CYRUS | 2020

nineteen

Cyrus aged 18 and Rosie 17.

There were a few days of the year when they were a year apart and Rosie constantly reminded Cyrus of the little fact for some reason and it always made him laugh.

Both Cyrus and Rosie had been looking forward to the very day when the door bell would ring and a man in a uniform would appear on their doorstep with a long box in his hand. And when it finally did arrive; the silence of the house was filled with strange screams of excitement. Most of which came from Rosie.

"Rosie, stop shouting," Hayze scolded as he peaked his head out of his bedroom. His hair was a fluffy mess on the top of his head, his eyes tired. "Your mama has been having bad headaches, you know this."

Rosie smiled at him sheepishly as she turned to face her dad, still continuing to walk so she could keep up with Cyrus. "Sorry papa, but they're finally here."

"What's here?" Hayze asked with furrowed brows. "Wait wait, Ros-"

Rosie hardly had time to react before she was tumbling backwards down one of the twin bannister stairs. But like always, Cyrus was there to catch her. And scold her.

Hayze did a lot less of that now that she and Cyrus were a thing; and she didn't mind it much. Not at all.

"Gosh Rosie.. be careful," he muttered, slowly easing her into a standing position.

"Oops," Rosie laughed before she just turned and skipped down the rest of the stairs to the door.

Cyrus sighed and shook his head, his hand tugging at his dusty blond hair as he looked at Hayze who was standing at the top of the stairs with concern written all over his face. Cyrus gave him a small shrug; the sound of Rosie's chirpy voice floating from the front door. "She's your daughter," he said to Hayze, his eyes flickering to the other set of stairs as Rosie ran up the stairs with a rectangular box that was just a little shorter than she was.

"Did you say thank you, Rosie?" Hayze shouted after her and there was a long pause before she ran back out and she stared at her dad.

"Mm... yeah, i d-"

The mail man was still standing at the door with a small smile on his face. "She did, yes."

"Exactly," Rosie said, rolling her eyes and Cyrus snapped his fingers before Hayze could even say anything and Rosie hurriedly scrambled into her bedroom.

Cyrus sighed softly and gave the mail man a two fingered salute before following after Rosie. When he got into the room, he took out the black and red pocket knife that he always carried around and walked up to the box, chuckling at the eager look on Rosie's face.

"Watch your fingers, princess," he said as he turned the box a little to cut the tape holding it closed. "And you better watch that attitude of yours as well," he said firmly, his voice lowering so she could tell he was serious.

"I know.. I was just excited," Rosie muttered and her eyes watched as Cyrus easily slid his knife through the tape and flicked the box opened.

"Being excited isn't a good enough excuse to be disrespectful to anyone, Rosie. You know that," he replied, sliding the box back over to her so she could get the items they had purchased about a month back.

"Yeah, I know," she pouted, her hands hovering over the tissue paper covering the items. "I'll apologize to papa soon."

"Good. Now open, kid. Lets see them."

Rosie's lips immediately formed into a small smile once she caught a glimpse of the light sabers they had spontaneously purchased and her small hands grasped for one quickly, gasping at the slight weight to it. It wasn't just simply hollow plastic.

Cyrus picked up his own, flicking it away from him so it pointed downwards towards the floor. He swung it around a few times before looking over it so he could find the light and the effects button. He pressed it and groaned. "Are you kidding me, batteries not included?" he grumbled and Rosie cackled as she flicked hers ahead of her and it made the familiar whirring sound that light sabers usually made in the movies.

"No way!" he exclaimed. "How'd you get it to work?"

"You have to have the force," she teased as she got into a playful fighting stance and began swinging it around her gracefully.

"I have enough force to get you to tell me, now hand over the information," he growled, pointing his saber at Rosie and she put hers up defensively.

"You won't get it out of me so easily," she said, trying to mock his deep voice and he showed a small smile, cracking under the pressure of his girls silliness.

"Oh yeah? Bet!" And they began a fight of life or death. Well, a fight of tickle or be tickled. But they chose the latter, as their affairs were 'serious business.'

___

"Please don't tell Hayze, please please," he murmured as he carefully cupped her face in his hands. "You know I didn't mean it, I forgot who I was playing with. I'm so so sorry princess."

Rosie sat on the edge of her bed with her arms crossed and a heavy scowl on her pretty face. "Tell that to the lightsaber bruise on my butt."

"C'mon baby, don't pout," he huffed, squishing her cheeks together in one hand as his eyes flickered between her pretty blue ones. "I'll kiss it better if that's what you want. Come on, get up. I'll give your bruise a kiss."

"You're so gross," she said, trying to keep back a smile.

"Ah hah! Finally, the little brat has smiled! I caught youuu," he laughed before he began peppering kisses all over her cute little face.

She continued to pout at him and so he slowly eased back. "You really are mad about the fact that I got carried away?"

"No," she mumbled. "I'm mad that you haven't given me a real kiss yet."

Cyrus narrowed his eyes at her before letting out a small laugh and grabbing her face in his hands, pressing a long kiss to her lips. "Spoiled brat," he murmured against her lips.

She opened her eyes, the pretty blues sparkling with playfulness. "You're the one that has so much trouble saying no to me."

He shrugged, pressing a soft kiss to her jaw. "Practice makes perfect."

"Oh yeah, gimme kiss."

He raised a brow at her, she was getting a lot more confidence. Rosie was becoming a lot more outspoken and he didn't mind it one bit. "N - O. No."

She gave him puppy dog eyes, her small hands bunching up his shirt as she nuzzled in closer to him. "Please.."

And there he was, leaning in to give his girlfriend a kiss because there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for her. He had a good thing and he didn't plan on losing her anytime soon.