Page 50 of Tobias

The waitress nods and takes off.

“You’re not stealing any of mine,” Theo says firmly.

I narrow my eyes.We’ll see about that.

“You didn’t answer the question,” I remind him.

I’m sure he’s been all over the world, with his family being rich and all. He’ll probably say he wants to go to some obscure little country I’ve never heard of because he's already been to Paris, Italy, Rome, and all the other places rich people go to vacation.

“Pluto,” he says dead-seriously.

“Pluto, as in…”

“The planet? Obviously.”

“You’d go to Pluto? You know that’s impossible, right?”

“Well,ifit was possible, that’s where I’d go?”

“Why?” I ask, drinking the last bit of my Coke.

“Because it’s ridiculous that it’s no longer a planet, and I want it to feel special.”

I roll my eyes. “Planets don’t have feelings.”

He gasps. “You don’t know that.”

I chuckle, pushing my empty plate away. The waitress comes over, putting down a plate in front of Theo. It’s oozing chocolate, the vanilla ice cream starting to puddle on the plate from melting. I snatch up my spoon and reach across the table to scoop up a bite.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Theo says, swatting me away. “I said you weren’t having any.”

I put my spoon down and pout. “I shared my ketchup with you.”

He digs into his dessert, getting the most perfect bite. Gooey cake, ice cream, and some whipped cream. He brings it to his lips but stops at the very last second and stretches his arm across the table, the spoon right in front of my mouth.

“No, it’s okay.”

“Take the bite, Tobias. I won’t offer again,” he says in a raspy tone.

Well, when he puts it like that…

I open my mouth and wrap my lips around the spoon, taking the bite.

“Is it good?” he asks, eyes wide and full of excitement.

“So good,” I moan, wiping the corner of my mouth with my thumb.

He digs in and takes a bite of his own, leaning back in his seat. “I knew it would be good, but damn. This is perfect.”

He feeds me more, and before we know it, the plate is empty. I want him to order more just so he can keep feeding me. That's never been something I liked before, but there's something about the way he does it. The way he watches me as I open my mouth, it's like he's never seen a person enjoy food before.

“We’re going to have to come back here again,” he says as he puts his card down on the table to pay. He refused to let me pay for this, and I’m not in the mood to argue with him.

“I think we can make that happen.”

It’s almost one in the morning and not a single part of me is ready to go to sleep… or leave him. I like spending time with Theo. He’s different from my other friends. Low-key. The kind of guy I can just hang out with and do nothing. Those kinds of friends are important. They help fill up your cup. I love the guys from the bar, but they’re a lot. Maybe because they’re all younger than me, but I don’t remember being like that at that age. Probably because I was going through school and then in a relationship and miserable. Who knows?

“So, what now?” Theo asks, shoving his hands into his pockets as we stroll down the street. It’s dark. Everything is closed. Thankfully, it isn’t raining. Almost unheard of this time of year.

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