I was wondering if you and me could spend a minute
On the floor up and close getting lost in it
I won't give up without a fight
Dance With Me Tonight ~ Olly Murs
Tyler
All evening I had Troye on my mind.
Whenever I went to the kitchen to pick up more food, we would speak to one another. Once we parted ways, and I served people, I mentally noted things that I would tell Troye when I next saw him.
“Did you know the groom changed his surname to Sings?” I said one time.
“Wait really?”
“Yep. Apparently it's because she can’t say his surname properly.”
“I didn't think Graceffa was that hard to pronounce… Although, thinking about it, she basically can’t pronounce anything normally, so it’s not that surprising. What were Joe and Caspar talking about when you went over there?”
“Baby names.”
“That's it. There is no way they’re “just friends”,” Troye said, pursing his lips.
I tried to ignore the fact that we always said we were “just friends”, even though we behaved in a similar manner to them.
Sticking to his word, he occasionally gave me food, when no one was looking. It ranged from hazelnut chocolate cake to tortilla chips with hummus. When my hands were full he'd put it my mouth, in a somewhat seductive manner.
When I was serving Zoe more champagne, she was smiling mischievously. "You know, feeding each other food is very couple-y."
"No it's not," I said.
"Sure it is. Look over there," Zoe was pointing at Miranda who was eating seeds out of her husband Joey's hand. It was going everywhere, some even joining the twigs and leaves in her hair. Some must have got stuck up her nose because she started picking at it. It was nothing short of gross.
"Please tell me we didn't look like that."
"Nah, you two are far cuter."
"Tyler, can you come over here a moment?" I glanced around, to see the head waiter, named Jenna, waving me over. I hurried over to her, without saying goodbye to Zoe.
“Yes ma’am?”
“You need to act more professional. Going round with hummus on your chin and talking loudly is no the way to go. Waiters are meant to blend in, not stand out, and at the moment, you’re not doing that very well. You are working, not socialising. Understand?”
I wanted to argue with her, but I managed to restrain myself. I wasn't keen on making a scene. “Yes ma’am,” was all I said, then wiped my chin.
With a small nod, she left me alone. I walked back towards the kitchens in order to supply more drinks. I knew my feet were dragging on the floor slightly, so I mentally slapped myself. I could still have a nice time despite her words. I knew I’d still talk to my friends, but I’d have to be more subtle about it.
I knew that being subtle was impossible for me to do.
I walked around, offering drinks. Everyone was smiling, enjoying thr wedding, until the music stopped abruptly.
Miranda Sings was stomping towards the stage. Her lips were turned down in distaste. She practically spat at the female singer on stage. "Why I am I not singing? I am a singer, so I should sing."
"Honey, we both agreed to have the orchestra,” Joey said, approaching her slowly, as if she was a wild animal.
"Yeah, and I agreed that I was going to sing.”
"You can't really sing though..." the female singer said. Her eyes widened when it dawned on her that she'd spoken aloud.
"Uh, yeah right. I am the best. I give voice lessons. You are not singing again. Tell her Joey."
He scratched his neck. "I mean..."
"Are you kidding me right now?"
There was a sudden rush of movement. Female screeches and the sound of objects falling. The bride was assisted outside by the grooms-men in an instant. The singer fell to the ground as other orchestra members consoled her. Some were murmuring to one another, before Tim ran off the stage. A few other members walked the singer out the room, in the opposite direction to the bride. Slowly, a soft instrumental song began to play. People started moving again. Nervousness written on everyone’s faces. Who knew who the bride would lash out at next?
The next time I walked through the archway to the kitchens, Troye was speaking to Tim, looking nervous.
"It'll be fine, don't worry. The new song's a goodun. I'll go get a tie. You better take off the cooking jacket." Tim sprinted out the kitchen, not even acknowledging my presence.
"What's going on?" I asked Troye, who looked more anxious than I've ever seen.
He fiddled with the buttons of the jacket, shaking ever so slightly. "I have to go sing on stage."
"Really?"
"Yeah. The issue is that I don't normally sing until the end, when no one's paying attention. But with all the drama that's just gone on, a lot of them will be people watching. I get nervous when I know people I don't know are listening. Plus, Tim wants to perform a song we haven't actually done before. What if I make a fool of myself and mess it up?"
"I don't think you're capable of doing that. I've heard you sing. You have a beautiful voice, and everyone in there would be privileged to hear it."
His eyes softened, and his head tilted to the side slightly. A moment later Tim rushed over. He was holding a sad whale grey tie. "Here's the tie. You've got five minutes, okay?"
Troye nodded, looking at the tie in confusion. He rubbed the material between his fingertips, still seeming unsure of what he was meant to do.
"Do you not know how to put on a tie?" He shook his head. I laughed. It must've been one of the only things he couldn't do.
