Page 60

“He got so dumped,” Sawyer chimed in.

Theo grabbed the first thing he touched on his desk—a Latin workbook—and whipped it at him, but Theo’s aim wasn’t great and Sawyer batted it away from his legs. “Headphones, dick,” Theo growled.

He made a face at Theo and turned back to his video games.

“Is he always like that?” Izzy asked, clearly trying not to smile.

“Always,” Theo sighed.

“Only sometimes,” Sawyer said, but he laughed when Theo thrust his middle finger up without turning around.

“I can’t tell—do you guys hate each other or not?” Izzy asked.

“Both,” Theo sighed, admitting to himself for the first time that Sawyer could be, occasionally, not the worst. After their first conversation about Avery, Sawyer had brought back a pack of beers to the room and left it on Theo’s bed, in what was not dissimilar to the way Harper’s cat used to leave dead mice on her bedroom floor as a gift. In his own weird, vaguely creepy, and often unhelpful way, Sawyer cared.

“Aww love you too, roomie,” Sawyer said, and then put his headphones back on. Theo waited to be sure, and when Sawyer didn’t turn back around, he went back to Izzy.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “Where were we?”

“Avery dumped your ass.”

Theo smiled ruefully. “She did. I thought you should know. No secrets anymore and all.”

“Fortunately, Itasca has a very efficient news delivery system,” Izzy said.

“Tommy?”

“Tommy.” Izzy looked at him shrewdly. “He told me everything, including that it wasn’t real at first, which is messed up, but then again, I guess I’m not surprised you and Avery were weird about it. Have you and Tommy made up?”

“We have, yeah.”

“Good. He doesn’t like feeling like he fucked up,” Izzy observed.

“Because everyone else just loves feeling like that,” Theo replied, and then shook his head. “Really, though, Tommy and I are fine, and I’m glad you’re happier there.”

“And are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Even—?”

“Yeah.” It wasn’t the whole truth—thinking about Avery was only slightly less painful than open heart surgery without anesthesia—but it was what Izzy deserved to hear if she was taking the trouble to check in on him.

Maybe it was his imagination, but Izzy didn’t look totally convinced. She didn’t mention it, though, just nodded.

“I did have sort of an awkward favor to ask, though,” she said. “I wanted to order Pops a Christmas gift, but I don’t want to haul it through security, and you know what he’s like. If I send it home, he will find it if I’m not home to hide it safely.” Izzy’s grandfather lived with her parents and was an exceptionally good snoop, that much was true. He liked to say that he was someone who should have been a police detective, but his nosiness usually only went as far as gifts for himself, so Theo had his doubts about whether or not he’d be any good at investigating actual crimes.

“Want to send it to Mom and Karl?” he offered. “I’m pretty sure Pops won’t go so far as to search other people’s houses.”

She smiled, and it was the first time her smile seemed genuine. “Is that okay?”

“It’ll be fine, I’ll tell them to keep an eye out for it. When do you get home for break?”

Izzy told him, and they worked out a good day for her to stop by and get the gift. It was the most normal, least stressful conversation they had had since August, and Theo felt considerably lighter when she hung up.

“How are things with California?” Sawyer asked, barely seconds after the phone screen went black.

“I thought I told you not to eavesdrop.”