Chapter 100

Chapter 24 "Babe, are you almost ready?" Grayson asked as he walked into our bedroom. I nodded, looking at myself in the full-length mirror. I usually wore loose-fitting shirts or Grayson's hoodie so my bump wasn't as recognizable. But this time, I couldn't wear either of those. Elliot got the dress fitted so it was loose around the stomach, but I was afraid people would notice that I was pregnant. "Be honest," I said. "Is it noticeable?" "Well... yeah," Grayson admitted. "But that's only because I know you're pregnant. It might not be as noticeable to those who don't know. Besides, I doubt we'll see anyone we know at the wedding who doesn't already know." I sighed. "Yeah, I guess." Grayson walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "You look gorgeous," he murmured before kissing my cheek. "Thanks," I said with a faint smile. His words, no matter how simple they were, always made me feel better. That was one thing I loved about him. Everything he said to me had so much meaning, no matter how simple the words were. "We should go," Grayson said. "The wedding is in two hours and knowing my cousin, she's going to be freaking out and needing a lot of help." "Okay," I said. Grayson took my hand and led me out of the apartment. We got to his car and he drove to the venue where the wedding was taking place. It wasn't that far away from the apartment since we lived close to the beach and both Laughlin and Elliot wanted a beach view. As soon as we got to the venue, Laughlin's grandma, whom I never met before, approached us. Grayson must have met her before because of how they talked to each other. Laughlin's grandma, Lisa, led me to the room where Elliot and the rest of the bridesmaids were, all of which were her cousins. There was Gale, and her other cousins Emily and Hannah. I met them once when I went to one of Grayson's family picnic when we were both in the eleventh grade. They were both thirteen at the time, so they were fifteen now. Grayson's six year old sister, Ginny, was the flower girl and she looked absolutely adorable in her dress. "Poppy!" Ginny exclaimed when she saw me. She ran over to me and wrapped her arms tightly around my legs. "I haven't seen you in so long! Is my brother here?!" I knelt down in front of her. "Yes, he is. You'll be able to see him later." "Yay!" she said with a smile. The last time Ginny saw Grayson was on her sixth birthday, which was in July. Since Ginny lived with their parents, Grayson rarely saw her. He refused to go to his parents' house, so Gale took Ginny out for her birthday dinner and brought Grayson along as well. Ginny really missed Grayson. "Poppy, thank goodness you're here," Elliot said. She was wearing sweats and a very loose shirt --possibly one of Laughlin's. "I am freaking out here. Am I doing the right thing? Should I really be getting married at nineteen? Should we hold it off?" "No, of course not," I said. "To the last question, that is. You love Laughlin, right?" "More than anything," Elliot said. "Then there's your answer," I said. "If you love him so much, there's no point of waiting if you're going to marry him eventually." Elliot gave me a thin smile. "That's what Laughlin said. Why wait?" "Exactly," Gale said. "Now for the love of God, put your wedding dress on so we could do your hair and make up. The wedding is going to start in less than two hours and it's kind of impossible to start if the bride isn't ready." "Right," Elliot said before taking her dress and going into a change room. I sat down on the chair beside the one Gale was on. "How are you doing?" she asked. "Okay," I replied. "He started kicking a while ago and he won't stop." "Does it feel weird?" Gale asked. "Yeah, definitely," I said. "It's a great feeling though, except for when it's in the middle of the night." "Have you picked a name yet?" Gale asked. "Yeah," I said with a smile. "It took a while because Grayson was being picky about it and wanted to call him either Alan or Grayson Jr. But we decided on Ryder." Gale smiled back. "That's a cute name. And it's no surprise that Grayson wanted to name it after him. He's an arrogant piece of crap." I chuckled and rolled my eyes. As much as Grayson and his siblings loved each other, there was a lot of name calling. But hey, what siblings didn't call each other names? I remember referring to Tony as an annoying, bossy guy who couldn't get his nose out of other people's business. But that was mainly because he wouldn't let me and Grayson kiss at school. That jerk. Elliot walked out of the change room, now wearing her wedding dress. I still loved the dress she ended up picking. It was so simple and so her. It suited her extremely well. I mean, her dad owns a gym and used to be a boxer and her soon-to-be husband was a boxer as well. Elliot was used to the whole athletic thing and not being too extravagant with clothing, which was why the dress was perfect. "I love the dress!" Emily said. "Can we do your hair now?" Elliot nodded and sat down at the vanity table as Emily and Hannah rushed over