(33) Roleplaying

"You're losing something."

At the unmistakable sound of his voice that started to create butterflies in her stomach, Makennah casually glanced over her shoulder at Theo as if her heart didn't suddenly beat for him. Confused, her brow puckered. "What?"

Watching her from afar a moment longer, Theo gently smiled and walked up behind her where she stood in front of a mounted iPad, ringing in an order at the restaurant on a Sunday afternoon.

His hands unknotted her apron which hung low on her hips. Again, he said, "You're losing something." With deft fingers, Theo snuggled the apron against her hips and tightened the strings into a neat but operable bow. It felt intimate to have him stand so near to her and personally fix her apron. She felt the strings brush against her butt as he let them go.

Man, it was a good thing she wore her cute tight jeans today that made her butt look good.

"Oh...thank you," she mumbled. Her finger hovered over the screen, seeing all of the prompts but unable to focus on the order she just took. Other than two tables, the restaurant was empty. Makennah was working the late-lunch early-dinner shift.

"You're welcome." Theo leaned his shoulder against the wall and watched her ring in the rest of the order. To distract herself from his intent gaze, Makennah finished the order, pressed 'send,' and opened up another tab to print a receipt for a table that was still eating. It was way too early to give them the check but she wanted to distract herself.

Last night, Makennah promptly passed out as soon as her head hit the pillow. She was exhausted from all of the emotional trauma of the day. She didn't have time to check in with Theo. She woke up around four am to find an old text message from him that came in at midnight. He asked if she was okay. Makennah never responded and now she guiltily avoided looking him in the eye because they both knew she ignored him.

Miraculously, Makennah convinced Carolynn and Will that returning to her normal routine was the best thing for her anxiety. Carolynn called the doctor who confirmed she probably had a panic attack from all of the stress she was going through. He advised that she take it easy and lighten her load but otherwise try to make life return to normal. Makennah used that to push Carolynn to let her go to work, and they reluctantly agreed.

For the first time, she noticed Theo's unusually pristine and tidy outfit. He was dressed in a white and blue checkered dress shirt with the top button undone and the sleeves neatly rolled up which was tucked into grey pressed slacks and a brown shiny belt. His dress shoes perfectly matched the belt.

"What are you all dressed up for?" She asked.

Theo sighed and ran his hand down his face as if it caused him stress to think about it. "Mom and Dad believe in making me shadow them and learn more about the family businesses. Since they both went down their own paths and started their own businesses, I think they're competing to make me choose one over the other to pursue after I graduate college. I was with my dad this morning filing paperwork."

"What's your dad do?" Better to keep him talking about himself.

"President for a shipping company. Been in the family for decades." Well that explained all the money. Theo quickly changed the subject. "What do you want from Starbucks?"

Regretfully, Makennah wished she had applied some more concealer to hide the bags under her eyes which must warrant his offer of coffee. "Oh...um...." She found a five dollar bill in her apron from a tip she made and offered it to him to pay for her drink. "Caramel macchiato with caramel and mocha syrup."

Theo rolled his eyes and shoved her hand away, refusing her money. "What did I tell you?"

She blanked at his question. "Uh..." Nothing came to mind.

Because a few other servers welcomed themselves into the small server's station hidden from view of the customers, Theo bent a little to whisper in her ear. "I'm showing you what it's like to be my girlfriend, remember? Girlfriends don't pay for coffee. I'll be back."

She opened her mouth to protest but she couldn't. He walked away too fast without another word. For a moment, she just stood there and soaked in his words. A pleasant wave of heat warmed her cheeks, thinking of all the ways he had already proven himself in that arena.

For the next thirty minutes, her work kept her busy. While she filled drinks and cleaned tables, she put together an apology in her head for Theo after all she put him through yesterday. Not to mention, she had to thank him for allowing her to drive all over the state in his car, taking him to dangerous places without much explanation and leaving him in the dark. At the end of the day, he had to deal with Will too. And then she ignored his text.

