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After they finally fed the ducks, TJ managed to shake Kira off by saying he had stuff to do at home. Wandering aimlessly down the sidewalk, he pulled out his phone. The last text he had sent to Cyrus had been awhile ago, telling him that he was at the park. It was marked as ‘read’ but Cyrus hadn’t responded. Usually the other boy was pretty prompt when it came to texting, so it was strange that he hadn’t gotten a reply.
The image of the shirt that Cyrus had sent him was still visible in their chat. It was a little nicer than anything TJ normally wore, but he trusted Cyrus’ judgement when it came to fashion. The idea that Cyrus had seen the shirt and thought of TJ had sent a little jolt of excitement through him. Did Cyrus think it would look nice on him? The thought had barely crossed TJ’s mind when he pushed it away. Cyrus was just being nice. And maybe it was just a way of him asking TJ to come check out the sale or whatever it was that he was doing with his friends.
Making his mind up, TJ texted back, on my way over, before pocketing his phone and heading towards where Cyrus had said the sale was. But when he finally got there, it was deserted. There were a few empty tables set up, as well as a rack or two with hangers on them, but no sign of Cyrus, his friends, or even any clothing. Brow furrowed in confusion, TJ walked around the block, just to make sure he had the right place, but found no sign of any sale.
Pulling his phone out again, he checked his messages. His text to Cyrus hadn’t been read this time, and he was growing more confused. Pulling open his calendar app, he scanned the weeks and did some mental calculations. Hoping that his math wasn’t wrong, he started to head in the direction of Cyrus’ mother’s house. Normally he had a pretty good idea of which parent Cyrus was staying with, but since they hadn’t been hanging out as much as often, he had lost track.
As he walked, he couldn’t help but ruminate on everything that had transpired over the past few weeks. After the gun incident, he and Cyrus had gone back to normal with their friendship, and it felt almost as though they had gotten even closer than before. TJ found that he was thinking about Cyrus almost constantly, even when they weren’t together. Part of his brain seemed to have figured out why, but the other part kept ignoring it.
And then Kira had showed up, and all but shouted in his face that she knew what was going on. Panic mode fully activated, TJ had caved, after a sleepless night of deliberation. Seeing Cyrus’ face the morning of costume day had driven what felt like a stake through his heart. TJ had messed up before; with Buffy, with Jonah, with the gun. But this time, he had hurt Cyrus directly. It was completely his fault, and he had no one to blame but himself.
Cyrus had forgiven him for it. At least, that’s what the other boy had told him, after TJ had sought him out the following Monday at school. But something between them had shifted again. Cyrus seemed more distant and almost as though he was holding himself at an arms-length distance from TJ. And TJ wanted nothing more than to break through that distance and put their friendship back on the track it had been. But he didn’t know how to do that. Even directly asking Cyrus about it hadn’t worked. While the other boy hadn’t displayed any sign of annoyance or hurt, TJ could tell that he was still holding back and not opening up like he used to.
Because then Kira had shown up. Like she always seemed to do. Even though he had only known her for a few weeks, TJ struggled to remember what it felt like without having to worry about her popping up and making him do something with her. Under other circumstances, he would have probably enjoyed being friends with her. They had a lot of similar interests, and she could be fun. But their conversation at the park seemed to always hang in the back of his mind, and there were times that she would make a seemingly innocent comment that would put him on guard.
She had figured it out – or at least guessed correctly – and she had figured out that by dangling that over his head, she could get him to do whatever she wanted. It was never a blatant statement, but subtle comments or knowing looks happened frequently enough that he felt like he always had to act a certain way around her, as to not prove her right.
The events from earlier in the afternoon burned in his mind, and he felt a familiar swooping sensation of guilt settle in his stomach. There was no way that Kira would have known about the swings, and the importance they held to him and Cyrus, but it was a cruel twist of fate that they had ended up there. Logically, TJ knew that it was just a fun thing to do at the park, and she had likely not meant anything about it, but he felt guilty nonetheless as he had joined in. Cyrus had shared the swings with him, as a place to go and think when life was getting difficult, and TJ had found himself there many times after.
But Kira had spent the entire time on the swings trying to see who could swing highest and jump the farthest. While that was fun to start with, eventually TJ wished that he could just swing gently and all the calming motion of the swing to let him work through his problems. A part of him had felt irrationally anxious about Cyrus seeing them there together, but he had been busy with his sale, and there was no reason for him to have been at the park to see them.
He was brought out of his thoughts when he realized that he had reached the house. Hesitating slightly, he rang the doorbell, hoping that he was at the right house. Cyrus still hadn’t read his text, so he didn’t even know if the other boy was at home.
Cyrus’ mom answered the door, beaming widely when she saw who it was.
“TJ! How good to see you.”
“Nice to see you too,” TJ replied honestly. Cyrus complained about his mother being overbearing at times, but TJ could tell that she really cared. She also could have hated him after the gun incident, but she had gone on treating him exactly the same after everything had been sorted out.
