Chapter 6: Two Pea’s in a Pod

“Surely not, what are the fucking chances?” Dillon contemplated as he watched the percentage of the synced file increase. Did he dare open it up when it was finished? Should he even let it continue? Fingers wrapped loosely around the cable as he willed himself to pull the plug. He knew he should, it was the respectful thing to do.

Playing the encounter over in his head, he envisioned handing her the phone, stating he knew it was hers because he’d seen the case when she got that text the previous day in class. It really was the ultimate opportunity to be seen as the nice guy hero by a girl he fancied. Still though, he didn’t remove the cord, his devious side getting the better of him. Two very specific files driving him and keeping his hand from pulling the literal plug – he just had to know what was in there. A swift knock at the door startled him, and Dillon quickly shut the laptop before nervously glancing around his room as if there was someone there who could have seen.

“Um, yeah. Just a second,” he yelled out, throwing his quilt over the computer and cell phone. He smacked his forehead en route to his door. “Calm the fuck down dude! You’re acting like a guilty mother-fucker. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Oh, hey Teddy,” he said, opening the door the whole way upon seeing who his guest was.

“Yeah, hi. Um, do you mind if I talk to you about something?”

“Sure, come in. But you could have just texted.”

“I don’t have your number,” Theodore responded as Dillon stepped aside, allowing him to enter. The usually stoic boy seemed a bundle of nerves, clinging tightly to his cell phone. Grabbing it out of his hand, Dillon watched him in very much the same way as Suki had looked at him when he first entered her dorm room as he punched in his number.

“Facebook?” Dillon asked, insinuating it should have been obvious as he chucked Theodore back his phone. But another blank stare was his answer. “Dude, someone as popular as you should have a presence. You’d be fucking huge online if you gave it a try.”

“N-not really my thing,” he stuttered out.

“Sit down dude, you look like you’re about to barf,” Dillon suggested. Heeding his advice, Theodore sat down at Dillon’s desk. The honey-blond – still slightly guilt ridden – teen slumped onto the edge of his bed, careful not to sit on his laptop, and leaned forward toward his acquaintance with forearms on his knees. “Ok, shoot. What’s got you so anxious?” Dillon wasn’t 100 percent sure what this was going to be about. The number of times he’d spoken to the guy man-to-man before today could be counted on one hand, but he had a pretty good feeling.

“We’ve, ah, spoken,” Theodore divulged, staring down at his hands.

“So? That’s a good thing. This is what you wanted isn’t it?” Dillon’s tone urging him to explain further.

“I guess ... but things got a little ... heated.”

“Fuck you Teddy and your handsome–everything! It all just comes so goddamn easy.”

“Alright, surely you didn’t come here just to tell me that.”

Theodore shook his head, and for the first time Dillon was able to see the guy for who he really was. A timid, inexperienced teenager just looking for someone to give him some advice. Eighteen may make you legally an adult but it doesn’t come with an instruction manual or a button that automatically fills you in on the ways of the world.

“Start from the beginning, what happened?”

Another silent nod followed before a long pause. Dillon felt the hidden phone start to vibrate on the bed – his eyes shooting wide open in reaction.

“I thought I’d take your advice and text her. You’re always so confident around girls, so I figured I’d pretend I had your backbone and well, went for it.”

“What did ya do?” Dillon sighed, inwardly blown away that someone like Theodore O’Hare would even consider him someone to emanate.

“She’d taken my worksheet and written something on the back of it. I had a look after we had our talk earlier, and it was her phone number and a note that said; ‘for whenever you might need me’.” He ran a hand through his hair, still shocked that he’d had the balls to do what he did. “So I wrote to her.”

“Don’t make me pry every little detail out of you, man. Just get to it!’

“Fine. I said; ‘it’s Teddy, I need something’. She wrote back asking what it was and I said; ‘you’.”

“What the fuck dude? You serious?”

“Yes, isn’t it what you’d have done?”

“Yeah but you aren’t me. I throw myself at girls, girls throw themselves at you. Big difference. That’s so crazy ... so what did she say?” Dillon jumped when the phone beside him started buzzing for the second time.

“She was surprisingly cool about it. She kinda insinuated that she wanted to just hook up with nothing serious attached.”

“Pfft. Typical broads. That’s a line bro, they all use it. They think by acting like a guy it will make us fall for them.”

“So it’s happened to you?”

Dillon paused, thinking about the right answer to give. This situation was beyond surreal. One of the most sought after guys in the entire school – likely the whole tri-state area – was asking him for advice on hooking up with girls. The self-proclaimed, unluckiest man in the world. He’d definitely hit on pretty much anything with a pussy and a pulse, but he’d also never made up a story about being with a specific girl if it hadn’t happened. So knowing there were, well, NO tales circulating about him here at college, he couldn’t understand why he was the one Theodore was coming to for advice.