Chapter 67

Chapter 36 "You ready?" Grayson asked with a smile. I looked out the window of his parked car before looking back at him. "I know the front door is literally two feet away, but I'm not going out there." "What's a bit of rain, anyway?" he asked as he took off his seatbelt. I raised an eyebrow. "A bit of rain? Grayson, it's pouring!" "Nothing says Christmas like pouring rain," Grayson said. "Come on, get out." I sighed, taking off my seatbelt as Grayson opened his door. I immediately heard the sound of rain against the pavement, which made me even more reluctant to get out. However, I opened the door and got out before walking as fast as I could, though it wasn't fast at all since I got out of surgery two days ago. On the bright side, I was released from the hospital early Christmas morning. Grayson pulled his house keys out of the pocket, taking his sweet time unlocking the door. Both of my parents weren't at home; my dad had a morning shift at the hospital and Mom had to run to a grocery store that was open on Christmas for last minute ingredients. And Tony wasn't coming over until ten. It was only a little bit past nine. "Would you hurry?" I asked. "I'm getting soaking wet!" Grayson finally unlocked the front door and opened the door, letting me go in first. I was already drenched from the rain, as was Grayson. It didn't really matter since I was going to get changed anyway. The clothes I was wearing was the one I wore on the 23rd when I went to the hospital. Grayson and I headed to our rooms to get changed. I quickly picked out some warm clothes and put them on. By the time I was changed, Grayson walked in my room wearing only a pair of jeans. "Flower, do you happen to have any of my shirts?" he asked. "Why?" I asked. "All of mine are dirty," he said. "Not to mention I barely had any to start off with." I opened my pajama drawer, pulling out one of his shirts that I normally slept in. He walked over to me and I held it out for him. When both our hands were holding the shirt, my eyes moved to his chest where I saw something I hadn't seen before. I traced my finger over his new tattoo, which was right over his heart. "This new?" "Yeah," Grayson said softly. He had another tattoo; one at the back of his neck. It was a pair of angel wings with one being light and the other being dark. He got it when he was fifteen. "I like it," I said with a small smile. It was a simple tattoo, but what it was made me smile. It was a poppy. I reached up, pulling him down towards me before pressing my lips on his. Grayson was absolutely amazing. I loved him so much and I was so happy that I was with him. Grayson and I pulled away, smiling at each other. "Merry Christmas, Flower," Grayson said. "Merry Christmas, Grayson," I replied. "Now put on your shirt." "Oh, and I thought you liked seeing me shirtless," Grayson teased. I rolled my eyes. "Just put it on. My mom should be home soon and you know she doesn't like you going around shirtless. She thinks it distracts her daughter." "That's because it does," Grayson said as he pulled on his shirt. "You find me hella attractive." "Yeah, you really don't have to point that out," I said, taking his hand and pulling him downstairs to the kitchen. "My mom loves baking a lot of food on Christmas before everyone arrives, so I thought we could start for her." "Nah, I don't cook," Grayson said. I rolled my eyes as I pulled out ingredients for chocolate chip mint cookies. "You could still help," I said. "I gave you that shirt." Grayson looked down at the shirt he was wearing. "But... this is my shirt." "No, it's mine," I objected. "I gave it to myself." Grayson snorted. "That's not how it works, Flower." I ignored him as I began placing the ingredients into the bowl. I had made the cookies many times before and the recipe was permanently in my brain, so I didn't have to look at a cookbook. Grayson suddenly wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder. "I'm bored," he said. "Then go take a nap," I said. "Or you can help me." "I have a different idea," Grayson said before pressing feather-light kisses on my neck. I sighed at his distraction. His amazing distraction. "Grayson, come on. I'm trying to make these cookies before my mom comes home." "But I miss this," Grayson said. "Say, if I help make these cookies, can we make out afterwards?" I nudged Grayson's stomach with my elbows, making him back away a bit. He was distracting me way too much. "No." "What if we're under the mistletoe?" Grayson asked. "If I say yes, will you shut up?" I asked. "Yes." I sighed. "Fine, you can help me make the cookies." "And afterwards?" "Just help." Maybe getting Grayson to help me was a bad idea. He kept eating the cookie dough and he put way too much salt in, so I had to add more of the other ingredients to even it out. I ended up kicking Grayson out of the kitchen so I could actually finish. When half of the cookies were in the oven, I went to the basement where I knew Grayson was. A while ago, Graeme brought over Grayson's TV and gaming system since Grayson never brought it when he first moved here. Now, there were two TVs and gaming systems in the basement so we could game online together instead of taking turns. Grayson already had his TV turned on and was about to start the game when he saw me. I sat down beside him and he wrapped