Chapter 113

Chapter 37 When the alarm went off, I turned it off and rolled to the side to face Grayson. He was still sleeping, though I didn't blame him. Ryder was up all night and although we both took care of him, I was able to fall asleep right after Ryder did. I didn't know if Grayson did. "Hey," I said softly, scooting closer to him. Grayson groaned. "Babe, I'm still tired. Leave me alone." "But we have to go somewhere," I said with a pout, though it was in vain because his eyes were closed. "Since when?" he asked, opening one eye to look at me. "Since yesterday," I said. "Tony called to talk to me. He's getting nowhere with Charlie and it's actually really hurting him. And it doesn't help that he has to go back to work today, so I thought we'd go down to the high school to visit and in the meantime, I could talk to Charlie. She seemed sweet when I met her and I know there has to be something that's stopping her from pursuing a relationship with Tony." "You really think so?" Grayson asked, having both of his eyes opened now. "Well, yeah," I said. "You know my brother and how sweet he is. There has to be something else." Grayson sighed deeply. "Fine, we'll go to the high school. You're lucky classes start again tomorrow and not today. What time is it anyway?" "Eleven," I said. "So by the time we eat, get ready, get Ryder ready, and drive all the way to the high school, school for them will probably be over by then." Grayson sat up and rubbed his eyes. "I'm still tired," he said. "I know," I said. "How about I make breakfast while you rest for a bit?" Grayson gave me a smile. "Sounds good, Flower." He leaned down and gave me a kiss before laying back down. I pulled myself out of bed and went to the kitchen to make breakfast for me and Grayson. I decided on waffles and eggs, since it was one of the few things I knew how to make. Grayson was normally the one to cook because he was better at it than me. By the time breakfast was mad, Grayson was out of bed, rubbing his eyes once again and walking into the kitchen. "When can Ryder sleep through the night?" he muttered. "He's only thirteen weeks," I said as I set the plates onto the table. "It's natural." "Naturally annoying," Grayson said. "I don't care how cute he is. I want my full night off sleep back." "Yeah, well just wait for classes to start again," I said. Grayson and I ate breakfast, luckily having Ryder wake up after we finished. I went to the bedroom to take care of him as Grayson washed the dishes. While I was still feeding Ryder, Grayson came into the bedroom and got changed. Ryder was done eating when Grayson was finished getting changed, so I handed Ryder off to Grayson so I could get ready. That was the basic everyday routine. When we were all ready, Grayson gently put Ryder in his car seat before we left the apartment. On the way out of the building, we ran into Devon. "How's Dedrick doing?" I asked. Yes, I know he tried killing my boyfriend, but after finding out what happened to him, I felt bad. I wouldn't forgive Dedrick, of course, but I wanted to know how he was doing. "He's okay," Devon said. "He moved in with my parents because they were usually there for him, even after he went to prison. He's angry at himself, though. He never wanted to take a dad away from a baby." "That's good," I said. "Don't tell me you're planning on forgiving him," Grayson said. "You forgive people to easily." "I'm not forgiving him," I said. "I just wanted to make sure he's okay." "He is," Devon said. "It will take him a while to get used to not getting revenge because that's everything he grew up with, but I think he'll turn into a good person." "Well, that makes one of us," Grayson said. "Grayson, anyone can change," I said. "You did." Grayson sighed. "Fair point." "Well, we should be going," I said to Devon. "My brother is in need of some sisterly saving." He was in desperate need of my saving. Grayson and I went to the underground parking and to his car. Grayson safely strapped Ryder into the backseat as I got into the passenger seat. I was right about arriving at the school. We got there a few minutes before it was supposed to end. After Grayson pulled into the parking lot, he got out of the car and took the stroller out of the trunk as I took the car seat out. Grayson helped me attach the car seat to the stroller before we headed towards the school. The first thing we had to do was go to the office to get a visitor pass. Even if the school knew the two of us, we were still authorized to get a pass. The principal when Grayson and I were in the school, Mrs. Goth, was still the principal. She saw us when we walked in and gave us a smile. "Poppy and Grayson, it's nice to see you two," she said. "And I see you're still together. So, what brings you two here?" "Can we get two visitor passes?" I asked. "We came to visit my brother." "Yes, of course," she said, walking over to the secretary's desk. She grabbed two visitor passes and wrote our names down on a sheet of paper before walking back to