The Polaroid's on the Wall

Chapter 5: You're my Best Friend

Cyrus POV:

'David Bowie or Queen?'

TJ thought for a minute, massaging the sides of his head, 'You can't do that! They're both equally talented artists I don't have favourites, both did amazing things for the music industry!'

I took a bite of my Candy floss and let the sugary goodness dissolve in my mouth. There was the same familiar flash as I knew TJ had just taken a Polaroid of me. It seemed so natural now, who knew he'd be this easy to hang out with? He smiled, showing me the developed photo that I despised but knew he was going to put in the collage which was coming along nicely. He captioned it.

Cotton Candy Chocolate Streams
May 17th 2019

It's currently Friday, meaning that we have 2 days to finish the project. Right now we're at Adrenaline City to make up for when I didn't want to go because of my emotional confusion. But since then something has become very clear to me. Yes, I like TJ Kippen. Which was probably the worst thing to happen literally ever. For starters, he's straight and that's obvious. Girls flock around him wherever he goes and I wouldn't be surprised if he has a girlfriend. And even if he weren't straight, he'd never like me, I'm just the nerdy kid he's hanging out with for a few weeks. Although he told me different, my self doubt is telling me why on Earth would he want to be friends with me? I hope it's not true, I really want to keep hanging out like this.

'Well i'd choose Queen,' I admitted, waiting for his rant.

He finished his pretzel, pausing to swallow before saying, 'That's because Bowie is an acquired listen, very under appreciated, he's amazing,'

'Alright record boy, I'm sorry for disrespecting Bowie,' I apologised, laughing a little as I finished my candy floss and stuck the white, sticky stick into the bin beside me.

After going on various small rides around the park that I was content with, TJ wanted to go on the Cobra. And for some reason...I said I'd go with him. Why? Well...maybe I wanted to impress him. Ok yeah I definitely wanted to impress him stfu. This was, of course, a very bad idea as I can't even handle the friendly looking happy catipillar ride for babies!

Unfortunately, with me wanting to impress TJ and all, I failed to mention this to him and before I knew it, I was being trapped in the scale decorated cart with questionable safety mechanisms. Whilst TJ was very relaxed just leaned back in his seat with his hand holding the bar I was freaking the fuck out. My hands gripped the bar so tight my knuckles turned white as I was very much regretting everything right now. Why do I have to be such a baby?

We were tilted back in our seats as our cart was ascending the steep track which I was absolutely sure had a drop the other side of it. Yeah, no. My anxiety at a high, I realised how stupid I was for wanting to impress a boy much cooler, popular and braver than I am. It's not like he'll ever like me back anyway, I'm just deluding myself.

I tried to make my very obvious panic attack discreet but it just wasn't happening. It's not like I can control this. Tears were clouding my eyes but I was determined not to cry, blinking them away as best as I could. I wasn't going to let him think I'm a baby, this will be fine. My shaking hands said otherwise as my breathing was irregular. We were halfway up when I felt TJ's eyes find me.

'Cyrus, it's ok, we're going to be fine,' He reassured me but my irrational thoughts were too powerful. I violently shook my head as I shivered. Just knowing I'm about to drop a good few feet makes me feel sick. But there's no way in hell I'm going to throw up.

Then, I felt a hand on top of my own, the palm resting on the back of my right hand causing me to loosen both of my hands in surprise. My panic attack slowly calmed down to just slight nervousness which was either because we were literally about to drop or because TJ Kippen was literally touching my skin let alone my hand.