He glared at me, clearly not amused by the situation. "Don't laugh. Are you going to help me or not?"
I took the tie out his hand and proceeded to put it round his neck. I could feel the heat of his skin. It took all my willpower not to touch his neck. I tried to divert my thoughts with a new conversation. "What are you going to sing?"
"One I wrote with Tim. It's meant to be a filler song, to give the main singer a break. I'm worried that someone in there will be rude about it. I mean, I like constructive criticism, but Miranda seems to only give criticism."
"Ignore her then. Ignore all of them. Just focus on one thing, something that calms you, and it'll be okay."
He just nodded. Once I finished with the tie, I helped him with his vocal warm-up. We stood there making bizarre noises until the five minutes were up. He rushed out the archway. Then his head popped back through “Aren't you coming?”
“I thought you wouldn't want me to-”
“Tyler, you said I have focus on something that calms me down, and you’re the only person in this place that can calm me down. If you’re not in the main room I swear-”
“Alright alright, I'm coming already.” I walked over to him, fighting the grin that threatened to break out onto my face. He turned round, checking that I was actually coming, and then walked onto the small stage.
“Is that Troye?”
"I thought that lad was one of the caterers."
“What’s he doing?”
Troye nodded his head at one of the musicians. Everyone quitened down, and the song began.
"Glow is low and it's dimming
And the silence is ringing
And I can almost feel your breath
I can almost feel the rest
Night is young and we're living
Hands move, moving steady
And the time is moving slower
I can feel we're getting closer
Closer
Standing in the eye of the storm
My eyes start to roam
To the curl of your lips
In the centre of eclipse
In total darkness I, I reach out and touch
My mind's gone a racing
On a horse that's escaping
And I'm ready to jump
Yeah, I'm ready to swim
Life is chances that are taken
But nothing's ever broken
They're just pieces on the ground
New hands need to build them
My mind's gone a running
My hands cut loose
Yeah but there's no need for answers
Just the things you gotta do
And I need you to trust
That I'm lost and we must
Get past all these rules
We must choose
To reach out and touch
Standing in the eye of the storm
My eyes start to roam
To the curl of your lips
In the centre of eclipse
In total darkness I reach out and
Standing in the eye of the storm
My eyes start to roam
To the curl of your lips
In the centre of eclipse
In total darkness I reach, I reach out and touch"
Troye had his eyes closed for parts of the song, but whenever they were open, they were on me. It felt like he singing to me, as if it was me he wanted to... touch. I had to push that thought away, before my heart exploded.
When the piece finished he opened his eyes, and for the first time acknowledged the other people in the room. He became timid and walked off the stage. I was grinning widely as he did so, whilst everyone else applauded him.
That is, everyone except Miranda. She was obviously envious. Being told she couldn't sing and then have a teenage boy perform was bound to annoy someone - she just took it to a whole other level. In a loud voice she criticised the piece in every way possible.
Fortunately Troye didn't take it to heart. He was still walking with a spring in his step as he headed towards me. He didn't notice Zoe, Joe and Caspar until they cut him off. He looked alarmed and slightly miffed, yet he was still smiling. They were all speaking very fast, but I was too far away to make out the words. I ambled towards them. Troye was on his tiptoes, trying to see round the three in front of him. I caught his eyes, and he stopped searching, his eyes softening once again.
Sensing Troye's distraction, the three spun round. When they saw me, they made way for me to get to Troye. I sped up, wanting nothing more than to get to him. When I did finally reach him, I put my arms around him and pulled into a tight hug. I tried to do it in most platonic way possible, which is hard when you have a crush on the guy you're hugging.
"You were amazing up there. That song was hella powerful. It was all so... I don't have the words to say how good that was."
"Actions speak louder than words," he almost whispered, his mouth close to my ear. I shivered involuntarily as his hot breath brushed against my skin.
I unwrapped my arms, knowing the hug had gone on too long, and I didn't want him to feel awkward. "Well then I hope that hug was the greatest hug you've had in your life so far, because that was the greatest performance I've seen in my life so far."
He smiled down at me. "Thanks Ty."
“I didn't know you were that sensual Troye.” Caspar spoke up. Troye's cheeks grew rosy straightaway.
"It wasn't that sensual... was it?"
"Did you not hear the words? Miranda was not impressed by the lyrics because of the sexy implications. She didn't seem that impressed by any of it.
"To be fair, Miranda's a bitchy bride."
"I think she's just bitchy overall."
"Keep your voices down, she might hear." We all swivelled our heads round. She was looking in our direction, but she wasn't frowning. She had an awkward smile on her lips. It was making me feel increasingly uncomfortable the longer I looked.
“Who’s the song about?” Joe asked once we'd all turned away from the bride.
