Part 12

                                    

                                          
TJ's POV



                          
I notice Amber on my way into the Spoon. She's dressed in her uniform, but it doesn't look like she's started working yet.
                          
"Amber," I call. 
                          
She spins around just as she's about to open the door, and stops when she sees me. "Hey, TJ."
                          
"How's it going? How are you and Andi?" I ask.
                          
Her smile instantly droops, and she steps away from the door to talk to me. 
                          
"It's okay, I mean, we're great, and Bex and Bowie are super awesome about it."
                          
"Your parents aren't?"
                          
She shakes her head and lets out a heavy breath. "I thought they would be. I was planning to tell them about her last night, but then they started asking me if there were any boys I was interested in, and my dad made a joke about my future husband needing to be patient with how long it takes me to get ready in the morning, and . . . yeah."
                          
"That sucks." I genuinely don't know what else to say. She kind of hit me with a flood of emotions. Although, I've done that to her before too, so I can't exactly judge her.
                          
"No kidding. I guess they've just decided to ignore everything I told them before I left for the weekend. So now I'm back to square one." 
                          
I don't respond. I don't know how to.
                          
She glances at the window then says, "My shift is starting."
                          
She walks toward the door and holds it open for me after her. I enter and see Cyrus, Buffy and Andi all stuffed in a booth. Cyrus greets me with a smile as I scoot in beside him. 
                          
"Hey," I say to the group. "Where's Jonah?"
                          
"He's at a guitar lesson with my dad," Andi replies. "He'll join us later."
                          
"Anyway, so the badminton try-outs are this Thursday," Buffy says, changing the subject completely. "That means I'll have to wake up early to be at school at 7:00 for that, then I have basketball practice after school."
                          
"That's a long day," Andi says. "Are you sure you want to try out for badminton? I mean, you've never shown any interest in it until last week."
                          
"Of course," Buffy says. "I didn't do track this year, and I can't do just one sport. That's lame."
                          
"Why didn't you do track?" I ask. 
                          
She puts down the milkshake she was sipping and sighs. 
                          
"Marty," Andi answers for her. 
                          
"Who's Marty?" 
                          
"Her former virtual boyfriend," Andi says. 
                          
"We were just friends," Buffy explains. "But he wanted to be more and now we don't talk anymore."
                          
"So you can't be on the track team because . . .?"
                          
"He's going to be there."
                          
"Isn't that good?" I say. "You can talk again."
                          
"It's not that simple," Andi refutes. 
                          
"Anyway," Buffy says, reverting back to the original topic, "I've got a long day on Thursday."
                          
"That reminds me," I say, turning to Cyrus, "I have a basketball game on Wednesday. You'll be there, right?"
                          
"Obviously," Cyrus replies.
                          
I put my arm around him and give him a kiss. 
                          
"Eww," Buffy says jokingly. "Can you tone down the PDA?" She laughs.