Strings Attached

Chapter Nine

That Friday, there had been a basketball game, and almost the whole school had gone. It was during lunchtime, but I hated games, so I had gone to the cafeteria as though nothing had happened.

Louise had gone to the game in hopes of seeing Henry there. That left me by myself, sitting on my usual spot and cursing the school for making games during lunch and forcing me to eat alone.

My curse seemed to work because Theodore entered the cafeteria minutes later and smiled at me. He did not hesitate to sit next to me.

"Why aren't you at the game?" I asked him casually as I took a bite of my pizza slice.

"And missing on a pizza slice? Are you kidding?" he said as he placed his tray on the table.

I rolled my eyes. "Your friends will be mad that you chose a pizza slice over them," I said.

He shrugged. "They're not my friends. They're just people I happen to know."

"Acquaintances," I told him.

"That's right," he said.

"So how's life with the popular crowd?" I asked.

"Who cares?" he said. "I told you: they will only talk to me until they can put a label on me."

"Or they can sleep with you," I muttered.

"What was that?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Nothing." I smiled innocently and handed him half of my pizza slice. "Here, you can have it."

His eyes lit up. "A—are you serious? I mean, I would understand if you didn't want to give it to me... I'm just an annoying boy with no life experience. Who am I to receive this precious gift from someone as special as you?"

I chuckled. "It's just pizza," I said.

"Just pizza!" he exclaimed, pretending to be offended. "You did not just say that!"

I smiled. "Just take it, darling... before I regret it!" I exclaimed melodramatically. Theodore took it, and I covered my eyes with my hands. "I don't want to watch this!"

"Don't worry," he said, patting me on the back. "This will be quick!"

I laughed a little and uncovered my eyes. Theodore was smiling like a little kid. He took a bite of his pizza and moaned in delight, which made me laugh again. It was as though he was having an orgasm over the food.

"Thank you for your kindness," he said as he finished eating the pizza.

"You are welcome," I said. He smirked. "You have tomato sauce on your teeth," I told him, amused.

He tried to clean his teeth, but he only made it worse. I rolled my eyes and told him to stop. Normally, I would have been grossed out to put my hand inside a boy's mouth, but I did not feel that way as I took a napkin and cleaned Theodore's front teeth with it.

Once he had no tomato sauce on his teeth, his beautifully genuine smile was back to being beautiful. Come to think of it, his smile was beautiful even when he had tomato sauce on his teeth.

I just stayed there, staring at his smile and wondering why it was the first smile that came to my mind whenever I thought about happiness.

Whenever I felt happy, a picture of Theodore's beautiful smile would come to my mind, and I did not understand why.

"I..." Theodore was about to say something, but his phone started buzzing, making us both jump.

Seriously, phones nowadays buzz in a not-so-subtle way. Theodore turned to me apologetically, and I simply nodded.