T.J. hadn't done a lot this summer. It was mainly just hanging out with his friends playing basketball—except Cyrus. Cyrus didn't do sports, so they usually just hung out at The Spoon or T.J.'s job. The kids always loved to see Cyrus.
Cyrus.
T.J. lay on his bed after a long day of eating lunch at The Spoon and then browsing the record store with Cyrus , staring up at the ceiling. He looked towards his right and saw his digital clock read 2:32 in red block letters.
T.J. had never had trouble with girls. All the cheerleaders threw themselves at him. Surprisingly, he had never dated anyone. It wasn't because they were pretty—they were very pretty—but it was because he had never really wanted to date them.
He was the captain of the basketball team so immediately everybody figured he should've dated at least somebody by now—including his parents.
But, was it really a girl he wanted to date? He had never really been pulled to them. To be honest, he had never really been pulled to anybody. He thought that once the right girl came along he would know.
But..but was the girl a boy?
And was Cyrus Goodman that boy? Was Cyrus that person?
T.J. couldn't have predicted that he would feel this way. He couldn't have predicted that a small boy whom happened to be best friends with his old enemy-turned-friend would ever take up as much of his heart and time that the boy had actually done.
Yep, Cyrus Goodman was one special person.
T.J. turned to lay on his right side.
This is ridiculous, he thought. I'm still up at 2 because of my friend.
He knew that something changed when he had started being friends with Cyrus. He couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when he knew the boy was more than just a friend to him. He couldn't pinpoint when the boy had become the most important person in his life outside of his family.
He couldn't even decipher why he turned back to Cyrus when after apologizing to Buffy, even though he knew plenty of people would assume it was because he liked the boy.
He should've known then that everything changed, but even then, he wouldn't admit it to himself.
But, T.J. Kippen, at 2:35 in the morning, could pinpoint the exact moment when he was sick of denying himself what he felt for the Jewish boy. Because it was that exact moment as the clock turned to 2:36 AM on July 16th that the boy realized that he liked Cyrus Goodman as more than just a friend.
More like a boyfriend.
He liked Cyrus Goodman, and he couldn't deny that to himself any longer.
To Cyrus or anybody he could, but as he figured out he wouldn't be able to fall asleep for the rest of the night, thoughts and memories of Cyrus came flooding to his mind.
He was also hanging out with Cyrus in three days.
He couldn't wait.
