Cyrus held the door open for Amy in nervous silence. He felt like he had to apologize for what happened at the heritage festival even though he couldn't have done anything to stop it. Sometimes Cyrus felt as if though his life was just one long string of embarrassments. Which dear perverts, I suppose he's not totally wrong about. He'd avoided talking about it on the drive home with some tunes but he knew he'd probably have to address it at some point.
Before passing Cyrus Amy stopped and gave him a peck on the lips, "I had fun," and made her way to the couch, "I haven't walked that much in a while though," she slipped off her shoes, "My feet are killing me."
"Mind if I help?" Cyrus made is way to the far end of his couch, "Put your legs up," he said patting the sofa cushion." She did as he said but noticed that she seemed a bit rigid with her position, "Just try to relax."
"Alright," Amy let out a shy laugh has she leaned back. Cyrus slipped off a sock and began to massage the bare foot, "Cyrus, you don't have to do that."
Cyrus worried that maybe she didn't want him to touch her after what happened at the festival but he kept going. "Does it feel good?"
"Yeah. It actually feels great."
"Then I don't mind," he tilted his head to the right, "Besides, it's the least I could do after what happened back there."
"What are you talking about?"
Nice of her to pretend,
he thought. "It's just..." Cyrus searched the air for the right apology while continuing to attend to Amy's aching foot, "I should have guessed that my cousin was going to invite everyone to see his kid and I'm sorry you had to deal with them and," he shook his head in shame, "all of them assuming that you're my girlfriend. Old fashioned, you know." At last, he'd apologized and, in the process, admitted he knew it was never going to happen.
"I didn't mind," Amy gave a smile that concealed the pain in her heart, "I know how family can be." Cyrus hadn't confirmed his family's suspicion in front of her but he also didn't rebuke them. Amy hoped that maybe he just didn't want to seem like he was jumping the gun in front of her but now she had the impression he didn't want that kind of relationship with her. Cyrus slipped off her other sock and made his way to massaging it but she felt that the silence between them was heavy so she said something that had been on her mind all day, "Hey Cyrus, can I ask you a weird question?"
"Yes," he looked to her while continuing his task, "You can lay down more if you want to get comfier, by the way."
Amy scooted down and rested her head on the arm rest, "It was a Filipino heritage festival but for some reason I always thought you were half Mexican. No offense."
"None taken," a certain enthusiasm entered Cyrus' voice at that moment, "My mom is half Mexican and half Filipino. And then, you know, I'm half Irish from my dad."
"I can't believe I never knew that about you," then she felt his thumbs relieve a particularly sore area of her foot, "Can you stay right there a little longer."
"Anything for you," those words awoke something familiar in Amy that reminded her of grabbing his hair.
Still a dark part of her thought,
I don't deserve anything from you.
"Hey Cyrus," she let out a quick breath, "I'm sorry about bailing on you the other day without a goodbye."
"It's fine," he gave a weak laugh, "I get it. Margo told me you just have a lot going on."
Amy only fell deeper into shame from his forgiving words. She pulled back the foot that was getting attention, "It's not fine. I should have thanked you before leaving and then I waited 'til the last minute to respond to your invite."
Cyrus rubbed the ankle of her out stretched leg, "I won't lie, when I saw you were gone, I took it in a bad way but you're here now, again. That's gotta mean something good, right?"
Amy sat up right, moved closer to Cyrus, and rested her hand on his own, "I'd say it does," she leaned in to kiss him, eyes closed. She felt his free hand on her thigh run up her back and pull her in closer as their lips locked. She placed her hand behind his head and scratched his scalp gently through his thick hair. The memory of the last time she grabbed his hair ran through her mind.
I wonder if he'd let me do that again.
Then Cyrus moved his hand to her shoulders and began to pinch it between his thumb and fingers in soothing repetition.
He pulled his lips away but stayed close to her looking into her eyes. She hoped he'd invite her to the bedroom but instead he asked, "Do you like back massages?"
"What?" Amy broke eye contact with Cyrus, hoping she'd somehow see a way to answer.
Cyrus cleared his voice and softly asked, "Would you like," he stumbled his words, "Or rather, would you mind if I gave you a back massage?"
"I don't know."
"It's fine. It was a stupid question," blushing, Cyrus began to retreat.
"It's not that. I mean, I don't know if I'd like it," Amy wondered why she couldn't be so honest a few seconds ago, "I've never had one from a guy before."
"Really?" Cyrus started to drift back, a grin on his face, "None of your exes ever did that for you?" Something about Cyrus' smile was so mischievous that Amy couldn't help but mimic, "I mean," she shrugged, "I've paid for one on a spa day with Margo before but I've never gotten one from a guy I like."
Cyrus chuckled slightly, "Well, I'm no pro but like to think I'm pretty decent. One of my older cousins is a massage therapist," Cyrus chuckled in his adorable nervous way, "He taught me a few basics."
Amy leaned her head towards the hand soothing her shoulder, her long hair falling on to his fingers, "So far you've been great." Amy looked into Cyrus' eyes and a silence hung for a few seconds before he leaned in for another kiss. They got up an made their way to his bed.
Standing in front of the bed Amy's fingers cringed at the bottom of her shirt as Cyrus watched her. She'd hoped that her neuroses about undressing in front of people would have gone away by now but here it was strong as ever. She took a deep breath and realized she'd have to tell him. "Cyrus this is a little weird but," the weights of her stupidity drew her eyes to the ground, "I can't undress in front of other people." Amy waited for a question or worse, a joke.
"Oh?" Cyrus said, "Do you need me to be out of the room like last time or..."
"No," she said quickly, "I'm sorry but could you just face the wall. I know it's weird," the request always felt heavy even though no ex ever had a problem with it.
"Sure," Cyrus turned around, "We all have our," he paused, obviously looking for a respectable word, "quirks. Just know that I respect you."