Against All Odds | Tyrus

20. Disapproval

❝He was strong enough to make the tough calls. He was strong enough to not look back, even though TJ was crying out his name behind him.❞

━━━━━━━━━▼━━━━━━━━━

TJ approached Cyrus multiple times, but Cyrus would only say he needed to get to class. If TJ accidentally made eye contact with him, Cyrus turned around and walked the opposite direction. It was driving TJ mad, and he only had himself to blame. He kicked his locker out of frustration, causing nearby students to look over in shock. At lunch, he sat down with Buffy and Andi. They both looked at him in appraisal.

“I'm surprised,” Buffy mused. “I didn't think you'd want to sit with us if Cyrus wasn't here.”

“He's not coming?” TJ asked.

“He said he had a Spanish club meeting. Didn't he tell you?” Andi raised her brow.

TJ shook his head, causing Buffy to sigh, “Of course, he didn't. No wonder you sat with us.”

“Do you know which room his club meeting's in?” TJ leaned forward, clasping his hands together.

Andi shook her head, “We didn't think to ask.”

Buffy stared at TJ, a look of concern flashing across her face. “Why? Did something happen?”

“Yeah, and I wanted to talk to him,” he answered. He didn't want to lie, but he didn't want to open up about what happened either.

“About...?”

“Stuff. It's personal.”

Andi spoke softly, “Can you... tell us?”

“Technically, yeah. I don't know if I'm comfortable going into detail though.”

“Just the basics?”

TJ sighed, his body shrinking as he exhaled. He needed to get these feelings off his chest, but not like this. The thought of coming out to people — who at best only tolerated him — was horrifying. It made him queasy, like a tsunami of acid inside his stomach.

“I like Cyrus,” he admitted.

Buffy snorted, “Uh, yeah, we know that.”

“Wait a minute,” Andi widened her eyes. “I didn't know that!”

“How could you not? He was so obvious!”

“Yeah, I didn't really hide it well,” TJ agreed sheepishly.

“I mean, you didn't, but when I asked you about it in The Spoon, I was just messing around. I wasn't actually sure if you liked him or not.”

“Well, I do,” he let out an exasperated breath before resting his head on the table. “And it's killing me.”

“You should tell him,” Andi urged. “I think it'd be good for the both of you.”

TJ simply groaned, abruptly standing up from his seat. He wasn't ready to tell them about yesterday. Without another word, he left the cafeteria to find Cyrus.

• • •

TJ's search for Cyrus was unsuccessful. School was now over, and he was left disheartened. Cyrus was surprisingly good at hiding.

When TJ got home, he felt his shoulders relax. He saw his mother, curled up, reading a book. Her advice was always welcome and seemingly accurate, so he decided to go to her. TJ sat next to his mother on the sofa.