Look into your heart
Are you happy?
You could be the one
To set me free
The World Is Watching (With Valentia) ~ Two Door Cinema Club
Troye (ooooh two chapters from his perspective in a row - aren't I sneaky)
“You know, if you wanted to meet me outside school, you could've ask to do something besides school work."
At four we met in Preston Park. We’d travelled separately from one another, as I knew a car journey would've been too awkward. Besides, I’d wanted to change out of my uniform and into more comfortable clothes. He'd wanted to do the same, and gave me his number so that I'd text him when I was ready for us to meet.
Once ready, I panicked over how I should write the message. Was I meant to use text language or not? Was I meant to add kisses or not? Was that the acceptable thing you send to your friends? I ended up sitting in my car for a good five minutes, editing the message over and over again until I was half happy with it.
To Tylah Destruction Oakley- hi, it me Troooye ◕‿◕ i’m leaving now - i'll be there soon x
I instantly regretted the kiss at the end. I didn’t have time to think it over though. A few seconds later my phone vibrated.
From Tylah Destruction Oakley- Heeey babe ☺ I’ll be there in 10 minutes.. if not, read this again xx
I calmed down and started the car. Obviously the kiss wasn't as big a deal as I thought it was.
When we finally met in the empty car park, Tyler was assured of my previous statement of no Anti-Elementals seeing us. Although there was a road running through part the park, I confirmed to him that it was barely used.
I led him to the top of the hill, where the trees were sparse and the light was at its best. We stood opposite one another, unsure how to begin.
"Should we start by...?" I left the question unfinished, feeling foolish for having to ask him such a question. Tyler was unimpressed by my awkward nature. He rolled his eyes and took a step towards me. He held out his hand and wiggled his fingers. "Just hold my hand already. I promise not to burn you... intentionally."
I reached out and touched him. His hand was warm like an open fire. Mine felt as if it belonged in the arctic. A buzz of energy ran over me. I got a sense of the power within him, which was combining with my own.
Purple smoke rose from between our hands. The pressure it built between us soon forced our hands apart. I was moved a couple of steps backwards by the sheer force. I looked over at Tyler for confirmation that this was weird. He seemed slightly befuddled, yet determined to try again.
"Let’s go again. Link fingers with me this time," Tyler said, outstretching his hand once more. My hand fitted in his like a puzzle piece. It was as if it was intended to be in his. The thought sent shivers through me, thinking parts of my life had been predestined.
“We've got to learn to control the smoke,” I said, straining to keep our hands together. I only held on for a second longer before it got too much. I was left breathless, yet craving more contact.
Soon after these thoughts entered my head, Tyler held onto both my biceps. “Concentrate just on the smoke.” It was a hard ask, seeing my mind was racing. I was more focused on the fact that Tyler Oakley was touching me. Somehow I managed to divert my thoughts. With both our minds working together, the smoke began to dwindle. It didn't stop completely, but it wasn't clouding the air around us any more.
"Let's try casting at the oak tree over there," I said, jerking my head in the direction rather than move my arms. Tyler let go of my arms, and held just one of my hands. Already his hand felt as though it belonged in mine. We lifted our joined hands to point at the tree. I willed my powers to strike at it.
A brilliant light was shot from our interlaced fingers. It hurled towards it at a frightening speed. In a blink of an eye it struck the tree. It caught alight, enveloping the few leaves that were hung on the branches. It looked as though Tyler had cast it all by himself. There was no hint of anything but fire.
Then I spotted a flash of white. At the base of the tree, a fine frost was forming. A steady path of ice began to immerse the flames. The tree froze over completely within a minute. No flames existed.
All too soon the frost melted away. The oak tree didn't look like it had before, but I didn't feel sorrow. I was just amazed at how new this all was to me.
Unlike in class, we kept going. We whirled around in a circle of energy. Spells were cast in every direction. Some of the grass was burnt and coated in dew. Benches were split down the middle without a mark.
However, not everything we did was violent. Flowers began to bloom, despite it being autumn. Icy webs were formed between trees, with Tyler melting it so that pictures lay within. Patterns were created in the air that shone blue and yellow all at once. Figure-eights, clovers, stars, hearts… a whole variety of shapes were formed by us.
Soon we had an audience. We caused birds to pause mid flight to observe our endeavours. We made rabbits leave their burrows to see what commotion we were causing. They left after a while, but it felt as if nature had stopped just for us, to watch us.
