Short Stories II

Theo&Vivian

It was by no evitable means that Theo was inherently perfect. With bright, honey-licked curls lapping at the edges of his ears, and a mouth that stammered things in a way he hadn't meant for them to, there truly was nothing perfect about him. At Reightormount High, he was among the many other sweaty men's basketball players to get all things wrong when it came to women. Clambering his way through social interactions with girls all through his highschool career, like a toddler stiff and awkward on it's new legs, Theo truly struggled to form his ideal relationship. At a point, he had considered turning to men, but found no success in this realm either. At this pivotal point in his endeavors, Theo had decided to feign a light mid-autumn cold in order to mask the grueling anguish of yet another romantic rejection.

On this particular Wednesday afternoon, at approximately 2:59pm, Theo shuffled and squeaked tired feet alongst the lengths of the hallway, broad shoulder muscles heavy with fatigue. Even with clementine curls tousled against his forehead, vouching for the strenuous workout that he'd just completed, Theo still appeared inhumanly handsome to the girls pondering about the halls. However, as much as Veronica, Tensley, Meadow and Farrah did adore the fine lines of his biceps, and the strong jaw jutting from a seemingly porcelain face, they'd all had their own glimpses at the realities of connecting with him emotionally. The results of these choice encounters? Easily displayed through Theo's purposeful avoidance of eye contact with the girls, simply out of respect over the newly set boundaries between them.

Having rounded the tight corner of the hallway, Theo made his way towards the rusting drink fountain planted beside the men's restroom. Shoulders slumped forward, as though bearing the weight of all of his failed relationships, Theo slipped a slender hand through the coarse wilderness of his hair, leaning forward gently to take a sip of water. With eyes closed, only being made aware of the cool tingling sensation running down his throat, Theo felt the physical progression of the muscles in his body untensing, relaxing down as though sinking into the mud of the earth. This was why Vivian's sudden presence scared the living shit out of him.

Theo felt the pressures of his embarrassment flush the delicate flesh of his cheeks; his wide blue eyes had seemingly grown in size, accompanied by the slight drip of water from a single tightened curl (due to moisture, of course, as his hair did not change as a result of his astonishment. Although, that would be pretty cool if it did..).

"Oh my god, I am so sorry..." Vivian, who at the time was just a stranger to Theo, apologized frantically. Large and rounded eyes, debatably equal to those of Theo, casted an unnecessarily deep sense of remorse from her chocolate mousse irises.

Unsure of what to say, Theo simply stood strictly still, his gaze dancing along the delicate features of Vivian's face, as though reading the varying hues of a gradient painting. In the midst of their shared moment of taking in one another's presence, Vivian briefly parted her dark, plushed lips as though attempting to say something to him. No words ever fell from her lips. Instead, she hurriedly snagged several sheets of paper towels from the nearby dispenser before returning back to him, dabbing vigorously at the blots of water staining his white t-shirt.

Theo felt the length of his spine stiffen with discomfort, feeling oddly panicked by the act of a woman making any sort of physical contact with him. He didn't mind it necessarily, but considering his past with women of his age, he did not want to appear overly excited by the physical closeness to her. Especially when this girl, of whom he had never seen or spoken to in his life, suddenly filled him with a euphoria that he had never felt before.

Vivian glanced up from his pec, momentarily pausing her dabbing to slowly survey the expression of nervousness written across his face. The way that she looked at him was as a feline adjusts to the sudden blare of light amongst total darkness, the dilation of a once exfoliated pupil yielding to its previous size. The light ahead of said cat suffices for it's vision to fully take in the world around it.