Neighbourhood {troye sivan}

three

Troye

//

"We should be heading out now," John told me, beckoning for me to pick the cooler of drinks up. I follow my dads to the car and gently drop the cooler in the back, hearing the glasses clink together. I inwardly cringe.

The beach wasn't generally too far from my house. When Jayce and I were younger, we used to walk  to it. There he goes again, finding his way into my thoughts. I could never stop thinking of him.

"Troye, is something on your mind? You're awfully quiet," Mark spoke up, breaking me away from my train of thought. I sighed. I should probably tell them. 

I took a deep breath and began to tell them what had happened between Jayce and I, only leaving out what his dad had said to me. By the end of the story, we were at the beach and I noticed Mr.Landon was parking his car beside us. I felt the lump grow in my throat.

"Hey kiddo, fights happen. Don't stress it. Jayce is walking to the beach right now, why don't you guys talk it out," John encouraged me before my parents both got out of the car and greeted Mr.Landon. I guess they expected me to take the cooler out.

I reluctantly got out and circled around to the trunk. Once I got the cooler, I trudged over to Mr.Landon and my dads. 

"Hi, Mr.Landon," I say politely. He gave me a tight smile and nodded. I struggled to meet his eyes, so I looked towards the ocean, awkwardly clearing my throat. He took the cooler from me. I then made my way across the sand to sit on the shoreline. 

I stared up at the sky that was slowly mixing into shades of pink, orange, and yellow. The sun was beginning to dip down into the water. 

"Orange used to be my favorite color," a voice said behind me. I jumped a little as Jayce began to laugh. "It's just me, don't worry."

"What's your favorite color now?" I ask as if I didn't know. 

"Blue."

"Why?" I was curious.

 Jayce shrugged. "Maybe because it was yours." 

I felt a smile tug at my lips, but it fell just as fast. "We need to talk, you know." 

"I'm sorry," he blurted out and soon enough, the words were tumbling out of his lips. "You know how it is with my dad. I thought that maybe you of all people would understand why I can never talk back, but I can't blame you. I'm sorry, I really am. I don't know what else to say. You have no idea how bad I felt for not standing up for you. I just don't know how to. I panic." 

I stared at him in shock. I didn't expect him to apologize that fast. 

"Say something, please," Jayce pleaded.

"It's okay," was all I managed to say, but there was so much more circling my head. 

A silence fell in between us and I wasn't quite sure what to do with it or how to break it.

"I picked these shells up," Jayce spoke up, pushing a small pale towards me.

"Hey, we used to throw them into the sea when we were kids." I smiled at the memory.

"I miss being a kid," Jayce sighed hopelessly, flinging a shell across the ocean. It went fairly far and made a small splash.

"Nothing was complicated then. Now, we have to deal with all of this," I agreed. 

"I guess that's a part of growing up," he said.

"I guess it is." 

*Flashback*