"Mocha macchiato with caramel sauce," Theo announced upon his arrival. The huge grin on his face told her that he was joking and he actually got her drink order right.

She swiped the drink out of his hand and smiled. "Just what I asked for!"

His smile fell off of his lips. "You know I'm joking right?"

She bumped her shoulder into his. "Yes, silly. Thank you. I appreciate it."

His smile softened as he gazed down at her. "You're welcome. You're off soon, right? Let me give you a ride."

Makennah nodded. "Yeah my last table is almost done. I'll have to ask Carolynn though. They're not exactly happy with me."

Theo nodded in understanding. "Just let me know."

With great hesitation, Carolynn agreed to let Theo drive her home. She forced Makennah to promise to text her when she was leaving so that she could track every second that she was gone. That was to be expected so Makennah didn't argue.

Theo disappeared so she went searching for hm in the back once she cleaned up her table and clocked out. He was leaning by the back door that was propped open for a soft breeze to float in and cool off the hot kitchen. Outside, it was pouring down rain.

"You ready? No jacket?" Theo stood to attention.

She curled her arms around her body. "I didn't know it was supposed to rain."

Theo shucked off his jacket. "Take mine. I'll go pull up the car."

She shook her head. "You take it then. You'll be in the rain."

Without arguing, Theo flipped the jacket around her body and laid it on her shoulders, insisting she take it. "Remember what I said," he said quietly before he jogged off into the rain without hesitation.

When his Lexus swerved in front of the door, Makennah ducked her head with the hood flipped over her hair and ran to the car. Inside the windshield wipers swiped like crazy and Theo blasted the air on the windows.

Before she lost the nerve to say anything at all, Makennah blurted out, "I'm sorry and thank you."

Theo buckled his seatbelt with a small smile. "What are you sorry for?"

Some of the lingering anxiety in her chest pounded with her heartbeat, reminding her of the episode last night. "Sorry for dragging you into my mess. Sorry for taking you to Bobby Long's house. Sorry for being angry and exploding. Sorry for getting you in trouble with Will. Sorry for making you feel like you might die when Bobby pulled out that gun. Sorry for....everything."

Theo maneuvered through light traffic without looking at her. "And what are you thanking me for?"

"I'm thanking you for putting up with me and my craziness. I'm thanking you for driving me all over without question. I'm thanking you for letting me run wild and not making me feel bad about it. I'm thanking you for taking a risk and going out in the middle of nowhere with me. I'm thanking you for seeing everything you saw and....and not making me feel bad about it."

At a stop light, Theo craned his head to make eye contact. The right light from the traffic signal displayed orangey rays on his face, shadowing his jaw bone and cheek bone. He licked his lips before he said, "I'd do it all again for you. There's no reason to be sorry."

"There is...because I'm sure Will wasn't happy with you. You probably got yelled at because of me." Makennah curled up inside of his coat and tucked her chin into her chest. His jacket smelled like him and it brought her so much comfort.

Theo merged into the right lane once the light turned green. "He wasn't mad at me. Don't worry. He just wondered what happened, and if I took care of you. He asked if I knew that you lied to them about your whereabouts and when I said I didn't know anything about that, he let me off the hook. He was just concerned about your safety and I promised him I did everything I could to keep you safe."

He was right. He did. Although he let her drive wherever and talk to whomever, he was always at her side. And when things got dicey at Bobby Long's, Theo dragged her out and drove home. Not to mention, when she threw up, he took care of her and held her hair and rubbed her back. At the end of the night, he drove her home and made sure she was okay.

Theo cleared his throat when Makennah didn't respond back. "I heard you had a panic attack last night."

Makennah groaned. "Who told you that?"

"Matt texted me. He saw my car in the driveway and figured out it was me who took you out. I covered for us; don't worry," he explained. "Are you okay?" His hand drifted to her side of the car and touched her leg.

"I'm fine. Just a lot all at once. Nothing I haven't done before."

"You've found your mom like that before?" He asked.

