Downside Up

Chapter Five (When The Darkness Comes - Colbie Caillat)

A few days later I was (again) in a Skype call with Tyler. Since our last conversation nothing much had happened but the normal business. He had filmed some new videos, went to a few bars and after he repeated the conversation he and Korey had last night word by word he turned towards me and asked me what I've been up to.

Tyler is a really nice person and he loves talking about himself and the things, that happen to him. Some people may say, that it's selfish but honestly: if I wouldn't enjoy listening to all of his "crazy" stories I would tell him to stop and he would shut up immediately.

"Ugh", I answered shrugging, "you know me. I don't go out too much and keep my channel low. If I put content out there, I want it to be high quality, not something I filmed to fill in the schedule. I've met up a few times with Kayla, skyped Zoe – and Connor, but that was a while ago already." Kayla was my best friend down under and since the first day we meet we did everything together. As kids, we were inseparable, but now that I was becoming more and more introverted and she loved spending her nights in clubs and at parties, we didn't get to hang out too often anymore.

"Connor, uh", Tyler wolf whistled, "what's been going on between the two of you?"

Tyler knew exactly that we were only good friends, though I liked him a lot, but there was that small detail that kept me from falling for him: He was one of the straightest men I knew. Still I felt my face heat up and tried to hide my blush. "Shut up, Tilly", I said with a small giggle. "You know there's no reason to see an ant as an elephant. We're just good friends, that's it. By the way: You guys haven't talked in a while, have you?"

He looked at me with a wide smile and shook his head. "Na, you know, if got my business and he's got his – there's always too much going on. But we really need to catch up sometime soon!"

"I bet so", I laughed, "I told Connor that both of you should come down to Perth sometime soon and since then there was no answer from any of you!"

"Wait, what?" Tyler nearly yelled. "Why have I never heard about that offer?"

"I thought Connor would've told you by now", I answered, a bit confused. Of course, they weren't the bestest friend, but when I told him to come to Perth I was serious and hoped to see them soon. Had he misunderstood me and thought it was a joke? For what other reason would he not tell Tyler?

"Well, clearly he hasn't", he said, but then just shrugged. "I guess I'll accept the invitation and I'll make sure to talk to Connor about when we'll come down. I'm so excited! It really has been a long time."

I smiled at him and nodded in agreement. "Same here. It'll be good to have some YouTubers around. All the people I tell I make videos for living look at me like I'm some sort of maniac."

He cackled and pretended to stroke my head through the camera. "Poor little Troye baby. Trust me, one day the world will get a better place."

I started laughing along with him before we both went quite. "When did you say you last spoke to him?", he asked a few minutes later. It seemed like he was still concerned about Connor and why he didn't talk to him about our chat.

"Well ...", I thought about it for a moment. It had been a few weeks, almost two months. I told Tyler and he nodded like a wise old man. "From that point of view everything makes a bit more sense."

I looked at him in confusion. "What?", I asked. "And why? How does this make any more sense than before?"

"Connor has been acting weird ever since. I thought it was because of that party thing, but maybe it was because your invitation made him feel uncomfortable. I mean – we're both gay and maybe he's just a polite homophobe. Coming from the midwest it wouldn't be too surprising."