Before he had the chance to answer, I put my arm around Troye. “Me, obviously.” He swatted me away, his cheeks even more aflame. What caught my attention was the fact that he didn't say no. "Wait was it?"
"Shut up."
"Was it when we went training in the park? We sure did reach out and touch each other then."
"What?" Zoe, Joe and Caspar all said at once.
"Shut up shut up shut up."
“I guess the glow was low, and it was dimming-”
"Alright stop now."
"Why?" He shook his head in dismay, and clammed up completely. He looked down at the ground and walked away. "Troye!" I called after him, to no avail. He disappeared within the crowds of people in a matter of seconds. Even though he was out of sight, he definitely wasn't out of mind. I turned to the others, who didn't seem to understand what had just happened.“I've gone too far, haven’t I?”
“Go after him,” Zoe urged me, seemingly surprised I hadn't gone already.
“No, that'll annoy him more. He needs to cool down.”
“Tyler, if you don’t go over to him right now, I'm going to hit you so hard it’ll make your ancestors dizzy.” Her face had turned bright red. Earth's rarely got mad. They were the usually calm ones. I hadn't seen her that mad since she missed an episode of My Little Pony.
“Jesus Christ, chill Zo!”
“GO!” She shouted.
I ran away instantly, not wanting to anger the girl any more. I pushed through the crowds, waiting to catch sight of the oh-so-familiar blue eyes I’d come to love. I didn't. I went to the kitchen, but he wasn't there either. I was passed another tray of drinks and sent back out to the main room. I continued looking through the crowds, still not seeing the cute Aussie. I headed towards the tables, knowing I had to serve people. I wished upon my lucky stars that he’d be over there.
For some reason, fate was listening to me. Sat away from the main group of people was Troye. He seemed dazed out, preoccupied with other thoughts. I put the tray down on the table and sat down on the chair next to him. I didn't speak right away. It reminded me of the time at the river, when I’d gone to find him, in order to apologise, but ended up hurting him more. I was determined for that not to be the case this time. Everything had changed between us since then.
"I'm sorry about going on earlier. I should've stopped when you hit me."
He let out a long breath. "It's fine, I was overreacting anyway. I was worried that... never mind. It doesn't matter any more."
"If it's bothering you, it does matter."
He still looked reluctant to speak, but eventually he did. "I was worried they'd start saying we were together."
"Is that such a bad thing?" I said with a weak laugh, trying not to let the hurt seep into my voice.
Obviously I failed, because he looked at me then, regret in his eyes. He spoke quickly, wanting to assure me he didn't feel that way. "No, not at all. It's just... if they did questioned me, I might have to say something to them that I'm not ready to say to you yet."
Everything froze. My heart seemed to stop beating for a moment. I felt my jaw go slack. Did he just-
"Is it just me or are they playing Don't Wait?" Troye said, distracting me from the words he said a moment before.
There was no longer a singer on stage. The orchestra were just playing pieces as instrumentals. The melody did sound awfully familiar, even without words. "No, I think they are."
Troye stood up abruptly. I opened my mouth to ask where he was going, but he spun round and held his hand out to me. “Tyler Destruction Oakley, will you take this dance?”
“I'm meant to be working-”
“I'm not taking no for an answer. Besides, I did promised you one earlier.”
“I guess I can’t break a promise,” I said with a sigh. He rolled his eyes as I put my hand in his.
He pulled me off my seat and towards the floor, where a few people were gathered already. He turned to me, smiling so brightly my heartbeat sped up. Taking the lead, he put his hand on my waist. I knew it meant I was taking the ‘female’ role, but didn't question it, placing my hand on his shoulder. Seeing as I could barely dance, arguing would be pointless. There was also the fact I liked the dominant side of Troye.
We moved in sync, dancing round the room. More seemed to join as we danced. The music got louder and it became easier to move to.
“Tyler, the smoke,” Troye said, stopping suddenly. I looked at our hands, seeing lavender smoke rising from them.
“Just ignore it,” I said, moving us once more.
“What if someone sees?” Troye hissed, unwilling to follow my lead.
“Let them. I want to dance with you, and no amount of purple smoke is gonna stop me. You promised, after all.”
He was silent for a moment, mulling over my words. “Stubborn Fire,” he said, with an affectionate smile on his lips. I gave him a nod of agreement before we began to dance again. I was faintly aware of Zoe pointing at us, but I was in no state to care. My mind grew hazy with happiness as the dancing continued. I twirled under his arm, laughing wholeheartedly. I caught the musky scent of his cologne, oddly putting me at ease.
When he stopped spinning me, we ended up closer than before. My hands were round his neck, and his on my waist. The piece ended and another song began. Neither of us tried to break apart though. If anything, it brought us closer together. We moved even slower, focused entirely on one another.
