I See Stars; Tyrus

Blame it on the rain

After school I sprint out into the car park. The rest of the day was hazier than an uncleaned barn, but the second I saw Cyrus I knew what I needed to do. He is up ahead with all of his friends, but a large amount of them start to dwindle off. Beck stays for a second to give Cyrus a fist bump and then he's gone too.

"Cyrus!" I call out at him; he turns his head looking fearful for a moment before realizing it's me and then gives a sad smile.

I jog up to him, "Cyrus wait."

"What do you want TJ?" Cyrus asks with little courage; I match my pace to his pace as we exit the lot.

"Look Cy I'm sorry." I start, I want to reach out and touch him. "Things just got really out of hand and I didn't want to get you into all of it, and none of this would have happened if I hadn't been so careless! The one time I'm actually vulnerable and they go straight for the kill. I'm really sorry Cyrus."

Cyrus stops walking, "no I'm sorry Teej, I should have just stayed out of your way, I have a habit of getting attached to people and their lives way too soon. We're not even friends."

I look down, "we're not?"

Cyrus looks at me in disbelief, "so you want to be my friend?"

No. But it's as close as I'm ever going to get to what I want to be. Pining from a safe distance.

"Yeah," I breathe, "I really do."

Cyrus grins at me, "so I can call the scary basketball guy my friend?"

I smile back for a second before looking downcast, "Well I'm not really a basketball guy anymore."

Cyrus nudges my shoulder, and it makes my heart flutter just the tiniest amount, "want to tell me about it? I can get very attached to people's lives and my house isn't for a few miles."

So I do tell him about the photo (but not what it said) and how Reed's using it for blackmail and how now I can't even show my face at school anymore without being called a sissy.

"...And now he's going to torment everyone." I finish, Cyrus has stayed silent this whole time, and I gotta say that it's nice just having somebody to listen to you without interrupting or making it about them. I could never tell anyone about this stuff, not even Amber.

"I just don't know what to do Underdog, that photo was all that I had of being soft and not this tough guy I have to pretend to be to survive." I feel my eyes get slightly watery, which is weird because I don't think I've cried like this in ages, just by telling somebody my problems. Not even the therapist that I had to go to after mom.

"TJ," Cyrus says suddenly and he grabs my arm, "that's horrible, I know how important that must have been to you."

I sniff and wipe my eyes on my jacket, "yeah, it is. Thanks Cyrus, for being here and talking to me, I uh, I really needed it."

"Just another service we provide." Cyrus gives me a bright smile.

"So why are you walking all this way to your house? Don't your friends give you a ride?" I ask him it's getting darker even though it can't be past four, I look up to see the sun being covered by a large cloud.

Cyrus blushes and looks down sheepishly, "there is this one place that I stop by, but if I show you you can't tell anyone!" He points a finger at me.

"Okay, okay I promise." I laugh, my pinkie finger interlocks with his, Cyrus is hesitant for a second before nodding. I am worthy of being trustful.

Cyrus takes my hand and my stomach twists along with my heart, he smiles at me and drags my arm across an open garden. Few people wearing slacks or long bright skirts are walking peacefully, nobody notices us, which is a good thing because my face is way to flushed to be cool TJ Kippen right now.