there was no hiding the small laugh and eye roll being shot in theo’s direction. “somehow i think that’s impossible,” she responded quickly to his exaggeration. though she wasn’t one to actively keep up in the world of college sports, sterling did know that lima’s golden boy always had a way of landing on his feet. “yikes,” she visibly recoiled at the mention of him tearing his acl. “all this just to toss a ball down a field?” perhaps if she had at least one athletic bone in her body, sterling would understand the desire to return to something that had fucked her up physically… well. at theo’s apology, sterling shook her head and sent a warm smile his way. “i wanted to know,” she assured him before adding, “besides, it’s not every day i get the opportunity to talk to the prom king.”
sterling allowed her line of sight to follow his up to the direction of her apartment, before sighing and dropping back to meet his gaze at the sound of his words. sterling emitted a hm noise, trying to follow theo’s trail of logic. “pretty sure that’s about not sleeping with your coworkers.” as theo’s enthusiasm grew when discussing lj, sterling grabbed the marker and brought it to the sleeve of his cup. after marking what the drink actually was, she added a qb next to it. “she’s back. crazier than ever, that’s for sure.” sterling confirmed, matching the pure happiness he had been exhibiting. “i’ll let her know i saw you, but you should definitely text her. i’m sure she’d love to hear from you.” theo beiste was cute - that much was undeniable, and sterling would be a fucking liar if she said his dimpled grin wasn’t piquing her interest. in high school, they had run in similar circles and had interacted here and there at parties, but he was either always in a relationship or she was always fucking things up with rocky. there had never really been a moment where they’d truly flirted until… now? sterling wasn’t naive enough to not realize what theo’s words were implying, but what she was naive about was his relationship status. the last she’d heard, he was more than wifed up with the craziest bitch lima had ever created. “i have been meaning to get up to osu to see jaz,” and after a quick pause, she grabbed both cups and rounded the counter to theo’s side, only to use her hip to open the door wide enough for him to get through. when the sun touched her skin, sterling smiled slowly. “how’s zoe?”
Theo pursed his lips slightly to contain his smile at her comment. He felt lower than low these days, so it was nice to be reminded that some people still thought of him so highly. “That’s nice of you,” he teased with a bashful shrug, “thank you.” He let out a short, breathy laugh at her observation. Maybe she was right. Was all this really worth it just to play football? He wasn’t sure anymore...but football was all he’d ever known. Before he could get lost in his thoughts, Sterling was bringing him back down to earth with another fun reminder of his highs. “Yo...prom king?” he shook his head and clicked his tongue, “you’re really gassing me up...are you trying to charm the pants off me or some shit?” A shrug, “it’s working.”
At the mention of sleeping with her coworkers, Theo smiled suggestively and quirked his brow. “That right?” a nod, “interesting.” Talking about LJ made Theo feel good. She was someone who’d left a mark on him in high school and he was glad to hear she was doing well. “I’ll hit her up,” he promised, grinning at the qb written on his cup. He’d been expecting Sterling to hand him the cups and send him on his way, so when she rounded the counter to his side, he looked at her confused. “You don’t have to do tha—” before he could even finish, she was already making her way to the door and holding it open with her side. Sighing defeatedly, he nodded. “You’re right,” he noted, chuckling lightly at himself as he crutched his way through the door and towards his dad’s car. He was in relatively good spirits until Zoe was mentioned. “Don’t know,” he answered curtly, shrugging as he looked at Sterling, “we’re not together anymore.” That was the simple truth. Once they reached the car, Theo had his dad rolled down the window and passed him the drinks that way before moving to the other side. “It was good to see you,” T said, eyeing Sterling with an intrigued gaze, “for real though...come up to OSU. It’ll be fun.” With that, he flashed his million dollar smile and got into the car, waving goodbye and watching with an exhilarated feeling as she walked away.
