What the hell are we?

9. Jealous

The week passed in a heartbeat and soon it was already the last Friday before the Christmas break, or also the Friday of the fateful prom. At the end Corey had arranged for Theo a date with Jake, the barman he had met at Sinema. At that point Theo didn't care anymore, the important thing was not having to be the only one without a date. It would have been humiliating.

Liam still did not want to say who he would take, despite Mason's insistence, and Nolan was by now convinced that this date did not actually exist. But Theo knew it was not true: in the last few days Liam had been restless and nervous, more and more as Friday approached, and it could only be for one reason. Whoever was his date, it was shaking him to the point of making him even more intractable than usual. And that's saying a lot.

He had peaked the afternoon before - when Corey had declared that now that Theo had his date too, all of them were happily arranged for prom - when Liam had tightened his glass so tight that he shattered it to pieces, drenching everyone of them of pieces of glass and coca cola. And Theo could not help wondering - while he was removing pieces of glass from his hair - why people would ever agree to go to dates, if they had to end up like this.

Fortunately, Nolan had saved the situation and raised everyone's mood, saying that his parents would let him invite a couple of friends to their chalet in mountains during the holidays for a few days. Everyone had been very happy.

*

Theo was not happy. With the music roaring around the gym, and a glass of punch in hand, he watched Mason and Corey, Nolan and Phoebe dance on the dance floor. Jake was standing next to him, swaying slightly to the rhythm of the music, and trying to pull him into a conversation, without success.

Theo could not focus. He kept looking at the entrance every minute, hoping to see Liam go in. He was the only one missing. Obviously, he was just worried that he had definitely crashed somewhere with his wrecked car!

"Wanna dance?" Jake asked him suddenly. Theo shifted his attention to him as if he were aware only now of his presence.

"I'm ... I'm fine here, maybe later" he replied absently, turning his head back to the entrance, then sighing and taking a huge sip of punch.

He looked up again on the dancefloor, and smiled, shaking his head, at the sight of Nolan dancing awkwardly with his date. Then he turned his gaze to the right, where he saw Mason stuck, eyes wide, clinging to Corey's arm, as if he had just seen a ghost. Like Corey, Theo frowned and turned to follow his gaze.

It was as if someone had punched him in the stomach, cutting his breath sharply. Liam had just entered the front door, clutched in his black tuxedo, arm-in-arm with none other than Hayden Romero. The boy looked around the room, looking for them probably, stopping to greet the acquaintances he met with his eyes. Theo heard Mason and Corey reach him, he did not see them because his eyes did not seem to want to leave Liam. Then finally Liam made eye contact with him, and that seemed to shake Theo. He turned suddenly towards Jake, taking him by the wrist "Now I wanna dance, let's go"

He did not want to be near those two, he did not want to talk to them, he did not want to see them. So he dragged him away firmly without noticing Corey following him compassionately with his eyes.

Theo was definitely tired of feeling that strange way. He felt weak, he felt sick. Perhaps there was something seriously wrong with him, perhaps the Dread Doctors were right when they had called him a failure.

He was even more convinced of it when Jake took his hands and placed them on his shoulders, then sliding his on Theo's hips pulling him closer, and all that Theo was able to think was that time at Sinema when he and Liam had danced in the same way. He recalled the feeling of Liam's hands on his shoulders, how he had leaned his head against him, laughing, how he had felt relaxed when he had reached him. Nothing compared to now, now he felt uncomfortable, he felt restless, he felt wrong.-