Theodore

o r a n g e

"She basically said we should look at other paths, not just the path we took." He pushes the frame of his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "At first I was thinking... I don't think there are other paths to it. But then I thought, maybe she's right? There are other paths to love. We're going based on what the cliché typical version of love is, but what about what other people think it is? Like murderers who kill out of love, or abusers who abuse out of love. Like psychopaths who... do whatever, out of love. That way, we have more research and we've tackled all angles-"

"I'm hungry."

Theodore lifts his eyes from the screen of his laptop, a frown instantly scattered all over his face. He leans back in his seat and folds his arms over his chest. The aching twist in my stomach has me rubbing it a bit.

"What, you blame me? You literally just called me right after class and said we needed to speak of important stuff."

"This isn't important to you?"

"Considering your message two days ago, asking me if I was available on the weekend, to which I said yes, we can do this research on the weekend, no. This isn't important to me at the moment. Food is." I fold my legs and lean back against my own seat opposite him. "You pulled me all the way to the library just to tell me something you could tell me when we actually are supposed to do this? I'm not interested."

The man pulls off his glasses and releases a heavy sigh, rubbing his eyes as he punches the bridge of his nose.

"I promise you Theodore, we'll do it this weekend, but right now I'm not in the best mindset to do this. I just want to eat and possibly sleep. I'm tired."

"You don't do anything. What could possibly be causing you exhaustion?"

"Ahm, maybe I'm just tired? Maybe school is exhausting me? Maybe I just don't have a good amount of social battery to talk about school related stuff? Maybe it's because I'm hungry. Or maybe, I got railed yesterday and didn't get a good amount of rest because I had a second round? Did you think of those as possibilities?"

Truthfully, it's work. It's the hours I spend to make sure I get money at the end of the month, but he doesn't know I work. I don't want him to deem me as less than because I work for my money at my age instead of having my parents hand me money.

Which wouldn't be such a bad idea if my mother wasn't so messed in the head. If she didn't have such hatred towards me, maybe she'd give me weekly money or something. But I have to be independent.

"I'm sure it's the latter." He rolls his fake brown eyes at me before putting back on his frames.

"You know, you don't have to have this fake identity with me. I know for sure you can see as clear as day without glasses. You still haven't told me why you tend to look different at school than when you're out in public."

Theodore does not respond for a good moment. Within this moment, I watch him. His hair styled neatly, eyes at me through the lenses of his dark framed spectacles. Lips pressed together unpleasantly at my intrusiveness. A simple grey hoodie and, if I remember correctly since I can't see through this table between us, black jeans. Not skinny, but it fits well. Oh, and white simple Nike shoes.

The typical attire he wears to school. Nothing changes, not even the colours. These are the common neutrals he wears; and maybe he spices it up with a different colour but still, this is his typical look. Different to what he wears out there.

Out there, being the three or so times I saw him outside school. A whole different identity. If one was to pay good attention to him, maybe - just maybe, although I'm willing to bet on it - somebody might just notice the very small similarities and possibly put two and two.