Caspar’s POV
The next morning we all woke up at various times still feeling like we were hung-over. I mean we weren’t, but the jetlag sure felt like it, and fuck time zones. Marcus was sill sleeping, snoring softly but after last night opening up to us, which was obviously a strain on him, I wanted to let him sleep a bit longer. I felt bad for him, he had lost so much in being sent here, more than I had for sure, yet he was still trying to make sure he would not be a burden on any of us. Which I had explained to him was silly as we were all in this together but if I had any doubts about it they had disappeared because everyone here was so awesome.
I climbed out of bed and padded across the room pulling on a t-shirt to go with my sweat pants before slipping out the door. I made my way downstairs to find Zoe and Tyler sitting around the kitchen bench talking with papers spread out all around them. ‘Morning guys, what you doing?’ I asked as I began to search through the cupboards for a glass.
‘We’re just looking at all of this so we know what going on. It’s a lot of information to read so we probably don’t all have to so instead Tyler and I thought we would do it for you all, is that ok?’ she looked a little worried that I might not agree but honestly I was glad Tyler and her were taking charge, they didn’t seem to mind doing it and I certainly didn’t either so it made sense.
‘Oh ok that’s fine’, I said as I filled up my glass with water from the tap, as we had nothing else to drink in the house at the time. ‘So are we going to get food today maybe? Cause I don’t know how long I can survive on just water’, I said looking over at them. Zoe looked up at me and smiled at my dramatic statement, ‘yes we will be leaving in about an hour so I might have to wake people up and although they’re going to be tired we have to try to get rid of the jetlag as soon as possible’, she said as she checked the time on her phone.
‘Yeah sounds good’, I paused for a moment, contemplating whether I should offer to go upstairs and wake everyone up knowing that I would be their least favourite person. But I wanted to do something to help considering Tyler and Zoe were already doing so much, ‘would you like me to go and wake the others up for you?’ I offered. Zoe looked up at me gratefully, ‘oh Caspar that would be wonderful thank you, Troye is actually already up, he’s sitting in the lounge’.
I just nodded and made my way into the next room to find Troye laying on the lounge on his phone. ‘Hey dude’, Troye said looking up from his phone, ‘how was your sleep?’ ‘It was good, those beds are really comfy’, I replied sitting opposite him. ‘Yeah I know! I felt so well rested and I’m surprised I’m actually up before midday’, he laughed as he sat up so he was facing me more.
‘Yeah well you’re about the only one, but we’re going shopping today and leaving in an hour so I’ve got to get the others up, any chance you feel like helping?’ I said not having too much hope in his answer. ‘Sorry dude, I wouldn’t want to wake up people who have jetlag, you’re on your own for that one,’ he shrugged sympathetically. ‘Yeah I know, no worries’, I sighed, we continued to chat for a while before I knew I had to go get the others up if we wanted to leave on time.
Surprisingly it wasn’t as bad as I though it would be. Two of them were actually already awake and the others we quick to stop their grumbling when I mentioned food. Still being the mess of people that we were it took an hour and a half before we were finally ready to head out the door.
We eventually were able to lock up the house and made our way down the driveway towards the car. The car could probably be more accurately described as a van than a car. It was designed in such a way that meant all 9 of us could just fit inside it while still having a bit of room for other bags and stuff. This was convenient but I wondered how we would fit the shopping in here plus all of us, I shook this thought off quickly as I'm sure Zoe had come up with a solution for it and would tell us when we got around to having to deal with it.
On our way we stopped for breakfast at a bakery that was part of the small collection of shops that serviced the small suburb. After having some amazing food we all hopped back in the car and drove out towards the next town. There was only one road leading out of ours because it was a small beach suburb but it was like a small highway, a long, flat, straight road with bush on either side. The only difference being that it was pretty much deserted but that made for a nice and quick easy drive.
After less than 10 minutes we were approached the turn off for the shopping complex, made evident by the large sign with many of the shops brands or logos on it. Zoe squeaked excitedly from her spot next to me, ‘ooh wow there’s so many shops, some look like the same as the UK but there’s also some that I don’t recognise’. She craned her neck to see them as we drove past it, ‘Zoe’, Joe said from the other side of her, ‘we’re not here to go shopping, remember?’ She just rolled her eyes at him in return.
After parking we all clambered out of the car and looked excitedly at the shopping center. It wasn’t the shopping center that was exciting (even though it held shops that sold food) it was everything around it. Right next to the spot that they had cleared to build the center was all bush and with its gum trees and native plants it just looked so Australian but also showed how isolated we actually were being so far away from any major cities.
Troye seemed completed disinterested in it however and started walked towards the shops without glancing up. We quickly followed because even though we wouldn’t have gotten lost Troye had seemingly become our leader outside the house, as he was really the only one who was actually used to these kinds of places, being the Australian he was.
