Strings Attached

Chapter Four

"Truth or dare?" I asked Theodore as I placed a chair in front of his desk and sat down.

"Weren't you going to do research or something?"

"I couldn't find anything good." I sighed. "I'm bored out of my mind. Let's play Truth or Dare!"

"I'm actually kind of busy," he said, arranging some papers.

"So? You're never too busy to play a game," I said.

"Well, let me be honest with you," he said, smiling. "I'm not that busy. I just don't like playing cliché games."

I rolled my eyes. "What do you have in mind, then?" I asked.

Theodore turned to see the clock, then his stack of papers, then me. An evil smile spread across his face, and he motioned for me to get closer to him. I did, and he whispered, "How about helping me out?"

I frowned. "It's not my job."

"Calm down, Chris," he said. "I was just joking."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Well, what a terrible joke."

He rolled his eyes and kept arranging papers. "It's not like working would kill you."

I sighed. "I know. I'm sorry."

I took a stack of papers and started arranging them. I tried my best to get interested in it, but it was boring as heck. I turned to see Theodore, who simply stared at me with an amused expression.

"Are you always this moody?" he asked, grinning.

I shrugged. "Only when I'm bored, I guess," I said.

"Are you an unhappy person?" he asked.

"Excuse me?"

"You know, when you are happy, there is no such a thing as boredom," he said.

"Whatever," I said.

"No, really," he said. "When you truly enjoy life, there is no reason to be bored. Everything is just beautiful and fun, and no one and nothing can take that happiness away from you, not even boredom. Being a happy person makes almost everything one does an adventure."

I frowned. "So, are you telling me you're never bored?" I asked.

"No." Theodore turned to see his stack of papers and sighed. "I'm telling you I'm not happy," he mumbled.

I instantly felt bad for him. I had no idea of what had happened to him to make him feel so sad about life, but I did not know if I really wanted to find out. I did not feel like being dragged down into the painful mess that his life probably was, so I probably had to keep my distance. The thing was that part of me also wanted to help him, even though I was not even able to help myself.

There was something in Theodore that kind of worried me. I felt as though I was talking to a depressed guy, but at the same time, he seemed to embrace life like not many people do. He seemed to be willing to embrace his life, but he did not seem able to do it. Perhaps there were too many things that kept him from living a happy life, and it made me wonder what he had done to deserve such a fate.

Perhaps Theodore would have given anything to have my life instead of his. I mean, I did have an irresponsible and indifferent father, but maybe my situation was not really that bad. There are far worse things than having your parents going through a divorce, even if it may seem that your world comes to an end when they do.

I kept arranging the papers as I secretly wondered if Theodore would ever open up about his life, but then I decided that I should not really care because I barely knew him, and he barely knew me, and if he asked me to open up I would probably refuse to do so.