Chapter 119

Chapter 43 Surprisingly, even though Grayson didn't want to stay at my parents' house for the weekend, he didn't complain at all. In fact, he was already acting like we never moved out, like going to the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. After Grayson and I woke up on Saturday, Dad went off to work and Mom had to go run some errands. Mom even offered to take Ryder with her because she wanted to spend time with her grandson and so Grayson and I could spend some time alone. It was then that I realized that Grayson and I hadn't had time alone for over six months, since before Ryder was born. "He might cry for a bit," I said to mom. "He doesn't like being away from me and Grayson, but if you talk to him or snuggle him, he should stop. And he likes having his blanket with him, even if he's not cold. And..." "Poppy," Mom interrupted. "I've had children before. You should know that." "Right," I said. "Yeah, of course." "I'll be fine with him," Mom said. "Just relax." "Okay," I said. "Bye, Mom." I then looked at Ryder, who Mom was holding on her hip. "Bye, Ryder." Ryder smiled and started babbling, then blew a raspberry. Then Grayson, who was eating a sandwich, walked in the entry and smiled at Ryder. "Bye, buddy," Grayson said. "Dada!" Ryder said with a huge smile. Ryder first said Dada a couple days ago, and I had never seen Grayson so happy when that happened. The next day, he ended up saying Mama as well, but, of course, he mostly said Dada. I used to be a bit jealous whenever Ryder seemed to favor Grayson over me, but the more I thought about it, the more I didn't mind. Grayson didn't really have either of his parents there for him especially his dad. Grayson wanted to be the dad that he never had, and he was. He was always afraid that he would end up like his dad, but seeing Ryder love him so much assured him that it wouldn't happen. Mom left with Ryder and Grayson grabbed my wrist, pulling me to the living room and to the couch. "So," he said, putting his arm around my shoulder. "We're alone. You know what we should do?" "Watch a movie?" I suggested. "Play video games?" Grayson snorted. "Yeah, or we can..." He dipped his head and began pressing kissed onto my neck. "Grayson..." "What?" he murmured into my neck as he pressed a kissed onto my sweet spot. He then looked up at me. "Come on, Flower. We haven't really... you know since you got pregnant with Ryder. I'm not saying we have to, but we probably won't get any alone time for a while." I gave him a faint smile and gave him a kiss. "Alright, let's go." I stood up, taking his hand in mine and pulling him up. "Wait, seriously?" Grayson asked. I rolled my eyes and pulled him upstairs to my old bedroom. I closed the door behind us, but Grayson looked a bit hesitant. "What's wrong?" I asked. "Well, I... We don't have to," he said. "I don't want to pressure you." "Shut up," I said before cupping his face in his hands and pressing my lips on his. Grayson wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling to him as close as I could be. My hands moved from his cheek to wrap around his neck as he kissed me passionately. Grayson led me over to the bed and gently lowered me onto it as he hovered over me. Then he suddenly pulled away. "Poppy, I'm serious," he said. "I mean, after what happened last time, I don't want you to think we have to." "Grayson, I'm serious about this," I said. "We've been dating for over two and a half years and only had sex once? I want to do this, okay? We don't have to, yes, but I want to." Grayson let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God," he said before pulling his shirt over his head and connecting our lips. Both of his hands were on my waist, playing with the end of my shirt. Whenever his fingers brushed against my skin, my heart leaped a bit. I loved the feel of his hands on me. I pulled away and Grayson pulled my shirt over my head, giving me a small smile before kissing me again. Nothing was rushed at all. It was slow and sweet, yet still passionate. With every passing second, I was yearning more. My fingers were tangled in his sandy blond hair as he trailed his lips down my neck and to my collarbone. He gave me a kiss on my sweet spot before looking at me with a cheeky smile. "I love you, Flower," he said. I smiled back. "I love you too, Grayson," I said before he pressed his lips back on mine. ~*~*~ "Come on, Ryder," Grayson said, sitting a few feet away from him and holding out his hands. "Come to Dada." Ryder smiled, rocking back and forth on his knees and hands. He had been in the crawling position for a while now, though he never officially crawled yet. Grayson had tried getting him to crawl and he almost did a few times. "Come on," Grayson said, giving our son a smile. Ryder smiled even wider before moving one of his hands forward, then one of his knees. "That's it, come on." Ryder then moved his other hand and knee, then soon began slowly crawling to Grayson. When he got there, Grayson smiled brightly and picked up Ryder. "There you go!" He kissed Ryder's cheek. "You're going to be an active boy, aren't you? Hey, Flower, sit across from me." I got off of the couch and sat a few feet away from Grayson. Grayson set Ryder back on the floor and turned him to face me. "Alright, Ryder," Grayson said. "Go to Mama." "Come on, Ryder," I said, holding out my hands for him. Ryder gave me a smile before toppling over and laughing. Grayson rolled his eyes before setting Ryder back in the crawling position. Ryder then crawled towards me. When he reached me, he said, "Mama!" "Aww, you're so cute!" I said as I picked him up and gave him a hug. Grayson moved to us and sat down beside me. "Want to see your dada?" "Dada!" Ryder exclaimed when he sees Grayson. Grayson gently took him from me and sat him down on his lap. "Six months old and crawling. Not bad, right? Although, he might be a bit active when he's older and running around the house." Dad came home from work just then and walked into the living room. "How was work?" I asked him. "Same old, same old," Dad said. "Oh, but there is a work party tonight that your mother and I are going to and my boss wants everyone to bring their family. You don't have to come if you don't want to, but there's a new boss and she wants to meet the