I wasn't focused on any of that. I couldn't focus on anything but the energy shared between us. We’d subconsciously changed positions as time wore on, clutching on to each other but no longer holding hands. The smoke around us grew in intensity as power surged within. The closer we became, the harder it was to control. I wondered how much smoke would be created if we were to kiss or - I stopped the train of thoughts there.
After an infinity, we began to slow. We both were beginning to feel drained. Soon we were left with our heavy breaths mingled together. Until then I'd been blissfully unaware of how unbelievably tired I was. Even running 1 mile in PE hadn't made me that worn out.
I opened my eyes for the first in forever, meeting his. His pupils were dilated so much that only a rim of blue could be seen. I was faintly aware of how close we were. My arms were wrapped around his waist whilst his were gripping on to the back of my neck. Eventually he slid his hands off of me, and I let go of him. Immediately I missed the previous closeness. That’s why I didn't attempt to move further away from him, and he didn't either.
His voice was still breathy when he spoke up. “Troye, look at our hands.” I looked down. Mine were tinted blue, as if they had been frosted over. His had become black, as though they had been burnt. I touched his hand instinctively, wanting to brush it away. It wasn't dusted in ash as I originally thought. Somehow, his skin had been recoloured, making him appear fiendish. However, his normal colour began to return from where my hand touched his. The blue began to disappear on mine at the same time.
“Has that ever happened to you before?” I asked, already knowing his response. He shook his head, studying the black marks as they faded away, until there was no evidence it’d ever existed.
“This is all so weird,” he said, leaning against my chest. My arms loosely went around him, worried i might scare him off I held him too tightly.
“I’m a little afraid of what’s happening to us. What makes it worse is that Mr Lester couldn't find a case happening to anyone else.”
He looked up at me sympathetically. “I’ll admit it - I’m afraid too. But at least we’re going through it together. We’re not alone.”
I smiled down at him. “True dat, Tilly.”
He moved away from me, giving me a quizzical look.“Tilly?”
I shrugged, blushing furiously. “It just sort of slipped out. You gave me a nickname earlier and I thought... I don’t know… Is it an alright nickname?”
He looked to the ground, smiling to himself. “I kinda liked it.” His happiness and shy nature were reflected on to me. I looked around us, attempting to distract myself, all the while grinning as wide as I ever have.
The sunset painted around us began to lose it’s vibrancy. Light around us dimmed. I could see his breath, almost feel it. My body twitched, knowing he was only a small distance away from me. Every nerve in body screamed at me to touch him.
That’s when I heard the car engine.
Tyler and I both tensed up. We scanned the area for the source. Coming along the road, at a scarily fast pace, was a car - painted in the governmental colour, gold. I thought it must be a government van, but why was it here? They were meant to be checking the north predominantly, so what had made them go down to the southern countryside, to our town?
Without warning Tyler grabbed my hand. He hauled me after him, running for cover. I heard the van engine cut out. I wanted to look back, to see if they were heading our way. I knew I couldn't though.
Unexpectedly I was pushed ahead of Tyler. I felt the ground slip away from beneath my feet. For a moment I fell, feeling nothing but cold autumn air rush against me. Then I landed on a dank surface. We'd plunged into a hole I'd never seen before. He landed on top of me with a thud. The flooring was damp. I knew a dozen leaves were probably stuck to my clothes. There wasn't any room to move about.
“Well, this is cosy.”
“You know, I always thought you’d have me against the floor inside rather than out in the open.”
“I'm full of surprises. Just you wait, Troyeboy,” he winked at me. I didn't give him the satisfaction of a response - not even an eye-roll.
"How'd you known there was a hole here? Why are we even in a hole Ty?”
“You've seen the news recently. That government van will be searching for elementals, to question them. If they find us, I doubt we’ll be allowed out any time soon. At least at school the teachers will protect us. No one else is here but you and I.”
"It might not be a government-”
“Shush,” he cut me off suddenly, covering my mouth with his hand. I struggled beneath him, before I heard it too - footsteps.
We lay their silently as the steps grew louder. As they got closer, I realised it was not just one person. There was at least three there. My breath quickened. I knew the hole was hard to spot - as I hadn't even noticed it, and I’d been going to the park all my life - but that didn't lessen the possibility of them finding us.