Makennah remembered that she didn't really explain anything to Theo yesterday. She unknowingly left him hanging. "Yeah, too many times to count."

"What did you do in the past?" He asked, wrapped his hand around her knee.

"Well it depended. I'd try to drag her home if CPS was looking for her or coming for a home visit. Other times, I'd stay and keep an eye on her. A lot of time when I was younger, she hosted the parties. That's how I learned to mix drinks. I'd sit on the counter and pour crap together. After awhile, I actually figured out what I was doing."

"What if something bad happened at the party or something happened to your mom?"

She sighed. "Again, it depended. If the party turned sour, I'd get my mom out and just run. If it was out of my control, I called the cops and ditched. If my mom passed out, I made her throw up, put her in the shower, gave her water or food."

Theo clicked his tongue. "So you've been taking care of your mom for...forever?"

"It kinda feels that way," she admitted quietly. It felt like a weakness rather than a strength sometimes. Her maturity outranked most other teenagers her age. She lost a bit of her childhood but she learned more lessons in seventeen years than most people did in four decades.

"Hey, look at me." Theo rattled her leg until she lifted her eyes. "I wish we hadn't almost died but nothing that happened changes my mind about you. I don't see you differently and I don't hold anything against you. Your mom and what happened doesn't make me think less of you."

She nodded her head. She couldn't say anything to that because her throat clogged up with tears.

"Now we have something else really important to talk about."

Makennah raised her eyebrows. "Yeah?"

Theo smirked at her. "Homecoming."

She gave him a weird look. "What about it?"

"You're going right?"

She laughed shortly. "No. No way."

He frowned. "Why not?"

"I don't wanna go through the hassle of finding a date," because she didn't wanna go with anyone other than Theo. "And I hate shopping for dresses." And she had never been before.

"Those are piss poor reasons. Everyone has to do that."

She rolled her eyes. "Well Makennah Claire Thomas doesn't."

"What if you didn't have to find a date?"

She shrugged. "I still wouldn't go." She didn't know what he meant by that, but she definitely wasn't going with a stranger. Making small talk all night sounded awful. She wasn't about to let anyone set her up.

"Kennah, you're being no fun!" He slapped her leg.

She shied away from him and snickered under he breath. "I didn't even go to homecoming at my old high schools. What makes you think I'm gonna try my hand at a fancy dance in a town like Braxton where I'm sure everything is overdone?"

"Because I know for a fact that all of your friends are going. You'd be majorly missing out!"

Unfortunately, Makennah noted that Theo turned into her street. She just wanted to stay in the car with him a little longer and enjoy the warmth of the leather seats and his handsome company.

"I'll pass," she said.

"Whatever. I'm gonna find a way to force you to go."

She glanced at him sideways. "Why? I'm sure you'd be tied up with your own date."

Theo glared at her. "You're an idiot. What makes you think I'm going with someone else?"

Theo pulled into the driveway, and Makennah gathered up her stuff, shoving the door open and ducking out into the rain. "Gotta go! Bye!" She slammed the door shut and wobbled to the house with her Starbucks coffee. She faintly heard him yelling at her but she ignored it.

Inside, she flung the door shut and leaned against it. It was then that she realized she still had his coat. Hurriedly, she ran up the stairs and dashed away to her room before anyone saw her.

The thought of Theo dancing all night long with anyone other than her made her stomach turn sour.

But she inevitably always played hard to get with Theo.

She wanted him but she didn't want to risk making Matt angry with her.

Remember what I said.

He was trying to show her what it was like to be his girlfriend. How good of a boyfriend he could be.

Did that mean he was going to ask her to homecoming?

Makennah slurped down her macchiato like a shot of whiskey.

Truth was she wanted Theo to ask her. She wanted to dress up for him. She wanted to do a lol the cutesy dumb things with him for Homecoming.

She needed to find a way to let him know she was interested. She needed to turn his head. Let him know she enjoyed the girlfriend/boyfriend role playing they were engaging in.

So she texted Grace. And prepared to turn his head.

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W. Carolina