All Our Sensitivity

chapter sixteen - blackmail

After another movie and two more bowls of microwave popcorn, Nate's parents had texted him that they were on their way home. Ava and Bryce had fallen asleep not once, but twice, and had subsequently smooshed themselves against Nate as they slept. To occupy themselves, Nate and Theodore played thumb-wars a handful of times. The brown-haired boy won 7 out of the 8 times and he had never felt prouder.

Alice and Jackson had asked what ice cream they four of them wanted, and Nate learned that Theodore's favorite was cookie dough. When Nate was asked the question of which his favorite was, he said it was birthday cake. Theodore then replied by saying that it made sense in a humorously judgmental voice. It sparked a huge fake argument—one in which Ava and Bryce joined in on despite them not having a part in the initial conversation. The spur—which had lasted far too long—ended when the sound of a car pulled up in the driveway. Nate began to get nervous. He wasn't sure why he was anxious about Theodore and his parents meeting. Theodore was the kindest and most charming person alive, and his parents were the most welcoming people he'd ever known.

The idea that two different parts of his life crashing together made him worried. If anything happened between him and Theodore, how would things go? For starters, Ava and Bryce liked Theodore a lot. Bryce had opened up quicker than Nate had thought, and Ava had dropped her over-protective act. He knew that his parents would feel the same; he was convinced that there was not a single person that was not in love with Theodore in some way. If his infatuation got in the way of their friendship, he would be gutted, and he knew his family would be disappointed. If something happened between them as more then friendly, it would change things too. He knew that his family would be perfectly fine with it, but the whole situation still felt weird. This was the first boy he had ever had a genuine crush over, and it was sickening.

When Nate's parents opened the door, his heart palpitated. He gulped, and everyone shifted their bodies towards the two older adults.

"Ice cream deliveryyyyy," Jackson called out in a goofy voice as held the dessert up high and walked to the kitchen.

The twins immediately followed, and the boys stayed in their places. Alice looked at them—her eyes immediately growing wide with large smile on her face.

"Oh my god! You must be Theodore, I-" she started before realizing that her hands were still full of grocery bags. "Hold on, let me put these away."

The two boys chuckled and stood from their positions, making their way to the spot where everyone else was. The twins—who had already broken into their ice cream—sat at the dining room table watching something on Jackson's phone. Nate's parents put away the items they bought, and after less than a minute, they had finished. Alice walked over with an ecstatic grin.

"It's so great to meet you, Theodore; I'm Alice," she spoke kindly. "I hope the kids didn't give you guys too much trouble."

"It's great to meet you too," Theodore smiled. "And no, not really, we put on Despicable Me 2 and that seemed to calm them quite a bit, which is fair—that movie calms me down."

"I know, right? It's so sweet, I cry every time," she replied.

There was a moment of silence as Nate's dad walked up with the demeanor of a stoic statue.

"I'm Jackson. Nice to meet you. I hope you have good intentions hanging around my son."

He stuck his hand out and Theodore shook it, not wavering his look of charm for a second. Alice rolled her eyes as Nate shook his head and blushed.

"Dad, stop it."

"Jackson, honey, you're going to scare the poor kid away."

Jackson realized he couldn't keep the act up any longer, and his face broke into a dorky grin; he was mighty pleased with himself.