“I'm sure they said they’d be here,” a male voice said. I was struck by how familiar it sounded. Why would a government worker have a voice I recognised?
A shrill female voice replied, “Well obviously not. Can you see them here?”
“No, but we saw his car parked-”
A third, low voice spoke up. “He could've gone anywhere. You've wasted our time again. You know we only have five weeks left until they get involved. It’s better if we spend that time planning than going on futile missions to seek him out. If you hadn't been so desperate for praise-”
“There’s no point in berating the boy. We've wasted enough time this evening because him. Come on, let’s get out of here.” The female sounded resigned and fed up. It didn't sound like this was the first time the familiar voiced malehad messed up. With a final sigh the trio walked away.
Questions darted through my mind as they receded. Who was it that they were looking for? Both Tyler’s and mine car were parked here. Perhaps the car they were talking about was parked nearby? Or perhaps another car was now in the car park? My biggest fear was the car they were speaking of was one of ours. The notion terrified me. I did recognise one of the voices, but I don’t know where from. It could've been from the news, a stranger passing me on the street, or someone I'd forgotten from my childhood. Besides that, what reason did the people have to specifically seek us out?
The van started again. I waited for the car's noises to fade out, until all I could hear was the faint twitter of birds.
It dawned on me that Tyler was still lying on top of me. I looked up at him, watching him watch the land above. Feeling my eyes on him, he turned to look at me. He unclasped my mouth with a shaky smile. He didn't attempt to roll off me. I didn't call him out on it, or attempt to toss him off of me. We lay there, staring at one another as the light dimished. He bit his lip, as if debating whether to say - or do - something.
“Tyler? You out here?” It was a woman calling out. The fear in her voice was evident. She didn't sound anything like the one in the trio. Nevertheless I grew apprehensive. How did someone know Tyler was in Preston Park anyway?
Above me, a resigned-looking Tyler said. “Yes mom.”
Oh.
He seemed to waiting for my reaction, laughing softly as I felt my cheeks redden. He rolled off of me and hopped out the hole. After a while I motivated myself to get up too. He held out a hand to help heave me out. Even after I got out, our hands stayed joined.
We walked towards a small woman in the distance. Right when she turned around, Tyler let go of my hand. I think she caught the moevement though, because I noticed her lips curve up in a smile as we got closer. Apart from the twinkle in her eye, which left me on edge, she seemed friendly enough.
“Did I come at the wrong time?” You could hear the giggle she was trying to contain. She pointed at my hair. I ran my hand through it, realising it had been messed up and was the home of a few leaves. Tyler crossed his arms and said some dismissive comment back to her.
Her smile faltered, and she grew serious very quickly. Frown lines were cut into her forehead. Her eyes darted around the air, and she took an unsteady step forward. It was like seeing a completely different person. “Did the people in the van see either of you?”
“No, they didn't get a chance to. I hid us in time.”
She looked visibly relieved. Her shoulders sagged, and the frowns in her forehead straightened out. Warmth seeped into her features once more. “Thank god.”
“Who were they?” I asked
“I'm not sure sweety," I was taken aback by the pet name, seeing as she didn't even know my proper name. It made sense though, considering Tyler did the same. "I do know that, whoever they are, they were up to no good. I'm Jackie by the way, Tyler’s mom.”
“Troye, with an e,” I said, shaking her hand.
“It’s nice to finally meet you Troye. Tyler’s talks about you all the-”
“Mom,” Tyler’s voice grew fierce. Jackie stopped herself from continuing, but was still grinning.
“I think I better head home,” I said, feeling out of place, despite the geniality Jackie was showing me. Something told me the two of them wanted to speak of private matters, and I was prolonging that.
“Are you alright getting home? I'm more than happy to give you a lift.”
“No, it’s okay. I took my car here anyway. It was nice meeting you," I glanced over at Tyler and smiled at him. “See you tomorrow Tilly.”
He smiled back. “Bye Troyeboy.”
As I walked towards the car park, I heard Jackie questioning the nicknames we’d given each other.
Once I got home, I was bombarded by the curiosity of my family.
“Why were you out so late?"
"No way did you just go to the park. No one goes to the park until the sun goes down.”
"Who were you with? Alfie called up asking for you. He said Hannah and Caspar didn't know where you were either. I thought you'd be with your friends."
