As I was driving on my way to Grace's house to pick up Troye, I heard my phone buzz. Troye had responded saying "I knew there was nothing to worry about :). Grace and I r done recording, see u real soon." When I reached a red light, I responded that I couldn't wait to hear what had happened with Grace and that I'd see him very soon. The light then flashed green so I placed my phone in the cupholder.
When I arrived at Grace's house I approached the front door as fast as I could. I was excited to see Troye. I was always excited to see Troye.
I rang the doorbell and Grace answered almost immediately. 'She must've been beside the door or something.' I thought to myself. "Hey! Connor!" I smiled and reached out for a hug from Grace. "Hey Grace." I said back as my head was pressed against her shoulder. I looked up from her shoulder to find Troye approaching us while waving and smiling. I smiled and waved back thinking about going up to him to kiss him on the cheek, but I remembered that Grace didn't know that Troye and I were dating. To my surprise, Troye came up to me and kissed me on the cheek. I stuttered a little bit because I noticed Grace looking at us. "Tro-" I spoke until Troye interrupted me. "Grace knows."
"She does?"
"I told her."
"Oh okay."
I looked back at Grace, who was leaning against the front door with crossed arms. Her left foot was pressed against the door from heel to toe, and her other leg was straightened out to support her stance. She laughed a little to herself and then proceeded to speak. "You guys are so cute." We both laughed and said "Thanks." in sync.
The three of us talked for a while, and then Mamrie showed up, so we talked to her for a while too. When we all finally got to wrapping up the conversation, Troye and I went back to my car to get back to my apartment.
Upon entering my car, we both sighed in relief. I was exhausted from hiking, and I'm sure Troye was tired from being social. He got tired very easily, but it wasn't and issue for me. "So," Troye began to talk. "Things are good with Tyler?"
"Yeah, actually. It's kind of surprising to me."
"Yeah, you guys were pretty upset with each other weren't you?"
"Mhm. I guess it was mainly me though. Tyler seemed really sympathetic about it. I was being a jerk."
"No, you weren't. Don't beat yourself up about it."
"I know, I won't. I just wish I would've forgiven him sooner. It was kind of a waste of a grudge you know?"
"You can have unlimited grudges, Connor. Don't think about it too much. You can't really do anything about it now, so just be happy that you guys are okay now."
"Yeah, yeah you're right." I stared at the steering wheel for a while soaking in the silence in the car. There was absolutely no noise until Troye exhaled. I looked and him and grinned before facing my keys to start the car engine.
Troye was leaning back in his seat staring out of the window as I drove us back to my apartment. It was quieter than usual, there was an aura of awkwardness surrounding the two of us in the car. "Hey, Troye." Troye perked up from the car seat and looked at me. His nose even flared a bit. 'It's so cute when his nose flares.' I thought. "Yeah?" He asked in response.
"Is something on your mind or something? You just seem a little off....today.....I don't know, it might just be me."
"Oh no, no, I'm okay. I was just thinking..."
"Thinking about what?"
"I was thinking about collabing with you in a video."
"Oh......."
"Yeah..."
"Oh wow...."
"I mean I didn't want any discomfort or anything."
"No........I mean yeah, wait, no?" Troye laughed at my self conflict. "I just-" I stopped for a second to get myself together. "I just don't want all of that attention on us, you know? Our audiences don't know we're dating, and I feel like they'd kind of freak out.....I mean we don't want to be known for being a couple. We want to be known for ourselves and what we do as individuals."
"Go on."
"And well, making relationships public is a really big deal. I feel like it's harder to cope when you have large audiences that have an influence on you. I really want to stay with you Troye, and I don't want anything to ever have a negative effect on our relationship. I've thought about collabing numerous times, but that kind of exposure for the both of us can be extremely crucial."
"I definitely understand, that's why I was kind of worried to ask."
"Troye, you can tell me about anything, really. I'm always here to listen."
"I know you are."
"I just don't feel like we should collab yet. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I think we should wait too." I faced Troye and smiled at him, and he smiled back. We both began to lean in for a kiss, when the car behind us honked because it was a green light and I wasn't moving. I yelled "Sorry!" out of my window and drove past the signal. If only things didn't have to be so complicated.
