our lives don't collide (but our hearts did) Tronnor AU

chapter six (connor)

song for this chapter: overwhelming by jon bellion

You would think spending my weekend among my swaying forest and holding our two brand-new baby goats would leave me emotionally ready for another week of school, but here I am. A sigh still escapes my lips as I walk through the doors.

What I wouldn't give to feel the flighty heartbeat of one of those precious goats against my chest right now instead of my unforgiving textbook.

And to make matters worse, I have chemistry first today, which I somehow manage to be consistently terrible at. I almost have an A, though. I'm close enough that if I got a good grade on this lab we have today that I would get there, but I understand pretty much nothing about this entire unit we've been doing.

But I have hope! My friend Andrew is in my class, and while he generally has no idea what's going on, chemistry seems to be an exception.

I drudge up to the classroom door with plenty of time to spare before the bell, but I don't have the energy to go find something else to do while I wait. I set my bag down beside my chair among the silence of getting here too early, and the 'Morning, Connor' my teacher shoots at me echoes a bit harshly in the mostly empty room. Her dreary tone doesn't help much, either. I meet the eyes of the only other student present, and his lips twitch as he sends me a slight shrug. It's a kid I've never talked to before; his gray hood obscures his finer features beneath the curls that peek out, but the way his cheek rests in his white-knuckled hand seems dismal, too. What a fantastic mood everyone is in this morning!

More people start arriving shortly, but when the bell finally rings Andrew still hasn't shown up. Our teacher begins to introduce the lab and I debate texting him to complain and ask where he is, but it's probably not worth it and I need to really pay attention now that Andrew isn't here to help.

We're about half an hour in before my group truly begins to fall apart (apparently, I'm not the only one struggling with this unit). The other two members get into yet another disagreement about the instructions and I try to just tune them out and do it myself. I'm about to throw our test tube at them or across the room, depending on where it landed, when a bored voice right by my ear makes me jump.

"Hey shitfaces, if you stop playing around with the test tube like you're five fucking years old and actually read the damn paper, you'd be a lot further in this lab," says the boy from earlier. His eyes are a lot more blue with his hood down, and his smirk is definitely much more pronounced.

I hate being wrong, and the way my cheeks begin to burn with embarrassment does not help the frustration my perfectionist self is feeling.

"Okay, I don't-" I stammer, but his voice runs right through me.

"You know what, fuck it." he says as he snatches the laminated paper from me.

"Dude, what the fuck is your problem today?" asks Paul, running his hand through his hair, most likely to keep himself from slapping the kid.

"I'm trying to help you out, if you haven't noticed. Sorry that I'm not super fucking cheerful on this absolutely wondrous Monday morning," he grumbles, aggressively assembling all of our materials and starting the lab himself.

"You don't have to help, you know. I probably would've figured it out eventually," I say. Something behind the anger in his eyes makes me keep my voice soft despite my headache and his tone, and my gaze lands on his hand holding the funnel. It's trembling. "Are you okay, though? Your hand- um, it's kind of shaking."

He shifts in his seat to look at me, and I realize how close we are. There's less than a foot of space between us, and I don't know why I haven't backed away yet, and his eyes are such a ridiculous shade of blue, and I can feel my face getting red again and-

"I'm fine, okay, I'm great, can you please shut up about it," he finally retorts, but it comes out with less bite than before. He stares at me for a beat longer, then swiftly turns around and goes back to work.

Unsure what just happened, my feet shuffle towards an empty seat since he is now occupying mine. Paul gestures toward him as if to ask what we should do, but I just shrug.

"Okay, if you want to do our lab for us, that's fine by me. I need to get the hell out of here for a minute," Paul sighs, then grabs the bathroom pass on his way out of the door to probably cool down.

My other group member, Christine, rolls her eyes at all of us and goes over to talk to some friends in a different group. Before, the chaos of the room was making my frustrated head pound, but as soon as they leave it feels too quiet.

The boy- I don't even know his name- shifts in his seat as he measures out some kind of powder.

"Um, where are your goggles? Did you miss our teacher going on about 'proper lab safety' for like ten minutes? The chemicals might hurt your pretty eyes, and then where would we be, " I blurt out. If I blush one more time, my face might actually burst into flame.

He doesn't even turn to acknowledge me, but I still catch the edge of his slight smile. The stud in his nose glimmers as he does, making me notice it for the first time.

"Maybe, just maybe, I want to be blinded by these oh-so hazardous chemicals so I don't have to look at you blushing anymore."

"Honestly, I'm honored that you would go blind just for me! And I don't even know your name," I say, trying to blow past the 'blushing' part.

"How rude of you. I know yours," he still hasn't turned around. I feel like I should be helping him with, you know, my lab but he doesn't really give me a chance to. He must be some kind of chemistry genius- his hands are completing the assignment faster than I can really process, and I'm not dumb. I've worked hard to maintain my 4.0, and only this class is threatening it.

"Wait, how do you know my-" I start, but of course I'm interrupted.

Paul leans on the table and exclaims, "Guess who's back and better than ever!"

"Looks like we're about done here. Can you handle the rest yourself, or is that too much too?" the boy replies, standing up.

I roll my eyes and start to thank him, but before I get a word out he steps closer to me and leans in, his face stopping only about an inch away from mine.

"I couldn't possibly leave without seeing you blush one more time. You're welcome for the lab," he mutters with a cheery smile before backing away once again. "It's Troye, by the way. A pleasure!" he calls over his retreating shoulder.

Paul raises his eyebrows at me and I sigh.

"Just don't, okay. Let's finish this dumb lab- where's Christine?" I say, feeling my face finally start to cool down. Whatever just happened is too overwhelming to process right now, but I still glance back at him- Troye, I remind myself. My eyes fall to his slender fingers wrapped around a pencil, and when I see that they're no longer quivering, a strange feeling creeps into my throat. And no matter how many times I try, I can't seem to clear it away.

a/n
hello everyone!!

before you yell at me for being the worst updater ever (I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry), u should go thank Em (the other writer of this) for bugging me enough to actually finish this chap. I'm terrible, I know, but I'm back!! and have no more vacations planned!!!

also shoutout to Sara who always drags me for not updating too. ur welcome binch

anyway, we have another chap on the way in the next few days and it's gon be good, so watch out for that;))) hope you're enjoying ur summer!!!! thanks for reading, u rock

-Brooklyn