Page 22 of Stop and Seek (Our Childish Games #1)

Max asked him something about coffee—probably to get her some. She stood, phone vibrating in her hand. Staring at him like she expected him to respond.

He hadn’t been listening. Not really.

She tucked the phone between her shoulder and ear, mouthing “please” as she answered the call and tromped down the bleachers.

Noah nodded immediately.

Across the gym, Alyssa and Theo were standing by the refreshment table. Her hip was practically glued to it, and Theo was right there next to her, and—

Yeah. Coffee was a perfect excuse.

He hopped off the bleachers, landing with a solid thump before making his way over.

Alyssa squealed when he squeezed her shoulders, but Noah’s eyes were locked on Theo the whole time.

The coffee smelled fine. Expensive, even. But the donuts looked like they’d been out since sunrise. His stomach flipped.

Or maybe that was because he was so close to Theo .

“I heard you had fun last night, Goth Dolly,” he murmured in Alyssa’s ear, grinning as she flushed more purple than red.

“Oh my god, did I ever. Did you?”

He held up both hands, the grin still plastered on his face. “You could say that.”

Would’ve been better with Theo in bed with him.

Baby steps.

“Tease,” she huffed, swatting at him. “I’m like, super excited for today. I was telling Theo my plans for the cash.”

Theo didn’t even look up from making his coffee when he mumbled, “mhm.” Just tore open sugar packet after sugar packet like a robot. One, two, three, four—jesus christ, how many was that? He dumped so much cream in the cup it changed colors completely.

Noah made a face.

“How much of your diet is sugar?” he asked, laughing a little too loud.

Theo finally glanced over and shrugged. “I don’t know.” Then took a sip, winced, and dumped in even more sugar. His expression didn’t change once. Nothing behind the eyes.

Blank. Distant.

Noah’s smile twitched. Something was wrong.

“Are you still half dead?”

“He’s always half dead, my poor Teddy,” Alyssa chimed in, patting Theo’s back.

“What would you use the money for, Theo?” Noah asked, trying to pull him back in. Trying to get something.

But all he got was another shrug .

His stomach tightened. Theo wasn’t even looking at him now—just scanning the crowd like he was hunting someone else.

“I don’t know,” Theo said eventually, voice flat. He turned to Alyssa. “I have to let Rachel know when we’re leaving before I lose her.”

And then he was gone.

Gone.

Noah stood there, hand still halfway in the air like he’d been about to touch him. Like an idiot. He blinked at the space Theo used to be, then at Alyssa, then at the crowd.

What the hell just happened? He was fine a half hour ago when they were texting.

What the fuck changed?

It wasn’t like he expected Theo to be bubbly, but this was different.

He hated it. Hated the way it made his chest feel too tight and his stomach weirdly hot.

Alyssa smacked his arm.

“You saw it too, right? Like, that was freaking weird . He was totes cool when I ran into him, and we were talking and then, bam! Nada. He’s suddenly a damn wall.”

“What were you talking about?” he asked, sharper than he meant to.

“Nothing special? Max and I running around Cleveland.” Alyssa flopped her head back dramatically, giant spike earrings dangling over her shoulders. “Maybe he’s hungover. Who knows? It’s just… weird. ”

Maybe she was right. Maybe he was hungover. Theo was definitely drunk last night.

Noah’s phone buzzed before he had a chance to think too hard, and Kyran’s message flashed across his screen.

Five minutes.

Noah skated around the edge of the stacked chairs, lifting the yellow construction tape over his head like it was no big deal. He shouldered open the door to the audio visual room.

First one here.

The only thing Noah could do was stare the camera feeds.

Theo hadn’t texted him again.

Noah had. He’d had sent over two more texts—three would’ve been overkill—but…

Nothing.

Max’s voice floated down the hall, and Noah exhaled. It took her long enough to finish a family call.

“I heard you the first time,” she said, her shoes echoing against the hard floors. “We’ll both be back by next Friday—Saturday morning at the latest.”

He handed her the coffee. She barely looked up, just mouthed a quick “thank you.”

“Yeah. I’m well aware of that,” she snapped into the phone. “I already told you what I was doing. Do you want to say hi to Noah, daddy? I have him right here. ”

Please don’t.

Max rolled her eyes, drained the rest of the cup, and sparked up a cigarette like the room wasn’t full of expensive equipment.

“I will see you when I see you. Tell Kate I love her. Kisses.” She hung up and tossed her phone onto the table with a loud thunk. “I will fucking throttle him if he calls me sweetheart again. It makes me throw up.”

“Tell him that.”

“Pass.” She exhaled a cloud of smoke. “All I’ve done this trip is smoke and eat. I need to like, detox and Botox when we get home.”

