Introverts

Better Than Fireworks

A/n I'm a horrible person.

T R O Y E
After returning home from yet another day of torture my mom decides it's okay to drag me to a play date with the neighbors. I've never wanted to disappear more than I do in this moment. The boy Sage had met on the bus yesterday just so happens to live down the street, so my mom decided to make friends with his mom and now we're on their front porch. Sage will pay for this.

"Hi!" A cheery woman with short brown hair greets us, inviting us in and leading us threw her hall to the living room. The house is nice. There's pictures lining the walls and pastel colors everywhere. Once seated I excuse myself to the restroom. How can I get out of this? I don't know if you've noticed or not, but I hate social interaction. And my family knows that. This is probably one of my mom's attempts to get me out of the house more often.

I walk back into the living room, my head hung low in embarrassment. It's always awkward to come back from peeing, I don't know why. I look up when my mom clears her throat.

"Troye, this is Connor." I look from her to the boy standing a few paces away and my eyes widen. How ironic. The boy from math is the same boy my sister met on the bus. I should have seen that coming. "Are you going to say anything?" My mom says. I groan and give him a sarcastic wave. He just rolls his eyes and walks away, leaving me with an angry mother and a cramp in my elbow. I'm not entirely sure why interacting with Connor comes out so stiff and forced, but it's definitely not the healthiest way to form a relationship. Not that I plan on forming one with him anyway.

"I take it you know each other?" Sage asks. I give her a glare.

"Yeah, he's in my math class." Right then Connors mom walks in, a pitcher of juice and some cups in her hands.

"Hi! Has Connor come in yet?" She asks, looking around the room with a permanent smile on her face.

"Oh, ya. He's very lovely. Troyes actually on his way to apologize to him right now." My mom says.

"I am?" I ask, looking at her in shock. What am I apologizing for?!

"Apologize?" His mom repeats.

"Troyes not the best at greeting people, he was a bit rude."

"Oh." She says, and my mom gives me a look.

"Right... sorry I'll go apologize." I make my way to the stairs, Mrs. Franta is yelling directions to his room after me. I open his door to find him sitting on his laptop. Lucky.

I sit on the edge of his bed and nudge him. When he looks up at me I mouth a sorry and after a while he just shrugs. What do I do now? I'm not good at this stuff, obviously. Do I ask him about his day, or politics, or what? I decide on just getting his number. I'm not sure why I decide on this, it just seems right. After he gives me my phone back, I leave the room, texting him so he has my number too.

Just as I'm about to walk away from his door, I hear what sounds like a book being thrown across the room.

*One week later*
The Fourth of July, my favorite holiday. No one expecting gifts, there's always an epic BBQ, and you have an excuse to drink endlessly. Nothing says America like a cold beer and a cookout. Not that I'd know too much about the place, just moving from Australia and all. My mom rushed around the house until 5 o'clock, cleaning and getting everything ready for the house party we are about to host. By the time ten came around our block is full of cars and drunk family members.

I've been texting Connor all week, talking about the most random of things. From our favorite colors, to our preferred Tumblr blogs. This guy is definitely not what I thought he was.