Once we were inside we walked past an array of different shops until we reached one call ‘Coles’, Troye insisting that this would be the best place to get everything we needed. Zoe took charge again saying, ‘so we should grab a few trolleys, start at one end of the shop and just work our way through because there quite a few things we’re going to need’.
Most of us boys grabbed a trolley and we all headed to the first isle. It was a slow process to get everything we needed but it was fairly interesting because with each new section we learnt something about each other. We learnt that Alfie can’t even cook pasta without it going wrong and that Louise was actually likely to be the best cook out of all of us as she was used to cooking more than just oven food.
We also learnt what kinds of foods each other liked which turned out to be pretty interesting. As we turned into in the isle that held the spreads Troye let out a screech and did a weird half walk/jog over to where the had stacked the Nutella. He grabbed two jars and turned around with an excited smile on his face, ‘Zoe we have to get Nutella or I’ll starve to death!’ he exclaimed dramatically. She laughed, ‘Troye we are getting other foods so I'm sure you wont starve but we can get it if you really want. Is it your favourite food or something?’ she questioned. Troye gasped, ‘its more than just a food, it’s a way of life!’ he said acting offended as we all laughed.
We made our way to the deli section trying to decide what kinds of meat we should get, what kind of meals they would make etc. ‘Let get some ham or something’, I said just trying to help them reach some sort of decision as Zoe and Marcus were arguing about the organic aspects of various produce items.
‘No’, said a voice behind me suddenly. We all turned to see who had spoken to see Louise shaking her head and looking like she could be sick. ‘I don’t do ham, I can’t stand it, everything about it makes me feel ill, if you want that you’re going to have to keep it in a different part of the house’. We were a little shocked at her slightly over the top outburst but once she explained why we agreed that we probably didn’t really need ham.
The whole shop mostly consisted of us walking through the isles grabbing various items and then running them past Zoe before being allowed to put them in the trolley. Most of the items got a yes depending if anyone else particularly apposed it. I picked up some hummus, turning to the others to see what they thought. It seemed that also simultaneously both Tyler and Troye shuddered shaking their heads. ‘I'm just not that much of a fan’, Tyler said, ‘it just makes me feel funny’, Troye explained. I just shook my head at them in amusement and put it back.
We finally made it to the checkout and I had to feel a bit sorry for the girl serving us, she stared at the amount of items we had in surprise but didn’t make a comment and just started scanning them through and putting them in bags. It was a fair amount of food but considering there was nothing back at the house and there were a fair few of us to feed it made sense.
When we finally emerged from the shopping center back into daylight we noticed the sky had gotten considerably darker and not just because it was getting later in the afternoon. The wind had picked up a fair bit and I regretted not bringing my jacket. ‘Ok’, Zoe said looking up at the sky, ‘what we’re going to do is go half at a time because we won’t be able to fit everyone as well as all the shopping. So Troye will go obviously and say Alfie and Joe? You two should be able to take more bags at one time than the rest of us will and that will make it faster.’ I zoned out a bit after that as she explained to them what to do.
Troye went to get the car and bring it around the front to make it more convenient to put everything in while we all waited in the undercover shelter at the front of the shopping center as we could feel the first drops of rain in the wind.
After waiting for barley a moment Tyler stood up, ‘ok momma needs some alcohol so y’all can just hang while I go get it (In Australia the legal drinking age is 18!! ALSO I know that at 18 you become a legal adult and can technically be independent but this is an AU so they can’t). You coming cutie’, he winked at Marcus who turned tomato red instantly. ‘I...um...no, no I’ll just stay here and uhh...wait’, he stammered out. ‘Suit yourself’, he shrugged and sauntered off, with one of the other boys jogging after him so he wouldn’t wander off or get lost.
Tyler had been flirty with pretty much all of us throughout the shopping trip and although none of us minded that much I wasn’t pleased. Marcus wasn’t bothered by it but he and I had talked last night before we went to sleep and I had learnt a lot about him. I felt stupid for feeling so overprotective of him even though he was completely fine with it. I zoned back into what was going on when the others
I snapped back to reality when the others start to move and see that Troye had arrived and had started loading the shopping in. Because my trolley had all of the bags with cold goods in them they had to go in the first trip so that they could be put in the fridge as soon as possible. I started to help Troye put the bags in the car but I couldn’t help but noticed the frown that was on his face.
‘Hey are you ok?’ I asked but he just replied with, ‘yeah sure just want to get home before it rains’. ‘You sure? Nothing to do with Tyler? I asked as I had noticed a bit of tension between them and Troye just sighed, ‘well it’s kind of nothing, it’s just he is so annoying and radiating with all his gayness and happiness, ughh, he just really irritates me that’s all’. ‘Maybe it’s a bit of a love/hate feeling’, I said slyly, winking at him. Troye sent me a death glare, ’besides the fact that I’m straight its only a hate feeling, I could never love Tyler’.
