Falling {Tronnor}

Three

The walk back was quiet. Connor had time to think about how he was going to act. He wasn't about to admit that he'd had fun on their coffee 'date.' How the fuck was he supposed to act?

By the time they reached Troye's office, Hannah's car was already outside.

"Bye Connor," Troye said with a smile.

Connor nodded, a small smile on his own lips. "Bye," he replied.

"Will I be seeing you again?"

Connor sighed, nodding. "Hannah wouldn't get off my case any other way." He loved Hannah, but still.

Troye smiled. "That's Hannah for you," he said. "So same time next week?"

"I guess," Connor said.

"See you, then," Troye said, making his way back inside as Connor waved him off.

Connor walked over to Hannah's car and slid into the passenger seat. "Hey," he said.

"Well hey there Con," Hannah replied. "So?" Her eyes were inspecting Connor's face, trying to read what he was feeling.

"What?" Connor replied, his face turning red.

"How'd it go? You guys didn't stay in his office, you went to the coffee shop, right?"

"How'd you know?" Connor asked.

"I saw you guys coming from that direction," Hannah said, gesturing. "Besides, I told Troye that he might try becoming friends with you."

"You did?" He couldn't help but feel let down, in an odd way, by the fact that Troye hadn't been acting on his own ideas.

"I thought you might need a friend that you could actually talk to," Hannah said. "So did you?"

"Um," Connor said. "We just talked about our interests. There was nothing more than that. Can we just go home, Hannah?"

"Con," Hannah said. "Letting someone in is a good idea. And Troye's trained in this stuff. He can help."

"Eventually," Connor said. Hannah sighed.

"You pretend everything is going so well, but I can tell that it isn't. Con, I've known you for long enough. You're hurting, and I hate that I can't change that."

"You're trying, though. That's more than enough. I'll get there one day, Hannah," Connor lied. He wasn't sure if he would get there one day.

"If you say so Con," Hannah said. "Do you want to go out for dinner? I had plans with Ingrid but I can change those." She changed the topic easily, starting the car and pulling out.

"No," Connor replied. "Go on your date, Hannah, I'll be fine."

"It's not a date," Hannah muttered.

"But you want it to be." Connor knew he was right, Hannah had told him that before.

"Ingrid's straight, remember?" Hannah said. She sat back in her seat as she waited for an opening to turn onto the road. "I don't actually know why she invited me over tonight. She wants me to go over to her place before dinner. She kept saying that it was important..."

"You nervous?" Connor asked. This was easy, he could do this. Talking about normal things with Hannah definitely put him at ease.

"Kind of," Hannah admitted. "I've been worried about her."

Connor was close with Ingrid, he considered her a friend, but Hannah was much closer to her. He hadn't seen her in a while, because both of them had been busy. He hadn't sensed anything wrong with her when he'd last seen her, though. "Really? Why?"