Chapter 116

Chapter 40 "I still can't believe how big he's getting," Mom said as she held Ryder, giving him a smile. My parents decided to give us a surprise visit today, something they did at least once per month. They wanted to see how both me and Grayson, along with Ryder, were doing. "So how's university?" Dad asked. "It's okay," I said. "It's challenging now that Ryder's here and we barely get any sleep, but normally whoever out of me and Grayson doesn't have class will be the one getting out of bed to take care of Ryder." "Well, it's great to see how you two have everything planned out," Dad said. "You're moving forward with university, but you're not ignoring Ryder as well. We're proud of you." "We really are," Mom said. I gave them a smile. "Thanks." "And soon, you're going to be twenty!" Mom said. "You're making me feel so old! Then again, when you told us you were pregnant, that was when I felt old. My youngest daughter already has a kid." "An adorable one," Dad said, probably because Ryder was babbling away like he always did. "Oh, dad, have you talked to Tony recently?" I asked. "And by recently, I mean the past four weeks?" Dad shook his head. "No, why?" I gave him a smile. "Guess who went canon?" "Tarlie?" Dad asked with a hopeful smile. "Yes!" Dad gasped dramatically. "You're kidding!" I shook my head. "No, they finally decided to go out. Mainly because I had to convince Charlie to give Tony a chance, but they're dating now!" "Finally!" Dad announced. "I've been waiting for almost a year for them to start dating!" Mom sighed. "Gene, you need to stop with this whole shipping thing. It gets very annoying." Dad ignored Mom and looked at me. "So, how happy is he? Why hasn't he told us yet? Will they get married soon?" "He's really happy," I said. "I don't know why he hasn't told you, and they've only been dating for four weeks, so you might want to slow your roll with the wedding. But they live together." Dad frowned. "They live together and he hasn't told us? I think our son needs a surprise visit, Izzy." "No, he doesn't," Izzy said. "Tony will tell us when he decides to." Dad sighed. "Oh, alright. We should be heading out, anyway." Mom nodded in agreement and placed Ryder on his playmat on the floor. When they stood up from the couch, I stood up as well and gave both of them a hug. "Thank you for visiting," I said. "I'll see you soon." When they left, I looked around the apartment. Something seemed a bit off. Let's see... The kitchen was clean, Ryder was on the floor babbling away, Grayson was... Nowhere to be seen. Then I remembered that as soon as my parents got here, he went into the bedroom to take a nap. That was an hour and a half ago and he never had naps that long. So I headed into our bedroom, my heart nearly breaking at the sight. Grayson was sitting at the edge of our bed, his eyes watering. "Hey," I said softly and he looked up at me. "What's wrong?" Grayson wiped his tears away. "Nothing." "Nothing?" I repeated as I walked over to him. I sat down on his lap and hooked my arms around his shoulders. "Grayson, of course something's wrong. You were crying." Grayson sighed and lowered his head. "I miss my parents, Flower." "Wait, what?" "I miss my parents," Grayson repeated. "I know how weird that sounds considering what they did to me, but... seeing your parents visit at least once a month kills me every single time. I'll never have what you have with your parents." "But you do," I reminded. "With Ryder." "Not like that," Grayson said, looking up at me. "I want to be on the child side, not the parent side. I want my parents to visit at least once a month and visit me, not their grandson. I just... I just want my life to be perfect, like yours." "Grayson," I said, resting one of my hands on my cheek. "Nobody's life is perfect. My life isn't perfect." "It's pretty damn close," Grayson said. "No, it's not," I told him. "I was... you know. I lost my best friend twice. I watched you every day for two weeks while you were in a coma, wondering if you were ever going to wake up. I was paralyzed from my waist down for two months. I have to watch a lot of girls flirt with you and for them to tell me I'm not good or pretty enough for you. My life is nowhere near perfect, but... But I wouldn't change it for anything in the world. Because of you. Because of Ryder. My life might not be perfect, but it feels like it when I'm around you." Grayson stared at me for a bit before leaning in and pressing his lips on mine. He then pulled away and rested his head on my forehead. "I just... I just want my parents to... to love me the way yours do," he said. "Then how about you visit them?" I asked. "I know you said you'll be willing to give them a chance if they apologize and show it, but if they see you want them to make things right, then they will." Grayson sighed. "Flower, as much as I miss them, I also don't want to forgive them. They hurt me in more ways than one and I just don't know if I can forgive them." "Then what do you want to do?" I asked. "I don't know," he said. "I don't know..." "Do you want to go out somewhere?" I asked. "Just me, you, and Ryder? To take your mind off