“Are you here to see Cyrus?” she asked, her bright smile dropping somewhat. The change in expression worried TJ slightly.
“Yeah,” TJ replied. “I tried texting him, but he hasn’t replied.
She heaved a deep sigh, and her expression turned to one that TJ had a hard time interpreting. Annoyance? Frustration?
“Yes, well, there’s a good reason for that,” she said, holding up her hand. Cyrus’ phone was in it. “He’s been grounded, so that’s why he wasn’t replying.”
“Really?” TJ asked in surprise. Cyrus rarely got in trouble, and he had never been grounded as long as TJ had known him. “What did he do?”
“Well,” his mother said, pausing dramatically. “He managed to get himself arrested, and we just got back from the police station.”
“He WHAT?” TJ exclaimed, unable to control himself. “Sorry,” he added hastily for the volume of his reply. “What happened?”
“He and his friends decided to stage a little protest against a clothing company, and broke some trespassing laws in the process, as well as selling without a permit,” she explained.
“And they got arrested?” TJ asked in disbelief.
“Yes,” Leslie replied. To TJ, it looked as though she was torn between rolling her eyes and looking proud. “They took their phones, which is why he wasn’t texting you back. And now that he’s grounded, I am taking his phone.”
“Oh, okay,” TJ said, feeling a little let down. On one hand, he was a little relieved to find out that Cyrus hadn’t been intentionally ignoring him but had a pretty legitimate reason to not text him back. however, this also meant that he wouldn’t be able to text with him for a while.
“And he is grounded for the rest of the week, which means no hanging out with friends,” Leslie continued, as though reading TJ’s mind and anticipating his next question. “You’ll have to wait to talk to him at school.”
Although TJ was disappointed about this, he respected the decision and bade Cyrus’ mom goodbye. As he walked home, his head swirled with thoughts. To start with, the fact that Cyrus had gotten in deep enough trouble that he had ended up being arrested was blowing his mind. It did relieve some of his anxieties though; there was a very good reason why Cyrus hadn’t texted him back, and if he was in the middle of being arrested, he wouldn’t have had time to come down to the park after all. He wished he could talk to Cyrus about everything, but he figured he would just have to wait until school the next day to do so.
----------------------------------------------
The halls were abuzz with gossip the next morning, as the word about the arrest spread like wildfire. TJ heard several variations as he made his way down the hallway. Most of it was likely wrong; he highly doubted that Buffy had actually fought a security guard. However, he did want to find Cyrus and hear what had all happened. He spotted the other boy at his locker, seemingly oblivious to the chaos around him.
“Hey,” TJ said, leaning against the locker next to Cyrus’ and trying to sound casual. Cyrus glanced up briefly at him.
“Hey,” he replied before turning back to grabbing his books. TJ felt as though a cold draft had blown through him. Cyrus’ greeting had been so distant and unemotional that it shook him. He knew immediately that something was wrong, but he had no idea what it was.
“So?” TJ prompted slowly. Cyrus looked up at him again, this time with a look of polite confusion.
“You got arrested?” TJ continued. Cyrus smiled, but it didn’t seem to reach his eyes.
“Yeah,” he said. “Kind of a long story.”
“I went by the sale, but I guess I was too late,” TJ said. “That picture of the shirt you sent me looked nice.”
“Well, the cops took it, so I can’t give it to you now,” Cyrus explained.
“It’s okay,” TJ reassured him. However, he felt incredibly unbalanced. Cyrus wasn’t being outright rude to him, but his demeanor seemed almost chilly.
“I stopped by your house too,” TJ continued.
“Yeah, that’s what my mom said,” Cyrus said, adjusting something in his locker. “But I’m grounded for the rest of my life, so that’s why I don’t have my phone.”
“You don’t know when your punishment is done?” TJ asked. Cyrus just shrugged.
“Maybe when I’m 30?” he suggested. He smiled, but once again, TJ felt as though it was another forced one.
“Well…let me know when you’re free,” TJ said, hoping to sound enthusiastic. “We should hang out.”
“Totally,” Cyrus said, but there was a definite lack of his normal enthusiasm. His gaze focused on something over TJ’s shoulder. “I have to get going. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Yeah,” TJ agreed, but Cyrus had already closed his locker door and was walking past TJ. Turning, TJ saw the other three near the end of the hallway. Buffy looked like she was ranting angrily about something, and TJ decided not to push his luck and started to walk in the opposite direction. His whole interaction with Cyrus had shaken him, and he was starting to realize that he had seriously screwed up. Cyrus was clearly upset with him, although he wasn’t sure what had changed in such a short amount of time.
Glancing back at the group of four, who were now being swarmed by people who wanted to hear what had happened, he couldn’t help but focus on Cyrus, who was now laughing genuinely as he regaled his tale. It sent a pang through his heart, as he realized how much he had taken for granted. He had let his fear take over and now he was at risk of losing the most important person in the world to him. Finally forcing his attention away from Cyrus, he headed towards his own locker. He wasn’t sure yet what he was going to do to fix things, but he knew he had to do something before it was too late.