‘What about you Caspy?’ he asked trying to change the subject. ‘What are you even talking about?’ I laughed. ‘Well I don’t know, I think you and Marcus would be pretty cute together and you could take advantage of already rooming together,’ he said giving me a sideways glance and wiggling his eyebrows, ‘you know once he gets past the whole hating all of this thing’. ‘Ok no,’ I scoffed, ‘I think you’re taking the whole rooming situation a little far, besides, I’m not gay either.’
‘Ok dude, no judgment or whatever’, he said as we finished putting our bags in the car and closed the door so we could walk to the back of the vehicle where the others were waiting. Wow, I thought to myself, could that have been more awkward. See I wasn’t gay exactly I was just unsure, I thought I was mostly likely bi as I figured I kind of liked both genders. I was considering maybe telling the others I was bi or something just so I could accept it more myself but now I wasn’t sure if Troye was homophobic or not. He spoke so harshly of Tyler but then outright suggested I could get with Marcus. I didn’t want to ask him though I wasn’t willing to risk the only friend I had for something I wasn’t even sure of myself.
Once Tyler had returned about 5 minutes later carrying an assortment of items we were already settled on the park benches outside the shopping center waiting for Troye to return to collect us and the last of the shopping. As Troye had left to drive the car back home I couldn’t talk to him so I decided to talk to Marcus as I hadn’t had a moment to properly check on him today. ‘Hey man what’s up? This weather is pretty crazy huh?’ I look to the clouds to see that the sky has gotten even darker.
‘Wow ok, making conversation about the weather are we?’ He laughed, ‘yeah I agree, I though Australia was all sunshine, beaches and tanned people’. ‘So did I but then again maybe it is, we haven’t exactly been here long’, I replied. ‘Yeah true’, he muttered and I realised my stupid mistake of bring up the being sent away part of all of this. In an effort to quickly distract him I decided to ask him about video games, ‘you play Fifa?’ His eyes lit up immediately, ‘yeah of course I do! I wonder if we could get an x-box at the house, that would be awesome!’ I smiled at his enthusiasm as we continued to chat about it, him forgetting why I had to bring it up in the first place.
‘Oh where are they’, Zoe muttered as she paced in front of us. It had only been about 20 minutes since they left so they would likely be back at any second but in that time we had heard several low rumbles of thunder and the sky was almost a purple black colour letting us know that there was most likely going to be a storm very soon and it was going to be big.
‘Zoe calm down okay?’ Louise said hopping up comfort her, ‘we’ll be home soon’. ‘Yeah I know sorry, its just storms make me really anxious you know?’ She said as she continued to pace in front of us. I couldn’t blame her though; those clouds were making me pretty eager to get home too.
Troye retuned and we all quickly loaded the remaining shopping in. We were probably about half way home when large drops of rain began to fall. It was not pouring yet and there were only a few every 10 seconds or so making loud noises as they hit the windscreen of the car. The air was tense inside the car and no one spoke waiting to see whether we would make it home before the storm or not.
We pulled into the driveway and from my guess was that we probably only had about a minute before it began to absolutely pour as the drops had been getting considerably heavier since we left the shopping complex. We rushed around, one of the boys holding the front door open so we could take the shopping bags straight from the car into the kitchen, dumping it into a semi-organised pile on the floor before running out to grab more.
It was hectic, the nerves and high tension of only having seconds before the rain could hit somehow tuned us into a mess. We were either laughing or, in some cases, squealing whenever we felt a raindrop hit us or whenever we would almost run into one another as we raced back and forth.
Soon we were grabbing the last bags and closing the doors as Troye locked the car. It seemed that the moment we stepped into the safety of the house the clouds broke open and it poured. From the large windows in the front room we could see the rain teeming down and the sudden loud thunder and lighting made us jump. The tension in the room broke after that and we laughed at how close we had come to being caught in storm. But the real storm was yet to come...
On a scale of 1 to the word soon how much do you hate me right now? I know I suck at updating but thank you all for reading/commenting/voting anyway!! This chapter was hard to write for some reason but I hope it ended up ok, I also made it a bit longer to apologize for not updating!! I can’t promise I’ll stick to any kind of updating schedule but I can promise you wont have to wait this long between updates again.
I also just wanted to let you know that although this is a story with all of the characters I will probably be focusing on/writing in certain peoples POV’s more than others. The others will still be heavily involved in the story but they wont be as central as Troyler (just to clarify Troye is not homophobic he just finds Tyler annoying at the moment) and Zalfie (probably) but don’t take my word for it as things could change!!
I tried to edit but there may be some mistakes. While you wait for my sporadic, unplanned updates you should go to my profile to look at my list of Troyler fanfics that are perfection because I promise they are all awesome!! Ok thanks y’all for reading!
- Milly
ALSO I KEEP FORGETTING TO MENTION I HAVE A TUMBLR SO IT WOULD BE REAL NICE IF YOU WANTED TO FOLLOW (it is troyler/youtuber based): troylers-fangirl.tumblr.com