Sunflower With Red Drops

9.

We had the worst subjects that day and I was so thankful when I was finally walking home with Cy.

   'You sure Tyler's gonna be okay. He didn't seem fine at all.', Cy squeezed my hand that he was holding close since we left school. He seemed preoccupied since the discussion I had with Tony.

   'Hey!', I stopped, 'You okay?' He seemed hesitant.

   'You wanna talk about the fight? Are you hurting somewhere?' I opened my arms in case he wanted a hug and he snuggled in my embrace. After a few seconds, we parted and we got back to walking to my house, hand in hand.

   'What did you talk about with Tony?', he whispered. The question was weirdly asked and coming from him it wasn't really because he was curious. Is he jealous? I laughed inside and smirked when I saw a red blushing appear on his face.

   'Nothing important, I expressed my need for vanilla ice-cream and peanut butter and he's on my side.', I threw my hair over my shoulder sarcastically.

   'He doesn't count. Ice-cream isn't proper food, how many times do I have to tell you?', he sighed when I pouted and he decided to change the subject. After 15 minutes of us walking, Auntie's house appeared at the end of the road. We raced to the driveway but I froze when I saw Auntie on the porch with my suitcase on her left. She hurried our way and looked back discreetly at the door.

   'Lily, mommy's staying tonight. I know I forgot but she showed with her therapist and I had to act like I was totally prepared.', I squeezed Cy's hand and decided to hide my fear behind a big smile.

   'Cyrus, can Lily stay at your house or Tyler's for two days? I'm sorry, but it's an emergency.', I nodded and turned to Cy who had already taken the suitcase to his side.

   'No prob. She's always welcome.', Auntie hurriedly hugged me and kissed Cy's forehead before running to the door and closing it carefully.

~

I walked in and Cy's father popped out of the kitchen, followed by Mac and Chad, one of Cy's friends.

   'What's up with you princess? You seem a bit down.', Cyrus gestured to his father to stop asking questions and I followed him into the kitchen. Mac and Chad hurried to the freezer and Cy's father threw his son a big spoon.

   'How was your day son? 'Cause your sister taught me some interesting things.', Cy nervously scratched the back of his neck and sat next to me as I silently ate my ice-cream.

   'I might have gotten into a fight this morning but for once, I had good motives.' Cy's father sighed and took a spoonful of my ice-cream.

   'We'll have to talk about it later, son.', he seemed pretty serious but something in his voice was soothing and calm like he wasn't angry rather just worried. I listened quietly to their discussion for an hour but it was abruptly stopped when Chad received an intimidating message from his father. He and Mac hurried outside while Chad was saying his last prayers. When the door shut, a heavy silence invaded the kitchen and it took me some time to realize the awkwardness in the air.

   'Do you have a speaker in your kitchen, Cy?', Cy's father frowned and moved in front of the huge speaker on his right.

   'And what weird music are you listening to, young lady?', I laughed at his "intimidating" persona. Cyrus joined me in my laughter and connected his phone to the device.

   'You'll like it dad. You two have the same taste in music. What do you want, Lily?', I calmed down when I noticed the old man who was now curious.

   'You know Greta Van Fleet?', the man frowned in a "what is she talking about" way.

   'Okay. You see Led Zeppelin?', he nodded while Cyrus put on Edge of Darkness, 'it's the modern version.'

   It's now 11pm, I'm brushing my teeth and talking with Mac about her recent date with a boy I didn't know. Cyrus is having this serious talk with his father downstairs and I'm already missing him. Not that Mac is boring or anything, it's just a funny feeling in my stomach.

   'Hey, you ok?', I nodded, lost in my thoughts. The recent reappearance of my mother in Auntie's and my daily life felt weird and scary. I closed my eyes and shook myself out of my deep overthinking cycle.

   'Here, a towel for your face.', I cleaned up and walked down to see if I could get Cyrus back. I popped my head in the kitchen analyzing the mood and apparently the deep talk had switched to an awkward father to son talk about me. Cy was as red as a cherry and his father was having the fun of his life. I finally made myself known by walking in and immediately the conversation died down.

   'Is it an official one?', I lifted my eyebrows. 'Your Deep Purple top, is it a real one?', I looked down at the shirt I had on. It was one of dad's.

   'Of course, it's a real one. What's the point of a fake in the first place? It's one of my dad's.' Cyrus walked to my side and offered me a tired smile.

   'I'd really like to meet him.', Cyrus' father turned our way and I smiled at him. I grabbed Cy's left hand before he could say anything about my father and we went upstairs after saying our goodnights.

    Mac, Cy and I spent the evening watching stupid horror movies until I suddenly heard music downstairs. I abruptly opened the door.

   'I know that voice. It's Kurt Cobain. Mac, Cy, your father is incredible.' Cy joined me and we silently went downstairs. We secretly spied on the man who was walking to the record player.

   'I want Lithium, pretty please.' My statement took him by surprise and he turned around with his hand on his chest. It took him some seconds to comprehend what I had said but then he went off looking for the right vinyl. Cyrus sat down on the couch watching me approaching his father's vinyl's collection. Then the music blasted off and I started jumping all around, my hair flying all over the place. His father mimicked my enthusiasm and danced along for quite some time. At some point, Cy decided I needed some sleep and let me climb on his back to say goodnight to Mac.

   'You wanna sleep in the guest room or with Mac?', I closed my suitcase, my creepy plushie in my hands and faced him.

   'I thought I was sleeping with you.', his eyes widened and a deep blush ran across his cheeks. He hid his face quickly and turned to his bedroom.

   'It's fine, you can sleep in my room. Let me set up the mattress.', he didn't even have time to turn around to see that I was already under his covers. He chuckled and prepared his backpack before joining me.

   'Do you wanna watch The Corpse Bride or Edward Scissorhands?', I showed him my phone screen to illustrate my question. We went for Edward and I peacefully fell asleep.