I held up a hand, silencing them eventually. “You do know I can't hear you all at once? Yes, I really did go to the park, with a friend. I went to train with Tyler.”
“Isn't Tyler that Fire you’re always going on about?” Dad asked.
“I don’t go on about him,” it came out in a wavering voice, sounding more like a question than a statement.
Tyde nodded enthusiastically. “Sure you do. Every lesson you have with him you tell in great detail. Every other lesson is just “okay”.”
“Do you want to hear what happened or not?” My siblings rolled their eyes, but the interest in their faces was plain to see. I went on to explain what had happened, including the incident with the car. For the first time ever, they all were rapt in my story. Normally they would start doing something else or simply walk off. This time all phones remained in pockets and their eyes were wide as I retold how close the people had come. I might have exaggerated some details, adding things in like Tyler coughing and the people coming closer. But their eager faces spurred me on to tell lies. I doubted they’d ever find the truth out anyway. At the end they sat in silence, not knowing how to respond.
Sage plucked up the courage to speak first. “So basically you’re dating a boy you've hated for god-knows how long?”
I blinked, unsure how to answer. The question was nothing like what I’d been expecting. “I never said I hated him, and it was not a date.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You were shy, you touched each other, you felt a connection like no other. It sounds like your dating, not a platonic friends.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but that’s all it is.”
Mum contributed to the conversation by saying “I don’t believe that for one second.”
“Mum!”
“You should invite him round!” Dad said, his eyes alight with joy. It’d been years since I’d become friends with someone new. They liked my friends, although something told me they were all slightly off-put by Caspar’s antics. The joy of seeing a new face seemed to thrill both my parents.
“No!”
“Ooh, you can invite him round this weekend!”
“I can’t actually. I'm cooking at the wedding this weekend, remember?” I smiled smugly, glad I had an excuse for once.
They all looked crestfallen. On that high note, I walked out the room, bathing in my superior feeling. Maybe one day I'd let Tyler come round, but I'd have to teach them all how to behave in a casual manner.
“What about next weekend?” My dad called up the stairs.
“Nope,” I replied, closing my bedroom door behind me.
I decided to check the arrangements for the wedding. The person I had to check with was Tim, who had organised the whole event. I’d helped out at a fair few weddings, and got on well with him once we discovered we were both Waters and had a shared love for song writing. I dialled Tim’s number, unsure if he’d still pick up that late in the evening. Within five rings he picked up. "Hey Troye, what's up?"
"Hi, uhm, are the plans for the wedding still in place?"
"They sure are. You've gotta be there for one, and the cooking will start at half one. The groom reckons it’ll be over at ten. Oh! Before I forget, me and the orchestra were going to practice on Friday. You're more than welcome to come along. We need to write a new filler song anyway. You are going to perform the filler song, right?"
At every wedding I worked at, I would perform one song in order to give the main singer a break. Performing was always my favourite part of the evening. Tim and I generally wrote the songs together. I hadn't told him about my lack of inspiration yet, as I hoped my luck would change.
I was about to say no to writing the song with him, but then I felt it. It was the feeling I had been without for so long, that I'd almost not recognised it: the yearning to write music. I found myself saying "Yeah, I'd be happy to come", making more arrangements and saying my goodbyes.
Tyler had changed something in me that day. A part of me that had been kept restrained in chains was suddenly free. For the first time in months, I found myself wanting to write a song.
I sat down on my window seat, looking out at the darkened street below. I got my notebook out and the words flowed freely.
Glow is low and it's dimming
And the silence is ringing...
A/N
I have some good news to begin with - I no longer have the flu!!! The sass levels have risen and I’ve lived to see another day- whoop whoop!
I’m also currently going through Freak withdrawal so I’m a bit all over the place at the moment.
As you can see, I didn’t manage to write two chapters in a week last week, which I'm very sorry about, so I wrote an extra long chapter sort of as an apology.
I might not be able to write two chapters a week to be honest, but sometimes I might. So far I’ve stuck to a weekly update, and that won’t be changing any time soon. Hopefully that's okay with all of you, as you've been so nice and supportive thus far and I can't thank you enough for that ♡
I forgot to say at the end of last chapter but - I’m so proud of Connor (as are most people) and it saddens me that some are being so negative about it. Let me tell you young whipper-snappers something: he was fabulous before, and he’s fabulous still.
But yes, that’s all for this week, ily, stay fresh mon petit pois
Emma x
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