Let's Stop Running From Us

sipping life from bottles

When the Mellet family returned to the venue, they found Troye perched on Jacob's lap animatedly talking to a group of two guys and a girl.

"Hey!" Troye yelled and jumped up to hug each of them as they walked in.

Troye turned to Jacob and friends. "Guys, this is my Mom, Laurelle, my Dad, Shaun, my brothers, Steele and Tyde and my sister, Sage."

And, Troye went on, "Family- this is Hari, Adam, Jed, and my amazing boyfriend, Jacob."

At that point, Chris walked in. "Troye, ready for Soundcheck?" Troye nodded. "And Jake," Chris continued, "the bartender just arrived..."

"Thank the Gods," Jacob said standing up. His friends laughed. Jacob went over kissed Troye on the cheek and said, "See you out there, baby." He and his friends then headed to the bar.

Laurelle and Shaun exchanged looks. "Hey, Tok. I thought Jacob's family was coming...," Shaun asked.

"Oh, his sister was called into work, so they are coming tomorrow instead," Troye answered.

"So he has one sister?" Sage asked.

"No, there's like 6 of them altogether. Jacob's the baby."

"Wow," Tyde said, "That's a big family."

"Well, like some of them are half siblings some step-siblings. Like his Dad is remarried and his mom isn't and honestly I haven't met them so I have a hard time keeping track of who is who," Troye said.

"Oh, that had to be hard growing up," Laurelle said.

Troye shrugged. "Jake's mom worked really hard to support them. She even commuted hours everyday so that he didn't have to switch schools. He also met Jed and Adam in high school, I think, and they've been like best friends since."

Dani popped in, "Stage, now please, Troye." Troye followed Dani out.

Steele said, "I'm going up to the bar to get a feel for things."

Laurelle and Shaun nodded. It's not that they didn't like Jacob, they really really wanted to like him. But, they also wanted to look out for what was best for Troye and Jacob just seemed so different than what they were use to.

Steele sat at a table adjacent from Jacob and his friends, though within earshot of their conversation.

Adam laughed, "How about Jed giving Troye a play by play about how you fucking cyber stalked him until you said fuck it and decided to message him."

Jacob groaned and laughed.

"Well it was fucking pathetic," Jed added, "and then when you found out he had a serious boyfriend and forced us all on a mission to stalk him too only to find out it was that tool Connor and all you did was shrug your shoulders and say 'I'm hotter'."

"Meanwhile," Adam went on, "you were fucking that other guy and he got so annoyed about how you would constantly text Troye that he gave you that ultimatum of either him or Troye and you were all like 'Are you kidding? I definitely choose the guy I never actually met over you'."

Jacob's friends laughed. "Ugh, he wasn't even that good, just a warm body," Jacob interjected.

"And then," Hari said, "Then you started hanging with those two other guys."

"At least I made it clear to them I wasn't actually interested. And do you also remember the time where I said that Troye would be the boy I married?" Jacob said.

"Oh no we get it. It's just funny cause all you wanted was Troye and you were so fucking frustrated that you couldn't have him and now look at you," Adam said.