simply sincere • a tronnor au ✔️

chapter twenty two

That night, Connor was too numb to cry himself to sleep. He was too confused, too conflicted. Troye had admitted to liking Connor, admitted that he deserved someone more than Joey. Yet he went and got back together with him. What a fucking joke.

And now to make things worse, Troye wanted Connor to come over. Connor contemplated on skipping out on Troye, however he remembered his promise he made to Bethany just the night before.

That now explains why Connor was on his way to the local coffee shop before he went to Troye's. If he was going to deal with Troye's constant gushing over Joey, he was going to need some coffee (or alcohol, but he can't legally have that just yet).

Connor approached the barista, asking for his usual soy latte. She kindly took his order, telling him she'd deliver it to his table once it was ready. Connor thanked the nice girl then proceeded to sit down.

Connor tapped away on his phone, goofing around with the new snapchat filters. He didn't pay any mind to his surroundings, considering he was only concentrated on the giant eye effect on the filter. However, when he moved his head slightly, he couldn't help but notice the couple sitting behind him. One person had their back to Connor, whilst the other was facing him. They both held each others hands over the table, occasionally kissing each others hands. It was cute, Connor thought.

He wished he had that with Troye.

However, the more Connor continued to stare, the more he recognized the face of one of the men there. It was Daniel, he concluded.

Upon noticing that, connor had a gut feeling that he knew exactly who the other man there was. The cackle, the voice. It was Joey. Joey was out with Daniel, they were holding hands and kissing. He had just gotten back together with Troye and he's back to cheating on him?

Fed up, Connor walked over to the counter, informing the barista that he had to leave immediately. The barista seemed confused, so she offered Connor a to go mug, but Connor declined. He needed to get to Troye.

Once he was in his car, Connor proceeded to drive to Troye's house as quickly as possibly, all while trying not to break any speed laws. he gripped the steering wheel to the point where his knuckles were white with anger. Connor was pissed. pissed that Joey would do this to Troye again. Pissed that he said he wouldn't cheat on Troye again. pissed that all of this was happening to Troye, when Troye deserved so much better.

As he arrived in Troye's driveway, he waisted no time getting out of the car and knocking heavily on the front door. He was greeted by a women, mid fiftys, with short black hair. She seemed tired, worn out, but she managed to greet Connor with a lovely smile.

"Hello!" she peeked in an Australian accent. Connor smiled at the women.

"Hi! Is Troye here?" Connor questioned. The women was about to reply, only to be cut off by a mans voice.

"Laurelle! Get me a beer!" He demanded. Connor assumed the women standing in front of him was Laurelle. She gave Connor an apologetic look.

"Of course, dear!" she replaced her frown with another smile, before moving out of the way and motioning for Connor to come in the house. "Troyes room is just up the stairs, the first one to the right."

Connor thanked Laurelle, making his way over to the direction of the staircase. He hesitantly made his way up, suddenly becoming nervous for the conversation soon to come.

As he approached Troyes door, he couldn't help but notice how frustrated Troye looked as he typed away at his phone.

"Troye?" Connor called out. walking in his room without Troye saying he could. Troye perked up at Connors voice, a smile playing at his face.

"Hey!" He called, motioning for Connor to sit next to him.

"So, you and Joey, huh?" Connor jumped right into the topic. It was like a bandage just waiting to be ripped off, yet Connor couldn't do that without getting a grip on the bandage first. Therefore he was easing in on the conversation.

"Yeah, we uh, went to the dance last night." Troye explained. Connor could tell Troye was nervous to talk to him about Joey. He couldn't blame him, Troyes fully aware of Connors hatred towards the dude.

"How was that?"

"It was... alright," Troye explained, never looking up from his phone.

"You okay? You seem upset," Troye sighed, explaining how Joey had just cancelled on their movie plans due to a "family emergency."

This made Connors blood boil.

"I don't think it's a family emergency," Connor sighed. He really didn't want to do this to Troye, but he needed to. It was the right thing to do.

"What?"

"I saw him, this morning." And so, Connor went on to explain how he had seen Daniel and Joey at the coffee shop earlier today. He explained how he saw them kiss and hold hands. He explained everything, and yet Troye stayed motionless.

Eventually, he spoke up.

"I don't believe you," he stated. "Joey promised that he wouldn't cheat on me again."

"So you're believing him over me?" Connor questioned. "Why do you always do that, Troye? Why do you always pick him over me?

You believe him, not me. You'd rather date him, not me. You went to the dance with him, not me. Is there something wrong with me? Why are you so hung up on Joey? He cheated on you for Christ sakes!"

"He seemed genuine, Connor! For all I know, you're just saying this shit so I'd break up with him to be with you!" Troye exclaimed. What was supposed to be a quiet talk turned into a screaming match between the two. Troye entire family could probably hear, not that they cared anyways.

"I'm no lying, Troye! Yes, I fucking like you! Yes, I was going to ask you to the dance, but for heavens sakes, Troye, it doesn't mean I don't care about you! I just don't want you getting hurt!"

Troye stayed silent. He could've taken that time to think of a proper response to Connor, rather than the response he gave Connor. A response he was immediately going to regret.

"Well, it's not my damn fault you have an unrealistic crush on me, Connor."

"Unrealistic?" Connor questioned, trying to pretend that his response didn't hurt him, that it didn't cause tears to form in his eyes.

"You like someone who's in love with someone else, I'd say that's pretty unrealistic."

Connor wanted to scream many things at Troye. He wanted to say that Troye was wrong. He wanted to say that his relationship with Joey was unrealistic. He wanted to remind Troye that he liked Connor, or at least he said he did. Instead, he turned on his heels, not before spitting one last thing at Troye.

"I tried. I really fucking did. Don't come crying to me when you realize I was right."

He didn't mean a single word he has just uttered, but Troye didn't know that.