Dancing With Danger ➵Tyrus (COMPLETE)

3

"That TJ boy is just as dangerous as I originally thought he'd be!" my mom exclaims on Sunday morning, running her hands through her hair in exasperation as she shoves the newspaper in my face. "Cyrus, look at this! He and his little biker gang vandalised the coffee shop you work at! As soon as the school board mentioned somebody out here taking in some kid that had been in juvenile detention, I knew trouble was brewing. To make matters worse, he has a sister that probably has issues, too." I angrily roll my eyes and shoot her a sideways stare. "Mom, you're a psychologist. Surely you can't be this closed-minded about a teenager that's been through hell and back." It's my mom's turn to shoot me a look. "You can't seriously be defending him. During my book club meeting, I heard Mrs. Bagley say that he has a tattoo. He's seventeen and has a tattoo, Cyrus. He's bad news."

I was getting so fed up with my mom and her hateful attitude towards everything and everybody ever since her and my dad started having issues. "Mom," I start with a warning tone in my voice. I try to internally level with myself. "You don't know TJ. He could be an amazing person, and you'd never know because you're so busy judging him by his exterior. Besides, I saw the graffiti on some Instagram post. It looks kind of cool." I wasn't lying, either. TJ and his friends had all signed their name on the coffee shop's exterior brick wall, with a huge skeleton hand flipping the world off framing the center. Classic TJ. My mom looks at me like I've just slapped her in the face, dramatically letting her jaw drop and gasping. "You had better stay away from him, Cyrus. I mean it." I nod my head to satisfy her and head off to work, excited to see my friends again. I didn't see them at all yesterday because I had slept nearly all day after getting back home from my late-night diner excursion.

Work is slow, as usual. A few customers come in and work on last-minute schoolwork or Sunday Bible study, but Andi, Buffy, Marty, Walker, and Jonah make up the majority of our customer base when I'm working. I'm expecting somebody named 'Amber' to come in today for a job interview. It'll be nice to have somebody working the closing shifts, seeing as I work after school during the week and mornings on most weekend days; I was really lucky I didn't have work yesterday. A girl with a blonde ponytail and sparkly lip gloss comes strolling into the store, and I immediately know that it's her. Andi shifts in her seat and sits up a little taller, which makes me chuckle. The girl introduces herself and I invite her to sit at the counter while I fix her a drink, and she carefully sits herself down right next to Andi. Of course, Amber gets the job and I give her the rough outline of what her weekly schedule will look like. When I hand her a pink apron and she gets up to leave, she pauses and bashfully asks Andi for her Instagram. Andi and her exchange usernames, which is when my interest becomes even more piqued. Amber says her username for all of her socials is "AKippenLovesGirls", which of course has Andi even further on the edge of her seat. "Kippen!?" I exclaim. "As in, Amber Kippen?" Amber laughs lightly and nods her head. "You just hired me, but you sound surprised to hear my name!" I guess I didn't look at her resume all that closely, because her last name definitely catches me off guard. "Uh, yeah, I just let it escape me," I lie, giving Amber a wary smile. Amber shrugs and her smile never falters as she turns to leave the coffee shop again. Andi watches Amber leave, sighing with content, and Buffy's face looks drained. She definitely recognizes the last name, too.

On Monday morning, TJ is back to overly-gelled hair and his nails have a fresh coat of black paint. "Muffin," he says with a nod when he sits down next to me, which instantly wakes me up. "Did-did you just call me 'muffin'?" I ask carefully, not sure if he was going to get defensive on me or not. "Actually, I was referring to the chocolate muffin that I brought you from the diner," he replies as he places a plastic-wrapped muffin on my desk. Is it too soon to marry someone you've known for a week? "I noticed you got one the other night and the evidence of your enjoyment of it was all over your face...literally." he continues with a chuckle. My face feels hot and I sink a little lower in my seat, nodding my head and thanking him. "However," TJ starts again. "I think 'muffin' is a pretty cute nickname for you. So maybe that could be our thing." I try to respond with a coherent sentence but my voice cracks and all I can really get out is "uh...huh" before TJ's dissolved in Ms. Medlock's lecture.