Facing Crossroads

XXV - Sleep Over

                                                      Shane

“I trust you to know what to do and what not to do,” Theo’s mom said to him in a low tone but I still heard her. “You’ll sleep on the floor. No touch, you understand?”

Theo groaned but nodded like a good boy that he was. “I know it, mom.”

She turned to me, her thin hands on her chest. She looked really young, like she could pass up as Theo’s older sister. But she had wrinkles on her eyes, face flushed. “I’m sorry we don’t have a spare room for a guest. The other room had all the things we don’t need. I’ll have you sleep on my son’s room. He will behave himself and I’m just on the next room.”

She looked a bit worried so I smiled to reassure her. “Thank you so much, Ms. Faustino. And I’m really sorry for the inconvenience.”

She shook her head, waving her hand. “No, Shay, you’re not an inconvenience. What matters is your safety. And you can call me Venice, or even mom. That’s what Theo’s friends call me anyway.”

I saw Theo rubbed the back of his neck, telling me he was a bit anxious. “Thank you.”

Venice just nodded and smiled kindly as she placed extra pillows and blanket on the bed before quietly exiting the room.

Theo and I exchanged looks but wasn’t sure what his stare meant. What I was sure of, was that I felt butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

****

I was at the edge of the bed, looking down at him. He was lying still at his back on the hard floor, one arm shoved under his head.

He then turned to look at me.

“That looks uncomfortable.”

He hummed, the usual response he did whenever he was thinking what to say next. “No worries, Shay. We had worse.”

Curiosity nagged me. “What do you mean?”

He cleared out his throat, eyes fixated on the ceiling. “We experienced sleeping in bus terminals when I was little.”

My eyes grew wide. “No s**t?”

He smiled and briefly wet his lips. I swallowed. “Mmm-hmm. After my father freed her from the syndicates, she tried to run away, trying to escape everything in this town. But then she figured out she’s carrying his child. So she worked in a diner here and there. We were very poor that we got kicked out from her apartment. She was very young then.”

I suddenly felt ashamed. My life had been extravagant, blinded with the truth that all the money my father had came from the crimes he committed. I didn’t know the exact details about his underground business but I knew they were far from legal.

“I’m sorry…” I whispered.

Theo sat up, his eyes leveling mine. He smoothed my cheek and his hand sent a zap of spark straight to my gut. “Don’t. It’s not your fault.”

I shook my head, trying not let guilt swallow me. “I feel ashamed. My father…”

“Shay,” he shushed, shaking his head. “Shay… Your father ran an underground business where they import party drugs and sell it to celebrities. That’s where the bulk of their money came from, not in human trafficking.”

Tears filled my eyes. “He tried to hide his dirty business from me. But I learned it anyway. He donated money to the victims of child exploitation because he was abused as a child. He gave them jobs, helping them to build a new life. That’s what I chose to see him as, someone who helps the helpless. But clearly, I was wrong.”

“And I won’t blame you for it.” He let out a small smile, wiping out my tears. “He did what he thought would make him survive. In their world, it’s either you be one of them or be killed.”

I frowned, gazing at his eyes. “How come you know a lot about them? You’re not even one of them.”

“I did my research,” he replied. “I met my father when I was eight and we used to hang out together, doing father and son thing. At ten, I learned what his real job was, seeing the news about him getting involved in some murder case. Our peaceful life had been compromised, so we started to move from town to town, not staying too long as we waited for things to cool down.”

“You’re not making this up, are you?” I said, imagining him being sucked in a fiction world.

Theo chuckled, easing up the tension. “That’s the story of my life, Shay. My father is a gangster. But whatever our fathers did, all the bad and all the good, it won’t tell us who we are as their child. We have the right to choose our own path. We are not them.”

My heart warmed at his words. He always looked at the positivity of things and he made it so easy. He was well aware of what was happening in the underworld, yet he kept his integrity strong and intact.

We let silence filled the room as we gazed at each other. Two broken people trying to mend themselves by trusting each other.

