Far From Perfect || Tronnor

35: Understanding the Misunderstood

Unfortunately, the smile was wiped of my face the second I walked through the front door. I didn't intend for it too, but without Connor's goofiness as a distraction, I lost my ability to forget about the hurt. . It seemed like was always in a better mood around him. I sighed against the closed door, telling myself that I am not allowed to cry. I was stronger than that.

Taking a deep breath, I coaxed myself into yelling, "Mom! I am home!" I couldn't wait for the warm hug I would surely receive. I walked into the kitchen, and there she was, patiently waiting for me at the island counter.

She looked up when I made it into the kitchen. "Troye!" She said, running into me with a big hug. I sighed into her shoulder, and gave her cheek a kiss. After a bit, she pulled away and looked at my face. "Oh my god, what happened?!"It hurt to hear her sound so sad and scared, because I'd always feel bad for the sympathy she'd give me.

I debated telling her it was nothing, but figured that she'd never let that one slide. "Caspar," I whispered, almost as if by admitting that he was the one who did this, made it more real.

She seemed actually a little taken aback by my response. "But I thought you said he was leaving you alone for the most part?"

I sighed, and rubbed my eyes with my hands tiredly. I didn't really want to have to explain this all to her. "He had ignored me for these last couple of weeks, yes. I thought that he might've moved on, but then shit went down, and he figured I was the cause of it. I don't really know what happened, myself."

"Don't swear," She said without emotion. It was funny because it was almost like she didn't want to point it out, but felt like, as a mother, she was supposed too. "And what kinda 'shit went down'?"

At that point, I was thoroughly contemplating wether or not it was a good idea to tell her. "Connor made a rumour about Caspar."

She nodded in understanding, but still continued to pry information out of me. "About?"

Before rejecting her questioning, I reminded myself that it was important to talk to her about my life.. She was my mom, and she wanted to know what was going on in my life. She would never judge me, or Connor, or even Caspar. I liked that because her level head would help me understand it even more. I had known her for seventeen years, and I knew that this wasn't something big enough for her to let her guard down with. "He told the school that Caspar was gay."

She stayed so silent for such a long amount of time, I was scared that maybe she wasn't even listening. Finally, she opened her mouth and slowly said, "Well that's a dumb thing to get mad over."

"Yeah," I breathed. It was true, and I was beyond happy that my mom was smart enough to point that out. It amazed me that she wasn't just going to break down and tell me how sorry she was that something like that had to have happened. What I really needed was someone to just work the situation out for what it really is.

She sat there with her eyes scrunched up for a couple of seconds, deep in thought. "Why?" She finally asked.

"Huh?"

"I said, 'Why?' Why did Connor do that?" She further asked, getting up and putting a kettle of water on the stove.

I shrugged, still wanting to dismiss the entire situation. I already had a fight with Connor about his mistake, and I didn't want to drag my mom into the mess.

"Stop dismissing this. I can tell this is making you upset and I want to know why it happened in the first place."

I sighed and put my face in my hands. "I think he thought it would teach Caspar that he is no better than him or I. It was poorly planned, and poorly executed."