Dye | Tyrus/Ambi

Part 15: Haven't Told Them

TJ's POV

Cyrus smiles at me as he walks up to meet me outside the diner. As soon as I see him, I'm speechless. He chose a nice, pale blue, button-up shirt to wear tonight, while I just came in a hoodie and jeans. The wind blows his hair around, which he reaches up to fix back into place, but, even if he hadn't fixed it, it'd still be perfect. God, everything about him is perfect. 

"TJ?" he says, snapping me out of my stare. 

"Sorry," I say. "Um, you look good."

He smiles his usual cute smile, and I feel my pulse kick into high gear. I turn around to reach for the door to the diner, gesturing for him to go in first. 

"After you," I say. 

He graciously accept the offer and steps inside, starting down the stairs to get down into the diner. 

"I've never been here before," Cyrus tells me. 

"Really?" I respond. "I come here all the time with my friends. You'll like it. At least, I think you will."

He flashes me a grin over his shoulder before continuing down the stairs. At the bottom, the full diner comes into view. Tables and booths fill the space in the front, surrounded by walls covered in retro posters of old musicians and vintage Coca-Cola ads. At the back, two pools tables stand, one being used, while a couple of dart boards are hidden on the backside of the wall that sticks out a little to divide the front of the diner from the back. A red counter separates the customers from the kitchen, but the sound of pots clashing and knives chopping rings among the sound of chatter from the busy room. 

"I always go to The Spoon to eat," Cyrus says. 

"I used to go there a lot," I say, "but then my sister started working there, and now we basically eat nothing but baby taters every night, because she brings them home all the time, so I like having a change."

"Your sister works at The Spoon? What's her name?"

"Amber."

"Wait," he says, piecing something together in his head. "Does she know a girl named Andi?"

Cyrus knows my sister's crush? 

"Yeah," I reply. "You know Andi?"

"She's my best friend," he explains. "Wow."

"Yeah, wow," I agree. 

Then he turns his attention to the tables around the diner.

"Where do you want to sit?" I ask him. 

I follow Cyrus over to a booth on the other side of the restaurant. He scoots into the seat across from me and immediately opens up his menu. I watch as his eyes scan the pages.

"See anything you like?" I ask. 

He peeks up at me over his menu with a grin. His nod makes my face heat up as I realize what he means, and he lets out a giggle. 

"What about you?" He asks back. "Anything you like?"

"Yeah, I think I found something," I reply.

He smiles and lowers his eyes back down to his menu, but, on the way, he catches sight of something behind me.

"There's a pool table?" he exclaims. 

"Yeah," I respond. "Do you want to play?"

"I would, but I don't know how," Cyrus replies. 

"Me neither," I say. "Wanna learn together?"

He grins and practically jumps out of his seat, grabbing me by the hand as he bolts toward the back of the diner, pulling me along behind him. When we get to the pool table, Cyrus immediately picks up a cue, and I take away the plastic triangle from the set of balls in the centre of the table that someone had left there. After sitting the triangle aside, I step around to where Cyrus is standing and place the white ball down in front of him. 

"Which one am I supposed to aim for?" Cyrus asks. 

"No clue," I respond. 

Cyrus laughs a little and raises the cue anyway. I wrap my arms around him to shadow his hold on the cue as he lines it up with the ball. 

Cyrus glances up at me with a smile, saying, "I appreciate the help playing pool from a guy who knows nothing about playing pool."

"I'm moral support," I say. 

He grins and turns his focus back to aiming the cue. Our arms move together to take the shot, knocking three balls into separate pockets. 

"Niceberg!" I exclaim. 

Cyrus chuckles, saying, "TJ, you don't know if that shot was good or not."

I shrug. "You did it, so it must be good."

"Inaccurate," he responds, "but still sweet."

He brings his hand up to my shoulder, and I put mine on his waist as he steps in to kiss me. It feels so normal already, like we were made to be together. His other hand comes up to touch the back of my neck, pulling me in deeper, and I manage to forget where we are until he drops back down from his tip toes, our lips parting. 

My eyes stay with his for a moment, but they're pulled away when I notice some familiar shapes in the corner of my vision. I look over to see Reed, Lester, Ross, and Daniel all descending the stairs into the diner. Instantly my body goes into flight mode, and I pull Cyrus' hand to bring him and I behind the wall by the dartboards to avoid being spotted. 

"What's wrong?" he questions. 

"Uh, let's play darts," I respond, trying my hardest to redirect his attention. 

I only lean over for a second to check to make sure my friends didn't see me, but it's long enough for Cyrus to notice and follow my gaze. 

"Oh," he says as he turns back to me. "You still haven't told them yet."

I nod, hating the way his smile has dissolved away. 

"Could I take you somewhere else?" I ask. 

"You don't want them to see you with me," he says as though reading my mind. He takes my silence as confirmation, saying, "Yeah. Um, I'll leave first to make it easier."

He steps away, doing a poor job at hiding the disappointment on his face. It burns to know I did that, and I just wish I could make it better somehow. 

"Cyrus—"

"It's okay," Cyrus cuts me off. "I'll meet you outside."

He turns and walks away, leaving me feeling unfinished. I feel like there's more I need to say, but I don't know what that is. My head seems to be pulling me in two different directions. One side, the logical side, tells me to let him go, because if my friends see me with him, they'll know I'm gay and that I like this boy, and they'll see me differently—everyone will. And I'm not sure if I'm ready for that. But the other side of my brain, the one that seems to have a close bond with my heart, begs me to run after Cyrus, to kiss him and announce to everyone here that I want to be his boyfriend, and that nothing else in the world matters if he's not with me. 

But that would be reckless, so instead I hold my breath as he slips out of sight, and I try to keep my feet from pulling me back to him.

A/N: Sorry this is short. I likely won't update tomorrow, because my friend has a poetry thing, and I'm going to go to support them. Thanks for reading! I really wish I could have a beaver tail right now. I think I'll get one after work on Saturday. Uh, yeah. BTW, a beaver tail is a pastry, not meat. I'm a vegetarian, because I WANT TO SAVE THIS PLANET and also the animals, because the animals are my friends, and i don't eat my friends. Yeah, so bye!