NaNoWriMo Day 9: 4,753 of 50,000
Aye. Theo is proving to be a rather tricky main character I tell ya.
To read the previous chapters head HERE!
Chapter Three
The line stretched around the block when Theo’s Uber arrived at the entrance to the Rock Box. After a quick thanks to the driver Theo smoothed the front of his button down as he joined the line keeping an eye out for Tyler or Ophelia. Going out wasn’t an abnormal thing for Theo to do, but he couldn’t keep himself from thinking about the man with the knife since he left his place earlier that evening. Questions like: where was he? and What was he doing? continued to swirl around in his brain. More to the point Theo wondered why he was so concerned with this man. It wasn’t as if he was running around the block screaming murder as he slashed his knife into the air. Maybe it was the man’s subtleness that concerned Theo so much. Any sane person would expect someone who went around the neighborhood carrying a knife to scream murder, but this man wasn’t. This man was doing the exact opposite because he was laying low and tending to the cracks of the sidewalks.
“Theodore Henderson, my man!” Tyler’s voice boomed large and loud from behind him. As Theo turned to greet his best friend he noticed the colorful button up that adorned Tyler’s chest.
“Wow, hello there,” Theo chuckled bumping fists with Tyler who cracked a smile and leaned in.
“I’m trying to impress a lady,” he whispered before pulling away.
“Oh yeah and where is the lucky lady?” Theo inquired as Ophelia stepped out of a car nearby and waved at Theo.
“She’s about 2 minutes away,” Tyler answered looking down at his phone, “Uber’s are busy tonight.”
“Fellas, fellas, fellas,” Ophelia greeted the pair of us as the line surged forward, “what a lovely evening to take part in the great American tradition of karaoke, eh?”
I chuckled. “That’s one way of looking at it.”
“Look friends it’s one of the few talents I have to impress the ladies with,” Tyler remarked as his eyes set upon a blue Honda that just pulled up. Not long after a tall redhead emerged from the backseat flipping her hair and scanning the line. Once she connected eyes with Tyler she excitedly waved and rushed to the small group Theo was a part of.
“Tyler, what a popular place!” the redhead exclaimed as the two embraced. Ophelia and Theo exchanged a glance surprised at the display of flirtation that was currently taking place in front of them.
The line moved slowly forward every few minutes until the group made their way to the front and were quickly let in by a burly man with a clipboard. Theo felt his shoulders relax as the group entered a small room which contained a couch and a large television mounted on the wall.
“Who is going first?” Tyler’s friend, who Theo learns is named Valerie, picks up a microphone looking expectantly at everyone.
“I think you should,” Tyler says matter-of-factly, “I mean you are holding the mic.”
Theo and Ophelia find spots on the couch as they watch Tyler and Valerie dance and sing to the ever so wonderful “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” song. Theo wants to enjoy this time with his friends, he wants to laugh at the way Tyler is attempting to move his hips in order to impress Valerie, he wants to joke around with Ophelia but he’s finding it rather difficult. So, he begins talking to Ophelia about the man with the knife while Tyler takes over the mic.
“Look, Theodore you need to chill,” Ophelia all but screams over the sound of Tyler’s wailing. “The guy seems totally harmless.”
“Harmless?” I ask my voice rising. “How is someone brandishing a knife around the neighborhood harmless?”
Ophelia sighed dramatically. “Tyler get over here would you!”
Tyler whirled around the smile disappearing from his face. He handed the mic to Valerie who was not deterred from the singing and dancing she was doing and she just continued. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Has this idiot,” Ophelia began pointing to Theo, “told you about this man with a knife in his neighborhood?”
“Hey now,” Theo responded not appreciating the word idiot in reference to himself.
“Shush,” Ophelia interjected and looked expectantly at Tyler.
“A man with a what? Where?” Tyler asked leaning in closer to us to hear better.
“It’s this homeless man that lives near my place in Ballard. He carries around this big kitchen knife and cuts the weeds. He’s just off. Something about him,” Theo did his best to explain everything and try not to sound like a lunatic.
Tyler stared at Theo then at Ophelia then back at Theo. “Are you okay man?” he finally said.
Theo sighed. “Yeah grand. My two best friends think I’m a lunatic!”
Poor Valerie turned around when she heard Theo declare himself a lunatic at which point the whole party atmosphere that Tyler was going for bottomed out.
“No, we’re not calling you a lunatic,” Tyler said approaching his friend who had removed himself from the couch.
“Speak for yourself,” Ophelia chimed in.
“Right, yeah cheers,” Theo said pushing the door open and walking out. He didn’t know why he was becoming so defensive, but every part of him was saying something was wrong and no one was taking him seriously. Tyler came after him as the two stumbled out onto the busy night street.
“Hey Theo wait man,” Tyler grabbed Theo’s right bicep halting him from finding a waiting Uber.
“Get off of me!” Theo screamed fed up with his friends. The nearby security guard began to walk towards the two of them, but Tyler waved him off and pulled his friend away from the crowd.
“What’s going on with you?” Tyler softly said waiting for Theo to calm down.
“Nothing!” He had already tried to explain himself, but was called a lunatic so what good would saying anything more do?
“Yeah, clearly you are completely calm and collected right now.”
Theo had so many words building up in him that the only thing keeping him from uttering them was the look on poor Valerie’s face. She was petrified. Remembering where he was Theo felt his tense shoulders drop and after taking a deep breath he responded. “Look. I know it all sounds insane and really I’ve been thinking the same for awhile, but have you ever had that,” Theo paused swirling his right hand around his stomach, “gut feeling that something isn’t right?”
Tyler and Ophelia looked at each other and both even looked back at Valerie. “I mean we all get that sometimes Theo,” Ophelia responded, “but you’re obsessing over this.”
The argument was going nowhere in Theo’s mind so after shrugging it off he said goodbye and found his way to an open street corner where he requested a nearby Uber. As Theo slid into the back seat of the Chevy Impala that arrived moments later he noticed the concerned eyes of his friends and Valerie nowhere in sight. So much for a fun night out Theo thought.
Follow along with me this month at Jenna Pratt!