to do Elliot's hair. I could tell they were amazing when it came to hair as both of theirs were beautiful. "I still feel like I'm too young for this," Elliot said. "I love Laughlin so much, but I'm only nineteen." "So?" Gale asked. "My brother is nineteen right now and he's going to have a kid." "What?!" Hannah shrieked. "Grayson is going to be a dad?! Since when?!" "Oh, that's right, Grayson hasn't told many people," Gale said. "You two can't say a word, alright? Not a single word." Both Hannah and Emily nodded. Hannah turned to me as Emily worked on Elliot's hair. "So that would mean you're pregnant, right?" she asked. "Uh, yeah," I said. "I am." "I can kind of see the baby bump now," Hannah said. I looked down at my stomach and sighed. "Great," I muttered. Then again, it was like Grayson said, it was only noticeable because he knew. And Hannah knew when she noticed it. Hopefully it would be the same for everybody else. "Aww, now I can imagine Grayson as a dad," Emily said. "That's going to be so cute. He can finally stop being so arrogant and cocky." Gale snorted. "Yeah, nothing will stop him from being like that." "Tell me about it," Elliot agreed. "Yeah, I'm just going to pretend that I'm not hearing all this," I said. Gale just smiled and patted my back. "It's okay, Poppy. He's not hear. You can admit that he's arrogant and cocky." Of course I knew that he was. It was Grayson after all. Nothing said Grayson like a little bit of arrogance and cockiness. I still loved him, though. When Emily and Hannah finished with Elliot's hair, Gale went over to do her makeup. Elliot was never one to wear makeup unless it was for special occasions, like birthdays, parties, or now her wedding. I heard my phone beep, so I pulled it out of my purse to look at the text message I got. It was from Grayson. Grayson: tell me, is elliot planning on running away? Poppy: no why? Grayson: laughlin is freaking out and worrying elliot's gonna be a runaway bride. Poppy: she keeps saying she feels to young but we're telling her otherwise. btw, emily and hannah now know that im pregnant, thanks to gale. Grayson: blabbermouth. well ill see you later. i have to slap some sense into laughlin right now. hes freaking out again. Poppy: good luck. The next hour and a half went by fast because before I knew it, Lisa came into the room to tell everyone that the wedding was going to start in five minutes. And it was in that moment that Elliot started crying. "Oh, sweetie, what's wrong?" Lisa asked, wrapping her arms around Elliot in a hug. "My mom's never going to see me get married," Elliot said as she wiped her tears away. "Why did she have to pass away?" "The world works in funny ways," Lisa said. "Don't worry, Elliot. Your father is here at least. Neither of Laughlin's parents are here." Elliot nodded. "Yeah, I forgot." I felt bad for Laughlin. His mother was currently in prison and even if she wasn't, I knew Laughlin wouldn't invite her to the wedding. He told me and Grayson what happened between them and I couldn't blame him for being angry at his mother. His father, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. He took off a while ago and Laughlin tried finding him to send him an invitation, but he couldn't. He was upset about it, but he said there was nothing he could do about it. Then it was time. Elliot looked both excited and nervous and I couldn't blame her. She was getting married to the man she loved. Since I was the maid of honor, I had to walk down the aisle alone. I was really, really hoping that nobody noticed I was pregnant. Then again, the only guests I knew were Grayson's cousins that I met during the family picnic since they were also Elliot's cousins. I wasn't that worried until I spotted them. The two people Grayson didn't want to know about my pregnancy. Gary and Gertrude Prince; Grayson's parents. Of course they would be here. They were Elliot's uncle and aunt after all. Grayson, who was standing beside Laughlin, must have saw his parents because he did not look happy. He was trying to hide his anger, but I knew him well enough to tell how he was feeling. After I went, Ginny and Nick came. Nick was the ring bearer and he looked really happy carrying the rings. He liked Elliot a whole lot so I knew he was happy that she was going to be his sister-in-law. Nick handed Elliot's ring off to Grayson and Laughlin's ring to me before he sat down beside Lisa in the front row. Then came Elliot and her dad. Laughlin looked like he was on cloud nine when he saw Elliot. I loved how in love they were. It was the cutest thing ever. During the ceremony, I was trying my hardest to concentrate on what was being said, but Ryder decided that it would be fun to start kicking. The little baby liked to bug me as much as Grayson did. Grayson looked at me and mouthed, "Are you okay?" I gave him a small nod and mouthed, "Ryder." Grayson rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to the wedding. It wasn't long before both Laughlin and Elliot said their, "I do's." After being pronounced as husband