JinXeD🔱 {Book 2}

Part 19: Real talk

|{Omniscient}|

Over the next few days, TJ tried to put Harlem Bell and that kiss out of his mind. Which wasn't easy. Heck, that one night he'd spent with him a little over a month ago was still fresh in his mind. Shit it had to be, giving that he'd only recently remembered it all.
Having this latest example of Harlem's kissing prowess burned into TJ's brain made it twice as hard to keep his mind from straying to that nigga.

Still, if he kept busy, that helped. It was all the downtime, like sleeping, showering, helping his papa in the kitchen, playing video games or even watching TV that was getting to him. The moment his brain had a free second, it leaped into thoughts of Harlem.

"Junior?" Grampa Ty called out from his home office and TJ walked toward the hallway, he was over here a lot lately. Desperately grateful for the distraction, TJ asked, "Do you need something?"

Gramps looked up from his computer and pulled his glasses down. "I'm going to need you to tell me why you been spacing out a lot lately, I've been calling you. You good?" Gramps asked.

First of all, TJ was amazed at how young his grampa looked, he hadn't aged a day in at least thirty years, matter of fact he looked like he could be thirty. TJ's dad looked way younger that his age as well, and he could only hope that gene was passed down, because...

"You're doing it again." Gramps commented, interrupting TJ's random thought.

"Sorry."

"Nah not sorry, what's on your mind?"

TJ shrugged and looked down to his feet. He could be nonchalant about everything around everyone but his gramps, there was something about him that made TJ feel like a toddler, but at the same time, Grampa Ty was also one of the three people TJ could open up to.
His papa and Amaru were the other two.

"I've got this person in my life that's been stirring up some confusion and," TJ hesitated, "I mean, sort of. The person is not in my life exactly, but i..." TJ trailed off as gramps raised a hand to stop his sorry excuse of an explanation.

"Please stop. Is there a particular reason why you're avoiding pronouns? Because you're driving me crazy." Tyrone told him.

TJ paused and thought about it for a second. Why was he avoiding it? He wondered.
He smiled and shook his head no, before continuing. "This boy is my class has been on my mind a lot lately, the one I'm tutoring."

Gramps smiled a little and studied TJ's expression, shaking his head. He just knew how uncomfortable these types of conversation made TJ, he was a little like Quincy in that way. "Do you like him?"

TJ shrugged, but remained silent. Talking about shit like this made him cringe and he didn't even know why.

"I'll take that as a yes." Tyrone said, "so what's the problem?"

TJ was tempted to turn around and run as fast as his legs could carry him outta here, but instead he summoned up courage and took a seat opposite his grandfather, then took a deep breath. "He's an asshole when..."

"Watch it." Ty warned.

"Sorry. He's mean and rude when other people are around, and the direct opposite when we're alone." TJ managed to say.

"Is that all?" Ty pushed. He knew TJ better than even his own parents did, and he knew the boy was trying very hard to avoid the real issue he was having.

"I feel weak, like a wimp or something." TJ rushed out before he could change his mind, the words felt heavy coming out of his mouth but he ignored the uneasy feeling.

"Why?"

"Because i don't like how he makes me feel, it's stupid and I hate it. Feelings make us weak and exposed, and I don't want it. I wish it'd just go away." TJ told his grampa. He felt strangely relieved letting all that out.

Ty stood up from his chair and walked around to sit on his table, close to TJ. "Listen to me kiddo," he started, crossing his arms around his chest. "First of all, life ain't as black and white as you'd like to think it is. You may have the advantage of having a family who don't care about your sexual orientation, but you don't know where that boy come from, or his background, and you don't know what he may be struggling with. So if you like him, give him the benefit of the doubt."

TJ looked up at his grampa, a little deep in thought. He couldn't believe he'd never even thought about that, not even for a second. It didn't matter though, he didn't want Harlem either way.

"...secondly," Tyrone continued. "It takes strength and courage to love someone, to give someone a piece of yourself, to let yourself be vulnerable with said person in a way you could never be around anyone else. Only real men can do that shit."

Tyrone stood up and walked over to his liquor cabinet and started to pour himself a drink, he turned his back to TJ so that his grandson couldn't see the sadness that had just washed over him. "Running away from your feelings is the weak shit." He called over his shoulder. "And I ain't got no weakness in my blood, so you ain't weak neither." The man concluded, emptying the glass of scotch down his throat.

TJ ran a hand through his hair as he took in everything his gramps had just said, his ability to make everything seem smaller and easier was a skill TJ was very sure only gramps had.

TJ studied Ty's demeanor and felt sad for him. He'd seen the tears that were forming in his gramps eyes before the man had discreetly turned away from him. "Was it worth it?" TJ asked before he could stop himself. "Loving someone the way you loved grampa Spencer? If you had to do it all over again, would you?" He questioned, causing his grampa to turn back around and look at him.

Ty thought about the question for a bit before answering. "I had 38 years with him. Granted, the first 22 of them years were rocky sometimes, but the last 16 were the best of my life. So the answer is no, I wouldn't take any of it back if i could." Tyrone said, and picked a call that had just entered his phone, then excused himself.

TJ sat there silently for what felt like hours, processing everything his gramps had just said, he sure had a lot to think about.

Before he could process any further his phone beeped. He had two text messages.

-Unknown:
I got a B-minus on my English test, and C's on my other shit. I might jst fuck arnd and become a astronaut at this rate. Or a brain surgeon👨🏽‍⚕️

-Unknown:
When you don avoiding me let's celebrate.
You can't run away from this thing happening between you and i forever.

It had been three days since that kiss, and yes TJ was avoiding like a mutherfucker, but it was none of Harlem's damn business. The real question was, how the fuck did Harlem get his number?

Tj snorted and shot a text back, then saved the number.

To Asshole:
It's 'You and me'.

TJ corrected and slid his phone in his pocket, ignoring the beeps that followed.

_________________________

•Question•
Do y'all think Ty should eventually find love again, or just find peace of mind and chill?
Ian even tryna be funny, I wanna know!