Fifteen (Troyler)

Chapter 5

Connor's POV

Driving back home,  I find a goofy smile on my face. I had really missed Troye, it sucked that he had to live so far away, he was so dedicated to his family that I knew it was sometimes hard to choose between them and us, his YouTube community.

I remember the first video I ever saw of his, a silly sketch about if websites were people, part 1 of course. It was hilarious, and so well filmed that of course I was intrigued and had moved on to watch most of his other ones. I had been delighted to discover that he was invited to Playlist Live, where we met for the first time. We became fast friends, he even filmed a clip of me winking for one of his videos about meeting YouTubers. (A/N I'm pretty sure that they met at Playlist... Please correct me if I'm wrong!)

Although, now that we've been friends for so long, I'd like to believe that I knew the guy fairly well- he was one of my closest friends, after all. It meant a lot to me that I was able to break through his shell, seeing as he was naturally kind of closed off. But, if I knew him so well, I'd also like to  think that I would know when he was in pain, and I'm pretty sure that today, he was. I'd elbowed him in the ribs and he made a face so pained that it seemed like I had stabbed him instead, and while his limp was not pronounced, it was there.

I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment building, and walked inside.

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It didn't take me long to call Tyler to see if he had noticed something up with Troye. They were even closer friends than me and Troye were, surely he'd have observed something, right?

"Hello?"

"Hi, Tyler. I just wanted to know if you've seen something up with Troye recently? Something seems a little off with him, but I don't know what."

Tyler sighed into the phone. "I was hoping that I was imagining that. He's been weirdly quiet this entire time, he wouldn't even come watch a Zac Efron movie with me, not even when I offered him a full jar of Nutella and a lot of other sugary foods. Have you ever seen Troye turn down an opportunity to ogle Zac Efron? I sure haven't."

"It's almost like he's in pain, right? But I don't know what hurts and maybe he's just exhausted still but I feel like this isn't the case. I think he might be keeping something from us." Even as I said the words, I knew they were true- Troye was definitely hiding something.

"Should I try to bring it up to him? I mean, it can't hurt, can it? I don't think Troye's ever kept a secret from me that he hasn't spilled to me when I ask about it. But what if it's one of those things that is super private and that he wants to keep to himself?"

"Tyler, just do what you see fit. I just wanted to know if you had noticed something weird going on. Listen, I have to go, I have to film in a little bit."

I could practically hear Tyler rolling his eyes in response.

Tyler's POV

After hanging up with Connor, I glanced towards my guest bedroom, where I could barely see the lit up screen of Troye's laptop, as he no doubt scrolled Tumblr. I took a deep breath, considering whether or not to ask about what Connor had mentioned. I mean, all I wanted to do was see if my best friend was okay. No harm in that, right?

Hesitantly, I leaned on Troye's doorway. He didn't look up from his laptop. I coughed. No response. Sighing, I rolled my eyes at him, before walking towards the bed and slipping under the sheets with him, snuggling my face into his shoulder and groaning.

He laughed. "Something wrong, Tilly?" He shut his laptop, pushing it off his lap. We both sat up then, my arms still around his waist comfortably. I was very aware of the fact that my hair was tickling his chin, but I didn't even care as I hugged him tighter.

"Troyeboy?" He hummed in response. "If there was something wrong, you would tell me, right?"

"Why do you ask?" His voice had deepened slightly, which I knew it did when he got anxious or if he was being confronted about something.

"No reason, it's just that Connor and I both noticed that you've been kind of off, and we weren't sure if you were just jetlagged or something, you have a little limp when you walk. Small things. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, that there wasn't anything you wanted to tell me."

He sighed. "No, Tilly, there isn't something wrong. I'm okay."

"You sure?"

He huffed. "Yes, Ty, I'm sure! I'm fine! People don't always have to have something wrong when they feel off okay? Sometimes people have days where things don't work out."

I shrunk back into the sheets. "Okay." I mumbled, feeling guilt and sadness panging in my stomach. Troye rarely raised his voice, and he'd never directed it at me before. I slumped out of the room, tears hovering at the backs of my eyes as I shut the door behind me.

For the rest of the day, that door was a division between me and my best friend.

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Heyyyy y'all! So I know this is a shorter chapter, but I'm sick and I have no inspiration and I'm really tired and ughh. Basically I've spent all day lying in bed blowing my nose drinking endless mugs of tea with honey in it because my voice is gone and my nose is reallyyyyy stuffy. Also, this past week I've been really busy with schoolwork and stuff which is why this is so delayed.

This chapter is dedicated to one of my real life besties, Alexa (I'll actually dedicate to her account on here when I can be bothered to leave my bed and locate a computer), because it's her birthday and she asked me to update for her, which is why I'm even here anyways. You know that friend who you can tell anything to and she won't make a joke of it and can instead really relate to you and give you solid advice (I really hope you all have at least one friend who is like this)? Yeah, that's Alexa. Also, she's a Troyler shipper which equals automatic friendship, am I right? Anyways, she's a phenomenal human. (Also her birthday is a) the day after Connor Franta's and b) the same day as Niall Horan's which is like WHAT HOW DO YOU GET SO LUCKY TO HAVE SUCH AN AMAZING BIRTHDAY DATE)

My cat keeps nudging her really cold nose against my back- she's been wanting me to cuddle with her all day. Aww. I love my kitttyyyy.

Also, potentially a double update today? Idk, maybe. I'll try.

(Ps i have a new poem coming out today and you should go read it and every poem that I've posted bc I'm v v proud and it's called Transient (A Poetry Collection) so go go read read read it and love it and add it to your library because I love writing poetry)

Dubai, cuties

-Elle xx