and wife, they shared their kiss as everyone applauded. I had to admit, I shed some tears. It was so romantic. The reception was going to be held in about half an hour. Laughlin and Elliot wanted to take pictures first after being congratulated. Grayson walked up to me once everyone started moving about. "So, little Ryder is kicking again, huh?" he asked. "You have no idea," I said. "And I'm honestly happy I don't," Grayson said. "I do not know how women can carry a baby for so long. It's... It's weird." I gave him a smile and squeezed his cheeks. "You're cute, you know that?" "Stop calling me cute," Grayson said, swatting my hands away. "I'm..." "Hella sexy, I know," I said. "No matter how arrogant you are, I'll always love you." "Arrogant?" Grayson asked. "Now what a minute..." To stop him from his upcoming objections, I put my hand on the back of his neck and pulled him towards me, pressing my lips on his. When I pulled away, he said, "I guess I'm a bit arrogant." Grayson leaned down to kiss me again, but we were interrupted when someone said his name. We both turned to see his parents, which only made Grayson look pissed off. "Mom, Dad," he said in a bitter tone. "It's nice to see you," Gertrude said. "I can't really say the same," Grayson said, crossing his arms over his chest. Gertrude sighed. "I know you're still mad..." "Mom, don't even start," Grayson said. "You know what Dad did to me, yet you still let him back in the house, even when I had depression. Not to mention that after I left, you two didn't even try contacting me. No birthday wishes, nothing. You don't even ask Gale or Graeme to see how I'm doing." "How are you, by the way?" Gary asked, completely ignoring everything Grayson said. "Well, I'm currently attending MDC," Grayson said. "I'm studying to be a vet, but you didn't know that, did you? Oh, and my depression is gone right now, but of course, you wouldn't have known that." Gertrude's eyes moved to me before she looked at Grayson again. "I see the two of you are still together," she said. "How long have you been together?" "Almost two years," Grayson said. "We live together in an apartment now. So, no, I no longer live with Gene and Izzy." "I see," Gertrude said. She was going to say something else, but Ginny suddenly ran up to Grayson and hugged him. "Grayson! I missed you so much!" Grayson smiled and crouched in front of Ginny. "I missed you too, Ginny," he said as he ruffled her hair. "Is it true that you're going to be a dad?!" Ginny asked. Oh. Crap. I forgot she was in the room when Gale and I were talking about it. "What?" Grayson asked. "Who told you that?" "Gale said it!" "Blabbermouth," Grayson muttered under his breath. "What's she talking about?" Gary asked. "Grayson..." "I have no idea," Grayson lied. "You know six year olds and their overactive imagination." Gertrude then looked at me again, which caused me to look at the floor. "Grayson Alan Prince. You got your girlfriend pregnant and you never told us?!" "Oh, I'm sorry," Grayson said. "I never knew that you actually wanted to be involved in my life!" "Of course we do!" Gertrude said. "You're our son!" "Your son?" Grayson asked. "Dad beat me and you left when you found out about it, then he nearly beat me to death. Then you come back and take me away from dad only to let him back in my life when you know what he did. I was thirteen when I nearly died because of him! Oh, and don't forget about the times I tried killing myself because of him! But that's not all. After I moved out, you didn't once try to contact me. No birthday wish when I turned nineteen, nothing. You didn't even attend my high school graduation!" I noticed that quite a few people were looking in our direction. I didn't blame them; they were being a bit loud. "You're making a scene," I said quietly to Grayson. Grayson looked around, noticing the stares in our direction. He looked back at his parents and lowered his voice. "If you wanted me to tell you that I'm going to be a dad, you shouldn't have completely shut me out," Grayson said. "If the both of you made an effort, I would have tried to forgive you, Dad. I honestly would have if you didn't hurt me when I was trying to move out or if you even did something as simple as apologize. But you didn't so there is no way in hell that you are ever going to be involved in my son's life." With that, he gently grabbed my wrist and pulled me to the other side of the room, away from everyone else. He released my wrist and sighed deeply. "I wish they weren't invited," he said honestly. "Now they know about Ryder." "Is it true what you said?" I asked. "That you would have forgive your dad if he apologized." "Well, yeah," Grayson said. "I was so mad at what he did to me, but the reason why I haven't forgiven him was because he never apologized. Unlike Graeme, he did nothing to show that he is sorry for the way he treated me." I gave him a faint smile. "At least you're willing to give him a chance." "Yeah, I am," Grayson said. "He just needs to be the one to show me that he deserves it."