Theo had a soul of an old honorable man trapped in a growing boy’s body. I suddenly questioned myself why I stayed with Rocky all those years. We never had this kind of conversation. Smart and deep and overwhelming. What we did was to laugh at people, chased trouble, and did what our parents told us not to do.

“Did you get scared?” he asked, breaking the silence. “When you saw the broken windows?”

I shrugged my shoulder. “A bit. I just haven’t expected the incident. But I have Cheerio with me and I trained him to attack. When someone harms me, he’ll bite a leg off.”

Theo’s eyes grew wide. He raised his hands in the air. “I promise I won’t ever harm you.”

I laughed at his reaction. “Actually, I feel safe with you, Theo.”

“And that’s a good thing.”

“You pinky swear you won’t harm me?” I asked, watching him.

Again, he brought his pinky finger between us. “I pinky swear.” He composed himself, suddenly giving me a playful look. “You know, my offer’s still up. About you drawing me, with or without a shirt.”

I groaned, my imagination running wild. “You’re driving me nuts!” I hissed.

He laughed, controlling his voice, careful not to be heard.

“But I wanna draw your tattoo. The design’s so intricate that it challenged me.”

He raised an eyebrow, gaze fixed at me. “Hmmm, you sure it’s just the tattoo you’re after? I kind of worked out too, you know.”

I rolled my eyes. “I know you have a decent body. I’m not blind.”

“Oho! So you’re checking me out.” He had a wide grin on his face.

“Don’t be too cocky now.”

He propped up his elbow on the edge of the bed, moving closer to me.

“How long is your tattoo, by the way? Just right until your waist?”

He shook his head, eyes glinting. “No. It goes all the way down.”

I stared at him, wondering where it stopped. His tattoo was lined at his side, on his ribcage. “Really?”

He moved closer, like closer closer, invading my personal space. “Mmm-hmm… All the way down.”

“Down where?”

Theo’s eyes moved down to my lips. “I think you’ll see when you draw me.”

Boy, he knew how to stir a girl’s fantasies. “I didn’t know you have this side,” I said.

“What side?”

“Theo’s naughty side.”

We both laughed. I loved the sound of his laugh, all genuine and contagious.

“Does that bother you?” he asked.

I shook my head. “I like all your weird and crazy side.”

His eyes twinkled. “You might regret saying that, Shay. I’m going all out.”

I nodded nonchalantly. “Huh, you do that. I’m not scared of you.”

With that, Theo hopped up quickly on the bed, in one swift motion, placing his body on top of mine, caging me. His nose almost touched mine and I could feel his breath on my lips.

I swallowed.

His eyes narrowed at my reaction. “What were you saying, Shay?”

And now I’m dazed. “I… I don’t know.”

He sat up on the bed, a playful smile on his lips. He was about to go back on his side on the floor when I stopped him.

“Stay,” I whispered.

Theo thought for a moment before lying at his back beside me. He stretched his arm and I snuggled up to him. He smelled neat, his shirt was obviously soaked into a fabric conditioner. He shifted and pulled me closer to him as I bury my head at his neck. I smelled a manly scent, like an aftershave or something.

“You smelled good,” I murmured.

“You’re smelling me?”

“Yeah, why?”

I felt him breathed. “Nothing. I like the smell of your hair.”

I bit back my smile. “So, you smell me too, huh?”

He sniffed my hair. “Sweet smell.”

When I smelled his chin, he tensed, frozen like a statue. Then he groaned.

“Don’t.” He breathed out. “I made a promise to my mom, Shay.”

“You can smell and I can’t?”

Theo adjusted, putting a small gap. “Just not on that part. You’re killing me, girl.”

“How about here?” I reached for the side of his neck and he held me, pinning me in place.

“Shane, I’m damn serious. I maybe a gentleman but I’m a man. How about we behave now, before my mom came bustling that door?”

I breathed in, calming my hormones. “Alright, Mr. Gentleman. Your house, your call.”