one muffin • tyrus

30. lets take a trip

      Cyrus began scrolling through his instagram and digging into the tater tots, ignoring the conversation TJ was having with Michael right in front of him. Scrolling and scrolling until a notification popped up saying 'new follower.' He pressed on the account, a familiar face popping up on his screen. It had been almost 3 months since the party and he had never received a text from the guy he had made out with, but now, here he was following him.

'i should text him. crap, wait, i don't have his number. um um. uhhh. oh wait, dms duh.'

Cyrus pressed the message button, his mind stuck on what his next move would be. The mumbling around his was distracting, so he finally decided on a simple 'hey, how've you been,' to start the conversation. Before he could press send, his attention was pulled back to his dreaded reality.

"CYRUS. Hello!" Cyrus jumped, TJ waving his hand in front of his face.

"Oh yea, what's up, sorry."

"Me and Mike were planning to go up to the cabin for like a week or two to go skiing. You want in. We'd be excused and I'm sure your mom would let you go." TJ smiled.

"Two weeks?! That's a long time. Sorry Teej, but I got responsibilities. You know, school, all the clubs I'm in and student council. And plus it's our junior year and it's important that I keep my grades up. I can't start failing because I decided to take a sudden break."

"C'mon Cyrus. We barely do anything and it'd just be 2 weeks. You can miss 2 weeks. I've seen your grades. They're good enough."

"I don't think so TJ. I can miss a lot in 2 weeks. Plus winter break is coming up, we could just go then."

"But Cyrus-"

"TJ, NO! What don't you understand. God we're always going to parties and doing whatever you want and I NEED to be here and tend to my responsibilities. I'm not going to start blowing them off and slacking off like you. That might be for you but it is most definitely not for me."

TJ stared at him, then glanced at Michael who looked the other way, pretending he hadn't heard a thing. Disappointment and a touch of anger filled his eyes.

"You know what Cyrus, whatever. I don't give a fuck anymore. You're right. You have work to do so I'm going on the trip. Have fun doing whatever you'll be doing. And I'm sorry if I have been dragging you to so many parties and stuff, but I'm just trying to live my life before I end up like my parents. You know this is how I cope."

"TJ, you know I love you, but you can't keep using your parent's death as an excuse to keep acting wild. Grow up and face your problems like a big boy."

"Whatever."

"TJ!" Cyrus called out as TJ stormed off, shoving the door open. He felt embarrassed, the people who were sitting around him staring at him.

***

That night, TJ began packing his stuff, opting for an earlier drive up. He called Michael and made sure he had his thing ready to go. He stuffed the Jeep he had gotten with his stuff and headed off to Michaels house, his body still overtaken with anger.

He finally arrived, Michael forcing him to get in the passengers seat.

"C'mon man, you're pissed off from everything that happened earlier and you know you're not in the right mindset to drive. We could get in an accident or something so just let me drive."

TJ agreed and rode in the passengers seat, watching the night sky speed by. He looked down at his phone which began to vibrate once again. Third call from Cyrus. He ignored it, feeling both guilty and weird that he was missing their daily and nightly calls. He threw it in the back and fell asleep, many thoughts running through his mind, thoughts which he wouldn't have to face or worry about for the next 2 weeks.

_____________________
note:

i've been under quarantine and wanted to write but i couldn't come up with anything. finally i had a spark and here's my next chapter, finally. i'm not really feeling so sure about what i'm writing anymore but i really really hope you like it even though it's kinda short.