Page 49 of Theoretically Straight

I give her a quick hug before hopping out of the car at the end of the driveway and wave as she pulls away. I walk around Theo’s red Honda and another car I don’t recognize to the side fence, looking for the gate he told me to go through. A booming laugh echoes as I pull open the gate.

“Cannonball!”

Harrison launches himself off of the diving board, pulling his knees in and hitting the water with enough force he soaks an entire corner of the deck.

“Jeez, Harry! You almost capsized me!” shouts Elise from her float. Her long, dark hair is piled on top of her head, and huge sunglasses hide most of her face.

Harrison resurfaces beside the float, a devilish grin on his face. “I guess I didn’t try hard enough, then.” He grabs the side and flips the float over, sending Elise into the water with a shriek.

“I’m going to kill you!” she yells, thrashing to get her footing, but they're both laughing, and it’s honestly kind of cute.

“You made it!”

Theo stands on the pool deck, hair slicked to the side and water dripping down his bare torso. He’s smiling–which he always does when he sees me–and I have to make a conscious effort not to stare.

“I made it.”

Theo rushes down the hill to meet me, his arms outstretched like he’s coming in fast for a hug. But all I can see is his exposed chest getting closer and closer and–he stops just shy of collision, dropping his arms to his side.

“Sorry, I just remembered I’m soaked. I don’t want to get you all wet.”

Yeah. That would be a tragedy.

I remind myself to breathe as we walk up the sloped hill to the pool deck. Although there was no hug, Theo does pat my shoulder as we go, and it’s a little awkward, but maybe he’s just looking for excuses to touch me?

Elise and Harrison are practically wrestling each other in the shallow end of the pool, and I notice Oliver reclining in one of the deck chairs, scrolling on his phone.

Theo’s backyard is just as opulent as I imagined it would be. A wooden deck surrounds the inground pool, a row of chairs stacked with plush pillows and two striped umbrellas providing shade. Beyond the pool deck, the back porch is screened in, with a high-top table and chairs, a sitting area, and a TV mounted to the wall.

“You can drop your stuff over there,” Theo says, pointing to the back porch. “And if you need a towel, there’s a stash under the table.”

“Thanks,” I say, already feeling a bit out of place. I step off the deck and onto the cushy green grass. Even the lawn seems perfect, the deep color and thickness sure to be an envy of all the neighbors. Back home, Dad attempted to fix the lawn on his own one summer but ended up getting so frustrated he dug it all up the next year and smothered the backyard in stones. Now we’ve got a yard of rocks and dandelions, which honestly isn’t that bad. No more lawnmowers.

I drop my bag off on the sofa, grabbing the towel I brought and tossing it over my shoulder. I already put sunscreen on before I left the house, so I pull off my shirt and shove it into my bag before heading back over to the deck. Theo’s in the pool now, hanging onto the side of Elise’s float as they carry a hushed conversation that I try not to assume is about me.

“Hey Caleb,” Oliver calls from his chair, waving. “Welcome to Brigg's Oasis. It’s going to ruin any community pool for you, so enjoy your last few moments of plebeian joy before you’re corrupted by the luxury.”

“Shut up, Oliver!” Theo yells from the pool, detaching himself from Elise’s float. “You’ll have to ignore him, Caleb. The rest of us do.”

Oliver cracks a smile. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Your concerns have been noted,” I say, giving him a thumbs up.

Harrison climbs out of the pool from the steps, and I realize this is the first time I’ve ever seen him without his glasses. “What’s up, man? Been wandering around any good haunted basements lately?”

“Oh, you know it. I keep thinking if I hang around long enough, the ghosts will just accept me as one of their own. Then I can stop having to worry about college applications.”

“Dang, alright,” Harrison says with a chuckle. “Theo didn’t tell us you had jokes.”

I look over Harrison’s shoulder at Theo, who’s just a head hovering in the water. “Yeah? What did Theo tell you about me?”

This should be interesting.

“Just the fun stuff,” Elise chimes in. “That you’re partners in crime and your choice in movies is as sick and twisted as the rest of us.”

I step down the first few steps into the pool, then sit on the edge, letting my legs dangle in the cool water. “It’s true. Me and Wren like to traumatize as many people as we can with their mom’s collection of terrible nineties horror.”

Theo swims over to the shallow end, hovering close to where I am. He flicks his hand, splashing water onto my leg, and I respond with a kick that sends a stream right to his face. He laughs, and I can’t help but smile.

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