"you didn't come here to just gang up on me"

"Flower!"

I winced at the sound of his voice and stood still. I soon found myself enveloped in large tanned muscled arms. As surprising as it was to me, father was right. Cooper had grown so much since I'd last seen him, grown as in adding a few more pounds of muscle.

I knew it was him because no sane man would call me Flower.

After standing there frozen for a few seconds, Cooper pulled me back around with his hands on my shoulders. "Aw, Flower! You're all grown up!"

I was too speechless. My cousin looked so different. He was so much more tanned than before, his jawline chiselled to perfection and so was his blonde hair.

His deep chuckled rumbled and he said. "Speechless are we?"

I could hear my parents laughing in the background but paid no attention to that. I had only just got out of the car and had my back turned to get my bags to then have someone wrapped their arms around me. It was so weird though.

I snapped out of it and managed to stutter. "C-Coopernicus. Y-You're Coopernicus? But you're so... not like Coopernicus."

Coopernicus was my nickname for him. Cooper sucked at maths and science so I don't even know why I named him after a famous astronomer. I guess it was the only named that sounded somewhat like Cooper.

The Cooper I knew before was a quiet and shy boy, waiting to be greeted or not saying anything at all, except for me though. He'd always greet me first, only in a less loud and surprising way.

"That's not offensive at all," Cooper said sarcastically.

"Y-You've changed," I stammered while eyeing him. He was always tall but the muscles seemed to make him appear much much taller. He looked to be 6'3 now and I barely reached 5'2.

"So have you. You've finally got boobs."

All my nerves washed away after hearing that. He was still the same childish boy who hung with me before.

I whacked him on the head. "Pervert."

I began walking off to put my bags down in the house.

"Nice ass too."

That made me stop. I turned around, dropping my bags where they were, not caring if they landed on the muddy grass and I slowly began charging towards Cooper. That rude boy. How was he twenty-four? And he's getting married too.

He howled with laughter and began running away with me on his tail. Not only had he gained muscles but he had become fitter and much faster. I used to be running at the same speed as him because he was that unfit and now I was a metre behind. I considered myself to be a fast runner since I ran track when I was very young. I'm proud to say I still have it in me.

I managed to get closer to him and I tugged on his t-shirt. But he was too strong now, so he ended up pulling me along too. I had no idea where we were since I was in a completely different environment.

"Coopernicus!" I shrieked, before jumping on his back.

He laughed and I did too. I pulled on his hair and he wrapped his arms around my legs.

"You. Mean. Mean. Person!" I shouted, still smiling and hit him on the head after every word.

He chuckled. "You should take it as a compliment!"

I smacked him again. "Never."

He continued running around with me on his back, probably running back home. We were both laughing and I was squealing at the adrenaline pumping through my body.

Someone cleared their throat and we stopped.

Cooper put me down but our smiles were glued to our faces and we were both breathing heavily.

"Flower, this is Taylor Jones--" He pointed to the girl. "--my fiancé." And the way he looked at her, I could tell he was in love. His eyes sparkled with hope and happiness, something you can't find together very often.

Suddenly, all the tension and stress rushed back into my body and I was no longer laughing. The nervous breakdown had begun once again and Carson didn't need to be here.

The girl, Taylor waved. "Nice to meet you."

Taylor was beautiful, the natural kind though. There was barely any trace of makeup on her face beside some lip balm and mascara, She had deep green eyes and pale lips, orange coloured hair reached down to her shoulders and a few strands of hair was left to frame her face.

I bit my lip, smiled back and politely murmured. "You too."

"Cooper's told me all about you."

"Did not," Coopernicus denied.

"Oh, he did," Taylor grinned. "Let's go inside before you attack each other again."

I nodded and followed the two, picking up my bags along the way since all the adults had already gone in and weren't kind enough to take my bags too.

After greeting my Uncle Bennett and Aunt Fern, I escaped into Cooper's room to spend time with him and his fiancé. My other three Aunts lived somewhere else. They were spread all over really and I hadn't spoken to them in years.

I flopped on my stomach on the bed with my feet dangling off the other side and Cooper sat next to me with his legs crossed while Taylor pulled a wheelie chair over and sat on that.

"So you're how old?" Taylor asked, spinning slightly on the chair.

"Seventeen. Eighteen in October," I answered, playing with Cooper's blue comforters. "What about you? I know Cooper's twenty-four but acts like a six-year-old. But you. You are mature."

Cooper scoffed and shoved me lightly.

"I'm twenty-four in August," She smiled at me. "And someone needs to be mature around this boy or he'd be reckless."

"Hey! You didn't come here to just gang up on me," Coopernicus pouted childishly and I'd forgotten how naive Cooper was. I'd been so worried about him changing and how he would judge me that I forgot about all the memories we'd made. I didn't think of him being the same after so many years. He did change though, strangely like a caterpillar growing into a butterfly, only his heart and mind stayed the same.

"Aw, you big baby," Taylor cooed and stood up from her chair to sit next to him and pinched his cheek.

I smiled. They were so cute. "When did you guys meet?"

"As cliché as it sounds and was, he ran into me in the hallways in the first year of college," Taylor grinned, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"No, Tay ran into me with her ten-kilo books," Cooper argued, turning to lie down on his back with his head on Taylor's lap. Then being the annoying guy he was, he plonked his feet on my back since I hadn't moved.

I shoved him off but he put them back on again. I slapped his feet but he didn't budge so I gave up and listened to the couple banter.

"I did not. Coop, you were the one running away from something," she retorted, drawing random circles with her fingers on his cheeks.

"I wasn't. I was casually walking when you ran into me, claiming you were late for class," he denied.

"That was so not true."

"It actually was."

"You guys argue like a married couple," I smiled, out of fondness and the fact that they blushed bright red.

"We do not," they argued at the same time.

"Oh, but you do," I rebutted. "Just skip that part and continue with the story."

"Well, we became friends. Then he asked me out. And then proposed," Taylor summarised everything.

"Wow. That's a short story," I noted, taking my hair out of the low ponytail to re-tie it since Coopernicus ruined it.

"Yeah. But we're together now so that's what counts," Cooper shrugged.

"True," I answered.

"We have something to discuss," Cooper clasped his hands together.

"Yeah, Coop's told me a lot about you," Taylor said, before seeing my face, she added, "Good things though."

I nodded, relieved that the idiot didn't reveal anything bad.

"He told me you were amazing at sketching though," She added, playing with Cooper's hair now. "And we discussed it and we want you to help design the engagement and wedding invitations."

My head abruptly turned. "W-What?"

"Come on Flower, we know you're good. You just need to draw some flowers and crap," Cooper said absentmindedly, earning a light slap from Taylor.

"It is not 'crap'." She quoted with her fingers. "It's important so shush."

"What do you say?" Cooper asked and they both turned to me. It was a big deal. Many people were going to see the invitation and even though my name won't be written on it, there will still be a lot of pressure.

"I-I don't know," I answered, pushing Cooper's feet of my back and sitting up with my legs crossed. "I'm grateful that you think I'm talented enough--"

"You are though," he interrupted.

"--but it's a big deal. Loads of people will see and I just don't want to ruin or stuff anything up," I shrugged.

"You won't ruin anything," Taylor disagreed.

"I will, I don't work well under pressure," I argued, biting on my lip again.

"Please, for us?" Cooper pleaded, putting on his best puppy dog eyes.

I smiled. "Please don't pull that face ever again and I can try but please ask a professional just in case mine doesn't work out."

"Thank you!" They shouted and engulfed me in a group hug.

a/n: vote and comment x