You And I: On Tour

Troye II

London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona.

We'd been to all those cities already and each concert had been better than the last.

Today we're back on the tour bus, headed to Monaco. I've spent the last hour sitting with Emma, discussing a technical fault from the show in Barcelona. The whole time, I kept glancing towards the back of the bus where Connor sat, laptop out. He was editing some of his photos and emailing his parents, total concentration evident on his face when he stuck his tongue out between his teeth.

"So we're all sorted for tomorrow's show?" I asked Emma, wanting to get back to Connor.

"Yeah. As long as the tech crew in Monaco are set to keep that light fade in the right spot, we're all good." She grinned at me and her eyes flicked towards Connor. "You can go back to your boy now."

"I wasn't..." I tried to deny how badly I wanted to be with him but she laughed.

"Troye, I'm not an idiot. You've been watching him the whole time we've been talking." She reached over and took my hand. "It's okay. He's your first love, I understand what you're feeling."

"My first and only." I clarified.

"Don't make a promise you can't keep, Troye."

"I'm not. I want to be with Connor for the rest of our lives."

"Troye, I'm speaking as your friend when I say this. You and Connor might be completely in love now, even for a few more years. But there's always the possibility something will go wrong. Don't commit yourself just yet. You're still young." I frowned at her.

"Aren't you being a little hypocritical? Didn't you meet your husband in high school?"

"I did. But Brent and I were together for a long time before we started thinking about being together for the rest of our lives. I'm not saying that you and Connor won't be together forever. I'm just saying, you still need to be cautious in case you get your heart broken."

"Okay. I get what you're saying. But I really do believe Connor and I are completely right for each other." I could tell she wanted to say more but she bit her lip, keeping it to herself.

"Just be careful."

"I will." I got up and carefully made my way back to Connor, balancing as the bus sped down a highway. He looked up when I flopped into the seat beside him.

"Hey. How'd the meeting go?"

"The first part was good. The end, well, kind of confusing."

"Should I ask?"

"Probably not." I smiled at him and pointed to his computer. "What have you done so far?"

"Here. I've just finished the ones from Paris." He handed me the laptop so I could flick through the images, smiling at the memories they brought back. We'd had so much fun in Paris, exploring the Champs Elysees, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe. At each location, we'd taken turns photographing each other. But on the famous 'Love Lock' bridge, we'd asked one of the security guys to get a picture of us kissing with the River Seine in the background. That photo was by far my favourite from the trip so far.

"Con, can you send this one to me?"

"Sure. I'll do it now." I passed the laptop back and he quickly attached it to an email, sending it through, thanks to the WiFi hotspot we had installed on the bus. My phone buzzed and I opened the attachment.

"I'm putting this as my wallpaper."

"You like it that much?"

"Of course. It reminds me of our love."

"You're such a sickly romantic." He ruffled my hair affectionately. I leaned over to kiss his cheek, one hand resting on his thigh.

"Maybe. But what about you? You've got a whole collage of us as your wallpaper." He stiffened at my touch and I smiled.

"Troye..." He muttered. I moved my hand a fraction further up his leg.

"Yes, Connor?"

"Your hand, Troye. Move. Please." He begged.

"Where? Here?" I asked, moving my hand even higher up. He let out a low groan and half tossed his laptop to the side before grabbing my hand off his leg and moving to sit on my lap, trapping my hands against the seat behind me.

"As much as I'd love to do that, we can't right now." He whispered against my lips.

"Why not?" I pretended to be confused and stuck my tongue out so I touched the tip of his nose. He pulled back and went to rub his hand against his nose but I pulled his hands behind his back so he had to resort to rubbing his nose against his shoulder.

"Ew." He mumbled but turned back to me, mimicking my action. Laughing, I rubbed at my own nose with my hands, effectively freeing him. He grabbed my face and pressed our lips together in a kiss that was maybe a little too passionate for the setting. I tangled my fingers in his hair as we kissed. Our little make-out session didn't last long, though.

"Hey, get a room you two." Emma called over. I looked at her.

"We have one but we're not there yet." I replied, laughing. Connor had gone red again and slowly slid off my lap to sit on his seat again.

"Just keep it PG on the bus, okay?" I nodded and turned to Connor who had picked up his laptop, beginning to edit the Barcelona photos.

"So, what are our plans for Monaco?" Since our day in London, we'd been taking it in turn to plan our free days and this time, it was Connor's turn.

"Well, I heard that Monaco has some beautiful beaches. How does a day relaxing in the sun sound?"

"A day on a sunny French beach with my beautiful boyfriend? What could be better?" I laid my head on his shoulder to watch him work, my eyes feeling heavy. I was exhausted from the last few days and soon found myself drifting off to sleep.

--------------------

I was woken up a few hours later by Connor gently shaking me. At some point while I slept, I'd fallen down so that my head was in his lap and my legs were curled up on the seat.

"Wakey, wakey, sleepy head." He whispered.

"Why?" I groaned, closing my eyes again.

"We're here. We're in Monaco. And it's beautiful." He replied, getting up so that I no longer had a pillow. I sat up to look out the window and gasped in awe.

"Wow." 

"Told you." He said. It really was beautiful. The sea was blue and along the shore, colourful umbrellas kept people in the shade. The city behind was just as beautiful, stretching out along the French coastline.

"I can't wait to relax on those beaches." I said, going to stand beside him as the bus began to slow to a stop for a tollbooth.

"Mm. Me either. But, first, we have to get through tonight's concert."

"Yep. And then after tomorrow, we drive down to Rome and that's our last stop in Europe."

"I can't believe we've been on tour for three weeks already. It feels like yesterday was our first show in New York."

"I know. But wait until we get to Australia. We can really party there because we'll be allowed to drink if we want to." Connor frowned.

"But we're not twenty one."

"Doesn't matter. In Australia, the legal age is eighteen."

"Oh. We can have some fun, then."

"Only a little. We don't want a hangover when we're supposed to be performing."

"No way. But a little can go a long way."

"That it can." We stood side-by-side for the last ten minutes of the trip, watching the scenery go by and preparing ourselves for sound check. This was the best time of our lives.