The blue haired boy cheeks which were a light pink from the biting cold settled into a deeper shade as the warmth seeped the warmth of the coffee house set in. His curious blue-green eyes fixated on his and somehow he could not look away. There was a nagging feeling about them - a feeling that you get when you think you've forgotten to turn the lights out in a house you locked miles away. Those eyes seemed to know something about him; it was boring down into his very soul. Somewhere deep in the unspoken gaze they made a connection. Troye forced himself to tear his eyes away and look at the ground as the other boy turned towards the counter. He couldn't help at him even though he had his back turned towards him. The boy shifted his weight on his feet as if he could feel Troye's gaze on his shoulders. Once he got his order he turned around to face him. Troye was suddenly overcome with a strong sense of embarrassment when he realized he was staring unashamed at the stranger in front of him. He attempted to smile but it came closer to a grimace. Then the blue haired boy smiled back and started walking towards him.

Troye's heart was hammering on his chest with impending dread with every step brought the boy closer and closer. He felt himself shrinking farther and farther into his seat and wished for the large leather couch to swallow him whole. He had never acted so boldly before,what was wrong with him? The boy was now standing opposite him, looking apprehensive at best. Troye willed his tongue to move.

"Hi." He croaked out.

He mentally slapped himself hearing his own voice. Troye cleared his throat and sat up. "Hi." He said, thankfully more coherent this time round. What was he supposed to say? "I'm sorry for staring, you looked familiar." He mumbled lamely, his gaze gradually dropping to the floor.

"That's quite alright; I guess I was staring too. But we don't know each other, do we?" The boy promptly replied. His voice was confident and perky, just hearing him sent a ray of light in his otherwise gray world. Troye felt the heat rise on his face seeing that the boy was still standing, as if waiting for an invitation.

"This is crazy, this should not be happening!" Troye thought as he quickly made an awkward gesture with his hand pointing to the seat opposite him. "Please uh… sit?" Troye said, afraid to look up with embarrassment. He couldn't remember if he had seen him before. "I don't think we do." He said still staring at the floor as he saw the other boy take the seat from the corner of his eye.

Troye wanted to disappear. He hadn't spoken to anyone since the incident. It felt extremely strange that his first conversation would be with a stranger, an attractive stranger, but a stranger nonetheless. "No, no… no." The boy began, pulling Troye away from his thoughts. The boy was now comfortably seated, leaning back and tapping his finger on his lip. He was looking away, looking contemplative. "I'm sure I've seen you somewhere. Did you attend Graham High by any chance?" He asked looking at Troye. The boy spat out the school's name as if the very fact that he had to say it left a bad taste in his mouth. But the mention of his school brought a sense of warmth in Troye's heart; he wished he could go back and live in the time forever. He smiled fondly and replied, "Yes, yes I did."

Troye was about to add something when he was interrupted, "Well that makes sense then, I was there too. But I don't think you'll remember me." The boy said waving his hands as if to dismiss the topic altogether. "I'm Tyler by the way – Tyler Oakley" he said extending his hand across the table. Troye looked at the hand as if it was smeared in paint. The boy – no, Tyler started withdrawing his hand, taking in his expression. Troye mentally smacked himself again and quickly extended his hand almost grabbing Tyler's wrist "I'm Troye, Troye Sivan" he said lightly shaking his hand.

He saw Tyler's face fill with relief as he cracked a smile. Tyler's smile was wide, it crinkled his eyes and lightened up his entire face, Troye couldn't help but smile himself. The first genuine smile he'd smiled in over a month.

Troye was still holding Tyler's hand; he pulled away and coughed into his hand. Tyler pulled away and rested back on his chair. "So are you in Uni?" He asked as he sipped his coffee. "Yep, NCSU." said Troye, sipping his own coffee and immediately regretting it because it had gone cold. He forced himself to swallow the cold liquid before with a shudder, "What about you?" he asked. The handshake seemed to have done away with the worst of the awkwardness in the room. "Oh, I'm done with all of that. I'm a journalist for the New York Times." said Tyler. Troye must have looked confused because Tyler soon added "I'm only here for about a week, I came here for a friend's wedding."

Troye couldn't help but feel a slight sense of disappointment from creeping into his heart, some absurd part of him had thought that they could have been friends. "Cool." He said, not trusting himself to say anything else. "I have to write a paper which is due next week…" said Troye looking at his laptop. Just then the bell chimed again, Troye looked up to see that four men had walked into the coffee shop.

Troye immediately recognized them; they were in the school football team, a couple of years senior to him. Tyler followed Troye's gaze and Troye could tell that he recognized them as well. His body turned rigid as he slowly turned around, the smile was wiped away from his rapidly paling face. "I have to go." He said his voice uncharacteristically low and soft. He fumbled with his bag and hurriedly managed to take out a few dollars.

"Wait. Why?" Troye asked desperation etching his voice. "I just have to, I'm sorry. Maybe I'll see you around." He attempted to smile. Before Troye could even react, Tyler was off his seat and taking long quick strides towards the door. All Troye could do was watch. One of the four men turned around and noticed Tyler. "Hey!" he said elbowing one of his friends; "Isn't that Oakley?" All of them turned around. A wicked and menacing smile appeared on all their faces when recognition dawned on them. "Hey faggot!" One of them called out, Troye's stomach fell. "We thought we'd never see you again!" "Why did you leave us?" "We missed you oh so much" they all taunted. Tyler ran out of the coffee shop, head ducked, the men broke into laughter. Troye watched in dread and disbelief as the beautiful boy ran away with tears streaming down his eyes.

Without a second thought, he slammed his laptop, slung his bag and ran after him.