Chapter 115

Chapter 39 "Flower," Grayson said with a sigh as he eyed me, texting someone on my phone. "Leave him alone. He's probably annoyed at your millions of messages." "But he's ignoring me," I said. "I just need to know if Tarlie went canon." Grayson rolled his eyes and leaned back into the couch, his eyes focusing on the TV again. "He probably is dating Charlie now," he said. "I still need confirmation," I said. "But why hasn't he told me yet? It's been a week since we went there and he never told me. It's hurting me." Grayson suddenly took his phone out of my hand to look at his messages. "Poppy!" he said and I knew he looked at the last message I sent. "What?" I asked. "I need him to answer me." "So you tell him you're pregnant again?" he asked. "Seriously?" "Desperate times calls for desperate measures," I said as I took my cell phone back. "Come on, if he doesn't reply after that, I don't know what I'll do." Suddenly, my cell phone rang and I gave myself a satisfied smile when I saw who was calling. I answered it, "Hello?" "Have you told Mom and Dad yet?" was the first thing Tony asked. "Did they say anything about it? Are they mad? What am I talking about? Of course they're not mad seeing as they were excited when you told them you were pregnant the first time. Does Grayson know? When did this happen?" "Relax, I'm not pregnant," I said. "Then why the hell did you tell me that?!" he asked, his voice changing from worried to pissed off. "I didn't know what else to do," I said. "You were ignoring my texts." "Dammit, Poppy!" "Don't yell at me," I said. "I did nothing wrong." "Nothing --nothing wrong?" he asked. "I was in the middle of something when I saw that damn message and I had to stop to call you!" I was trying my best not to laugh. Oh, how much I loved bugging my brother and making him mad. I was the best sister ever. "You didn't have to call me," I said. "You could have ignored that message like you did with all my other messages." Tony groaned. "Poppy, now isn't the time, okay?!" I frowned at that. "Wow, okay. I didn't know I was such a bother to you. You've been ignoring my messages for a week now, but I guess I'm not important to you anymore." "Poppy..." I ignored him and hung up before I leaned back in the couch. Yeah, maybe I was a bit out of line by freaking him out like that, but I had been texting him for a week and got no reply. I didn't know what else to do. "Are you okay, Flower?" Grayson asked, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. I sighed. "No. I just... Tony kind of snapped at me for sending him the message." "It wasn't really the right thing to do," Grayson said. "I know that," I said. "But he was ignoring me for a week. I didn't know what else to do." "Maybe he was just busy," Grayson said. "Grayson, you don't get it," I said. "Yes, I wanted to find out if Tony is dating Charlie, but we also text each other at least once per day. It's been our thing ever since he moved out. He's my older brother and he's always there for me. I know we're growing up, I'll be twenty in five months, but that's why we have to keep in touch." Grayson rested his head on mine. "I know, growing up sucks. Siblings can grow apart." "I don't want us to grow apart," I said. My cell phone rang and Grayson reached over to pick it up. "Then answer it." It must have been Tony, but I ignored the call. I didn't care if I wanted to talk to him. Tony has never snapped at me before and it hurt a lot. Even when he was mad at me, he never snapped. He just had an annoyed tone in his voice, never angry. I got several texts from him, but I ignored them as well, even sending him a message to get him to stop. That didn't work because he told me that he was coming over. "Great," I muttered, dropping my phone beside me on my couch. "Now he's coming over." "That's good, right?" Grayson asked. "No." Grayson sighed and rubbed my arm. "Look, Flower. I know you're upset because he snapped at you, but you shouldn't hold a grudge against him. I mean, I forgave my brother and you know what he did." I frowned and rested my head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I'm so emotional. I don't know why, I just am." "Probably because we get little to no sleep," Grayson said. "Because someone decides to stay awake and talk the night away." As if on cue, Ryder, who was laying on his playmat, started babbling and blowing raspberries he was very talkative and yes, he normally did stay awake at night and just babbled. It wasn't long before someone knocked on the front door. "Don't answer it," I told Grayson. "It could be a trap." Grayson snorted and got up from the couch to let Tony in. "Poppy, your brother's here," Grayson said. "Cool," I said sarcastically. Tony walked into the living room. "Poppy, I'm sorry for snapping at you," he said. "You know I didn't mean to." "It's not just that," I said. "You ignored me for a week, Tony. We text each other at least once per day." "I know, and I'm sorry," Tony said. "A lot has been going on." "Like what?" Tony sighed and sat down on the chair. "Charlie was completely cut off by her parents, financially. And because of the student loans she still has to pay, she couldn't afford to pay for rent and groceries and everything else on top of that. So I had to help her move into my apartment with me so we could split the rent and I could pay for the groceries." As much as I was still mad at Tony, I smiled. "Does that mean Tarlie went canon?" Tony sighed again. "Yes, Poppy. Tarlie went canon." I squealed and hurried over to him to hug him. "Yay, you finally have a girlfriend!" "What do you mean 'finally'?" Tony asked. "I've had girlfriends before." "Yeah, but I never liked any of them," I said. "I like Charlie because she seems to bug you, so she can do that when I'm not around. But why did her parents cut her off?" "I can't say," Tony said. "It's something personal in her family and she doesn't want me telling anyone." "Is it because she won't forgive her sister?" I asked. "Because her sister is a total... Grayson help me out here." "Bitch?" Grayson asked from his spot on the floor beside Ryder. "Yes, that." "Wait," Tony said. "You know about what her sister did?" "Yeah, she told me," I said. "That was why she didn't want to date you, because she was afraid of getting hurt again. And, I agree with Grayson. Charlie's sister is a... female dog." "You're allowed to swear, Poppy," Grayson said. "Shut up." "So, you're not mad at me?" Tony asked. I shook my head. "No, not anymore." Grayson snorted. "You forgive people too easily, Flower. First Belle, then Thalia, and now your brother." "In his defense, all he did was ignore my texts," I said before I faced Tony. "So, how's your girlfriend?" Tony rolled his eyes. "She's great. But a lot of the students at the school have either called me Tarlie or called Charlie Mrs. McCormick. I don't even know how they found out we're dating." I smiled. "Trust me, us shippers find out everything. And those students ship Tarlie. I'm proud of them."