Not-So-Scary Basketball Boyfriend | Tyrus

2

Cyrus had tried not to feel bad when TJ dropped his hand on the way to the gym that morning. He understood. Of course he wouldn't want to be so close to him. They could be friends but anything closer was probably pushing it. Junior Varsity player or not, the older students were out for blood and the only specifications were Freshmeat.

He'd ignored TJ's possible flirting, because they were friends and friends said nice things and let you wear their clothes when you didn't have any. It was common courtesy.

He even would have tried to forget about the cheek kiss. All of the cheek kisses. TJ was just touchy and affectionate and still completely out of his league romantically.

But now here he was sitting in the gym at TJ's practice, freaking out. There were quite a few girls sitting with homework in their laps and phones in their manicured hands. He tried not to feel too out of place as he fidgeted in his seat, but he didn't really know anyone else and they weren't even close to being his usual crowd. The other girlfriends, Cyrus thought suddenly, with wide eyes and clammy hands. Are TJ and I—

The thought died in his head as TJ and the rest of the team finally ran into the court to start practice. He jumped when someone sat next to him.

"You're jumpy today."

"Buffy! You, of all people, should know that I'm jumpy everyday. And where were you? I thought we were going to meet up for lunch, but you never showed." Cyrus pouted. "TJ baked muffins."

"Then I'm sure you were fine. Besides, Marty wanted to talk." The way she said it implied bad news. She was staring out at the court watching as Marty ran with everyone else. He caught her eye and smiled.

"About what?"

"You know he's in a higher level math than us, right? Well, some of the girls were flirting with him. He wanted to know if I was cool with him telling everyone that we're...dating."

"And are you?"

"Dating?"

"Cool with it. Wait, aren't you dating?"

"I mean we kissed at Andi's party and we hold hands sometimes, but nothing else has really changed and we haven't really talked about it. So I mean, yeah, I'm cool with it, but..." She shrugged. "I don't know if there's anything to really be cool about."

"You should ask him," Cyrus said looking out at the court himself and waving at a grinning TJ who gladly waved back before the ball is thrown right at him. He caught it before running to do more drills, head firmly back in the game.

"And I will. Now enough about me. A day in the life as TJ Kippen's boyfriend." She nudges him playfully. "How is it so far?"

"Inconclusive."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning...it's the same as you, I guess." Though he said it more like a question than a solid answer. "Me and TJ held hands at Andi's party and we uh...talked, but then he was gone for three months. He's back and it's just like before but now he'll kiss me on the cheek sometimes. We never really got a chance to talk about any of it in specifics all summer, then today he said I could sit here and watch him practice 'with the other girlfriends'." Cyrus looked at her panicked. "Does that mean I'm like his girlfriend but a boyfriend? Are we boyfriends? I'm trying not to completely freak out because then he'd know and what if he didn't mean it like that?" He deflated, letting his head drop into his hands. "Why is dating so difficult?"

Buffy put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly.

"I have no idea."

The sound of the coach's whistle had Cyrus snapping his head back up to see what had happened only to find TJ standing with a red face and clenched fists above one of the older students on the ground, the ball still rolling down the court. It was as if TJ could feel Cyrus's eyes on him, because he looked over before the coach could say anything and backed away. He walked off the court towards the bleachers where Buffy and Cyrus sat confused.