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TJ and Cyrus broke up the summer after they graduated high school. It was an amicable split. Neither boy wanted to go to college with a boyfriend because they knew that if they did, they’d end up mentally spending most of their time with the other instead of making new friends and having new experiences. That being said, not much changed after they were broken up. Over the summer they still hung out all the time. They texted every day and were still rather touchy feely with one another. The kissing stopped, but other than that they were still the same Cyrus and TJ they’d been for the past four years. Cyrus was off to Wesleyan to study at the College of Film and the Moving Image. TJ on the other hand was staying more local and would be attending Utah State in Logan, pursuing a degree in environmental studies. TJ was the first to leave because he had to go to training camp for basketball. On the day he was moving to school he decided to go to Cyrus’s house to say goodbye. TJ couldn’t believe that he and his best friend were going to be 2,263 miles apart (yes, he’d looked it up). As he approached the front door to Cyrus’s house for what felt like the billionth time he suddenly started to panic. Why had they broken up again- in this moment TJ couldn’t remember. He felt himself falling to the floor of Cyrus’ front porch, which is exactly where Cyrus found him ten minutes later.
“Teej, oh my god are you okay?” Cyrus ran out the front door and crouched down next to TJ. TJ looked up at Cyrus with tears in his eyes. “It just hit me that I was coming here to say goodbye to you,” he said with half a chuckle. Cyrus gave him a sympathetic smile, “I know. I’ve honestly been avoiding thinking about it. My parents have been telling me to acknowledge my feelings head on, but I just don’t think I can right now.” TJ shut his eyes tight and exhaled softly. “Cy, I know we broke up, but my feelings for you haven’t changed.” TJ opened his eyes and Cyrus grabbed both of his hands. The two boys were at eye level now. “I love you too TJ,” Cyrus whispered. “I thought this was what we wanted though,” Cyrus continued. “You’re right,” answered TJ. “It’s the right thing to do, I just didn’t realize how much it was going to hurt.” Cyrus nodded in agreement and then took a deep breath of his own. “Teej, you are going to be this huge basketball star at Utah and you are going to make so many friends. You are going to be the life of every party and thrive in your studies.” Cyrus’s voice dropped to barely a whisper, “And maybe you’ll even meet the love of your life.” “What if I already have met him and we are just throwing it away,” replied TJ. “Well,” responded Cyrus, “if we are meant to be then we will find our way back to one another.” “You really believe that?” asked TJ. “I really do,” answered Cyrus.
TJ texted Cyrus the minute he had settled into his new dorm room. Since he was on the basketball team, he’d been placed in a room with one of his teammates. Now, TJ was tall at 6’4, but his roommate Sam was a whopping 7’0. They had met before at some team mixer the coaches held for the new recruits and had hit it off right away. Sam was from Texas and had that very easy-going manner which TJ really appreciated. TJ had come out to him right away when they decided to be roommates. TJ was a little nervous because there weren’t a ton of openly gay athletes in basketball, but Sam had been super cool about it. “That’s cool man,” he’d replied, “Just put a sock on the door if you’re having a guy over.” TJ laughed at that and answered, “I don’t think that will be a problem.” In his head he was thinking of a certain brown-haired future film maker who would soon be heading off to Connecticut.
TJ: I’m all moved in. My room is so small and seems even smaller because Sam is so tall
Cyrus: Make sure to send me pictures!
TJ: Yes definitely! I’m hanging up the Imagine Dragons poster you gave me right now. Remember that concert we went to last summer? So much fun.
Cyrus: That was the best! I’m meeting Andi and Buffy at the Spoon in a little bit so I’ll talk to you later!
TJ began typing… okay love you! He paused. Deleted it and replied instead: Have fun!
It was weird to still be so in love with someone who you were no longer dating. Honestly, TJ didn’t think the breakup would last that long. Although he’d agreed to it, he only did so because he was pretty sure that once they both settled into their respective schools they’d realize they could totally make the long-distance thing work. In the meantime, he wanted to show Cyrus that he was totally cool just being friends. He wanted to prove first that he could be a well-adjusted student athlete. Then maybe in a few months he’d be a well-adjusted student athlete who had the greatest boyfriend in the world. And that boyfriend would be Cyrus Goodman. “Yeah, everything is going to work out just fine,” TJ whispered to himself, as he put the picture frame of him and Cyrus on his desk.