Noah’s jaw tensed.

He didn’t want to think about home. About leaving.

Especially not when Theo was like this.

Especially not when he didn’t get a chance to fix it.

To touch him again.

To ask if something happened.

Noah couldn’t leave .

Not with that strange, cold look still on Theo’s face.

But he didn’t have a choice.

Not unless he wanted Max to start asking questions. And Max was sharp enough to cut him open if she wanted to.

So he stayed quiet. Sat still.

And counted the seconds until this whole game would be over.

When Kyran slunk into the room, it was like the whole thing in the car never happened. He bounced in all bright-eyed and hyper, already grinning.

“The views ,” Kyran hissed as he propped a chair under the handle. “The views, man.”

Stop and Seek had kicked off a minute or two ago—the squeak of sneakers echoing in the halls, scattered voices bouncing through the school like a damn playground. Kyran making it from the gym all the way here without anyone noticing was honestly kind of a miracle. But Noah didn’t care.

He was glued to the monitors.

He’d just seen Theo slip down a hallway, vanish around a corner. Noah looked away for one second and— poof. Gone.

“What record are you trying to break?” he asked, mostly out of habit. His eyes stayed locked on the feed, fingers itching to touch the controls even though he knew he the angles wouldn't budge.

“The one video has—what—ten billion views? This is my golden ticket, baby. My sure stop to fame. I’m gonna be a superstar. All the networks are going to want to pick this up as a reality show when it hits.”

Noah bit down on his thumbnail, half listening as Kyran continued ranting .

The spots Theo usually picked? Showstoppers. But now it was like he disappeared off the school grounds. It made Noah's throat close up, like he’d misplaced something precious.

“Where’s Benji?” Max asked, tapping away on her phone.

Kyran dropped into a chair beside them. “The weight room.”

“Weight room’s locked,” Noah murmured, squinting at one of the feeds. Nothing. Still nothing. No Theo.

“Not when Ben-Ben found a frickin’ key ,” Kyran shot back. He was slurping his drink, the sound grating on Noah’s last fucking nerve. “He’s so resourceful. We should’ve let him know he was being recorded. I feel bad about it.”

“Uh, fuck no. Noah winked at the cameras. No one else gets to know.” Max popped her gum. “Anyway, Benji wouldn’t have played if we told him. Where did you get that? I want one.”

“Secrets.”

“I’ll get you whatever he has when they go on break,” Noah said, distracted.

If they didn’t shut up soon, he was gonna chew his thumb down to the bone.

“You spoil her so bad. Princess Maxine kinda has a ring to it. Where’s your crown, girl?”

Another pop of gum. “Blow me.”

There.

Noah’s breath caught. He’d know that hair anywhere. The sleeves, the hunched posture. Theo . Tucked against the back wall of the stairwell, perfectly still and right in view.

And just like that, all the noise around him faded out.

There you are .

Noah’s chest filled with that weird, floaty feeling again, like someone poured sunshine straight into his ribs.

His Theo.

He loved the way that sounded.

But then his brows pulled together.

Why the hell was Theo in such an open spot? It wasn’t like him to be careless. Theo was way sharper than that.

Was he trying to get caught?

Was this some kind of message?

Is he okay?

When Kyran finally called time, Noah watched Theo curl into a ball, arms thrown over his head like he was bracing for a tornado. Something about it made his chest ache—maybe melt a little.

“You dipshit,” Noah muttered to himself.

“Who?” Max lifted her head. “God, I’m starving. Can you make a food run when you get the slushie for me?”

“Yeah. Sure. What are you feeling?”

Did Noah look away from the screen? No.

He was still watching Theo. Trying to figure out what that look meant.

And who he needed to beat the shit out of for making him look like that.

The next rounds were fine, if fine meant dull as hell .

The adrenaline from earlier had fizzled out, replaced with a slow simmer of boredom.

Noah kept his eyes moving between Theo, Alyssa, and Benji, only really caring about Theo, if he was honest. When Alyssa and Benji were out—and Kyran called for a break—every nerve in Noah’s body bundled into his stomach.

Three more rounds left, and Theo hadn’t let off the gas.

But with only three Seekers and four Hiders—

Jesus, he hated this.

Not to mention the Seekers were playing too good. And he had this itch in his brain that told him if he grabbed Max’s phone, he’d catch her doing something shady—again. Charitable , his ass. She popped her gum every time someone got caught.

And it only made things worse for Theo. His Theo.

By the time Noah got back, slamming his car door harder than necessary, arms overloaded with Max’s food and drinks and whatever extras Kyran guilt-tripped him into grabbing, he was pissed. Not at Theo—never at Theo—but at everything else.

The heat.

The long-ass lines at 5:00p.m. on a fucking Sunday .