Drawing of a Rose [Troyler AU]

Chapter 29: Forgive?

Tyler

Troye and I entered the cafeteria. The usual chatter and noise jumped upon us, reverberating in our ears.

Troye looked like a startled rabbit, eyes wide and tense. He shuffled closer, body clenched together.

I felt a bit bad dragging him into this situation, but I really wanted him to open up and come out of his shell. Honestly, I was surprised he had followed through with our agreement.

I motioned for Troye to follow, leading him towards where his old friends sat.

I heard Alfie and Louise's laugh first, a smile already spreading across my face.

I looked back twice to check if Troye was still following, which he was.

"Hey guys!" I greeted as soon as I was within earshot of them.

"Hey Tyler! And, Troye?" Zoe asked, confusion written all over her face. At the sound of Troye's name, Jim and Connor turned to face me.

"Uh, yeah, he's joining us today. If that's alright" I said.

Please let them accept him I prayed.

A huge smile spread across Zoe's face, eyes shining with happiness.

"Yeah sure he can sit with us" Zoe agreed, shuffling over to make room.

I saw Troye's shoulders relax slightly, evidently being afraid of rejected.

I sat down and Troye followed. At the sound of bags on the floor, the rest of my friends turned.

Marcus, Joe and Tanya had confused faces when they saw Troye, Louise was surprised but happy, Caspar was unreadable.

"Troye!" Louise nearly yelled. "You're joining us."

He looked down at the table, nodding.

"Yeah, I decided to join today" he mumbled.

"Are you going to continue sitting with us for the term?" Joe asked hopefully. Troye nodded.

The girls and Joe cheered, receiving a few glances from surrounding tables and a blush from Troye.

I smiled, giggling a bit. I was so happy they had taken his sudden appearance so well. They had truly missed him, it was noticeable in the few times they talked about him and how they looked at him now.

The group went back to talking to each other, sometimes asking Troye small questions. They seemed to know what questions were too personal and avoided asking them to him.

As I was talking to Marcus about whether there are gay chickens or not, I saw in my peripheral vision Caspar glancing at Troye with... anger?

I realized why as soon as Caspar opened his mouth.

"Troye, why did you ditch us all those years ago?" Caspar asked Troye, facing him as his conversation with Connor finished.

"Um..." Troye hesitated, swallowing nervously.

"He will tell you when he's ready, let's not bombard him with questions like that" I intervened, hoping my answer silenced anymore questions on the subject.

"Why not? I would like to know why my best friend suddenly dropped me three years ago, wouldn't you?" Caspar questioned, his tone sickly sweet.

I glimpsed at Troye, seeing he was slowing building his walls up, protecting himself.

"Well it will just ruin the mood and it's a heavy topic" I replied calmly.

"What, do you know why?" Caspar accused.