More Than Survive; Tyrus/Ambi

Chapter 8

Cyrus

I walk through the door of the Spoon, hearing the familiar jingle of the bell and pleasant chatter, only to catch the sight of Monika giving Amber a quick peck on the lips. Amber then looks down but Monika laughs and takes her hand and Amber gives her a tight smile.

I guess you deserve a recap of the last two weeks.

Amber and Monika are officially going out, which is great and all except now Andi is miserable and barely hangs out with us anymore. Buffy is shamelessly flirting with Marty but they're not official just yet. This just means I don't have a lot of friends anymore.

Me and TJ are really strained, we still technically live with each other, but he has been looking at me weirdly, like one time in class we were working together and I felt him staring at me, but he blushed and quickly looked away.

"Oh Cyrus that means he likes you! " You say. Well person you're wrong, because then there's Veronica.

Veronica who apparently looks a lot like me, who is cute and flirtatious and smart. The one who has TJ wrapped around her finger. Yay, just what I wanted.

Walker and Jonah are sitting in a booth in a corner on the same side with their arms wrapped around each other being cute. I don't want to ruin their moment so instead I go to the counter to order something.

"Cyrus, just the guy I wanted to see." Amber says happily, but her smile isn't in it.

"What's wrong?" I ask her, as she pulls out her writing pad. Amber looks up at me, "What do you mean? I feel fine." She blurts.

"Clearly you're not Amber, what is it?" I say looking her in the eye. Amber huffs and blows a strand of her blonde hair out of her dark eyes, the same colour as her uniform.

"It's just Monika." She says finally sitting down next to me and rests her head on her hand.

I tense up. "Did she do anything to you?"

Amber glances up at me with a shocked face. "No, no Cyrus nothing like that, it's just.... I don't know, she's kind of clingy? Like I understand she likes to see me, that's what couples are like." She points to Wonah in the corner enjoying the same milkshake. "It's just she can't go two seconds without me, again really cute. But it's like she won't let me talk to anyone else in work or school."

I take her hand. "Amber those are some red flags of a possessive relationship." But Amber shakes her head. "I think... I think I just need to step away from this environment for a second. I just don't know where I could go." She sighs again.

"I'll let you know when I can find somewhere Ambs." I half joke, although a vacation sounds nice.

"Thanks, I better get back to work. I see you later Cy guy." Amber waves.

The door jingles again and in steps TJ Kippen.

My immediate instinct is to walk away, which is exactly what I'm doing. I don't know where my legs will take me, but any where from here is good.

"Hey Cyrus wait!" TJ calls after me, I don't stop, but I do slow down.

"Yo Cyrus." TJ calls again and I turn to face him. "What do you want TJ?" I cross my arms.

He looks taken back, but then grimaces and looks down. "Yeah I probably deserve that."

I soften up a little at the sound of that. "I-I came to apologies Cy, I'm sorry for all that happened. I was a jerk for saying it wasn't Reed, I'll help you for real now. I just- I don't know if I can fully be there for you." His voice cracks.

"What do you mean?" I ask him.

TJ clenches his fist. "Veronica doesn't think I should hang out with you. She knows something I don't apparently. I just. I'm sorry."

There's silence for a second.

"That's It?!" I exclaim. "That's freaking it?! You're just going to leave me for this girl you're dating? What did I even do!?"

"Veronica is complicated Cy." TJ says with his face down. "That's not an excuse TJ." I say firmly.

I put my hand on his should and he looks up. "Hey, Veronica might be right about a lot of things, but our we shouldn't stop hanging out just because of her."

TJ looks at me for a second, his face inches away from mine, then he hugs me for the quickest second. Before looking away, his cheeks brushed with a light pink, my heart needs to calm down.

"Thanks Cy, I'll talk to her later, want to watch a movie tonight?" He asks with a grin. "Of course Teej." I reply.

-

-

"Hey Honey how is school?" My mom asks from her glitch-y FaceTime.

"It's great mom, everyone is a little stressed though." I reply.

"Aw, that always happens, hey you remember when our family was fighting so often?" I nod to her reminder, our big step family used to hate each other, then mom thought of the idea to take us all on a family road trip and the rest was history.

"Hey speaking of, your step dad will be out of town for a while and I have my own car, so I was wondering can you take care of the van for two weeks?" Mom speaks up.

"Of course, I'll come pick it up tomorrow." I reply with a smile. I love when I get to drive the van, it's comfy and fits like ten people. The windows are a little stuck and the radio is scratchy. It's the best.

"You're the greatest honey. Okay I'll see you tomorrow, love you!" She signs off.

As I put my laptop away it hits me.

I know how to fix everyone.