us. "Here you go." We thanked her as we took the visitor passes and attached it to our shirt so it was visible. Mrs. Goth then eyed the stroller and saw Ryder. "Oh, and who's this?" she asked with a small smile. "This is our son, Ryder," Grayson said. "He's really cute," Mrs. Goth said. "Well, I should leave you two to go visit Tony. He should be in his class, I believe." We thanked her once again before heading over to Tony's classroom. We did get a few stares, however, by some students that were at the school when we were and knew us. And, not to brag, but mostly all those students knew us because we won the cutest couple in the yearbook when we were in the twelfth grade. And we won prom king and queen. Tony looked really surprised to see Grayson and I there. "Why are you here?" he asked. "I'm on a mission," I said. "Grayson and Ryder are going to visit you while I go somewhere else. On a completely unrelated note, where is Charlie's class?" Tony sighed. "Poppy, just drop it. She's not going to go out with me. I have to accept that." "I won't," I said. "Tarlie is my OTP!" "It's true, she talks about it all the time," Grayson said. "She's been ignoring me ever since we... did the thing," Tony asked. "That happened in April. Four months ago. Nothing is going to happen." "So, where's here class?" I asked, completely ignoring what he said. Tony sighed once again. "Two down from mine." "Got it," I said. "So, I'll be back." I walked out of the class and went to Charlie's. She was sitting at her desk doing some paperwork. She looked up at me and gave me a faint smile. "Hello, Poppy," she said. "How are you? I see that you're no longer pregnant anymore." "Yeah, I had him in May," I said. "I know we haven't talked much, but do you think we can talk about my brother?" Charlie sighed deeply. "Poppy, I really don't feel comfortable talking about him." "Please?" I asked. "Tony told me what happened between you two. And he's hurting. He really likes you." "I know." "And I'm pretty sure you like him." "I do." "Then why not go into a relationship with him?" I asked. "Because I don't know if I can trust him," Charlie said. "Why not?" I asked. "He's one of the sweetest guys I know, and I'm not saying that because he's my brother. He hates hurting people, both physically and emotionally." "It's not just that," she said. "I've been through a lot. I'll tell you, I guess. My ex-boyfriend cheated on me with my sister and they're engaged now. That's why I moved here, to get away from them, from all that. My parents are telling me I should support them, but I can't. And when I moved here, I saw Tony and it was almost like love at first sight. I know we argued a lot, but it made me feel special. But... I don't want to get hurt again." Wow. I felt bad for Charlie. She went through a lot, more than Tony knew. But I knew that Tony wouldn't hurt her. And I had to show Charlie that taking risks were worth it sometimes. "You know, I went through something bad as well that made it hard for me to trust people," I said. "I was... Well, I was almost raped by my best friend's brother and they all took his side over mine. And my best friend, who hated me at the time, made the whole school hate me over reasons they didn't even know. And Grayson, he was the only one there for me. But, before Grayson and I started dating, I found it hard when guys flirted with me, something Grayson's older brother did. Then, one day, Grayson kissed me and told me that he liked me and I opened up to him. I took the chance even though I was afraid I would get hurt again, but he is still keeping his promise. And that happened two and a half years ago." Charlie looked at her desk, tapping her pencil repeatedly on her desk. "Do you think Tony will forgive me for ignoring him?" she asked. "I think... I think you're right. I should give him a chance." I smiled. "Yeah, he'll definitely forgive you. You can even talk to him now." "Now?" Charlie asked. "Well, there's no time like the present." Charlie sighed and stood up from her desk before walking out the door. I followed her to Tony's classroom, where Grayson and Tony were talking. Tony immediately saw Charlie and he was looking a bit hurt. "Tony, can we talk?" she asked quietly. "Yeah, sure," Tony said, just as quiet. "Well, Grayson and I have to leave," I said. "We do?" Grayson asked. I gave him a look. "Yes, we do." I gestured for him to follow me outside, so he did, pushing the stroller. When we were walking down the hallway, I said, "Guess who's OTP is about to become canon?" "Flower, I don't speak your fangirl language," Grayson said with a sigh. "The only thing I understood was OTP, only because you say that too much." "Fine," I said. "I'll rephrase. Guess who's getting together?" "Really?" he asked. "She's going to give him a chance?" I nodded. "There was something going on, like I expected, but I just had to convince her that my brother will never hurt her and that sometimes, it's good to take chances. I just hope they work out I really like her."