“You know, the next time you dye your hair, you should dye it that shade,” He nodded his head towards the smoke. I noticed his voice was distant, as if he wasn't thinking about that all. I wondered what was occupying his mind, but wasn't intrusive enough to ask.
“Lavender? You think I’d be able to pull that off?”
“You could pull anything off.”
“Including your clothes?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Instead of telling me shush, he winked. I felt my cheeks redden, as they always did when I was around him. He let out a low chuckle, bringing me closer to his chest. We continued to sway to the music, oblivious to the world around us. I brought my right hand to lay on his chest. His heart was beating in time with mine. The music faded out as the rhythm of our hearts filled my ears.
I glanced up at his face. His pupils were larger than normal. He wasn't looking into my eyes for once. He was staring at my mouth. My eyes rolled along the curve of his rose petal lips, seeming to be the centre of everything in that moment. His head seemed to lower, towards me. I felt myself rise upwards to meet him.
“Tyler Oakley! You’re meant to be working!” I was jolted out the moment, out of Troye’s arm, to be in eye contact with Jenna.
She was positively fuming, striding towards me.
I looked up at a flustered Troye, and smiled sheepishly. “That’s my cue to leave.”
He didn't smile back, for once. He looked disgruntled, and, if I wasn't mistake, disappointed. Grudgingly he moved out the way as Jenna came forward and dragged me away.
“I thought I told you to be more professional. Was I not clear when I said you weren't meant to socialise?”
“It was only for a moment-”
“You've been dancing for the last fifteen minutes!”
How time flies when you’re having fun.
She shoved the tray into my hands. I almost dropped it, but managed to get a grip before it fell. Jenna was still unimpressed, but said no more. I began to serve once more, staying well away from Jenna and my friends. Joe may have been making wild hand gestures, but I didn't want to get shouted at again.
“Mmm meat,” a voice said from behind me. I jumped, and spun round. Miranda was there, giving me the most horrible smile. She reached for the tray to grab one of the items on it. Once she ate it, she gave me a crooked smile. “Tastes really good.”
"Okay?" I said shakily. She was giving me the creeps. I wanted nothing more than to run to safety - preferably the safety of Troye's arms.
“Miranda, what’s going on?” Joey was edging towards us, casting weird looks at both of us.
“What?” Miranda asked, her mouth filled with food.
“The poor boy looks like he’s about to do a runner,” Joey said with a laugh.
Miranda didn't hear the humour in his voice. She spat out the food and glared at me. “What! Why? Are you are hater?”
“No no-”
“Is anything the matter over here?” Jenna said, a fake smile on her lips. Then she saw me, and her eyes narrowed. “What did you do?”
“Nothing! She just surprised me, that’s all-”
“HATER!” She shouted, so loudly that many more people turned round.
“No I'm not a-”
“HATER!”
“I'M NOT A HATER!”
Miranda’s face stopped burning red. Tears filled her eyes. “That’s it. I'm getting my uncle!” She stomped off, pushing over chairs and people in the process.
“Uncle? Why uncle?” people murmured around me. I was too wound up to wonder why she’d chosen to get her uncle of all people.
A tentative hand touched my shoulder. I turned to see the groom, looking gravely at me. “I think I’d get going if I was you,” Joey said.
“I didn't mean to-”
“It’s okay I know. Miranda just gets a little crazy sometimes. Her uncles crazier though.”
Somehow I didn't doubt that. I couldn't get over how quickly her mood changed. How she found a husband I didn't know. What I did know was that they were nothing alike.
Deciding he was probably right, I headed for the exit. I wanted to say goodbye to my friends - especially Troye - but I knew I couldn't risk it. Already I could hear Miranda screaming her issues to someone nearby. It wouldn't be long till the uncle of hers heard and came to hunt me down. If he did, I didn't want my friends to be in the firing line.
The sky was darkening outside. A coldness swept through the air, already nipping me despite the fact I wasn't out the building yet.
All of a sudden there was a bright light. I stopped moving. I turned round, just to be blinded. I shielded my eyes. Black silhouettes poured out of light, trying to get away. The light itself was not white - it was electric blue - lightning. Then it disappeared. Thunder roared up ahead.
Caspar was in the centre of all the chaos. He looked more dishevelled than normal. His hair was singed black. Joe was clinging to his side. Both had wide eyes.
“I-I-I didn't know that was going to happen. I couldn't control my emotions for a moment.”
Troye emerged from the throng of people against the wall. He was pissed. “Oh for f-”
No more could be heard.
The building was on fire.
A/N
It is 1:20am but I feel the need to post this now so heyo
THIS STORY PASSED 1K WHAT EVEN IS LIFE I JUST EHJHFHIOEGHEHG
That’s all I have to say, until next time mon petit bonhomme de neige
Ily,
Emma x
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