his arm around me. "So, how about that make out session?" "Maybe later," I said. "I need to listen for the oven. Besides, my mom will be home soon." Grayson sighed before turning back to the game. Feeling a bit tired, I laid down on the couch with my head resting on his lap. "I missed snuggling with you," I muttered. Grayson chuckled softly, pausing the game and putting the controller down before running his fingers through my hair. "I miss this, too," Grayson said. "You do not know how thankful I am that everything turned out okay. If you were permanently paralyzed, I would have never forgiven myself." "Can you please not blame yourself for the car crash?" I asked. "It was both of our fault, not just yours. We let our anger get the best of us, and then it happened. It wasn't you." "But I should have..." "No," I interrupted. "You shouldn't have done anything because you couldn't have done anything. We were caught up in the argument and you weren't focused. Please drop it. It's in the past. It's all done. We don't have to think about it anymore." Grayson sighed. "I know. It's hard not to, though. I try. I really do. But..." "But nothing," I said, getting up and sitting down on his lap, facing him. "You're seriously the best boyfriend I could ever ask for and just because one thing happened, it doesn't mean you could blame yourself. Remember everything that happened with Ben?" He nodded. "Think about that whenever you feel that the car crash was your fault. Ben could have hurt me, but you didn't let him, even though we were broken up at the time. You stopped him because you care about me. And that's why the crash wasn't your fault, because you didn't mean it. You would have never do it on purpose because everything you do for me, you do it because you care about me." Grayson gave me a faint smile, leaning in closer until I felt his hot breath. "That was exactly what I needed to hear," he said in a low voice before connecting our lips. I placed my hands on his cheeks as his rested on my thighs. He kissed me with so much passion, so much love. That was until someone cleared the throat. I pulled away from Grayson, my cheeks burning a bit. I turned towards the stairs, seeing Mom standing there with her arms crossed. "Poppy, you do realize that the oven was going off for a while, right? You're lucky I came home when I did or else the cookies would have been burnt." "Sorry," I said. "I, uh..." Yeah, I didn't really have an excuse. "Sorry." Mom sighed and shook her head. "Right. Can you two come upstairs, please? The others are almost here and we're going to open presents then." I got off of Grayson's lap and he stood up as well. We followed Mom up the stairs and sat down on the couch which was closest to the Christmas tree. Mom went to the kitchen to continue cooking some food. I eyed the presents surrounding the tree, trying to figure out what they were. Grayson chuckled and rested his arm across the couch behind me. "You're not going to figure them out," Grayson said. I ignored him and picked up a small box with my name on it. "I bet I can guess what this is," I said. "I bet you can't," Grayson said. I looked between him and the box. "This is from you, isn't it?" "That is a yes," he said, taking the box out of my hand and placing it back down. "Don't guess. It will take the magic out of the present." "Can't I have a hint?" I asked. "No," Grayson said as someone knocked on the door. Mom answered it and shortly after, Gale and Graeme walked into the living room, both carrying a present. "What are you two doing here?" "We couldn't spend Christmas without our little brother," Gale said as she and Graeme put the presents beside the tree. "So, we called Poppy's mom and asked if we could spend the day here." "What about Mom and Dad?" Grayson asked. "Don't you want to spend it with them?" "We spent yesterday with them," Graeme said. "They weren't really happy that we wanted to come here, but you're our brother and we didn't want you to feel left out." "Well, thanks for coming here," Grayson said. Graeme sat on the other side of Grayson while Gale sat on one of the chairs. They both asked me how I was doing now that I was no longer paralyzed. I had to admit, I found it weird that Graeme was so kind now. He was a jerk before but since his brother moved out, he changed his way. Dad and Tony arrived soon enough and it was time for us to open presents. I really wanted to open the present Grayson got me, but I wanted to save it for last as well. I loved watching my family open presents and watching their reactions. It was always a great feeling. Grayson opened the present I got him, and he smiled. He was constantly complaining that his gaming headphones sucked, so I got him ones that he was also constantly talking about. I was pretty sure it was his subtle hint to me. Finally, there was one present left for me; the one from Grayson. I opened it, trying not the look anxious. When I opened the box, I was speechless. Inside was a silver chained necklace and on the end was a simple poppy flower. "Grayson," I said softly. "It's beautiful." Grayson held out his hand, so I took it out of the box and gave it to him. I moved my hair out of the way and he put it on me. When it was on, I turned to him with a smile. "I love it. I love you." Grayson returned the smile. "I love you, too."