Chapter 75 WHAT HE PLANNED
POV: TEDDY
She said no.
He had already known she was going to say no. He stood there in the hallway, towel slung around his neck, hair still wet from the shower, telling himself it would not matter if she turned him down. It was just a team dinner, nothing special. But then she actually said no, and suddenly it mattered a lot more than he wanted to admit.
He stayed where she left him, just for a second.
The dinner had been on his calendar for three weeks. It was the kind of thing you saw coming but still could not get ready for. His father’s dinner. The Phillips Foundation’s annual team night, or at least that was how his dad described it. Really, it was Theodore Phillips the Second inviting Theodore Phillips the Third and his teammates to the country club so he could watch and judge whether Teddy was making the right friends and fitting into the right circles.
Teddy had been dragged to dinners like this since he was twelve. He had never looked forward to any of them.
This year, he kept telling himself it would be different if he had someone to walk in with. Not a date, and not for show. Just someone who was really there, not calculating what being seen with a Phillips might be worth to them.
Most people at Thornfield always seemed to be making those calculations.
James Blake never did.
That was what Teddy had noticed about James since the second day of soccer practice. The way he moved through the school like it was just a place, not a stage. The way he did not change his expression or his posture when someone important walked by. The way he focused on what was in front of him, not on what it could do for him.
Teddy was surrounded by people who were good at being close to him. James was the first person in a long time who made Teddy feel like he was actually seen.
He did not want to think too hard about why that mattered to him. He was not ready to ask himself those questions, and for now, that was fine. He had time. He could wait.
The doors opened behind him.
He looked up, and there she was.
Something inside his chest twisted in a way he did not have words for. He knew there was not a word for it, but that did not mean the feeling was not real.
She said she would come.
Relief hit him, almost too much, almost embarrassing. He could feel how big it was, but he did not let himself focus on it. Looking straight at it would mean having to ask himself things he was not ready for. He did not need to figure out every feeling tonight.
"Seriously?" he blurted.
"Yeah." She was already pulling her hood up, already putting her guard back in place. "Just text me when you are leaving."
He could not help grinning. He felt his face stretch into a smile and did not even try to stop it. "Thanks, man. Really."
She gave him a small smile, not quite a real one, but not fake either.
Then she was gone again.
He stood in the empty hallway for a while after the doors closed.
He thought about Jack Porter for a moment. Not for any big reason, just because the thought popped in out of nowhere, the way certain thoughts do lately when he least expects them. Jack had been there on the edge of his awareness since September, standing out in a quiet way. Not a threat, not a problem, just present. It made Teddy's mind work a little harder, wondering what that meant.
He tucked the thought away.
He pulled out his phone and texted James all the details. Time. Address. Dress code. He sent the message before he could overthink it.
He stood there with his phone in his hand, towel still damp, the relief still sitting in his chest and taking up more space than he wanted to admit.
He thought about how James had left, and then turned around and come back. She had said no, walked away, and then changed her mind. He did not know why that meant so much to him. He was not ready to figure it out.
He put his phone in his pocket and finally went to get dressed.
Author’s Note: Teddy Phillips asked James Blake to the dinner because James is the first person at Thornfield who makes him feel seen. Teddy is not ready to think about why this matters so much. He believes he has time to figure it out. He does not have as much time as he thinks.