simply sincere • a tronnor au ✔️

chapter nine

"Oh my God," Connor whispered under his breath, coming to a conclusion. "Joey is... he's cheating on Troye with you"

"What?" Nicola asked, beginning to laugh. "Joey? Cheat on Troye.... with....me?" she questioned between laughters. "no! never!"

"but...I don't understand why you're laughing." Connor furrowed his eyebrows, annoyed with his sister. "It makes sense. I mean, you were defending Joey and you said you've hung out with him."

"Yeah, with Daniel" She explained. Connor tilted his head in confusion, the name wasn't one he recognized. "Daniel? My best friend?"

"Oh..." Connor sighs, feeling oddly relieved that it wasn't Nicola. "Wait, so Joey and Daniel are...?" Connor trailed off, luckily Nicola already knew what he was going to say.

"Yeah," she sighed, looking upset. "They've been a thing for like, I don't know, maybe a good five months or so?" She stated, making Connor's eyes widen in shock. If Joey and Daniel had been dating for five months, then that means there was only one month of Joey and Troyes realtionship where they weren't dating.

"say what you want, but Joey is a dick," Connor sighed, standing up from the couch.

"He's actually really nice," Nicola stated, but stopped mid-sentence when she saw the look Connor was giving her, "but i see what you mean."

"I feel so bad for Troye," Connor breathed out. "Like, even if I didn't have a petty crush on him, I'd still feel bad, ya know?"

"Just do me a favor," Nicola sighed. "Don't tell Troye, at least not yet,"

"Then when?"

"We'll talk to Beth, she can tell us."

Connor nodded his head. He trusted his sister with this, even though it didn't matter when and where they told Troye - the boy would still be heartbroken. The longer they wait, however, the more heartbroken Troye will be.

--

Nicola had arranged for the three step siblings to meet at the local cafe in town. Bethany figured that it was just a quick little get together with her step siblings, or even an excuse to get the kids out of the house. Little did Bethany know the actual reason behind the coffee meet-up.

When they pulled up to their moms house, Bethany was quick to exit the house and enter Nicolas car. She couldn't hide her excitement.

Bethany secretly loved hanging out with her step siblings. She appreciated their company.

"Beth, don't get to excited," Connor warned, turning to face the back section on the car. "We have to tell you something,"

The smile dropped from Bethany's face when Connor spoke. She seemed confused, but she just replied with a simple nod of the head. She's figure out what was going on once they got to the café.

The car ride was silent, not awkward, but just simply silent. Bethany was itching to ask about this 'meeting' - as Connor had called it - but she stayed silent.

As soon as they parked the car, all three of them got out at the same time. They made their way to the entrance (Connor got to the door first, so he held the door open for the girls).

"What's this all about?" Bethany finally asked as they were seated. Connor stayed silent as Nicola brought on the topic.

"Troye and Joey," was all she said. Bethany looked confused. Since when has Connor and Nicola taken an interest in her friends.

"What about them?" Bethany asked, confusion written all over her face. Connor bit down on his lip, looking at his coffee cup. He didn't want to break the news to Bethany, he wanted Nicola to.  However, Nicola suggest that Connor started out, explaining what had happened just a few days ago.

"The other day," he began, never looking up from his cup. "When you guys came over, Troye seemed upset," and he went on from there, exposing how Joey had ditched Troye yet again. Bethany rolled her eyes.

"If this is about how Troye puts more effort into the relationship, then forget it. I've tried telling him that, he won't listen." Bethany explained, however, the looks on Nicola and Connors face showed her that is was more than that.

"Bethany, Joey is, well..." Connor started out. "Joey is, he's not loyal." That was the only thing Connor could manage to say. He was scared.

"Joey's cheating on Troye," Nicola finally blurted out. "He's cheating on Troye with my friend, Daniel."

Bethany nearly choked on her coffee as the words tumbled out of Nicolas mouth. "What?" she questioned, not believing it.

"They've been dating for, like, 5 months," Nicola explained, dropping her head down. She was ashamed that she had kept this secret for so long, but if was for the sake of Troye. Nicola never talked to the boy, but she could tell from Bethany's stories that he's truly a nice fella.

"but..." Bethany started, "Joey and Troye... They've been dating for six."

"I know."

Bethany sighed and tilted her head back, trying to figure out what to do.

"We have to tell him," she concluded, tapping her fingers on the porcelain coffee cup in her fingers. "But I'm not telling him,"

"Joeys cheating on him with my best friend - there's no way in hell in telling him." Nicola stated. Bethany and Nicola both turned to Connor.

"Nuh-uh!" Connor gasped out. "No, no fucking way am I telling him."

"Why not? You guys talk, but you're not really that close. It'll be fine."

Yes but I don't want to be the one to send my crushes heart crashing down.

Connor wanted to blurt it out, but he didn't. He just sighed in defeat, taking on the role of telling Troye.

They wanted to let him down easy, so they figured they'd plan a day at the mall tomorrow. Connor could figure out a time to tell him later on, but it'll have to be once they're already in the mall.

Just thinking about it made Connors heart crush. He didn't want to bare this bad news, but he agreed to it. And Troye deserved to know the truth.

Tomorrow was going to be a long fucking day, he decided.