Chapter 120

Chapter 44 I slowly woke up and rolled to face Grayson's side of the bed, only to be confused to see that side empty. Grayson hated waking up early, especially when we were on a school break, which we were on right now. I sat up, rubbing my eyes as well. Then I smelled something. Was it... pancakes? And bacon? I got out of bed and walked out of the bedroom, seeing Grayson in the kitchen at the stove. He must have heard me walking in because he looked over at me. "Morning, Flower," he said as I walked over to him. I gave him a smile and a kiss. "Morning, Grayson. What's the special occasion?" "What do you mean?" Grayson asked. "Well, you're cooking early in the morning," I said. "You rarely do that. The only times you did were when I was pregnant with Ryder." Grayson chuckled. "You're losing your mind, Flower. Look around the apartment." Confused, I did. It still looked the same besides the Christmas tree that we added for... Oh. "Yeah, Merry Christmas to you, too," Grayson said with an eye roll, kissing my cheek before continuing his cooking. "I can't believe I forgot," I said. "I am losing my mind. But, I still don't know why you're making breakfast this early. You didn't last Christmas." "Well..." Grayson said slowly and I knew he was a bit reluctant to tell me the real reason. "Well, what?" I asked. "Grayson..." Grayson sighed. "I kind of invited people over to have breakfast with us and just visit." I furrowed my eyebrows. "That's it? Why would you be reluctant to... Who exactly did you invite?" "Devon and Belle," Grayson said. I raised my eyebrows. "Why would you invite them over?" "Because you really need to forgive Belle," Grayson said. "You two have been best friends for years and I don't want to be the reason why you broke off the friendship." "Grayson, you're not the reason," I said. "She got mad at me for always being around you, even though you technically are my best friend. Not to mention you're my boyfriend and Ryder's father. Besides, she's always around Devon and I'm pretty sure she would choose him over me, but I'm okay with that. She loves him." "Yeah, but it's been almost a year since you two stopped talking," Grayson said. "Even your feud with the whole Ben thing didn't last a year. I want you two to make up and be friends again." I sighed. Grayson was right. My and Belle's last feud was a lot worse than this one, but I chose to forgive her for basically saying it was my fault her brother went to prison and for isolating me from the school. And I also forgave Thalia, even though she thought I was ruining her life by dating Grayson. I forgave people too easily. "Well, thank you for trying to fix things between me and Belle," I said. "You're sweet." "Sweet enough for a kiss?" Grayson asked with a smile. I rolled my eyes and kissed his cheek, much to his protests. I then started getting dishes out for breakfast before I heard Ryder cry from his crib in our bedroom. I put the plates onto the counter beside the stove before going into the room to get Ryder. He stopped crying as soon as I picked him up, and he snuggled into me. I loved Ryder so much, even if he wasn't planned. He was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. ... Besides Grayson, of course. I walked back into the kitchen, where Grayson was now serving the food onto the plates. Ryder saw Grayson, and, like usual, announced, "Dada!" Grayson chuckled and set the plates on the table before taking Ryder. "I know, you love your dada more than your mama," he said. "Well there's no need to rub it in," I said, though it never bothered me anymore. In fact, I loved seeing Ryder so obsessed with his dad. There was a knock at the door, so both Grayson and I went to answer it. Both Devon and Belle were there, Devon with a smile and Belle... not so much. She looked a bit sad, to be honest. "Thanks for inviting us," Devon said. "I honestly would have been too lazy to make breakfast." "Then, let's go eat," Grayson said. "Well, Devon and I will. You girls, on the other hand, are not eating until you forgive each other." "Grayson..." I began, but he didn't let me finish. "I'm dead serious," Grayson said. "Us men are going to go eat because we don't hold grudges." "Shut up, Grayson." "I'm sorry, I can't hear you," Grayson said as he and Devon walked to the kitchen. I sighed, not even knowing what to say to Belle. Should I say sorry for getting pregnant and needing to be around Grayson all the time? Sorry for getting mad that she made fun of Grayson for failing when his life was screwed up, which caused him to fail? Belle didn't seem to know what to say either, but I ended up thinking of something that hopefully broke the ice. "I never said thank you for watching Ryder when Devon and I went to get Grayson from Dedrick," I said. "So, uh... Thanks." "No problem," Belle said quietly. "You and Grayson are doing a good job raising him... I think? I don't know, I haven't really seen Ryder in a while. But I know you two. Grayson and Poppy, the power couple. They can get through anything." I furrowed my eyebrows. "Power couple?" Belle gave me a small smile. "You wouldn't believe how many people call you and Grayson the power couple. That happened a lot in high school and it's even happening now. Everyone loves you two." "Not everyone." Belle then sighed. "Poppy, I'm so sorry for getting jealous about all the time you've been spending with Grayson. It wasn't that I wanted to spend time with you, but you were always with him, though. It's because you two have everything figured out already. You have a kid, you're promise to each other, you're going to get married soon, no doubt. Your parents love you and they're always going to support you. Meanwhile, my brother is a jerk and my parents love him over me. They haven't talked to me since I moved in with Devon." "Belle, I'm so sorry," I said before pulling her into a hug. "Nobody deserves to get ignored by their parents, believe me, I know." I didn't know exactly, but I had to see Grayson go through it. "But it's like what I tell Grayson. You have so much people here for you. Devon, his parents, me, even Thalia. We're all here for you." "Thanks," Belle said as she pulled away, wiping tears from her her eyes. "And I'm sorry I overreacted," I said. "I just always have to defend Grayson because, believe it or not, he's really sensitive." "I understand," Belle said. "Sometimes, I forget that he isn't that arrogant jerk that he was in high school." "Well, he's still a bit arrogant," I admitted. "That will never leave him. So... friends again?" Belle nodded. "Friends." I gave her a smile before we went to the kitchen where the table was. Our boyfriends were already eating. Like, they couldn't have waited for us? "Flower, guess what?" Grayson asked as I sat down beside him. "What?" "Ryder likes bacon." I raised an eyebrow. "You fed him bacon? Why?" "Because it's bacon." "Your argument is always so valid," I said with an eye roll. "So, is everything okay between you two?" Grayson asked. "Yeah," I said and Belle nodded in agreement. "Everything's okay." While we were eating, we all talked about how everything was going since Grayson and I hadn't seen Belle and Devon since the whole Dedrick incident. And I may or may not have gushed about Tarlie to Belle. She actually understood my fangirl self, unlike Grayson. When we finished eating, we then went to the living room to watch Christmas movies. Grayson placed Ryder on the floor and he immediately crawled over to his bucket of toys as he babbled incoherently. While the movie was playing, Ryder crawled back to Grayson, saying, "Dada!" as he pulled on Grayson's leg. Grayson picked up Ryder and sat him on his lap, which made Ryder laugh. He laughed way too much. I couldn't help but smile as I watched Grayson play with Ryder. Grayson was such an amazing dad to Ryder; the complete opposite of what Grayson's dad was like. Most people tended to parent the same way their parents did, but Grayson didn't. He was amazing that way.