Lemon Boy and Me - Tyrus Fanfic

Chapter 11: My Parents Are All Therapists, if That Helps

 The scene at Cloud 10 was a mess. Everyone had stopped what they were doing after hearing Buffy's outburst. Bowie jumped down from his footstool while hanging the streamers, Walker moved away from the art table, Cece turned away from answering a question Andi and Libby had about the decorations, causing them to follow, and Marty and Cyrus abandoned the cupcakes to see what was going on. What they saw was the two boys standing in front of the bench, Jonah's face pale, TJ's face half covered by his hand, underneath which a bruise was already forming, and Buffy, who had stepped outside after seeing Jonah hit TJ.

Bex rushed out and stopped beside Buffy. "What happened?"

"That's what I want to know! All I saw was them talking, and all of a sudden, Jonah was standing up and yelling at TJ, and then his and connecting with TJ's face." Buffy explained.

"Okay. I'll see what's up." Bex walked up to the pair at the bench. "Explain." She folded her arms, waiting.

"I hit TJ," Jonah confessed. "He said something awful, and I got so mad, and-" he tried to fight his tears, but it was futile. They poured down his face. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. I didn't really want to hurt him."

TJ faced him angrily. "You didn't want to hurt me? Who did, then? Are you suddenly not Jonah anymore?"

"No," Jonah breathed. "I don't think I am."

TJ threw his hands up in defeat. "Are you kidding me? don't give me that. That's absolute bullshit!"

"TJ!" Bex snapped in a scolding tone in response to his language. He crossed his arms and looked away. She turned to Jonah. "You're not a little kid. You know very well that you don't hit people when you're angry." she said sharply, making Jonah wince.

"I'm sorry." He said to her.

"I'm not the one you hurt." Bex said.

Jonah directed his attention to TJ. "I'm sorry, Teej."

"Don't call me that." TJ's voice was low, and quiet, but they pierced Jonah severely.

"And TJ? Are you going to apologize for what you said?" Bex asked expectantly.

"It wasn't even about him."

Then who was it about?"

"Me."

None of the three at the bench had noticed Cyrus coming closer to them. When he spoke, all eyes were on him. Buffy, Bowie, Andi, Libby, Cece, Marty, and Walker all watched quietly, out of earshot.

"He said it about me. He said I can't do anything right."

Bex's arms uncrossed. She looked at TJ, but he didn't meet her gaze. "You should leave."

He left. And he didn't look back as he did.

Buffy ran up to Cyrus. "We should talk to Jonah."

Cyrus nodded. They sat on the bench beside Jonah. He'd sat down right after TJ left.

"Jonah, why did you do that? I know you were mad at TJ, but I never expected you to hit anyone out of anger."

Jonah shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, yeah, I was mad, but I've never hit anyone like that. I felt so out of control."

"Maybe you should talk to someone about it." Buffy suggested.

"I am. Right now."

"I don't mean us. I mean a professional."

"Like a therapist?" Jonah asked, and Buffy nodded. "No. This has never happened before." 

"That doesn't mean it won't happen again." Cyrus said. "Jonah, this could be a sign. That you're holding in a lot of emotions, or a lot of one emotion, and today, you couldn't handle it anymore, so you lost control."