I Don't Do Sadness // Jyrus

doleful

The plan for the next day was to get picked up by his father in the morning, meet Buffy, Andi and Jonah at the craft fair/art show, and then go home for his three days with his father. Cyrus woke up groggily and feeling sick, but also still wanted to go. It was 9 when he woke up curled up under the covers of his bed wearing just shorts, and his father was picking him up at 10. He knew Jonah was going to be there and kind of wanted to look decent, although he had a feeling that Jonah wouldn't care.

He combed through his hair, still not wanting to style it and found a nice sweater paired with khakis. He found his shoes and slipped out the door before his parents woke up.

They were silent in the car, besides his father asking if he slept well and all that. Cyrus lied, of course, and said he was fine.

When he got dropped off, he easily spotted Buffy and Jonah standing together at the entrance of the fair. They both smiled and waved Cyrus over, and he gave them a half smiled and ignored their greetings. "Where's Andi?" He asked.

Buffy pointed towards the event center where the art show was taking place and said, "In the art show." Jonah coldly added, "With Walker."

"Who's Walker?" Cyrus asked.

Buffy put her hands in her pockets awkwardly. "The caricature artist at your Bar Mitzvah," Jonah replied.

Cyrus felt his body heat up. "He's here?" Buffy and Jonah both had frowns on their faces and nodded their heads.

Cyrus did not want to be meeting a new person, especially not in the state he was in. They all tried to push Andi and Walker out of their minds, especially with it being a sore subject for Jonah and Cyrus couldn't stand to see him sad, especially not after learning about his anxiety.

They wandered around the craft fair, making jokes about everything that they saw. None of them really cared about crafting and art stuff, except for Cyrus, but he wan't showing interest in anything that he used to. They all went for Andi, but she ran off with Walker to see his art display. They finally decided, after all of the bead necklaces and duct tape wallets they were seeing, that they would go into the event center to find Andi. Cyrus was pretty glad, the event center was air conditioned and he was sweating outside.

They found her near Walker's display, doing a painting activity together on a large poster. "Andi!" Buffy yelled to her to get her attention.

Andi turned and saw them, smiling, and said, "Hey guys!"

They all tensed up when Walker turned to them, but Andi didn't notice. "Oh, this is Walker," she said. They hadn't been formally introduced, so she went down the line saying, "This is Buffy, Jonah, and you know Cyrus."

Cyrus cringed when Walker smiled at him and he quickly flashed him a fake smile, putting his arms behind his back, just in case Walker saw what was under his sleeve.

Andi pointed to a drawing Walker did and told them, "Look at what he drew for me!"

It was beautiful: a drawing of her at Cyrus' Bar Mitzvah. Cyrus lost his breath in amazement and looked over at Jonah who seemed to be close to tears. "I'm gonna step out for a minute," Jonah quickly said.

Cyrus watched him leave the building and quickly went to follow him out without dismissing himself. He found Jonah walking away from the craft fair and further into the park. "Jonah!" He yelled. Jonah ignored him and kept walking.

Cyrus quickly ran up to catch him. "Are you okay?" He asked once he reached him.

"I'm fine," Jonah said, continuing to walk briskly away from the fair.

"Are you sure?" Cyrus asked, to which Jonah immediately stopped and turned to ace him, his face bright red.

"Yes, Cyrus, I'm sure. Just leave me alone." He turned to keep walking, but Cyrus grabbed his arm and said to him, "Jonah. I know that you have anxiety, okay? I just want to make sure you're okay."

Jonah paused for a moment, losing his anger as he processed what Cyrus said and came up with his response. He quickly recovered and scrunched his face once again, yelling to Cyrus, "And you cut yourself and get hit by your parents. Don't ask me if I'm okay."

Cyrus stood for a second in shock and dropped Jonah's arm. Jonah looked at him, keeping eye contact, before turning and continuing to walk to nowhere. Cyrus was still in shock but gradually turned away to see Buffy a few feet away with her mouth dropped open.

She had gotten worried about Cyrus running off and didn't want to be hanging around Walker and Andi much longer. And she had quickly walked over to them when the argument broke out. She had barely breathed Cyrus' name when he started crying.

She ran as fast as she could over to him, seeming to be there in a flash and wrapping her arms around his neck. Cyrus cried into her and she silently hummed and told him it was okay while rubbing the back of his head and neck.

When they broke from their hug, Buffy wiped the tears streaming down his face and said into his eyes, "It's okay. Want to talk about it?"

Cyrus nodded and she lead him over to a nearby bench. They sat in silence for a second, Buffy patiently waiting for him to talk with her hand on his leg. He stared into his lap and started to say something but, instead he choked back tears and shook his head.

Buffy ran her hand down his back and started to say, "It's okay," when Cyrus cringed against her touch.

He said, "Ow," and Buffy asked, "What's wrong?"

He looked right into her brown eyes and said, "My step-father whipped me."

Her eyes bugged out and her mouth dropped open with her body filing with anger. "He what?"

Cyrus nodded and started to cry once again. "Because of my progress report," he explained.

Buffy's eyes got wide again and she repeated, "Because of your progress report?"

Cyrus nodded and Buffy sat back on the bench, thinking. "How bad was it?" She asked, to which Cyrus lied and said, "Not that bad."

She leaned forward once again and said to him, "Cyrus Goodman. Do not lie to me."

He looked down at the ground and whispered, "Bad," with tears coming from his eyes.