stone cold // tronnor au

twenty

"What are you thinking about?" He asked, pressing my shoulder with his chin as he spoke.

"You." I said simply, not rushing to explain that I meant it completely platonically.

"Me?" He sounded surprised.

I nodded, and sighed with a small smile on my face. "Yeah."

"All good things, I hope?" He chuckled.

"Of course."

"Well, that's a first."

"Shush."

He stopped talking, and began swaying from side to side.

"What are you doing?" I looked up at him.

"Do you know how to slow dance? He asked, ignoring my question.

"Not really. I don't know." I shrugged.

"Well, you know, maybe I could teach you some time." He offered. "When you're less cold, of course."

"That'd be nice." I lowered my head back down.

"Are you warm now?" He asked, beginning to pull away.

"Yeah." I answered, dropping my hands back to my sides. "Thanks."

"No problem. Now let's fold this mat up." He said, picking up the mat again.

I tried to hide the growing smile on my face and picked up the opposite corners, helping him fold the mat up into a small square. We put all the empty plates and bowls back into the basket, before packing the mat on top. After we'd cleaned everything up, I grabbed the basket handles and began walking towards the campus, when Troye stopped me.

"Here, let me hold it." He said, reaching for the basket.

"No, no, it's fine. I've got it." I shook my head, and continued walking.

"But it's all my stuff. I can't make you hold it." He said, following me.

"Yeah, but you planned this whole thing, so it's the least I could do." I reminded him.

He sighed, and nodded. "Fine. But if it gets heavy or anything, tell me."

"It's literally just a picnic mat and plates. I'm not weak, you know." I punched his arm to prove my point.

"Ouch." He rubbed his arm. "You're such a meanie."

"A meanie would make you carry the basket back to our rooms. So really, you should think I'm the nicest person ever." I pointed out.

He looked at me, and sent me a playful glare. "Fine. Fine, you're the best person in the whole entire world."

"Thank you." I nodded, with a grin. "You're not so bad yourself."

"Wow, thanks." He rolled his eyes. "It's better than you calling me an arrogant asshole, I guess."

"That's true. I could always go back to that, if you want." I raised my eyebrows.

"Nah, I like the way things are now." He laughed.

I looked down, and smiled. "Yeah, so do I."

---

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Troye asked, reaching into his pocket for his room key.

I handed the basket to him after he got the keys out, before I got my own out of my pocket.

"I'm hanging out with the others after my last class. Why?" I tilted my head questioningly.

"I just wanted to hang out with my friend." He gestured towards me. "Are you free the day after?"

"Um..." I frowned, thinking if I had anything on. "I think I am."

"Okay, good. Do you want to go to that lake outside the cafe? You know, the one where we had our first civil conversation." He suggested.

I grinned. "You still remember that?"

"Yeah, of course." He shrugged. "So, how about it?"

I didn't hesitate to nod in agreement. "I would love to."

"That's sorted, then. I'll text you with the time." He said, unlocking his door.

"Okay, sounds good." I said, pulling on my door handle.

Before I opened my door, I turned back to him.

"Hey, Troye?" I said quietly.

"Yeah?" He turned back towards me.

"Thanks for today." I smiled, giving him a hug. "And listening to me talk about my ex."

He jolted in surprise, but quickly hugged me back. "No problem. It's nothing."

"Seriously. You're the only other person I've told apart from Zoe, Tyler, Joe, and Caspar. It means a lot that you were so great about it." I told him.

"It's alright. I'm always here for you. You know that, right?" He asked.

"Yeah. After today, I definitely do." I pulled away, and looked at him.

Not for the first time, I thought about how blue his eyes were, and how beautiful they made him. How did he have such bright eyes, when the only eyes I had were plain and boring?

I didn't realise I'd been staring, but he didn't say anything to ruin the moment. That's when I realised he was staring at me, too. My arms were still joined around his neck, and to anyone else, we probably looked like a couple. Maybe, even a couple in love, from the way we were looking at each other.

I was about to pull away, when I realised he'd started leaning in. My eyes widened, but I didn't move an inch. My breath hitched, and I found my gaze drifting down to his lips. To be honest, I'd be lying if I said I hadn't once thought about how they'd feel on mine. We were so close, our noses were brushing, and I could practically feel his heartbeat.

And then I began to think about how many boys had been in my position before, and I shook my head, pulling away.

"I-I-" I stuttered, trying to avoid eye contact. "I need to go. Thanks again for today."

I turned around quickly before I saw his reaction, and swung my door open.

"Bye." I mumbled, before slamming my door shut behind me.

I let out a loud sigh, and leaned against my door, placing my forehead in my hands.

There were so many things going through my head right now - about how everything was so wrong, and we were only supposed to be friends, nothing more.

But I think the worst thing was, I kind of wanted to kiss him.

I wanted to hold him in my arms, and feel his lips on mine.

I wanted more.

~~~

what even is this chapter lmao

anyway two important things:

1. sorry if you comment things on my stories and I don't reply - sometimes my notifications are really weird and don't show the recent notifs. I try to check the comments on each chapter when it doesn't work, but as you can imagine, it takes ages, so very sorry again if you're expecting me to say something but I don't - I'm not deliberately ignoring you or anything :)

2. I'VE GOT 1.2K READS ON THE FIRST CHAPTER OF TOGETHER AGAIN GUYS OMG ASSUMING THAT SOME OF YOU HAVE REREAD IT AND I'VE SCROLLED THROUGH IT TO CHECK COMMENTS A COUPLE TIMES, AROUND 1000 DIFFERENT PEOPLE HAVE CLICKED ON MY STORY AND READ THE FIRST CHAPTER FOR WHATEVER REASON WHICH IS HONESTLY SO SO SO COOL 

also I just finished 'the crown' by kiera cass (i know i'm so slow) and it was so good and i don't know what i'm doing with my life now why is the series over I FEEL LIKE I DID WHEN I FINISHED THE INFERNAL DEVICES HAHAHA HELP WHAT IS LIFE

- bye bye