Chapter 104

Chapter 28 "Here you go," Grayson said, handing me and Thalia our orders at the cafe. "A medium hot chocolate for my Flower, and a medium latte for basically the only person who isn't being a stupid jerk right now." "Thank you," I said as we took our cups. "I'll see you when you're on your break." Grayson gave me a somewhat forced smile before Thalia and I walked to a table and sat down. Even though I told people a few days ago that Grayson was definitely the father, rumors were still going around, even new ones. And oddly enough, it seemed to be affecting Grayson more than it affected me. "I can't believe what people are saying," Thalia said. "We're in university, for god's sake. It's not that big of a deal if someone's pregnant. And it's stupid to spread rumors around." "I know," I said with a sigh as I looked at Grayson. He had a slight frown on his face as he worked. I hated seeing him so upset. "People need to get a life." "Tell me about it," Thalia said. "So how are you doing with your pregnancy?" "Pretty good, for now," I said. "He kicks a lot. And I mean a lot. Sometimes I think he got the love of irritating me from Grayson." Thalia smiled. "It must feel weird, huh? Knowing that there's a growing baby inside of you." "Yeah, it is weird," I said. "Especially because he wasn't planned at all. But we honestly can't wait for him to be born. It will just be an amazing feeling holding him for the first time." "I bet you he will be a cutie," Thalia said. "You're extremely pretty and Grayson is... well, Grayson." I smiled at that, but my smile faded as soon as I saw four girls walk in; Mina, Bianca, Jenna, and Belle. Belle was still not talking to me and I could honestly care less. She was supposed to be my best friend, but she snapped at me for always being with Grayson. I mean, come on. He was my boyfriend and I lived with him. Besides, there were a lot of times where she chose Devon over me, but she didn't see me complain. It kind of surprised me to see Belle with Mina, however. Mina was always rude to me and she was constantly hitting on Grayson, especially when she was drunk. I guessed Belle was still extremely pissed at me. Oh well. That was her fault. They walked up to us and I knew immediately what was coming. "Oh, look," Mina said. "It's the whore." "Yeah, I don't care what you call me," I said. At first, I hated when she called me a whore but now, I didn't care. I shouldn't care what other people thought of me, especially when they were jerks. "I have a question, though. How are you even in university?" Mina furrowed her eyebrows, her smirk fading. "What?" "It's just that you're using whore in an incorrect context," I said. "I've only had sex with one guy my whole life, so I'm just a bit confused as to how I'm considered a whore. Please. Explain it to me." "Well, you are pregnant," she said, the smirk coming back. "So, then your mom is a whore," I said. "After all, she was pregnant with you. And my mom must be a whore, too, because she was pregnant with two kids. Oh, and then my friend's husband's mom is a whore as well, but an even bigger one because she had three kids." "Don't forget my mom," Thalia spoke up. "She only had one kid, but she was twenty-four when she had me. Such a whore. And Grayson's mom. Four kids, right?" I nodded. "I can't believe what a whore she is." "I know, right?" I said. "Well, they were married when they had kids," Mina pointed out. "So?" I asked. "There's nothing wrong with having a baby before marriage. Some people might not want to get married but still have a kid and other people might accidentally get pregnant and won't want to give up the baby. Me being pregnant literally doesn't concern you at all so if you could just leave me alone, that would be great. Thanks, bye." The four of them didn't say anything else as they walked towards the counter. "Thanks for backing me up," I said to Thalia. "No problem," she said. She turned so she could look towards the counter. "Grayson doesn't look happy to see them, especially Belle." She faced me again. "What happened between you and Belle anyway?" "She's overreacting about something," I said. "On my birthday, she made fun of Grayson for failing a grade and I defended Grayson because it wasn't his fault that he failed, and Belle basically snapped at me and told me that I always took Grayson's side and I was always with him." "Well, what does she want you to do, dump him?" Thalia asked. "Besides, she has a boyfriend and I'm pretty sure she's always with him." "Exactly," I said. "But I'm literally not in the mood to try to make things right with her. I'm tired of her always freaking out if she doesn't get her way." There was a sudden noise of what sounded like a glass breaking. Everyone in the cafe turned their heads toward the counter, seeing Grayson pick up a few shards of glass off of the floor surrounded by a coffee spill. He looked at me for a few seconds and I could see the agony in his eyes. He was really hurting. After he finished cleaning up his mess, I saw his manager walk up to Grayson. He said something to him before Grayson nodded and took off his apron that he was required to wear. Grayson then walked straight out of the cafe. "I'm going to go see Grayson," I told Thalia. "Thanks for hanging out with me today." "No problem," Thalia said. "I'm going to head to Roland's dorm and go bug him. I'll see you later." We both got up and walked out of the cafe. She went in one direction while I walked over to Grayson, who was leaning against the cafe wall with his eyes closed. "Are you okay?" I asked. "Nope." "What happened?" I asked. Grayson sighed and opened his eyes to look at me. "I just... seeing those girls, especially after the way Mina has been treating you, made me lose concentration and I wasn't look what I was doing and I ended up breaking one of the mugs that are used for people who are having the orders in the cafe so my manager told me I could take the day off. I'm... I'm not okay, Poppy. I hate how people are saying what they want about me and you." I pulled him into a hug. He dug his face into the crook of my neck and I felt a few of his tears, which was almost enough to make me cry. I hated when he cried. It used to be often when he had depression, but now it wasn't that often. All the rumors were affecting him a lot. When I pulled away, I wiped his tears away. "I know," I said softly. "I hate it, too. People think they have the right to call me a whore just because I'm pregnant." "That's not even all of it," Grayson said. "A lot of people are saying that you got knocked up by some guy and that you... you don't even love me." So that was why he was so affected by this. People were saying I didn't love him and him coming from a family where he wasn't cared much about probably made him feel like nobody loved him. "Grayson," I said, my voice cracking a bit. I cupped his face in my hands. "Don't listen to them, okay? You know I love you. I love you so much and I will never stop loving you. People like to make up stories about other people. I don't know why, but that's the way it is. Please don't take what they're saying to heart. You know I didn't get knocked up by some random guy and you know that Ryder for a fact is yours. Mine and yours. Things are tough now, but just think about what it will be like when Ryder is born." "I know," Grayson said. "But it's hard to ignore it when almost everyone is saying it at university. We're freaking young adults and everyone is making up lies. I don't... I don't want to live through high school again. I... I can't stand... t-the rumors..." I really, really hated seeing Grayson struggling with his words. It only happened once before and that was after the second time he tried committing suicide. I went on my tiptoes and pressed my lips on his. After, I wiped the remainder of his tears away. "Everyone's going to get over it," I said. "We have to show everyone that we don't care what people say. Once they see how we're not affected by it, they'll realize that they're false or that we really don't care what they say. That means you can't snap at anyone who starts talking about it. Think you can do that?" "Y-yeah," he said. "I'll... I'll try."