Page 9 of Change of Plans

I ignored his teasing with a laugh and crossed the rest of the café to greet Theo. “Hey! You made it.”

“I couldn’t pass up the invitation,” Theo said, glancing around like he didn’t quite recognize the place with evening lighting. “Especially since I took up so much space earlier today.”

“You can take up all the space you want,” I said, flirting a little more than I should have in an attempt to solve the “is he gay” puzzle as quickly as possible. “I definitely don’t mind.”

Theo laughed nervously, then shoved his hands into his pockets and shuffled his feet.

It was the most adorkable reaction ever.

“Is there anything I can help with?” Theo asked. “You know, to make up for my butt claiming all that real estate today.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he flushed wine-red as his eyes went wide. “I mean?—”

“You really don’t have to make up for your butt,” I laughed, though I wouldn’t have said no to getting another look at it. “But we always need help with chairs and things.”

“Just point me in the right direction and tell me what to do,” Theo said with an amiable shrug.

I loved how easily Theo blended in with the core group of Common Grounds as he followed me into the performance space to finish with the chairs. Of course, by that point, everyone else had helped with the chairs and there wasn’t a lot left to do but find seats of our own on the far side of the room.

“Can I get you anything before they get started?” I asked, as we claimed two chairs in the back corner of the space. “Disgusting blueberry coffee maybe?”

Theo dropped his shoulders and bit his lip in defeat, which was one of the sexiest gestures I’d ever seen anyone make. “You’re never going to let me live down my coffee ignorance, are you.”

“Nope,” I said, sitting and inching a little closer to him than was strictly professional. “I still can’t believe you actually liked that stuff.”

“It’s really not that bad,” Theo said. He didn’t put more space between us. In fact, he might have angled his body so our feet touched briefly. “I mean, it was different, and different is usually a disaster for me.”

“Oh, really?” I used the excuse of turning to look more fully at him and resting a hand on the back of his chair for balance as a way to touch him more.

“You have no idea.” The look in Theo’s eyes was both comical and heart wrenching. It made me wonder about him, because no one who was as cute as he was ended up so shy unless something had gone wrong in his life at some point.

“Try me,” I said, hoping he would trust me with a little bit of himself.

He gave me a smile like he was sure I would laugh at him, then said, “I blame the coffee for the disaster at Gershwin and Anglesea today.”

My eyes went wide, then I burst into peals of laughter. “How is it horrible coffee’s fault that your sprinklers went off?”

“I broke my routine,” Theo said, unable to stop himself from smiling. At least he had a sense of humor about his quirks. “Every time I break my routine like that, I regret it.”

“That can’t be true.”

“No, seriously, it is. I don’t make the rules, the Universe does.”

I liked him so damn much that I didn’t know what to do with myself. I wanted to hug him, but I couldn’t justify that at all. I could only keep the conversation going. Theo Callihan was so easy to talk to.

“So what do you think is going to happen next?” I asked, leaning closer to him like we were sharing a secret when really I just wanted to smell the faint, woody notes of his cologne. “Coming to open mic night isn’t part of your routine. Should we expect our fire alarms to go off in the middle of someone’s set?”

“If they did, it would only be because you’re hot,” Theo blurted.

He immediately looked like he might die.

“I mean, shit. No. I didn’t mean to say that at all. See?” he shoved a hand through his hair, then covered his face with both hands. “This is the curse. This is what I have to deal with all the time.”

“Hey, now,” I said, raising my hands and trying to put him at ease. “Are you saying it’s a disaster for you to compliment me? Frankly, I’m surprised people don’t compliment me more often.”

Theo peeked at me through two fingers. “You really need to stop now,” he mumbled.

I just laughed, too giddy to handle the whole exchange reasonably. There was the answer to my question about whether Theo was gay or not. He definitely was.

Gay, yes. Game? Not at all. But I kind of loved that about him. I also loved the fact that nighttime Theo was a whole different chapter in the book than morning Theo. Morning Theo was all business and button-down shirts with striped ties. Nighttime Theo still wore a button-down, but it was soft, and he had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.