The Losing Game

viii. the closed door

𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠. . .

"SO WHY'D YOU let him beat you?"

"I'm sorry?"

Theo and Bella were trekking through the woods aimlessly. When the group of kids discovered El was missing, they knew they had to go find her. Dustin and Mike decided to go into town and look for Eleven before the sun went down. This led Bella and Theo to the other logical alternative of going through the woods. The duo had no clue where they were going as they unconsciously made circles around the place they had come from. Neither of them had talked in the past fifteen minutes which is why Theo jumped slightly at the sound of Isabella's voice. He turned to look at her as she spoke. The sun had just set and the glow of the red sky lit up Theodore's confounded expression.

"Lucas. We both know you could have pulled him off. We both know you can take an elbow to the chest," Theo stopped in his tracks a few steps behind Bella after she finished talking. She slowly turned back to face him.

"What are you insinuating?" his hand had moved back to the spot on his chest Lucas had hit. Theo was stunned by Isabella Hammond. How could she talk to him as if they had known each other for years? Why was she so straightforward? And why couldn't she just let things be?

"That you are the wrestling champion," She threw her hands up into the air and her head followed. She spun back around and continued walking, "No way little Lucas actually hurt you, and no way he could beat you. I mean Benny told us about the time-"

"He didn't. He just broke something," Theo said while pulling said something out of a hidden chest pocket on the inside of his jacket. It was two halves of a flimsy lighter.

"Something I forgot I had," He muttered under his breath as he looked down at the lighter. He didn't want to talk about Benny right now. He didn't want to deal with his death any more than he already had. He got all of his feelings out on the floor of the bathroom. Didn't he?

"A lighter?" Bella stepped closer to the older boy. Her hair still smells of Lilacs even after their tireless hike. Orange leaves were sticking out of her extremely messy hair that she had previously tied up into a ponytail. Now numerous stands had fallen from the black hair tie and pressed themselves against her face. Theo could see every single stand as the girl continued to look into his hands. Her body was nearly pressed against his. She looked up at Theo and could feel the puff of air spill out of his nose, "You a pothead or something?"

"I don't do anything like that during wrestling season," Theo closed his fist and put the lighter back into his jacket pocket after turning away from the girl. He brought his hand up to his head as if to run it through his hair, but the gel holding the spikes together stopped him. He wanted this conversation to end. He couldn't think about his summer of pure torture or how much shit he was going to be in for not putting in the time for wrestling practice. "Plus, it's just cigs. Nothing more."

"Yeah? Well don't call me for a lung transplant when you are old and dying of lung cancer," Bella told him in such a serious tone it frightened him. This girl had some serious tone problems to sort out. He managed to force down the surprised look on his face as the two of them resumed wandering towards nothingness.

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THE DARKNESS GREW ALONG along with their tiredness. The shadows of the trees were much larger with the only light source being the moon from above and a flashlight Bella was holding. Thirty minutes ago, Theo had given Bella his jacket after her non-stop complaining about the temperature dropping well below Twenty degrees. She did take the Jacket graciously as she put the coat on over her sweater. She didn't complain for the rest of the time they were together.