The Youtuber Project (Troyler AU)

Chapter 16

Troye's POV

Hearing Tyler say that he loved me was... incredible? Exhilerating? I couldn't choose just one word to define it. It was exactly what I'd craved for so long, yet it still surprised me hearing it. When I told him the same, I could tell he felt the same way. I guess that's how you know someone is your soulmate, you know? If they have the same reaction as you to the same three simple words, you know it's real.

"The cameras are probably back on now," he whispered. "Time to go back to just being friends. We can't give Jack what he wants." His lips quivered, and I knew he could tell that I was staring at them when they shifted up into a simple smile.

I pulled him into a hug to thank him. I knew it was detremental to our game, but it was still something that I felt like I had to do. I gave him one squeeze before letting him go. "Now, let's get to bed. We have to be up bright and early tomorrow morning, after all."

"Okay. I'll go sleep out on the couch," he mumbled. He stood up, but I quickly reached up and grabbed his wrist, turning him back around to face me.

"I don't have cooties, Tyler."

He gave me a questioning stare, but finally seemed to understand that I wasn't budging one bit on my decision. I tucked my legs up into my chest and pulled the covers over me and Tyler. After a few minutes, I stretched my legs out and began my decent into what felt like a peaceful sleep.

*****

The next morning, a buzz rang through the house bright and early. I shuddered awake, almost falling off of the bed. If it hadn't been for Tyler there to catch my arm, I probably would have. "Morning, sleepyhead. You have a competition to go compete in!" he exclaimed. The chirpyness in his tone was unreal, especially for him.

"Wow. You're chipper this morning," I groaned, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"Well, they finally placed a coffee machine in this stupid house. So, yeah. I'm pretty much wide awake now!"

He grabbed my hand and hauled me off of the bed and out into the hallway. All of the other contestants looked like messes too, to be fair. We all walked in a line, me in front as always, to the backyard. There, a new monitor depicted Jack's face. He looked exactly like he did the day before... evil.

"Hello contestants!" he exclaimed, no hint of the annoyed tone from our earlier conversation in his voice. Maybe he just forgot about everything. "Today you will all, with the exception of Tyler, be competing to be the new ruler of the house. Last week, it was voted in by the world. This week, each contestant from the other house will have to vote for who to be the ruler. The catch is, they can't vote for the person who chose them to be on the show."

Confusion swept through the people surrounding me. "Then why the hell do we have to be up so damn early?" Shane snapped.

"I wanted all of you to watch the voting take place live. Each contestant from the other house will be brought into their interviewing room to vote," Jack explained as if it were so obvious. I couldn't help but side with Shane on this one. I needed at least 2 hours to actually get out of bed without being a total mess.

The screen flickered a few times until a solid stream was found, focusing in on the blue interviewing room from the other house.

First into the room was Alfie. Suddenly, I zoned out. Everything became a blur, and I felt dizzy. "Tyler!" I whispered sharply, grabbing for his arm.

"Are you okay?" he whispered back. I shook my head vigorously. "Here," Tyler continued, leading me over towards a chair. "Take a seat. I'll go get you water."

"No, no. I'm fine. Just tell me who wins," I assured him. I couldn't tell exactly what he was doing, but I could feel his stare on me. He stayed like that for a minute before turning around to watch the screen.

After ten minutes, I heard the congratulatory words starting to flow out of people's mouths. Almost instantly, I felt Tyler's cold hand on my shoulder. "Who won?" I asked.

"Connor, surprisingly," he told me. I was extremely surprised, actually. I didn't think it was going to be me, but deep down, I was disappointed.

"So, we're safe for the week then!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure. We pretty much have Connor under lock and key!" he said back with a smile. The sense of safety really brought relief to me. I could even feel the dizzy spell passing.

Connor was practically skipping over to us. "Hey guys! We need to talk."

I got up and the three of us walked to me and Tyler's room. When we were finally there and the door was closed, we began to talk.

"So who are you going after?" Tyler asked.

"Joey, of course!" Connor exclaimed. "I can't stand the fact that he's still here. The fact that he used me and Troye still gets to me. I've been sleeping out on the couch for the last two nights!"

"Okay, but who are you going to nominate along with him?" I asked.

He sat, thinking for a few moments. "What about... Grace? Or Mamrie?"

"I'd go with Mamrie if I were you," Tyler suggested.

A smile lit his face. "Thank you so much for helping, guys. It really means the world to me. Do you think I should hold the nomination ceremony now, or should I wait a little bit?"

"Um... It's up to you," I told him.

"I'm feeling impatient and I really want to get this done before everyone can go visit the other house. I'll call the meeting now."

Tyler and I walked back to the main room where everyone was sitting. We didn't want to look to conspicuous. About ten minutes later, Connor walked in.

"Hey guys. I'm going to hold the nomination ceremony now," he chirped. "As you know, I have to nominate two contestants to potentially go home. And, after a lot of consideration, I've decided to nominated Mamrie and... Tyler. Best of luck to the both of you."

He turned and walked away, unaware of the open jaws and tear stricken cheeks he was leaving behind.

A/N
dang connor. You should never trust a wild Connor. He likes cats!!!

But yeah..... Agh what's going to happen? I'm not sure yet. Who can ever be sure?

If you liked it comment. Or vote. Or both. I mean, I'm not stopping you.

Side note, Tyler liked a post I made on tumblr yesterday. That's important to me. Very important. I was crying.

~kat