rest of my family since she already met your mom. Tony's coming, too, and he's bringing Charlie." I looked at Grayson. "Want to go?" "Uh, I'm a bit hesitant, to be honest," he said. "Gene, will my dad be there or is he working tonight?" "I believe he's actually working tonight," Dad said. "He just got on shift right as mine ended." Grayson nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine with going." "Great," Dad said with a smile. "Oh, Dad, guess what?" I asked. "Actually, we'll show you. Grayson, go away." "What?" "I meant move over there," I said, gesturing to where he was sitting while he was getting Ryder to crawl. Grayson moved there with Ryder and placed him on the floor. Once again, Ryder crawled over to me, announcing, "Mama!" before I picked him up. Dad smiled brightly. "Six months and crawling already? Next thing you know, he's going to be walking before a year old." "He's growing up too fast," I said. "I just want him to stay a baby forever." Dad chuckled. "Good luck with that, Poppy. I wanted you to stay a baby forever, but now you have a son. You make me feel old." "You are old," I said. "I'm not that old," Dad objected. "Keep telling yourself that," I said. "So, when is the work party?" "In about two hours," Dad said. I nodded. "Well, I'm going to get ready." Grayson groaned. "Flower, you don't need to take two hours to get ready. You already look perfect." "Aww, you're sweet," I said. "But look at my outfit. I'm not going to a work party in a pair of your shorts and one of your t-shirts." I set Ryder on the floor and he immediately crawled over to Grayson. "But, if it will make you feel better, I'll put on minimal makeup just for you." "Good," Grayson said as he sat Ryder down on his lap. "Because you don't need any." I rolled my eyes and kissed his cheek before heading upstairs to my old room. I noticed that my clothes from when Grayson and I were... let's say occupied, was still on the ground, so I folded them and put it back in my suitcase. I would have worn them after, but it was a pair of jeans and I was too lazy to put them back on. I went through my suitcase, choosing an outfit before putting it on. I then plugged my hair straightener into the outlet near the vanity table and waited for it to heat up. Grayson came into the room and randomly laid down on the bed. "Flower, I'm bored," he said. "You're taking forever." I raised an eyebrow. "Did you come in here just to complain?" I asked. "... Possibly?" "You're weird at times," I said. "I know," Grayson said. "Your parents are both watching Ryder crawl to each other, by the way. Your mom was almost tearing up when she saw Ryder crawl." I smiled at that. "I'm glad that they were never mad or disappointed at me for getting pregnant at eighteen." "Why would they do that?" Grayson asked. "Well, remember what my mom was like when we first met?" I asked. "Always looking down on me? Never proud? Always disappointed?" "Actually, yeah," Grayson said. "Hey, how did she change, anyway? I mean, not to be rude about it, but she wasn't exactly the best parent. And she didn't even like me." "Well, uh... It was actually after you broke up with me," I said. "When I got home after that, I basically snapped at her and did this huge rant about how I try my hardest and she's always disappointed and all that. And the next day, when she saw how heartbroken I was, she knew how much I really liked you. That was when she changed." "Huh," Grayson said. "Well, I'm glad she did." "Yeah, me too," I said. It wasn't long before Dad said the work party was going to start and we better leave. Grayson, Ryder, and I took Grayson's car there, just in case we wanted to leave early. We got to the banquet hall where the party was taking place and Grayson took Ryder out of his car seat while I grabbed Ryder's diaper bag. We got inside and quickly spotted my parents, who were sitting at a table for six with Tony and Charlie. "Hi, Poppy and Grayson," Charlie said when she saw us. I honestly couldn't wait for her to be my sister-in-law. ...Even though she and Tony basically just started dating, but I had a feeling they were going to get married in the future. I had never liked any of Tony's girlfriends, except for Charlie. I knew he really loved her, and I knew she loved him as well. And Charlie is really pretty, so they would make cute babies. "Hi," I said as Grayson and I sat down, returning the smile. "How are you?" "I'm good," she said. "How's work now that the students found out you're dating my brother?" I asked. Charlie sighed. "Honestly, I don't even know how many times I've been called Mrs. McCormick or Mr. McCormick's bae. I have no idea what goes through the students' minds at time." "That's high school students for you," I said. I was sure that if I was still in high school, I would be calling her Mrs. McCormick as well, though. I might still call her that anyway, just not to her face. Maybe to Tony... A friendly-looking woman walked up to our table. "Hello, Gene and Izzy," she said. "Hello, Natalie," Dad said. "Is this your family?" Natalie asked. Dad nodded. "This is my son Tony and his girlfriend Charlie, and my daughter Poppy and her boyfriend Grayson and their son Ryder. This is my boss, Natalie." "I've heard a lot about all of you," Natalie said. "Especially little Ryder. He's such a cutie." "Say 'hi' Ryder," I said to Ryder. Ryder, of course, decided to say something in his baby language before blowing a raspberry, then bringing Grayson's hand to his mouth and biting his thumb. Grayson sighed. "You bite me too much, buddy." Ryder babbled again and said, "Dada!" before biting Grayson's thumb again. "Well, it was nice meeting you all," Natalie said with a smile before walking away. "Flower, he won't stop biting me," Grayson said. "And I can feel a tooth. It's going to hurt." I rolled my eyes. "Man up, Grayson." "Easy for you to say," Grayson said. "You're not the one he's biting." "He just likes you more." "Oh, now you admit it." "Come on, of course I know he likes you more," I said. "He said Dada first and smiled at your first. You're just lucky that I find it more cute than annoying." Grayson gave me a smile. "I guess I am lucky." He leaned over and gave me a quick kiss. "I'm lucky that you're mine." "And I'm lucky you're mine," I said with a smile.