of things?" "Like where?" I shrugged. "I don't know. The arcade? The movies? Though, the movies wouldn't be the best idea because Ryder would be talking during it." Grayson finally cracked a smile. "Yeah, that's true. I don't mind going to the arcade. We haven't been there for a long time." "Okay, I'll get Ryder ready," I said. "And if you ever feel sad about something, you know you can talk to me, right?" "I know." I gave him a smile and got off his lap. I leaned down and kissed his cheek before walking out of the room. Ryder, who was still on the playmat, was babbling away, looking in one of the toy mirrors hanging from the playmat. I knelt down beside him and he smiled at me. "Let's get you ready to go out," I said, gently picking him up. I put on his sweater and his cute little shoes that Grayson always insisted on him wearing. After he was ready, I laid him back on the floor so I could get ready. About ten minutes later, the three of us were ready, so we got out of the apartment and to his car. I missed going to the arcade so it definitely was going to be nice going there again. And Grayson could take his mind off of things. I never knew how badly he missed his parents. Yeah, I knew that he wanted them to be better parents, but I never knew he missed them to a point where he was crying about it. Grayson pulled into the parking lot of the arcade and parked the car. While he got the stroller out of the trunk, I got Ryder out of the backseat. We connected his carseat to the stroller before going into the arcade. Grayson bought a bunch of tokens that we were going to share and we began walking around, trying to find a game to play. Grayson wanted to do skeeball because apparently he rocked at that and he wanted to win a bunch of tickets for a prize he saw. He ended up winning a lot of tickets for skeeball. We spent probably the next two hours each taking turns playing games while the other watched Ryder until Grayson said we had enough tickets for what he wanted to get. We went to the prize counter and I should have guessed it as soon as I saw something sitting on the shelf. A stuffed otter. Grayson and his otters. If he could get a pet otter, he probably would. "You have a serious obsession, don't you?" I asked Grayson as the worker handed Grayson the stuffed otter. "Well, you have a stuffed otter I won for you in the twelfth grade," Grayson said. "It will only be far if Ryder had a stuffed otter as well." Grayson handed our son the stuffed otter. Ryder smiled as he took it and then he began eating it. "That's babies for you. They eat everything." "Is there anything else you want to do?" I asked. "Maybe we could go eat out somewhere." Grayson looked at Ryder for a bit before releasing a long sigh. "Actually, I think I want to go visit my parents," he said. "Really?" I asked. "But I thought you didn't want to forgive them." "It's hard to explain," Grayson said. "But I'm going to drop you and Ryder off at home. As much as I want the moral support from you, I'd rather not have Ryder there so my parents won't just focus on them the whole time." "I understand," I said. "So you're going to visit them now?" Grayson nodded. "I don't think I can put it off any longer." We went outside to his car before he drove me and Ryder back to the apartment. I leaned over the seat before I got out and gave Grayson a quick kiss. "Good luck," I said as I got out of the car and got Ryder from the backseat. After I got into the apartment, I took Ryder out and decided to try to get him to sit up by himself now. He normally sat up if he had back support, like a bunch of pillows or the couch, but I would be nice for him to sit up without any of that. I placed some pillows on the floor just in case he were to fall back. I sat Ryder down in front of the pillows, holding his hands so he had some support. "Ready?" I asked. He babbled as if he answered my question, so I slowly released his hands. He sat up for a few seconds before he toppled backwards into the pillow. Then he laughed. I did not understand him sometimes. After trying to get him to sit up a bit longer, I placed him on his playmat before turning on the TV and going on Netflix. I was almost finished a movie when Grayson came in. "Hey," I said. "How did it go?" Grayson sighed and sat down beside me. "It depends," he said. "For my dad, we barely even talked to me. In fact, he was more interested in a game on TV. My mom, on the other hand, actually talked to me and asked how I was doing. I think my mom is willing to try to fix things between us, but not so much my dad. I doubt he ever will want to fix things." I rested my head on his shoulder and intertwined my hand in his. "I'm sorry you had to go through that with him," I said. "I don't even know why he's treating you like this. You're an amazing guy." "I don't know as well," he said. "I don't even know why he's not willing to try. I mean, I am. Shouldn't that say something?" "It should," I said. "At least your mom is willing. It's better than nothing, right?" "Yeah, I guess," he said with a sigh. "And at least I have you, my Flower." I gave him a smile and kissed him. "And I'm glad I have you, Grayson."