Where to Find Me | Tyrus

Part 14

TJ's POV

"Hey, TJ!"

I spot Cyrus pushing through the stream of kids in the hall to get to me.

"What time does your game start again?" he asks.

"4:00."

"Okay. I'll be there, I just need to help Jonah with something first."

"Yeah, no problem."

"Good," he says. "I'll see you then."

"Yeah, see you."

He waves as he walks away, and I go toward my locker to grab my gym clothes.

After getting changed, I enter the gym where I see the rest of my teammates practicing their free throws.

"There he is," one of them, Lachlan, says when he sees me. "Yo, why didn't you come to Shapiro's last night?"

I had forgotten about that. We had planned to go to Shapiro's Delicatessen as a team. I'm not a big fan of that place, because their baby taters aren't near as good as the ones at The Spoon, but the guys seem to like it.

I steal the ball from him as he makes an attempt at a basket, then answer, "I was busy."

"With what?" another boy, Roy, asks.

"Cyrus came over for dinner with me and my parents."

I toss the ball and it swishes through the net without hitting the rim. Roy catches the ball's bounce with his hand, and passes it back to me.

"Cyrus? That dude you're always hanging around? You brought him to meet your parents?" He chuckles a little. "That's kinda gay, man."

I swirl the ball between my hands as I work up the courage to speak.

"Well, I'm kinda gay," I say, bouncing the ball back to Roy.

Roy catches it against his chest, taking a moment to process what I just said.

"Yo, that's chill," he says.

Then one of the other guys, Franklin, joins in. "So this Cyrus—he your boyfriend?"

I nod.

"So when are we gonna get to formally meet him?"

"Yeah," Lachlan says. "We wanna talk to him. Gotta make sure he knows that if he does anything to hurt our captain, we're all right behind you."

Roy walks over and gives my hand a slap and fist bump. "We got your back, man."

I grin as Roy hands the ball back to me, which I then use to take another shot for the net. The ball clips the rim before dropping through the hoop.

____________________________________

Cyrus' POV

"This is so close," Buffy comments beside me.

Her eyes are locked on the ball as it dribbles around the court. Andi, Amber and Jonah are sitting with us as well, but they're more focused on their own conversation than the game. I watch TJ as he steals the ball and tosses it up and into the net. The crowd roars and cheers.

"Did they win?" I ask Buffy.

She lets out a single laugh. "Yes, they won."

"They won!" I cheer, rushing down the bleachers.

TJ runs to me and embraces me in his arms, spinning me around before setting me down on the floor.

"Congratulations!" I say.

The viewers, comprised of students and parents, has begun to disperse and mingle around, but somehow I can still hear my name called over the buzz of the voices.

"Cyrus!" a kid from TJ's team shouts. He walks over to me. "You're TJ's boy?"

I turn my eyes to TJ, who's smiling at his teammate.

"Yeah," I say.

That earns me a fist bump from the boy. "Had to meet the guy taking up all of our captain's time."

"Is that bad?" I ask, slightly worried.

He chuckles. "Nah, bro. It's just nice to see who TJ's always rambling on about."

I glance at TJ, who's now blushing.

"Anyway, we'll see you around, man," the boy says before heading back to the rest of his team.

I turn to TJ. "When did they find out?"

"Just before the game actually. Went pretty good, as you can tell. They're probably going to be bugging me about you constantly now."

"Like how you talk about me constantly?"

"They didn't say constantly. Just often." He grins.

I take his hands and lean in. The moment our lips touch, I hear a series of whoops and whistles from across the gym. TJ and I glance over at his teammates who are making a racket, grinning at TJ.

"We do that to everyone on the team," TJ explains. "I guess I'm not getting a break just because I have a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend."

I laugh before pressing my lips to his again.

______________________________________

TJ's POV

I hurry down the stairs toward the door. I want to slip out without my parents asking me where I'm going. Ever since I came out to them, they've been weary of every time I go to hang out with people, especially with Cyrus, who happens to be meeting me at the park in ten minutes. I almost get to the doorknob without being noticed, but then my mother's voice sounds and she appears out of the kitchen.

"TJ," she says. "I need to talk to you."

"Okay."

I stand waiting, but she motions for me to sit down. I don't really want to, but I join her on the couch, sitting as far to the opposite end from her as possible.

"I remember when you were younger. You would come home and tell me about the girls you had a crush on. Your face always lit up when you spoke about them."

I roll my eyes, predicting where this is going.

"Then I think about the way you looked at Cyrus the other night at supper . . . and honey, if that's not real, I don't know what is."

That catches me off guard, and I feel tears prickling my eyes, but manage to hold them in.

"Thanks, Mom," I say, my voice wavering a little with emotion.

She smiles and shifts over to hug me.

"I love you so much, and all I want is for you to be happy. That's all any parent could want. "She lets me go and looks in my eyes. "Cyrus clearly makes you very happy, and I don't want to keep you from that."

"Thanks," I say again, giving her another hug. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart." She releases me and stands up. "Now go meet your boy."

I smile, not bothering to put the mental effort into understanding how she knew where I was going.

"Bye," I say as I open the door to leave.

She smiles at me before I go. I guess Amber was right; it does get better. I just hope that holds true for her too.