps more extended time spent in close proximity with Caleb has to yield some results.

I’m honestly just excited for Caleb to be my friend. Again, maybe it’s because we’re trauma-bonded, or maybe it’s because some weird spirit energy is compelling me to be his friend for some weird ghost reason, but at the end of the day, does it matter? We have a lot in common— we’re both Triple H fans, we both like weird ghost stuff, and we both hate sports. Surely there’s more, but that’s at least a good start.

I hear Sienna arrive before I see her. I know that high-pitched bubbly voice anywhere. Sure enough, I look up from my phone to see a panicked Sienna waving to me from the counter and mouthing apologies. As usual, she’s carrying a massive cross-body bag that looks like it weighs at least twenty pounds, and her wavy auburn hair sticks to her face in places where it’s clear she’s sweating.

“Goodness, I’m so sorry, Theodore,” she exhales as she arrives at our table, dropping her bag on the floor where it makes a fairly loudthunk. Wow, it really is as heavy as it looks.

“It’s totally fine, Sienna. It always is,” I say, hoping my smile is convincing enough. “I’m just chilling. I don’t have anywhere else to be today.”

She flashes me a bright smile. “So! Tell me what’s going on with you first because once I get started, I probably won’t be able to stop. How has your last month been?”

Crap. I probably should have thought of something to tell her. Not a lie necessarily, but just something to fill the space. “Oh, you know me, nothing crazy. The usual.”

“Really? Nothing interesting at all?”

“Well,” I hesitate. “I mean, you might not think it’s that interesting, but the crew and I went to one of those after-dark ghost tours at Saint Catherine’s this weekend. You know that ancient catholic church on Holly Street?”

Sienna’s smile vanishes, and her eyes widen. “A…ghost tour?”

I shrug. “Yeah, they have a pretty spooky history, and Triple H did an episode about them last week, so we figured we’d check it out, you know?”

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