The Lifeguard - Tyrus

Chapter Nineteen

Cyrus blinks a few times at the message. He reads over at least ten times before showing it to Andi or Buffy. "Um... guys? You, uh, may want to see this." Cyrus says, his voice strained from trying not to cry. Andi and Buffy look to another, furrowing their brows in confusion. They both scoot over to Cyrus' view of the phone, widening their eyes.
-
TJ wakes up from his deep sleep, hearing a door open up. A gentle hand brushes against his face, "Hey hon." The voice speaks. TJ realizes it's his mom. "Hi, Mom, did you see my text message?" He says, trying his best to grin based off of how tired he's feeling. TJ's mother shakes her head in confusion, "I never saw a text from you."  TJ basically rises from the dead, shooting his body up to grab his phone. He quickly unlocks it and clicks on his iMessage app. "No, oh my god, I can't believe I did that!" TJ says, raising his voice in a panic. The eyes in TJ's mother light up in horror, "what happened?"
"I- I- I meant t-to send you a text saying 'I love you' but I sent it to the wrong person and now everything is ruined!" TJ stutters, feeling his throat close up. Mrs. Kippen rubs TJ's back, doing her best to comfort this panic. "TJ, why is 'everything ruined'? Who did you send it to?" His mother asks. TJ lifts his head up a little, "it was to one of my closest friends. Cyrus, the boy you met the other day. Tonight something happened with him, and now with this wrong message, it just throws everything off guard." Mrs. Kippen looks into TJ, and TJ knows exactly what she's going to ask now, "and what exactly happened with Cyrus?"
"I don't want to give too much detail as to how it happened but... we kissed."
-
"Wh-why did he send that?!" Cyrus asks, feeling his heart race. Buffy grabs the phone, "does he even know you're gay?" She asks. Cyrus shrugs his shoulders, "I don't remember telling him. But he's said so many times that he's straight, it makes no sense!"
Andi wraps her arm around Cyrus, "I'm not saying this to burst your bubble, because you're having confusing feelings, but maybe it's the alcohol still in his system? People always drunk text, it could just be that." She snuggles into his shoulder, getting a little sleepy. Buffy, still holding Cyrus' phone open on TJ's message, starts to see typing dots. "Cy, he's typing!" Cyrus takes his phone from Buffy and waits. The dots keep going. Then they disappear. "He's not typing anymo- wait... he's typing again." Cyrus waits for the message to appear but then gets impatient. He clicks on TJ's contact on top of the messages and chooses the 'FaceTime' button. Andi and Buffy give Cyrus that look of 'what the heck are you doing?!'
The FaceTime is still ringing, but on the last ring, there's a pixelated dark room. The connection clears up a little bit and you can see a silhouette of TJ's head.
"Hey." TJ greets, his voice soft. "Hi." Cyrus says, his voice also soft. A light turns on, on TJ's screen and now Cyrus can see TJ's face. Andi and Buffy went to the opposite side of the couch so TJ wouldn't know they're there, in case that made him feel filtered to know other people are there. "Why'd you leave so early?" TJ asks, but what a stupid question he thought, he knew the answer. Cyrus shifts a little in his position, "I don't know." He says flatly.
"I know why" TJ says
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TJ could feel his heart racing. "And before I tell you, I need to explain my text I sent you..."
"Then tell me." Cyrus said, his camera was shaking a little so you could tell he's nervous. TJ takes a breath, "okay. So I was looking through my photos, I saw one with my family. Before things went downhill. And it made me realize how much I love my parents and how proud I am that they're learning to get better. So I open up my text messages, I'm guessing your name was right below my moms and I accidentally sent it to you. I'm so sorry, I feel so embarrassed about it. Please, don't take it too personally." TJ let's out. Cyrus just stares at TJ through the phone.
"Cyrus?"
"I'm still here."